A Merry merry and a safe and healthy 2022!

 

Here I sit on the Eve trying to catch up on all the things I've missed this fall.  You are most important to me. I'm sorry I've been away for so long but I had an accident and needed to recover.  All is well now!! 

I want to introduce you to Harold, my elf.  Harold has been with me since... hmmmm... many years ago when my mother bought three, one for myself and one for each of my two sisters.  Somehow Christmas magic has kept him with me all these long years! Tomorrow he'll be gone. Santa will take him back to the North Pole tonight. I'll miss him but he always seems to be close at hand. I must say he has weathered these years far better than I have... LOL! He's like Peter Pan :-) 

As for my writing, I had interest in my "Broken Christmas Promise" (mybook.to/B0826VPM11) from a Cinematic group. They said it just was too short with little tension past the beginning for a movie.  So with my publisher's consent, I'm rewriting it into a full length book and enjoying the interplay between these two characters and a few new ones.

"Tales of the Silent" (mybook.to/TalesoftheSilent) was well received when it was released in August. I plan a second "Dr. Amelia Davis" mystery.  I'm almost done with the sequel to "She's Not You" (mybook.to/Shes_Not_You)! So it appears that 2022 will be a full year of writing for me. 

As I look back on 2021, I see loss in our family to Covid, disease onset to one of our little ones, accidents and recoveries, tears and smiles.... In spite of it all, I'm thankful for so many many things in my life.

May you all have a wonderful Christmas and a safe and healthy 2022. I'll be back after the 1st!

Till, 

Judi 

Updates on my newly published book and my next one!

 I wanted to update you to what's happening with my newly released novel, Tales of the Silent.  The reviews so far have been terrific: 

"Amazing story. I could hear the characters throughout the whole process."

" My benchmark for books (and I devour books) is a character that stays with me— and Amelia has been with me all afternoon."

"The visual translation from words to images - when I saw Judi Getch Brodman just released her latest book I couldn’t wait to read it. The book kept my interest from first page to last. So much so I read it in 12 hours. It was like watching a Hallmark movie. The visualization was incredible. The story concept and execution was so creative and I loved the little unexpected details that were woven throughout the book. E.G brand names of clothing the characters wore including colors and patterns. This just added to the readers ability to visualize the setting and story line. Certainly kept my interest and attention. I’m looking forward to reading The Looking Glass Labyrinth which I just ordered. The author is not only a masterful writer but also an extremely talented two dimensional and prolific artist. Congratulations on a great book."

"I loved this book - the characters, the setting all drew me in and kept me entertained till the end! The characters talked to me the entire way and the beauty of the French countryside made me feel like I was there. Can't wait for the next Dr. Amelia Davis novel! Soon please!"

"I read Tales of the Silent in two nights -- a page-turner, for sure. The setting was exotic yet authentic; I could easily visualize the Chateau and the vineyards, all the walls, etc. Great descriptions and the archaeology was a clever way to have the reader envision everything. I found your dialogue fast-paced and true to the characters. I was glad that you handled the translations so adeptly (my French is a little rusty). I particularly like the development of the secondary characters, especially Juliette. (I was quite partial to her.) Everything about the book is a good read...  Overall, CONGRATULATIONS on Tales, I hope you'll think about a filmscript. I think it has great potential for film."

These are a few comments that have been posted and I'm certainly extremely pleased with this feedback.

I'm back to writing my next "Oyster Point Mystery" dealing with an interesting cold case.  Investigation of a case involving a young woman's body that had been uncovered leads Jamie to believe there is a serial killer on the loose.  I've had to do a lot of research in different areas which I think you'll enjoy.  Also where's the Jack and Jamie relationship going?  You'll just have to wait.

I want to say a few words about the 20th anniversary of the Twin Towers... I lost a fellow consultant who was on-board American flight #11 which left from Boston headed for LA.  We all travelled on these flights with clients on the west coast... but this day was certainly different.  Please, never forget.  I won't because she will always be the face of 9/11 for me.  RIP all who lost their lives on that day... 💔

Till,

Judi

So Exciting - "Tales of the Silent" was released this week!!!  Available on Amazon:  https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09CRH7GJ6/

I received terrific prerelease reviews - "A very well written and compelling story," "Very intriguing." "An amazing story" 

Hoping to continue with Amelia in the next book... she's such an interesting character and of course, who could resist Étienne!!  I'll give you a tease:

I'm now in the marketing/promotion mode which is taxing... I'd rather be writing and finishing the sequel to "She's Not You" with Jack and Jamie, but soon.  I'm waiting for a call from one of the Morning Shows to talk about my book and background... LOL!!!

