10 Weeks of Word Oracles - Drawing

© 2010 by Joyce Mason
All Rights Reserved

When I free-associate the word drawing, the first thing I think of is doodling and drawing stick people as a kid—and the fact that my artwork has never advanced much from this primitive stage of self-expression. With proper training, I think I might be able to develop some skills in drawing, but I don’t think it’s my medium. Give me words. Why else would I be doing a word oracle? That involves drawing random words?

Welcome to #4 in a series of 10 words drawn as oracles—spirited topics to ponder in our Hot/Cool community. Visit the post for Word Oracle #1 (Upper) for background on why we’re playing with words for ten posts.

Back to the drawing board. Let's make a rule that we don't have to stick with the form of the word drawn, in this case the gerund drawing with its ing that I want to lop off--sometimes. When we also allow variations, some other ways the word is used include:


• The luck of the draw
• Drawing up water
• A weekly draw (salary)
• A drawing, the artwork that results from drawing as an act of creation
• Drawing (closing) the drapes
• Drawing a card in a game of chance
• Drawing and quartering, an ancient form of torture
• To look drawn (tired or stressed)
• Something being long and drawn out
• Drawing something or someone to you


The root word, draw, is versatile! It ranges from expressing random good fortune, to bringing money in terms of salary, to being an act of creativity or destruction, to taking too long, and to making someone look pooped.


It never ceases to amaze me that in a language with so many words, English words can still be so versatile with multiple meanings within each one. According to the folks at the Oxford Dictionary:

The Second Edition of the 20-volume Oxford English Dictionary contains full entries for 171,476 words in current use, and 47,156 obsolete words. To this may be added around 9,500 derivative words included as subentries. Over half of these words are nouns, about a quarter adjectives, and about a seventh verbs; the rest is made up of exclamations, conjunctions, prepositions, suffixes, etc. And these figures don't take account of entries with senses for different word classes (such as noun and adjective).


Drawing Your Good

In the post Your Cosmic Tractor Beam, I talked about how being yourself in your true energy field draws people to you like a magnet who are on a similar frequency. This applies to all good in your life. You draw people and things to you because of how you think and what you say.

For example, you might want to erase words like poor, broke, and even “I don’t have the money to” from your vocabulary. Those dictionary statistics just quoted give some sense of the huge volume of word choices we have in the English language. To keep prosperity flowing your way, substitute things like “I have higher priorities right now” or when you “can’t afford” something. It’s also the truth. When you have x amount of money to spend, you prioritize how you spend it. That dreamy spiritual retreat to Hawaii may be farther down the list than your bank balance can cover. By resisting the common expression “I can’t afford it,” you’re leaving open the possibility that your bank balance may expand to encompass it. Most people who study metaphysics learn early on the power of the “I” statement, especially the “I am” statement. I am broke is the worst thing you can ever say, if you want to keep your material or any other needs fulfilled easily.

Another principle to remember when you want to draw a great relationship, the right business partner, or more prosperity is to simply and clearly state your intentions then leave the methods for making it so up to Spirit. Here’s where I am can work in your favor. Affirmations like I am manifesting the best relationship for me now or I am drawing all I need for my material good can go far.

A caution with affirmations, however. They are not meant to be pop sound bytes like we’ve learned to eat like consumer bonbons from TV.

Affirmations need to be built on a two-step process to be highly effective, described in the post Affirmations: Part 2, Column 2.


Drawing a Blank

If there’s more to say on this word, I’m drawing a blank as another expression and use of the word goes. That must mean it’s time for us to invite a “blank mind” for drawing imagines on “drawing” in our word meditation.


Meditation and Journaling on Drawing

Sit quietly in a meditative posture, whatever one works for you. Have pen and paper nearby.

1. Take three deep breaths. Say “drawing” to yourself. Let it rest on your mind, then let your mind speak. What does the word drawing suggest to you? Take plenty of time to let the thoughts form or memories come back to you. Let your memories or thoughts finish speaking. When they are done saying what they have to say, write down their message.

2. Return to meditation. Read this thought, and then sit with it in the silence for as long as it feels right: I am thankful for all the insights I drew from meditating on the word drawing.


3. Now let’s focus for a moment on the meaning of drawing that involves drawing good to us: I am grateful for ___. (Make as long a list in your mind as you want.) I will increase my ability to draw good to me by doing the following ___________.


