Family Memories – Capturing my youth in my writing

In my book, Lonely Deceptions, I drew upon my memories of my parents to breathe life into my main character’s mother and father. Since family has always been important to me, it only felt natural to have it be important to Nick Davis as well.

In one moment of the book, Nick is remembering his youth, walking hand in hand through the snow with his mother. Every time—and I mean every time—I read that part in the book, I can almost feel my own mom’s hand guiding me along the snowy streets, see her smile beaming down at me. The fact that I can share this one tiny moment in time of my life with readers is priceless to me.

From the very beginning of the book we find out that Nick’s father, Nelson Davis, is lovingly odd; a character’s character, so to speak. There’s a particular embarrassing moment for Nick when his father thinks nothing of calling his son in the middle of the night to discuss a Viagra-like television commercial.  Nick’s father is loving, funny and too over-the-top quirky to be real.  Having said that…let’s just say that Nick isn’t the only one to get a call from his father in the middle of the night.

Diabetes, Not a Disease to Take Lightly

Unlike the villains in my mystery/suspense stories that I write, Diabetes is a monster that readily shows itself whenever and wherever it pleases.

I have no doubt that my mother’s last years would have been completely different if she had ate healthier and above all else, if she would have seen a doctor once a year for a routine examination. My mom did neither of these.

The day we found out that diabetes was robbing my mother’s eyesight was surreal to me. I guess the most frustrating thing to me was that I was helpless to get her sight back.

In my mom’s specific case, diabetes did more than rob her of her eyesight, through a series of unfortunate events it caused her to suffer tremendously through her last few years on earth.

In the beginning she refused to let her handicap slow her down so she did volunteer work at a senior citizens home, but one day the traffic light had broken and she attempted to cross the street and was hit by an automobile. She had to learn to walk again, but the diabetes and the car accident had weakened her heart and she went through a triple bypass.  I know this sounds like a story of fiction, but my mom had to live through it. Our family had to live through it.

As I mentioned before, Diabetes is a monster, one we cannot take lightly.

For more information about diabetes, living with diabetes, and what you can do to help, see this website from the American Diabetes Association.

 

 

 

The Family Tie That Binds

The importance of family bonds…hmmmm…perhaps this is the one true single thread that ties my main character, ordinary man, Nick Davis of Lonely Deceptions, with myself. Unless, of course, my family is involved with spies…

I’ve always believed that family comes first. It’s sad to me that my mother and father never got to see this book published or the new chocolate store that we have opened. (Although, I do believe somehow, somewhere, they do know). We are here for such a short time. For that reason, it baffles me when I hear of a friend’s family not speaking with each other for years over what usually amounts to be a very inconsequential disagreement.

Back to Nick Davis…his love for his sister, his father, drives him throughout my story. Because, if he didn’t care—and at the first sign of trouble—he would have probably ran and hid and then I guess my book would have been about ten pages long.  Without giving away the plot, Nick has an unconditional love for his family. This love allows him to go through all of the craziness and bad guys that I can through at him and come out of it a hero. At least, I hope, a hero in the reader’s eyes.

Death by Chocolate

As you may or may not be aware, I write in the morning and make chocolate in the afternoon. I wonder what would happen if these two worlds—a 1940’s mystery and a chocolate store—collided.

 DEATH BY CHOCOLATE

Death by Chocolate fudge?

The lanky, unshaved, man sat in the dimly lit store waiting for anyone to walk through the front door. He didn’t have to wait long.  A woman, dressed to the hilt, sashayed in.

“I hear you may be able to help me,” she said in a sultry voice.

The man stood up and surveyed the woman. She was good-looking enough, with legs that went on for days, he thought. But what stuck out like a sore thumb was the brown smudge on her left cheek. Yup, she was a chocolate lover all right.

“My name is Mel…Carl Mel. What can I do you for?” he said while heading towards the back of a gold-plated glass showcase.

