Psychic’s Good News

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I just started working with a real estate client who says he runs everything through his “prophet” before he decides which property to buy. Turns out his prophet is Grandma Rose. In my vocabulary, “prophet” equals “psychic.” I decided to give her a call — not regarding my success in the real estate business but as an author!

Grandma Rose, who now resides in Mississippi, originally hails from Chicago. Thus her comments or revelations, depending on your level of spirituality at the time, are drop-dead blunt tinged with smatterings of southern .

For my second suspense novel Window of Guilt, Rose sees a Jewish or Italian bearded man with a broad smile and a sharp scissors cutting the red ribbon that encases my manuscript! She says it’s an agent I’ve recently sent to, although she knows not his name.

My third novel Fatal Reaction only needs a bit more editing, according to Rose. True enough, it needs to be elongated another thirty pages. Then it’s ready to go! Rose says agents will attempt to talk me out of the school setting but I should stay true to my beliefs, i.e. keep it! That novel will also find a home with a publisher.

Lastly, my fourth novel Psychobabble. Rose says this manuscript should be the easiest to sell because it’s got lots of fascinating characters.

If this psychic is clued in on any of the above, I can look forward to an exciting future! I’m sending Rose a carton of books — not my own — as a Thank You. If you’re interested in talking to Rose, shoot me an e-mail and I’ll act as the conduit!

A Rocking Passover Sedar!

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Last night was the second night, thus the second Passover sedar. The word “sedar” means “order.” We read the Haggadah (spelling?) which describes Moses leading the Jewish slaves out of Egypt. They’d been building those pyramids for Pharoah for 400 years and were way tired!

Because we have a small extended family, we always invite friends over to celebrate. This time we blended several new friends from various walks of life with a few “old” friends. What was cool was that although each person was Jewish by heritage, their personal recollections of their childhood Passover sedar experiences were totally different.

In the 1960s and ’70s, Reform Jews grew up reading from the free but boring Maxwell House Coffee Haggadahs. Today, those are still available but really dry. Over the years, our family was fortunate to accumulate some beautifully illustrated Haggadahs with insightful discussion questions printed in the margin of each page. For example, “In what ways are we slaves today?”

But the rocking part of the sedar was the naming of the ten plgues G-d visited upon the Egyptians when Pharoah refused to let the Jews go. We distributed plastic frogs, cows, lions, lice, hail, etc., along with masks my artist friend, Tobi Abrams, made to describe each plague! Each of the ten participants held up that particular item when it was named. It brought some levity to the sedar. Definitely a new custom for everyone in attendance!

To our family, the whole idea of the sedar is not something to rush through so we can eat, but rather an hour-long oasis in which to reflect about our lives through various discussion questions threaded through the service. COMMENTS

Yesterday was Literary Agent Query Day

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Yesterday I’m proud to report I e-mailed out five queries to literary agents regarding representation for my suspense novel Window of Guilt (87,000 wds.) My first published suspense novel, Deadly Choices, only ran 212 pages, but the new manuscript comes in at 367. While Deadly Choices is about a female paramedic on chicago’s West Side who kidnaps the baby she just delivered and gives it to her best friend, a Born Again christian, to raise (See http://www.jenniespallone.com/), the character-driven Window of Guilt is about a health insurance adjuster’s wife who discovers a dead body on the front lawn of her summer home. While she runs in to phone the police, the body disappears. Her hubby says she’s nutso. Unfortunately, so do the cops. So she hooks up with a female detective to solve the case.

Missing Purim

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Yesterday I dressed up in a pencil lead gray sweater decorated with BLING! I fully intended on attending the Megillah reading at the temple and planned on playing the part. The Megillah is the Story of Queen Esther; she convinces King Akashvayros to prohibit Haman, his adviser, from slaying all the Jews in the land. We’re talking biblical days here, but heck, that theme still prevails. Anyway, Esther’s Uncle Mordechai is the conduit in this story. After learning about the scheduled destruction, he tells the Jewish queen to 1) confess to her husband that she, in fact, is Jewish, and 2) fulfill the above task without putting her own life in jeopardy. A daunting task for a girl probably under the legal drinking age.

