Category: memories, trains, habbits,

Meet Regina Clarke

On By Victoria LK WilliamsIn Interviews, memories, trains, habbits,, New Release, Reading, Writing, Habits, support, friendship, authorsLeave a comment

Are you getting ready for Halloween? Candy bought (and round one eaten!), decorations up, costumes selected? Yep, it’s getting closer. And to keep in the “spirit”, here is another author with a Halloween treat for us.

Regina Clarke

You might know Regina from her Ria Quinn Mystery series. Her books can be found all all the major book outlets; Amazon, Kobo, Barnes and Noble , Apple or through Books2Read. And don’t forget, you can connect with her on her Facebook page, too.

Messenger Out of Time

Why do did you write a holiday theme mystery?
Halloween has always been a most favorite holiday—wonderful memories from childhood and with my own son growing up, moonlight, scary things, the candy corn, the haunted houses—it’s just always made me feel delight. And I thought Ria, my MC, would enjoy a plot that had a haunted, abandoned hospital and an ancient peat bog to explore on Halloween.

If your book was to be made into a movie, who are the celebrities that would star in it?
That’s a great question. I can see I’d have Emily Blunt as Ria, Cary Elwes as Gareth, David Leon as Kyle, and Kimberly Williams-Paisley as Deidre… in my dreams, anyway…

Share something your readers wouldn’t know about you.
I actually reveal it in the first Ria Quinn mystery, Hidden In Stone—her passion for Old English. It is my own…

As a writer, what would you choose as your mascot/avatar/spirit animal?

The Wolf

What is your favorite childhood book?
Two, really—a beautiful book of fairy tales and Nancy Drew’s The Clue of the Broken Locket that I first read when I was 9.

Well, that’s it for this post. I hear the candy wrapper rustling, so I’d better go run interference, or I’ll be buying more before the trick or treaters arrive!
Victoria LK Williams

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Meet Diane Bator

On By Victoria LK WilliamsIn guest blogger,, inspiration, Interviews, memories, trains, habbits,, Reading, Writing, Habits, sharing, knowledge, mentoring, support, friendship, authors, writing questionsLeave a comment

Blessed Easter Sunday!

Today we meet another wonderful author friend of mine. I hope you will enjoy getting to know a bit more about her, as I have. All of the authors are providing links to both purchase their books and follow them on social media. Take a moment and explore  by signing up on their sites.

pose in blue   meet Diane…

A born writer and storyteller, once Diane Bator started writing, she’s never looked back and is the author of several mystery novels. When she’s not writing, she works in a theater which may be subjected to immortality in a whole new series. She might even try writing a play. Diane has written assorted short stories, murder mysteries, and YA novellas.
The best place for links to her books is through her publisher: which has links for every online shop.
Website, Blog, Goodreads, Twitter, Linkedin, Smashwords, Facebook

 

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Featured books:

Dead Without Shame (Book 4 Gilda Wright Mysteries)
Once more, Gilda considers leaving the karate school to work for her friend Happy (no one has ever called him Harvey). When three men rob Happy Harvey’s Hangover Hut killing the woman at the front counter, Gilda is stunned to think that could have been her. Was this a mere robbery, or does someone have a vendetta against Happy, including his good friend Gary del Garda? The evidence keeps piling up while both her mother and another karate instructor come to town bearing secrets that may cost Gilda the life she loves in Sandstone Cove.

All That Sparkles (Book 1 Glitter Bay Mysteries)
What do a trunk full of vintage clothes, a handsome land developer, and a fifty year old diamond heist have in common? Laken Miller receives a trunk full of expensive vintage clothing and a stack of newspaper clippings about a fifty-year old diamond heist. Now all she has to do is figure out who murdered Tilly San Vicente before the killer silences her as well.

Questions and Answers:

Do you have a library membership?
I do for sure, but I find I meet so many writers and end up buying so many books, I rarely use the library except for resources. One of the other things I do at my local library is attend writing group meetings twice a month. To support our library, our group has also started to host annual Open Mic nights and author events as well as workshops anyone can attend. We welcome writers of all levels and try to be a support for whoever wants to join us. It was by attending this group that I developed the confidence to submit my first novel for publication.

What did you want to be when you grew up?
I wanted to be a guest on the Oprah Winfrey Show. Seriously! I planned back then to either be an actress or a writer. Here I am many years later a writer who works at a theater! While I’m working from home for a few weeks, I’ve finished my tenth novel, Drop Dead Cowboy, that will be published in September 2020. My next project, thanks to coaching from an acting teacher, is a play.

Do you base your characters on real people?
Sometimes loosely but I have actually based one character on a friend who just happened to win a contest I held for a reader to win a “guest spot” as a character in my novel Dead Without Shame. She received her free copy when the book came out and said she enjoyed it! In previous novels, characters may have been combinations of people I’ve met or know, but I’ll never say.

