Morning Glories

Morning glories have always been a favorite flower of mine. This year, even though I planted them early enough and they produced spectacular leaves, they didn't bloom. June, July passed, then August. There was no way to rush the blooms, no way to know if the weather would improve (too wet, too dry, too cool) . Then September came, the decisive month, the last chance. Would these sprawling dark-green vines that finally had shown some tiny flower buds bring forth their stunning flowers just as fall made its decisive mark? Taunting the weather gods, the flowers finally made their appearance in the middle of the month.

I never had thought much about the flower's name, though. I knew morning glories bloomed during the daytime, but I didn't know exactly when the one-day blossoms opened--they were usually fully open by the time I'd be out in the garden. So today, putting on my scientist's hat, I decided to track their activities. Before sunrise, around 6 am, with a nip in the air, a few blooms were already open to greet the new day, and gradually, over the next two hours, a couple dozen other stunning blue flowers joined in, reflecting the newly bright blue of today's sky.

Yes, fall is coming,
the dry trees leaves rustle blowing down the alley.
But a late reprieve:
Glorious flower opens in the morning;
morning glory.

 Photograph ©2009 Barbara DaCosta

Fall Book Events

Two big book events are coming up:

The annual Twin Cities Book Festival is coming up, Saturday, October 10th at Mpls Community and Technical College. This is FREE and open to public, usually has thousands of attendees. Event includes readings, talks, used book sales, vendors (most of the area publishers and many authors), book arts, children's activities, and more.

The Loft Literary Center is having its first Mystery, Crime, and Thriller Festival, Sat-Sun, Nov. 14-15, at Open Book. Vince Flynn is the keynote speaker. Others presenters include: Carl Brookings, Masha Hamilton, Mary Logue, William Kent krueger, Jan Dunlap, Philip Donlay, Jess Lourey, Ellen Hart, Susan Runholt, Erin Hart, Rich Thompson, and more. $180 members/$195 non-members.

See you there!

New Crime Anthology Honors Bookstore

"Once Upon a Crime: An Anthology of Murder, Mayhem, and Suspense is a perfect name for a new anthology of short stories by some of Minnesota's best-known crime/mystery writers, as well as a few from outside the region. The book is a tribute to Minneapolis-based Once Upon a Crime bookstore and its owners, the husband-wife team of Gary Shulze and Pat Frovarp. Their little store...which routinely hosts readings by some of the nation's top-selling writers, was just voted Favorite Mystery Bookstore in the country by Crimespree magazine. Once Upon a Crime—the book—was born several years ago when Shulze was hospitalized with leukemia, according to Gary R. Bush, a Minneapolis author who co-edited the anthology with Chris Everheart.

'Putting this book together was a labor of love,' said Bush, who writes books for children, young adults and adults. 'Pat and Gary have been so good to us and other authors, we wanted to honor them. They don't care whether you are a beginner or have had 30 books published. They will treat you equally, with respect, and push your books. They're kind and encouraging.' " Featured authors are Everheart and Bush, Stanley Trollip (who writes with Michael Sears as Michael Stanley), Maureen Fischer, Anne Frasier, Pat Dennis, Terri Persons, Sujata Massey, William Kent Krueger, David Housewright, Lois Greiman, Pete Hautman, Ken Bruen and Marilyn Victor. Launch party for "Once Upon a Crime: An Anthology of Murder, Mayhem, and Suspense" 7 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 27th at Once Upon a Crime, 604 W. 26th St., Minneapolis (612-870-3785). See Mary Ann Grossman's full article in the Pioneer Press.

Poe Celebrations

There are some fabulous events happening this year to mark Edgar Allan Poe's 200th birthday (in addition to the stamp issued by the USPS mentioned below in a previous blog entry).

Poe Conference: "The Third International Poe Conference will meet in Philadelphia Oct 8 to 11, 2009, at the Hyatt Hotel. At the conference, Poe scholars will present new scholarship, participants will attend a premier of a musical composition, inspired by Poe, and written by Augusta Reed Thomas and see a performance by Norman George as Poe." The National Park Service maintains the Poe National Historical Site in Philadelphia, where a number of additional events will be held.

