The premise of my Carrie Mae Mystery series is that in the sixties, while other ladies were burning their bras and inventing Tupperware, Carrie Mae Robart founded a door to door / friend to friend cosmetic selling empire ā Carrie Mae Cosmetics. Her goal was to give women financial independence without having to work outside the home. However, the more women she met, the more she realized that there were some problems that couldnāt be solved with just money Āā some problems needed a fist in the face. So Carrie Mae set up the Carrie Mae Foundation. Financed by proceeds from the cosmetic sales, the foundation is part non-profit – working on pro-bono legal cases and lobbying government on womenās rights issues – and partly a women only, black-ops, elite fighting force. The heroines of my stories Nikki Lanier, Ellen Marson, Jenny Baxter and Jane Rozmarek are part of that force and they travel the world, fulfilling the Carrie Mae mission statement: helping women everywhere.
Now the thing youāll notice about this premise is that itās only partially based in reality. I mean, sure, itās possible for a woman in the 1960ās to found a peer to peer make up sales company. Not that I know of any⦠ahem. But sadly, it has apparently never occurred to anyone to found an elite fighting force for women as part their non-profit. (If someone knows of one, please email me immediately; I would like to join up.) The problem with all of this lack of reality is that I have to make it sound plausible when writing. And that means all the other bits have to sound real. I have to research the guns and the locations and I try to make sure that my characters emotions feel authentic. But if I spend too much time in reality, I suddenly look at my own premise and think, āThatās ridiculous! I canāt write that.ā
Thatās right; I tell myself, āI canāt.ā Those are some of the worst words in the English language. (Although, theyāre still not as bad as, āWe need to talk.ā) Iām two books and two short stories, and half a manuscript into a series, and⦠I canāt? How does the Canāt Gremlin sneak into so many places? I thought I was well fortified behind the Walls of Fantasy; girded by the Armor of Gumption; defended by the Holy Force of Imagination. And yet⦠I canāt. Why is it so hard to get that jerk of a gremlin out of the house? Canāt have an elite fighting force? You might as well suggest that a woman canāt write books. The cycle of Canāt can be extremely hard to break, so when I get too down in the Canāts, I like to read other peopleās books. Thereās nothing like a good trip through someone elseās imagination to leave the Canāt Gremlin in the dust. But still, I know heās just waiting around the corner to trip me up. Which is why I prefer to visit reality infrequently and for only brief periods of time. Feel free to visit me any time, but leave your gremlins at the door ā I canāt be bothered with Canāt today.
https://bethanymaines.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/Aug2016-Logo-op3-300x69.png00Bethany Maineshttps://bethanymaines.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/Aug2016-Logo-op3-300x69.pngBethany Maines2014-07-08 15:05:372014-07-08 15:05:37Don’t Feed the Gremlins
Iām sitting in my backyard listening to my neighbors complain about one of their roommates. Apparently, the miscreant roommate has three bags of trash sitting by the door to his room that he has failed to take out.
āI mean, thatās not a problem⦠exactly.ā
Each of the guys carefully, and politely denote their own housecleaning failures.
āI never make my bed.ā
āYou never saw my apartment; I can get meh-ssy.ā
āI have empty bottles in my room too.ā (āNot like that,ā interjects the first guy.)
They each tiptoe up to the line of declaring the roommateās behavior an actual problem, but donāt cross it. Clearly, the garbage is still being contained in the room. But equally clear is that they all find the roommates sloth disgusting. Note to the miscreant: When 3 twenty-something dudes, who have only a tentative grasp on hygiene, find your housekeeping habits to sub-par on the rank of foulness, you just might have a problem.
