tag:karenkamenetsky.com,2005:/blogs/karen-s-blog-do-one-thing-that-you-love?p=2Karen's Blog: Do One Thing That You Love2022-04-10T20:18:30-04:00Karen Kamenetskyfalsetag:karenkamenetsky.com,2005:Post/69294802022-04-10T20:18:30-04:002023-10-16T10:45:13-04:00Writing My First Cozy Mystery: A Book Full of Music, Part 2<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/88787/3d5f89160dfd937349114bb01120841d0f1d870a/original/tempimagemzybwu.png/!!/meta:eyJzcmNCdWNrZXQiOiJiemdsZmlsZXMifQ==/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsIm1lZGl1bSJdXQ==.png" class="size_m justify_center border_thick" alt="" /></p>
<p>As I mentioned in part one of this blog post, my first cozy mystery has something I haven't seen in any other book of this genre, links in the text to original music written by me. I wrote five songs for the book to avoid paying royalties on someone else's music. In addition to the lyrics in the text, I wanted links to recordings of the songs, and I was lucky enough to have some incredibly talented musicians, whose voices embody my ideas of how the characters sound, to record demo tracks of the songs. I am really excited for you to hear the music.</p>
<p>I wrote a song called "I'm Here for You", in the voice of Mustang Loredo, one of my main character's childhood friends and the person who is by her side as she survives one of the most dangerous episodes in the book. He performs the song at a gathering to celebrate their survival. This song underwent the biggest transformation, so far, of all the songs I wrote for the book.</p>
<p>You can hear my original take on the song <a contents="here" data-link-label="" data-link-type="track" href="/track/3030769/i-m-here-for-you-first-version">here</a>. I sent it to the multitalented <a contents="George Marinich" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.marinich.net" target="_blank">George Marinich</a>. After his first recordings of the song, we smoothed out the lyrics, with the help of <a contents="Cherie Waxman Chelst" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.facebook.com/cherie.chelst" target="_blank">Cherie Waxman Chelst</a>, a great bass player who has a way with a lyric. I have a tendency - rather well known, I'm afraid, to use too many words. We had to cut a few. The resulting lyric is, I think, better than the original. George did some fabulous orchestration and Cherie added some harmony. The <a contents="current version" data-link-label="" data-link-type="track" href="/track/2996619/im-here-for-you-by-karen-kamenetsky">current version</a> is pretty cool.</p>
<p>I wrote a song called <a contents=""What'll I Do?" " data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http:///track/3010153/what-ll-i-do-first-version">"What'll I Do?" </a>for Sam's dad, Peter Cook. I asked my good friend, and the producer of my "With This Flame" CD, to give me his take on it. He also took my instructions to heart and did some modifications on the lyric and the melody. I was happy with the result. You can hear his version <a contents=" here" data-link-label="" data-link-type="track" href="/track/2996641/what-ll-i-do-by-karen-kamenetsky">here</a>. I originally thought this would be the opening song of the festival (and the book), but later decided to move it to a subsequent chapter, to make room for a new song called<a contents=" "Livin' The Dream"" data-link-label="" data-link-type="track" href="/track/3012333/livin-the-dream-first-version" target="_blank"> "Livin' The Dream"</a>.</p>
<p>The new song felt like a better fit for the opening event of the music festival that is the setting for my book. I gave this song to one of my favorite musical duos, Chasing June. The amazingly talented <a contents="Judy Aron" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.judyaron.com/" target="_blank">Judy Aron</a> agreed to listen and came back with a demo that I love. Once the other half of Chasing June, Steve Coleman, has added his vocals to the track, and Judy does a few more tweaks with the instrumentation, I'm hoping to hear a final demo.</p>
<p>Stay tuned and I'll share it with you.</p>
<p> </p>Karen Kamenetskytag:karenkamenetsky.com,2005:Post/69395372022-04-03T23:38:41-04:002022-04-03T23:38:41-04:00Writing My First Cozy Mystery: Sunday Spacial #5<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/88787/6e077071731ad23ccd283884b2af13ba382fc51c/original/c8ed4e62-d81d-4b1e-a38a-d0ba3c445ef1-1-201-a.jpeg/!!/meta:eyJzcmNCdWNrZXQiOiJiemdsZmlsZXMifQ==/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsIm1lZGl1bSJdXQ==.jpeg" class="size_m justify_center border_thick" alt="" /><span class="font_large">Today's Sunday special is all about my favorite ways to keep my sandwich (made of provisions deli slices and Parmela Smoky Gouda) fresh, while causing the least amount of harm to the planet.</span></p>
<p><span class="font_large">Plastic wrap was my go to in the past.</span></p>
<p><span class="font_large"><a contents="NationalGeographic.com " data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/article/story-of-plastic-sticky-problem-of-plastic-wrap" target="_blank">NationalGeographic.com </a>has this to say about the effects of plastic wrap on the environment.</span></p>
<p><span class="font_large">"Plastic wrap contributes to the larger plastic pollution crisis, it’s difficult to recycle, and it’s made from potentially harmful chemicals, especially as they break down in the environment.</span></p>
<p><span class="font_large">...even when plastic wrap is recycled, it's costlier than using virgin materials. When it ends up in landfills or incinerators, both PVC and PVDC can release a highly toxic chemical called dioxin, says the World Health Organization. </span></p>
<p><span class="font_large">In marine environments, plastic wrap contributes to a larger plastic pollution crisis, but unlike other plastics, scientists are finding that PVC and PVDC do great jobs of picking up bacteria and metals. Those contaminated pieces of microplastic then harm the fish that mistake them for food."</span></p>
<p><span class="font_large">With that in mind, I stopped purchasing plastic wrap some time ago. I did try keeping a box of recycled plastic wrap around for "emergencies" - but then I found there are many better solutions.</span></p>
<p><span class="font_large">Here are some of my favorite options for sandwich transport that are planet-friendly.</span></p>
<p><span class="font_large"><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/88787/0944e21f178bfe21885364ffe5dce544d64df76c/original/sandwich-lime-816990012721.webp/!!/meta:eyJzcmNCdWNrZXQiOiJiemdsZmlsZXMifQ==/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsIm1lZGl1bSJdXQ==.webp" class="size_m justify_left border_thick" alt="" />I tried reusable bags, like these - and they are a great option because the create zero waste - but I find them difficult to clean and store.</span></p>
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<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/88787/6ed0696306715bb908fa6268ddf018c949ab1c2c/original/512i2oqgrwl-ac-sl1000.jpg/!!/meta:eyJzcmNCdWNrZXQiOiJiemdsZmlsZXMifQ==/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsIm1lZGl1bSJdXQ==.jpg" class="size_m justify_right border_thick" alt="" /></p>
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<p><span class="font_large">A glass dish with a cover absolutely works - and I do use these sometimes - especially for a sandwich I want to heat up in the microwave - because I don't heat things in plastic in the microwave.</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 22.399999618530273px;"><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/88787/e840c98cdc028f1151c9784a896443532cf914df/original/vmqyiyhpvrtgirhlbyhu.webp/!!/meta:eyJzcmNCdWNrZXQiOiJiemdsZmlsZXMifQ==/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsIm1lZGl1bSJdXQ==.webp" class="size_m justify_left border_thick" alt="" /></span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 22.399999618530273px;">Another solid and very basic option and is to go very old school and simply wrap the sandwich in wax paper. I use unbleached. But the wrap can come undone and let too much air in, contributing to a stale bread, dry sandwich situation - or a totally deconstructed sandwich, if it comes completely undone.</span></p>
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<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/88787/265a015f94eeba2a6c4486d0d8e57a30c506a850/original/v8f1rwspkcr2tyfjhtul.webp/!!/meta:eyJzcmNCdWNrZXQiOiJiemdsZmlsZXMifQ==/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsIm1lZGl1bSJdXQ==.webp" class="size_m justify_right border_thick" alt="" /></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 22.399999618530273px;">These unbleached paper sandwich bags are a step up from a simple wax paper wrap, but without a sealed edge, they still aren't perfect.</span></p>
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<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/88787/2890a1b3035090efe927c7ef81217b503ddecd24/original/iu.jpeg/!!/meta:eyJzcmNCdWNrZXQiOiJiemdsZmlsZXMifQ==/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsIm1lZGl1bSJdXQ==.jpeg" class="size_m justify_left border_thick" alt="" /></p>
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<p><span class="font_large">These are my #1 favorite for portability, they are light and have a seal - and they are recyclable. I also love the fun patterns. Using them still creates waste though, so I try to save them for when weight and size matter - like when I need to fit a PB&J into the small backpack I use as a handbag, or into my computer bag.</span></p>
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<p><span class="font_large"><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/88787/a56ad2a9e4072ccc57e0a9a3e14deeaa7f0e8a41/original/square-food-storage-bthechange-hi-res-1024x1024-jpg.webp/!!/meta:eyJzcmNCdWNrZXQiOiJiemdsZmlsZXMifQ==/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsIm1lZGl1bSJdXQ==.webp" class="size_m justify_right border_thick" alt="" />This Preserve sandwich keeper is my absolute favorite. It is made in the USA from 100% BPA free, recycled #5 plastic. It is light, a good shape to store a sandwich, and dishwasher safe. </span></p>
<p><span class="font_large">Using this container is good for the environment in more ways than one, because, in addition to the sandwich keeper being a recycled , reusable product, Preserve is a Certified B Corporation and<span style="font-size: 31.35999870300293px;"> </span>has been ranked in the top 5-10% of all B Corps in the environmental impact category for nine years in a row. You can read more about that <a contents="here" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.preserve.eco/pages/bcorp-certification">here</a>.</span></p>
<p><span class="font_large">This container also works well to store open packages of cheese and Provisions Deli slices.</span></p>
<p><span class="font_large"><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/88787/6ae71ec56d6af6893cb74939f678c48a28f66c8c/original/iu.jpeg/!!/meta:eyJzcmNCdWNrZXQiOiJiemdsZmlsZXMifQ==/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsIm1lZGl1bSJdXQ==.jpeg" class="size_m justify_left border_thick" alt="" /></span></p>
<p><span class="font_large">My favorite in the "major corporation moving in the right direction" category is SCJohnson's Ziplock recyclable paper sandwich bags. More proof, I believe, that we can drive what is offered to us by what we demand and what we purchase.</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 22.399999618530273px;">Tell me all about your favorite planet-friendly sandwich storage solutions in the comments.</span></p>
<p> </p>Karen Kamenetskytag:karenkamenetsky.com,2005:Post/69274692022-03-20T22:50:57-04:002022-03-20T22:50:57-04:00Writing My first cozy Mystery: Sunday Special #4<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/88787/988487bac0d4a81152d05f5e37999f7dd0309d04/original/c8ed4e62-d81d-4b1e-a38a-d0ba3c445ef1-1-201-a.jpeg/!!/meta:eyJzcmNCdWNrZXQiOiJiemdsZmlsZXMifQ==/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsIm1lZGl1bSJdXQ==.jpeg" class="size_m justify_center border_thick" alt="" /><span class="font_regular">It's Sunday again, time for another roundup of my favorite things. I hope you'll share some of yours in the comments.</span></p>
<p><span class="font_regular"><strong>3 Things I'm Reading</strong> </span></p>
<p><span class="font_regular">Or to be more accurate, re-reading - and not for the last time.</span></p>
<p><span class="font_large"><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/88787/d8af7aa9e71cf4f25af215522340fb0e6e6d9359/original/wearetheweather-cover-bookshot-2.jpg/!!/meta:eyJzcmNCdWNrZXQiOiJiemdsZmlsZXMifQ==/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsIm1lZGl1bSJdXQ==.jpg" class="size_m justify_left border_thick" alt="" /></span></p>
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<p><a contents="We Are the Weather: Saving the Planet Begins at Breakfast " data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://wearetheweatherbook.com" target="_blank"><strong>We Are the Weather: Saving the Planet Begins at Breakfast </strong></a></p>
<p>by Jonathan Safran Foer </p>
<p>I loved “Everything Is Illuminated”, “Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close”, and “Eating Animals”, so I expected this book to be great – and it is. </p>
<p>The problems we face are clearly laid out, with lots of documentation. Potential solutions are presented – with simple actions anyone can take to impact the planet. </p>
<p>A scrolling message on the website for this book says: “Just knowing the facts won’t save us. What are you going to do?” </p>
<p>If you read the book, you might be inspired, as I was, not just to know, but to act.</p>
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<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/88787/9441d4a0259ffe38339df7eb6b67c9cc19339786/original/14664b3e-d30d-4fd6-9a1c-52d8947cb57d-4-5005-c.jpeg/!!/meta:eyJzcmNCdWNrZXQiOiJiemdsZmlsZXMifQ==/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsIm1lZGl1bSJdXQ==.jpeg" class="size_m justify_right border_thick" alt="" /></p>
<p><strong>The Strange Case of the Alchemist’s Daughter </strong></p>
<p>by <a contents="Theodora Goss&nbsp;" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://theodoragoss.com" target="_blank">Theodora Goss </a></p>
<p>This is the first book in a trilogy, "The Extraordinary Adventures of the Athena Club" series, and all of them are wonderful reads.</p>
<p>The mysteries are compelling and well written, but the real attraction is the characters. The women who populate these stories are the daughters of some of the most iconic “mad scientists” in literature.</p>
<p>Mary Jekyll, daughter of the famous doctor, is at the center of the story. She is joined by the daughters of other men who created monsters: her sister, Diana Hyde, Beatrice Rappaccini, Catherine Moreau, and Justine Frankenstein.</p>
<p>The women are assisted in their sleuthing by none other than Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson. All in all, this book is a rollicking good time.</p>
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<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/88787/6dfbf92b8f94830e24ce41a309d387dd9bcddeb8/original/284dba99-fa55-4ab3-b826-1a7eeae897ae-4-5005-c.jpeg/!!/meta:eyJzcmNCdWNrZXQiOiJiemdsZmlsZXMifQ==/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsIm1lZGl1bSJdXQ==.jpeg" class="size_m justify_left border_thick" alt="" /></p>
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<p><a contents="The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.agathachristie.com/stories/the-murder-of-roger-ackroyd" target="_blank">The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie</a> </p>
<p>This book has been called Christie’s “masterpiece” and "the novel that changed her career." It upended the genre by breaking the “rules” for construction of a mystery novel in place at the time it was written. </p>
<p>As an aspiring mystery writer, I read it to marvel at her skill, and for inspiration. I always enjoy it, even though at this point, no matter how much time transpires between readings, I know how it ends.</p>