“I’ve been looking everywhere for something,” she uttered in despair, tears seemed to be welling in her eyes. “Death by chocolate fudge,” she whispered. “Do you have some?”

Mel put the lights on showing a wide variety of fudge including death by chocolate. He put a piece in a box. “That’ll be $4.95. By the way, what’s your name?”

She took the chocolate. “Candice, but you can call me candy.”

Of course it was, he thought, and sat down to wait for the next customer.

My characters and their creation…

In the past, writing for my mom using pre-existing science fiction characters was one thing; I quickly found out that creating a living breathing character out of thin air was a totally different ball game.

Early on, when the story of Lonely Deceptions popped into my head, I began to jot down the names of my characters with very detailed descriptions of what they were to look like—tall, short, blue eyes, brown eyes, husky, skinny.  And of course, I made sure that as soon as a new character entered the page, he or she was described in long, dry, boring detail.

Luckily, I learned on my own that describing characters this way paused something that was much more important…the story and truly learning who the person is that’s pointing the gun or kissing the hero (hopefully for the hero’s sake, not simultaneously).

So, what have I learned…characters are born from what they say and the actions they take. Perhaps what they look like should be more up to the reader than the writer.

Solving the Mystery of Owning a Chocolate Shop

From the chocolate shop

Way back in 1983—at 25 years old and not having the foggiest idea what the difference was between real chocolate and confectionary coating—I opened up a very small chocolate shop in northern New Jersey. And so began my learning the art and mystery of how to temper real chocolate (and I quickly learned how much I love to eat gourmet chocolate).

Fast forward to 2008; my family and I moved to Georgia and soon we discussed opening up a little chocolate shop in our hometown. We figured with my chocolate experience, my father-in-law’s sales experience, my wife’s ability for crafts and decorating, my ten-year-old’s enthusiasm (You know the saying…my daughter has become the proverbial kid in a candy store), our aunt’s computer skills and last but not least, my mother-in-laws ability to turn any dessert recipe into a mouth-watering experience…All Things Chocolate and More was off and running!

Now I juggle between writing my next book and making delicious chocolate. I could not have written a better story for myself…a very sweet life indeed.

Lonely Deceptions

All Things Chocolate and More

The Story of “Lonely Deceptions”

Funny, when I was growing up I never had aspirations of becoming a writer or a chocolatier.  On the contrary, an accountant was what I thought I’d end up being. Now I make chocolate and I have my first mystery/suspense book published, Lonely Deceptions.

It all began with the sound of a drinking glass crashing onto the floor. My mom had knocked the glass down with her hand because—we would learn later that day—her eyesight was quickly being robbed by diabetes.

She eventually became legally blind and could no longer read, something a volunteer librarian loved to do. I soon came up with an idea that I would write short stories for her. And after I wrote one I would read it aloud to her, trying my best to give each character his or her own distinctive voice (an actor I’m not).

My mom enjoyed them and often said I should become a writer. I would just laugh in response. But little did I realize I was falling in love with writing.  Soon stories would pop into my head and I couldn’t wait to get them on paper.

I still can’t believe I have a book published…my mom would have been very proud.

 

Welcome!

A creature of habit, Nick started every day the same way. He splashed cold water on his face before staring across at his own reflection. Getting older, but not too shabby for just turning forty-three, he pondered … He washed and dried his hands and looked out the window … His fingers flicked the slats open only to expose a rain-soaked pane. I guess my friend called it right; there probably won’t be any baseball to watch tonight, Nick thought glumly. Before his fingers released their pressure, he spotted some kind of movement from behind a very old maple tree directly across the street. He found himself opening the slats even wider as he continued to stare into the stormy morning. Nick’s eyes focused on a shadow illuminated by the streetlight and hovering on the ground just beyond the confines of the maple tree. He considered calling the police, but then from behind the tree, a figure darted up the block toward the main cross road. In what seemed like an instant, the runner was out of view.