To continue my saga of the water heater. After calling several people and plaintively pleading that my poor old heater needed help, I found the right person. A Handyman and, let me tell you, if I have further plumbing problems, he’s the one to fix them. He solved the mystery of the heater by phone. First, he asked for the serial and model numbers. Right away, he knew what to do.
He: Do you see those two little wires on the left that connect to that button on the right?
Me: Yes.
He: Push that little white button. You probably can’t feel it move.
Me: OK. I pushed it but I don’t think it moved at all.
He: Try to light the pilot again.
Me: OK but I don’t think the button moved.
(Pause.)
Me: I can’t believe it! It’s working!
This was sort of like flying by instrument panel. It was depending on somebody else who knew a lot more about the problem than I did. It certainly made a case for not blundering around trying to figure out the problem myself. And, the amazing thing, he did this all by phone because in his mind’s eye, he saw the water heater. Life is like that, sometimes, in fact, many times. We have to depend on someone who knows a lot more about the problem than we do. But, let me tell you, it’s mighty hard to let go and just trust that other person.
Which brings me to the subject of cozy mysteries. Out in the beautiful, sunny, snow-covered world yesterday, my grandchildren and I noticed footprints. Who were those furry or feathered animals who made them? Some, definitely were the tiny prints of birds, some, because of the long distance between tracks and the arrangement of the feet: two in front, a third and fourth one together in back, we decided must have been a rabbit but on closer examination, decided it could have been a squirrel. I haven’t seen a rabbit around here in quite some time, but squirrels are in abundance. Was it a rabbit or a squirrel? We saw the clues, but sad to say, because we were no experts, we couldn’t solve the mystery.
Every writer of cozies hopes her readers will not solve the mystery easily. In fact, she hopes for a bit of a surprise at the end.
In the fourth book I’m writing, Moonlight Can Be Murder, of course, there is a mystery right off the bat–do I dare say it–a murder, and the protagonist is determined to find out whodunnit. The setting is Oklahoma in the winter and snow is on the ground. She searches for footprints and so do the two law officers but, the only prints are hers. They search for fingerprints on the murder weapon and come up with–the prints of our heroine. Looks bad, doesn’t it?
So, in a roundabout, wandering way, from water heaters to writing, I come to the big event of the year for writers, the Northwest Arkansas Writers’ Conference in Fayetteville. It’s coming up Saturday and I’ve posted about it on my Facebook page. It’s a wonderful time of meeting authors, editors, publishers, getting writing pointers, hearing about problems solved, and generally, being encouraged. If you are interested in any genre of writing, Fayetteville is the place to be Saturday. You also will have the opportunity to buy books directly from the many authors present, including Grave Shift, and, Lord willing, I’ll be there. I hope you will be there too.
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