Red Wolf's Room

  I jumped back into the Found Things series. Like Xanthe and her singing antiques, Book 2: Secrets of the Chocolate House by Paula Brackston has been sitting on a pile of books, calling my name for a few months now. It was so nice getting back into it. I listened to Adrian von Ziegler's "Resting by the Fire" as I had done when reading Book 1: The Little Shop of Found Things and it was like returning home! The writing has the same magic.  You Should Read  Secrets of the Chocolate House  if... You love antiques.  You enjoy meeting old friends again for a new adventure. You want to be spirited away through time. You are intrigued by the paranormal. You want to know more about Xanthe's power. Want a short and spoiler-free version? Check out my review  on Reedsy Discovery.  --  SPOILERS AHEAD  -- Photo by  Victor Clime  on  Unsplash Summary  Xanthe and her mother, Flora, are still working on drumming up business and ant...

  Photo by  Houcine Ncib  on  Unsplash What Are the Key Elements of a Mystery? At its core, a juicy mystery has to have these elements: The Sleuth Setting The Crime/Mystery A Satisfactory Solution The Sleuth The sleuth is the main character who tries to solve the mystery. The mystery can also involve the sleuth. Their background usually connects them to the mystery or even to the killer/culprit. The sleuth has to have a motive that explains why they feel the need to solve the mystery.  Sometimes, the sleuth's motivation is rooted in the fact that they provide a service to clients and they don't have an emotional stake in the crime or mystery. Photo by  Eleanor Styles  on  Unsplash Setting Readers are drawn into well-described and atmospheric settings. Think of Sherlock Holmes walking along the foggy streets of London, Nancy Drew driving around River Heights in blue roadster/convertible, or Thomas Magnum driving around Hawai'i in his red Ferrari. D...

So, I ordered four sweet potatoes in my online grocery order. Ordering groceries online is full of surprises. Maybe you get all of your items, maybe you don't or maybe you get substitutions and find new brands and items you wouldn't have tried otherwise.  It was the first time I've ordered sweet potatoes. They weren't in a bag; they were like other veg at the store where you pick the ones you want.  Well, I got a surprise. All four of them are the size of grapefruits.  Now, you might be thinking that it's funny, but so what? Why are you writing a blog post about it? Well, I'm a writer and a partly Irish one at that, so I kind of see them as a sign. As something worth noticing. Maybe I'm looking for meaning where there isn't any. All of the stock at the store may have been like that. Or the grocery store worker picked whatever as they silently counted down the seconds until their shift ended.  But I'm a writer who believes in Fate, who is maybe lookin...

Writers are like anyone else; they don’t like rejection. People seek to avoid rejection, which means they will also avoid opportunities and people that could have made a lasting impact on them. Whether we like it or not, life is a balance and, in that balance, there is pleasure as well as pain. Image source:  https://www.pexels.com/photo/focus-photo-of-yellow-paper-near-trash-can-850216/ This blog post describes my own experience of how I dealt with rejection as a writer. There is no quick and easy way to deal with it. Everyone deals with rejection differently. It could be slower or it could be faster than another person. Just remember to not compare yourself to others. I am sharing my story to hopefully provide you with some insight should you ever find yourself in a similar position. You are not alone.  I’m also sharing to entertain you. After all, people love stories. The Beginning In the middle of the night, I sat among the shadows of my room with my lamp’s light focus...

Shane Snow I was on LinkedIn and a fellow writer reached out to me to read his new book. I was already following him on LinkedIn and had read the occasional post and article of his. Being a writer and novelist-in-training, I was aware that reaching out through social media is a marketing tactic that people use to sell their stuff and to spread awareness. However, when Shane Snow reached out to me to read Dream Teams , I was still flattered that he asked.  I read many reviews beforehand because it is a non-fiction book. I'd say that 85% of what I read is stories, so fiction with maybe 1-2% being biographies. I read fiction to escape from reality, so I need to mentally prepare myself before I dive into non-fiction. I know that non-fiction has gotten a bad reputation for being boring because, well, not everyone can make non-fiction interesting. But Shane Snow did. I have just completed my reading of Dream Teams: Working Together Without Falling Apart and I loved every minute ...

This is one of my favorite episodes, mainly because it diverts from the usual Quantum Leap story line of Sam Beckett changing someone's life or several people's lives in order for himself to leap home.  For those of you who have not seen this episode, do NOT read on because there are spoilers.  And you do not want this episode spoiled!  ***Spoilers Ahead*** I never realized all the clues that pointed to Al not being Al.  In fact, on my first viewing, I only noticed one of the clues and thought it was a goof.  Boy, was I kicking myself at the end!  Having watched so many episodes, I should have noticed the clues.  At the end, Sam mentions a few of the clues, but I want to provide a more complete list: Sound: when Sam is with the Sheriff after Tully's death, "Al" speaks off-camera and instead of the usual background chords that play when he appears, there is haunting music Visual: The Sheriff and Mary can sense "Al's" presence throughout ...