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<p><strong>3 of My Favorite Plant Based Foods</strong></p>
<p><span class="font_regular">I'm trying to move away from dairy - another trial to see whether it helps decrease RA inflammation. I also believe a plant-based diet is better for the planet - check out my favorite reads, below, for more on that.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 22.399999618530273px;"><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/88787/53e9b2a7d3946629055363410ef5121a3bd2371e/original/7916aa0f-3e57-44e1-bc80-dfa1e8410882.png/!!/meta:eyJzcmNCdWNrZXQiOiJiemdsZmlsZXMifQ==/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsIm1lZGl1bSJdXQ==.png" class="size_m justify_left border_thick" alt="" /></span><span class="font_regular"><strong><a contents="Siggi's " data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://siggis.com" target="_blank">Siggi's </a>Plant-Based Coconut Blend</strong></span></p>
<p><span class="font_small"><span style="font-size: 1.4em;">I'm loving Siggi's, instead of Greek yogurt, with blueberries and granola (Alton Brown's recipe) for breakfast. Its nutritional profile is comparable: a good amount of protein, not too much sugar, even a little calcium. </span></span></p>
<p><span class="font_small"><span style="font-size: 1.4em;">Some people are put off by the color (a pale peach/beige), the tangy taste, or the smooth texture. I don't mind the color, it's different but not unpleasant. The tang is reminiscent of plain yogurt, which I like better than the overly sugared kind, and the texture is perfectly fine with the added crunch of a little granola.</span></span></p>
<p><span class="font_regular"><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/88787/12307f9b7e37fb0494dd696cb46bc86da2c9c521/original/crunchroll-sq-550x-jpg.webp/!!/meta:eyJzcmNCdWNrZXQiOiJiemdsZmlsZXMifQ==/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsIm1lZGl1bSJdXQ==.webp" class="size_m justify_right border_thick" alt="" /></span></p>
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<p><span class="font_regular"><a contents="Plant Provisions Plant-Based Deli Slices." data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://plantprovisions.co/pages/recipes" target="_blank"><strong>Plant Provisions Plant-Based Deli Slices.</strong></a></span></p>
<p><span class="font_regular">Their tag line is "We don't imitate meat, we elevate it." I can't speak to how closely these slices resemble the ones from the deli counter, I've been a vegetarian since the 1970s. But they meet my criteria for a good plant-based food - they are made from vegetables and they taste good. </span></p>
<p><span class="font_regular">They are made from chick peas, vegetables, and spices. They contain no soy, and no unpronounceable chemicals. There are 5 flavors, all tasty. The slices do contain a fair bit of sodium, at about 400mg for 5 slices, but that is significantly less than deli meat, which contains 200-300mg sodium per slice. </span></p>
<p><span class="font_regular"><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/88787/f430cdd4375678c035905c4248aad633c535a082/original/6f797ec2-38ba-4f3f-87d2-5c0db6b82397.jpeg/!!/meta:eyJzcmNCdWNrZXQiOiJiemdsZmlsZXMifQ==/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsIm1lZGl1bSJdXQ==.jpeg" class="size_m justify_left border_thick" alt="" /></span></p>
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<p><span class="font_regular"><strong><a contents="Parmela Creamery" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.parmelacreamery.com" target="_blank">Parmela Creamery</a> Plant-Based Smoky Gouda </strong></span></p>
<p><span class="font_regular">I'm toping my veggie burgers and Plant Provisions sandwiches with these slices. They're made from cultured cashew milk. They melt nicely and taste good even when they're not melted. </span></p>
<p><span class="font_regular">I do love real cheese, so much I haven't yet been able to give it up completely. These slices will not be mistaken for cheese, but I love them for what they are - a tasty, plant-based topping to round out my plant-based meal.</span></p>
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<p><strong>3 Things I'm Watching</strong></p>
<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/88787/64d574baad8720010f3768e2432890f96424e00f/original/d5420b9d-2075-4e3f-8a31-21b357c421be-4-5005-c.jpeg/!!/meta:eyJzcmNCdWNrZXQiOiJiemdsZmlsZXMifQ==/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsIm1lZGl1bSJdXQ==.jpeg" class="size_m justify_left border_thick" alt="" /></p>
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<p>Suspicion </p>
<p>The critics panned this, but I watched it anyway. It was interesting for a moment, then got a bit dull, and the ending was a disjointed mess of confusion, loose ends, and unanswered questions. No standout performances, as far as I’m concerned. Nothing to recommend it really.</p>
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<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/88787/67972dffe6e8386a32d4403466796d6ef7fd353a/original/4e526ceb-f222-4084-b49b-891c87e438bf.jpeg/!!/meta:eyJzcmNCdWNrZXQiOiJiemdsZmlsZXMifQ==/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsIm1lZGl1bSJdXQ==.jpeg" class="size_m justify_right border_thick" alt="" /></p>
<p>The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel </p>
<p>I have enjoyed this show from the beginning. I love the premise – a woman trying to be independent and follow her dreams, at a time when we were not allowed to do that. A woman trying to make her mark in comedy when it was a thing only men were allowed to do. </p>
<p>I think the cast is fantastic and the acting is great across the board, but I especially love Tony Shaloub. I have seen him on Broadway, I loved him in Monk, but he is outdoing himself in the latest season. It is worth watching this show just to see him as Abe Weissman.</p>
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<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/88787/da3c8199fc673e077f8cffd407f9b8a56c41b84b/original/2381ebb2-d01d-434b-b248-a39b0db74344.jpeg/!!/meta:eyJzcmNCdWNrZXQiOiJiemdsZmlsZXMifQ==/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsInNtYWxsIl1d.jpeg" class="size_s justify_left border_thick" alt="" /></p>
<p>I've been watching short clips on Facebook Watch. I think she is hilarious.</p>Karen Kamenetskytag:karenkamenetsky.com,2005:Post/68791092022-03-18T15:10:22-04:002022-03-18T15:10:22-04:00Writing My Cozy Mystery: A Book Full of Music - Part 1<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/88787/3d5f89160dfd937349114bb01120841d0f1d870a/original/tempimagemzybwu.png/!!/meta:eyJzcmNCdWNrZXQiOiJiemdsZmlsZXMifQ==/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsIm1lZGl1bSJdXQ==.png" class="size_m justify_center border_thick" alt="" /></p>
<p><span class="font_large">My first cozy mystery has something I haven't seen in any other book of this genre, links in the text to original music written by the author. </span></p>
<p><span class="font_large">I described in a previous post how I came to write the songs for this book - mainly, I wanted music and I didn't want the hassle of permissions and royalties, so I wrote my own songs. There are five songs in the book. Most of the lyrics appear in the text. </span></p>
<p><span class="font_large">I wanted something more than just lyrics in the text, however. I had written the songs in the voices of four of the characters and I wanted recordings of the songs by artists who embodied my idea of what each of those characters sounded like.</span></p>
<p><span class="font_large">The challenge was how to go about getting talented musicians to record demos for me when I had no idea whether I would be able to sell the book, or, if I did sell it, how the music would be presented in the final version. One thing I know about musicians, especially singer-songwriters, is that they rarely say no when offered an opportunity to participate in a musical endeavor. Musicians want to make music. So, I decided I would just ask, and see what happened.</span></p>
<p><span class="font_large">I told each musician I asked to be a part of this project the same thing. I can't offer any compensation at this time. I will send you a cell phone recording of the song I'd like you to sing. You have complete freedom to change anything about the song - lyrics, tempo, progression, chords. If I agree that it improves the song, we'll go with it. If the changes are substantial, we will talk about co-writing credit.</span></p>
<p><span class="font_large">I knew immediately that my top choice for "You Get Me Going", the song I wrote for Sam Cook, was the immensely talented <a contents="Chelsea Carlson" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.chelseacarlsonmusic.com">Chelsea Carlson</a>. Chelsea's voice is powerful and lovely... strong, confident and captivating - I thought it would be perfect for Sam. Chelsea and I moved in the same musical circles for several years, so I felt comfortable contacting her. She sent me several recordings with small changes from my original - and harmony parts that fit the sound I imagined for Sam's Trio, Rambling Rose. I was thrilled with all of them. You can hear the one I like best <a contents="here." data-link-label="" data-link-type="track" href="/track/3010015/you-get-me-going-by-karen-kamenetsky">here.</a></span></p>
<p><span class="font_large">Finding the right voice for Gavriel Biton's song, "That You Are Mine" was a bit harder. I spent hours watching YouTube videos and listening to male voices I thought might be a good match. I originally wanted an Israeli voice, but I could not find an artist who had the sound I wanted. A wonderful artist named <a contents="Mike Herz" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://mikeherzmusic.com">Mike Herz</a> generously recorded a demo of the song for me, thought we have never met. I love his voice.I love his music. But, the recording didn't fit the sound I had in my mind for Gavriel.</span></p>
<p><span class="font_large">I spent more hours scouring my on-line contacts for the right sound. I approached <a contents="Alex Radus" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.alexradus.com" target="_blank">Alex Radus</a>. I had heard him play but he did not know me. Never the less, he agreed to give the song a try. He also made only minor changes and even reproduced the finger pick style I used on my rough cell phone recording of the song. I love his version and it ended up being closer to my vision for Gavriel. You can hear it <a contents="here." data-link-label="" data-link-type="track" href="/track/3010021/that-you-are-mine-by-karen-kamenetsky" target="_blank">here.</a></span></p>
<p><span class="font_large">I am always amazed at the generosity of musicians. I sincerely hope I can sell my vision for this book - mystery and music - and that these wonderful interpretations of my songs will be a part of it.</span></p>
<p><span class="font_large">Stop back next week to hear about the other musicians who've recorded songs for the book.</span></p>
<p><span class="font_large">Meanwhile - please consider following me on Twitter (<a contents="@karenkamenetsky" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://twitter.com/KarenKamenetsky" target="_blank">@karenkamenetsky</a>) and Facebook (<a contents="KarenKamenetskyMusic" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.facebook.com/KarenKamenetskyMusic" target="_blank">KarenKamenetskyMusic</a>) or signing up for my mailing list.</span></p>Karen Kamenetskytag:karenkamenetsky.com,2005:Post/68791112022-03-15T23:47:24-04:002022-03-15T23:47:24-04:00Writing My First Cozy Mystery: A Diverse Cast of Characters<p> </p>
<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/88787/28798dc92753f1ea062846ef7c7cc9a67f4fdc2b/original/8b8b3024-a833-4b4a-a2e2-96bf5d74f82c.jpeg/!!/meta:eyJzcmNCdWNrZXQiOiJiemdsZmlsZXMifQ==/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsIm1lZGl1bSJdXQ==.jpeg" class="size_m justify_center border_thick" alt="" /></p>
<p><span class="font_large">I have seen unambiguous requests, by agents and publishers, for characters who represent groups society has, historically, pretended do not exist. I have read advice from "experts" who suggest any manuscript will be improved by including characters who embody different races, have various sexual orientations, represent a range of body sizes, and are differently abled. </span></p>
<p><span class="font_large">I wanted the characters in my book to reflect the world I see around me and the different kinds of people I work with, play music with, am related to..call my friends. </span></p>
<p><span class="font_large">The challenge, for me, is how to do that without it seeming arbitrary or forced. I want my characters to serve the story, to fit the plot; to belong to the mystery. I want to model inclusion without standing on a soapbox. I also want to be sure I understand how to clearly and respectfully have a character embody someone with a different lived experience than mine. </span></p>
<p><span class="font_large">I did not include every kind of differentness that exists in the world in my first book. My intention for the Sam Cook Mystery series (in which the main character and amateur sleuth is Samantha [Sam] Cook) is to explore differences subtly at first and then, perhaps to include some characters who will force their differences to be confronted head on. I decided to let the characters in my first book be who they are without fanfare, for now. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 22.399999618530273px;">I'm a person who, as a child, was taught the color of a person's skin shouldn't matter and then learned later in life, from my daughter, the importance of acknowledging how much it actually does matter. I want my stories to explore the ways otherness impacts every interaction, every moment of a person's life.</span></p>
<p><span class="font_large">Sam's roommate, and bandmate, Nia Taylor, is an extremely talented musician who plays the violin and the mandolin. She is possibly the only black musician in the folk and singer-songwriter community that forms the backdrop for this first story, and for the series. Part of the inspiration for Nia comes from two musicians I have heard speak about being black artists in the almost exclusively white folk community, Vance Gilbert and Elissa Jones. Nia's experience as a black woman in folk music will take center stage (pun intended) at some point in the series.</span></p>
<p><span class="font_large">Jay Weber, one of Sam's dearest friends, is a gay man, married for eight years to Mark, his life partner and business partner at JayMark Recording studios. Jay and Sam have known each other since they were children, brought to Oak Hill Farm each summer by their parents. They have a special connection that I hope to explore in more depth in one or more of the next few books.</span></p>
<p><span class="font_large">I have tried to let both of these characters be who they are without making a big deal about it. Before I delve further into their experience of moving through the world as "other", I will likely need advice and counsel from friends and family who resemble them. </span></p>
<p><span class="font_large">There may be a place, in a story I haven't yet written, for other characters who check the boxes on some agent's wish list, but before I introduce a queer, or trans, or differently abled character, I want to be sure I can do so in a true and respectful way. In my cozy mystery series, I want the diversity of my characters to be a reflection of real life, not a marketing tool.</span></p>Karen Kamenetskytag:karenkamenetsky.com,2005:Post/69208972022-03-13T01:50:31-05:002022-03-13T01:50:31-05:00Writing My first Cozy Mystery: Sunday Special #3<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/88787/3df812649b66ee92f9e960744910b022e9e4e8b1/original/c8ed4e62-d81d-4b1e-a38a-d0ba3c445ef1-1-201-a.jpeg/!!/meta:eyJzcmNCdWNrZXQiOiJiemdsZmlsZXMifQ==/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsIm1lZGl1bSJdXQ==.jpeg" class="size_m justify_center border_thick" alt="" />Here are a few more of my favorite things.</p>
<p><strong>3 Brands making me Happy by Responding to Customer's Environmental Concerns </strong></p>
