​For those of us who respect science, the new Netflix set of documentaries, Corona Virus: Explained, has some excellent information. There are three episodes: first, about the corona virus and how it works; second, about the development of a vaccine (very hopeful!); and third, how we can deal with any stress or anxiety we’re experiencing. I wrote earlier about those who are in “psychological denial.” These folks prefer to think Covid-19 isn’t even happening. This current blog is for those of us who recognize that the virus isn’t going away anytime soon. We want to respond creatively to that awareness. All three episodes in the Netflix series are very informative and interesting, but the third episode on handling stress really caught my attention.
 
The first suggestion to handle covid-19 stress is to breathe. Slowly breathe in on a count of five, and then slowly breathe out on a count of five. No, this isn’t some hippie-dippie New Age thing. It’s science-based. Slowing our breathing reduces the out-of-control effects of our sympathetic nervous system. This part of the human nervous system creates stress in our bodies in response to a threat, commonly referred to as fight or flight. Breathing slowly allows the other crucial part of the nervous system, the parasympathetic nervous system, to come to the fore, slow down our heart rate and to help us to chill out.

​The next suggestion is on reducing stress:  limit your news to once a day. Constant input detailing news of the pandemic just leads to more stress. And don’t drink a lot of alcohol. Alcohol sales have gone way up since the pandemic began. But alcohol just numbs us for a while. It does not reduce stress. Same goes for drugs.
 
The third suggestion to reduce stress is to “reclaim agency” in our lives.  How do we do this?

• Keep a schedule. I go out first thing in the morning for a walk around the neighborhood. My schedule allows for both exercise and an experience of the natural world.
• Take care of something:  a cat, a dog, a plant or a garden, or a bird feeder. In my case, my son’s dog comes for a visit episodically, I have a small garden to care for (mainly tomatoes), and I feed the birds (which also unintentionally provides a lot of entertainment for my neighbor’s cat).
• Make something: There’s a lot of room here for focusing on a project that interests you. Some people are taking up long-delayed DIY projects such as putting up that bookshelf in the living room, or trying out (or creating) new recipes, or doing something in the arts:  I’m all for the arts, and music is an especially good thing to be doing now. Take up an instrument, write a song, or even better, sing along with others. Some friends and family are having Zoom or Google Meet sessions and singing together. There’s a reason why Italians went out on their balconies or into the streets, played their instruments, and sang to each other at the height of their pandemic quarantine. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EBByYjjvNzs   As the Italian poet Alda Merini said, “La musica fa respirare.” Music lets you breathe. 
• Connect with others and help others: There’s always a way to connect with others. Zoom or Google Meet encounters are just one way. We have email, phone calls, and texting. There’s plenty of ways to help out, too, even when stuck at home. Do you like to sew? You can make masks. If you’ve survived covid-19, a gift of your blood plasma to treat others is extremely helpful.
• Shift focus away from yourself. This will make for positive change later. What have we learned in this pandemic about what is NOT working in American society. What do we need to work on?  How about access to nutritious food for all, especially kids? Access to affordable health care? Dealing once and for all with racism?
• Shift focus away from yourself. Reading is a great way to shift focus away from yourself. Sci-fi, mystery, suspense, romance – read whatever takes you into a new world.
• Shifting focus away from yourself also means moving energy away from the monkey mind that fills our thoughts with worry and fear. Let go of yesterday. Let go of tomorrow. Live in this moment. Breathe.

​One of the speakers in the Italian video said, “I think the most efficient weapons we have are music and culture. So let’s fill up our days with beauty, beating the virus to the beat of music, and soon we’ll be able to hug everyone again.”

So with that in mind, my current production of malas, mandalas, and Spirit Joss artworks fit into the category of “make something”   There are also other ways to assist in the shift of focus away from stress and worry to a more contemplative life. Use the mala to repeat some comforting words bead-by-bead while breathing in and out – a prayer, a mantra, or an affirmation. Use the mandala to remember the sacred unity of life. Use the Spirit Joss words to remind yourself of key concepts: peace, love, courage, hope. While you are quarantined, you can experience the richness of the world: tomato plants, singing birds, a happy dog, incoming monsoon clouds, the sound of music or the voice of a socially-distanced neighbor calling out from across the street, “How are you?”
 
Explained: CoronaVirus trailer
https://www.netflix.com/title/81273378
27, 23, and 20 minutes long
 
My malas, mandalas, and Spirit Joss, and other artworks can be found on my Etsy site: BajaArizona Treasures. I add new things frequently.  https://www.etsy.com/shop/BajaArizonaTreasures
 
Feel free to comment. What are you doing to cope creatively with the current state of affairs?

First, I’ll admit I’m lucky. Staying at home and avoiding social situations are not problems for me at all. “Self-quarantine” just gives me a chance to focus on art and writing. However, it has become abundantly clear that many of us are coping with the COVID-19 pandemic in very different, and often dysfunctional, ways depending on our personal psychology. Too bad not everyone is an artist, writer, musician or other creative type. There would be less suffering.
 
Much has been written recently about the mental health crisis in the U.S. precipitated by this pandemic. People are experiencing depression, stress and anxiety. Rather than write about options for dealing with this (and there are options), I’m writing now about a particular form of dysfunctional response to this virus. That is psychological denial.
 
The American Psychological Association defines “psychological denial” as “a defense mechanism in which unpleasant thoughts, feelings, wishes, or events are ignored or excluded from conscious awareness. It may take such forms as refusal to acknowledge the reality of a terminal illness, a financial problem, an addiction, or a partner’s infidelity. Denial is an unconscious process that functions to resolve emotional conflict or reduce anxiety.”
 
Psychological denial is a personal problem gone public when people who are in a state of denial engage in behaviors that affect the welfare of others.
 
Here’s an example. For about twenty years, I’ve had a postal box at Coronado Station in Tucson (on Rosemont north of Broadway). If I have to buy stamps or mail a package, I go to one of the windows and see a postal clerk. At my post office, there are signs and markers on the floor for postal customers to stay six feet away from each other. There’s one long desk divided into different “windows” so the entire room is actually open air.  Currently, every “window” at this long desk has a plexiglass barrier between the clerk and the customer. Some of the postal clerks behind the plexiglass are wearing masks, too.
 
There is one exception. At one of the windows, the clerk is not behind a plexi barrier, and he is not wearing a mask. If you go to his window, you will be approximately three feet away from him. So while I was waiting (at the window next to his), I asked him why he didn’t have a plexi barrier or why he wasn’t wearing a mask. He said, “I don’t have to have a barrier, and I didn’t request one. I’ve been around people with the flu, and I never got it. And I’m not going to let this virus get me down.”
 
1) The plexi barrier: I looked at the U.S. Postal Office website which says, “To reduce health risks for our employees and customers and to safeguard our operational and business continuity, the Postal Service is doing the following:” There’s a long list of actions including “Reinforcing workplace behaviors to ensure that contact among our employees and with our customers reflects the best guidance regarding healthy interactions, social distancing, and risk minimization. We have implemented measures at retail facilities and mail processing facilities to ensure appropriate social distancing, including through signage, floor tape, and “cough/sneeze” barriers.” (my boldface)
 
It’s not clear to me why this postal clerk thinks he gets to choose or reject the plexi barrier. Nor is it clear why the Post Master isn’t enforcing this. As I said, go to his window, and you’ll be about three feet away from him – no social distancing.
 
2) “Never catching the regular flu.” COVID-19 is not “the regular flu.” It is a very, very infectious disease with no cure and no vaccine. And this postal clerk doesn’t seem to realize that he could be one of the infected who shows no symptoms, but who is easily capable of infecting others. A part of his faulty thinking is simply ignorance about how the natural world works, how viruses work and how our immune systems work. I’m personally not willing to take a chance that I’m one who can be infected but who doesn’t get sick or who doesn’t get very sick. I could die.
 
3) “And I’m not going to let this virus get me down.”  This is a classic example of psychological denial. This postal clerk just doesn’t want to deal with the reality of the virus. Standing behind a protective barrier or wearing a mask will force him to accept what is really going on. He is clearly not concerned about how his behavior affects his postal customers. But this isn’t a bar on a Saturday night. This is the U.S. Post Office.

