Many thanks to Deb Sanders who invited me to share some thoughts on her blog! It gave me a chance to reveal how story molecules bombard us, sometimes forming into full stories.
Deb herself is great at this. A fellow RVing author, she pens mysteries and romances.
And while you’re there — take a look at all Deb has to offer on her site, including her short stories. Continue reading “What’s a Story Molecule?”
I confess upfront I’m not a reader of romance novels, so Janetta Fudge-Messmer’s Early Birds isn’t a book I’d normally pick up to read. But when I saw the series features RVing couple Ben and Betsy Stevenson, I not only read it but asked Janetta if she’d be willing to submit herself to an ellenbooks interview. So the RV Mystery writers interview series has gone a little sideways here to feature Janetta, a fine writer and long-time RVer who shares how she writes while traveling and other insider details.
How did you come up with the idea for Early Birds?
It’s basically the first page of the book. My hubby and I had been talking about retirement, but we teased that Maggie (our pooch) pushed us over the edge. She ‘told’ us to quit our jobs, sell everything, buy an RV and hit the road. She wanted to spend more time with her new parents. That sparked the idea for a book and since I’m a writer, I sat down and wrote “Early Birds.”
Which came first – the romance or the RV?
The romance. I’m not saying my novel is autobiographical, but the main characters have similar traits to me and my hubby. And some of the scenes???
So much of the book “Early Birds” sounds like it was taken from a journal- a story that follows a couple’s decision to buy an RV and their first adventures on the road. How much of the story is based on your real life story? Or you can tell me to mind my own business.
As I stated above, we resemble Ben and Betsy in a few of the scenes. However, my lips are sealed on which ones. I just say that our life has been and continues to be an adventure.
Readers of my books often wonder how much my husband and I are like Walt and Betty Rollin, the main characters in my books. So…how similar are you to Betsy? Did your husband inspire your portrayal of Ben?
Betsy’s likes and dislikes are mine every step of the way. In the case of me bringing up potato salad in my debut novel – I’ll always say give me a spoonful of my mom’s and I’m a happy camper. Ben is somewhat similar to my husband. The only difference (and you’ll have to peek at the cover for this one), he’s not taller than me. Friends and family ask if he’s standing on a box.
Why and when did you start RVing?
We’ve own campers, trailers and everything in between while we worked. On our weekend camping trips we’d talk about what we wanted to do when we retired. Seemed RVing called our name and that’s what we’ve been doing for the last four years.
Are you currently a full-time RVer, having given up a sticks-and-bricks house for full-time travel in your RV?
We sold our home and became full-timers in 2013. Since we’d owned different RVs over the years, we were confident we’d love the lifestyle. Wintertime we’re in Florida, spending three or four months in a little trailer we bought in Ft. Myers. The other time, we’re on the road again in our 25 foot Minnie Winnie.
Do you travel with friends, as Ben and Betsy do in “Early Birds”?
We’d love to have our own Rose and Larry traveling with us, but for the time being we’re traveling solo.
Your main character loves Colorado. Is that your favorite place to travel in your RV also?
Yes! Yes! Yes! I LOVE Colorado, so Betsy had to have a tie to my favorite place on earth. This year we had the pleasure of spending the entire summer in Colorado with family and friends. WOOHOO!!!
Using one of your books as an example, could you take us through your process from idea through final published story? For example, what was the inspiration for the book, and how did that make its way into the novel?
Our precious pooch REALLY is the reason we’re full-time RVers and why I’m a published author. We’d rescued Maggie and every night, when we’d let her out of her crate, she’d give us that look like, “Why do you have to leave me in here. You need to stay home with me.”
Since we’d started to talk about retiring, one-night we carried it a step further and one of us said (in Maggie’s voice), “Mom and Dad, you need to quit your jobs, sell everything, buy an RV and hit the road.” Without this conversation, I’m not sure I would have come up with the idea for “Early Birds.”
Since my first novel was traditionally published, I’m always curious about how the publishing process and relationship has worked out for other authors. Given that, what would you tell other Christian romance writers about working with Forget Me Not Romances?
A small-publishing house worked for me and helped me get the “Early Birds” series out there. Cynthia does an outstanding job on the covers and she puts extra touches in the formatting of the books too. Example: At the beginning of each chapter she placed the love birds that are also on the cover of my books. Perfect!!!
What advice do you have for someone who’s tackling their first novel?
Don’t procrastinate. Sit down and write. Even if you’re a seat-of-your-pants-kind-of writer, do a synopsis. You don’t have to follow it to the letter, but have an idea of where you want your story to go. Take it from me – if you don’t, you’ll go down some rabbit trails you never expected.
Do you write while traveling in your RV? How do you organize the space?