<p>The choices we make as consumers can and do affect the products we are offered. So, when a brand makes an effort with a product that is more environmentally responsible, even it is not perfect, I buy it. It's my way of saying, "Good job, guys, keep it up." They don't always promote these earth friendly products, but you don't have to look far to find them. Target carries the first two and many grocery stores stock the third. If yours doesn't, why not ask them to consider it.</p>
<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/88787/ce798173869a4df76615fa2753c4b4d83d4c9bf5/original/ec71fbd7-edc6-4e59-b87c-7e512ace8533.jpeg/!!/meta:eyJzcmNCdWNrZXQiOiJiemdsZmlsZXMifQ==/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsIm1lZGl1bSJdXQ==.jpeg" class="size_m justify_left border_thick" alt="" /></p>
<p>The web page for <a contents="Dove Refillable Deodorant " data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.dove.com/us/en/stories/tips-and-how-to/sweating-tips/introducing-our-first-refillable-reusable-deodorant.html?&utm_source=bing&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=EN_DEOFGRUND_Boyan-(Dove)-CN004159_Con_Txt_CPC_Gen_PM_Content&utm_term=refillable%20deodorant&utm_content=Content%20-%20Refillable%20Deodorant%20-%20Introduction&gclid=4673d6a51339190edcf0b4887465a0c1&gclsrc=3p.ds" target="_blank">Dove Refillable Deodorant </a>says all the right things about reducing global waste and caring about the planet. I don't know whether those are true sentiments, or just great marketing, but I'm in. </p>
<p>The metal case is elegant, feels good in your hand, and contains the same aluminum-free deodorant I've been using for years.</p>
<p> </p>
<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/88787/5e7af1a0c01cb8b4baf00def725a3796773b0932/original/6aa95d38-f007-47dd-a7ba-9055b4b2fa62-4-5005-c.jpeg/!!/meta:eyJzcmNCdWNrZXQiOiJiemdsZmlsZXMifQ==/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsInNtYWxsIl1d.jpeg" class="size_s justify_right border_thick" alt="" /></p>
<p>These Q-tips are made with 100% sustainably sourced, organic cotton and the packaging is all paper - no plastic wrapping - and home compostable or recyclable. I try to aim for re-usable - but I tried the "reusable" cotton swab option. It does not work for me. This seems like the next-best option.</p>
<p> </p>
<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/88787/04ef05db97548252cc1e30545765ed508a153761/original/eba6a999-5b59-4704-a357-228884b11fcf-4-5005-c.jpeg/!!/meta:eyJzcmNCdWNrZXQiOiJiemdsZmlsZXMifQ==/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsIm1lZGl1bSJdXQ==.jpeg" class="size_m justify_left border_thick" alt="" />Reynolds sells a 100% Recycled Aluminum Foil that is made using <strong>90% less </strong>energy than it takes to make new aluminum. The packaging and core are made from 100% recycled paper and printed with water based inks. It's made in the US and is pretty much identical to regular Reynolds Wrap. My only question is - if you are going to use aluminum foil, why would you not use this?</p>
<p> </p>
<p><strong>3 Easy No-Recipe Veggie Meals I'm making this week</strong></p>
<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/88787/f513ab4c3d7675bcb18c26a281b2eef13eafdaf9/original/tempimagezdh84h.png/!!/meta:eyJzcmNCdWNrZXQiOiJiemdsZmlsZXMifQ==/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsIm1lZGl1bSJdXQ==.png" class="size_m justify_left border_thick" alt="" /></p>
<p><strong>Winter Salad </strong></p>
<p>Arugula</p>
<p>Grated carrots </p>
<p>Navel orange sections</p>
<p>Pepitas</p>
<p>Poppyseed dressing.</p>
<p>No-recipe instructions: mix everything together.</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/88787/23f11f3d2495803331a64e55ca9081ee7071e146/original/tempimagex3lr3z.png/!!/meta:eyJzcmNCdWNrZXQiOiJiemdsZmlsZXMifQ==/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsIm1lZGl1bSJdXQ==.png" class="size_m justify_right border_thick" alt="" /><strong>Winter Tostada</strong></p>
<p>Corn tortillas</p>
<p>Vegetarian refried beans</p>
<p>Your favorite greens (I used Kohlrabi greens)</p>
<p>Avocado</p>
<p>Cheese (dairy or vegan)</p>
<p>Salsa.</p>
<p>No-recipe instructions: Heat tortilla, beans & greens, layer everything on & eat.</p>
<p> </p>
<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/88787/5a47e77686c9305a8dfa4337a4ce901e23277f1d/original/tempimagejb08br.png/!!/meta:eyJzcmNCdWNrZXQiOiJiemdsZmlsZXMifQ==/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsIm1lZGl1bSJdXQ==.png" class="size_m justify_left border_thick" alt="" /></p>
<p><strong>Spinach & Garbanzo Pasta </strong></p>
<p>Rotini pasta (cooked)</p>
<p>Your Favorite Sauce</p>
<p>1 Can Garbanzos (rinsed and drained)</p>
<p>Frozen Spinach</p>
<p>Parmesan (dairy or vegan) - optional</p>
<p>No-recipe instructions: Heat first four ingredients together, top with Parmesan.</p>
<p> </p>
<p><strong>3 of my Go-To Condiments - There may be a theme here having to do with my addiction to sugar...</strong></p>
<p>I use them sparingly (mostly), but a little bit of these can elevate almost any dish.</p>
<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/88787/b124359ed3516626ef752642b19edfb47326ffb2/original/d5b16aa7-1944-479f-ac4c-a5244e3042d8.jpeg/!!/meta:eyJzcmNCdWNrZXQiOiJiemdsZmlsZXMifQ==/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsIm1lZGl1bSJdXQ==.jpeg" class="size_m justify_center border_thick" alt="" />Stonewall Kitchen Fig & Ginger Jam. Such a great flavor combo. It's wonderful on an English Muffin or whole wheat toast, especially with a slice of really sharp cheddar. You can use it to make a vinaigrette with EVO and balsamic vinegar. This year, I used it as a filling for Hamantashen. (1 TBS: 35 cal, 7 gm sugar)</p>
<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/88787/4dea00208a240e04c8aba0fb02d96b9e6906110d/original/a59d9a4e-218e-4ca2-a002-f2737af62c53-4-5005-c.jpeg/!!/meta:eyJzcmNCdWNrZXQiOiJiemdsZmlsZXMifQ==/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsInNtYWxsIl1d.jpeg" class="size_s justify_left border_thick" alt="" /></p>
<p>I know it LOVE this on...green salad, fruit salad, lentils with olives and pumpkin seeds, chick pea, cucumber, red pepper and tomato salad, broccoli...pretty much anything. (2 TBS: 150 cal, 6gm sugar)</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/88787/e12019be79eda17921deb39d516162325f52343f/original/large-5fb48fd4-c5b3-43d9-ac3c-a831d9bc5792-jpg.webp/!!/meta:eyJzcmNCdWNrZXQiOiJiemdsZmlsZXMifQ==/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsIm1lZGl1bSJdXQ==.webp" class="size_m justify_right border_thick" alt="" /></p>
<p> </p>
<p>Wegmans Organic General Tso's Sauce. Great on any kind of stir fry, any kind of tofu. (2 TBS: 35 cal, 7gm sugar)</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>If you'd like to throw me some support, please follow me on Twitter (<a contents="@karenkamenetsky" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://twitter.com/KarenKamenetsky" target="_blank">@karenkamenetsky</a>) and Facebook (<a contents="karenkamenetskymusic" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.facebook.com/KarenKamenetskyMusic" target="_blank">karenkamenetskymusic</a>) and consider signing up for the <a contents="mailing list" data-link-label="Home" data-link-type="page" href="/home" target="_blank">mailing list</a> on this site. </p>
<p>#cozymystery #writingcommunity #amquerying</p>Karen Kamenetskytag:karenkamenetsky.com,2005:Post/69188072022-03-10T11:09:48-05:002022-03-10T11:09:48-05:00Writing My first Cozy Mystery: Winter isn't Over and Neither is the Editing<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/88787/359a86236edce8c8c6e0438c8b79869869e7c3a0/original/tempimagemfoept.png/!!/meta:eyJzcmNCdWNrZXQiOiJiemdsZmlsZXMifQ==/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsIm1lZGl1bSJdXQ==.png" class="size_m justify_center border_thick" alt="" /></p>
<p>A few days ago, the temperature outside flirted with seventy, yesterday it snowed again. It's been a bizarre winter, impacted, I'm sure, by the warming of our planet, and it's not over.</p>
<p>A few weeks ago, I flirted with the idea of submitting my manuscript to agents and publishers. I actually sent a few queries. Half of them were rejected. I took a step back to see what I could do to increase the chance of success.</p>
<p>I need a stronger social media presence, I told myself. I should buff up the pitch and the bio.</p>
<p>So I turned to Twitter, I joined the platform years ago to promote my music, but hardly used it and hadn't visited the site in quite a while. Like a baby bird, I sent out a few tentative tweets, then started posting a link to this blog. A little research led me to the hashtags authors are using. I began to follow other writers, agents, publishers, and editors.</p>
<p>I try to spend a little time each day now scrolling through the feed for anything relevant or interesting. Two days ago I read a post from an agent about ridding your manuscript of the dreaded exclamation point. I hadn't realized it was such a pariah. No worries, though, I told myself, I don't use it that much anyway.</p>
<p>Just in case, I did as the agent suggested and used the find and replace function to check. She suggested no more than ten instances of the highly emotional punctuation mark in a full book manuscript. I won't tell you how many I found - I didn't count them - but there were multiples of ten, many multiples. Oh my.</p>
<p>I rooted them out and got down to eight. Whew. Then I wondered what else was still wrong with my manuscript that I wasn't seeing. Replying to a comment on her post, the agent posted a list of tragically (my word, not hers) overused words and phrases. Again, I told myself there was no need to worry. I don't believe I over use any of those. I am aware of the cardinal rule of writing fiction - show, don't tell.</p>
<p>But, I went back to find and replace, just in case. Of course I found I really do overuse many of the words she listed - without even realizing it - and without seeing that I had done it, despite reading my manuscript maybe a hundred times and edited it relentlessly in response to concerns expressed by members of my writer's group, best practice advice and my own understanding of what constitutes bad writing. Yet, every search I did found many places where I could clearly do better.</p>
<p>Discouraging? A little. I want to be a better writer though, and I want to sell this book. I recently had a milestone birthday - let's just say I'll be shopping at the Acme on Tuesdays from now on - but I know for sure you are never too old to learn new things. I'm fairly confident act my plot is solid, my mystery is mysterious, my villain is evil and my sleuth is likable (also a little worried that further exploration could prove me wrong there too). But, at least until Spring arrives for real, I'll be diving into the details. Winter's not over, and neither is my quest to make this book the best it can be.</p>
<p> </p>Karen Kamenetskytag:karenkamenetsky.com,2005:Post/69026482022-03-08T11:36:28-05:002022-05-12T13:24:48-04:00Writing my First Cozy Mystery: Who is Samantha Cook?<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/88787/bd2d5c1ed26ddeb7a6272d10183b5f82f4acd5de/original/tempimage2calbt.png/!!/meta:eyJzcmNCdWNrZXQiOiJiemdsZmlsZXMifQ==/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsIm1lZGl1bSJdXQ==.png" class="size_m justify_center border_none" alt="" /></p>
<p><span class="font_regular">People often ask if a particularly personal sounding song lyric is taken directly from my life. Sometimes it is. </span></p>
<p><span class="font_regular">In my early days of songwriting, it almost always was. As I tried to grow and improve as a songwriter, I made a special effort to write songs that told a story that wasn't mine. Stories about purely fictional characters that might speak a universal truth. It felt odd the first time I sang a song I had written in the first person that wasn't about me. Now, I know that the translation of what I've been through into a universal experience makes a better song.</span></p>
<p><span class="font_regular">Last week, I heard <a contents="Alison Stewart" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://alisonstewart.net/" target="_blank">Alison Stewart</a> interview <a contents="Mike Errico" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://errico.com/" target="_blank">Mike Errico</a> on WNYC Public Radio's <a contents="ALL OF IT" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.wnyc.org/story/all-of-it-2022-03-03" target="_blank">ALL OF IT</a>. Mike is the author of a new book called "Music, Lyrics, and Life, A Field Guide for the Advancing Songwriter." I haven't read the book yet, but in response to a viewer's question about putting your life into a song, Mike said, "Your bruises are not necessarily destined for stardom." I don't know if he dropped the mic, but I'm pretty sure I heard it hit the floor.</span></p>
<p><span class="font_regular">So, now I've written my first cozy mystery novel. The mystery is not autobiographical in any way, but the story is written in the first-person voice of a female singer-songwriter, and I expect the question will be asked - is Sam Cook the fictional version of me? </span></p>
<p><span class="font_regular">Well, she is a singer-songwriter, so we have that in common, but she isn't me. Sam has one thing I've always wanted, naturally curly hair, and she is a person I would like to know, but she isn't me.</span></p>
<p><span class="font_regular">Sam is about thirty years younger than me. She is writing and singing her songs, performing with her trio, and enjoying a fair degree of success. She has, after all, been chosen to appear on the "Up and Coming Stage" at the "Oak Hill Folk Festival". When I was her age, I was married and raising two kids while working part-time as a pharmacist. I didn't play songs I'd written in public until I was fifty-four. </span></p>
<p><span class="font_regular">She is also more fit and more agile than I have ever been. There is no point in my life so far where I could have climbed out a second story window, dropped onto a potting shed and made it to the ground alive, as Sam does in Chapter Five.</span></p>
<p><span class="font_regular">Sam is braver than I am too. She confronts a killer, after all, something I have never done and hope never to do. She is the character I created to fit into the musical setting of my story. I gave her all the traits I thought she would need to solve the mystery - and I tried to make her interesting and likable and a little flawed, like all of us. Sam Cook is my creation, but she isn't me.</span></p>
<p>The beautiful artwork at the top of this post is a multi-media piece done by my daughter. If you'd like to purchase a signed print, let me know and give me some contact info, in the comments, or using the <a contents="comment form" data-link-label="Contact" data-link-type="page" href="/contact" target="_blank">contact form</a> on this website. I will get back to you with details.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, if you'd like to throw me some support, please follow me on <a contents="Twitter" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://twitter.com/KarenKamenetsky" target="_blank">Twitter</a> and <a contents="Facebook" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.facebook.com/KarenKamenetskyMusic" target="_blank">Facebook</a> and consider signing up for the <a contents="mailing list " data-link-label="Home" data-link-type="page" href="/home" target="_blank">mailing list </a>on this site. I'll let you know when I find a publisher for my book and you can tell me how much Sam Cook and I have in common.</p>
<p>#cozymystery #writingcommunity #amquerying</p>
<p> </p>Karen Kamenetskytag:karenkamenetsky.com,2005:Post/69089292022-03-06T14:35:40-05:002022-03-06T14:35:40-05:00Writing My first Cozy Mystery Blog: Sunday Special #2: A Few More of My Favorite Things<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/88787/29e622201adaf1ad1f6c2a9a344a2e9cb1d1c6c9/original/c8ed4e62-d81d-4b1e-a38a-d0ba3c445ef1-1-201-a.jpeg/!!/meta:eyJzcmNCdWNrZXQiOiJiemdsZmlsZXMifQ==/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsIm1lZGl1bSJdXQ==.jpeg" class="size_m justify_center border_thick" alt="" /></p>