Here’s a good article to read, “The Psychological Reason Why Some People Aren’t Following COVID-19 Quarantine Orders.”
 
Individuals can be in psychological denial if they want to be in psychological denial. But do they have the right to endanger other people with their behavior? I don’t think so. Also I want to note that the virus doesn’t have a brain. It does not know or care if you are a Republican or a Democrat. It isn’t concerned about your “Constitutional right” to do whatever you want.
 
So what should we do about this?  It looks to me like I’m going to be self-quarantined until there is an effective and reliable vaccine for COVID-19.  I don’t go out often, usually only to the grocery store and post office. And when I go, I wear a mask and gloves, and I disinfect everything when I come home. There are too many people out there in psychological denial these days. As far as the postal clerk is concerned, I never go to his window.
 
I’ll wait for the vaccine, and I hope this postal clerk who is in psychological denial doesn’t infect anyone with COVID-19.

     Because of the COVID-19 virus, most of us are staying at home, and we may be at home for quite a while. What to do while self-quarantined?
     A University of Sussex study found that reading only a few minutes each day has been shown to reduce stress levels by sixty-eight percent. Listening to music is another way of relaxing.
     Films can also be a good way of spending time and dealing with stress during this “stay-at-home” phase. We first think of comedies and “feel-good” documentaries. There’s another category of film that is good to watch, too. This type of film has at its heart a problem that the characters struggle to solve, and a positive outcome to the struggle can be very satisfying to us, the viewers. I'm calling these "problem-solved" films.
     This annotated list includes all three types of film: comedy, documentary, and problem-solved films. All are available on Kanopy or Netflix. Kanopy is a free streaming service through your local public library.
[K] = Kanopy
[N] = Netflix

[K]. Faces Places (2017): France. A sweet, lively documentary that follows famous French artist Agnes Varda in her 88th year and young French photographer JR as they travel around France taking photos of faces and places.  French with English subtitles  Charming!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KKbjnLpxv70
 
[N] Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society  (2018): Great Britain
A writer meets with a group of readers on the Isle of Guernsey. All are attempting to recover and heal from Nazi occupation in World War II. Includes a romance between the writer and a Guernsey farmer.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vP9eDmX0ow0
 
[K] Hunt for the Wilderpeople. (2016) New Zealand. A thirteen year old boy lost in the foster-care system connects with an anti-social curmudgeon and together, they embark on a great adventure. One of my all-time favorites, this film has everything – comedy, drama, sweet moments, sad moments, and gorgeous New Zealand scenery. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tICv8QH3oM0 

[K] Lost in Paris (2017) France-Belgium. Canadian Fiona goes to Paris to assist her elderly aunt Martha. There she meets Dom, a homeless man. What ensues is a wacky, whimsical and very charming romantic comedy reminiscent of Charlie Chaplin films. English and French with English subtitles. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_NXqwh_76sk  
​

[N] Midnight Diner-Tokyo Stories (2014, 2017).
​Japanese. Japanese with English subtitles.
Sweet, thoughtful stories about diners who congregate at a diner to eat and share stories. Two seasons of 10 episodes each. Each episode is only about 25 minutes long.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OCGDVHjPX0c ​

[N]  Okja (2017). South Korea-U.S.  English and Korean with English subtitles.
A combination of action-adventure and sci-fi fantasy with political overtones. This is a story about the excesses of capitalism, and the philosophical issue of how we humans treat other sentient beings. Very unique and thought-provoking. The director is Bong Joon Ho who won four Oscars in 2020, including Best Picture, for Parasite.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AjCebKn4iic
 
[N]  Silver Linings Playbook (2012); U.S., English
A romantic comedy-drama addressing the problem of mental illness. Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence – great acting!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lj5_FhLaaQQ
 
[N] Strictly Ballroom (1992). Australian
Two things going on here: a wacky, over-the-top comedy combined with the story of a young artist trying to define his art for himself. And there’s a romance, too.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lxprz6gOmpg
 
 Feel free to add your own titles in the Comments section.

​            Despite the richness of Tucson as an arts center, and by that I mean all of Tucson, too often art patrons have been channeled either to the galleries in the Foothills on Skyline Drive or to downtown galleries. In recent years, the constant push of city leaders to develop downtown has unfortunately led to many artists, art studios, and smaller galleries to be pushed out in favor of trendy restaurants and bars (83 and counting). Great effort has led to the blossoming of Steinfeld Warehouse galleries and studios, as well as Solar Culture Gallery and music venue, and the Tucson Sculpture Resource Center. Consequently, art lives and thrives downtown despite ongoing challenges.
            Lucky for us, in the past three years a new center for art studios has emerged on the east side of the city. Known as the East Hive, the center is a complex of three former office buildings which are now home to numerous artists’ studios. A stunningly beautiful courtyard in the center of these three diagonally-spaced buildings enhances the beauty of the East Hive. Owner Steven Fenton of Fenton Investment astutely turned over management of the East Hive Studios to long-time Tucsonan Steven Eye of Solar Culture fame. The complex is the largest studio complex in Tucson, and artists can recent space for as low as $150 a month.

​            I recently had the pleasure of visiting the East Hive on an open studios day. There I met several of the resident artists and also visited Mark Frighetti’s Healing Arts Qigong Center. (www.zyqigongaz.com/)  The Qigong center’s calm and meditative environment on the ground floor fit right in with the beautiful courtyard and the artists’ studios on two levels.
            While wandering around the three buildings, I met several artists and had a chance to see their work. Among them was Brian Osserman of Osserman Paintings (www.facebook.com/Osserman.Paintings). Brian is working with acrylic to paint on canvas and also to create lovely jewelry and amulet pieces with acrylic work.
            I met V. Romero (left below) who is in partnership with Yvette Madison. Their studio, Threading Seams, is where they create original costume designs. (www.facebook.com/ThreadingSeams/)  Iris Beaver of Rainbow Goddess Designs (center below) produces innovative “handcrafted headdresses, accessories, jewelry, and festival wear.”  (www.rainbowgoddessdesigns.com/ ) Iris showed me her special headdresses ready for holiday festivities. Photographer Ron McCoy (right below) has a working photography studio in the Hive. His specialty is architectural photography, and he also teaches photography classes in his studio. (www.ronmccoyphotography.com/ )  I also stumbled upon a large display of the paintings and drawings of Curtis Kiwak although I was not able to meet and talk to him. (www.curtiskiwak.com/)

​            Perhaps my favorite visit of the day was to Joyce Jaden’s studio. That may be because I’ve done a lot of fiber art myself. Joyce is a mixed media textile artist who weaves on the loom and also weaves baskets. She even had a couple of hand crafted artist’s books on display. (website?)
            Much to my pleasure, I ran into Steven Eye and had a chance to chat with him about the East Hive and about the art scene in general in Tucson. It’s quite clear that Steven has devoted himself for many years to helping the artists of Tucson to thrive and to create art despite the constant challenges we all face. Thank you, Steven!  www.solarculture.org/
            You can keep up with the East Hive on Facebook here:  www.facebook.com/EastHiveTucson
            Here’s how you find the East Hive. The complex is located quite close to the Park Place Mall. So go east on Broadway to just past the mall, then south on S. Wilmot to East 14th Street. Turn right (west) onto 14th and go half a block to find the Hive complex on your left (south side). If you miss E. 14th, go to the next turn to the west, Timrod Street. Understand that despite the address of 326 S. Wilmot, the East Hive doesn’t actually open directly onto Wilmot.
            Go by and visit! 

Today is Veterans Day, an American federal holiday set aside to honor those persons who have served in the U.S. Armed Forces. Other countries have their own similar holidays. For example, today is Remembrance Day in Canada.
 
In my lifetime, I’ve seen American soldiers sent off to several wars, beginning with the Vietnam War and continuing up to the current Afghanistan conflict. My own experience with veterans began with my father who served in World War II and the Korean War. I’ve known several Vietnam veterans, one of whom suffers to this day with the effects, both physical and psychological, from his service in the jungles of Vietnam. I frequently meet and talk with veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars. Veterans are my neighbors, my fellow dog-walkers, and my fellow writers and artists.
 