My writing schedule is flexible. Sometimes I write in the morning before we go sightseeing. Other times I write when we stop for the night. There also times you’ll find me with my computer on the table while hubby is driving down the interstate. Whatever it takes to get the words down. Since I don’t have a designated space in our RV, I have a notebook next to me where I keep track of what going on in my story. It’s also where I write down ideas that pop into my head, which are at any given hour.
Do you write about places you’ve traveled with your RV? If so, do you write while you’re there or do you take notes and photos to remember things?
I make notes of things I see and hear while we’re traveling. Don’t know what I’d do if I didn’t keep my notebook handy. People say and do things that are priceless and I don’t want to forget a thing that happened. A woman’s one-sided conversation (and a loud one at that) at Ben and Jerry in Vermont still has me roaring with laughter. I’m hoping to use her chat in my next book. Rose would take that ball and run with it.
What haven’t I asked that you’d like to mention?
Along with writing, I’d also love to own another bed and breakfast. We owned one in Montrose, Colorado and we had the time of our lives. I have tons of stories from our time there and maybe one day I’ll write a series of books set in a B&B. Of course it would have to be in Colorado.
Thank you, Ellen, for these wonderful questions. So much fun reliving the beginning.
Thank YOU, Janetta! How can readers find your books or contact you?
Here’s my contact info:
Check out my Amazon Author page: https://goo.gl/61CElk
Email:
janettafudgemessmer@gmail.com
Website:
janettafudgemessmer.com
Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/janetta.fudge.messmer
Twitter:
https://twitter.com/nettiefudge
Once again we’re gifted with the insight of another writer of mysteries who not only features RVers as main characters, but is an RVer herself! (Yep, you’d be surprised how often us RVers spot boo-boos in books about RVing, sure signs the writers aren’t RVers themselves.)
We’re pleased to welcome Karen Musser Nortman, author of at least six Frannie Shoemaker Campground Mysteries and two more novels in her Time Traveler Trailer series.
On your Website, you mention having started RVing when tent camping — especially sleeping on the ground — lost a measure of comfort. Tell us a little more about your RVing — how often do you take to the road? How do you choose where to go? Do you venture out to new places or re-visit familiar haunts? Continue reading “Fellow RV Mystery Writers: Karen Musser Nortman”
It’s been awhile since the ellenbooks has done an interview — and what better way to bring them back than to feature fellow writers of mysteries featuring RVers!
When I started imagining the Rollin RV Mystery series, I knew only about Sue Henry’s Maxie and Stretch short series of four books. I worried that maybe readers weren’t interested in mystery-solving RVers, but (because we have to write what we want to read, right?) I wrote Pea Body anyway.
Now I’m happy to say I’ve found out about few more mystery series featuring RVers, and I’m even more pleased to introduce you to them, too!
Minnie Crockwell is both the narrator and author of the “Will Travel for Trouble” mystery series — ten to date, with an eleventh coming soon. The first in this series, Trouble at Happy Trails, finds heroine Minnie Crockwell, along with her spooky friend Peregrine Ebenezer Alvord (“Ben”), tossed into the midst of a Peyton Place-like campground where one RVer’s apparent suicide leads Minnie and Ben smack in the middle of things.
As I read, I couldn’t help but wonder about the matching names of the author and main character, so I had to find out. Here’s the e-mailed interview, with many thanks to Minnie for taking the time to answer all the nosey questions I sent!
First — because these are the most burning questions I have — should I call you by your pseudonym Minnie or your given name?
Minnie is fine. I answer to Minnie or Bess. Continue reading “Fellow RV Mystery Writers: Minnie Crockwell”
This year my husband and I mark our ninth year as full-time RVers. It’s been an amazing ride! And, writer that I am, I’ve been making notes for years about the experience. While a more in-depth book is still percolating, I did settle down long enough this past winter to pull together some A-to-Z thoughts about what full-timing can involve.
It’s not really a how-to book (plenty of those for folks who want to ditch their sticks and bricks house for one on wheels), and not really a travelogue or essay collection. Instead it’s an oddball collection of insights, I guess you’d say.
RVing Alphabet covers some of the normal stuff (like — how full-timers get their mail on the road) to the more unusual (why not being a xenophobe is a good thing for RVing), to the kinds of things most RVers don’t discuss except among themselves (like dealing with the Lords and Ladies of the Laundry Room).
RVing Alphabet is free via Smashwords here: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/736824
Yep, I’m still working on the Rollin RV Mysteries, but I’ve been curious about Smashwords, eager to offer something free, and this seemed the perfect combination for that.
I hope you enjoy it!
My newest novel, Pea Body, featuring amateur sleuths — and full-time RVers — Walt and Betty Rollin, is now available via iTunes!
You can purchase this e-version directly from the iTunes store via this link: https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/pea-body/id854711250?mt=11
Or you can select the print version via Lulu from my author spotlight page here: http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/ellenbooks
As always, thanks for your support and encouragement!
[Now… excuse me while I get back to writing the next Walt and Betty Rollin RV Mystery 🙂 ]