4. When you come out of meditation, look at what you wrote about “drawing” and how you’ll create an ongoing flow of drawing good to you. Take some time to contemplate it. Carry these thoughts and intentions into your week. Learn as much as possible about your relationship to drawing. Write a few wrap-up notes before the end of the week and our next word.



May you draw everything you need, most of what you want, and a few pleasant surprises!

~~~


Next word: Yesterday


Photo credit: Cartoon stick figure © Martin Bérubé Dreamstime.com

Dollar Days! No Soliciting Signs and E-Book Sale

Dear Cool Insighters,

The No Soliciting Sign and It’s a Sign: No Soliciting, Religion and Religious Literature Included remain the two most visited posts ever on Hot Flashbacks, Cool Insights! According to Google Analytics, most people find them searching for key words, particularly “no soliciting religion” or variations of that phrase.

Yet sales of the no soliciting signs I developed as a result of this outpouring have been meager. This leads me to the conclusion that price an issue, especially in the current economy. As much as I’d like to give them away, I created the signs with a professional graphic artist and development costs need to be considered in their sale.

So, join me in an experiment! When I was a kid growing up in Chicago, this was called a “bargain basement sale.” Until further notice, No Soliciting signs will be $1 each or $1.50 for both. The sign files are delivered to you ready to print by e-mail in a JPG attachment. See photos of signs and details here. All you have to do is color print on paper or cardstock and frame. If you use one of the inexpensive document frames at a Dollar Store, this is a very economical option for a polite and artistically pleasing way to hang a “do not disturb sign” at your doorbell.

My husband and I have found people to be very respectful of the sign unless they happened to “miss” seeing it. Even then, pointing to it with a simple, “Have you seen our sign?” does the trick. Framing one of these signs for a friend who mentions they get too many door-to-door callers is also a great early holiday gift tip, even before this year’s Fairy Godmother post!

New prices are reflected in the sidebar where you can purchase the signs. You can also purchase them on my website under Spirited Products.

While I was at it, I decided to not to “let the buck stop here” and added The Training Tape to the $1 sale.

I hope these bargain basement prices bring you peace (not getting up to answer the door a dozen times a year is worth a buck!). And I hope The Training Tape leaves you thinking.


Blessings All,
Joyce

PS - The Word Oracle series will be back next week!

A Stroke of Luck: The Power of the Wake-Up Call

© 2010 by Joyce Mason

I thought we’d take a short break from the Word Oracles this week so I could update you on what’s happened since my husband’s stroke last May. I wrote about it in Shocking. Few things in recent memory have held more surprises and cool insights in the end. How far we’ve come from that scary moment when Tim tripped, fell on the floor, and was suddenly unable to move!

Tim’s initial recovery had the usual suspects after four days in the hospital—physical therapy, increased medical visits, and blood thinners. (He was already on the meds because of the plaque build-up in his arteries and a stent procedure a week before his mini-stroke.) In the beginning, he was on a four-point walker wherever he went. I had to get used to driving us everywhere—often. He was still having falls, somewhat slurred speech and experiencing significant imbalance. The hospital arranged for a Hoyer lift, a kind of hoisting device, in case he couldn’t get up without help, as I certainly am not strong enough to lift a grown man on my own. (Our chubbier cat is a challenge!)

The emotional recovery was a different breed of cat all together. Being thrown into 24/7 caretaker mode sent my feelings of worry and resentment into overdrive. The fear that I could have lost him, coupled with what I felt he wasn’t doing to help himself, brought many issues in our relationship to a turning point. I was not willing to go on as things were—or as I saw they could be headed— without significant changes on his part. And I knew there were changes I had to make, too.

The details of how we got from there to here are personal and actually unimportant. With some outside intervention and a lot of “discussions” and soul baring, a miracle happened. Things shifted, not just emotionally but physically. Getting there wasn’t half the fun.

Some of the learning was painful and didn’t even involve each other. After I confided my challenges to her, I had to draw a boundary with a friend whose comments about my marriage and Tim’s health felt hurtful and not life affirming toward my husband or me. Telling my truth has led to estrangement, although I still dearly care about this person. The incident also made clear that a break from one another would be good medicine. I need to let this lie for now. That’s difficult for a “fixer” who wants to be at peace with everyone.

But I also got something out of it that’s even more powerful in retrospect. By saying no to someone else’s negative picture of my marriage and my husband’s health, I said no to that picture for myself. I wasn’t lukewarm about it, either. I was clear and direct in saying that I refused that vision for my future. I made it clear; no one else has my permission to project that picture on me, either.

That painful interaction with my friend and my “pushing back” was a huge blessing in disguise. I am grateful to her. Just saying no to negative forecasts may have been a bigger step than I knew I was taking at the time. Tim has come back to life after years of struggle with a mixed bag of medical conditions. He changed one of his major doctors to learn from his new one that he was being seriously overmedicated for some of his conditions—possibly contributing to ongoing and problematic symptoms. His legs are stronger than before the stroke, and he hasn’t fallen in months, despite his baseline mobility issues with Myotonic muscular dystrophy Type 2. He’s back on a cane from the walker, and he navigates the house without either. There are other improvements so pronounced; I feel like I’m living with a new man.

We keep scratching our heads, wondering with thanks and awe how Tim can be doing so much better than he was before his stroke. Since the blood thinners prevent both plaque build-up in his arteries and stroke, perhaps they are in great part the hero. He started on Plavix only two weeks before the “stroke of luck,” as I’ve come to call it. I also call it his “neurological reorganization.” Without the stroke, there is so much we would not have known and so many important steps in a chain reaction of healing that would have never taken place. Who knew I’d be thankful one day for something that started out so awful?

Tim, too, made a decision to toss that dismal picture of his future out of his mental album. The thought that we might lose each other was potent medicine for both of us. It’s hard to imagine today that we were in such a difficult place only 3-4 months ago. We’re more in love and grateful for each other than ever. The ordeal brought us closer together and to the most important orientation of a successful relationship, when both people are looking in the same direction.

There’s an old song, “What a Difference a Day Makes.” The difference comes from how we handle whatever circumstances life presents us for learning. While Tim and I don’t know what the future holds for us, I’m confident that we will navigate whatever we encounter…

… because now we’re co-captains on the S.S. True Partnership.