<p><span class="font_regular">It's Sunday - time for my <em>Sunday Special</em> Blog. I can't wait to tell you about some more of my favorite things. And - good things sometimes come in threes, so here we go.</span></p>
<p><strong><span class="font_regular">3 Things I’m Eating </span> </strong></p>
<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/88787/f97a95d6efafef9c4d0ca77fdc010ca219b24f67/original/7ca3938b-3328-406a-a663-e997e22f5931-4-5005-c.jpeg/!!/meta:eyJzcmNCdWNrZXQiOiJiemdsZmlsZXMifQ==/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsIm1lZGl1bSJdXQ==.jpeg" class="size_m justify_left border_thick" alt="" /></p>
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<p><strong><a contents="Miyoko’s Creamery" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://miyokos.com/" target="_blank">Miyoko’s Creamery</a> Artisanal Cashew Cheese</strong>:</p>
<p>Best vegan cheese I’ve tasted. It’s tangy, packed with chives, and full of flavor, with a spreadable consistency. I’m loving it on <a contents="Finn Crisp " data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.finncrisp.com/" target="_blank">Finn Crisp </a>crackers. </p>
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<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/88787/5401c8dc5f2986f39eba96ad460606525c1cf6e9/original/perulentils-1024x1024-2x-png.webp/!!/meta:eyJzcmNCdWNrZXQiOiJiemdsZmlsZXMifQ==/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsIm1lZGl1bSJdXQ==.webp" class="size_m justify_right border_thick" alt="" /></p>
<p><strong><a contents="FILLO’S" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://cocinadefillo.kitchen/" target="_blank">FILLO’S</a> Peruvian Lentils with Sofrito</strong>:</p>
<p>Yes, lentils are easy to cook, but this takes easy to another level. It's a ready-to-go lunch in a bag. I pop these out when I'm feeling jealous watching my husband open a can of tuna or sardines for his quick and easy lunch. I tear open the bag, heat them up a little, and put them on top of greens or rice, with a few green olives and sometimes a little poppyseed or ginger honey vinaigrette dressing. </p>
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<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/88787/0876fba8e947c3bf5da065557e4b064e2ec1f6c9/original/driedfruit-pineapple-cacao-01-176x176.png/!!/meta:eyJzcmNCdWNrZXQiOiJiemdsZmlsZXMifQ==/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsInNtYWxsIl1d.png" class="size_s justify_left border_thick" alt="" /></p>
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<p><strong><a contents="Soley " data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://solely.com/" target="_blank">Soley </a>Pineapple Rings w/Cacao Drizzle</strong>:</p>
<p>I Got these in my <a contents="Thrive Market " data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://thrivemarket.com/myaisle" target="_blank">Thrive Market </a>order and they are delish. Just dried pineapple rings drizzled with cacao, but they taste like a treat. Indulgent - yes. Expensive - yes. Did I mention they are delish?</p>
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<p><strong>3 of my favorite Personal Care Indulgences </strong></p>
<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/88787/fc82a2d4604125660078a6a25c054d57034cd7fa/original/f92899a1-35e3-4969-b334-53d084422472.jpeg/!!/meta:eyJzcmNCdWNrZXQiOiJiemdsZmlsZXMifQ==/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsIm1lZGl1bSJdXQ==.jpeg" class="size_m justify_left border_thick" alt="" /></p>
<p><a contents="Peace Soap." data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.etsy.com/shop/peacesoap?ref=l2-about-shopname" target="_blank">Peace Soap</a> - an indulgence for all the senses.</p>
<p><em>It looks great</em>: Every bar is absolutely beautiful to look at, with gentle colors from earth pigments, and soft swirls at the top.</p>
<p><em>It smells great:</em> Every bar lathers up with a different, lovely, subtle fragrance.</p>
<ol> <li>
<em>It feels great</em>: The blend of olive, coconut and soybean oils creates suds that feel luxurious, and leave my skin feeling lovely. The bars also have a textural element - like dried lavender, crushed spearmint leaves, crushed almonds, apricot seed, or cranberry seeds, dried rose petal, or crushed lemon balm - for a full sensory experience.</li>
</ol>
<p>I love that PeaceSoap is a woman-owned business and fairly local to me - in Sea Cliff, NY, and I love that the packaging is totally recyclable, no plastic anywhere.</p>
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<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/88787/4721460fbc0fa6b38329097bb8956f345fc77673/original/c8038a0b-cf55-47bd-9410-22e0b64c78b7-700x-jpg.webp/!!/meta:eyJzcmNCdWNrZXQiOiJiemdsZmlsZXMifQ==/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsIm1lZGl1bSJdXQ==.webp" class="size_m justify_right border_thick" alt="" /><strong>Tea Tree Facial Scrub</strong> from <a contents="Grounded Sage Skin Care" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://site.groundedsage.com/about/" target="_blank">Grounded Sage Skin Care</a></p>
<p>This yummy scrub is made from handmade whipped soap, twice-ground walnut shells, and organic tea tree oil. I love the way it smells, I love the way it feels, and I love the way it exfoliates.</p>
<p>It's sold in a glass jar - no plastic here - and shipped in recyclable packaging. You can find the company's long list of "<em>Initiatives for greater sustainability and a lighter footprint</em>" on the <a contents="Grounded Sage Website" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://site.groundedsage.com/about/" target="_blank">Grounded Sage Website</a>. </p>
<p>This is another woman-owned, woman-run company - and I do love that. All of their products are certified cruelty free by PETA and Leaping Bunny.</p>
<p>They are located in New Brunswick, Canada, but they have free US shipping days four times a year.</p>
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<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/88787/6c28ea3d00c75e321a14fda03df093af605ec6a4/original/642d6253-9579-4ad2-b64f-320bccd860e6-4-5005-c.jpeg/!!/meta:eyJzcmNCdWNrZXQiOiJiemdsZmlsZXMifQ==/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsIm1lZGl1bSJdXQ==.jpeg" class="size_m justify_left border_thick" alt="" /></p>
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<p><strong>Coconut & Pear Refreshing Mineral Mist</strong> from <a contents="Little Barn Apothecary" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://littlebarnapothecary.com" target="_blank">Little Barn Apothecary</a>. I bought mine on a visit their Lakeview, Chicago store, but you can buy it on their website.</p>
<p>This is pretty awesome stuff. It looks like water and costs a lot, but my skin loves it. I spray it on my face after my shower and before I apply my tinted moisturizer (from Grounded Sage Skin Care) - it smells lovely and feels great.</p>
<p>Little Barn's products are 100% vegan, cruelty free, all-natural, and the mineral mist comes in a glass bottle - another win for the planet.</p>
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<p><strong>3 More Ways I am trying to step lightly on our Planet </strong></p>
<p>(For the first 3, check out my blog post from last Sunday)</p>
<p>I found a lot of opportunity for earth-friendly improvements in my <strong>laundry room.</strong> First, let's talk about laundry detergent.</p>
<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/88787/9d18eb436a4d7a635bce53ee62802a1c1a76f936/original/b06e8249-258b-4bc6-b045-ee41179a23ee-4-5005-c.jpeg/!!/meta:eyJzcmNCdWNrZXQiOiJiemdsZmlsZXMifQ==/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsIm1lZGl1bSJdXQ==.jpeg" class="size_m justify_left border_thick" alt="" /></p>
<p>I started my journey to a more earth-friendly laundry room with <strong>Seventh Generation's 4X Laundry Detergent </strong>in a paper bottle that is recyclable - but some of the parts are more difficult to recycle with than others. You can see details about that <a contents="HERE" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.greenbiz.com/article/7th-generation-debuts-4x-laundry-detergent-paper-bottle" target="_blank">HERE</a>. Better than plastic - absolutely. But, then I found a way to reduce my clothes washing impact even more.</p>
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<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/88787/61ef985a82c0bfd88eb68a7a7dfa1bfb8693ef06/original/lighter.webp/!!/meta:eyJzcmNCdWNrZXQiOiJiemdsZmlsZXMifQ==/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsIm1lZGl1bSJdXQ==.webp" class="size_m justify_right border_thick" alt="" /></p>
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<p><strong>Earth Breeze Laundry Sheets </strong>come in a paper package that's about as thick as a spiral notebook. No plastic - easily recyclable packaging - AND Earth Breeze Eco-Sheets™ are <em>less than 10%</em> of the weight of a traditional plastic jug of detergent - so that means less environmental impact from shipping (to the store or your home). They work great. I like the fragrance-free variety.</p>
<p>There are other laundry sheet options. I am currently trying <a contents="Laundry Detergent Sheets from Grove." data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.grove.co/catalog/product/laundry-detergent-sheets-32-loads/?v=8456&attrsrc=18&attrpg=catalog&attrpos=0" target="_blank">Laundry Detergent Sheets from Grove</a>. I'll let you know how they stack up against the Earth Breeze sheets.</p>
<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/88787/6e723cefd6b80970bca943e7a74054b5f3ea2507/original/xwf7advzp1kmdbliiuxt.webp/!!/meta:eyJzcmNCdWNrZXQiOiJiemdsZmlsZXMifQ==/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsIm1lZGl1bSJdXQ==.webp" class="size_m justify_left border_thick" alt="" /></p>
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<p><strong>MELIORA Soap Stick for Stain Removal</strong></p>
<p>This back-to-basics product works great on stains and there is <strong>no plastic</strong>! Just the stain stick in a paper carton. I buy mine on Grove.com, but it is also available for purchase on other sites.</p>
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<p>Thanks for reading. Feel free to mention things you love in the comments - and let me know if you've tried any of my favorites.</p>
<p>Stop back here each Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday for a new post. I'll be returning to the topic of writing - and selling - my first cozy mystery on Tuesday. Please follow me on Twitter (<a contents="@karenkamenetsky" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://twitter.com/KarenKamenetsky" target="_blank">@karenkamenetsky</a>) and FB <a contents="(Karen Kamenetsky Music" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.facebook.com/KarenKamenetskyMusic" target="_blank">(Karen Kamenetsky Music</a>) and consider signing up for the mailing list on this site. Thanks for your support. Remember, when I sell my book, you get bragging rights to say "I helped!" </p>
<p>#writinglife #cozymystery #amquerying</p>Karen Kamenetskytag:karenkamenetsky.com,2005:Post/69131102022-03-03T21:42:15-05:002022-03-03T21:42:15-05:00Writing My First Cozy Mystery: The Music: Writing the songs: Part Two<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/88787/668f85adb0be96ae50cc9b1c8733b42018e5b7f2/original/30089e52-2ce4-4e5e-a244-1d95791ee4a2-1-201-a.jpeg/!!/meta:eyJzcmNCdWNrZXQiOiJiemdsZmlsZXMifQ==/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsIm1lZGl1bSJdXQ==.jpeg" class="size_m justify_center border_thick" alt="" /></p>
<p><span class="font_large">I have read cozy mysteries that included recipes, but never one that included recordings of songs. As I said in part one of this post, I wanted my cozy mystery to be filled with the sounds and experience of music-making. I imagined the reader actually listening to the music as it was performed in the story, no matter the physical form of the book.</span></p>
<p><span class="font_large">In the hard copy book, I envisioned something like a <a contents="QR code " data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://duckduckgo.com/?q=QR+code&t=osx&ia=web" target="_blank">QR code </a>that could be scanned to play the songs, maybe even a CD tucked inside the cover. On a digital reader, the music could be queued up by clicking a link. In an audio book version, the music would be part of the recording, woven seamlessly into the story.</span></p>
<p><span class="font_large">I chose a music festival as the setting to create as many opportunities as possible to include the performance of a song in the natural course of the story.</span></p>
<p><span class="font_large">The Oak Hill Folk Festival opens with a musical "jam" where the attendees gather in a big barn to make music together. Someone starts a song and then everyone joins in, with multiple instruments and voices coming together. As I said in part one of this post, I wanted that opening song to be catchy and full of energy. I originally thought it would be written and introduced by the main character's father, who is also a songwriter.</span></p>
<p><span class="font_large">I wrote <a contents=""What'll I Do"" data-link-label="" data-link-type="track" href="/track/3010153/what-ll-i-do-first-version">"What'll I Do"</a> for the character Peter Cook to perform at this spot in the story.</span></p>
<p><span class="font_large">As the book neared completion, I went back to re-visit the songs, their placement, and the characters who performed them. I decided that "What'll I Do" was in the wrong spot.</span></p>
<p><span class="font_large">I also felt that perhaps Sam Cook (my main character) should join her dad to start the song that opens the first night jam. I wrote a new song, <a contents=""Livin' the Dream"" data-link-label="" data-link-type="track" href="/track/3012333/livin-the-dream-first-version" target="_blank">"Livin' the Dream"</a>, for them to sing together, and placed it in that first musical spot in the story. I am hoping that the recording of "Livin' the Dream will include multiple instruments and voices and evoke the group dynamics of the festival jam.</span></p>
<p><span class="font_large">I moved "What'll I Do" to a point later in the story where Sam's dad is leading an impromptu jam session in the farm's campground. I like how it fits there.</span></p>
<p><span class="font_large">The last "musical moment" in the book comes after the mystery is solved. The owner of Oak Hill Farm hosts a party on the farmhouse B&B's patio to celebrate Sam's surviving the trials and tribulations of finding multiple dead bodies, being stalked by a killer, surviving a bear attack, and helping solve a murder.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 22.399999618530273px;">At the party, several people play songs for Sam. I wrote a <a contents=""I'm Here For You."" data-link-label="" data-link-type="track" href="/track/2996619/im-here-for-you-by-karen-kamenetsky" target="_blank">"I'm Here For You."</a> to be sung by Tang, one of Sam's closet childhood friends, who was with her through the scariest parts of solving the mystery. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 22.399999618530273px;">I hope you'll stop back next Tuesday to read about the musicians who recorded the music I wrote for the book and hear how their versions of the songs evoke the characters. And don't forget to check out my "Sunday Special" roundup of some of my favorite things.</span></p>
<p><span class="font_large">In fact, why not plan on stopping back every Tuesday, Thursday, and Sunday for a new blog post? </span></p>
<p><span class="font_large">And, don't forget to follow me on <a contents="Twitter&nbsp;" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://twitter.com/KarenKamenetsky" target="_blank">Twitter </a>and <a contents="Facebook," data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.facebook.com/KarenKamenetskyMusic" target="_blank">Facebook,</a> and sign up for my <a contents="mailing list." data-link-label="Home" data-link-type="page" href="/home">mailing list.</a> When I find a publisher for my book, you can say, "I know the back-story!". </span></p>