Not much has changed over time. The wars go on, and the suffering continues. Too many soldiers are killed. Others come home with debilitating physical injuries. Psychological injuries are a big part of the damage of war as well. Early on, the psychological injuries were called “shell shock,” then later came to be known as “combat fatigue.” Now we use the terms PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder), and “combat stress injuries.”  The U.S. Army calls it “Combat Stress Reaction.”
 
My own relationship to war, in addition to knowing war survivors, has been to be a protestor and resistor of war. In my own small way, I’m one of those people who attempts to bring about those changes that will lead to peace, not war.
 
My latest Letty Valdez Mystery, Daemon Waters, is dedicated to our veterans. Daemon Waters is my attempt to encourage readers to think about the effects of warfare on soldiers. Most importantly, my hope is that we will all see the need to provide our warriors with the support and assistance they require to deal with the effects of war. That means good health care, both physical and mental, and job opportunities when they leave the Armed Forces.
 
So today, I say to our veterans, thank you for your service to our country. May you come home from war safe and sound in mind and body. May we all work to create those conditions that lead to peace.
 
“It isn’t enough to talk about peace. One must believe in it. And it isn’t enough to believe in it. One must work at it.” --Eleanor Roosevelt
​

​I met Lois Winston through our mutual membership in Sisters in Crime. Lois is an award winning. USA Today-best-selling author who writes in several fiction genres, in nonfiction and also children’s literature. She writes terrific mysteries and even better, they are mysteries that will make you laugh. Lois is also a person who has been very helpful to other writers. For that, we all thank her.
 
Lois, you are a prolific indie writer working in several fiction genres. You came to writing from a background as a literary agent. What make you decide to cross over the bridge from the publishing industry and start writing?
 
Actually, it was the other way around. The agency that represented me invited me to join them as an agent after learning that I had helped several friends get published by polishing their proposals. I began my agency career reading through the slush pile and offering editorial input to some of the agency’s other clients as well as writers they were considering representing. Eventually, I graduated to having my own list of clients. All the while, I continued with both my design career and writing my own books. I’m now semi-retired, concentrating only on writing more books.
 
Your Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mysteries series draws readers in for a number of reasons. One is the humor we find in your cozy mystery series. Anastasia has been described by Kirkus Reviews as “North Jersey’s more mature answer to Stephanie Plum.” We know Stephanie Plum books by Janet Evanovich are often very funny. Do you find humor difficult or easy to write? What sources do you draw on to make things funny for your readers?
 
No one was more surprised than I when I discovered I could write humor. I’m someone who has botched up the punch line of every joke I’ve ever attempted to tell—if I can even remember the joke in the first place! But it turns out when it’s just me and my computer, the humor flows through my fingertips onto the screen.
 
As with most of my plots and characters, the source for my humor comes from what I see and read in the news. My humor is more cerebral than pratfall or slapstick and sometimes leans towards sarcasm, but it’s never nasty. I believe being a Jersey Girl has molded much of my outlook on life. When you live in New Jersey, you experience irony on a daily basis—like my grandfather, in law enforcement in North Jersey, while his brother was a bootlegger in South Jersey.
 
I read your first Anastasia mystery, Assault with a Deadly Glue Gun. While I did laugh out loud while reading, I was struck also with how humor helped the protagonist Anastasia deal with significant trauma (a husband who managed to ruin the family finances before dying suddenly). Is humor a consistent way for your characters to deal with life’s challenges?
 
It is—for both my characters and me. I learned a long time ago that sometimes you can either laugh or cry, and you’ll feel much better if you choose to laugh. Laughing releases endorphins, and that makes us feel better. So I try to find the humor, both for my characters and myself, in as many situations as possible. Even when I was writing dark romantic suspense, I tried to inject a bit of humor into some of the dialogue and deep point of view to relieve the tension, make my characters more human, and give the reader a break from the darkness.

​Anastasia is a magazine crafts editor. You are an award-winning craft and needlework designer. Each of the Anastasia mysteries has a craft design included at the end of the book. Tell us a little more about those designs. What kind of designs do readers find in your books?
 
Each book contains several designs. Unlike other crafting cozies that feature an amateur sleuth who works in one particular craft, because Anastasia is a crafts editor, I decided my series would feature different crafts from book to book. The designs always have some connection to the plot. I choose crafts where I can write directions that don’t require patterns, which would be problematic for ebooks and paperbacks. Also, all of the crafts I feature are easy enough for even the most novice of crafters. I don’t want anyone to feel intimidated by the projects.
 
Assault With a Deadly Glue Gun features bridal crafts and crafts for a Fourth of July picnic or barbeque, including bridal tennis shoes, birdseed roses, recycled jeans placemats, clay pot candles, and a decoupaged wooden flag tray.
 
Mop dolls are featured prominently in Death By Killer Mop Doll, so I included a bunny mop doll project and a string doll angel ornament.
 
In Revenge of the Crafty Corpse the murder victim was a crafter who often worked with fabric yo-yos. Along with yo-yo instructions and stitching tips, there are directions for embellishing a sweater with yo-yos and making a yo-yo doll and four yo-yo Christmas ornaments.
 
Decoupage Can Be Deadly includes basic decoupage directions and tips along with instructions for Potichomanie decoupage, illuminated decoupage, embossed decoupage, and Repoussé decoupage.
 
A Stitch to Die For offers instructions for two knit and two crocheted baby blankets.
 
I include scrapbooking tips in Scrapbook of Murder, which centers around an old scrapbook the daughter of a murder victim discovers while she’s clearing out her mother’s attic.
 
In Drop Dead Ornaments Anastasia’s son and his classmates craft glass ball ornaments to sell at the town’s annual crafts show to raise money for the local food pantry. The book contains a variety of different glass ball ornament crafts.
 
Finally, in Handmade Ho-Ho Homicide, my newest release, I showcase a variety of Christmas crafts made by recycling greeting cards, including 3-D ornaments, gift bags, a triangular flag garland, a wreath, and a wall-hanging photo frame.

Many authors have a blog. You are unusual in that you turned your blog over to Anastasia. She interviews other writers, provides readers with great recipes, and writes about crafts, too.  What made you decide to turn your blog into a place to find all these goodies?
I didn’t have a blog until my agent sold the Anastasia series. My publisher wanted to know what I planned to do in the way of social media. I truly detest Facebook, but I bit the proverbial bullet and set up an account. Within five minutes I was bombarded with friend requests from creepy dudes in Third World nations. I immediately deleted the account and decided to create a blog instead.
 
Looking around at other author blogs, I realized most were about writing and geared toward fellow authors. I wanted to attract readers. So I set up the blog to be the online home of the magazine where Anastasia and her fellow editors work. I try to feature posts about topics you might find in any women’s magazine. So even when I have guest authors, which I do quite frequently, I ask them to write posts on topics that would appeal to a wide variety of readers. For instance, if I’m hosting an author who is a nurse in her day job and writes medical mysteries, I’ll ask her to write something health-related. If a book takes place in a real locale that could be a vacation destination, I’ll ask the author to write about the setting for her book. If an amateur sleuth runs a bakery or catering business, I’ll ask the author to supply a recipe.
 
Tell us about your new release, Handmade Ho-Ho Homicide (An Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mystery Book 8).
 
Two and a half weeks ago magazine crafts editor Anastasia Pollack arrived home to find Ira Pollack, her half-brother-in-law, had blinged out her home with enough Christmas lights to rival Rockefeller Center. Now he’s crammed her small yard with enormous cavorting inflatable characters. She and photojournalist boyfriend and possible spy Zack Barnes pack up the unwanted lawn decorations to return to Ira. They arrive to find his yard the scene of an over-the-top Christmas extravaganza. His neighbors are not happy with the animatronics, laser light show, and blaring music creating traffic jams on their normally quiet street. One of them expresses his displeasure with his fists before running off.
 
In the excitement, the deflated lawn ornaments are never returned to Ira. The next morning Anastasia once again heads to his house before work to drop them off. When she arrives, she discovers Ira’s attacker dead in Santa’s sleigh. Ira becomes the prime suspect in the man’s murder and begs Anastasia to help clear his name. But Anastasia has promised her sons she’ll keep her nose out of police business. What’s a reluctant amateur sleuth to do?
 