~~~

Photo Credit: Alarm Clock © Robyn Mackenzie Dreamstime.com

10 Weeks of Word Oracles - Slice

© 2010 by Joyce Mason
All Rights Reserved

No matter how you slice it, slice is a great word for us to chew on for cool insights! Welcome to #3 in a series of 10 words drawn as oracles—spirited topics to ponder drawn just for our Hot/Cool community. Visit the post for Word Oracle #1 (Upper) for the history on what we’re doing at this wordfest and why.

I don’t know about the rest of you, but slice is a very good word for me, personally. I have issues with slice. I alluded to them somewhat in talking about the word upper. Auntie Mame is my heroine, and to me, “Life’s a banquet.” I have a great deal of difficulty limiting myself to a single slice of anything. I have a lusty appetite for food--and live with the health and weight challenges that go along with it. Same goes for most everything else in life. I couldn’t limit myself to one blog. (Now I have three.) Until two of them passed on, I had four pets. You get the picture. Overdo is my middle name.

Unfortunately, one of the side effects of overdo for most of us leads me to another word, overwhelm. Slice is actually an antidote to it.

Slice is like the joke, “How do you eat an elephant?” Answer: A bit at a time.

My office often looks like a total disaster area. I hate working in chaos, even if creativity springs from chaos itself. Still, the enormity of the job to get organized just leaves me with eyes glazed over, my visual orbs a pair of vortexes that are not exactly the white tornados of cleaning solutions. When I can do the job in slices, a piece at a time, I actually get something accomplished. Slice. What a concept!

Then there is the literary form, a slice of life.

slice of life

An episode of actual experience represented realistically and with little alteration in a dramatic, fictional, or journalistic work. ~ Free Online Dictionary

Since memoir writing is one of my strongest genres and my own life has given me plenty of slices to share, I’ll serve up an episode from my Pie of Life. This is the one my intuition told me to tell you.


Thanks But No Thanks

I’m a teenager, and I’m the lucky family member with garbage duty this particular night. Our small house has a postage-stamp sized backyard, and behind that is a garage. A long sidewalk runs beside the house and garage, and the garbage cans are located at the end of the walk, against the garage, where the walk intersects with an alley.

It’s autumn and gets dark early in the suburbs of Chicago. I am hugging my big plastic trash bag, carrying it down the walk by outdoor light, which is rather dim. I’m humming a tune to myself, thinking of some boy I have a crush on. I look up about half-way to the goal and see a man lurking by the garbage cans.

I scream! The trash bag flies straight up in the air, a good four feet, as I reverse directions on a dime and run to the back door, yodeling the whole way like my fanny is on fire. I don’t stop screaming when I get there.

