Writing has laws of perspective, of light and shade just as painting does, or music. If you are born knowing them, fine. If not, learn them, then rearrange the rules to suit yourself.

- Truman Capote

Tuesday Special: You Say Goodbye

Keith Steinbaum

KeithSteinbaum.com

After a temperamental meltdown on stage, Sean Hightower, a regretful and resentful “one-hit wonder” rock musician hoping for a comeback, returns to his girlfriend’s condo seeking comfort from the woman he loves. But after letting himself in, he discovers her naked body on the bed, murdered from a bullet to the head. When the police detective arrives and sees the two taped pieces of paper on the wall with the word, “hello,” on one and “goodbye,” on the other, he realizes that the renowned serial killer, The Beatles Song Murderer, has struck again. In the days that follow, he reaches another conclusion—the Beatles Song Murderer is probably somebody Sean knows. Now the detective needs Sean’s help to find the killer.

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About Keith:

     After graduating college from UCSB, I set my sights on becoming a professional song lyricist after many years of writing poetry. Had I known through the haze of my naiveté and post college optimism what a difficult task this was to accomplish as a career goal, I would have focused on my other alternative of disc jockeying somewhere. I spent a couple years doing middle of the night work at the college station playing rock ‘n roll for those few listeners either partying or working night shifts, and I had about a hundred resume cassette tapes ready to send. I’ve occasionally wondered where this would have led me had I decided on this course for my career, but as it turns out, although I did have song on a popular album in America, and other songs recorded in a number of foreign markets, I wasn’t able to make a living as a lyricist and moved on into the field of landscape. But my creative writing flame continued to burn. Understanding that idea took time to realize through initial bouts of unhappiness lasting several years. But once I started focusing on poetry again, that’s where I rediscovered the untethered freedom and joy of writing without monetary goals.
     Fast forward to an eventual desire to write a novel, culminating in the completion of The Poe Consequence. As a buildup to the idea for the book, my landscape job entailed years of working in many low-income housing projects throughout Southern California, and, consequently, many neighborhoods with gang problems. This experience played a major role in formulating the concept for my story. Originally self-published, this past June I signed a contract with Black Opal Books for it’s re-release next summer. In the future I’d like the opportunity to delve further into all the ingredients that factored into the creation of the book but I’m certainly gratified for receiving valued blogger reviews on sites such as Amazon and Goodreads, as well as other accolades.
     Winner of Books-and-Authors.net’s Book of the Year in the Supernatural Thriller genre, the novel also made the 2015 Kirkus Reviews Books of the Year issue. And in 2017, it received a Finalist placing in the international Book Excellence Awards competition.
     My second novel entitled, You Say Goodbye, a Beatles themed whodunit murder mystery revolving around the search for a renowned serial killer, is my first with Black Opal Books. The story prominently features a one-hit wonder ex-rock star and a little girl with cancer who's a big fan of the L.A. Lakers. The child's character was inspired by the life, and unfortunate death, of Alexandra Scott from the Alex's Lemonade foundation.

I can be found online at:
Facebook     Goodreads.com        Twitter 

Here are my personal website links: KeithSteinbaum.com and ThePoeConsequence.com

 

Family Traditions

We hear a lot about family traditions at this time of year.

Common traditions leading up to the holidays include marathon shopping on Black Friday, cookie exchanges, and holiday parties. Schools and churches host holiday concerts and plays. Stores and restaurants pump Christmas music throughout their locations, doing their part to put people in the holiday mood, and enticing them to part with their hard-earned money.

Many people spend their time volunteering at shelters and soup kitchens. There are angel trees, and toy and coat drives for those less fortunate, for there always seems to be a need. It soothes my soul to know there are so many caring people in the world.

At home, my family traditions start with getting a fresh-cut tree. Hubby cuts the excess branches to use as background for our shelving decorations, and the faint piney-scent lingers in our rooms. Christmas cards received line the low wall from our front door, and stockings are hung above the fireplace. When the kids were little, our tradition was to load everyone in the car, drive-through McDonalds for dinner, and then drive around looking at Christmas lights. Nowadays, my son and I good-naturedly argue over who gets to drink the eggnog.

Growing up, my family always gravitated to Christmas Day. As kids, we traveled to both grandparents’ houses for meals and gifts. These days, my extended family gathers at my house. We share an abundance of food, and the women usually hang out around the dining room table while the men talk sports in the family room. We don’t currently have any little ones but when the kids were little, they were always the center of attention. I loved capturing their excitement, their wonder, and even their tantrums to freeze those moments in time. These days, my focus has shifted to capturing special moments with parents and grandparents. One of these days, I’m sure it will come full circle.

By contrast, my husband’s family doesn’t seem to care what actual day it is – when we get together for the holidays, the focus is on food and fellowship. The youngest kids hand out presents, and chaos ensues. Following gifts, my mother-in-law always gives us an assortment of items to choose from: calendars, magnets, coffee mugs, decorative dish towels, assorted crackers and pop, meat and cheese gift sets, and miscellaneous items. Some things she designates as one per person, others are one per family. Often, there is a lot of trading going on!

