Cyndi Salzman Talks about Writing, Research, and Avoiding Laundry

A couple of weeks ago, I was flipping through Library Journal at work and spotted a familiar name--Cyndi Salzman, an author and fellow member of American Christian Fiction Writers. Her new book, Crime and Clutter, not only received a favorable review there, but she was interviewed and talked about some unique ways she went about the research for the book. (Also, she was pretty darn funny!) I immediately contacted her and asked if I could pass along some of her wit and wisdom to our readers. Here's the interview that resulted:

How long have you been writing?
I wrote and illustrated my first book at age six on manila paper and bound it using rubber cement. The title was The Beatles Book and commemorated the Fab Four’s “landing” in the United States. When I heard recently that Yoko Ono is now 73 years old – the shock sent me into a full blown hot flash.

How did your first book contract come about?
About ten years ago, I began writing a book as an excuse to avoid laundry. Frankly, I wish I had a loftier reason for kick-starting my career. But I don’t. The simple truth is at the bottom of the laundry pile – probably under a pair of smelly socks. It’s no surprise that my first three contracts were for nonfiction books providing encouragement for the domestically challenged.

Your first novel?
I had toyed with the idea of writing fiction for quite some time but came up with the idea for my mystery series when my group of girlfriends (we call ourselves the Friday Afternoon Club) was taking one of our "road trips." We spent ten hours on a train going to Chicago and laughed the entire time. On the trip home, I thought it would be a great premise for a mystery. We ended up plotting a story with the help of several passengers and the conductor, who happened to be a part-time mortician. Although the trip inspired the series, that particular story hasn't been written—yet.

Has there been a time in your writing journey that you felt like giving up? How did you get through that time?
I think about this at least once a week. The work is HARD, promotion grueling and I am always behind on laundry. I think – “WHY am I doing this? I could have a drawer full of clean underwear!” Then God softly whispers – once again – in my ear, “You know why…” Then He reminds me of the same words of encouragement David gave to his son Solomon when he passed the baton, “Be strong and courageous – and do the work.” (I Chron, 28:20) So I pull on a pair of my dh’s underwear (since I don’t have any clean ones) and fire up my laptop.

Tell us a little about Crime and Clutter.
Crime & Clutter is the second title in my light-hearted mystery series focusing on the friendship and adventures of six women who have dubbed themselves the “Friday Afternoon Club.” Sound familiar? : ) Caught up in the everyday challenges of carpool, soccer practice, music lessons and never-ending laundry – this feisty group of midlife moms find themselves acting as sleuths to unravel the mysteries and predicaments they encounter. In this book, Mary Alice is forced to face the difficult memories of her father's abandonment when she was a baby. The FAC rallies around her to help resolve her family's long-buried secrets which take readers through the Sixties counterculture.

How did you go about the research for it?
This is where the former journalist comes out in me. I love research! I read several books written about hippies and the counter-culture during the Sixties, piles of news articles and the trial transcripts of the Chicago Seven and similar cases. I pulled up archives of old television and radio reports, haunted “old hippie” chat rooms and forums and did several interviews with people who were in college during the time.

One of my childhood friend’s older sister lived on a commune and we visited her in 1968. Although I was only nine years old at the time, I have some very vivid memories of the place and the people. I remember being both fascinated and frightened by the experience. Finally, Denny and Ali’s story contain similarities to that of my own parents. I was able to pull from things they’ve said over the years to get a sense of the passion and motivation of the times.

Is there one great research tip (a source, or website, or just a way to go about it) that you would like to pass along?
My training is in broadcast journalism, so I have always keyed into what people say – looking for a sound bite that adds flavor to the story. Consequently, I like to interview people face-to-face whenever possible. I also like listening to recordings or reading transcripts of interviews or trials. And I read letters or diaries when I can find them. Anything in a person’s own words. This gives me a better sense of the emotion and a flavor for the times. For example, when I researched the first book in the series, Dying to Decorate (which deals with the Underground Railroad in the Great Plains) the Slave Narratives produced during the WPA project in the 1930’s were invaluable. http://xroads.virginia.edu/~hyper/wpa/wpahome.html

Eight Indications I Need Help

I just discovered I've been tagged by Sally Bradley to tell you eight random things about me. After that, I'm supposed to tag eight other people. (See last paragraph if you've been tagged.) Well, at least Sally didn't specify "amazing" or "fascinating" things about me. That would be really hard. Random I can possibly do.