Alright, enough of that.  I also had a first since the last time I wrote.  I was asked to be a "beta reader" for another author.  I've read other pieces by friends who are authors, but this was different.  I filled four plus pages with comments and editing corrections.  My editor said about my manuscript that it was WELL written.  I found that not all authors release edited and well written pieces out of their control.  I always try to make my manuscript the best, the very best that I can.  If it isn't, why would anyone publish it???  So lessons learned all, edit and reread and edit until you're so sick of the story that you can't tell  if it's good or bad anymore.  Then send it off.

Well, I'll having a book signing the first Friday night in October... I hope.  With this virus, no one can make definite plans!

Please stay safe, write and make wonderful memories... I am!!

Till,
Judi

 

Awaiting acceptance of my new novel!

photo by Judi

I've finally found some time to write my blog! I've just submitted my sixth novel - can you believe it? And one I really enjoyed writing. I started it around the beginning of December last year after "Til Death Do We Part" was published (which by the way has received awesome reviews). 

 As I've often said here, I usually have at least two manuscripts going at the same time because when one bogs down, I switch to the other. But with this current manuscript, the words just kept coming until I typed "The End" or actually, "To Be Continued." The MC (main character) has so much more she can do that I hope this will be the first of the Dr. Amelia Davis Novels. In this one, I again return to France (remember "Dark Secrets" was set in Paris) to a lovely little village, Chinon, that I fell in love with years ago while staying at Le Château de Marçay. I wanted to stay forever and write in their turret. Funny how events or places stay with you... sometimes unthought-of for years and then, out they pop.  This was one of them, the perfect setting with pieces and parts to inspire my story. 

Now that "Tales of the Silent" is complete or complete until I hear from the editor, I'm going to return to my half-written "Oyster Point Mystery" to which time has produced a solution to my "bog down". Jamie and Jack are another set of characters who provide enough material to write many mysteries with them as the MCs. That said, if I'm honest, I love all of my characters... even the bad ones because they provide me an interesting way of showing my dark side... LOL. For the most part, they all have history and character flaws, etc. that feed their stories. 

Happy 4th of July for my American readers and for my Canadian fans, hope you had a wonderful "Canada Day"!

Till, 
Judi

Could it possibly be Spring?

How can it be spring already?  But look at the photo above -- I took it on my morning walk.  You can see the faint remnants of snow on the ski trails and the plowed corn fields.  But what you can't experience is the smell... whoa... of the manure spread on the field yesterday.  Yup, it sure is spring.

Finally, we seem to be emerging from the pandemic with everyone receiving a vaccine - cases have slowed and death counts are lessening.  I mourn those we have lost to it... it is unforgiving.  

I've tried to be productive during these 18 months, but it wasn't easy.  I had "Till Death Do We Part" published last November and concentrated on another totally new manuscript which moved so quickly that I'm now in my own final editing!  I had planned on returning to my half finished new Oyster Point Mystery when I hit a stopping point, but that stop weirdly never happened and I'm now hoping for a summer release for this new book.  Then I'll return to Jack and Jamie... this new story is full of twists, turns and a reemergence of a haunting history for both of them.

I still haven't a title for this new book.  Some times I have a title before I even begin to write but not this time.  Oh well, it'll come to me.  I like the story... a strong woman who leaves one bad situation and ends up in a very different confusing situation.  I can't really tell you much more but I loved writing it and hope you'll love reading it.  The main characters can go on to other books.

 I'll make this a short blog because I really need to return to my editing.  Life has been busy but good busy for a change.  

Keep on writing and keep a lookout for one or maybe two of my new books this year.

Till,
Judi

Are the dark clouds lifting...

 

Photo copyrighted Judi Getch Brodman

I've been away for awhile, I know.  In the last blog I wrote about bittersweet times.  Well, this last month has definitely been filled with bittersweet moments and memories for me.

It actually started a few months ago... my cousin's wife died, a woman who loved life, who had plans for the future, and who we all loved... and then cancer hit.  They tried everything and finally the end came, him sitting with her wiping away her tears, both knowing it was too soon, too young, too much of life yet to live.  He mourns her greatly as do we all.

And then In January a call came from my high school best friend's husband - she's bad, he says.  I knew it was coming but not this soon... too soon for him, her children... too soon for me.  And with this damn COVID, no way to say goodbye.  We met freshman year and never looked back.  Sometimes life became busy, we would lose touch but caught up at Christmas at least.  We did everything together as young girls... walking home from a school that was in another town until the bus or my boyfriend came by and picked us up, laughing and never at a loss for words.  We double dated, movies, dances, proms.  It's so hard to look at those photos of us, so young, so much in love with our boyfriends, so inseparable... so happy.  The next day he called, this time to tell me she was gone.  I couldn't even go to her funeral... my heart broke.

And then three weeks ago, emails from my cousin that said he had contracted COVID and didn't know if he was going to make it... "pray for me."  And so he struggled in the hospital for less than a week, oxygen, ICU, and finally when they wanted to put him on a respirator, he said no.  And in days he was gone.

