The Writer's View: Pearl R. Meaker

This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. Pearl R. Meaker will be awarding a $25 Amazon/BN GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.

Pearl’s Inside/Outside Views

Welcome to my inside writing space. It’s a bit tricky, I write on a laptop and regularly use three different indoor areas in my home for working. I’ll show you my writing and craft room.

After meeting you at my front door, we’ll go through the living room to the hallway. You’ll know we’re heading in the right direction as we pass a sign on the living room wall to the right of the hallway that reads: WARNING NOVELIST AT WORK BYSTANDERS MAY BE WRITTEN INTO THE STORY. It was a Christmas gift from my daughter and I wanted it to hang where people could get a laugh from it.

My office/craft room/writing room is overcrowded with . . . stuff. Not hoarder overcrowded, but the overcrowding of a person who likes mementos of her life along with things that simply make her smile.

You are standing in the doorway in photo #1. The old, portable, manual Underwood typewriter immediately to your right on entering was my mother’s. She got that typewriter when she went off to college in 1946 and used it until her fingers were too weak to hit the keys hard enough and she bought an electric typewriter in the early 2000s. I can’t use it my fingers aren’t strong enough. I don’t see how anyone was ever able to type fast on a manual typewriter. But I love that old machine. Even more since becoming a novelist.

The room is a bold orangey-yellow, as is our living room. I got tired of beige and pastels and I liked the feeling the bold yellow gives me.

And there are wall-mounted shelves - lots of wall-mounted shelves so I didn’t lose all of my floor space to bookcases. There and mementos and games and arts and crafts stuff and, yes, some junk as well on all of them as you see in photo #2. Some mystery and research books are in photo #3.

Photo #4 is my desk. It is an old wooden desk that I stripped a couple of layers of paint off of because I like natural wood. I got it for $25 from a small art gallery I worked at, years ago, for about a year before it closed. The hutch section I purchased later. Where there should be a center drawer there is a pullout board. I’m short and the desktop is too high for me, so I took out the drawer and added the pullout to set my laptop on. Our youngest cat Flaming Chi To is on the desk. He has a neurological condition and is deaf –but he’s a happy little sweetie.

And there is a large stuffed Hello Kitty on the left of the desk, along with a collection of small Hello Kitty collectable things on a wall-shelf to the right of the desk.

I like Hello Kitty. ;-)

You can also see my fiddle on the right.

Photo #5 shows Goldie using my comfy, cozy oversized chair that I put in for me to dream and read in. Mr. Midnight, our three-legged cat, is on the ottoman. They always know the most comfortable spots.

The folding doors have been removed from the closet to accommodate a worktable and more wall-shelves. Photo #6 is the crafts part of the room and my sewing machine is over by the worktable.

In front of windows that are too high off the floor, is a metal grid storage unit that doubles as a cat tower for the kitties. The cat on it in photo #7 is our oldest, Millie.

Unfortunately, my outside view isn’t the best because they are set so far off the floor. But it is pleasant, with all the trees and bushes that grow on the hillside on the east side of our backyard. I do get to see birds in the trees, which is cool as I’m a birder.

Some day, who knows maybe with royalties from my books, I plan to put in French doors so I get a better view of the patio and backyard.

And yes, I go there and dream. Of Emory and Jebbin and all my friends in Twombly, and I write their stories for all of you to read. I hope The Devil’s Music and The Devil’s Hook bring you a break from your everyday life, some laughter and some entertainment. That’s what I dream of for my stories.

a Rafflecopter giveawayJairus Twombly's familial intuition is faltering and his new personal assistant seems to be trying to replace his wife, Amy.

On the Twombly College campus, someone is breaking into the dorm rooms of female students leaving things instead of taking things: red colored objects including a red golf ball, a red ribbon and a tiny red stuffed dog.

When a recipient of some of the red objects goes missing and is returned after being told, "You're not her", and the personal assistant turns up dead with Amy Twombly's elegant Bloodwood crochet hook in her eye, things heat up for Emory Crawford and her chemist and forensic scientist husband, Dr. Jebbin Crawford.

Emory, along with the Twombly's Nancy Drew-like daughter, Madison, once more turns to her amateur detective skills and intuition to solve the mysteries.

Enjoy an excerpt:

At about time for lunch break, we heard the upstairs door open and close followed by Tracy and Suzanne pelting down the stairs into the family room.

“Sorry we’re late, Emory,” Tracy puffed.

“Campus security is finally going to do something about it all,” Suzanne gasped out in one breath.

“What?” said the class in Greek chorus unison.

“Slow down now. Take a few deep breaths then tell us what the college is finally doing something about.”

“The red things,” Suzanne began. “The red things that have been appearing in our rooms at Mitchell dorm. It started happening in November, or thereabouts. It even took us a while before any of us said anything to each other.”

“Red things appearing, not taken?” I asked.

“Yeah,” Tracy nodded. “That’s what made it so weird. I mean, breaking in to leave something is so much stranger than breaking in to take something. You know, taking is nearly normal.”

“Totally.” Suzanne shivered at the thought. “But at least now they’re going to come to Mitchell and check out the rooms for scratch marks on the door jambs, finger prints and stuff.”

“Well, I guess we’ll be hearing more about this over our break. I’ve got lunch ready upstairs. Why don’t the rest of you go on up and help yourselves while I get Tracy and Suzanne started on crocheting their afghans.”

The group moved up the stairs, the two boys in the lead. I could hear Amy Twombly grumping as she went.

“I hope lunch is better today. Yesterday I’m positive the bread was stale and Monday the soup was over-cooked.”

I started getting the two girls settled down and learning the pattern. But my brain was not fully on the stitching. The last time something around here got left where it shouldn’t have been it was a strange dried flower arrangement on the welcome table for a conference and soon after, there was a murder.

About the Author:

Pearl R. Meaker is an upper-middle-aged, short, pudgy homemaker, mother, and grandmother who in 2002 became a writer. Initially writing fanfiction she soon tried original fiction at the encouragement of her regular readers. She has been a life-long lover of mystery stories and automatically went to that genre for her first book, The Devil’s Music. She and her husband of nearly 40 years live in central Illinois. They both love bluegrass music, playing fiddle and banjo and singing. Pearl also does many crafts – when she’s not reading or writing - knitting, crochet, origami, needlepoint, and cross-stitch among them. She also enjoys birding and photography and is a former fencer.

Website ~ Facebook ~ Twitter ~ Pinterest

Buy The Devil’s Hook at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, or Chapters/Indigo.

Buy The Devil’s Music at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Chapters/Indio, or Books-A-Million.