The Animal Thing

Book Two

Animals play a big role in the Sleuth Sisters Mysteries, starting in Book 2. I didn't get how much pets and livestock affected me until I started writing this series. In my life I only spent one span of time without a pet, and that was my freshman year of college, when I lived in a dormitory. Other than that I had chickens, cows, horses, pigs, geese, dogs, cats, rabbits, birds, and a few temporary "pets" like an baby raccoon or a fawn whose mother was killed by violators.

Like Faye in the Sleuth Sisters books, my younger sister was a horse nut. We started with ponies in the '60s and graduated to horses. Dad wintered a few cart horses that worked on Mackinac Island in the summers, and we learned to ride on their wide backs. We also learned about their tough mouths and distinct personalities. Eventually my sister was allowed to keep one for her own. Soon that horse was going to shows all over northern Michigan, and she often won top prizes despite some judges who sneered at her size. No, she wasn't really a saddle horse, but she'd do anything my sister asked of her, so she left with blue ribbons more often than not.

Drawing on those long-ago experiences has been fun, and I think it enriches the series. How about your favorite childhood animals?

Book Six

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Image
  First, here are the answers to the quiz in my May newsletter. A.         26 Letters of the Alphabet B.          7 Wonders of the Ancient World C.          1001 Arabian Nights D.         12 Signs of the Zodiac E.          54 Cards in a deck (with the Jokers) F.          8 Planets in the Solar System G.         88 Piano Keys H.         13 Stripes on the American Flag I.          32 Degrees at which Water Freezes J.           18 Holes on a Golf Course K.         90 Degrees in a Right Angle L.          200 Dollars for Passing ...
Read more

Freebie Cats and Crimes

Image
 There's less than a week left to get Cats and Crimes as a free e-book from Bookfunnel either here: https://books.bookfunnel.com/cozymysteryseptember/viw7z3gxs5 or here: https://books.bookfunnel.com/cleancozybooks/vqudav7vmv The way Bookfunnel works is that readers are offered free e-books of a certain genre, bundled together to suit the reader's taste. I signed up for two cozy mystery giveaways this month. Clicking on the link will get you a list of free cozies you can choose from. Cats and Crimes is the first of the Cats & Crimes Mysteries, and the second, Raining Cats and Cats , is available for purchase all over the place. https://books2read.com/u/mK7JAV   They're both also in audio from Amazon (Audible). If you'd like a code for a freebie on either, I have them, in hopes (of course), that you'll submit a review somewhere when you're finished listening. Oddly, the fourth book of the series is banging around in my head, but not the third. Not sure what I...
Read more

Books Don't Just Sell Themselves--Who Knew?

Image
  You wrote a book. Hooray! Now comes selling the book. Let's talk about that. If you go traditional, your publisher will do some of the work needed to sell your book. My (now former) publisher arranged reviews, announced the book’s release to libraries, and featured it on their website. I learned I was expected to help get the word out, which surprised me. I thought books sold themselves. It takes effort to get a book noticed, and whether you publish independently, traditionally, or somewhere in the middle, you're the one who cares most about your work. You can pay people to promote for you, but that’s expensive and often doesn’t result in the sales authors hope for. You can promote for yourself, choosing how much time and effort you want to put into it. Here are a few ways that can happen. Book tours : Authors do tours so they can talk about their books to audiences. These can be virtual or physical. The author sets up dates and places where readers go to hear about t...
Read more