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Writers at Work

I recently saw a post from one of my favorite writers and people, Jenny Lawson, @TheBloggess. She was show-casing her canine friend Dorothy Barker in a snood and sweater. https://twitter.com/TheBloggess/status/1481732100034281478?s=20

I was thus reminded of this incident with my own friend, Vinnie.

Vinnie, a senior black and tan Chihuahua possibly Min Pin mix, sporting a
Babe the Blue Ox Snood and white sweater, @zoosnoods, #zoosnoods

Vinnie is my adopted, senior Chihuahua, who can be cold on the sunniest day. I wanted to help him be more comfortable.

My attempts to help him – and in no way put off the work of writing – started something like this.

I knew Vinnie would like a sweater!
(Chihuahua in white sweater, sticking his tongue out.)

But he doesn’t have much hair on his head, and snoods are pretty adorable.

Vinnie joyfully trying on his snood headgear

Cute sweater.

Cute snood.

Of course they beg to be put together!

Full ensemble @zoosnoods, #zoosnoods

And lest people worry that he is confined to just one, white sweater . . .

Vinnie in his golden sweater
Christmas sweater from aunty Heather

And the look of delight that accompanies wearing a sweater with glitter balls on it

Is this an attempt to put off writing?

Is this another form of creativity?

Do animals look so cute dressed in clothes that it is inevitable that someone, somewhere, is this very moment putting pants on a chicken, or a sweater on a turtle? I just think we all need more cheer, more smiles, and looking at pictures of animals helps some of us get there.

If you’re a writer, feeling a little stuck, ask yourself when was the last time you took a break and looked at something that made you smile?

Vinnie, fashion icon, combining snood with Christmas sweater

Such dashing fashion sense. Yet, time to step away from the little dog for a while with our sweater collection, and return to our writing.

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Dr. Christy Oslund: Introduction

As a dyslexic, autistic etc. who wasn’t diagnosed until after graduate school, I’m owning that doctorate; it took a wicked large amount of work, pain, and perseverance. It is possible to overcome tremendous odds to reach a goal, something I like the young people I mentor and teach to remember. Some things are impossible – others are just really, really difficult.

I began writing as a child first and foremost to communicate. Language was often difficult and seldom captured what I was trying to say. I started by writing notes for my mother and leaving them on her bed, trying to explain things that had happened during the day. Then I wrote some stories, to imagine a world where things that I wanted to happen, did happen, even if they only happened for other people. Finally, I began to write books.

From the summer garden

My non-fiction was the first that was published and was directly related to what I live and breathe for my livelihood: disability support, services, and studies.

Succeeding as a Student with a Disability: https://us.jkp.com/products/succeeding-as-a-student-in-the-stem-fields-with-an-invisible-disability?_pos=2&_sid=f54ae7c3c&_ss=r

Supporting College and University Students with Disabilities: https://us.jkp.com/products/supporting-college-and-university-students-with-invisible-disabilities?_pos=1&_sid=f54ae7c3c&_ss=r

Disability Services and Disability Studies in Higher Ed: https://link.springer.com/book/10.1057/9781137502445

While I continued to write fiction off and on for family and friends, three strokes in a year put a damper on my writing for a while. After a couple of years of recovery, I went back to writing, gradually increasing the length of my projects. Then covid hit.

That’s when I decided to start killing people.

Houghton, Michigan. Remote. Isolated. Home to a fantastic STEM research university. A good place to off-victims, while continuing to work my day job.

And so I began writing what I am tentatively calling my Copper Country Mystery Series. Eventually, my investigators will have to branch out and investigate crime in other areas of Michigan and probably the northern-midwest. But we’re always going to come back to solve crime in the area we love.

I have a growing list of ways to do people in but if you have a location that you think is perfect for a crime, or a way of doing someone in that you’ve always wanted to see explored, or a thinly disguised person you’d like to see at least fictionally get theirs, please pass it on!

Adopted by a writer: talk about a reason to kill