Buy Links:
Amazon 
Kobo
Barnes & Noble
iTunes
 
What do you do for fun when you aren’t writing and publishing your books?
 
I love the theater. I’m lucky enough to live a short commute from Broadway and know the secret to scoring really cheap theater tickets to many productions ahead of time and without waiting in line for hours at the TKTS booth. So I go to as many shows on and off Broadway as possible. I would have loved a career on the Broadway stage, but I have a tin ear and two left feet—a fact reinforced when years ago my two-year-old said, “Mommy, please don’t sing. You’re hurting my ears!”
 
To learn more, go to Lois Winston’s website here:  https://www.loiswinston.com/
and Anastasia Pollack’s blog here: www.anastasiapollack.blogspot.com
 
Link to my review of Lois’s first book, Assault with a Deadly Glue Gun, here:  https://www.bookbub.com/reviews/2555461940
 
Extra: Anastasia interviewed Letty Valdez (my Letty Valdez Mysteries) here:
https://anastasiapollack.blogspot.com/2018/08/book-club-friday-interview-with-mystery.html

Since the fall of 2015 when Tucson Pima Arts Council (TPAC) experienced a severe reduction in funding for the Tucson Fall Open Studios Tour, I’ve been writing blog posts about both the fall and spring tours. If you’ve kept up with this, you know that a couple of very vibrant arts groups popped up to fill in the gap in response to TPAC’s funding loss. They are Heart of Tucson Art (mid-town Tucson) and Art Trails (west Tucson). Up until that time, TPAC’s studio tour had been scheduled for only one weekend. The new arts groups divided the city into sectors and hosted tours on four different weekends.
 
Much to my distress, Southern Arizona Arts and Culture Alliance (SAACA) barged in, took over the tour in the fall of 2016 (or was subcontracted by TPAC - depending on your viewpoint). SAACA made a terrible mess of things. The mess was so bad that after one try with SAACA in 2016, I personally boycotted SAACA’s tour. I haven’t participated since then. I’m not the only artist to make the same decision.
 
Things have changed, and apparently for the better.
 
TPAC reorganized since losing open studios’ tour funding in 2015. TPAC is now known as Arts Foundation for Tucson and Southern Arizona (Arts Foundation). Now for the first time in several years, Arts Foundation is running the fall studio tour again. The tour is being called Open Studio Tours with no reference to the city of Tucson. Unlike SAACA’s tour which included Benson, Tubac, and any place in between here and the Mexican border, the Arts Foundation tour is a more reasonable size, stretching from Catalina in the north to the southern edge of Tucson.
 
A persistent concern for many years among artists who do not live downtown has been that the wide area covered by the tour in only one weekend had the effect of funneling tour visitors to downtown studios. Visitors were able to see more art in a short period of time by going downtown. Artists who lived elsewhere were out of luck, despite paying the same tour fees as downtown artists. Heart of Tucson Art (HotArt) and Art Trails were direct results of this bias toward downtown.
​

Why Authors Need Book Reviews

Reviews are vitally important for writers because reviews give some desperately needed attention to a book and to an author that otherwise is hard to come by. Reviews are especially important for indie writers who are in danger of getting lost in the ocean of books published every year. What it gets down to is this: who is going to read a writer’s book if they’ve never heard of it?
 
Researchers have learned that readers typically choose a book by these three factors: 1) the reader previously read a book by the same author and liked it; 2) a friend recommended a book to the reader; and 3) the reader liked the cover of the book. Reviews don’t really sell books. They are primarily useful to let readers know that the book exists and is available to be read.
 
Nicholas Erik, a writer of science fiction and a book marketing specialist tells us that the value of book reviews are primarily to provide what he calls “social proof.” That is, if the reader looks at a book on Amazon or Goodreads or one of the other sites, the reader is probably going to be less impressed by a book that has no reviews or only two or three. If the book has twenty reviews with four or five stars, the reader is more likely to take a chance on it. Second, those books with reviews qualify for “promo sites” which promote a book. A listing on a promo site, chief among them Bookbub, is much more likely to lead to sales. But many promo sites require that social proof first.
 
The third way that a review is helpful to an author is by providing feedback that the author can use to improve his/her writing. This is the greatest help of all. But this assumes the reviewer knows what s/he is doing, even when the review is very brief.  Let’s look at this more closely.
 
What Makes a Good Review?
 
I took a two-semester course in arts criticism when I was an undergrad student. The professor was a filmmaker so we talked a lot about films, but books and art were subjects, too. My professor gave us three guidelines on how to write arts criticism.
 
1. What is the author or artist’s message or theme? 2) How well does the artist convey the message? 3) Is the message worth conveying?
 
Taking each one in turn, first, what is the author’s message or theme? A fiction book is usually categorized in a particular genre such as mystery, action-thriller, romance, sci-fi, paranormal or the more ambiguous term of “literary.” It’s up to the reader to determine what the message or theme of the book is. Perhaps we’re looking at a cozy mystery in which the author describes a clever and resourceful amateur woman sleuth who solves crimes in her small town (think Miss Marple) or a young man who discovers that he is a brave and determined warrior destined to save a revolutionary movement against an evil galactic empire. (Luke Skywalker).
 
Readers figure out what’s going on and then judge the book by how well this message or theme is carried out by the writer. The mistake many reviewers make is approaching the work with a preconceived notion of what should or should not be in the book, and then judging it harshly by these preconceived notions rather than judging it for what it is and on its own merit.
 
For example, if the reader loves cozy mysteries with a cat in them, a mystery book with a dog in it could be subjected to a negative review, not on the merits of the book, but on the fact that there’s no cat in the book! My advice is to find a book that includes a cat rather than trashing an otherwise good book because it has a dog in it.
 
I would never criticize a sci-fi thriller because there is no romance in it. I wouldn't criticize a romance for failing to have space opera battles. I don't criticize a mystery because I have the preconceived notion that all mysteries MUST be Raymond Chandler-style noir detective stories, If they are not noir, then they are no good. I look at mystery fiction in all its subgenres and start where the book starts. In other words, I look at the writer's message or theme, not my preconceived notion of what it's supposed to be. I wrote a blog, “Mystery Genres and the Elements of Fiction,” that addresses this issue. (https://www.cjshane.com/blog/mystery-genres-and-the-elements-of-fiction)
 
Here’s another example of this kind of faulty review. One of my reviewers said at the outset that the reviewer doesn’t like books written in the third person. My book is in the third person. This reviewer also complained about one place in the book where there was point-of-view switch (intentional on my part). The reviewer did not mention plot, characterization, setting, themes, etc. Only voice and point of view were mentioned. I did not find this review helpful because the reviewer’s criticisms were entirely subjective.
 
Second, how well does the author convey the message?  This is actually the easiest one, in my opinion. If you are reading a suspense-thriller and find yourself falling asleep, then the writer probably didn’t do a very good job of creating suspense. If you are reading a romance and you find yourself disliking the characters and hoping they can escape each other, then that’s not very romantic, is it? What it gets down to is this. Are you enjoying reading this book? Why? or why not?
 
Third, is the message worth conveying?  This is the trickiest guideline because the reader gets to decide what is worth conveying and that can be very subjective. It’s really easy to project your own notion of “unworthy” onto a work that could very well be considered “worthy” by other readers.
 
Recently I encountered a reader who disliked some passages of a steamy romance, then declared, “We shouldn’t have to be subjected that kind of stuff.” My answer to this is: YOU don’t have to subject yourself that kind of stuff. If you don’t like steamy, don’t read it! Keep in mind, though, that other readers love steamy.
 
The only time I refused to review a book, a crime thriller, on the basis of an unworthy message was because it had lengthy (20 pages or more) descriptions of the violent torture of women. The detailed descriptions went into how a serial killer abducted women, caged them in a barn, took them out individually, raped and dismembered each one while still alive and while the others were forced to watch. I sent a WTF? message to the writer. His answer was, “There are people doing that kind of thing.” Yes, I know! But do we want a “how-to” manual on it in a work of fiction? No. That kind of detailed description of a crime is often called “torture porn.” I don’t consider it a worthy way of treating that type of crime in fiction.
 