1. Have you ever seen Nancy Grace, who has a show on CNN? I grew up with her. Went to school with her first grade through twelfth, plus one summer college class.

2. I never used a digital camera until March of this year.

3. I've told you about two of my cats, Wendy and Cera. I had another Himalayan named Tegan who died a couple of years ago. She was 20 years old!

4. I am possibly the biggest Star Wars fan in this or any other galaxy, even those far, far away.

5. This is related to number 4, but I refuse to put them together. This is hard enough as it is. I used to go to science fiction conventions. That's right, I was one of those geeks, and yes, I once wore a Star Trek uniform. (I didn't like Star Trek as much as Star Wars, but they had those really cool uniforms in the movies. If I had dressed as Princess Leia, I would have had to put my hair in those tacky buns on the side of my head. And this was way back, before Padme and all those gorgeous clothes in Attack of the Clones...okay, I'm starting a whole other post here. Plus I'm sounding slightly demented. I'll move on.)

6. I'm kind of depressed this week because I just discovered there's only one more episode of Gilmore Girls.

7. I once worked for a private investigator.

8. I remember seeing the Beatles live on the Ed Sullivan show. I remember a lot of other things about the Ed Sullivan show, including a puppet sketch in which the puppets devoured each other. A caterpillar puppet grabbed some kind of bug, and then a big bird grabbed it, etc. It scared me to death. I'm still slightly uncomfortable watching the Muppets.

Well, this was great. Very good for me, because after reading back over my list, I now realize I am in severe need of psychotherapy! Thanks, Sally!

Now comes the really hard part. I'm new at this, and I barely know eight other bloggers. But here are the ones I decided to inflict this--uh, honor with--naming them: Miralee, Melanie, Judy, Shirl, Robin B., Jess, Terri T., and Angie.

Those of you tagged should post eight random things about yourself on your blog. At the end, tag eight other people and list their names. Leave a comment on their blog telling them they're tagged and to come read your blog for more info.

By the way, I didn't mean for this blog to be as much about me as it has been this week. I will try to get back on track next week, I promise!

Attracting Natural Disasters Part 2

Yesterday, I told you about my family's tendency to draw natural disasters with our camping trips. All this was really just background leading up to last weekend.

Every year we go camping at Twin Oaks Park near Waycross, Georgia, where they have an awesome bluegrass festival. As I mentioned last Friday, this is precisely where horrible wildfires have been burning for several weeks. I can't believe that, even after being back for days, this fire is still burning, but the drought in Georgia this year has really added to the problem. Roads had been closed near Twin Oaks Park and a number of homes had been destroyed by the fires, but of course we headed for South Georgia anyway.

I don't think we realized the extent of the fire until this trip, so I'm glad we went. Sometimes the horrible events I hear about on the radio news tend to blur into "talk" while I'm getting ready for work or driving. I need a jolt of reality every now and then.

The festival was about 180 miles from my home, but we started breathing smoke after about 30 miles. I don't know how folks have been managing to go about their business all these weeks with the air so thick with smoke. We went through the little town of Pearson and could see the clouds of smoke billowing up. Everyone in the local Hardee's was talking about the fire. Mostly they were talking about the firefighters who are risking their lives for them.

My mother and sister were going to join us the next day, and I was particularly worried about them since they have asthma. The park was hazy and smoky on Thursday, but on Friday we were truly blessed. The wind shifted, and the air cleared. Once again, God blessed us with a great family time together and protected us--in spite of ourselves!

For most of the year, Twin Oaks Park is mainly a quiet farm. I like to speculate about the cows, who go about their business in peace for most of the year. Then suddenly, hundreds of people and campers and noisy people who make strange sounds on twangy instruments descend on them. I think the calves are especially bewildered.

We have one more family camping trip planned for this summer, back to Hunting Island again. I don't know what will be going on as far as hurricanes, but I've already gotten an email from the park about our reservation. They wanted to let us know that we should plan for lots of traffic delays when we come, because a barge ran into a bridge going out to the island and repairs won't be completed until a couple of weeks after our trip.

