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I’m a huge fan of storytelling. My mother used to read stories to the children at my elementary school, my parents read nightly to me growing up, and I read to my own children.

Reading aloud from books helps them come alive. But I also enjoy oral storytelling (Isn’t all storytelling oral? I never understood that…) Beowulf is a favorite of mine (recorded after many years of being told by firelight), the Grimm Brothers wrote down stories that had been handed down through generations, and folk tales like Paul Bunyan had their genesis with families telling stories.

My singing is wretched, but I always sing to my daughter (and did for my son when he was younger). Their favorites are old American folk songs like “Oh, Susanna,” “I’ve Been Working on the Railroad,” and “She’ll be Coming Round the Mountain.” They also loved hearing nursery rhymes set to music.

Alice in Wonderland was penned after Lewis Carroll had been telling his young friend Alice story after story about her made- up adventures in a magical place.

My children love for me to tell stories without using a book. Sometimes they like to hear my renditions of fairy tales like “Jack and the Beanstalk,” but frequently they’re happy to hear stories about the day they were born, or funny stories from when they were toddlers.

It’s amazing how fast the story comes when there’s someone asking “What happens next?”

Wednesday, I’ll start writing my second book for the Memphis Barbeque Series (due April 1.) Right now I don’t even have a concept for the book.

One thing I do know is that I’ll be muttering aloud to myself. My cats and dog will stare oddly at me, but no humans are at home during the day on Wednesday. It’s the perfect time to work out a primitive story outline and see if I have a good enough concept for someone to wonder “What happens next?”

Reading aloud helps me with my revision process, too. I find so many errors that I’d otherwise never have noticed.

With any luck, by the time my kids get off the school bus, I’ll have a foundation to work with. After all, my mysteries are basically, “Once upon a time, someone was murdered….”

Does anyone else talk to themselves when they’re plotting? Or am I the only nutty one out there? :)

So I’m back in the grocery store yesterday afternoon (because I can’t organize a week’s cooking menu to save my life) and I’m navigating the extremely crowded aisles at the Harris Teeter. They’re having a Buy 2-Get 3 free Breyer’s ice cream deal, and I was intrigued by the idea of having that much ice cream crammed in my freezer.

My happy epicurean daydream was suddenly interrupted by a conversation two women were having next to me. “Did you know that Nancy has swine flu? She’s horribly, horribly ill. And I just saw her the other day!”

I’m not proud to admit that I got as far away from Nancy’s friend as possible. With two kids in the house, I’m already a germ magnet and there has been an incredible amount of press devoted to H1N1 here in North Carolina. The schools are making automated phone calls about it, the newspaper has a story about it just about every day, and the television news is rife with it. You’d think it was like cholera in The Secret Garden or something—run! Run for your lives!

This hype makes me wonder if I should even care about H1N1 (although I wasn’t taking any chances at the grocery store.) I mean, I already wash my hands about 2 million times a day, and have the dry skin to prove it. I know this virus is serious. But so is the seasonal flu and really everyone is incredibly blasé about seasonal flu. The fact that it’s getting so much press makes me suspicious.

Hype in general makes me suspicious, actually. I also wonder about heavily-promoted books. I usually see hype this way: Literary fiction=no hype unless Oprah discovers it. Chick Lit=lots and lots of hype. Cleverly written novels=cult-like hype that sometimes results in mainstream success. Genre fiction=author generated hype and hype from avid genre fiction readers (which is VERY appreciated by genre fiction authors.) Best selling series=publisher-generated hype .

I was a rebellious child in many ways and sometimes I think I haven’t grown up all that much. The more I’m told by the press to read something, the less I want to read it.

It’s gotten so that the few people I really believe are book review bloggers. Why? They’re devoted readers. They care about the plot and the characters. They’re not making a dime from the process. They are savvy readers who read a ton of books from a variety of genres.

There are some fantastic book review bloggers out there. Some of them are listed in my sidebar. Now I have a to-read list that’s pages long—but I’m excited about the books on the list. And I feel they were recommended by friends.

Well, school started back this past week here in North Carolina. I have to admit in many ways I was glad. Don’t get me wrong—I love my children and love spending time with them. But it’s the guilt. Oh good Lord—the guilt!

Moms and dads usually feel guilty no matter what. I think we all firmly believe that our kids will be in therapy years from now talking about us. And we can’t avoid guiltt—if we spend too much time with our kids, they’re not developing meaningful relationships with their peers. If we don’t spend enough time with them, then they look at us with their little doe eyes.

Usually, the children’s summer revolves completely around them. Actually, our whole lives usually revolve around the kids. But this summer was a different. Mama had a book to write and one to promote.

Some of you might be writing with preschoolers or babies at home, so this advice will apply to you all the time. I was right there with you a few years back.

Writing with children:

Go on an outing—the kids and your manuscript. If your kids are older, the park, skating rink, bowling alley, swimming pool, etc, work out well. If they’re younger, try one of those indoor playgrounds with inflatables.

Bring a friend for your child. Or more than one. They’re much happier if they are on outings with a friend or two. And they’re more inclined to let you get some work done.

