Today I’m welcoming fellow Midnight Ink author, Lois Winston, to my blog. Lois’ book, Assault With a Deadly Glue Gun, has recently released to strong reviews. She talks a little here about multitasking…something many writers are acquainted with! :) As a side note, I’m guesting later today at Burrowers, Books, and Balderdash.
Welcome, Lois!
I recently learned of a study regarding multi-tasking, especially as it concerns today’s youth. The radio report made it sound like this was a new phenomenon, something invented by Gen Y kids who are simultaneously plugged into their iPods and surfing the ‘Net while they’re Twittering, texting, updating their Facebook pages, and doing homework.
I laughed out loud. The scientists running that study had to be all guys. Multi-tasking is nothing new. Women have been multi-tasking since the beginning of time. That’s why we have two X chromosomes. We’re born as clones of ourselves, able to multi-task from the moment of conception.
Sigmund Freud hypothesized that the reason men became the hunters and women stayed back at the cave, tending the fire, was because males had an uncontrollable urge to pee on the flames. Women may have wanted to pee on the flames, too, but their physiology kept them from doing so. This was back before our ancestors learned how to make fire. All they could do was keep the home fires burning. So it was really important to make sure the cave guys stayed beyond peeing distance of the flames. Hence, the division of labor.
Freud got it all wrong, though. The reason men went off in search of saber-toothed tigers and other gastronomic delicacies while the womenfolk stayed back in the cave was because the women could tend the fires, tan the hides, sew the clothing, look after the little ones, and tidy up the cave all at the same time. Men are incapable of doing more than one thing at a time because they have no double “anything” chromosome.
Most writers don’t have the luxury of being able to support themselves on their writing alone. I know New York Times best-selling authors who can’t afford to quit their day jobs. So like most other writers, my life is all about multi-tasking. I’m both an award-winning author and a literary agent who has never given up her “day job” as a needlework designer. In addition, I teach online workshops on writing. People (usually of the male persuasion) often ask me how I manage to juggle so many careers. It’s easy.
I am WOMAN — W-O-M-A-N.
So when I set out to write a new mystery series, having my protagonist juggle all sorts of complications in her daily life seemed far from a stretch. After all, she’s a W-O-M-A-N.
Anastasia Pollack, the amateur sleuth protagonist of ASSAULT WITH A DEADLY GLUE GUN, is a recently widowed magazine crafts editor who makes me, with my three jobs, look like a slacker. When her recently departed husband permanently cashed in his chips at a roulette table in Las Vegas, her life crapped out. You know that old saying about the wife always being the last to know? Well, Anastasia had no clue her husband was a closet gambler until she discovers he’s left her with debt up the wazoo and his loan shark breathing down her neck. Karl owed Ricardo fifty thousand dollars, and as far as Ricardo is concerned, Anastasia has inherited that debt.
She’s also inherited her crotchety communist mother-in-law and Mephisto the Demon Dog, her Russian princess mother has popped in for an open-ended stay, and her two teenage sons aren’t very happy about the belt-tightening that means giving up cable TV and the Internet. Then there’s Ralph the Shakespeare quoting parrot. As if all that weren’t enough, Anastasia’s life gets even more complicated when she discovers the body of her magazine’s fashion editor glued to her desk chair, and she’s fingered as the prime suspect in the murder.
And I thought I juggled a lot in a day!
ASSAULT WITH A DEADLY GLUE GUN is the first book in my new Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mysteries series from Midnight Ink. Kirkus Reviews called it “North Jersey’s more mature answer to Stephanie Plum.” I recently turned in the second book in the series, and I’m now back juggling the writing of Book Three as well as design deadlines and agency responsibilities. But I have to say, my multi-tasking is a breeze compared to Anastasia’s. At least I don’t have to find a killer to prove I’m not a killer.
* * *
In celebration of the release of Assault With a Deadly Glue Gun, Lois is doing a blog tour throughout January. You can find the schedule on her website, http://www.loiswinston.com, and at Anastasia’s blog, http://www.anastasiapollack.blogspot.com. Everyone who posts a comment to any of the blogs over the course of the month will be entered into a drawing to receive one of 5 copies of Assault With a Deadly Glue Gun. (If your email isn’t included in your comment, email Lois privately at lois@loiswinston.com to let her know you’ve entered.) In addition, Lois will be giving away a collection of crafts books on selected blogs during her tour, so look for those as well.
Lois, this post is great on so many levels. I love the fact that someone finally pointed out why the women stay home and the men have to go out hunting. Your book sound intriguing and a fun read. Plus I’d like to learn more about your job as a needlework designer. That sounds cool too. Best of luck.
Elizabeth, thanks so much for hosting Lois and this fun look at multi-tasking.
Mason
Thoughts in Progress
Great article! I really like the your comment that with our X chromosomes, we cloned ourselves. Hilarious…and true!
Great post Ladies! I love celebrating w-o-m-a-n! Aren’t we amazing?!
Elizabeth – Thanks for hosting Lois.