Esther fears for her life, but her uncle insists the king loves her and would do nothing to shorten her life. He tells her to think beyond herself and do G-d’s will, which is to save the Jewish people. To ease her way into the king’s most loving graces, Esther throws a three-day dinner party. The king really loves to eat and drink!
Esther also invites Haman as the guest of honor. she asks him what one thing he would do to his nemesis — except in those days, she said “one who plots against you.” In this case, we’re talking Uncle Mordechai.

Full of himself, as well as food and drink, Haman answers that he would ride in a golden chariot, dragging the hated person by rope through the streets. At that point, Queen Esther confides in the king what will befall herself and her people should he not intervene. King A. takes immediate action against Haman.

To this day, people gaily dress up in costume, listen to the reading of the Megillah, and engage in hearty food and drink. They also deliver Shalach Monos (sp.?); goodies to the poor. And they eat Homentaschen (sp.?); three-corner jelly-filled cookies reminiscent of the Haman’s hat. They also drown out the evil man’s name by shaking greggors during the Megillah reading. Kind of like “pooh, pooh” when you’ve swallowed an insect.

But I didn’t want to attend because at this time of year, the temple is filled with little tykes and adults in Halloween-type costumes. I was coming straight from work, but more honestly, I just didn’t want to engage in this play world. My kids are too old for this frivolity, too.

Instead I spent the whole day worrying about not attending. My guilty mind-set finally eased when a good friend dropped off some Shalach Monos of her own for me: a 1-ounce container of bubble water, two cookies, and a sprinkling of Hershey kisses in a colorful Chinese take-out container! The gift was supposed to be anonymous, but somehow she knew my soul needed that “lift.” In a note, she assured me she’d already attended two Megillah readings, enough for both of us.

Better luck next year! Have you ever felt guilty about not attending a temple or church service? How did you handle it??

My First Internet Book Interview

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Last Sunday, I was interviewed for the first time on my first suspense novel Deadly Choices (http://www.jenniespallone.com/ )via the Internet. Audrey Schaffer moderated the Writers Chatroom (http://www.writerschatroom.com/) interview. Readers and authors “lined up” to pose their written question, then I responded in like.

It was a whole different sweet potato, responding in writing rather than shooting my mouth off at mystery author conferences. For one thing, I had to type almost as fast as I talk — didn’t want the question poser thinking I wasn’t attentive. For another thing, I needed to completely focus on responding to a particular question instead of blossoming into another tangent. The tricky part was responding in an authentic, yet humorous vein to keep participants from logging off!

What helped was logging on to the Writers Chatroom the prior Wednesday night. Wednesday nights are open chats. It gets crazy in there with everybody chatting at breakneck speed on lots of trivial stuff. Needless to say, I was afraid to stick my hangnail into the discussion for fear of being trampled!

Finally, I dived into the conversation, asking what genre fit my second novel. Once I got people focused on answering my questions, I felt successful.  Check the website out for yourself on Wednesday nights from 7:00 to 9:00 CST and let me know what you think!

The Promise of Writing Yet Another Chapter

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When it comes to most aspects of my life, I’m an impatient sort. Yet when it comes to staring down an idea until it finally pops, I’m an absolute Buddah! Why the ego separation? For one thing, I love writing. Love plucking just the right word to complete a sentence.Love binding concepts so that one idea flows effortlessly into the next. Love allowing room for the plot to unfold without use of my midwife skills. (This I mean in the most general of terms since I’ve never been in the health care field!)

Although I can’t read other mysteries when I’m flush into writing my own, I have no problem listening to suspense novels while I’m driving back and forth to work. In that environment, I can anonymously observe the twists and turns of a well-plotted story. Then, armed with the proper tools to employ in my own manuscript, I can go deeper, flow faster, and capture the essence of yet another chapter.

Reading all the Books in the World

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Tonight I was at Barnes & Nobles in Dearpark to support Reality Theatre’s gift wrapping fundraiser. Reality Theatre’s a great organization. They chose twenty-one teenagers from all over the Chicagoland area to improvise and perform anti-drugs, anti-drinking, and anti-smoking skits at schools throughout the area. The least I could do was support the cause.

It’s exciting to meander through a book store, dabbling in book ownership possibilities. Perusing the titles in a book store in search of a particular item is quite opposite from my goal-less adventure tonight. This time, I was just killing time. My wandering was a free and lucid journey through the recesses of my interest inventory.