<p><span class="font_large">#cozymystery #writinglife #amquerying</span></p>Karen Kamenetskytag:karenkamenetsky.com,2005:Post/68791082022-03-01T17:58:12-05:002022-03-01T17:58:12-05:00Writing My First Cozy Mystery: The Music: Writing the songs: Part One<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/88787/0f2ba2de9ecbbaef2b9bc8b9aa49af2d396d9841/original/tempimagemyzkrc.png/!!/meta:eyJzcmNCdWNrZXQiOiJiemdsZmlsZXMifQ==/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsIm1lZGl1bSJdXQ==.png" class="size_m justify_center border_medium" alt="" /></p>
<p><span class="font_large">When I first put pen to paper, I imagined I was writing the first in a series of musical mysteries. I wanted each of the books to have a music-related setting and to be filled with the sounds and experience of music-making. I wanted music to be woven like a golden thread through every story, lending a sparkle here, a gleam there...wrapping everything in a bit of magic.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 22.399999618530273px;">I decided on a completely fictional music festival for the setting of my first book. With a visit to </span><a contents="Bethel Woods" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.bethelwoodscenter.org/" style="font-size: 22.399999618530273px;" target="_blank">Bethel Woods</a><span style="font-size: 22.399999618530273px;"> fresh in my mind, I located the festival on a fictional farm called Oak Hill, somewhere in the Catskill Mountains of New York. You can read about the real-life musical events that influenced the festival's creation and particulars in a recent <a contents="blog post " data-link-label="Blog" data-link-type="page" href="/blog" target="_blank">blog post </a>on this site. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 22.399999618530273px;">What I heard in my head as I began to write the story was music written by others. So, that is what I included in the first chapters I wrote. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 22.399999618530273px;">In the opening pages of the first draft of my story, the main character, Sam Cook, drives her roommate Nia to the Oak Hill Folk Festival and they sing a bit of </span><span class="font_large">Graham Nash's fabulous <a contents='"Marrakesh Express".' data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0TYq9RjdYYU" target="_blank">"</a></span><span style="font-size: 22.399999618530273px;"><a contents='"Marrakesh Express".' data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0TYq9RjdYYU" target="_blank">Marrakesh Express".</a> A few pages later, Sam's dad opens the festival's first night jam with "Roll in My Sweet Baby's Arms", an American traditional song that may or may not be in the public domain.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 22.399999618530273px;">The feedback from my writer's group was swift and decisive. Rabbi Moshe Rudin reminded me of something that I, as a songwriter, should have taken into consideration. Including the lyrics of other people's songs in my book would require permissions and royalties. It might make selling the book difficult or impossible. He suggested I remove them.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 22.399999618530273px;">I knew he was right, but removing the music felt like a blow to the heart of what I was trying to create. Before that feeling could settle over me, however, a second one came close behind...I am a songwriter! I'll write my own songs!</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 22.399999618530273px;">I took "Marrakesh Express" out of the opening chapter and replaced it with a mention of Sam and Nia singing a song written by Sam. I removed the lyrics from "Roll in my Sweet Baby's Arms". Then, I set to work. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 22.399999618530273px;">First, I needed a song to open the festival. I wanted it to be catchy and full of energy. I wanted lots of instruments and voices - to capture the first night jam at Oak Hill as I imagined it - something like this version of <a contents=""Roll in My Sweet Baby's Arms" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PY7g1DlbJR4" target="_blank">"Roll in My Sweet Baby's Arms</a>" I looked through my own song catalog but found nothing that really fit the bill. So, I wrote <a contents=""What'll I Do"" data-link-label="" data-link-type="track" href="/track/3010153/what-ll-i-do-first-version" target="_blank">"What'll I Do"</a>. In my mind, I could hear it in a "jam" setting - some banjos, fiddles, an upright bass, and lots of voices. That vision later changed, and the song ended up in a different place in the story - but that's a tale for another blog post.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 22.399999618530273px;">As I continued to write, I began to see places where a song could fit naturally into the narrative. The main character, Sam Cook, is scheduled to play with her trio, Rambling Rose, on a stage for rising new performers at the Oak Hill Festival. So, I wrote <a contents='"You Get Me Going"' data-link-label="" data-link-type="track" href="/track/3010165/you-get-me-going-first-version" target="_blank">"You Get Me Going"</a>, in her voice, for them to perform.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 22.399999618530273px;">One of Sam's romantic interests in the story, Gavriel Biton, a singer-songwriter Sam had a fling with about six months before the first book begins, is also scheduled to play a set on the Up and Coming Stage at Oak Hill. I wrote<a contents=' "That You Are Mine"' data-link-label="" data-link-type="track" href="/track/3010169/that-you-are-mine-first-version" target="_blank"> "That You Are Mine"</a> in his voice. He makes every woman in the audience swoon when he sings it.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 22.399999618530273px;">There is a lot more to this musical story. I wrote two more songs for the book, then set out to find musical artists, whose sound embodied the characters, to record all the songs I had written. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 22.399999618530273px;">Stop by on Thursday to read more about my vision for the music in my first cozy mystery novel and hear some more of the songs I wrote for the book. In fact, why not plan on stopping back every Tuesday, Thursday, and Sunday for a new blog post? </span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 22.399999618530273px;">And, don't forget to follow me on <a contents="Twitter&nbsp;" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://twitter.com/KarenKamenetsky" target="_blank">Twitter </a>and <a contents="Facebook" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.facebook.com/KarenKamenetskyMusic" target="_blank">Facebook</a>, and sign up for my <a contents="mailing list" data-link-label="Home" data-link-type="page" href="/home" target="_blank">mailing lis</a></span><a contents="mailing list" data-link-label="Home" data-link-type="page" href="/home" style="font-size: 22.399999618530273px;" target="_blank">t</a><span style="font-size: 22.399999618530273px;">. When I find a publisher for my book, you can say, "I know the back-story!".</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 22.399999618530273px;">#cozymystery #writinglife #amquerying</span></p>
<p> </p>Karen Kamenetskytag:karenkamenetsky.com,2005:Post/69088372022-02-27T22:08:47-05:002022-02-27T22:08:47-05:00Writing My first Cozy Mystery Blog: Sunday Special: A Few of My Favorite Things<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/88787/d95e2a22b58de6649a1ed415eca3a0758880d032/original/img-6804.jpg/!!/meta:eyJzcmNCdWNrZXQiOiJiemdsZmlsZXMifQ==/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsIm1lZGl1bSJdXQ==.jpg" class="size_m justify_center border_thick" alt="" /></p>
<p><span class="font_regular">Today, I thought I'd take a break from the saga of writing my first cozy mystery novel and tell you about a few of my favorite things. They say good things come in threes, so here goes...</span></p>
<p><span class="font_large">3 Recipes I’m Making </span></p>
<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/88787/da764ab541f5c534b7aefdb6db5703a627edac76/original/1371599882741.jpeg/!!/meta:eyJzcmNCdWNrZXQiOiJiemdsZmlsZXMifQ==/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsIm1lZGl1bSJdXQ==.jpeg" class="size_m justify_left border_thick" alt="" /></p>
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<p><a contents="Alton Brown's Granola." data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/granola-recipe-1939521" target="_blank"><strong>Alton Brown's Granola.</strong></a> So easy. Absolutely delicious. Its alchemy of a sort. You start with humble ingredients; rolled oats, cashews, almonds, coconut, brown sugar, maple syrup, oil, and salt, mix and bake them at 250F for 90 minutes, add raisins, and end up with a golden treat. Its got just the right balance of crunchy and sweet. I use it to top a dish of fruit and yogurt. Bonus: I haven’t done the math, but I’m pretty sure I’m saving money over the bagged product I used to buy. </p>
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<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/88787/8c6a089162f1071e0daf82a5d41981d5530dc4bd/original/01tanisrex2-pie-1-articlelarge.jpg/!!/meta:eyJzcmNCdWNrZXQiOiJiemdsZmlsZXMifQ==/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsIm1lZGl1bSJdXQ==.jpg" class="size_m justify_left border_thick" alt="" /></p>
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<p><a contents="NYT Savory Butternut Squash Pie:" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1022606-savory-butternut-squash-pie" target="_blank"><strong>NYT Savory Butternut Squash Pie</strong>:</a> Easy and elegant. The provolone cheese elevates the flavor and texture. I make it in a 9 x 12 rectangular pan. You could make a vegan version with phyllo and a Miyoko's cheese. Just yum. </p>
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<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/88787/dd4230fe0f9ee91aa90e4c93587ab79b9386d23b/original/30-minute-chickpea-sweet-potato-buddha-bowls-a-complete-meal-packed-with-protein-fiber-and-healthy-fats-with-a-stellar-tahini-lemon-maple-sauce-vegan-glutenfree-healthy-200x300.jpg/!!/meta:eyJzcmNCdWNrZXQiOiJiemdsZmlsZXMifQ==/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsInNtYWxsIl1d.jpg" class="size_s justify_left border_thick" alt="" /></p>
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<p><strong><a contents="Minimalist Baker Sweet Potato Chick Pea Buddhah Bowl&nbsp;" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://minimalistbaker.com/sweet-potato-chickpea-buddha-bowl/" target="_blank">Minimalist Baker Sweet Potato Chick Pea Buddhah Bowl </a>: </strong>This is a great weekday dinner. Everything except the chick peas goes onto a sheet pan in the oven. First the sweet potatoes and red onions, then broccolini (or broccoli), then kale (I usually skip this). The chick peas get a quick saute with spices. The three ingredient sauce goes together in a minute. The end result is layers of flavor and texture, warm and spicy, and filling.</p>
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<p><span class="font_large">3 Ways I’m Trying to Walk Lightly on Our Planet </span></p>
<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/88787/8722f82908b7d34a0619f33af9de2830c4fbf9fe/original/538e74f9b694ddd6a4677f861ec38e883c347565-1720x1590-jpg.jpeg/!!/meta:eyJzcmNCdWNrZXQiOiJiemdsZmlsZXMifQ==/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsInNtYWxsIl1d.jpeg" class="size_s justify_left border_thick" alt="" /></p>
<p><strong><a contents="Blue Land Hand Soap Tablets&nbsp;" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.blueland.com/products/hand-soap-starter-set-multi" target="_blank">Blue Land Hand Soap Tablets </a>: </strong>It was a progression to get here. Long, long ago, I used to buy individual bottles of hand soap. Then I bought large plastic bottles of soap to refill the bottles. I'm on a mission to remove as much plastic from my life as possible, so I switched to foaming hand soap concentrate from <a contents="Grove" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.grove.co/catalog/product/foaming-hand-soap-concentrate-aluminum/?v=7121&attrsrc=18&attrpg=catalog&attrpos=2" target="_blank">Grove</a> that comes in metal bottles. Then, I found Blue Land tablets. I have glass dispenser bottles, so I buy the refill packs. Each little round tablet + water makes a bottle of foaming hand soap. Each tablet is in a brown paper wrapper and they come in recyclable packaging. </p>
<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/88787/b4904f9d8e0d6028097185b1ec2684a34a1be430/original/surprise-bug2-700x-jpg.webp/!!/meta:eyJzcmNCdWNrZXQiOiJiemdsZmlsZXMifQ==/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsInNtYWxsIl1d.webp" class="size_s justify_left border_thick" alt="" /></p>
<p><strong><a contents="Preserve Toothbrushes&nbsp;" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.preserve.eco/collections/oral-care/products/toothbrush-in-bulk-packaging-surprise-colors-3-pack">Preserve Toothbrushes</a>: </strong>Another journey. <a contents="One Green Planet " data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.onegreenplanet.org/environment/plastic-toothbrushes-waste/" target="_blank">One Green Planet </a>says "<strong>Plastic Toothbrushes Add 50 Million Pounds of Waste to Landfills Every Year</strong>!" Several years ago, I ditched the plastic and switched to bamboo. Lately, I've been unsure about the sustainability of bamboo, so I switched to these beauties. The handles are made from 100% recycled #5 plastic yogurt cups and shipped in a low impact paper package. You can send your used brushes back for recycling. Preserve says 6 brushes in an empty "plastic beverage container ships for less than $3 and they send you a $6 Preserve coupon.</p>
<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/88787/09b6957e20cefc7301c8ae4e9efe0c84ab129d5f/original/nc-logo-01.png/!!/meta:eyJzcmNCdWNrZXQiOiJiemdsZmlsZXMifQ==/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsIm1lZGl1bSJdXQ==.png" class="size_m justify_left border_thick" alt="" /></p>
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<p><strong><a contents="Neighborhood Compost&nbsp;" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.neighborhoodcompost.com/" target="_blank">Neighborhood Compost</a>: </strong>The website<strong> <a contents="Ethical Choice" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://myethicalchoice.com/en/journal/food-loss/effects-of-food-waste/" target="_blank">Ethical Choice</a> </strong>says<strong> "</strong><em>When food is composted, carbon dioxide is released, but when the food is dumped in landfills, methane is released which heats up our planet twenty-five times more than carbon dioxide.</em>"</p>
<p>I wanted to compost, but I live in a townhouse community where the HOA frowns on that sort of thing, and there are bears. Earthworm composting is an option, but I just couldn't... Then, I found Neighborhood Compost - a subscription based compost pick up service in NJ. You put your food scraps in the 5 gallon bucket they provide. They pick it up and do the hard work. You get finished compost in return. If you don't need the compost, they donate it to local farms. I am not on a pick up route, so I drop my bucket off at the farm. Also check out <a contents="Garden State Composting&nbsp;" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.gardenstatecomposting.com" target="_blank">Garden State Composting </a>, <a contents="Java's Compost" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.javascompost.com/residential-pickup" target="_blank">Java's Compost</a>, <a contents="Green Bucket Compost" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://greenbucketcompost.com" target="_blank">Green Bucket Compost</a>, and <a contents="Compost Now" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://compostnow.org/compost-services/" target="_blank">Compost Now</a>, which has a list of compost pickup services all over the country!</p>
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<p><span class="font_large">3 Things I’m Listening To </span></p>