My first Letty Valdez Mystery, Desert Jade, took up the issue of sex trafficking and smuggling across the U.S.-Mexico border. There were no explicit descriptions of these crimes which do exist in the real world, but which need no detailed, how-to instructions on the suffering involved.
 
A good review can be very helpful. I am grateful to those reviewers who complained about my failure to follow up and keep the reader informed about what happened to Esperanza in Desert Jade. She was introduced early in the book, people fell in love with her, and they were concerned about her welfare. They rightfully criticized me because I didn’t tell readers what happened to her until near the end of the book. Now, that’s good criticism. I won’t make that mistake again!
 
My message to, dear Reader, is this: Please give your author and his/her book the favor of your review. Just a couple of sentences will do. Post it on your favorite vendor’s site (Amazon, B&N, iBooks, etc.) or on your favorite reader-oriented website like Goodreads and Bookbub. You can help another reader discover what you discovered and enjoy a new book. You can help a writer to keep his/her fictional world alive and afloat in the ocean of books.

Advice for artists, and especially for writers, makes it clear that “platform building” is an important factor in success. Success here is defined as getting some notice of your work, with the hope that this will lead to sales of your books or art.  Building a platform includes a constant presence and making frequent posts on social media.
 
I have my favorite social media sites. Pinterest is probably my favorite for art and Goodreads or maybe Bookbub for books. For years, I was on Google +. I was one of the beta users of G+, and like most G+ users, we were very unhappy when Google decided to close this social media. We refer to ourselves as G+ refugees. I liked G+ because it was possible to avoid a lot of the political and social warfare we see on social media these days. Facebook is especially bad for that although there have been some efforts recently to reduce the combative environment.  I was friends with a lot of interesting people on G+, primarily writers and artists from all over the world. I miss Google+.
 
So a few months ago, I started an account at Twitter. It turns out that it’s very possible to engage in cultural warfare on Twitter, too, if so inclined. I’ve managed to avoid that so far. I noticed right away that Twitter, like most social media, is like a digital bubble. You get inside the bubble and trade posts with people who think the same way you do.
 
Much to my delight, I found that Twitter is also a way to connect with people I would not otherwise be aware of. Prime among these are scientists, in particular, environmental scientists. Consequently, I “follow” many of these scientists and also science-oriented organizations such as the Center for Biological Diversity based in Tucson.
 
Who are the other Twitter posters I decided to follow?  Well, the artists and writers, of course. I also follow certain individuals and groups devoted to human rights and social justice. In recent months, that has been people and organizations attempting to alleviate the suffering on the U.S.-Mexico border.
 
So if you are a person who has a deep interest in these subjects: environmental science, art, books, and human rights/social justice, then follow me on Twitter here: @CJShaneArtBooks
​

Jerry Cagle is a former cytologist, a profession that refers to the “microscopic interpretation of cells to detect cancer and other abnormalities.” (Wikipedia) He tells us that he decided rather abruptly late in his career to change professions and become a fine art photographer. He now refers to himself as a visual storyteller, and he explains the connection between his art and science.  See more of his work at:
https://limbicsystemphotoworks.zenfolio.com/

Jerry, what motivated you to move from a hard science profession, cytotechnology? And to do so “abruptly,” as you have said?  [click on images to enlarge]

​ 
I was at a dead-end in my profession; I was burnt out and had been passed over for promotion to a supervisory position the year before. A new manager from the lab in Phoenix had been brought in; there was a marked shift in the culture of the workplace, and I was having difficulty adapting to the new, more corporate environment. I hadn’t actually been planning to retire, but, after discussing the situation with my wife, I gave my two- weeks notice.
 
We had recently returned from a backpacking trip to the Escalante in Southern Utah, and I saw something in a number of the photos I had made with my little point and shoot camera that stirred my interest. I purchased the cheapest DSLR Nikon made and began taking pictures of anything and everything. I thought that I might, through the sale of my work, supplement my retirement income. That was a little over six years ago. I have experienced a fair amount of success with my work. I regularly exhibit locally, and last year I had work included in one national and one international competition. It turns out that my assumptions regarding the fiscal potential were, shall we say, naïve, and my long-suffering wife has become an unwitting patron of the arts.
 
Cytology is a highly visual profession, and much of the diagnostic process takes place on a subconscious level. When I was investigating the field, prior to enrolling in the university, I spoke with a practicing cytologist, and she asked me if I was an artist. I thought this a peculiar question. She remarked that artists tended to do very well in cytology. One of the nine sister muses, Urania, created astronomy, another visual science, so, perhaps, it isn’t such a leap as it might first appear.
 
Your Limbic System Photoworks refers to the limbic system in animals which you define as “a collection of structures in the brain that are the primary locus of emotional life and the formation of memories.”  Why do you see emotions and memory as the foundation of your artwork? Do you refer to emotions and memory in the viewers of your artwork or to your own emotions and memories, or both?
 
My wife came up with the idea of calling the business Limbic System Photoworks, both as a nod to my background in the sciences and as a way of bridging that and this new adventure I was embarking on. I thought it was brilliant! It was such an eloquent way of expressing the connection between science and art.
 
My goal in my nature work is, first and foremost, to elicit a strong emotional response from the viewer For what it’s worth, I consider myself as not just the creator, but, also, one of the viewers. But more to your question – I am referring to both my own and others’ responses. In my landscape and nature images the response I am usually seeking is a “positive” one – awe, contentment, peace, a sense that the world is a beautiful, friendly, and welcoming place, but other times I like to do something a little ominous, unsettling – impending storms and other extreme environments, processes of decay and mortality. In my more conceptual bodies of work, my intent is to pose questions or create situations that may make some viewers a bit uncomfortable, to create a degree of “psychological tension”. In that work I explore questions dealing, sometimes directly, other times obliquely, with religious beliefs, spirituality, mortality, fear, et. al.
 
The memory aspect relates loosely to the Jungian concept of the “collective unconscious” and “ancestral memory”. I admit to exercising artistic license in this concept. Photography is particularly well suited to bridging an individual’s personal experience with the experience of others, both in the present and across the arc of human history. The collective unconscious deals in archetypes and symbolism. Jung described it as encompassing “the soul of humanity at large”. Someone with no direct experience of wild natural environments, someone who has never ventured outside the confines of the city, can, nevertheless, be stirred by images that depict places, where the hand of man is not readily apparent. These places call out to us and draw us in on a deep level. 

​You work in color, black-and-white, and monochromatic sepia tones. How do you decide which palette to use? And does this choice have a role in eliciting emotion and memory?
 
At the risk of being branded as a little soft around the edges, I will say that I don’t make the decision as to what palette I use – the work tells me. Sometimes I create multiple iterations - color and straight black & white or toned monochromes, or all three. There is an old maxim in photography that holds the concept of “previsualization”, i.e.  knowing exactly what the finished image will look like prior to releasing the shutter, as the consummate expression of skill and artistry. It is held up as a sign of personal integrity (or lack thereof). Some would consider letting the work speak for itself in that way as akin to heresy, but I see it as an organic, evolutionary process. I don’t always know exactly what my motivation is when I release the shutter; there is something at work on a subconscious level that sometimes only reveals itself during subsequent review.
 
Regarding choice of color vs monochrome, each impacts how an image works on us in a variety of ways. Monochrome work abstracts an image and sepia tones evoke the past, an amorphous dream-like state. Color can abstract to a degree as well.  The limitations are essentially endless with digital work. Photography affords the luxury of being able to create, with relative ease, variations on a theme, whether in choice of palette or other aspects, e.g. dodging and burning (selectively lightening and darkening specific areas of the image), contrast, saturation/desaturation, etc. It’s a very powerful tool. Someone who thinks that photography is just a matter of pushing a button obviously hasn’t experienced the “plague of choices” you face in post-production work.
 
I am considering changing, somewhat in jest, the tagline on my website from “I don’t photograph what is in front of me. I photograph what is inside of me.” to “I hate landscape photography, but I can’t stop doing it.”
 
Your work is deeply informed by the American Southwest and the Sonoran Desert in particular. Is there any other place in the world that you would really like to photograph? And if so, why?
 
