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Putting Writing First For a Few Days: Rainforest Writers Retreat

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Lake Quinault

On the first Wednesday of this month I went to my annual writers retreat, held annually at Lake Quinault in Washington State’s magnificent Quinault Rainforest on the Olympic Peninsula. As usual, when I returned, I was bubbling with enthusiasm for writing (okay, even more enthusiasm than usual).

When I mentioned having gone in a comment here at TKZ, our own Debbie Burke asked if I would be sharing my experience in a post here. I’d written briefly about it three years ago in the intro to a Words of Wisdom post, but that didn’t do the experience justice.

Why attend a writing retreat? What might you get out of attending?

Writers retreats can give you the opportunity to truly put your writing first for a short period of time. I’m not talking about making your writing a priority, but rather going someplace—even if it’s with your writers group to a local coffee shop for an afternoon or a beach house for a long weekend—and immersing yourself in your writing and writing craft and letting go of day-to-day concerns.

Retreats can also be a powerful way to kickstart your writing, both for beginners starting out, or for an experienced writer looking to change up their writing, or return to it after an absence, long or short.

They can provide opportunities to learn writing craft, build community, and of course, time to focus on writing and provide a place to write, either alone or in a group setting, sometimes called parallel play and also known as body doubling where you leverage the presence of other writers engaged in the same activity. Rainforest writers has been called an “accelerant” because the retreat’s isolation, community and writing focus can accelerate your development as a writer.

***

Retreat organizer Patrick Swenson with Resort manager Ian Strait looking over his shoulder.

Rainforest Writers is run by my friend Patrick Swenson, himself an author as well as the publisher of Fairwood Press, who taught high school English classes for 39 years before retiring in 2024. Patrick has been putting on Rainforest since 2007, when it was a single five day session. Now there are four sessions, one after the other, beginning in late February and into mid-March. Each begins on a Wednesday afternoon and ends at noon on the following Sunday.

The retreat takes place at the Rainforest Resort Village, located on the south shore of Lake Quinault. Rooms are available at the Village inn, the Parkside suites, or the Fireplace cabins. There are no phones in any of the rooms, and cell service can be spotty. There is internet, which is a bit iffy in the Village inn, but quite accessible in the Salmon House restaurant and lounge, as well as the General Store.

The retreat fee is $200, which includes breakfast at the Salmon House Thursday through Sunday. Patrick provides sandwich fixings for lunch Thursday and Friday, while long-time attendees Deborah and Chuck put on a soup lunch on Saturday which nearly everyone attends. You’re “on your own” for dinner, which for me means the Salmon House, except for Thursday night when a group dinner is held in the restaurant, which is a wonderful opportunity to mingle with other writers over food.

Thirty plus writers attend each session, with many returning each year, often to the same session they attended in the past. I began going in 2019, Session 2, and did Session 2 every following year through 2025, except for the Pandemic year of 2021 when there was an online retreat instead. This year I decided to switch things up and attend Session 3, which was held from Wednesday March 4 through Sunday March 8.

Most of the attendees write science fiction, fantasy or horror, but there are a few crime dogs like myself, as well as paranormal romance writers, memoir writers and historical novelists. Writers range from novices to professional authors. Authors are a mix of traditionally published and self-published.

I’ve known writers to rent a cabin for their Rainforest session, and hole up and simply write as much as possible, which is a perfectly fine way to spend the retreat if you so choose.

However, for most of us, the writing retreat is also about community. Informal conversations about writing, the writing life and publishing, as well as writing alongside each other, at times in the Salmon House lounge, which has a lovely view of Lake Quinault and the forested hills beyond. The lake teems with water fowl—Canadian geese, loons, mergansers, ducks and more. Bald eagles also visit the lake. It’s an amazing backdrop which can provide a place to gaze between writing sprints.

***

Early bird writing in the lounge.

There are two organized group writing sessions in the lounge each day—the early bird writers from 6-9AM and the night owls from 9PM to after midnight, and then there’s informal sessions at the other times.