Dad comes rushing to the kitchen where I’m now standing, still screaming. “What in the h— is wrong?” my father demands. I can barely stop screaming long enough to say, “Man—by garbage cans.”

Dad goes out there with a big honking flashlight, the beacon kind you take with you camping. He inspects and investigates. Of course, he finds nothing.

“I can’t see a damned thing,” he pronounces.

I insist that I am not imagining it—that there was someone lurking there.

Hw silly does this sound? He could have been a neighbor tossing a soda can in the nearest trash receptacle while walking down the alley from his own garage. Yet, somehow, I knew he was sinister—and my high-drama, Italian mother believed me.

She called the police, and they knew before they even investigated that they wouldn’t find him or anything suspicious; however, they share with my mom that there have been complaints in the neighborhood about a guy exposing himself. How did I know that? All I saw was the shadow of a man. I didn’t even see the shadow of his—uh—“exposure.”

Now, nearly 50 years later, I’m still chuckling over this scenario, which wasn’t so funny to me at the time. My psychic radar started very young, and believe me, I’m always into prevention. There was a slice of this guy I did not want to see!


Meditation and Journaling on Slice

Sit quietly in a meditative posture, whatever one works for you. Have pen and paper nearby.


1. Take three deep breaths. Say “slice” to yourself. Let it rest on your mind, then let your mind respond. What does this word mean to you? Take plenty of time to let the thoughts form or memories come back to you. Let them finish speaking. When they are done saying what they have to say, write down their message.


2. Return to meditation. Read this thought, and then sit with it in the silence for as long as it feels right: I am thankful for the ability to tackle life a slice at a time. When I am overwhelmed, I respond by imagining the natural slices into which I can break food, projects, feelings, and other larger forms.

3. When you come out of meditation, look at what you wrote about “slice.” Take some time to contemplate it. Carry these thoughts into your week. Learn as much as possible about your relationship to slice. Write a few wrap-up notes before the end of the week and our next word.


May this batch of word oracles, broken into ten slices, bring you some good “slice of life stories” and a new appreciation for savoring life itself one slice, bite, and morsel at a time.

~~~


Next week’s word: Drawing



Photo credit: Pizza Slice © Danee79 Dreamstime.com

Reader Feedback Wanted: Let me know your thoughts on the Word Oracle series in the Comments or by e-mail.

10 Weeks of Word Oracles - Fall

© 2010 by Joyce Mason
All Rights Reserved

Fall is one of the more versatile words in the English language! Just off the top of my head, it can mean any of the following:

• My favorite season, autumn, which also has falling leaves, where I assume it got this nickname.

• Fall as in “go boom” or splat on the floor or ground. Not as pretty, unless it’s a pretty girl fallen in fall leaves, like in the one in the picture in this post.

• “The Fall” – The Bibilical fall of man when Adam and Eve disobeyed divine direction and ate of the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil

• Water that cascades off tall rocks down to a river or rivulet

• A fake woman’s hairpiece

• In astrology, a planet is “in fall” when it is in the sign opposite where it is considered exalted. Example from my own chart: Mars is considered exalted in Capricorn; mine is in the opposite sign, Cancer, therefore it’s in fall. I’ve never found this concept very useful. It implies there’s something wrong with my planet that’s in fall. I actually like my Mars in Cancer that’s action-oriented toward making comfortable surroundings for people, and as much as possible, making family of everyone.

Welcome to #2 in a series of 10 words drawn as oracles—spirited topics to ponder drawn just for our Hot/Cool community. Visit the post for Word Oracle #1 (Upper) for the history on why we’re playing with words for ten posts.

Let’s focus on Fall as Autumn—the season we enter on September 22!

First, I want to share with you an autumn “astrologize” I wrote for Spirited Woman blog. Astrologizes are exercises, rituals, or activities to celebrate the changing seasons as the Sun moves through each of the signs of the zodiac. Four times a year, we reach the seasonal cusps. Spring occurs as the Sun enters Aries; summer starts with Cancer; Libra initiates autumn, and Capricorn heralds winter. This "astrologize" for autumn has to do with expressing our gratitude for the harvest of our blessings.

If you don’t have time to do the gratitude box suggested in the astrologize post, let’s take five to do a combo meditation on gratitude and the word “fall.” All truths will be revealed in our oracle word and the Hot Flashbacks alternative to the astrologize combined!


Meditation and Journaling on Fall

Sit quietly in a meditative posture, whatever one works for you. Have pen and paper nearby.

1. Take three deep breaths. Say “fall” to yourself. Let it rest on your mind, then let your mind speak. What does the word fall mean to you? Take plenty of time to let the thoughts form or memories come back to you. Let your memories or thoughts finish speaking. When they are done saying what they have to say, write down their message.
   
2. Return to meditation. Read this thought, and then sit with it in the silence for as long as it feels right: I am thankful for my reverie on “fall” and everything I learned from it.
   
3.  Now let’s focus for a moment on fall as autumn, the season of gratitude: I am grateful for ___. (Make as long a list in your mind as you want.) I will practice living gratefully every day by doing the following ___________.
   
4. When you come out of meditation, look at what you wrote about “fall” and how you’ll create an ongoing attitude of gratitude—a thankfulness practice. Take some time to contemplate it. Carry these thoughts and intentions into your week. Learn as much as possible about your relationship to fall. Write a few wrap-up notes before the end of the week and our next word.

May every fall down help you look up with a different perspective. May every season of gratitude bring you more in your cornucopia and a longer list of blessings.