<p><span class="font_large"><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/88787/ae1d5cd47343634f0d28bf5819f512b52918e922/original/smuckerbanner.jpg/!!/meta:eyJzcmNCdWNrZXQiOiJiemdsZmlsZXMifQ==/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsIm1lZGl1bSJdXQ==.jpg" class="size_m justify_left border_thick" alt="" /></span></p>
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<p><strong>Jessica Smucker</strong> – <a contents="“Stones to Throw”" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.facebook.com/jessicasmuckermusic/videos/7431585863526132" target="_blank">“Stones to Throw”</a> </p>
<p>Jessica throws a quirky twist into the everyday experiences of life as a wife and mother and songwriter and poet - and she does it to perfection.</p>
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<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/88787/b545c8ad6ff5bbc8ba450120a2091c86a033678d/original/fib2016.jpg/!!/meta:eyJzcmNCdWNrZXQiOiJiemdsZmlsZXMifQ==/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsIm1lZGl1bSJdXQ==.jpg" class="size_m justify_left border_thick" alt="" /></p>
<p><strong>Steve Kirchuk </strong>–<a contents=" “What Happened”" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8-Qt-5mrinI" target="_blank"> “What Happened”</a> I have admired Steve's guitar playing, and spot-on lyrics, since we met at an open mic many years ago. This new song - and the video - are pretty great.</p>
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<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/88787/201fba0fa72ccdb077a560ad4ae7301359affaa3/original/light400.jpg/!!/meta:eyJzcmNCdWNrZXQiOiJiemdsZmlsZXMifQ==/b:W1sic2l6ZSIsIm1lZGl1bSJdXQ==.jpg" class="size_m justify_left border_thick" alt="" /></p>
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<p><strong>Janis Ian</strong> – <a contents="“I’m Still Standing” " data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y93NZWb7oLw" target="_blank">“I’m Still Standing” </a>– and the whole new album - absolutely outstanding! She spoke to me as a shy and lonely teenager, and she still speaks to me now as an almost 65 year old. She is an artist and an activist and one of my all-time heroes.</p>
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<p>Feel free to mention things you love in the comments. If you'd like to seem more of what I'm cooking, check out the <a contents="School Lunch Organic Farm and CSA" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.facebook.com/SchoolLunchFarm" target="_blank">School Lunch Organic Farm and CSA</a> Facebook Page, where I regularly post things I've made with the veggies from my CSA share. Stop back here each Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday for a new post. I'll be returning to the topic of writing - and selling - my first cozy mystery. Please follow me on Twitter (<a contents="@karenkamenetsky" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://twitter.com/home" target="_blank">@karenkamenetsky</a>) and FB (<a contents="Karen Kamenetsky Music" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.facebook.com/KarenKamenetskyMusic" target="_blank">Karen Kamenetsky Music</a>) and consider signing up for the mailing list on this site. Thanks for your support. Remember, when I sell my book, you get bragging rights to say "I helped!"</p>
<p>#writinglife #cozymystery #amquerying</p>
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<p> </p>Karen Kamenetskytag:karenkamenetsky.com,2005:Post/68955252022-02-24T23:12:09-05:002022-03-07T19:34:14-05:00Writing my First Cozy Mystery: The Long List of Things I Didn't Know<p><br><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/88787/e8e3d8670103cb9eb486eb80056f54b69722269b/original/tempimagel6vvtz.png/!!/meta:eyJzcmNCdWNrZXQiOiJiemdsZmlsZXMifQ==/b:W10=.png" class="size_l justify_center border_" />I wrote my first cozy mystery in about a year. It added up to seventy-eight thousand three hundred words, two hundred seventy-nine pages, twenty-three chapters and five original songs. It was fun but also hard work, and I was rather proud of myself when I finished.</p>
<p>I spent the next six months editing, revising, getting feedback, then revising and editing again, and again. </p>
<p>In between all the editing and revising, I reached out to some fabulous musicians whose voices embodied my characters and they graciously agreed to make demo recordings of the songs I had written for the book. I embedded links to the demo recordings in the manuscript.</p>
<p>When I finally felt I was ready to submit the manuscript for consideration, I wrote a query letter, then revised and edited that a few times. My understanding was that the query letter was critical to the process. It might be the thing that decided whether my manuscript got read or tossed in the trash. I wanted my query letter to be the best it could be, so I submitted it to the <a contents="Writer's Digest 2nd Draft Critique Service " data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://writersdigestshop.com/products/2nd-draft-query-letter" target="_blank"><em>Writer's Digest 2nd Draft Critique Service </em></a>and a very nice man named Jack helped me buff it up to near perfection.</p>
<p>Jack said there was a pretty decent market for cozies, and he thought the music angle was good. I was encouraged.</p>
<p>As I steeled myself to begin the submission process, I remembered the dozens of rejection letters I received before I sold my children's stories, some thirty or so years ago. I knew there was a hard road ahead. I did not expect the job of finding an agent and a publisher to be an easy one.</p>
<p>Turns out there was some underestimation, on my part.</p>
<p>I did some research and made a short list of agents who had "cozy mystery" on the list of genres they were looking to represent. More research identified the <a contents="Query Tracker" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://querytracker.net/" target="_blank">Query Tracker</a> and <a contents="Query Manager" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://querymanager.com/" target="_blank">Query Manager</a> websites as the place to start. I chose an agent for my first query and opened their submission form on Query Tracker.</p>
<p>Oh my. I had no idea.</p>
<p>I had a manuscript and a query letter. The electronic submission form had fields, many, many fields, asking for all kinds of things I did not have.</p>
<p>I backed out of that agent's submission form and checked another, and another, and another. I made a list of all the things they all were asking for that I did not have:</p>
<ol> <li>A one- or two-page synopsis, or a plot summary</li> <li>A "Pitch" (a one sentence sum up of the story)</li> <li>An author's bio</li> <li>A summary of prior writing experience, published works</li> <li>A list of similar books by other authors</li> <li>A description of the book's target audience</li> <li>A marketing plan</li>
</ol>
<p>A marketing plan? A one sentence summary of a two hundred-and seventy-nine-page book?</p>
<p>Oh my. I had no idea.</p>
<p>I pulled back to re-group. I wrote the synopsis (a one-page and a two-page) and the plot summary, the pitch and the author's bio. I made a list of my published works. I searched the internet for similar books - and found some with musical settings and musical characters - but none with original recorded music. I wrote a blurb about the target audience - maybe people who love original music would be interested, not just cozy fans? I did my best to come up with a marketing plan (I don't know why I thought that would be someone else's job).</p>
<p>I went back to the submission form with my newly minted required items, and I noticed something else. They were asking for my website, my twitter handle, and my Facebook page. Why? What did they expect to find there?</p>
<p>I went back to the on-line research and discovered that prospective agents and publishers who might pitch or publish a book want the author to have an established social media presence, as an author, even if said author has never been published before. </p>
<p>I really had no idea.</p>
<p>So now I am working on another list that includes updating my website and growing traffic, increasing my Twitter and FB following, updating my FB music page to include writing. After that, more research. What about Instagram? TikTok? Does my Linked-in profile factor in?</p>
<p>Stay tuned.</p>
<p>You can help by stopping back here every Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday to read a new blog post, following me on Twitter (<a contents="@karenkamenetsky" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://twitter.com/KarenKamenetsky" target="_blank">@karenkamenetsky</a>) and FB (<a contents="KarenKamenetskyMusic" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.facebook.com/KarenKamenetskyMusic" target="_blank">KarenKamenetskyMusic</a>) and signing up for my mailing list on this site.</p>
<p>Then, when I find an agent and a publisher, you can tell everyone, "I helped Karen get her first cozy mystery published!"</p>
<p>#cozymystery #writinglife #amquerying</p>Karen Kamenetskytag:karenkamenetsky.com,2005:Post/68791042022-02-22T19:37:41-05:002022-02-22T19:37:41-05:00Writing My First Cozy Mystery: What's in a Name?<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/88787/959f65d4e1966be5e46cf04ddc3bc7d63aacfd3f/original/tempimagewwkd59.png/!!/meta:eyJzcmNCdWNrZXQiOiJiemdsZmlsZXMifQ==/b:W10=.png" class="size_l justify_center border_" /></p>
<p>How do I choose a name for the main character in my first book?</p>
<p>That's the question I wrestled with as the ideas that eventually coalesced into a cozy mystery rattled around in my head.</p>
<p><a contents="Stephanie Plum" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.goodreads.com/series/43040-stephanie-plum" target="_blank">Stephanie Plum</a>, <a contents="Claire Malloy" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.goodreads.com/series/41038-claire-malloy" target="_blank">Claire Malloy</a>, <a contents="Arly Hanks" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.goodreads.com/series/50149-arly-hanks" target="_blank">Arly Hanks</a>, <a contents="Precious Ramotswe" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://thrillingdetective.com/2018/11/25/precious-ramotswe/" target="_blank">Precious Ramotswe</a>, <a contents="Henrie O" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://www.carolynhart.com/henrie-o.html" target="_blank">Henrie O</a>. Those are some great names.</p>
<p>How do I even come close? </p>
<p>An internet search uncovers dozens of <a contents="five " data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://writersedit.com/fiction-writing/5-steps-naming-characters-effectively/" target="_blank">five </a>or <a contents="seven" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.writersdigest.com/write-better-fiction/the-7-rules-of-picking-names-for-fictional-characters" target="_blank">seven</a> or <a contents="nineteen" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://self-publishingschool.com/character-names/" target="_blank">nineteen</a> steps, rules and methods to name the characters in a novel. Some of these strategies seem overly complicated. I gathered some advice from them, then mostly went with my gut.</p>
<p>Sam Cook is the name that came to me for my protagonist, a thirty-something singer-songwriter. I liked the sound of it.</p>
<p><a contents="The NY Book Editors Blog" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://nybookeditors.com/2016/04/how-to-choose-character-names/" target="_blank">The NY Book Editors Blog</a> says: "The characters don’t name themselves—this is the job of your character’s parents."</p>
<p>I think that hits the nail on the head, and I had it covered before I read the blog. The amateur sleuth in my cozy was named by her father, Peter Cook. Her name is Samantha, but she goes by Sam. He named her after one of his musical idols, the fabulous <a contents="Sam Cooke" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://officialsamcooke.com" target="_blank">Sam Cooke</a>, the "King of Soul".</p>
<p>In explaining his choice, Samantha's dad says, "A great songwriter, Sam Cooke, a civil rights champion, and an incredible voice. One of my all-time favorites." Both Sam's dad and I hope that she will embody the passion for civil rights and the musicality of her namesake.</p>
<p>A post on <a contents="reedsyblog" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://blog.reedsy.com/how-to-come-up-with-a-character-name/" target="_blank">reedsyblog</a>, another selection I read after creating the character of Sam Cook, cautions: "Switching between a real name and nickname can confuse the reader. But it can also add context about characters and their relationships with others."</p>
<p>I agree that names and nicknames give clues to relationships. My protagonist's father calls her Sam - because he named her after his idol. The man who is interested in her romantically prefers Samantha. A best friend from childhood uses Sammy, the nickname he gave her when they were kids. When you read those names on the page and hear them in your head, you get a feel for the connection Sam has with each of those important people in her life.</p>
<p>Time will tell whether Sam Cook is a name that will take its place on the list of well-known cozy characters, but I have a good feeling about her.</p>
<p>For some other characters, I used a more research-based method to ensure that their names would be a good fit with who they are, their culture and heritage. Sam's roommate and bandmate is an African American woman, also in her thirties. I wanted a name that matched her ancestry but didn't scream it. I wanted her name to fit her, but I also wanted readers to come to a gradual understanding of who she is. I read list after list of names and chose Nia, with the simple surname Taylor.</p>
<p>According to<a contents=" nameberry" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://nameberry.com/babyname/nia" target="_blank"> nameberry</a>, "Nia is a girl's name of Swahili origin meaning "resolve; brilliance". It is "short but energetic and substantial", and "has special meaning for African-American parents, as it's one of the days of Kwanza". <a contents="Baby Name Buzz" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.babynamebuzz.com/black-baby-girl-names/" target="_blank">Baby Name Buzz</a> lists the meaning of Nia as "purpose". I think this name fits the character and we will learn more about how she got it and how she embodies it later in the series.</p>
<p>Sam's main love interest is an Israeli-born folk singer who now lives in the U.S, but whose family still resides in Haifa. His name needed to reflect that. I again poured over lists of names. He is an extremely good-looking man and Gavriel is a beautiful name that fits him. His last name is Biton because I like the sound of the two names together.</p>
<p>One of Sam's childhood friends is a Millennial Hippie. He drives a refurbished VW van, has a ponytail and a laid-back persona. His nickname came to me first - Tang. I think his parents were hippies too - and they gave him the name <a contents="Mustang" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.etymonline.com/word/Mustang" target="_blank">Mustang</a>, after the "half wild horses of the American prairie." It fit with their surname, which is Loredo.</p>
<p>Another of Sam's childhood friends has a nickname that adds context to their relationship. His name is Jay but her nickname for him is Jaybee, like Tang, a holdover from their time together as children. It is an embodiment of the special relationship between them; she is the only one who calls him Jaybee.</p>
<p>The process of choosing names, and nicknames, for my characters seemed overwhelming at first, an obstacle in the way of the writing. But I have come to see that it is an integral part of weaving the story together. Each name choice is a thread, a warp or a weft, that completes the fabric of the tale. When I find that publisher, and you finally get to read this book, I hope you will let me know if I've chosen well.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, check back here each Tuesday, Thursday, and Sunday for a new blog post. And, as long as you're here, head over to the home page of my website and have a look around, maybe listen to some music or peruse my published children's stories. If you sign up for the mailing list, I'll send the blog posts directly to your email inbox. If you can, please follow me on Twitter (<a contents="@KarenKamenetsky" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://twitter.com/KarenKamenetsky" target="_blank">@KarenKamenetsky</a>) and on FB (<a contents="Karen Kamenetsky Music" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.facebook.com/KarenKamenetskyMusic" target="_blank">Karen Kamenetsky Music</a>) </p>