I daydreamed down the psychology and children with special needs aisles, although my main interest was discovering new mystery authors, as well as authors with whom I had done booksignings at mystery conferences throughout the country.

In college, I set out to read as many new authors as possible, this in a library setting as my pocketbook was far less accomodating than my imagination. I’d pored through Ann Rand’s the Fountain Head and Atlas Shrugged and learned about the affect of pure capitalism on society from the point of view of a female architect.

Later I moved on to Theodore Dreiser, an author who wrote fascinating, introspective novels about the impact of science, economics, and chance on our humanity. After all these years, Sister Carrie sticks out in my mind. In it, the author explored a young woman’s attempt to make it in the outside world at a time when women were either homemakers or harlots.

These days, I’m lucky if I get to read two pages of a book before fading off into la-la land. I am humbled by the ambitious reading goals that held me when I was unencumbered by career or family. Yet tonight’s journey through the book store refreshed my spirit. My soul sparkles in the night, as if it just returned from a star spa.

Book Revisions

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Serious authors realize that a plethora of revisions are necessary before submitting their completed manuscript to a literary agent or book publisher. While some writers dread that tedious task, others like myself savor it! It’s a real adrenalyn boost to discover the exact word or phrase that describes an emotional reaction, setting, or dialogue you wish to convey to your readers. 

The caveat in revision: Don’t devote an inordinate amount of brain cells to “fixing” the chapters you’ve already written when you should be staggering towards the finish line. In my first suspense novel, the award-winning Deadly Choices (http://www.jenniespallone.com/) , I revised each chapter each time I sat in front of the computer. Then I’d move ahead to my writing of the day.

By my third novel, I’d resolved to plug ahead until I was three-quarters of the way through the manuscript. What pain and guilt I felt in that process! Like being unable to scratch a series of mosquito bites because your hands are tied behind your back!

I did plug on, however. Window of Guilt, my third novel is almost completed. I’ll be searching for an agent or a mid-sized publisher once my “who done it” character comes clean. Yesterday, I tried to urge her on but she led me on a different course! Manna for another blog….

Couples Retreat Movie Offers Insights for Today’s Busy Couples

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Last night we went with another couple to see Couples Retreat. We were in the mood for “funny” and this movie fit the bill — with a little couples therapy thrown in for good measure. Vince Vaughn plays the main character; a married guy who works twelve hours a day, attends his kids’ sports games, and is main problem solver/money man for his friends. He has little time for his wife. His wife is into remodeling their house, as well as making sure the kids are fed and homework done before driving them to their sports activities. Although their life is a maze of activities, they don’t see themselves as having marital problems.

Their friends, however, are experiencing all kinds of emotional turmoil, from extramarital affairs and divorce, to disillusionment at not being able to get pregnant. The infertile couple force their friends to sit through a Power POint presentation on an exotic Get Away that pledges to improve a couple’s relationship with their spouse. The other couples initially offer up excuses as to why they can’t attend, but eventually all eight men and women are stepping off the wonder boat and onto the fertile island of Bali. They assume fun and games are in their near future, but surprise, surprise. Drinking and partying are on a sister island that’s meant fo singles, only. The itinerary they receive is work, work, work, spelled “Therapy.”

It’s difficult to imagine that such a topic could be so hysterically funny. Yet the reactions of each couple as they deal with their own personal therapist and explore the implications of their actions hits home. I don’t want to give away the ending. Let it suffice to say that you’ll recognize yourself or a family member or friend in at least one of these couples. Let me know what you think….

Even Book Authors Experience the Blues

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There I was, re-editing my third suspense novel for the zillionth time, when I realized I didn’t know where to set my third to last scene. At this point in the story, my amateur sleuth is in the hospital after being attacked. She’s just been visited by her best friend as well as interviewed by a police detective. She’s about to come face to face with the one person who can unlock all the answers. However she needs a new setting for this encounter– and she can’t be recouping at home.

It’s natural for a writer to peer over the precipice and wonder what lies beneath. At times there are a vast array of choices in which to paint the setting, at other times not nearly enough. This was one of those other times. Thus, the frustration.

Share your suggestion for a setting. We’re talking straight mystery here, not fantasy, sci fi, or romance. If I use your suggestion, I’ll put you in the acknowledgement section of the book!