Baltimore's Year-long Celebration: "The city of Baltimore will host Nevermore 2009, a yearlong celebration of the life and works of one of Baltimore's most famed residents. The year will be filled with a variety of events, including birthday celebrations, lectures, wine tastings, art exhibitions, theatrical performances, special tours and more." These events include an October reburial of Poe next to his grandfather.

Feature Articles: The New York Times has put together a slide show of images from Poe manuscripts and published works in the Berg Collection of the New York Public Library. The New Yorker recenlty featured a lengthy article by Jill Lepore on Poe.

Virtual Writers Conference Begins

What a terrific idea! Gayle Trent, author of Murder Takes the Cake, has put together a virtual writers conference featuring guest writers, editors, agents, and others. Topics include book trailers, plotting, publishing, social networking, and more.
The advantages: attend any time, attend everything, no expense of travel, and you don't have to get out of your pajamas.

New Stamp Honors Poe

The United States Postal Service has once again issued a beautiful literary stamp, this one on the occasion of Edgar Allen Poe's 200th birthday. Poe (1809–1849, was a poet, soldier, editor, author of the famous poem "The Raven" ("Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered weak and weary / Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore...."), The Murders in the Rue Morgue, and the Fall of the House of Usher, among others. Poe is considered by many to be the father of the detective genre; his own death is still considered to be a mystery.

Buy stamps at post offices or online. Visit the Poe Museum's website for more information about this important American writer.

Stamp copyright USPS 2009.

Got Website?

It used to be that to create something like a poster, for example, that you'd take pencil and eraser and paper, pen and ink and maybe a ruler (if you were really high-tech and serious you'd have a light table). Then, you'd get to work, sketching, erasing, drawing, inking. In a matter of hours, you'd be done.

Now, websites. It's simple, they say. You can make a website bing-bang-bung done! Realistically though, the creative process is no different, even though the tools are. Think, design, rework, start over.... Of course with computers, there's also the "delight" of learning new software, and the absolutely unforgivingly exacting manner in which programming needs to be done. Every little imperfection means that either your webpage won't work or will look odd. Hours, days, and weeks can go by as you search for that one tiny little crumb of code that's messing the whole thing up.

In the old days, mistakes were easy: you firmly held down the paper with one hand, gripped your eraser in the other, and rubbed out your mistake. Then you swept and blew the eraser crumbs off the paper, and re-did the problem section ... and you were done.

Visit my new site http://www.barbaradacosta.com and let me know what you think!
Photo by Barbara DaCosta ©2008

Ｗrite of Spring

Once Upon a Crime, one of the Upper Midwest's finest independent bookstores is putting on their annual "Write of Spring" Saturday, March 28th, 12–4 pm. I'll be appearing there at 2 pm.
There'll be more than 60 authors besides me appearing that day: Carl Brookins , Gary Bush, Laura Childs, Chris Everheart, Brian Freeman, Ellen Hart, Steve Horwitz, Wm. Kent Krueger, Lori L. Lake, Jess Lourey, David Oppegaard, Bruce Rubenstein, Julie L. Schaper, Roger Stelljes, Christopher Valen, Pat Dennis, William Dietrich, Lois Greiman, Bob Gust, Camille Hyytinen, E. Kelly Keady, Jenifer LeClair, Chuck Logan, Michael Mallory, Larry Millett, Peter Rennebohm, Rick Shefchik, William Swanson, Richard Thompson, Marilyn Victor, Robert Alexander, Sean Doolittle*, KJ Erickson, Barbara Fister, William Fietzer, Jeff Foster, David Housewright, Victoria Houston, Dean Hovey, Kathryn Koutsky, Linda Koutsky, Linda Morganstein, Susan Runholt, Steve Thayer, R.D. Zimmerman, Joel Arnold, Judith Borger, C.C. Canby, Philip Donlay, Monica Ferris, Erin Hart, Pete Hautman, Judith Koll Healy, Priscilla Herbison, Kathleen Hills, Julie Kramer, Mary Logue, Sujata Massey, Scott Pearson, and Deborah Woodworth. See the website for the full schedule, or click on poster image above.