All of which got me to thinking about villains and bad guys and wondering whether or not they realize that they are failing at their end of the social bargain. What if villains are just totally incapable of realizing that their 3 bags of garbage is offending the other roommates? Getting kicked out of the house will come as a total shock if you have no idea that a hazmat suit shouldnāt be required dress for your room. Maybe if Sauron had just been a little tidier maybe he wouldnāt have had to move in with the Orcs. If Darth Vader hadnāt grown up with Jabba the Hut as role model maybe he wouldnāt have gone to the dark side. If Voldemort hadnāt had to live on the back of some guyās greasy head maybe he wouldnāt have been so peeved all the time. What do you think? Do villains choose to deviate from the social norm, or do they just blow right by the stop signs without seeing them at all?
This past year I have been focusing on my graphic design business and having a child (see adorable picture of Zoe below) and itās been hard to give the time required to write a novel. Not that Iāve stopped writing or wanting to write, but the amount of hours I have available is not what it once was. Since I had shorter hours I decided to shift to shorter projects and Iāve spent the past year working on short stories. This has been both hard and rewarding. Hard in that Iāve always worked in long format and short stories are structured differently than novels. Short stories have made me practice new skills and work in new ways and it has been extremely rewarding to see these new skills bear fruit.
But as my life (and daughter) settle back into a routine, Iām looking forward to returning to the novel structure. In fact, I have plans for a third Carrie Mae Mystery, High-Caliber Concealer, and an as yet to be named mystery set in the San Juan islands. I canāt wait to share these new adventures with you, but today Iām releasing the last of my pre-daughter short stories. Power of Attorney a Carrie Mae Mini-Mystery is now available! I hope you enjoy it!
https://bethanymaines.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/Aug2016-Logo-op3-300x69.png00Bethany Maineshttps://bethanymaines.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/Aug2016-Logo-op3-300x69.pngBethany Maines2014-05-28 17:34:272014-07-20 17:41:39Power of Attorney
I was watching The Big Bang Theory the other day ā the one where Sheldon was expounding on his hatred for Wil Wheaton, his āarch-nemesis.ā Having an arch-nemesis is such a comic book notion that the idea of a real person with an arch-nemesis has comedic potential built in. But it got me thinking about how we approach our enemies in real life. Most of us donāt say we have enemies. We have people we donāt like ā mean people at work, that jerk of a clerk at the DMV, or the weird neighbor who thinks itās great to feed that raccoons. To say that person is an enemy is to imply that they are out to get you and that conversely youāre probably out to get them. An enemy seems to imply a state of conflict that most of us arenāt really comfortable with.
But Sheldon got me to thinking: Who have been the āenemiesā in my life? That one girl at the office who over watered my bamboo plant and then blamed me for the fact that it smelled like dog poo? (That is what happens when you over water bamboo, by the way.) Could I turn her into the villain of a workplace adventure? Just how much bad behavior does it take for a reader will believe a character in the role of villain? Accidental over watering probably doesnāt make a villain. I think weād have to ramp up the bad behavior before a reader would believe she was anything more than a workplace annoyance. And since I was considering my life through the lens of villainy I had to wonder if I had ever been anyone elseās arch-nemesis. Of course, Iād probably be horrified if I found out I was hated by someone, but to figure so large in the pantheon of someoneās life would be kind of cool. So then I paused to consider what about my character would make a good villain and I realized it was quite clearly my underground volcano lair.
What character trait do you think makes for a good villain?
PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT: Help a starving author ā leave reviews for the books you read today!
Thereās a lot of talk these days about shopping local with the goal of supporting actual people instead of massive corporations. Well, you canāt get much more small, local, and actual than author. Reviews really do help authors. Itās through reviews that their books percolate through the great Google and Amazon algorithms and get recommended to other readers. And new readers means new buyers, which translates directly to an authorās pocket book.
That being said, I donāt often leave reviews for books. An author, I know that harsh reviews can be devastating to writers. I also think that after working on the craft of writing for more than a few years, that Iām pickier than the average reader and that can make for some rather negative reviews. But since I truly value an honest review I have adopted a āIf I canāt say anything nice, then I donāt say anything at allā policy when it comes to reviews. Which means that my reviews are further a part as my life becomes busier with less time for reading, and I find it harder to find a book that I love with the same passion I did when I was younger. Hopefully, that means that if you see a review from me, youāll know that I truly enjoyed the book.
