IWSG: Camping & the Tick Tock Anthology

Hello and Happy April! Today is the April meeting of The Insecure Writer's Support Group. The group was founded by our Ninja Captain Alex J. Cavanaugh. To view list members and this month's co-hosts, visit the IWSG page here.

This month's IWSG question is: When your writing life is a bit cloudy or filled with rain, what do you do to dig down and keep on writing?

This seems to describe my writing life for more than a year now, and anything I've done to "dig down" hasn't made much of a difference up to this point. So this month I'm trying something different and going camping, thanks to the encouragement of my friend Madeline of the Shellshank Redemption. 

I've never tried Camp NaNoWriMo before, mostly because the past few times I've tried NaNo itself it's left me even less motivated than I was at the start, but after hearing about the relaxed retreat-like atmosphere of Camp I decided to give it a try. I set the modest goal of simply finishing the first draft of the Paris story I've been struggling with for almost two years. I'm hoping to get comfy in my writing tent and emerge at the end of the month with a draft, no matter how messy it may be. 

I'm also excited to help spread the word about the latest IWSG anthology, Tick Tock: A Stitch in Crime. Gwen Gardner is here with some tips for solving mysteries. Welcome, Gwen!

Thanks for hosting the Tick Tock mystery writers, Julie!

I hope you have some mystery lovers here today, because this year’s Insecure Writer’s Support Group anthology, Tick Tock: A Stitch in Crime, is all about mystery, crime and thrillers.

I’m a complete mystery fanatic in all its forms—except psychological. I lean toward the lighthearted, cozy side. And I am an excellent armchair detective, if I do say so myself. It helps when you read, write and watch mysteries!

How do you solve a mystery?

If you have a literary amateur sleuth or armchair detective in your life, here are some handy tips to keep in mind:

1. If someone is looking way too innocent, don’t count them out! Just because Aunt Agatha seems frail doesn’t mean she’s a sweet little old lady. Trust me, Aggie’s been around the block a few dozen times and probably has moves you know nothing about. Even Julia Child was a spy during World War II! Spies come in many shapes and sizes. Aunt Aggie might still have a decent karate chop in those gnarled, arthritic hands. I watched a scene just like this on Midsomer Murders once, so it must be true.

2. Never take an alibi at face value. It doesn’t matter if the Queen of England says she was on the royal throne at the time. If nobody saw her (close up, because it could have been a body double), then her alibi is no good. I love her dearly, but you know she was a mechanic during WWII, right? All I’m saying is that the woman knows how to wield a spanner!

3. If you’re sleuthing it’s because you’re connected to the victim in some way, however tenuous. So if you find the murder weapon, for the love of god, please don’t touch it! Because once you touch it, your fingerprints are all over the murder weapon. And boom! Now you’re a suspect. And now you really have to dig yourself out of a hole. I tell my sleuths this all the time, but do they listen? No. They do not.

If you enjoyed these tips, you’ll enjoy the anthology even more! There are lots of stories to choose from in nearly any mystery/crime/thriller sub-genre. It’s on pre-sale now at all major venues and will be released on May 1st by Dancing Lemur Press.