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I went to lunch with a friend and, at the end of the lunch, looked in my purse for one of those reward card thingies. You know, the kind where they hole-punch the card and after six meals, you get a freebie.

Fortunately, this was a good friend and did not flinch when the gobs and gobs of stuff came out of my bag.

There was a book light, my daughter’s nylon wallet, an old retainer in a plastic case, expired coupons, pictures of my kids in case they get lost (the authorities would have to do a time-lapse thing on them, because the pictures are years old), headphones, a necklace…well, you get the sad picture.

The only useful things I did have (besides the reward card, which I finally did find), were paper, pens, and a box of pencils.

I think the reason I carry so much in my pocketbook is a somewhat misguided attempt to be prepared. Because I was a Girl Scout, back in the day.

But, unless I needed to suddenly straighten someone’s teeth while peering in their mouth with a book light, I really wasn’t prepared to do anything but write.

That’s the nice thing about writing—you can pick it up at a moment’s notice if you have just a scrap of paper and a pencil. And I spend a lot of time writing on the go.

If you’d like to be able to write at a moment’s notice:

Know a short scene you can write. Have a smattering of dialogue you need to write? Need to write some setting descriptions to intersperse in your book? These are quick things you can write.

Know where you left off. The nice thing is that you can pick up in a different part of your book if you’re not sure. Because, by golly, I have rewritten a scene while I was waiting for my car to be washed and didn’t remember for the life of me that I’d already written that section. If you’re not sure, pick up at a different point.

You can find interesting extras for your book almost anywhere. I believe I mentioned the tanning booth lady at the roller skating rink. Sometimes, just like a movie producer, you need some extras for local color. If you’re out and about, this can be a good time to canvass the area for traits, unusual habits, and dialect.

Write short outlines. This is a great time to sketch out a plan for the next few pages, the next scene, or the next chapter if you’re feeling ambitious.

Brainstorming lists can be done in minutes. Think about something completely different. What if your plot suddenly took a tragic turn? What might happen next? You don’t have to commit to this plan…it’s just there to fire up your imagination.

Describe your characters. In only minutes, you can think up as many adjectives as possible to apply to a character (and get to know them better). Or you can think of different scenarios and how they would react: If John were in a dentist’s chair, he would be acting ________.

I’ve actually managed to get some quality writing time on the go, thanks to having paper and a pencil in my pocketbook and a plan in my head.

Now I just need to work on getting the rest of that stuff out of my purse.

I’ve frequently found that there are many people who don’t think of themselves as mystery readers. But because there are so many different types of mysteries—police procedural, thriller, private investigator, cozies, etc.—there’s really a little something for everyone. If you’re interested in stretching your genre boundaries, think about adding some of these novels to your summer reading list.

Here are a few elements of a good mystery and some books that embody them.

A protagonist you can care about: Water Like a Stone. Detectives Duncan Kincaid and Gemma James seem like real people, not the police stereotypes we all get tired of reading about. Jill McGown’s Detective Chief Inspector Lloyd & Judy Hill Mysteries also has a winning detective team that the reader will enjoy spending time with.

An interesting setting: I love M.C. Beaton’s Hamish Macbeth series which is set in the Scottish highlands. Beautiful dialect and fun characters really make the series a stand-out.

Suspense: Try John Hart’s King of Lies. Elizabeth George’s Thomas Lynley series is also full of tense moments as the police attempt to solve the mystery.

A puzzle: Try P.D. James’ Adam Dalgleish series or Ruth Rendell’s psychological suspense tales.

Something unique: For something a little different, you can’t beat Nancy Atherton’s Aunt Dimity series. Any time a ghost figures prominently in a book, it’s bound to be different.

When I talk about writing, I usually use a sweeping statement: I love it! That’s true—sort of. Actually, I have more of a love-hate relationship with writing.

A few things I don’t like:

Revision.  Ick. I tend to cut through my pages like a machete.  And the whole time I’m wondering: what was I thinking?  Why is this character a PETA groupie?  And why on earth is the sleuth and her sidekick having this conversation about the killer’s identity in a diner, surrounded by friends of the killer?  What about this blimp?  How does the blimp figure into this equation?  Was I under the influence of my allergy medicine when I wrote this?  (Okay, I’m exaggerating…..sort of.)

Knowing that I wrote poorly that morning.  It’s important for me that I write every day.   But the days I write poorly and know I’ll have to come back later with my machete I wonder if I’d have been better off doing yard work or something.

Promoting.  Because now they’re so intertwined that I can’t really divide the writing and the promoting up into two separate groups.  I graduated from college during the recession of 1993, and had to go into sales at one point in my jobless wanderings. Let’s just say I was the poster child for poor sales skills. 

A few things I like:

I love unexpectedly getting an idea.  When I get an idea, I hang onto it until I can grab some paper and jot it down. (With my brain, it will be gone forever unless I focus 100% on the idea until it’s committed to paper.)  I had a conversation with a lady at my son’s flag football practice. As she spoke, I realized how much she looked like Camilla Parker Bowles. It was then that I realized I desperately needed a Camilla character in my book. Unfortunately, since I wasn’t listening to the lady speak, it meant that I somehow got signed up for bringing snacks to the next flag football practice (and, consequently, that I forgot. Because I needed to get to paper to cryptically write ‘Camilla’ down.)

I love it when I know I’ve written well that morning.  I’ve got a glow that carries through the rest of the day.

I love it when I get so absorbed in writing that time flies by.  I’m lost in the little world that I’ve created.  It’s almost like going back in time to being a kid.  Remember how you could get lost in what you were playing? 

What are some of your likes and dislikes? 

When I was a kid, there were some books that really fired up my imagination. I loved Alice in Wonderland. The White Rabbit made a huge impression on me and I remember wishing that Alice would just hustle her bustle a little bit and catch up with him. What was he late for? Why was he in such a hurry?

My parents and grandmother read The Wizard of Oz series to me in elementary school and I loved them. Baum’s world was so colorful that I felt I was right there with the strange creatures that populated it. The characters were almost like friends to me (the Scarecrow was my favorite.)

It was around second grade that I got hooked on mysteries and I’ve been buying them ever since. I read everything, but my favorite books are mysteries. I cut my teeth on Nancy Drew. (The Clue of the Dancing Puppet was the first one I read. How I remember this and can’t remember what I did last week is anyone’s guess.) Then there was Trixie Belden. She wasn’t quite as mature as Nancy, but a lot of fun.

So I was wondering—when did everyone realize they wanted to write? Were there books that made you say “I want to write like that!“? And, do you write the genre that you read the most growing up, or have your reading/writing interests changed through the years?

Since it’s a holiday, I thought I’d post something on the lighter side today. Recently, I had to come up with a pseudonym for myself for an upcoming project. I wish I’d found this online gem before I chose it. :) Who knows what my name might have been? The directions are simple and the result is fun. But my name is singularly bad for this type of exercise! I’m sure y’all will have better results.

1. Your real name:
Elizabeth

2. Your Gangsta name:
(first 3 letters of real name plus izzle.)
Eliizzle

3. Your Detective name:
(fave color and fave animal)
Yellow Dog

4. Your Soap Opera name:
(your middle name and street you live on)
Spann Haviland

5. Your Star Wars name:
(the first 3 letters of your last name, first 2 letters of your first name)
Crael

6. Your Superhero name:
(your 2ND favorite color, and favorite drink).
Blue Guinness

7. Your Witness Protection name:
(parents’ middle names)
Alva Begg

9. Your Goth name:
(black, and the name of one of your pets)
Black Shadow

I hope everyone has a wonderful Memorial Day!