So keep on leaving reviews, try not to be too mean, and definitely, definitely keep on reading.
Don’t Feed the Gremlins
/in Carrie Mae, General WritingThe premise of my Carrie Mae Mystery series is that in the sixties, while other ladies were burning their bras and inventing Tupperware, Carrie Mae Robart founded a door to door / friend to friend cosmetic selling empire ā Carrie Mae Cosmetics. Her goal was to give women financial independence without having to work outside the home. However, the more women she met, the more she realized that there were some problems that couldnāt be solved with just money Āā some problems needed a fist in the face. So Carrie Mae set up the Carrie Mae Foundation. Financed by proceeds from the cosmetic sales, the foundation is part non-profit – working on pro-bono legal cases and lobbying government on womenās rights issues – and partly a women only, black-ops, elite fighting force. The heroines of my stories Nikki Lanier, Ellen Marson, Jenny Baxter and Jane Rozmarek are part of that force and they travel the world, fulfilling the Carrie Mae mission statement: helping women everywhere.
Now the thing youāll notice about this premise is that itās only partially based in reality. I mean, sure, itās possible for a woman in the 1960ās to found a peer to peer make up sales company. Not that I know of any⦠ahem. But sadly, it has apparently never occurred to anyone to found an elite fighting force for women as part their non-profit. (If someone knows of one, please email me immediately; I would like to join up.) The problem with all of this lack of reality is that I have to make it sound plausible when writing. And that means all the other bits have to sound real. I have to research the guns and the locations and I try to make sure that my characters emotions feel authentic. But if I spend too much time in reality, I suddenly look at my own premise and think, āThatās ridiculous! I canāt write that.ā
Thatās right; I tell myself, āI canāt.ā Those are some of the worst words in the English language. (Although, theyāre still not as bad as, āWe need to talk.ā) Iām two books and two short stories, and half a manuscript into a series, and⦠I canāt? How does the Canāt Gremlin sneak into so many places? I thought I was well fortified behind the Walls of Fantasy; girded by the Armor of Gumption; defended by the Holy Force of Imagination. And yet⦠I canāt. Why is it so hard to get that jerk of a gremlin out of the house? Canāt have an elite fighting force? You might as well suggest that a woman canāt write books. The cycle of Canāt can be extremely hard to break, so when I get too down in the Canāts, I like to read other peopleās books. Thereās nothing like a good trip through someone elseās imagination to leave the Canāt Gremlin in the dust. But still, I know heās just waiting around the corner to trip me up. Which is why I prefer to visit reality infrequently and for only brief periods of time. Feel free to visit me any time, but leave your gremlins at the door ā I canāt be bothered with Canāt today.
Right Villainy
/in General WritingIām sitting in my backyard listening to my neighbors complain about one of their roommates. Apparently, the miscreant roommate has three bags of trash sitting by the door to his room that he has failed to take out.
āI mean, thatās not a problem⦠exactly.ā
Each of the guys carefully, and politely denote their own housecleaning failures.
āI never make my bed.ā
āYou never saw my apartment; I can get meh-ssy.ā
āI have empty bottles in my room too.ā (āNot like that,ā interjects the first guy.)
They each tiptoe up to the line of declaring the roommateās behavior an actual problem, but donāt cross it. Clearly, the garbage is still being contained in the room. But equally clear is that they all find the roommates sloth disgusting. Note to the miscreant: When 3 twenty-something dudes, who have only a tentative grasp on hygiene, find your housekeeping habits to sub-par on the rank of foulness, you just might have a problem.
All of which got me to thinking about villains and bad guys and wondering whether or not they realize that they are failing at their end of the social bargain. What if villains are just totally incapable of realizing that their 3 bags of garbage is offending the other roommates? Getting kicked out of the house will come as a total shock if you have no idea that a hazmat suit shouldnāt be required dress for your room. Maybe if Sauron had just been a little tidier maybe he wouldnāt have had to move in with the Orcs. If Darth Vader hadnāt grown up with Jabba the Hut as role model maybe he wouldnāt have gone to the dark side. If Voldemort hadnāt had to live on the back of some guyās greasy head maybe he wouldnāt have been so peeved all the time. What do you think? Do villains choose to deviate from the social norm, or do they just blow right by the stop signs without seeing them at all?