Would you rather have an endless summer or an endless winter?
Neither! Growing up and living in Canada my whole life, I love having four seasons. The fresh new growth of spring after a long, cold winter. Heat and humidity of summer then the cool, colorful fall. It’s nice to travel to warmer places in the winter and see other parts of the world, but the weather here is never boring!

A Final Word From Diane…
I’ve been a writer my entire life so when people tell me they want to write a book and ask where they should start, I need to stop and think. Writing for me comes as naturally as breathing. I don’t struggle to find a new project since I have file folders and binders full of ideas! I also rarely have writer’s block. Working with a writing group has honed my ability to write to a prompt for up to half an hour. I encourage all writers to practice, practice, practice… And not to give up!

Thanks to Diane! And I wish all of you the very best. It’s a difficult world we find ourselves in, but today, of all days, have faith that all will work out according to God’s plans. Stay healthy and safe, and Happy Easter.

Victoria LK Williams

Hear that Whistle Blow…

On By Victoria LK WilliamsIn Free Writing, inspiration, memories, trains, habbits,Leave a comment

The warning gates are going down and cars are stopped. I see the man in front of me throw his arms up in dismay; the train is coming. And the whistle blows as the engineer sounds a warning blast.

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There’s something about the sound of a train whistle reaches deep into my soul and grabs hold. I don’t know if it’s the tone of loneliness or the promise of unexpected journeys the train may hold for its passenger, but there’s something that connects with me.
Perhaps because I come from a family that has a long history with the railroad. My father, my grandfather, even a few of my uncles, worked as railroad men, spending many years jumping from the rails to a car. They worked both on the rails and in the rail yard, day in and day out. Railroading is a hard industry and dangerous, but I didn’t realize that when I was a child. I just understood my dad was a rail-man.

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My grandfather would sometimes come and get me and take me to play on the train and I’d climb up into the caboose or riding around in the rail-yard. It might have only been for ten or fifteen minutes, but to this little girl it was an exciting adventure.
As I became an adult, the railroad seem to follow me. Every home I lived in with my husband- from our tiniest first apartment to the home we live in now -we have been within hearing distance of that whistle. Reassuring me, perhaps it gives me a sense home.
I’ve never considered the sound of a train to be irritating or a nuisance. I can remember the Realtor apologizing for showing us a house close to the sound of the tracks. Little did she know it was a selling point for me.

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There is a sense of Americana when you think of the railroad. Hobos, with their belongings tied up in a red handkerchief, tied to a stick springs to mind first. But there is more to the railroad than that. The expansion of rail stations and endless miles of track are part of what opened the western United States to settlement. Goods and supplies work their way from one coast to the other, connecting our country. Great men worked to expand the railroad, even to the south, like Henry Flagler. Much of our countries history results from the railroads.

Today that whistle sounds for safety reasons, but it means more, too. It’s like a cry to the wanderer in your soul. Do you answer it? Maybe. One goal I would love to achieve is to drive out West to take one of those long train trips through the Rocky Mountains. Nothing could be more romantic or exciting.

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I’ve even used railroads in my writing. If you’ve ever read my Sisters Station Series, you’ll know it centers on an old railroad station in a small northern town. The two sisters are revitalizing the station, giving it a new purpose for today’s world. It’s not a mystery, but rather a sweet story about two sisters with a goal, getting to know their new home and community. And as I’m sure you realize, things can happen in a small town which might take you by surprise.
Well, the crossings gates are going up, the train has passed by, and it’s time to continue on my way. Going in the opposite direction of the train on my way to work while the train it goes on its way to new adventures.

What direction will your next bit of writing take you?

www.VictoriaLKWilliams.com

It’s a part of me…

On By Victoria LK WilliamsIn memories, trains, habbits,, UncategorizedLeave a comment
Darn it!
The old steam locomotive
Even though I tried a new route, hoping to avoid the train this morning, I still got caught.
I sit here, watching the train go by and admire the graffiti written across the cars by some enterprising youth. I wonder where each rail car with came from, and where it was doing, what cargo it just might hold (obviously it was a long train). The last car goes by and the gates go up with a clamoring of bells and flashing lights. I realized trying to avoid  trains is impossible for me.
My reflections have led me to realize that my life has always had trains in it in, one form or another.
When I was a little girl, my father and grandfather both worked on the railroad. I can even remember my father bringing home a dog one night that had been abandoned along the railroad tracks (my mother was not pleased over that one!).
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I have other memories of the railroad. From the sound of a wheels on the rails or the howling of the whistle, trains have always been in my life. Even as adult. My first apartment  was within hearing sound of the railroad and every house after that, we were near a track or we had to wait for the train.  I could always hear the railroad in the background of my busy day.
When I think about it,  the railroad has always been part of me, either waiting for it or listening for it, it’s always there. It’s rather comforting to have something so consistent in your life, something that’s part of your past–part of the history of our country and part of the history of my family.
The old steam locomotive
So the next train that I have to wait for I won’t sit and drum my fingers on the wheel. Instead, I’ll sit and remember with fondness how the railroad impacted my memories.
And if the train is long enough, maybe I’ll even jot down some notes for my next blog!