Bloomington Writers' Festival and Book Fair

Come enjoy the 6th Annual Bloomington Writers' Festival and Book Fair, Saturday, March 21, 2009 9:30 am - 4:30 pm in Bloomington, Minnesota. The keynote speaker is mystery writer William Kent Krueger, speaking on "This Writer's Life." Kent will also discuss "Importance of Narrative' in morning and noon panels.
An afternoon panel "Is It A Crime?" features authors Carl Brookins, Ellen Hart, Susan Runholt, and Gary Shulze (co-owner of Once Upon a Crime Bookstore in Minneapolis). And, the Twin Cities Sisters in Crime will have a booth.
Panels and keynote are $10 each. To register, contact the center.

National Train Day to be Held in May 2009

National Train Day will be held May 9th, 2009. Check your local papers for events!

Macbeth 101 for Writers

My model for fiction writing came from eighth-grade English class, when our three tormented student teachers acted out the famous witches' scene from Shakespeare's Macbeth: "Double double, toil and trouble, fire burn and cauldron bubble .... eye of newt and toe of frog, wool of bat and tongue of dog" and the other gory ingredients too repugnant to recall here. None of us ever forgot Macbeth or those three student teachers, nor the list of memorable ingredients that we delighted in reciting at lunch hour the rest of the year.
I imagine that the three student teachers were trying to teach us how to appreciate and read and analyze Shakespeare. For me, the lessons were more oblique, finding use decades later:
• don't turn your back for even a minute on twenty-five eighth-graders
• literature read aloud is has a different effect than when read silently
• if you're going to speak in public, be assertive, especially in front of dozens of kids
But the most important lesson to me as a writer was that you don't have to look far for ingredients; real life supplies an ample amount—people, things, ideas, coincidences. Then, you mix it all into a brew so well-blended that it becomes something new and original. There's the magic—all you need is the cauldron.

On Writing

Once Upon A Crime in Minneapolis recently hosted a fabulous panel discussion with writers Mary Logue, K J Erickson, and Ellen Hart. Presenting to a packed room, the three well-known authors covered topics from knowing one's characters, to writing a series. Here are some nuggets I jotted down (blending the voices of the three, who are old friends who often finish each other's thoughts):
On writing: When the writing is flowing, it's like being in a groove, and you know it's working so it feels great; the novel takes on a shape, becoming a living thing, growing organically, or like fractal. For the three, a writing group has been essential for their growth as writers, and as a balm for the solitary task of writing.
The great puzzle: If, as according to Malcolm Gladwell, it takes 10,000 hours to master any particular thing, how is it that an author's first book is often their best? Conversely, why does it take so long for some authors to become well known?
On characters: They take on their own lives. When writing a series, you get to know them over time, and you realize different things about them. Of course, you can always throw a little conflict in their paths to shake things up for them—and for you, as well.
On agents and editors: They should act as advocates for readers, understand the market, and are ideally there to help the writer do their best work.
The publishing industry: there are natural cycles to it, small presses will grow as bigger presses struggle, technological changes have to be embraced, that there's still—beyond the blockbusters that every publisher seeks—a need for diverse, interesting writing; the big presses will always need to seek out new, good books.
KJ closed the evening with a passionate plea for both readers and writers to understand the important role of independent bookstores, whose staff actually read and recommend books to customers, and sponsor author events.

On Very Short Stories

I've figured out why I'm very fond of short stories—especially the 300–1500 word range—it's from years of writing short journalistic pieces. Whether in the form of a poem, column, essay, letter to the editor, or terse pay-by-the-word ad content, or blog entry, brevity is often the soul of expression.
So when an article by Sandra Seamans on "flash fiction" at
Bookspot Central came to my attention, I was thrilled to read about its popularity in the mystery genre.
Any short fiction demands succinct delivery, all the more so with short-short fiction. In fact, there's a newish form, the six-word biography (see article in New Yorker). It was reputedly started by Hemingway, who is said to have written the tragic “For sale: baby shoes, never worn.”
Try it out and let me know what you think!