~~~

Next week’s word: Slice

Photo credit: Young Woman in Fall Leaves © Pinkcandy Dreamstime

Reader Feedback Wanted: Let me know your thoughts on the Word Oracle series.

10 Weeks of Word Oracles: Upper

© 2010
by Joyce Mason
All Rights Reserved


Welcome to #1 of 10 in a new series on Hot Flashbacks, Cool Insights. It was inspired by one of the many books I inherited from my birth mom, Helen. A Gemini, Helen left behind a library that’s eclectic and highly spiritual. The book that caught my eye while I was dusting “her” shelf is called The Book of Qualities by J. Ruth Gendler. The author has made one-page meditations or thought pieces on various human qualities such as power, pleasure, contentment, change, and complacency.

This got me thinking about our playground on this blog for working with symbols, oracles, and the other cosmic hints we look Up for. I knew about random word generators online.

I decided I’d “draw” ten words for us—ten words that would tweak my intuitive skills for insights that would hit home for my readers. It was like drawing a handful of words in a fortune cookie for the readers of Hot Flashbacks, Cool Insights.

Let’s get started!

Upper—Unzipped

A state of high emotions, one of the best things anyone has ever said to me is, “You’re an upper.” A very ‘70s expression related to the drug culture, an “upper” was a kind of pill that made you high—different from tranquilizers and other “downers.”

Ultimately, an upper has become a term that often denotes a natural high. People, places, things—all can be an upper. Up is fun! It’s buzzy. It’s happy. It’s exuberant and sometimes caffeinated. It’s rollercoasters and risk-taking.


Other Uppers

A familiar vacuum commercial called its product “the quicker picker-upper.” You can pick up, stay up, or look Up. The last is another kind of Upper that works for me in my role as docent for a troupe of spiritual explorers. My original slogan for my astrology-plus practice was:

Do you ever raise your eyes to heaven, asking, “How about a hint?” Astrology is the hint and the heavens are the right Source.

I want to be an Upper. A Look Upper. Someone who seeks guidance from the highest source and vantage points.


Up—and Counter Up

The problem with up is its counterpoint—down. The higher you get, the longer the fall. Through my forties, I still liked high drama, especially the high part. I loved intense people, places, and things—and if I wasn’t feeling everything at a high pitch, it didn’t work for me. Over time, my roller coaster life was exhausting, and the long falls hurt. I quit riding actual roller coasters in my teens. It took me till midlife to give up the figurative type, the roller coaster of Desperately Seeking Uppers.

Now I like to skate in the middle between up and down, often well above the midline, but don’t much like living right on the edge. I still enjoy those delicious peaks at times, but more like caviar, not like before, better described as insisting on eating caviar as breakfast cereal. I realize it’s crazy to try to live in a constantly excited state. Letting go of uppers in the extreme was a good thing for me. That leads me to the final segment, offering you your own meditation and journaling exercise on our word for the week. Ten minutes, ten times—voilà! You’ve got a personal book of insights and instructions. Set aside a special journal book or computer file for your oracular explorations.


Meditation and Journaling on Upper

Sit quietly in a meditative posture, whatever one works for you. Have pen and paper nearby.