In previous years, like a crazy person, I burned the candle at both ends and was an early bird and a night owl. in both groups.

This year sanity prevailed  and I went with being an early bird, arriving just after the start at 6AM and writing until breakfast at 9AM each morning. The past three retreats I brought mystery novels to revise but this year I came with a new mystery novel I wanted to begin drafting, which is an entirely different energy. I also wrote some micro-fiction as a break from my frenzied novel drafting.

I also wrote in the afternoons following lunch, sometimes continuing in the lounge, other times back in my lakeview room at the Village inn, and often did a session in the early evening. Over the course of five days I wrote 19,339 words, which included 2100 words on the opening of a longer short story. The vast majority was on Last Seen Shelving, the fourth Meg Booker library cozy.

In the spirit of both fun competition and group effort, Patrick puts up a white-board each session where writers can track their session word counts, and also any editing they do. The person with the largest word count at the end of each session wins a prize, as well as first pick in the raffle, while the second and third place finishers get to pick a prize ahead of the drawing. Patrick also tallies the total words written by all writers in a session, which gives a bit of a team effort feel to the word count.

This session I ended up in third place. My normal writing pace is 1000-1500 words a day, going over 2000 words later in the novel as the story careens toward climax. At Rainforest I averaged nearly 5000 words a day, keeping in mind that I only had two plus hours on Sunday. On Thursday and Friday I wrote around 6000 words each day. However, by Saturday afternoon I ran out of gas and had to take a long break.

I’m not a binge writer by nature, I’m only one when forced by a deadline. Instead, I normally work at a steady pace. I tend to binge write at Rainforest.

The last time I drafted fiction at Rainforest was in 2022, when I wrote over 15,000 words worth of short stories. This session reminded me I can extend myself but just like working out extra hard, I end up needing to recover. Since I’ve returned from Rainforest, my writing pace has been much slower, well under a thousand words each day as I recharge, but I haven’t missed a day. I went into Rainforest not having drafted regularly for a while, and came out of it with a building streak, and yes, I am still tracking my word count.

***

Another important aspect of Rainforest is in providing opportunities to learn about various aspects of writing and the writing life.

Each session has hour-long presentations at 11AM Thursday, Friday and Saturday. When I started there were also presentations at 3PM on Thursday and Friday, but Patrick felt that broke up the day too much and wanted to give writers a more unbroken stretch of time for writing, editing etc. between lunch and dinner.

In the past I’ve attended presentations on characters, sensory detail, pacing, POV, action scenes, writing in more than one genre among others. I usually make time to attend at least a couple of the presentations.

Last year I was a presenter, for the first time, giving a mini-workshop on self-publishing. My audience was engaged and asked some terrific questions.

This year I attended all three presentations.

Thursday, author Kate Ristau gave a talk on the classic idea of “throwing rocks at your characters,” which looked at what your character is trying to achieve, and what obstacles and complications arise as she struggles to reach her goal. Kate gave us an exercise that asked about how the objects in our story and how we might externalize our characters’ wants and needs in the form of the objects.

For instance, in my fourth mystery, the library itself represents a place of fulfillment for my hero and a place where she can make a difference, which is a need she has.

Friday’s presentation was “Project Management Tools for Sustainable Writing Habits” by J.B. Kish and Remy Nakamura and proved to be insightful and informative.

J.B. and Remy provided us with worksheets, first looking at our expectations about “our ideal writer selves,” such as how many words per day does my ideal writer self produce, how often, when, how easily do I enter a state of focus, how confident is my ideal self, how long does it take them to finish a novel draft.

They discussed “compassionate productivity, looking at sustainably being able to reach “real outcomes” vs the ideal ones, the importance of mindfulness when it comes to your own process, challenges and life situation, and the idea of incremental, forward progress.

Accountability can be very helpful, especially when there are consequences for doing the work—rewards if you achieved it, or withholding a reward if you do not, such as not opening a bottle of fine Scotch you’d purchased until you finish the project.