Book Voyeur on the #18

What's almost as good as seeing someone read one of your own books? Seeing them reading a book by someone you know!
This morning on the bus, I was seated across from three people reading books. First, a man with a thick sheaf of pages of a braille book held against his ample stomach, fingers rapidly dancing through the bumpy white text. Naturally, I couldn't read the title. Next to him, a small white-haired woman held a well-read copy of They Call Me Mother Graham by Morrow Coffey Graham, mother of the evangelist Billy Graham. And next to her, a young, hip-looking gal with leggings, short skirt, bracelets and piercings—her colorful hair sticking out in all directions—who was glued to a book whose cover I couldn't see. Of course, that just made me more curious.
When she at last shifted the book to her other hand, I got a glimpse of the cover. To my delight, it was not only a book I'd read and liked—Iron Lake, but it was by someone I knew—my colleague from Resort to Murder William Kent Krueger.
Ironically, I'd just seen Kent the night before at the launch for his new book Red Knife, which I'm looking forwards to reading. The young woman and I began talking. She confided that Iron Lake was the first book of Kent's she'd read, and she was really enjoying it.
"He's from around here, you know that?" I asked.
She nodded, and quickly ducked her head back down to the book, captivated.

New DaCosta Story "Hands" Premieres at Penny Dreadful

I promised I would write some non-creepy stories, and so here is one. "Hands," can be found in the interesting new blog of online stories called Penny Dreadful. The blog is being run by Hotbutton Press, which is also host to Blog Booktours. Penny Dreadful will post a new story almost every day, all by different authors. (All anonymous, though we authors are allowed to spill our own beans.)
Penny Dreadfuls were pulp magazines printed on cheap paper and circulated to the lower classes in nineteenth-century Britain. You can read more about them on Wikipedia.
"Hands" was written and published in one day, a new experience for me. Its genesis was simply in wondering about the many chance encounters at libraries—specifically that of a library circulation desk clerk—and what if...?
Enjoy these stories!

READ PENNY DREADFUL www.pdreadful.blogspot.com

The World of Short Stories

I didn't really set out to write "disturbing" stories, but a reviewer recently described my debut mystery story "Cabin 6" from Resort to Murder with just that label. There's a reason, though, that the story came out the way it did. Let me explain.

When I first met veteran legal mystery/thriller writer Lisa Scottoline (who's one of the most personable and entertaining writers out there), I had not yet begun to write mysteries, but had recently had a bizarre encounter with a scary person that just begged to be written about. I asked Lisa how writers live with the evil and creepiness of some of the characters and scenarios found in a typical mystery. Her answer was that it was important to choose one's on-the-page companions carefully, as you had to be able to live with them for a long, long time while you did the heavy lifting of creating a novel.

Several years later when I began working on Death by the Depot, my current novel-in-progress, I remembered Lisa's words. I began crafting a world populated mostly by people I wouldn't mind meeting, and situations that seemed close to real life. I decided to leave the psychopaths, car chases, and gore to some other writer who could do better by them.

My short stories are another matter. Short stories have become the place where I can take a scary situation or odd personality and let them develop in their own little petri dish. Since a short story can be written in hours instead of years, they have become a way for me to experiment with writing about "darker" sides of life. Thus, the above-described "disturbing" short story. But never fear, not all of my stories can be called disturbing! There are some lighter fare as well.

In any case, here's what the reviewer wrote about my Resort to Murder story: that DaCosta's "disturbing story 'Cabin 6' ... is her first story and it is a good one...."

"Good"? Now, there's a word that doesn't beg any explanation!

Read Kevin Tipple's entire Resort to Murder book review at Blogger News (7/13/08)

Celebrate National Train Day Saturday, May 10th!

National Train Day, May 10th, 2008.

If you're like me, you remember the joys and wonders of taking a train trip. For people in my parent's generation, it was THE way to travel. Hundreds of passenger trains rolled through the Twin Cities each day, bound for Duluth, Winnipeg, the Dakotas, Omaha, Chicago, and Iowa...now, there is the lone Empire Builder, from Chicago to the west coast once a day in each direction. Efforts are underway to reinstate a train to Duluth (which ceased in 1985), and a high-speed train to Chicago.