Oh well. We're packing up anyway.

Attracting Natural Disasters

On the American Christian Fiction Writers email loop this week, people are discussing creative ways to make extra cash to help pay for the annual conference. I just thought of one. I can tell folks that unless they send me large sums of money, I will bring my family to camp near them.

My family's camping trips have always attracted natural disasters. We've long been accustomed to heading out in tornado warnings or flash floods. Usually things clear up by the time we get where we're going--at least enough for us to cope.

I was already a grown woman when my dad got a motor home. Family vacations for us had usually consisted of visiting relatives in other states, but now we intended to go play! We planned a camping trip to the beach in Florida, even though it was a little early in the year and the wind was howling. We didn't care. All of us----my parents, my sister and her family (including my niece and nephew) and me--loaded into that RV and headed out.



We basically lay on the beach in a sandstorm. My father still teases my sister about the sand that stuck in her lip balm in the perfect shape of her lips. But we had a blast. The first time my fiancee (now my husband, Dave) met my family was on one of those camping trips. We had a long distance relationship, and he drove over from Louisiana to meet us on yet another beach in Florida.

For years now, we camp every summer at one of my favorite places in the world, Hunting Island State Park in South Carolina. The woods and the shady trees with moss stretch all the way down to the beach. So I can park a beach chair in the shade from the trees, lie there and watch the waves, and not worry so much about burning this glaring white skin. In fact, I once had a squirrel come down out of an oak tree right onto the beach to beg for potato chips, which he took out of my hand.

Hunting Island is so popular that it's very hard to get a reservation, but about three years ago, I snagged one. I planned that trip four months in advance--and managed to choose a week when not one but THREE hurricanes went up the coast. We were evacuated, which is a good thing, or we probably would have just sat there and waited for it to blow over.

We tried again the next year. I know you won't believe this, but as I left the library to start my vacation, one of my colleagues said, "At least there are no hurricanes predicted this year." That was the week Katrina hit. We traveled other places for a few days first, but by the time we reached Hunting Island, boy was there a hurricane predicted! Katrina didn't make landfall in our area, but we got the residual effects, mostly in wind. I had mentioned to Dave and my dad that I wanted one of those screen tents to put around our picnic table. We sat in the motor home and watched other people's screen tents go blowing past, rolling over and over like a ball. Daddy told me to just go out and grab the one I wanted as it went by.

All of this is leading up to this past weekend. I'll tell you about that tomorrow, in part 2 of this fascinating story.

Fear of Blessing?

Last week, Tara Mixon wrote a guest blog which talked about fear of failure. Judy left a very astute comment asking are we afraid of failure or of success, and pointing out that these are often two sides of the same coin. So happy you brought this up, Judy, because I was going to follow up with a similar thought.

A couple of weeks ago, my daily Bible reading brought me to some passages in 2 Samuel. In chapter 5, David is having a great time. Here are the NIV headings for the passages: "David Becomes King over Israel," "David Conquers Jerusalem," and "David Defeats the Philistines." He's on a roll, so he decides to take the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem.

During the trip, the oxen carrying the Ark stumble. One of David's men, Uzzah, takes hold of the Ark to steady it, which seems a perfectly reasonable thing to do. Unfortunately, God had given strict instructions as to who could touch the Ark, and how it should be treated. Uzzah was struck dead for his irreverence--and David was struck with fear. "How can the Ark of the Lord ever come to me?" (2 Sam. 6:9 NIV).

So David left the Ark right there where it was, with someone named Obed-Edom. Then he had to watch as God poured out his blessings on Obed-Edom and his entire household and know that, because of his fear, he was missing all that.

I'm in the process of starting yet another new novel, and I'm finding it really difficult. Some of that excitement I usually have at starting a new project just isn't there. Sometimes I ask myself, Have I done this once too often? Where's my passion? What am I afraid of?