<p> #cozymystery #writinglife #amquerying </p>
<p> </p>Karen Kamenetskytag:karenkamenetsky.com,2005:Post/68786722022-02-20T15:03:10-05:002022-02-22T17:15:58-05:00Writing my First Cozy Mystery: Seven Musical Events that helped me design the festival setting for my cozy<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/88787/f9d9d4bc42e0fb119757c76463bbd5bbcfa287d7/original/tempimagece08km.png/!!/meta:eyJzcmNCdWNrZXQiOiJiemdsZmlsZXMifQ==/b:W10=.png" class="size_l justify_center border_" /></p>
<p>I wanted each book in my series of cozy mysteries to be steeped in music, infused with the sounds and experience of music making. So, what better location for the first murder than a music festival?</p>
<p>In creating the Oak Hill Folk Festival<em>, </em>I borrowed bits and pieces from some musical events I have attended, and some that I have only read about, and I stole the location, a farm in the Catskill Mountains, from the<a contents=" mother of all music festivals" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.bethelwoodscenter.org" target="_blank"> mother of all music festivals</a>.</p>
<p>I took the idea of a festival campground from the <a contents="Clearwater Festival," data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.clearwaterfestival.org" target="_blank"><em>Clearwater Festival,</em></a> held in Croton-On-Hudson, NY, which bills itself as a "Music and Environmental Festival". I've been to Clearwater multiple times - saw Pete Seeger and Arlo Guthrie, two of my all-time favorites, there. The feel of the crowds making their way around the farm in my book comes from my memories of jostling through the throngs at this festival. I've never stayed in the Clearwater campground, but camping was how we spent family vacations for many years, so details like pushing rainwater off the top of the tent with a broom come from my actual lived experience.</p>
<p>I read extensively about the<em> <a contents="Falcon Ridge Folk Festival " data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://falconridgefolk.com" target="_blank">Falcon Ridge Folk Festival </a></em>, though I've never attended. On-line tales of the legendary late night music scene there provided the inspiration for a festival fling that my singer-songwriter sleuth, Sam Cook, had, six months before my first book begins. </p>
<p>I've never attended NERFA's yearly event, also legendary, billed as a "music business conference", not a festival. But I have attended a <a contents="NERFA " data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://nerfa.org">NERFA </a>regional event and some of the workshops at the Oak Hill Festival came from memories of that experience, as did the inclusion of some DJs as festival attendees.</p>
<p>The yoga and other non-musical activities at Oak Hill were born out of reading about the NJ <a contents="Folk Project's Weekend Acoustic Getaways" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://folkproject.org/acoustic-getaway/" target="_blank">Folk Project's Weekend Acoustic Getaways</a>, which is advertized as "3 days, 3 concerts, 40 workshops, endless jamming". I've never taken part, but always wanted to. I have attended their Open Stage events and house concerts. I drew from those experiences of spontaneous collaborative music making to recreate that vibe in my story.</p>
<p>The idea of the Farmhouse Bed & Breakfast as a place for performers to stay during the music festival came from the <a contents="Block Island Music Festival" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.facebook.com/theblockislandmusicfestival" target="_blank">Block Island Music Festival</a> - which has always been on my bucket list. I've been to the island many times, but never during the second week of June. I have musical friends who play on the island and stay in accommodations there that morphed into the B&B in my book. </p>
<p>Lastly, my own performances at the <a contents="WNTI Stage " data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.nj.com/warrenreporter/2015/05/wnti_stage_music_festival_in_k.html" target="_blank">WNTI Stage </a>music festival in Knowlton Township, NJ, with my band "The Friends" informed my descriptions of Sam's set with her trio on the Up and Coming Stage at Oak Hill. </p>
<p>My sincere hope is that I have knitted all these pieces into a convincing whole, The Oak Hill Folk Festival. Once I find an agent and a publisher, you can pick up a copy of my book and tell me if I have succeeded. </p>
<p>Meanwhile, check back here each Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday for a new blog post. And, as long as you're here, head over to the home page of my website and have a look around, maybe listen to some music or peruse my published children's stories. Please follow me on Twitter (<a contents="@KarenKamenetsky" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://twitter.com/home" target="_blank">@KarenKamenetsky</a>) and on FB (<a contents="KarenKamenetskyMusic)" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.facebook.com/KarenKamenetskyMusic" target="_blank">KarenKamenetskyMusic)</a></p>
<p> #cozymystery #writinglife #amquerying </p>Karen Kamenetskytag:karenkamenetsky.com,2005:Post/68791062022-02-17T12:52:14-05:002022-02-17T12:52:14-05:00Writing My First Cozy Mystery: 6 Ways a Writer's Group Can be Helpful<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/88787/d1151543ab9fdf4dca2a54771c37cf4944881b66/original/tempimageawlpeb.png/!!/meta:eyJzcmNCdWNrZXQiOiJiemdsZmlsZXMifQ==/b:W10=.png" class="size_l justify_center border_" /></p>
<p>Just about the time I finished the second chapter of my cozy mystery, the opportunity arose to join a writer's group facilitated by <a contents="Pauline Hahn" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://paulinehahn.com" target="_blank">Pauline Hahn</a>, an amazing writer, actress and teacher. Members of the group included a poet, a novelist, a playwright, a rabbi, and a man working on a memoir. The meetings were on Zoom due to Covid concerns. I wasn't sure what to expect. Did it matter that no one else in the group was writing a cozy mystery, or any kind of mystery for that matter? Would a poet or a playwright be interested in commenting on a novel? I really wanted some feedback on what I had written so far, so I decided to join the group.</p>
<p>In a blog on <a contents="technicalcounicationscenter.com" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.technicalcommunicationcenter.com/2021/10/27/7-benefits-of-joining-a-writers-group/" target="_blank">technicalcommunicationscenter.com</a>, Ugar Akinci lists the seven benefits of joining a writer's group as "knowledge, community, accountability, feedback, motivation, exposure and creativity". Initially, all I was looking for was feedback. I took the position that I would take every comment, question, suggestion, and criticism seriously, not personally, and use what was given to improve my writing.</p>
<p>I didn't always feel that way about constructive criticism.</p>
<p>I consider myself a songwriter - a legitimate claim, I think - because I receive royalty checks and payment for downloads and streams of songs I've written. When I first started writing songs intended for public consumption, I was absolutely closed to any feedback of a negative nature, constructive or not. Whether the issue was too many words in a line, too many beats in a measure, an unexpected change of key, or a wandering tempo, that was how I wrote it and that was how it was going to stay. It was part and parcel of my creative process. It seems an arrogant and foolish stance now, but at the time, I was oblivious.</p>
<p>I eventually came to understand the great gift that constructive feedback can be, especially when it comes from someone more knowledgeable about the craft at hand. I learned to surround myself with people more talented than I, and to listen when they had something to say about what I had created. It was pretty sure it had made me a better songwriter. I hoped it could make me a better writer.</p>
<p>I presented my chapters and there was a LOT of feedback. I felt a little of the old defensiveness creep in, but I pushed it away. I considered each question, comment, and criticism carefully and found most to be valid concerns or complaints. Some were issues I might have identified myself if I had done more research. some were things I just had not seen, even after reading over my manuscript dozens of times. I took all of them to heart, considered carefully, and made changes where I thought they were warranted. All in all, the group had a positive impact on my manuscript.</p>
<p>Here's my take on 6 ways the members of your writer's group can help with your writing project:</p>
<ol> <li>
<strong>Bringing up things you might not have considered.</strong> I wanted my cozy to be steeped in music. My first draft included lyrics from several of my favorite songs. <a contents="Rabbi Rudin" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.adathshalom.net/clergy.html" target="_blank">Rabbi Rudin</a> reminded me that including those lyrics would require permissions and royalty payments, which could make it harder to sell the book.</li> <li>
<strong>Inspiring creative solutions.</strong> After the rabbi's comments (see #1 above), several members reminded me that I am perfectly capable of writing a song. I decided to write some in the voices of my characters. The manuscript now includes five original songs.</li> <li>
<strong>Noticing something small that deserves a larger focus.</strong> My sleuth wears a locket when she performs. I included it as a necessary element in the scheme of how she happens to find her first dead body. The poet in my writer's group was intrigued by the locket and wanted to know its background. She inspired me to create a full story for the locket, which is now a thread that winds through the story from beginning to end. It adds texture and depth and helps readers know my character better.</li> <li>
<strong>Giving practical, no nonsense, advice</strong>. The original draft of my book had too many characters. The writers in my group had trouble keeping track of who was who. I took some characters out completely and gave any important plot responsibilities to someone else. Others I stripped of their names but left them in place to do or say their part to move the story along. Some character names were also confusing. I took the group's advice and revamped all the names for less confusion.</li> <li>
<strong>Editing. </strong>One member of my writers group routinely spends the time to go over every line of whatever I have submitted and send me corrections to spelling, grammar and syntax. This is immensely helpful. I find my eyes skip over some errors when I am reading the same pages over and over.</li> <li>
<strong>Cheering you on. </strong>When I sell this book, I know I won't be the only one celebrating!</li>
</ol>
<p>Meanwhile, check back here every Tuesday, Thursday, and Sunday for a new Blog Post and please consider following me on Twitter (@karenkamenetsky) and FB (KarenKamenetskyMusic). If you'd like to have the blog posts come directly to your email, sign up for the mailing list on this site. </p>
<p>#cozymystery #writinglife </p>Karen Kamenetskytag:karenkamenetsky.com,2005:Post/68791032022-02-15T17:12:30-05:002022-02-15T17:12:30-05:00Writing my first Cozy Mystery: Six Reasons to Write About Murder<p> </p>
<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/88787/261df8070bf3e0b67d5377bcb1a8f31e059d60f6/original/tempimageknoiqk.png/!!/meta:eyJzcmNCdWNrZXQiOiJiemdsZmlsZXMifQ==/b:W10=.png" class="size_l justify_center border_" /></p>
<p>I told my mother I was writing a book.</p>
<p>"What's it about?" she asked.</p>
<p>I said it was a murder mystery.</p>
<p>"Oh," she said, unable to hide her disappointment, "why would you want to write about murder?"</p>
<p>Why indeed.</p>
<p>The answer begins with my addiction - to mysteries, mostly cozies, - from the queen of the genre, Dame Agatha Christie, to <a contents="Janet Evanovich" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://evanovich.com" target="_blank">Janet Evanovich</a>, and everything in between. I adore <a contents="Carolyn Hart'" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://www.carolynhart.com" target="_blank">Carolyn Hart'</a>s <em>Death on Demand </em>and <em>Henry O</em> series and <a contents="Joan Hess" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.bookseriesinorder.com/joan-hess/" target="_blank">Joan Hess</a>'s <em>Claire Malloy, Arley Hanks, and Theo Bloomer</em> books. I relished every installment of <a contents="Alexander McCall Smith" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.alexandermccallsmith.com/" target="_blank">Alexander McCall Smith</a>'s <em>No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency</em>. I'm a fan of <a contents="Charlotte McLeod'" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.bookseriesinorder.com/charlotte-macleod/" target="_blank">Charlotte McLeod'</a>s <em>Peter Shandy</em> mysteries and <a contents="Maddie Day'" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://edithmaxwell.com/maddie-day/" target="_blank">Maddie Day'</a>s <em>Country Store</em> stories. My newest favorite read is <a contents="Catie Murphy" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://catiemurphy.com/#home" target="_blank">C</a><a contents="Katie Murphy" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://catiemurphy.com/#home" target="_blank">atie Murphy</a>'s <em>The Dublin Driver</em>.</p>
<p>I finish a cozy at two in the morning and immediately begin searching for another book by the same author. During those middle of the night quests, I often speculate on what makes readers want to start the next book in the series before they turn the last page. In a burst of enthusiastic hubris, I decided to try my hand at creating that kind of magic. It took about a year, but I've produced an almost three-hundred page manuscript that I think is pretty cozy.</p>
<p>I agree with Debbie Young, at <a contents="IngramSpark.com" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.ingramspark.com/blog/what-is-a-cozy-mystery" target="_blank">IngramSpark.com</a>, who calls the cozy "the gentlest subset of the broad genre of crime writing." Yes, there is usually a murder, but a <a contents="cozy mystery" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://cozy-mystery.com/" target="_blank">cozy mystery</a> contains no gore, gratuitous violence, or explicit sex. Instead, each turn of the page takes you to an interesting place, populated by quirky, likable characters, where you might learn something new, like how whisky is made, the secret to growing a rare flower, or what it's like to drive a limo in Dublin. The book's amateur sleuth may encounter danger, but always survives relatively unscathed. And, as a fun bonus, you are challenged to solve a mystery before you reach the end of the story. The whole experience is, in a word, cozy. </p>
<p><a contents="Amanda Flower," data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/tip-sheet/article/76834-the-enduring-appeal-of-the-cozy-mystery.html" target="_blank">Amanda Flower,</a> a bestselling and Agatha Award-winning mystery author of more than twenty cozy mysteries, says: "A cozy is a brief escape from the troubles of the real world." For me, writing about murder provided a respite that was at least equal to reading a favorite cozy, maybe even greater. Each day as I began to write, I was enveloped in a world that I created, where I had total control, at a time when the real word seemed to be descending into chaos.</p>