The National Association of Rail Passengers and Amtrak will join together for National Train Day, to be held at train stations across the country. The event is designed to highlight the growing popularity of train riding, its environmental benefits, and to emphasize the need for rebuilding a strong passenger train network. Why May 10th? That day commemorates 139th anniversary of the laying in 1869 of the Golden Spike at Promontory Summit, Utah, the final link in America’s first transcontinental railroad.

Sixth Annual Write of Spring Event 2008

When the snow and ice begin to melt every March, one of the Twin Cities' favorite independent bookstores, Once Upon a Crime goes wild and invites almost every single mystery writer in the area to the store for the annual Write of Spring event. This year, I'll be appearing for the first time, along with such luminaries as Robert Alexander, R.D. Zimmerman, Pete Hautman, Mary Logue, Laura Childs, Monica Ferris, David Housewright, William Kent Krueger, Gary Bush, Ellen Hart, Carl Brookins, Sujata Massey, Lori Lake, and many other writers who've helped put Minnesota on the mystery map!

Write of Spring is Saturday, March 22, from 12 noon till 4 p.m. Come meet your favorite writers—see their site for schedule!

Once Upon a Crime is located at 604 West 26th Street (just east of Lyndale Av. S.), lower level of apartment building.
612-870-3785

What is NaNoWriMo and Why Did I Do It?

Here's the challenge: write, in the month of November, a novel of 50,000 words length. Thirty days. That is the simple goal of National Novel Writing Month, otherwise known as NaNoWriMo. Run by a somewhat ad hoc nonprofit organization, the now-annual event attracted over 90,000 of writers from every corner of the world, including a couple of thousand hardy Minnesotans. The idea is to "just sit down and write" without worrying about perfecting your work, without fussing, and without procrastination. After the month is over, then you can rewrite, revise, edit, restructure. Schoolteachers have had great success using NaNoWriMo to stimulate student interest in writing.

Why did I try NaNoWriMo? I was up for a new challenge, and wanted to try writing in a different manner than usual. Last year, I lasted all of ten minutes. This year, I was ready for it, and wrote steadily for the whole month, reaching what I thought was a very reasonable amount of 30,000 words (bear in mind that 1000–2000 words a day is for many writers an average daily output, and that most novels are actually going to be 65,000 words or more).

I prepared well for the month-long adventure. I thought through the structure for the new novel, which is a follow-up to DEATH BY THE DEPOT (the manuscript of which, almost complete, was ready for a month of fermentation).I stocked up on food, took care of winterizing chores, and warned people what I was up to just in case I got a glazed look in my eye. I filled my fountain pen, sharpened some pencils, and assembled a stack of color-coordinated scrap paper. I did some test runs with my new novel-writing software (the very wonderful Scrivener for Mac). I then opened the door for the novel's newly minted dozen-or-so characters to come in and start taking shape.

The result? A good solid start for me on a novel that has been lurking in the back of my mind for a couple of years; some new work methods for my repertoire. Some new writing buddies (the Twin Cities had just shy of 1600 people signed up, who produced 13,059,537 words, and placed 3rd internationally in number of words written, just behind Seattle and "Maryland"). Mostly, though, I had fun.

What's next? Now it's this novel's turn to ferment for a spell while I take care of other matters including DEPOT, and begin to dream up a story for next year's NaNoWriMo.

"Cabin 6" —A Story of Love, Obsession—and Murder

The vast, northern Lake Superior is a mysterious place that harbors many secrets under its frigid waters, and in the many whispered confessions of the people who journey to its shorelines. As the waves crash and crash upon the rocky shoreline, a lone figure is seen leaving Cabin 6....

"Cabin 6," a tale of love, obsession, and murder, will appear in Resort to Murder, an anthology scheduled to be released this fall by Nodin Press. This anthology is a follow-up to the wildly successful Silence of the Loons and edited by well-known Minnesota mystery authors Ellen Hart, William Kent Krueger, and Carl Brookins, Resort to Murder features mystery stories set against the backdrop of Minnesota's perennial favorite vacation spots.
"Cabin 6" is the mystery debut of Barbara DaCosta, a Minneapolis-based writer. She is at work on her first novel, Death by the Depot.