 
Yes. Definitely. The American South. I am enamored of The South. I spent my formative years there, and, even though I haven’t lived there in more than 25 years, I still identify as a Southerner. Despite the misconceptions, and, yes, uncomfortable truths that accompany that label, the fact is that the South, even with its issues of race, chauvinism, provincialism, and history of violent oppression, is a romantically and visually (have you ever seen the serviceberry blooming in the otherwise bare springtime woods?) rich and diverse region; culturally, socially, intellectually, and demographically. We of the South have a strong literary tradition - Donald Harington, Faulkner, Harper Lee, Eudora Welty, Foote, and W.B. DuBois.  “Southern Art” is an admittedly ill-defined genre, if, indeed, such a thing actually exists. There are Southern photographers whose work deals with the South directly and metaphorically – Greg Banks, Sally Mann, Keith Carter, Clarence John Laughlin, Gordon Parks. Painters from the South whose work holds together stylistically or thematically as “Southern” are harder to find. Southern music is legion and readily identifiable, in all its aspects, as a regional entity.
I would love to photograph in Savannah, Georgia, and I have been salivating over the possibility of being selected to participate in the artist-in-residence program in Hot Springs National Park (in Arkansas), but due to funding shortages it has been placed on moratorium for the past couple of years.
 
What do you think are the major challenges you and other artists in southern Arizona face today?
 
The availability of studio space is going to be reduced as the gentrification of downtown accelerates. Thirty artists on Toole Avenue were recently displaced when their studios were removed to accommodate a new restaurant. That will make it even harder for full-time artists to support themselves from their work.

Melody Sears is a Tucson-based pastel artist. She says in her artist’s statement:  “Most of my work depicts the desert landscapes around me because I am constantly moved by the effects of the light, the shapes and the colors I see here in Arizona and New Mexico. I do not take what I see for granted. I know things will change; I’ve experienced those changes firsthand. Wildfires, floods, monsoon rains, years of drought, years of plenty—I’ve lived through all of these. And each new season, each weather event, seems to remake the world again…and inspire new paintings!” See more of Melody’s artwork at https://melodysearsart.com/
[click on images to enlarge]
​

Melody, why did you choose soft pastel to express the landscape?  In your view, what are the advantages of soft pastel over other mediums?
 
Pastel painting for me is a very personal, tactile experience. Unlike mediums that are applied with a brush, I hold pastel sticks with my thumb and one or two fingers so it almost feels like the color emanates directly from my hand—there is no distance between me and the painting.
 
Pastels are pure ground pigments held together with just a tiny bit of binder so in my eye they are color in its purest sense, undiluted by oils or water. The tiny ground-up particles reflect light and when applied to a sanded paper can create a subtle sparkle—a liveliness—that other mediums don’t share. Pastel manufacturers today have created hundreds of colors (thousands, more like) in various hardnesses suitable for techniques ranging from pure line drawings to rich painterly effects. Thus they are versatile. And since they require no drying time they are very practical, for I can start and stop on a painting as I choose.
 
The softest pastels have a creaminess that is simply delicious (metaphorically) to paint with. I can lay in the shape of a mountain with its deeper shadow colors then grab a lighter soft pastel representing the color from a lowering sun as its light hits some peaks and with a few strokes I’ve shaped and highlighted those peaks. The range of colors available, the differing hardnesses of various pastel brands, and the variety of marks I can make using pastels as if they were pencils or brushes make it a pleasure for me to express light, shadows and contours of the landscape with this medium.
  
Tell us about your experiences of plein air painting. Is it as pleasurable as working in the studio? more pleasurable? How do you deal with the challenges of plein air painting?
 
Plein air painting is simply a blast. To be outdoors trying to capture a beautiful view in a short amount of time is a daunting challenge—I have two hours or less to paint because the movement of the sun drastically changes the shadow shapes, colors and mood of any scene. When it works and I’ve accomplished what I hoped to, there is nothing quite like the exhilaration I feel. When it doesn’t work I’ve still had a great time being out in nature doing something I love.
 
Dealing with the challenges of plein air painting requires just a bit of advance planning. I have a hat, sunscreen, bug spray, plenty of water, a snack, a neckerchief to keep gnats out of my ears when necessary or to wet and wrap around my neck in hot weather, extra pastel paper, paper towels, a camera, my box of pastels, my easel attachment and tripod. I worked outside alone for 15 years without a cell phone or buddy. I now have a phone which doubles as a camera but I much prefer to paint alone and have never had a problem being on my own.
 
The one thing I do fret about is wind, having dealt with two experiences when my easel was knocked over by wind gusts. Imagine trying to find 150+ pieces of pastel, many of them shattered by the fall, in a patch of thick grass or rolling down a hill. Not fun!
 
Working in my studio is a more measured yet equally joyful and satisfying experience. Studio work for me is accompanied by a lot of time stepping back and letting my eyes and heart drift around the painting, feeling it out. I rarely work directly from smaller sketches or photographs to create larger versions of the same subject. Instead I try to discover more in a painting than I first imagined it to be, often adding elements from memory or by consulting my library of reference photos.

our website has two major collections of work. First, desert landscape and sky, and second, desert waters. Do you have a favorite location or locations that you find yourself returning to again and again to paint?
 
The deserts of Arizona and New Mexico have been my home for many decades. I feel like I understand these deserts at some personal, elemental level, and I paint them in order to remember them. If I could paint only one subject it would have to be desert waters, for water in the desert is such a precious gift. But then I would be grief-stricken if I couldn’t also paint rocks! Happily I can devote equal time to both and some of the paintings I enjoy most are a combination of landscapes and water.
 
As for favorite locations to paint, for eleven years in New Mexico I painted two different creeks during all seasons and in all conditions, including dry. I will continue to do so with regular trips back to that area. In Arizona my favorite spot is Catalina State Park, where the mountains continually inspire me and I can often find water to paint. I’ve recently moved back to Tucson from New Mexico and am reacquainting myself with favorite painting locales from years ago.
 
 
What do you think are the major challenges you and other artists in southern Arizona face today?
 
Major challenges for me, as for most artists, include finding collectors to buy my paintings. There are fewer and fewer traditional brick and mortar art galleries in operation, so artists are forced to spend a lot of their productive time finding other ways to promote and sell their artwork. I submit my work to several online showcases and apply to many local and national juried exhibitions, showing with several each year.
 
The internet can be a curse and a blessing both. Artists like myself now use websites and newsletters to connect with a wider audience, and some promote themselves via Facebook, Instagram, and other internet venues. Nevertheless, it seems that younger generations, hopefully our future art collectors, are less interested in original fine art than in acquiring posters and prints from online sources. I know this is reasonable given many are just starting out in life. But I fear that a lack of art education, in both the history of art and the doing of art, will result in a population that has no understanding or appreciation of the intrinsic value of original art, which saddens me.

Writers of fiction, especially genre fiction, will refer to themselves as either “pantsers” or “plotters.”  A pantser writes by the seat-of-his/her-pants. These writers just go for it based on an idea that they have. Plotters, on the other hand, are careful planners and will make outlines and detailed notes before writing a single word. Most writers say that they are a combination of both types.
 
When I started my Letty Valdez Mysteries series with Desert Jade, I was more of a pantser. I had a general idea of what was going to happen and when. I started with the crime. That is also true of Dragon’s Revenge. I started with the idea that my dragon was going to be the victim of a crime, primarily because of racism in late 19th century Arizona Territory. And I knew that my dragon would get his revenge in the end.
​
My latest Letty mystery, Daemon Waters, is different. I started as usual with a crime in mind. Then specific scenes started to appear, but not in any kind of order. The pantser approach just wasn’t going to work. I ended up putting the scenes on little slips of paper, then ordering the slips in the order that chapters would appear. The slips of paper method made it possible to reorder the chapters more easily. Then I wrote an expanded outline of the book with extensive comments about what would go in each chapter. Much to my surprise, the crime I thought I was writing about transformed itself into something new and more complicated.
 
The other issue with this book has nothing to do with pantsers and plotters. I am dealing with a character who is trying to take over and make the book about….well, I better not say.  The character is that fellow who appeared at the end of Dragon’s Revenge – the one that Teddy the black lab found in a tree.
 
So it’s late February. I don’t expect Daemon Waters to be finished and ready to publish until the summer. Writing takes a while.
 
