Someone on my side

Thanks are due to Walter McElligott, editor and gentleman. See the advance copy of Walt's interview with me which will appear in the July 2007 edition of the Clarion (Chicago Writers Association) in July.

Not so quiet after all

I thought I was going to have a quiet week on my virtual tour - not so! Marlys Marshall Styne just posted her interview with me on her award-winning blog, "Never Too Late!" [Read about Marlys]

More on the virtual book tour

A quiet week coming up, but I suppose that was to be expected with the holiday on Monday. I had thought briefly to ask several of my hosts later on tour if they would mind being moved up. I discarded this idea since they're already doing me a favor.

Friday, June 1st, Terry South of Quality Book Reviews will be posting a lengthy interview with me that she conducted. It will appear both on Quality Book Review's blog site as well as Terry's forum. Authors, please note that she has generously setup a special section where you can hype your book!

On the Senior Center Murders blog I'll be doing a series of posts on small writing groups in the Chicago-area. If you belong to a group that you would like featured, pop over there and leave me a comment. I'll use the email address that you leave to send you a questionnaire to fill out.

Interview by Mystery Buff

Unlike most of the other interviews that I've done, this one is focused on the writing that I've done besides PARK RIDGE: A Senior Center Murder. It was a bit of kick to take a brief look back. The interviewer even convinced me to offer up a humorous poem called "Entertaining Thoughts of God." It begins

Entertaining Thoughts of God
By Cheryl Hagedorn

God started his career at a carnival
Working with two dummies and a talking snake
Only to be replaced by a flaming sword act

He did six-week stint at a water show
Swore he’d never do that again

We had a good time in class when I read this one out loud. The instructor didn't get all the references so the class began shouting out the answers. If you need help, I'll do the first two stanzas above. The talking snake is Satan, the two dummies are Adam and Eve. They were kicked out of the garden of Eden and an angel with a flaming sword was sent to block their return. The six-week stint was the Flood which lasted forty days. God promised that he would never do that again. [Read the whole poem and interview]

Virtual book tour continues

Last week I posted the schedule for this week, but in case you forgot:

Yesterday, May 21, I was interviewed by Lonnie Cruse at Cruse'n with Lonnie. Leave a comment so we know that you stopped by!

Tomorrow, May 23, I'll be interviewed by MysteryBuff. There'll be some surprises there for those of you who think you know me!

Friday, May 25, The Doc, Major Donna Jackson of The Salvation Army, conducts a pretty intense interview about the writing of PARK RIDGE: A Senior Center Murder.

One Week Down - How Long is this Tour?

Yesterday I had an interview (of sorts) on an Irish blog

Today I did another interview with Kestrell!


PARK RIDGE: A Senior Center Murder

"Park Ridge is a very different mystery than the one I was expecting. It is a story full of surprises, but the most notable surprise is that the author chose to create a mystery which goes beyond cardboard cutout characters and instead chose to write a mystery which exposes many of our cultural stereotypes about people over the age of sixty. Park Ridge demonstrates one of the lures of mystery fiction: it's ability to show us how mysterious we can be to one another."

Purchase now from BookLocker - eBook, $8.95; trade paperback, $14.95 or from Amazon

For next week's excitement, check here.

Jump up and down with me!

What an incredible week this is turning out to be. Monday my stories about riding on Chicago's subway were published by a Chicago online magazine called Gaper's Block.

Then earlier today I was interviewed by author Jennifer DiCamillo.

AND, I just found out that my book has been reviewed by the Blind Bookworm! [It's a great review!]

I have two more interviews scheduled for Thursday and Friday. Jump up and down with me! I am so psyched!

"Strangers in Transit"

Remember that train story I posted a while back? Yesterday it was published along with several others in an article called "Strangers in Transit" - vignettes from rides on Chicago's L - by Gaper's Block. I don't know where they found the super photographs to accompany the article but I'm glad they did.

Are you a mystery reader?

A reader of mysteries, that is.

Here's your chance to interview a mystery author on your blog! If you check this link, you'll see what dates I still have available. If you're interested in having me as a guest on your blog, leave a comment at the Senior Center Murders Blog and I'll get back to you.

DePaul's MA in Writing

Guess the story about Taking Over the Train started me thinking about DePaul. I rode the train to and from class, generally two nights a week.

So, in my post today on the Senior Center Murders Blog (instead of doing an interview with myself as part of the BookLocker virtual tour) I created a list of the professors that I had when I was at DePaul. Some of you may recognize the names: David Jolliffe, now at the University of Arkansas; Michele Morano, author of Grammar Lessons; Craig Sirles, Director of the MA in Writing; Lucy Rinehart; Eric Murphy Selinger; Peter Vandenberg; and S.L. Wisenberg.

I got a kick tracking down pictures and website addresses for all of them. I think that I may have posted the only photograph of Craig Sirles in circulation! It also brought back a lot of memories.

I'd be happy to hear from other graduates of the program or anyone who has stories to tell about any of the professors mentioned.

Taking Charge of the Train

I've just submitted some short-short anecdotes about riding the Chicago Transit Authority to an online magazine. I thought you might want to read one of them.

Tuesday night on the way home from class, I had just boarded the “L” at Washington. The automated announcement said, “Doors closing.”

A tall, scruffy person, who evidently had been sleeping when the train pulled in, shouted, “Is this Washington? I need to get off at Washington. This is my stop.” With that he leaped to the doorway and blocked the door. To no one in particular he repeated that he needed to get off here. While I was wondering why he didn’t simply go ahead and get off, he gestured to his collection of bags on the seat he had just left.

“Somebody gotta hold this door so I can get my stuff.”

We all just sat there staring at him. I sure wasn’t going to hold the door for him. Let him ride to the next stop and come back. That’s what I would have done. Have done.

“I mean it. Somebody gotta hold this door or y’all just gonna sit there. Train ain’t gonna move while I’m standin’ in the door.”

Finally a woman from the back of the car went and stood in the doorway in his place. He went to his seat, picked up a bag of clothing and hefted a bag of canned food. Evidently the bag felt too heavy to him and he dumped some of the cans onto the seat. He selected two from the assortment, put them back in the bag. He announced that he was leaving the rest and to “help yourselves.”

He thanked the lady who had held the door and with a flourish got off. As we pulled out of the station, he was dancing – leaping and spinning on the platform, one bag in each hand.

I'll let you know how it goes with the magazine. In the meantime, don't forget to keep an eye on what else I'm doing at the Senior Center Murders Blog.

Marjorie Abrams

Today on Senior Center Murders Blog I interview Marjorie Abrams, author of Murder on the Prairie and Murder at Wakulla Springs, both North Florida Mysteries. Read the interview.

Don't forget that the BookLocker Virtual Book Tour continues the rest of this week and on into the next!

Ostomy Surgery

Who would have thought that having surgery could give you a plot angle? No, I haven't had surgery, but Peter McGinn did. Ostomy surgery. And in his book, Caught in the Bag (neat pun, yes?), he had his heroine undergo ostomy surgery.

I interviewed Peter and I think you could learn a lot from how he used the incident in his book. Read the interview.