Hi all!
Welcome to the August IWSG. Today I'm not answering the optional question. Instead, I'm talking about connecting with blogger friends and how travel influences our writing.
Many bloggers have abandoned blogging for Facebook or Twitter or some such, but there are a few die-hard bloggers still around to keep me company.
Even when blogger friends are only digital, I've found them awesome writing partners because we're in a truly global community and help each other in several ways:
- I often flick off a quick email about words/phrases/spellings that might be used in, for example, the US, as my books are marketed to a primarily US audience.
- I can ask a blogger in a certain city something only a local might know and they can do the same. I had a recent query about words/phrases that would have been used in early Australia, for example, and I was happy to oblige.
- I can flick off the first chapter of a tricky manuscript when I just can't nail it. Bloggers as beta readers are worth their weight in reciprocal opportunities.
- I've made good virtual friends due to travel. When I was traveling in Portugal a few years back, Elizabeth Varadan asked me to check something in the Portuguese city of Braga. She since moved to the city in question herself. Like me, Elizabeth likes to write the settings she knows, and her travels influence her books.
I asked Elizabeth one question:
What influence on your writing did living
in Portugal have?
I first went to Braga specifically
to get first-hand information for my first book in the series. At that time my
husband and I had been traveling to Galicia to a village vacation home we had
bought, but I wanted to set a mystery in Portugal, so I checked to see what
Portuguese city of interest was close enough to Galicia to visit — and it was
Braga. I had done research online and made contacts online as well whom I
met on our first visit in spring of that year, when the series opens. This was
in 2014 (the year of the series).
We fell in love with Braga. It’s an historic city with art, beautiful gardens, and interesting architecture, and, like Galicia, both a Roman and a Celtic history. We ate at restaurants I had chosen from online, and we made lovely friends who told us about events and new places. Walking the streets, visiting the shops, having the tactile and logistic sense of the place made all the difference in the details I could use in my books, as did the feel of the weather and the light at differing times of day. Now, of course, after many visits, followed by living there for over a year, it’s so familiar. I can close my eyes and picture a particular building or the angle of a street, feel the cobblestones. Not to mention being able to recall foods I savor.
Does Elizabeth have your attention?
Released on August 4, is her new cozy mystery, set in Braga, Portugal, titled Deadly Verse. It's about a stolen manuscript by Portugal's most famous Renaissance poet, Luis Vaz de Camoes.
Sounds intriguing to me. This is what people are saying:
"Deadly Verse is a colorful and fascinating journey to Braga, Portugal. The murders, plot twists and turns, plus memorable characters will keep you reading until the surprise ending." Cindy Sample, National bestselling and award-winning author of the Laurel McKay Mysteries
“Two Americans in Braga, Portugal, are given an ancient poem by the country's famous poet to safeguard. When their friend is killed, the couple are drawn into the ruthless world of antiquarian booksellers and collectors. What sets this mystery apart are descriptions of the Portuguese setting, festivals, food and traditions. Varadan's writing becomes poetic when describing country and city she clearly loves.” Sunny Frazier, author of the Christy Bristol Astrology Mysteries
If you like cozy mysteries of the Sherlock Holmes ilk, support Elizabeth as she releases her new novel to the world (whilst winging her way back to the States).
Elizabeth
Varadan is a former teacher and Sherlock Holmes fan who writes poetry,
children’s fiction, and adult mysteries. She and her husband live in
Sacramento, California. They love to travel and divide their time abroad
between Braga, Portugal, and Galicia, Spain.
Varadan’s stories, flash fictions and poems have appeared in literary magazines and anthologies. Imogene and the Case of the Missing Pearls, a middle grade mystery featuring Sherlock Holmes, was published in 2015 by MX Publishing. Her story “Kidnapped” was included in a 2016 Holmes-related story collection, Beyond Watson, by Belanger Books, and “What the Raven Knew,” was included 2019 in Sherlock Holmes, Adventures in the Realms of Edgar A Poe. In 2017 Belanger Books published her picture book, Dragonella, in English and in Spanish, followed in 2018 by a children’s story collection, Carnival of the Animals. In 2019 her chapbook, Saudade, Thirty Poems of Longing, was published by Finishing Line Press.
Author Links
Blog: http://elizabethvaradansfourthwish.blogspot.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/elizabethvaradan
Twitter: https://twitter.com/4thWishVaradan
Amazon author page: https://author.amazon.com/home
Link to Trailer
https://vimeo.com/724543646?fbclid=IwAR0IL0xIFpUWW82LGkq1Aq0_aC7gFQ9MBAkpLRjLrvQcq34ehOnLcwoDgbw
Release date
August 4, 2022
Purchase Information
Amazon
(allow a few days following August 4th)
Belanger Books (allow a few days following August 4th)
~*~
A post from me wouldn't be complete without a shout out from WEP. If you'd like to join a group of enthusiastic writers, check out the August 1 post where the new challenge is explained.
A couple questions for you -
- Have you made excellent blogger friends?
- Do you swap intelligence regarding your WIPs?
- Do you read cozy mysteries?
Please support Elizabeth with an encouraging word as she embarks on a new adventure, settling back into the US.
Thanks, blogger friends,
Denise