How about you? Are you a writer? (of anything, not just genre fiction). What’s your style of writing? Are you a visual artist? Do you plan your artwork in advance (plotter) or just go for it and start throwing paint on canvas? (pantser).  Feel free to comment. 

​I was very pleased to see a four page spread in the January issue of Zócalo magazine about the Art Trails Spring Open Studio Tour, Saturday and Sunday, February 2-3. The Zócalo ad has an excellent map of studio locations on the tour which covers the northwest and west sides of Tucson stretching from Oro Valley to Tucson Estates. We also see listings of the artists and photos of their work. You can get the same information on Art Trail’s website. https://www.arttrails.org/
 
Also good to know is that Art Trails has survived the assault on local arts groups. By “local artists’ groups,” I refer to Art Trails and Heart of Tucson Art (HotArt). The assault has come from arts administrators in SAACA (Southern Arizona Arts and Culture Alliance) and Arts Foundation of Tucson and Southern Arizona. Despite a clear promise to support these groups, SAACA instead demanded obsequious compliance and when SAACA didn’t get this compliance in the fall of 2016, SAACA set up its own fall studio tour. Rather that support, SAACA completely undermined Art Trails and HotArt.

To repeat ad nauseam (I’ve written about this on the Editor’s Page of Sonoran Arts Network), here’s what is wrong with SAACA’s fall tour.
 
1. SAACA created a two weekend tour but stupidly divided the city into two parts: a northern, less populated part, and a southern highly-populated area in which both downtown and mid-town artists are lumped into one tour. To add insult to injury, SAACA extended the tour to all of southern Arizona (Bisbee and Tubac included!). Obviously there are too many studios to visit in this second weekend tour. In response, tour visitors go to clusters of studios where they can see as many studios as possible in a smaller area. This mainly means downtown. So mid-town artists got screwed despite paying the same fees as all other artists. That’s why a division north to south, not east to west, is needed. Art Trails takes the west and HotArt is in the east and mid-town.
 
2. Tour materials produced by SAACA are decidedly inferior. Last fall (2018), SAACA produced a map and guide to studios with no images of artwork and in print so tiny that a magnifying glass was needed to read it. Both Art Trails and HoT Art produced far better, colorful guides and maps. Unfortunately, we won’t see any decent fall tour guides and maps anymore because SAACA has completely taken control over the fall studio tour now. Art Trails and HotArt have been pushed out.
 
3. Ominously, Arts Foundation sent out a survey to artists asking them how much they’d be willing to pay to participate in the fall studio tour. The survey listed several levels of payment at more and more expensive levels. What the artists would get for all this money was not made clear at all. I won’t be a bit surprised to see artists being forced to pay higher and higher participation fees for various services of dubious quality.
 
5. The arts administrators don’t get what the purpose of a studio tour is. The purpose is to make it possible for artists to get as many visitors to their studios as possible. The purpose is not to brag to your fellow arts administrators that you signed up more artists than ever. It’s not about quantity. It’s about quality.
 
I wish the best of luck to Art Trails artists and also to Hot Art artists for its spring tour. You will need it. 

Introduction:
P.S. Meraux is a writer based in Georgia. Her Luminary series is the recipient of a Silver Readers’ Favorite Book Award.  Her most recent novel, Without Merit, received a Gold Readers’ Favorite Book Award. In this interview, P.S. uses the terms YA which refers to Young Adult, typically teenagers, and NA which refers to New Adult – readers who are older teens up to about age 30. As many of you know, I spent several years working as a college reference librarian. I’ve always been a fan of YA literature. Some of these books are the best written and well-worth a read, no matter how old you are!  
 
 
You describe yourself as a writer of YA (young adult) paranormal romance novels. What drew you to write for this age group? What’s the attraction of the paranormal to you and your readers?
 
            I stumbled into it actually. One day I read an interview that Stephanie Meyer's muse was an image from her sleep. Well, the green-eyed monster was upon me. My dreams are so predictably boring with topics like; Did I pay the phone bill? Was the chicken in the marinade? Or sometimes I go to the gym in my sleep -- nothing remotely inspiring as a vampire-werewolf-human love triangle.
            Several weeks went by with me being grouchy at my dreams for their lack of creative input. You may scoff at this but I really was. Then I awoke in the middle of the night with a full bladder, not only were the dreams not stepping up but drinking wine before bed didn't help either. Or did it?
            I had this image dancing behind my eyelids of an immortal, a witch and an animated candelabra rushing down this amorphous corridor that was being created as they went forward by the candelabra's lively attachment. I didn't understand where it came from. I couldn't recall seeing anything online, on my phone, on the big screen or small -- that could have been the root of it. I wondered where they were going? Why the rush? Why were these different character types in this cluster?
            I jotted a note to myself and went back to bed, wondering if more would be revealed in my sleep. It wasn't. Oddly enough, I didn't need the note. When I awoke I remembered the images in vivid detail. Over a morning cup of coffee. or perhaps half a dozen, I sat at my desk and found myself outlining the story of these characters. That initial image, while similar to one in Luminary, actually led me to reverse engineer this epic story. That 'dreamed image' is actually something in the last book in the series.
            I suspect that I write for YA and NA readers because that's where my mindset is. I might try my hand at a more mature story someday. I have an idea for a series, but I don't have the character firmly set up in my mind; how she speaks, what her motivation is, what ticks her off -- and I need to get that set so she'll be authentic.
            I think people like to believe in magic and the paranormal. Maybe it's not the bib-bidi-bob-bidi-boo kind, but unexplained things happen all the time. Running into that cute guy a second time on the subway, meeting a new friend who will talk straight to you-- just when you need it, or getting insight into how to write a better novel -- from strangers you meet online.  Sometimes the stars align and presto -- you get just what you need.
 
Do you have a favorite author in this genre? or a favorite author in another genre?
 
            Asking me that is like asking if I have a favorite pair of shoes. And if you'd ever seen my closet, your eyes would pop in absolute shock -- and you'd know that I have more than one pair. Much more.  I have eclectic tastes and like: Cassandra Clare, Richelle Mead, Lauren Kate, in addition to the above mentioned Stephanie Meyer -- all are great paranormal romance authors. I also read: J.K. Rowling, Suzanne Collins, Veronica Roth, J.R.R. Tolkien, Stephen King, J.R. Ward, Diana Gabaldon, Sara Donati, Agatha Christie, Laurie King, Robert Ludlum and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. 
 
Your most recent novel, Without Merit, is described as a “supernatural, mystery thriller.”  The teenage girl in the story wakes up in a hospital with near-total amnesia. What gave you the idea for this story?
 
            I was sitting in Gatwick International Airport (London) waiting to board a plane for home. I'd been in Scotland visiting my relatives and castle hopping. A guy sitting next to me was playing a Liam Neeson movie, "Unknown," on his iPad.  It's basically a derivative of the Jason Bourne series.  There are so many books about "amnesia victims searching for their identity" it's almost a trope by now.  
            I remember thinking, "What if the amnesia victim wasn't human?"  Suddenly a whole bunch of possibilities opened up for a story.  I pulled out a notebook (yes, I travel with one) and outlined the first book before I boarded the plane. 
            The protagonist in Without Merit starts out thinking that she's this ordinary teen without a memory or parents. And as she learns the disturbing details of Merit's life, she has to wrestle with acceptance because Merit is not a nice person.
 
Without Merit seems to be essentially about her search for self-identity. She’s looking for a lot more than just learning her name and where she came from. Do you think this is a central issue for most teens – trying to figure out who they really are?
 
            No matter your age, we all get bombarded with all kinds of messages every day from television, social media, magazines, coworkers, friends and family. This is especially true for kids and teens. It takes a while for each of us to figure out who we are, what we stand for, and how we want to live our lives. Until a person has all of that sorted out, it can be easy to be influenced by outside voices.  Some of those voices are benign; some have ulterior motives.
            I intentionally let the protagonist in Without Merit make some mistakes, believe in people who shouldn't be trusted, and have her ideas about people blow up in her face. It was my way of testing her mettle and making her real.  I wanted her to fail, fall and get back up, which she does. She learns that she's stronger than she knows.
 
Your ability to write suspenseful action scenes and to create a sense of mystery is very impressive.  What do you think is the key to creating suspense and making your readers want to keep turning pages?
 