1. Take three deep breaths. Say “upper” to yourself. Let it rest on your mind, then let your mind respond. What does this word mean to you? Take plenty of time to let the thoughts form or memories come back to you. Let them finish speaking. When they are done saying what they have to say, write down their message.

2. Return to meditation. Read this thought, and then sit with it in the silence for as long as it feels right: I am thankful for the highs in life, but I’m also thankful for the lows. Without the valley, we can’t appreciate the mountain. Life has its ups and downs, and I navigate them with energy and style.

3. When you come out of meditation, look at what you wrote about “upper.” Take some time to contemplate it. Carry these thoughts into your week. Learn as much as possible about your relationship to upper. Write a few wrap-up notes before the end of the week and our next word.


May these ten weeks of words chosen just for you be—an upper!

~~~

Next week’s word: Fall


Photo credit: Roller Coaster © Grisho Dreamstime

You’ll Be “Dying for a Date” with Cindy Sample

With “spirited living” as its goal, the subject matter on Hot Flashbacks, Cool Insights runs a broad spectrum from spirituality to anything that lifts our spirits and makes us lighter.

Nothing lifts spirits like laughter—and nothing is more healing! We may as well call humor “weight lifting.” Today instead of focusing on the mysteries of life, we’re having a play date and a mystery of another kind—the cloak and dagger variety.

Cindy Sample is a Northern California author I’ve had the joy of getting to know through our Capitol Crimes writing group, our local chapter of Sisters in Crime. Cindy’s first novel, Dying for a Date, has just come out. I wanted to share her new book with you.


Joyce: Cindy, tell us how you became a writer. Did you know early on? Who inspired you?

Cindy: I began reading at age four and when I started reading Nancy Drew books at the age of six, I was hooked. In third grade, I took a list of spelling words and in three hours turned them into a sixteen page Nancy Drew opus. I knew I always wanted to be a mystery writer but life in the form of marriage, career, two children and then divorce intervened, so my next literary masterpiece, Dying for a Date, didn't get produced until 50 years later.


Joyce: Your protagonist, Laurel McKay, is a complex character—a divorced, kid-chauffering professional, who has returned to the dating scene. How did she evolve, and what are the built-in comedic conflicts in her character?

Cindy: My protaganoist, Laurel McKay is a newly divorced mother of two children, 16-year-old Jenna and seven- year-old Ben. She works as a mortgage underwriter at “Hangtown Bank” in Placerville. She married her high school sweetheart who was the only man she ever dated. When her best friend talks her into joining a dating agency, she wonders what she’s getting into and what is she looking for? Does she want an escort or a husband? Is she really looking for Mr. Right or just Mr. Every Other Saturday Night?

As far as comic elements, just trying to decide what to wear on date night provides plenty of material. When you incorporate raising two children along with a new kitten, I had enough of my own maternal experiences to entertain readers for all 272 pages.

Mothers always feel guilty that they aren’t perfect, but I think single moms in particular have to juggle their career with their children’s needs. When you add in the dating aspect, it complicates things even more. I wanted to write a story that not only had elements of a murder mystery, but a series that introduced a sympathetic protagonist who is dealing with everyday realities, complicated by a few dead bodies, of course.

I learned early in my career that a sense of humor can get you through most situations. And even today, when something goes wrong, my first thought is usually how I’ll turn it into an entertaining story. Laurel’s sense of humor and realistic approach to her life is prevalent throughout the book.

Joyce: Obviously, we want to avoid spoilers, but can you give us a blurb about the basic plot?

Cindy: Laurel reluctantly gets talked into joining a dating agency called “The Love Club,” which is advertised as the safe alternative to online dating. The first guy she goes out to dinner with attempts to have her for dessert, and she hits him with a cell phone. I created a new verb for that episode when she “nokias” him. When another date disappears during dinner, and her only alibi is a friendly bottle of Dom Perignon, the investigating detective has to decide if the sassy soccer mom is the killer or the next target.

Joyce: You have some of the most enticing promo lines I’ve ever read, such as:

Homicide, humor, and a few heart palpitations combine to make “Dying for a Date” your summer hammock reading.

I also love the description, “She dips her toe into the dating pool and ends up in a tsunami-sized murder investigation.” Anyone who has returned to the dating scene as an adult probably has some cringe-worthy material that could fill a volume. How did dating in real life influence your book?