Power of Attorney
/in Carrie Mae, General WritingThis past year I have been focusing on my graphic design business and having a child (see adorable picture of Zoe below) and itās been hard to give the time required to write a novel. Not that Iāve stopped writing or wanting to write, but the amount of hours I have available is not what it once was. Since I had shorter hours I decided to shift to shorter projects and Iāve spent the past year working on short stories. This has been both hard and rewarding. Hard in that Iāve always worked in long format and short stories are structured differently than novels. Short stories have made me practice new skills and work in new ways and it has been extremely rewarding to see these new skills bear fruit.

But as my life (and daughter) settle back into a routine, Iām looking forward to returning to the novel structure. In fact, I have plans for a third Carrie Mae Mystery, High-Caliber Concealer, and an as yet to be named mystery set in the San Juan islands. I canāt wait to share these new adventures with you, but today Iām releasing the last of my pre-daughter short stories. Power of Attorney a Carrie Mae Mini-Mystery is now available! I hope you enjoy it!
The Arch-Nemesis
/in General WritingI was watching The Big Bang Theory the other day ā the one where Sheldon was expounding on his hatred for Wil Wheaton, his āarch-nemesis.ā Having an arch-nemesis is such a comic book notion that the idea of a real person with an arch-nemesis has comedic potential built in. But it got me thinking about how we approach our enemies in real life. Most of us donāt say we have enemies. We have people we donāt like ā mean people at work, that jerk of a clerk at the DMV, or the weird neighbor who thinks itās great to feed that raccoons. To say that person is an enemy is to imply that they are out to get you and that conversely youāre probably out to get them. An enemy seems to imply a state of conflict that most of us arenāt really comfortable with.
But Sheldon got me to thinking: Who have been the āenemiesā in my life? That one girl at the office who over watered my bamboo plant and then blamed me for the fact that it smelled like dog poo? (That is what happens when you over water bamboo, by the way.) Could I turn her into the villain of a workplace adventure? Just how much bad behavior does it take for a reader will believe a character in the role of villain? Accidental over watering probably doesnāt make a villain. I think weād have to ramp up the bad behavior before a reader would believe she was anything more than a workplace annoyance. And since I was considering my life through the lens of villainy I had to wonder if I had ever been anyone elseās arch-nemesis. Of course, Iād probably be horrified if I found out I was hated by someone, but to figure so large in the pantheon of someoneās life would be kind of cool. So then I paused to consider what about my character would make a good villain and I realized it was quite clearly my underground volcano lair.
What character trait do you think makes for a good villain?
Reviews (2014)
/in General WritingPUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT: Help a starving author ā leave reviews for the books you read today!
Thereās a lot of talk these days about shopping local with the goal of supporting actual people instead of massive corporations. Well, you canāt get much more small, local, and actual than author. Reviews really do help authors. Itās through reviews that their books percolate through the great Google and Amazon algorithms and get recommended to other readers. And new readers means new buyers, which translates directly to an authorās pocket book.
That being said, I donāt often leave reviews for books. An author, I know that harsh reviews can be devastating to writers. I also think that after working on the craft of writing for more than a few years, that Iām pickier than the average reader and that can make for some rather negative reviews. But since I truly value an honest review I have adopted a āIf I canāt say anything nice, then I donāt say anything at allā policy when it comes to reviews. Which means that my reviews are further a part as my life becomes busier with less time for reading, and I find it harder to find a book that I love with the same passion I did when I was younger. Hopefully, that means that if you see a review from me, youāll know that I truly enjoyed the book.
So keep on leaving reviews, try not to be too mean, and definitely, definitely keep on reading.