Plan some dedicated time with your child to play one on one. This time can be either before or after the time that you need to get some work done. Here’s the deal with this time: you need to be completely focused on your child. No thinking about anything else. You play Monopoly, read a few books, whatever they want to do with you—and then you explain you are going to spend X amount of time writing.

Quiet time works for everyone. Even my older child (12) needs time to unwind in the afternoon. My kids unplugged for a while with a book or played quietly in their room while I worked on my laptop. When I had a toddler, I’d put her in her room and give her books. The rule was that even if they couldn’t sleep, they had to “read” (look at pictures.)

Host playdates. I know—this sounds like more trouble than help. But usually (this depends on your kid and the kids you invite over), my children disappear to hang out with their friends. It’s the perfect time to write.

I did end up feeling guilty still—of course. But I managed to balance family and writing pretty well over the summer. And I developed some survival skills that will serve me well next summer (when I’m working on my November 1 2010 deadline.)

As you know, I had a good-sized revision to make on my manuscript. But—ta-da! I finished it and now have resumed my favorite activity of picking my project to death before I email it off on Tuesday.

Yesterday I created little snippets of behavior, mannerisms, and dialogue that I thought would help a reader picture my characters more clearly.

I also went through and looked critically at my characters. Did they measure up? Were they unlikable? Can people identify with these folks?

When my daughter got home from school yesterday, she had Halloween on the brain. And, wouldn’t you know it, a costume catalog had arrived in the mail that very afternoon. Oddly enough, Miss Priss wants to be a black cat this year. Excellent, I thought. After doing cheerleaders, Hannah Montana, and princesses, a black cat will be a piece of cake.

I flipped through the massive catalog and voila. “Here you are!” I said, slapping the page in triumph. “A black cat.”

She looked at the picture critically. “No. That’s not it.”

“What do you mean? It’s a black cat—tail, ears, everything.”

“It’s not the black cat I’m thinking of. Mine doesn’t look like that.”

You wouldn’t think it would be difficult to find a black cat costume on the internet. But 45 minutes later, there was still no black cat to satisfy Miss Priss. They either had white tummies, looked like a boy costume, were for babies, or were cheetah costumes, not black cat costumes.

Now I do not sew, but I know some people I can pay to turn a black jumpsuit into a costume. And it got me to thinking.

My characters are who they are. I’m like my daughter—I have a picture in my head of these people. Sometimes they’re unlikable, sometimes they’re fun. Sometimes they have rotten days. They’re almost like real people in that respect. That’s what creating complex characters is all about.

The vision in my head is just as clear, but I worry about what other people might think of it. Maybe I should just let it be. If it’s too outlandish (the impossible to locate perfect black cat), then I’ll happily make some modifications. But for right now, I’m going to stop picking at these characters.

But not at the rest of the WIP. :)

As promised, I’m reporting in on my book club appearance from a couple of nights ago. I have to say I was really impressed with the group.

Favorite parts of the evening:

In honor of the book, members served a Southern-style supper, which I found really thoughtful. Everything was delicious—barbeque, shrimp and grits, cole slaw….yum. (Believe it or not, I was one of only two Southerners there. Lots of Northern transplants in Charlotte.)

They’d collectively sold out my book from the Barnes and Nobles and Borders stores in the Charlotte area, which I sincerely appreciated. Note: book clubs are more of a successful sales event than most booksignings and workshops.

Hearing my book being discussed in an intelligent manner. Sometimes I felt they had better insights than I did, and I’d written the darned thing. They discussed what they thought motivated the behavior of my sleuth’s police chief son (they decided it might be because he was an only child), and why a man might prove a good sidekick for an elderly woman.

Introducing mysteries to some non-mystery readers. I like to say there’s a mystery genre for everyone: police procedural, cozy, thriller, etc.

Having an attentive audience of avid readers. They were very interested in hearing about the genesis of my characters and the plot. They also wanted to hear about the publishing process and what it entails.

Challenges …

My book was a departure from their usual book choices. I knew going in that the group usually read literary fiction. There was a particular member who found the departure from literary fiction toward genre fiction a rough ride. I completely understood that—I’m definitely not aspiring to serious literary merit with my books (not at this point, anyway.) I’m writing solely to entertain, not to educate or to provoke a particular response.

Things I learned:

The members wanted to know more about why the small Southern town on the North Carolina lake was a beacon for a real estate developer. I just blinked. “Well, because it’s a small Southern town on a North Carolina lake.” They looked at me. “Because of half-backs.” More stares. “You know….the Northerners who retire, are tired of the cold North, move to Florida, find Florida too hot, and move half-way back.” This was completely obvious to me (personal knowledge of these towns), but not, clearly, to others. I’ll definitely want to explain the appeal of this type of location in upcoming books.

I thought the members of the book club had very interesting ideas about my characters and the type of direction they like to see them go in. I love reading character growth over series, so their ideas were appealing to me.

And now, because it’s Thursday, I’d love it if you’d also pop by the Mystery Lovers’ Kitchen. It’s my day to post and I’ve got a great barbeque and BBQ sauce recipe to share.