Over the years, our family traditions have evolved, as I'm sure yours have.  I can remember watching musical Christmas specials with my mom, shows like Donny and Marie, The Captain and Tenille, Julie Andrews, Bing Crosby, and Bob Hope.  We also watched various versions of Rudolph, Frosty, Snoopy and Sesame Street Christmas specials. As we grew older, we graduated to It's A Wonderful Life - a show that's still a favorite to this day.  Who doesn't want to root for George Bailey?

These things may seem small compared to some family traditions, and yet they are an important fabric of our lives. The young adults in our family get upset if we try to shake up any of the normal ways of doing things. They have come to count on our traditions and find comfort in the familiar routines.

What are some of your family traditions?  Have you given your characters any unique traditions? Please share!

An Interview with Catherine Chant

The Write Way Café welcomes author Catherine Chant, here to tell us about her new Soul Mate series!

Hello, everyone! I'm so excited to be here at The Write Way Cafe to tell you a little bit about next book my young adult time travel series, Nothing Stays the Same, and to share the cover with you.

In Wishing You Were Here (Book 1 in the Soul Mates series), we briefly met Callie's younger sister Leah. Now it's Leah's turn for a little time-traveling adventure. Callie went back to the rockin' 50s, but Leah is headed for the groovy 70s. What could be more fun? So, grab your hip-hugger bell-bottoms and those ugly Earth shoes, and let's go!

What Inspired You to Write this Book?

When I wrote the first book, I already had in mind that the series would be music-related. Book 1 took place in 1957 and dealt with early rock 'n' roll. For Book 2 I decided to go forward in time a little bit. The '70s, musically speaking, were a period of great changes and I saw a lot of story potential there. You still had the protest songs from the '60s, then you had glam rock and a second British invasion. You also had a huge rise in kid-centered television shows with musical tie-ins.

One of the biggest inspirations for Nothing Stays the Same was The Monkees, a show I loved as a kid, and The Partridge Family, another classic from the early '70s era. I'm also a huge fan of David Bowie, whose iconic Ziggy Stardust album hit the airwaves in 1972. So I took a little bit of all that, brought in lots of my own memories of growing up in the 1970s (and reading about my favorite teen idols in Tiger Beat magazine) and invented my own musical TV show, my own "manufactured" pop band, and dropped a teenage couple from the 21st century into the mix to shake things up a bit.

Tell Us A Little Bit About the Main Character

Leah Reinard is the younger sister of the heroine from Book 1. When you first meet Leah in Book 1 she's 15 and very annoying. Basically, a brat. Her sister is a fanatic about music, but Leah couldn't care less. She mocks her sister constantly. So when Leah finds herself back in time a year later and drafted into a role on a musical sit-com where's she's expected to sing and dance, this girl is definitely out of her element.

Leah's interests lie squarely on the sports field and in a certain hunky soccer player from a neighboring school. But she hasn't garnered the courage to make a move on him yet, because Leah's not much of a risk taker. She's grown up with a natural athletic ability that's allowed her to skate through life without taking chances. If she wants to win the attention of Brennan Basford, she has to up her game, and learn to show a softer side, a vulnerable side. Leah's tough and she's strong, and she doesn't believe in going home in second place, but in the game of love, she's got a lot to learn.

From the Back Cover

Nothing Stays the Same (Soul Mates Book 2) (Coming in 2015)

Time Changes Everything...

In 1973, The Beat Detectors are the hottest TV pop band to hit the airwaves since The Monkees, thanks to the appealing vocals of rising teen idol Ronnie Basford. But behind the scenes, not everything is rainbows and unicorns. Ronnie realizes much too late that one bad decision can ruin your whole life.

Forty years later, Ronnie is dead from an apparent suicide and his sixteen-year-old son Brennan wants answers. All his life Brennan's never seen his father happy and needs to understand how it all went so wrong. When he finds himself dropped back in time, to the set of his father's TV show, he's determined to redirect the course of his father's life and create the happy ending Ronnie deserved.

Soccer star Leah Reinard has been crushing on Brennan Basford for ages. When they end up at the same summer job, she thinks the fates have finally aligned in her favor. That is, until Brennan suddenly disappears from existence. One day he's there, the next day, he's gone. And no one but Leah even remembers him. Soon after, it's clear that whatever took Brennan is causing numerous other changes to Leah's world. Bad changes. Changes that Brennan can't possibly foresee.

Can Leah find Brennan in time to stop him from ruining both their futures?

The Last Word

Thank you so much for having me. And, oh yes, I love to hear from readers!!!!

You can find me online at my website (where you can sign up for my newsletter - newsletter subscribers hear everything first and are eligible for freebies, sneak peeks and other fun things!) Of course, I’m also on Facebook and on Twitter.

About Catherine:  Catherine Chant is a PRO member of the Romance Writers of America (RWA) and a Golden Heart® finalist. She writes rock ‘n’ roll romantic fiction and stories with paranormal twists for young adults. She is currently working on a new young adult suspense novel, and the next book in her Soul Mates series.