Lois – Multi-tasking really is a fact of life for writers, isn’t it? I know for me, managing my job, my writing, family, etc., sometimes makes me wish I could clone myself to get it all done. I like it when characters reflect real life, so I’m glad you’ve created Anastasia with realistic issues and facing realistic multi-tasking situations. Congratulations on your release and I wish you much success!
I love the way this is written. It draws me in, makes me laugh and then it makes me want to know the protagonist of your book because I can already relate.
I adore the title, sounds like my kinda book. Yep, have ya ever watched an Alpha Male try to multitask??? Well, that’s just a comedy in itself!!! Heeehehehe!
Yep, that God sure knew what He was doin’ when He put us in charge of the children.
God bless your day and have a most marvelously prosperous New Year sweetie!!!
I once saw a comedian who talked about men’s brains being a series of boxes. They have a box for anything and they can only have one box open at a time. Men even have a nothing box (which I am jealous of). When you ask them what they are thinking about they may really be thinking about nothing.
Damn our male chromosomes!
Thank you Lois for a great Post.
I am making my husband read it, so that he will KNOW what Multi tasking is. Cris redding was so right about them having many boxes but only able to open one at a time.
Doesn’t it make you feel great to be woman able to do all these things you do.
Really great post and continued success with ASSAULT WITH A DEADLY GLUE GUN.
I’ve given serious thought to your ideas about the guys and fire, and I think you might be onto something there. :)
Theresa N
weceno(at)yahoo(dot)com
Linda, Mason, Tamika, cygnetbrown, Margot, Nezzy, Chris, Storydiva, and Theresa — thank you all for you comments.
Alex, sorry about that Y chromosome!
BTW, the X chromosome/cloning of ourselves is mine, but the guys and fire is all Sigmund’s theory.
Nezzy, I’ve never yet met a man who could multi-task with any success.
Chris, LOVE the bit about the male brain being made up of boxes!
Love the article. We are women, hear our double chromosome roar! Can’t wait to read the book.
What a fun and thought-provoking post, Lois. I often think I should spend more time promoting my books, but then I get started on something like beekeeping — and while I’m writing my next mystery, I’m also blogging daily about my bee adventure. The double-X may mean that we spend less time tooting our own horns, but it also means we can be a whole symphony — drums and tubas and cellos and saxophones althogether in one XX w-o-m-a-n. Hooray!
Thanks, Caridad!
Fran, love the symphony analogy!
Lois, thanks so much again for coming by today. I know you’re juggling a lot :). Congrats on your amazing reviews and best wishes for your release.
So true. Hubster doesn’t even want the radio on in the car because, “he’s driving.”
Terry
Terry’s Place
Romance with a Twist–of Mystery
Thanks for inviting me, Elizabeth! I’m headed out soon and will be gone for several hours, but I’ll check back later this afternoon.
Lois, what a globe-trotter you are. It’s difficult to keep track of your appearances.
But, hey, don’t pick on us guys. We do the best we can with what we’ve got.
In my own example, my culinary experience shows brightly: I can fix nearly any meal which has no more than two steps. What are the steps:
1. open container
2. nuke in microwave
Chris Reading is right about that ‘box’ thing. Mark Gungor (sp?) does a very funny — AND truthful — routine on it.
P.S. I’ve read a little Freud. He never said that about whizzing on the fire. But it’s a great story! Stick to it.
Lois is hilarious! I have got to get this book! Thanks for the fun interview.
Always good to meet new authors. Great to get a review from Kirkus. Best wishes for a very successful 2012 for you.
I bet you the cop who decided she was the prime suspect in her husband’s killer was a man. A female cop would know that a woman would be smart enough not to kill someone in a way that points directly to her like a giant spotlight. Sheesh.
This was a fun interview. And it certainly makes me want the book.
Great theory. I never thought about the XX factor before. I’ve been working three jobs and writing for the past few years. Some days I do it with a sense of adventure. Some days it’s just flat-out exhausting.
One of my characters, Molly Donovan, the reporter/sleuth in The Big Grabowski and Sometimes a Great Commotion, also works a number of jobs: writing for and delivering the North Coast Flotsam and helping her father on his fishing boat.
I’m giving up two of my three jobs this year, so if I win a book, I’ll have time to read it.
Hi Jeff–
Actually, Freud did say it. It’s in a footnote somewhere in Civilization and Its Discontents. I had to read it in college, and it’s the one thing I remember from the book. BTW, my husband cooks the same way you do!
Heather, Stephen, Helen, and Terry–
Thanks so much for stopping by.
Carolyn–
I’m going to have to pick up copies of your books. I love the titles!
Funny blog and a promising book. Can’t wait to read it.
boots9k at wowway dot com
Thanks, Shirley!
Women have Funnel Cake brains, evolved from millennia of multi-tasking, men have straight tubes as brain, which is why multi-tasking is a No-Can-Do for them :).
Great post – made me laugh out loud!! Reminds me a bit of Helen Reddy’s “I Am Woman” song of many years ago. Can’t wait to read the book.
Thanks, pennyt!
Christine, love the funnel cake brain!
Well, I’d take exception to Christine Hammar’s comment about men’s brains … but what I was going to say just slipped right through that tubular chute.
LOL