I know I'm afraid of the rejection, of hitting the usual dead end. But sometimes I read blog posts and emails from published writers and think--what if I did succeed? Would I want to have a contract that required me to produce three books over the next year or two, instead of being able to take my time? And if I write books for the Christian market, what if I say the wrong thing? What if I misrepresent God, if my intentions are just as good as poor old Uzzah's--but I turn out to be just as irreverent and mistaken? Sure I'm afraid people will never read my work, but sometimes I'm even more afraid they will.

Even starting this blog was very scary for me. (See previous paragraph. Same principle.) It's very scary to reach out to people and make yourself vulnerable like that. But I finally decided, I don't want someone else to get my blessing! I'm just praying God will give me courage, and show me how to handle his Ark the right way.

An Update on My Poor Baby

Faithful visitors to the Queen will remember my former post about my poor, nervous cat Cera. The above picture shows what she's supposed to look like. Even at 18 years old, she's gorgeous--although in this photo you can tell she's getting matted and scruffy. Hence the story of her infamous trip to the groomer, which left her looking like this:



The groomers returned her to me half-shaved because they couldn't handle her. I promised an update, and I'm proud to say that on her second trip, the mission was accomplished. She doesn't exactly look good, but at least her hair is now even and smooth. Here's her new look:


You realize, of course, that she learned nothing from all this. She still won't let me brush her. As soon as her hair is an inch long, she'll be matted again. Back to the groomer we'll go--although possibly to a different one. This one did not specifically say we should never set foot in the place again, but she did not appear happy to see us this morning.



Cera has arthritis, and when I brought her home today, she seemed a little stiff and sore. Squirming to escape and taking swipes at people who were trying to help her no doubt took its toll. I watched her hobble around upstairs, first to the food dish, then her scratching pad, then her favorite sleeping spot. She was so happy to be home, she had to assure herself it was all real. And I was filled with compassion for her, and kept hugging her and petting her. This in spite of the fact that she caused me a great deal of aggravation, stress, and expense by being such an ornery little cuss to begin with.


So on the positive side, I thought--if I'm capable of loving her like that in spite of herself, if I can understand her lack of trust and forgive her for it, just think how great God's compassion must be toward me! And thank God for it. I'm afraid I'm pretty dense about repeating the same mistakes over and over myself, sometimes.

On a mundane side note, I wanted to mention that I probably won't post again for a few days. I'm going camping with my family from Thursday through Sunday. In fact, we're headed to a bluegrass festival near Waycross, Georgia. Have you heard about the horrible wildfires near the Okefenokee in south Georgia? Yep, that's where we're headed. What did I tell you about me and mistakes? Oh boy.

Announcing Prize Winners--Plus a New Contest

Today was the big day for the two drawings for amazon.com gift certificates.

The first drawing was for subscribers to the blog. I am very pleased to say that by the time of the drawing, I had 32 subscribers. Woo-hoo! I don't think that's bad, considering the blog has only been around for six or seven weeks. So I put the names of subscribers into a bag and shook it up, and pulled one out, and the winner was...

Tara Mixon! Congratulations, Tara--and thanks again for your encouraging guest blog yesterday.

I did a second drawing with the names of everyone who left a comment here. The winner that time was Jess, a visitor to the Queen who left a message on April 24. I've left a message on Jess's blog about the big prize--but if you read this here, email me, okay? I need your email address to send your prize.

Tara and Jess have both won a $50 gift certificate to amazon.com. And now here's the good news. I'm starting up a new contest for the month of May!

I can only afford one gift certificate next time--but I still feel I need to bribe you to read until you are so addicted to the gems of encouragement and knowledge found here that you will no longer be able to resist. So here's what I'm doing for May.

I'm going to hold one combined drawing for one $50 amazon.com gift certificate. I'll hold the drawing on June 1. All new subscribers and everyone who leaves a comment by May 31 will be entered.

I'm going to do entries for commenting a little differently. Every time you leave a comment, you'll get one entry in the drawing. I want to reward those faithful readers who are really supporting the Queen. So if you comment on four separate posts, you'll get four entries in the drawing. Please make sure I can tell who you are or how to get in touch with you. (By the way, if anyone out there has experience with this, how do you handle that part? I don't want to ask people to post personal info--but I want to be able to let them know if they win. If you have brilliant ideas, post them as comments and get entered into the contest!)

Thanks again for all who have participated so far. Help me spread the word!