Hi, Michelle. Thanks for your friend request. Sorry to be so late in my response. I've been taking a little time of from social media stuff. Looking forward to getting to know you and your work.

All the best,

Karen

LOL I love how you kept adding to your circus story, and that you kept taking it in new directions. Definitely the mind of a writer.

I have a close gay "relative", so it's never bothered me. I grew up with it. I know people can be opinionated, but I tend to judge people on their merits instead of their lifestyle. I just don't care for the way it's kind of been "in your face" lately.

I like what you said about giving your characters an outside-the-mystery life. It makes the characters more three dimensional. I do enjoy a book where the characters are relatable.

I'll watch for the query.

You asked if I write anything other than novels. I write a blog and I did a newspaper column for a small town paper for a couple of years. I was also the editor the the SinC-IC newsletter for a couple of years. That's about it.

Yeah, but how many times can a person not in the investigative field, or the law
field in any way, run across dead bodies – and still have friends (I know I
would stay clear). Granted I do have a short story that she is in.

I'M ANSWERING IN ALL CAPS SO WE DON'T LOSE SIGHT OF WHAT WE WERE TALKING ABOUT. THE REASON THEY CAN STILL HAVE FRIENDS IS BECAUSE THEY'RE FICTIONAL, UNLIKE US.

And
when did I start writing short stories...I don’t know.

I CAN'T DO SHORT STORIES BECAUSE I CAN'T SEEM TO QUIT WRITING. MAYBE I TALK TOO MUCH?

I’m not gay, but I
don’t consider gay an alternative lifestyle.

OVER THE SUMMER I DID A BOOK EVENT WITH A LESBIAN, AND SHE REFERRED TO HER LIFE AS AN "ALTERNATIVE LIFESTYLE". I'VE ACTUALLY NEVER THOUGHT ABOUT A NAME FOR IT.

I can’t just write by the
seat of my pants with Rachel Shorte. I need to know the law, the elements of
each crime. I need to build a foundation for the trial. And most importantly, I
need to make sure that the foundation and evidence and testimony, etc, is there
not only for Rachel to argue and her client to endure but for the attorney
arguing on the other side and the police to investigate. It has to be balanced,
it can’t be too slanted in either direction.

YOUR MYSTERY GENRE IS TOTALLY DIFFERENT FROM WHAT I WRITE, SO I CAN SEE WHERE YOU'VE HAVE TO BE MORE STRUCTURES, JUST BY THE NATURE OF THE CHARACTERS AND STORIES.

I will email you the query
to my standalone.

DO YOU JUST WANT AN OPINION OR JUST WANT ME TO SEE WHAT THE BOOK IS ABOUT? NOT SURE WHAT YOU WANT.

It sounds like your friend has a job that's a lot of fun as a food stylist. Definitely not your average job. My gut feeling is you'll probably do more of these books. There's way too much material to stop after three books.

Reese - The last person I met who said she lived an alternative lifestyle was gay, so I made the assumption... The type of research you mentioned would be very difficult for me. I guess that's one of the reasons I write books that contain a little humor. There's no graphic sex and very little "language". Just stories.

What's your standalone about?

I write one series at a time, switching to the other series when I finish one of first series. I couldn't switch them at the same time like you do. I give you a lot of credit for that. And, honestly, it's the middle that wears me down, too. I'm afraid I'm a panster, though, for the most part. I generally know how I want the story to end, but getting there is quite an adventure. That's half the fun for me.

Interesting because I used to be a legal secretary, and the attorney I worked for had me doing all kinds of legal work. I also worked in law enforcement (clerical), but in "those days" we clerks had to take care of things that would be covered by female officers now. I'd probably enjoy your series. So are you saying your second series is about someone who's gay? There's quite a market for those if that's what you were saying.

My first series is about a youngish female P.I., and while there's drama, there's also humor. I'm not sure how I came up with her. However, in one of the books I included a Humphrey Bogart look-alike who wanted to be a PI, and the readers liked him so much I gave him his own series. He ended up being a reluctant sleuth.

By the way, a food stylist is a good choice because people are always looking for something different.

I have an old standalone book I'm rewriting at the moment. I'd like to try it on that Amazon publishing program and see what happens. Just curious if it would do anything.

I'm not sure how you find time to write if you're an attorney. As I recall my old boss had very little extra time on her hands. What kind of law do you practice? I'm assuming I understood correctly, that you're an attorney.

Thanks for stopping in, Michelle! There's nothing I enjoy more than talking about writing, so when you have time, tell me a little about your two series.

Hi Michelle,

Thanks for paying my site a visit. I will confess to have not checked the site in IE, as I only have Chrome and Safari on my laptop. Still, it is definitely annoying if it has to be shrunken down to 50% in IE. I'll try to sneak a look at it on my desktop at work and see if I can fix anything. 

Hello Michelle!

I was just notified that you have joined my Group Blooming late but I see you joined on the 5th so forgive me that I an late in welcoming you! But Thank you for joining!

We have some wonderful gals here that are in varying stages of their writing careers and are a great source of support,encouragement and inspiration for writing and I hope you find a writing home with us!

Please introduce yourself in the To Kick Things Off discussion and also let us know your writing accomplishments and goals.

We have a lot of discussions and activities here and I hope you find writing support and participate in things that interest you.

I am glad you are here and WELCOME to the group!

Samantha Stacia

Location: Same town:

Does your town in South Carolina actually exist but you have renamed it?? I spent part of my life in a small rural community, not even a town, and part of it in Florida - the story that I am working on will actually take place in this small  rural community & most of the people that I grew up with & around:

I'm going to assume from that you said that I should really rename the town/community into one that is fictional since I'm writing fiction - what about the highways & street names? did you rename those as well

Thanks

Misty