<p>The year I spent writing was marked by personal loss and national malaise. My father, and a favorite aunt, died within a month of each other. The isolation of pandemic lockdowns was punctuated by news of mind-boggling Covid death tolls, protest and unrest in the streets, and escalating political craziness. Creating an amateur sleuth and having her solve a murder was a kind of therapy, a respite from the ever present troubles of the real world. </p>
<p>So, here are my Six Reasons to Write About Murder.</p>
<ol> <li>It's a Tradition; a long standing and fascinating one, practiced by some of my favorite authors.</li> <li>It provides an escape from the real world (see above)</li> <li>It' s an Intellectual Challenge; figuring out the who, when, where, why and how is like solving a puzzle.</li> <li>It's fun; creating enough clues to keep things interesting but not give away the mystery is exhilarating.</li> <li>It provides the raison d'être for the amateur sleuth you will create to solve it</li> <li>There's an audience; by all accounts people like to read about murder, or at least the mystery surrounding it.</li>
</ol>
<p>I'm hoping to find an agent and a publisher soon. Then you can tell me if I've created the magic I was aiming for, if reading my cozy, murder notwithstanding, provides you with that "brief escape from the troubles of the real world". And, if you happen to be looking for the next book in the series before you turn the last page, stay tuned...I'm working on it.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, check back every Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday for a new blog post. And, if you happen to be in the neighbor hood, please help me build my social media presence by following @KarenKamenetsky on Twitter and KarenKamenetskyMusic on Facebook - and sign up for the mailing list on this website. </p>
<p>#cozymystery #writinglife </p>
<p> </p>Karen Kamenetskytag:karenkamenetsky.com,2005:Post/62802642020-04-12T12:49:52-04:002020-04-12T12:49:52-04:00Pesach Musings<p>Pesach Musings </p>
<p>I am not playing much music lately. There are plenty of musicians who are. I can’t bring myself to pick up the guitar most days. So I am posting some thoughts here instead. </p>
<p>Passover is one of the most important “teachable moments” in a religion that asks us to learn from virtually every experience the Jewish people have ever gone through. </p>
<p>The Haggadah, the guidebook for the Seder, instructs us to consider ourselves as having actually been enslaved in Egypt, to put ourselves in the place of our ancestors as they escaped through the parted Red Sea with unleavened bread on their backs, to actually live in that reality, as we tell our children the story and talk about the lessons we can learn from that experience. (I’m not sure we have learned all the lessons from the Passover story, maybe that’s why we are instructed to go through the exercise every year; but that is a discussion for another day.) </p>
<p>Reading those instructions this year, under self-quarantine in my house, with my kids “zooming” in from hundreds of miles away, it occurred to me that the plague we find ourselves in the midst of today, and the steps we have taken to protect ourselves from it, are providing us with a whole bunch of “teachable moments”. </p>
<p>For those of us who have lived our lives in privilege, with jobs and houses and cars and family and friends and money in the bank, it is the first time that we have experienced, even in the smallest way, the deprivations suffered routinely by so many in this country and the world. </p>
<p>For the first time, I have had to ask myself, what will I feed my family if the grocery shelves are bare? What will I feed us if I can’t go to the grocery store because I am immune compromised and can’t take the risk? What can I make us to eat from what I already have? </p>
<p>There is no equivalency between my experience and the plight of those who work two jobs yet can’t afford to feed their children three meals a day in normal times, and who are standing in long lines at food pantries now, but my experience can serve as a catalyst. In the spirit of Pesach, I have tried to put myself in the place of those who don’t have what they need, to, in a very small way, live in their reality. </p>
<p>I have not been in the physical presence of my children for many months. They live in different states. I expected them to be here for Pesach, but then…this. I have to live with the reality of not knowing when I will see them again, hug them again, kiss them again. This, in absolutely no way, approaches the horror of what families fleeing persecution and danger have experienced at the hands of our government, at our borders. But it does allow me a tiny glimpse of what it must be like to not know if you will ever see your child again. </p>
<p>In the midst of this plague, a person who is not gravely ill cannot easily access in-person medical care. A close family member fell this week, probably breaking a finger, maybe incurring a concussion, but is treating those injuries at home, because a trip to the ER is too dangerous right now. They, of course, have access to their doctor over the phone, and this is not the same as having no primary care and no access to health care at all. It does open up a window, though, that allows me to imagine what it must be like for the millions of uninsured Americans I choose not to think about most of the time. </p>
<p>I have my husband to keep me company in my self-isolation, but I miss my family and my friends. Sometimes I wake up in the middle of the night and all I can think about are the ones in my family who live alone. They are lonely in normal times, but this pandemic has deprived them of any human interaction, any human touch, with no end in sight. It is not hard to put myself into that reality and it makes me cry. </p>
<p>So, what to do with all this insight, this empathy achieved through tiny bits of shared reality? On Passover we are commanded to tell the story, to teach our children. I have told my story here, in the hopes that it might inspire you to also think about the realities of those less fortunate. </p>
<p>My children are grown, so the way I choose to teach them these lessons is by example. Because of my own health issues, it does not feel safe for me to volunteer at a food bank or go to the grocery store for an elderly friend. So I am doing the only things I can. I am sewing face masks, and I am giving money to those who are doing the hard work of helping in these terrible times. </p>
<p>I hope you will consider joining me and making a donation to your local food bank or hospital, or any of the organizations supporting those in need at this time.</p>Karen Kamenetskytag:karenkamenetsky.com,2005:Post/49572982017-11-30T22:37:06-05:002017-11-30T22:37:06-05:00It's been a while...<p><span class="font_large">It's been a while since I've made music for anyone but myself; 2017 has been a very tough year. </span></p>
<p><span class="font_large">I've been living with Rheumatoid Arthritis since 2000, and I had a few good years of playing my guitar every day, making music all the time, playing out when ever the mood struck me. Then there were some pretty bad flares and it hurt too much to play more than a few minutes a day.</span></p>
<p><span class="font_large">I did try to stay involved, songwriters workshops, open mics; I hosted an open mic for quite a while.</span></p>
<p><span class="font_large">In August of 2016, I was diagnosed with Grave's Disease, and that has seriously been one of the worst things that has ever happened to me. Being hyperthyroid is terrible. You feel awful, your heart races (I developed an arrhythmia), you are anxious and paranoid - I cried all the time for months. You can't think, or focus. I was out of work for two months. It has taken more than a year to get my thyroid under control and it feels like a lost year. </span></p>
<p><span class="font_large">Then, in July, one of my dearest friends, and my musical partner for years, died after a long battle with lung cancer. I still haven't recovered from that loss.</span></p>
<p><span class="font_large">I'm trying to find my way back, to my music, to a place where I can share and find joy in it again.</span></p>
<p><span class="font_large">My thyroid hormones were normal this month for the first time in more than a year. And, I started a new drug, Rituxan, for the Rheumatoid, and some other pesky problem that cropped up in this last horrible year called B cell lymphocytosis. I'm hoping for the best.</span></p>
<p><span class="font_large">Meanwhile, I have this gift from the wonderful musicians who played when I couldn't and allowed me to record my songs for Chanukah on "With This Flame".</span></p>
<p><span class="font_large">So, I hope you'll listen, and enjoy, and stay tuned.</span></p>
<p><span class="font_large">Karen</span></p>
<p> </p>Karen Kamenetskytag:karenkamenetsky.com,2005:Post/38382062015-09-01T17:18:30-04:002015-09-01T17:18:30-04:00Hanukkah 2015 is almost here!<span class="font_large">It's hard to believe that Hanukkah is less than 100 days away! It seems like it was yesterday that we were hustling to finish recording and release "<em>With This Flame</em>" for Hanukkah 2014!<br><br>I have begun a campaign to let people know about the album. I'm sending out free downloads by the dozens - maybe you're visiting my website because you received one...<br><br>My dream is that someday you will hear all the songs from </span><span style="color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 16.7999992370605px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">"</span><em style="color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 16.7999992370605px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">With This Flame</em><span style="color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 16.7999992370605px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">" </span><span class="font_large">spilling out of Hebrew School classrooms, being covered by synagogue house bands at Hanukkah events, rocking your local radio station, and even gracing the programs of public school holiday concerts.<br><br>If you are a fan of my Hanukkah songs, you can help make my dreams come true by sharing the music, and my website link, with friends, family, coworkers, teachers, cantors, and people you pass on the street.<br><br>You can also help by purchasing a copy of the CD - and one for each of your friends and all of your family - the project still isn't fully paid for - and I would like to get sheet music done - which means more $$$. You can purchase directly from this site, or at www.cdbaby.com or www.oysongs.com.<br><br>If you're feeling generous, send me any contacts you think might help, the music director at your synagogue, the gift shop manager, your child's chorus director, and contacts at your local radio station who play holiday music. <br><br>Meanwhile, I'll be sending out free downloads, contacting radio stations, and counting down the days until the first candle.</span><br><br> Karen Kamenetskytag:karenkamenetsky.com,2005:Post/37324452015-06-07T22:03:56-04:002015-06-07T22:03:56-04:00Musical Goings OnSeems like the first open mic at the Eastern Asian Bistro last Thursday - hosted by me - was so well received - with so many people happy to have a place to play - that there will be another open mic there this Thursday, hosted by James Furman and Wolf Mojo. They will have a full sound system, bass amp, even drums from what I hear - so if you want to make some beautiful noise - be there for sign ups at 6:30 pm.
We had twelve people step up to the mic last Thursday - and twice that many in the audience - a nice start off for the open mic at Eastern Asian Bistro. Stop by and check it out.
Songwriters looking to snag a spot as an opener at the fabulous Groove in the Groove music festival being held next weekend at VASA Park should head over to Enzos Pizza Budd Lake for the Mountain Ledge Music - Groove in the Grove open mic. Maura Glynn, Jeff Rusch of WNTI, and Joe Pszonek of Radio Nowhere on WMSC are the judges who will choose two lucky songwriters to open the festivities. On Friday 6/12/15, Skylands Songwriters Guild and Kevin DeFeo are hosting Kevin's SSG Party on the Patio at Vasa Park from 6-8 pm (or so), 6/12/15.
This will be Round Robin songwriter event with short sets from Kevin, Bernie Drury, Don Elliker, WinterLong, and ME! RSVP to the Facebook event page if you would like to attend. All are welcome, but Vasa is a private club, so you will need an invitation to attend. "Friday Night Dinner" will be available - message Kevin for details - and the Tiki Bar will be open. I'm hoping to do a few songs I haven't played very often in the last year or so - like 67 Miles, and Highlands, and maybe River Runs By.Karen Kamenetskytag:karenkamenetsky.com,2005:Post/33631452014-12-04T23:10:04-05:002014-12-04T23:10:04-05:00The CDs are in the mail<span class="font_large">UPS tracking says the first batch of "With This Flame" CDs will be delivered by end of day tomorrow. I can't wait to see them - and send them out to you!</span>Karen Kamenetskytag:karenkamenetsky.com,2005:Post/32092672014-09-29T17:19:02-04:002014-11-13T23:25:23-05:00New music for Hanukkah!<span class="font_large">I am so excited to tell you that I am hard at work on my album of Hanukkah music! I have written eight brand new songs for Hanukkah, including three children's songs, and I have enlisted the help of many wonderful local musicians to bring my songs to life.<br><br>I plan to start a crowd funding campaign - on KickStarter, if they'll have me - very soon, so I have uploaded the first completed song here - check out the site wide music player. I'm hoping you will listen and be eager to hear the rest!<br><br><em>Spin The Dreidel</em> - which you can listen to now - is a song that tells the folk story of how the dreidel game was used hide Torah study from the soldiers in the army of Antiochus. <br><em>The Small Jewel of December</em> speaks of the beauty of this small holiday in the shadow of another one that falls at the same time of year.<br><em>Judah Macabee Standing Tall </em>is an ode to the acknowledged hero of the Hanukkah story.<br><em>With This Flame</em> is a meditation on how the light from the candle flames might inspire us to begin work on the mitzvah of repairing the world.<br><em>Zot Hanukkah</em> tells about the mystical connection between Hanukkah and Yom Kippur.<br><em>Happy Hanukkah Potatoes</em>, <em>Sufganiyot</em>, and<em> I'm a Dreidel</em> are children's songs - about just what their titles say.<br><br>The album, titled <em><strong>With This Flame</strong></em>, is being produced by my good friend Steve Kohn, recorded and mixed by the fabulously talented Clark Paddock at Mountain Ledge Studios in Ledgewood, NJ and features the talents of numerous wonderful local musicians: Clark on bass and "tuba",Steve on piano, vocal harmony, and hand percussion, Renee Paddock on violin, Cort Sauerwein on accordion, Seth Rosenstein on drums, Joe Guerra on guitar, David Bishop on clarinet and piano, Rachel Kohn on flute, Audrey Wells on harmony vocals, Dr. Robert Werner on banjo, and Roberta Foster on ukulele and banjo-uke.<br><br>I can't wait for you to hear it!</span>Karen Kamenetskytag:karenkamenetsky.com,2005:Post/25786482014-02-13T23:09:06-05:002014-02-13T23:09:06-05:00When Life Gives You Lemons - Part III haven't touched the guitar for more than five minutes at a time for months and months. My connection to the music is unbreakable, though. I need to make music. So...new directions. I am re-learning my piano skills, thanks to lessons from my good friend Steve K., and I am working on a piano arrangement for a song that has been sitting on the sidelines for several years. I'm hoping to play it at the open mic at Riverside Rhythm & Rhyme this weekend. I am continuing to work on my Hanukkah album with Steve as the producer and many, many wonderful artists contributing their talents. I am not playing at all on the album, just singing the songs that I have written, some in collaboration with Steve. And - best of all, I am going to be hosting an open mic at Enzo's Pizza in Budd Lake, beginning on Feb 20. I am excited about this opportunity to provide a venue for local songwriters to share their music.Karen Kamenetsky