            Wow, thanks for the compliment, I really appreciate that.  I read a lot of books! I think about what intrigues me in a story. 
            I'm not afraid of having a character go off in one direction -- the wrong one -- if I can use the action to drive the story forward later on. I've been told that I write with a great deal of detail -- this from readers who like my work. (Smile). 
            I find that if I make a sequence of events believable, the reader will be carried along with the main character and when something happens or is 'about to happen' that heightens the reader's response.  
            I invest in my characters' emotions; fear, hope, ambition. I've written chapters where I began weeping while I was typing out the story.  There are some particularly heart-tugging scenes in my book, Flare, the final book in the Luminary series.   
 
What are you working on now?
 
            To be honest, I am quite shocked that I've written eight books so far. I didn't know that I had that many words in me. Right now, I'm outlining the second book in the Vessel series. Without Merit was book one of what will be a two-book series.  And I'm writing my first vampire novel at the same time. It's weird to be doing both but the vampire's story is entrenched in my head and he won't some bugging me until I get it finished. Hopefully that will be done by the first of the year.
 
 
Extra:  What is the greatest joy of writing for you?
 
            There's something uniquely self-satisfying about writing a story. Whether you're looking at a blank sheet of paper or a blank document on a computer screen, the act of creating a new universe, a country setting or a single character on that flat surface and making that place, person or thing become real and three dimensional, is just so frigging cool! 
            Corralling all those words is like rounding up wild colts, who insist on bucking and jumping about. Then I strap on a saddle and allow the characters to take me for a ride as I figure out where the story goes. Maybe it's a commentary on the way my mind works (or perhaps doesn't) but I find it absorbing, fulfilling and invigorating at the same time. 
            If what I write makes someone laugh or cry or think, then all the better. I've done my job. Giddy Up.
 
Learn more about P.S. Meraux at https://psmeraux.blogspot.com/

 ​Reviews by readers are always fun for me as a writer to read, and sometimes they are very informative as well. Some reviews are unhelpful. Saying “Oh, I love this book” is nice but doesn’t tell me much. Why did you love it?  That’s what I want to know. One Australian reviewer gave my Letty Valdez Mystery, Desert Jade, only two stars. The unhelpful comment was, “I just couldn’t get into the characters.”  Okay. Why not? What does that mean?
 
Then occasionally a review comes along that requires me to do some serious thinking about what I am trying to do when I write fiction. What is the goal? I come from a background in nonfiction writing so perhaps that question arises naturally.
 
I’m under no illusion that I’m writing great literature. Mysteries are genre fiction. I had been thinking that I just want to tell a good story and provide some fun and some relief from the madness we see around us now. Recently I received a review from a fellow named Thomas Hiller (a pseudonym). Hiller gave me some great things to think about so I’m very appreciative of his review. I’ve had to rethink the question of what I’m trying to do when I write fiction.
 
Elements of Fiction
First, the elements of fiction are: character, plot, setting, point-of-view, theme, and style. Most of these are self-evident except maybe for point-of-view (is the story from the point of view of “I”, “you” or “he/she?).
 
Theme is worthy of consideration. Here are some quotes about what a theme is: “The theme is the main idea the writer of the poem or story wants the reader to understand and remember.” “Theme in fiction is rarely presented at all; it is abstracted from the details of character and action that compose the story. It provides a unifying point….” “The theme in a story is its underlying message, or 'big idea.' In other words, what critical belief about life is the author trying to convey …This belief, or idea, transcends cultural barriers. It is usually universal in nature.” An example is the children’s book Charlotte’s Web with its theme of friendship.
 
Mystery Subgenres:
The mystery-suspense genre I write in has several subgenres:
private investigator; cozy mysteries (the most popular); amateur sleuths; police procedurals; forensic, legal, medical and historical mysteries, culinary, animal mysteries (includes dogs, cats, zoo animals, etc.), culinary, thrillers including international spy thrillers, and romantic suspense. And there’s the “noir” mystery often associated with the hard-boiled dick/private investigator story.
 
Hiller made it clear from the beginning that he’s a noir fan, especially he looks to Raymond Chandler’s character Philip Marlow as a model of what a good mystery really is. Chandler wrote hard-boiled fiction which is defined as: “… a tough, unsentimental style of American crime writing that brought a new tone of earthy realism or naturalism to the field of detective fiction. Hard-boiled fiction used graphic sex and violence, vivid but often sordid urban backgrounds, and fast-paced, slangy dialogue.” The photo (above) shows Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall in the classic noir book, then film The Big Sleep.
 
Hiller was clear in his review that Desert Jade failed as a noir detective story. His comments emphasized plot as most important, and he was not impressed at a plot that he viewed as too slow and with too much exposition to satisfy him. Yet, he was rather taken by other elements in the story – particular the landscape and the characters. He described the interactions between two characters, Esperanza and Eduardo, as “touching and poetic.” For these aspects, he gave the book five stars which he averaged out with the three stars given for the detective story to come up with a four-star rating.  
 
I’m going to set aside the problematic business of approaching an artwork with a pre-set view of what a work is  supposed to be, rather than what it is. This is sort of like going to the art museum, looking at a Mark Rothko painting, and then complaining that it doesn’t look like a Renoir or Frido Kahlo.
 
The real value of Hiller’s review is to look at what he thought worked and why, not at what didn’t work.  After reading his review, I realized that I never intended to write an action-packed, plot-oriented story, much less one defined as noir starring a hard-boiled dick.
 
So what I am doing? Clearly Letty Valdez makes a living as a private investigator. She’s not hard-boiled and she’s not “iron woman.” Yes, she can take you down with her Chinese martial arts and she can use a gun if she has to. But she’s a vulnerable and even fragile at times – like most of us human beings.
 
Setting is a key factor in the Letty Valdez Mysteries. I’m an environmentalist. I believe we are deeply impacted by our physical environment. Desert dwellers think about water and heat, a big sky, a starry night, and critters like coyotes and rattlesnakes. Letty is a child of the desert. She’s at home in the Sonoran Desert and she will never live anywhere else.
 
Theme:
This turned out to be the biggest factor for me. So what are the themes that come across in Letty Valdez Mysteries? (I hope they come across because that’s what I seek as a writer.)

• The value of ethnic diversity: Letty is Chicana-Native American (Tohono O’odham). Our multiplicity of ethnic groups contribute greatly to American life and culture. Let’s don’t forget that.
• The value of family and friends: What would Letty do without her pals and her brothers and sister and her uncles? She’s got her posse and they’ll go to the wall for her, as she will for them.
• The struggles of the underclass and the challenges they work to overcome: I’m convinced that money-oriented class is the root of most American problems. Until the more affluent can see and respect the struggles and achievements of the poor, we’ll continue to have problems.
• War and the effects of war: Letty came home with Iraq with PTSD. She experienced more than any human being should have to experience. Our vets need our understanding and support. And we need to end the endless wars.

 
Hiller wrote: “It may be a somehow comforting surprise when you expect to read a frightening mystery, and it turns out a kind of poetic narration of good feelings.” I find this comment to be rather delightful. True, you won’t be in a constant state of fear in a Letty Valdez Mystery but I’m happy to report that a “poetic narration of good feelings” could very well happen instead!
 
An example: Several people have commented about being captivated by the Esperanza-Eduardo subplot. That’s partly because we’re seeing the initial stages of a romance. But more important, we come to understand that being a poverty-stricken 17 year-old migrant seeking a job so her little brothers and sisters can have shoes and enough to eat is a potential contributor to American life, not a threat. Esperanza is not a drug smuggler or a member of MS-13. She’s young, scared, lost in the desert, out of water, and here comes an angel on horseback named Eduardo who finds her and rescues her.
 
As a writer, I’d rather be remembered as “poetic and touching” than as “frightening,” hard-boiled, or action, action, action-oriented.
 
One more comment. Hiller wrote about Letty demonstrating “the unbreakable rule of detective’s incurable loneliness and personal grief.” Oops! Rules are made to be broken. Before these stories are completed, Letty will find some relief from her loneliness and personal grief. Of that, I am sure.
 
Thank you to Mr. Hiller for stimulating a productive line of contemplation.