I'm so angry at this virus that has robbed us all of so many, has taken wonderful memories and holidays from us, not allowed us to morn as we want and need to, after it steals our loved ones from us.

I'm sorry that this post has been sad, but it has been cathartic for me to share in writing losses that have happened.  As I made it to this point, tears flowed.  But sometimes that's necessary, isn't it.  Writing is always therapeutic for me.  And I know that many of you are suffering the same or worse losses during this time.  My love and prayers to all.

And speaking of therapeutic, I've buried myself in my writing and have almost finished the first draft of my next novel.  The story took on a life of its own and kept building and building until I'm almost to the end.  During the day I  write and  in the early morning hours, I lie there listening to the characters tell me where today will take them, as always.  I'm also making headway on the next "Oyster Point Mystery"; it has Jack and Jamie returning from "She's Not You".  Jamie's working two cold cases this time that appear to be leading her into more dire situations.  Also, ghosts from both their pasts reappear.  Will these ghosts fracture Jack and Jamie's relationship?  I guess we'll have to wait and see.

Thank you for listening to me as I poured out my heart.  Let's make COVID a positive influence for us - keep writing!  Write your memoir, a family member's biography or fiction, novels, short stories, or poems... just use this time to write and to provide you with some peace.  I pray that these dark COVID clouds are slowly lifting but until they are gone, stay safe and well...

Till, Judi

Bittersweet...

 

Walking today, I noticed the bare stark trees, the low sun, barren gardens.  It’s January and I guess I always feel this way after the holidays.  But this year, maybe it’s a bit stronger because of the isolation we have all been feeling for so many months.  I love the holidays but this year they were -- how can I say it -- empty?  Drained of emotions?  We chose to all celebrate separately because of COVID, meeting on Zoom to toast and gather – not the same as you all know.  Now, this season with its cold starkness after the December holidays, makes me think of all the bittersweet moments that I’ve had, the ones that feed my writing.  Many say that authors don’t or shouldn’t rely on personal experiences.  If that’s so, what do we use to write those devastating scenes in our stories, the ones that are happy, overwhelmingly sad, or bittersweet. 

Bittersweet… a single powerful word that says so much – “a combination of both bitter and sweet, or an emotional feeling that’s a mixture of both happy and sad.”

If you think about it, those bittersweet moments probably began when you were little – the first day of school as you watch your mother walk away.  You‘re excited but frightened at the same time.  You want her to stay, make it safe for you. She feels it even more than you do but you won’t know that until many years later.  The death of a pet that you’ve had all your young life, your very first experience with death. High school graduation with everyone and everything you’re comfortable with being left behind.  You’re excited to start college, but you dread making new friends, meeting new teachers and taking your studies to a whole new level – bittersweet. “First loves” – powerful.  Some end because long distance relationships during college are hard to maintain.   Others endure fractured throughout college like mine did… bittersweet.  First jobs, more loves and broken engagements all contain bittersweet memories.  Your wedding day when you’re father isn’t there to walk you down the aisle, so you choose to walk alone… bittersweet.  The birth of a child when his father is away serving his country… bittersweet.  I could go on and on but I think you know what I mean by now.

This sentence that I found somewhere, I can’t remember where, conveyed the message so well.  “No longer filled with magic, the room would be haunted by bittersweet memories.”  Not knowing the back story, we wonder what happy and sad things occurred in that room.  I associate that line with my youth… the dining room in the home where I grew up, where we spent holiday dinners together, candles burning brightly on the table, the smell of roast turkey and fresh pies filling the house.  And then, my father dies in that room.  Bittersweet....

That’s an example of how one sentence can evoke powerful memories and why, when an author uses their personal experiences. it touches something in his or her readers.  A reader once wrote to me that they had cried as they read about the death of Jamie’s parents in “She’s Not You.”  He wanted to know how I could write such a painful powerful scene.  I told him because I experienced it when I was young – the rage, anger and sorrow when my own father died.  I knew exactly how Jamie felt.  If you haven’t experienced it, how can you truthfully write about it?  Sure you can put thoughts down on a page but they just lay there emotionless.  They evoke nothing; they aren’t from the depth of you, from that sad or angry spot, that broken heart.

Another author said, “If you base your writings on your own experiences, you’ll be a one book author.”  Well, I just had my fifth novel published, ‘Til Death Do We Part, and I’m working on two more.  So I guess I’ve disproved that theory for myself at least. 

And as Mark Twain wrote, “Experience of life (not of books) is the only capital usable in such a book as you have attempted; one can make no judicious use of this capital while it is new.”

- letter to Bruce Weston Munro, 21 Oct 1881 (Karanovich collection)

So I wish you all a kinder, gentler 2021.  Make it productive and “pick at those scabs” as the leader of writing group used to say… and so I do.  And I have many….

Till,

Judi