Cindy: I will admit my dating experiences have provided me with enough material to write at least eight volumes of Dying for a Date, although I personally haven’t maimed anyone. Fortunately for me, most of my experiences have been delightful. There was one guy who tried to impress me with the fact that his best friend was an assassin. That was one of my shorter dates. But the stories that some of my dates have shared with me are truly stranger than the things I make up.

Joyce: Knowing Nancy Drew and Agatha Christie were two of your earliest influences, what made you decide to camp it up and spend more time on the light and cozy side of mystery?

Cindy: Within the mystery genre, there are so many different types of storytellers. I read and hear enough about the dark side of life through the news and my daily paper. One of my goals was to provide an entertaining mystery, a book which provided clues and red herrings to engage those readers who love to play armchair detective, but also to have them enjoy the humor we all encounter in our daily lives. My fans are comparing me to Janet Evanovich and her laugh-out-loud humor. One woman read the book in one sitting and said her granddaughter kept checking on her to make sure she was okay because she was laughing so hard the tears were streaming down her face.

Joyce: I’m a huge Poirot fan, and he certainly has his comedic moments, especially in the British TV series adaptations of Christie’s novels. The other regular characters—Inspector Japp, Miss Lemon, and Poirot’s sidekick, Captain Hastings—put Poirot’s quirks in a hilarious light by the way they bounce off the personalities of the ensemble cast. Tell us a little bit about the cast of characters in your book and the way they “ping” off each other for comic effect.

Cindy: There are so many entertaining characters in Dying for a Date. Laurel’s mother is particularly engaging since she is the opposite of her daughter. Barbara Bingham is a perfectionist, a real estate broker, who is very critical of her daughter. She is worried that all of these dead bodies will impact her real estate sales, so she and Laurel team up to solve the murders. Their conversations are hilarious and readers can relate to the mother/daughter dynamic.

Laurel’s best friend, Liz, is a bawdy Brit who owns a spa and who had her own entertaining dating adventures before she met her fiancé through the Love Club. Liz and Stan, a gay co-worker, at Hangtown Bank, are two zany companions who can’t wait to assist Laurel in her detecting.

And of course, there is the handsome homicide detective. What exactly are his intentions?

Joyce: It’s every author’s dream to sell the rights to her book and have it made into a movie. Who would play Laurel & Company?

Cindy: Tina Fey (with a little extra padding). As for the mother – why fool around. I say Meryl Streep.

Joyce: Great casting! I’m dying for a date with this book, myself! Tell us where we can buy it.

Cindy: In Sacramento, you can purchase it at Book Lovers Bookstore or the Avid Reader. In El Dorado County, Dying for a Date is sold at Placerville News Company, the El Dorado Arts Council, and Cornerstone Café in Cameron Park. The trade paperback and the ebook are available on Amazon and Barnes&Noble.com and as an ebook on Fictionwise and Mobipocket.

Joyce: Any parting comments or thoughts? Advice to the writers in the Hot Flashbacks readership?

Cindy: Whether you’re interested in pursuing a career in writing or pursuing a romantic relationship, just go out there and do it. Too many people I meet are afraid of rejection, and they are waiting for the world to come to them. I’ve been rejected by publishers and by men, and it has not stopped me from enjoying life. Take a chance and you’ll be thrilled with the new friends you’ll meet and the adventures that may be in store for you. I’ve been on a wonderful journey, and I can’t wait to see what else is in store for me.

Thank you, Joyce, for letting me share my thoughts today.

Joyce: Cindy, I want to thank you for accepting a date to appear on Hot Flashbacks, Cool Insights. You’ve given us an oasis of “light” and the potential for hours more of the same with your new book. Best of luck with it! I’m already seeing it catch fire and look forward to reading your books to follow.

~~~

Although Cindy Sample’s initial dream was to be a mystery author, she quickly realized the necessity of a weekly paycheck. Putting aside her literary longings, she applied for a job as a receptionist with a real estate office. Her career eventually led to President of a national mortgage banking company.

After one too many corporate mergers, Cindy decided it was more fun to plot murder than plod through paperwork. Her books are set in Placerville, California, the gold country town formerly known as “Hangtown”.

Cindy writes a monthly column entitled Hot Flash for the Gold River Community Newspaper. She is a past president of the Sacramento chapter of Sisters in Crime and has served on the boards of the YWCA, Sacramento Opera, and CMBA, the California Mortgage Bankers Association. She is co-chair of the Left Coast Crime Convention, which will be held in Sacramento in 2012. Visit her website at http://www.cindysamplebooks.com/.