“Touch the work everyday,” even if it’s only to jot down a few words on the draft, write a note or spend a few moments considering what comes next.

Saturday Dean Wells presented “The Ending Was There All Along,” how to breakdown the decision tree of your ending. Dean began by stating that writer’s block is noise: your creative side is stymied by your critical side. His solution is “structured problem solving.” Drill down through the noise. It’s a back-to-basics approach. He counseled using your analytical side to engage in dialogue with your creative side. Ask your creative side questions about what you want as a writer in this story.

At essence, story is character + setting + problem. The character either succeeds or fails.

Which do you want as a storyteller?

He uses a logic tree. Identify the problem. Does it result in success or failure? If success it can be simply happily ever after or come at a cost. If the latter, that can range from the personal to collateral damage. What does this look like? Personal can be self, loved one, friend etc.

This leads us to before the ending and our hero’s fear—what is your character afraid of losing?

In order to overcome this the hero must be willing to sacrifice, which Dean feels is the single most important aspect of your hero. They take a little leap of faith in order to solve the problem.

He broke down Act III into Climax, Resolution and Denouement and noted its importance, the untying of the story not. For me as a cozy mystery writer, it’s the granting of the boon of justice which restores the integrity of the community where the story takes place.

He gave examples from films such as Star Wars: A New Hope and the 1972 western The Cowboys, starring John Wayne and Bruce Dern.

Part of Dean Well’s decision tree on endings.

***

The Cabin party is held Saturday night, in Cabin 6,  Patrick’s cabin, where you can drop by anytime during the day during your session for a snack or a beverage, and often an informal conversation about writing. Cabin parties are another opportunity to meet and talk with your fellow attendees.

Every session wraps up Sunday morning, at 11 in the lounge, where the Rainforest inspiration award. Every attendee votes for the attendee who proved most inspirational during their session.

In Session 3 this year, that was J.B. Kish, the co-presenter of project management for writers (his fellow presenter Remy Nakamura won the inspiration award a previous year). The inspiration award winner will have their name engraved and put on a retreat plaque commemorating all the winners.

After this, the session word count winners were announced, with me coming in at third behind Cyrus at second, with 23,000 plus words, and Rebekah at first with a staggering 32,000 words written. It was her first Rainforest and she was stunned to have won.

A raffle for donated prizes—everything from books and music to coffee and tea mugs to fine wine followed, and then we said our goodbyes and we began our drives back to our respective homes.

Another session had flown by, giving us a chance to put writing first for a few days, concentrate on a project, learn a few things, and perhaps make new friends as well as reconnect with old ones. I always return home with increased creativity and enthusiasm.

Crow at Lake Quinault playing the part of mystery’s iconic raven.

 

Resources:

Rainforest Writers: https://rainforestwriters.com/index.html

Making retreats part of your writing life: https://writershelpingwriters.net/2026/01/writing-retreats/

***

Have you attended a writing retreat, or would you like to? What do you get out of retreat, or what would you like to, if you’ve never been on one before?

Ferdinand Magellan and the Hero’s Journey

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“You can never cross the ocean unless you have the courage to lose sight of the shore.” ― Christopher Columbus

* * *

I recently read Over the Edge of the World by Laurence Bergreen. It’s a detailed account of Ferdinand Magellan’s extraordinary expedition that resulted in the first circumnavigation of the Earth. For such an accomplishment, you might expect Magellan’s story to be the quintessential tale of the hero. Let’s see how he did:

* * *

In the typical hero’s journey, the main character is reluctant to accept the call to adventure, but Magellan didn’t fit that model. He wanted to lead an expedition. The goal wasn’t necessarily to sail all the way around the world, but to secure fame and fortune by finding a route to the Spice Islands in Indonesia by sailing west—something earlier explorers had failed to do.

Back then, spices were to Europeans what oil is to the world today, i.e., very valuable. So Magellan, being a reliable seaman with strong credentials, felt his plan was something the nautical powers-that-be should be willing to finance.

Those maritime powers were Spain and Portugal, and they ruled the exploration of the world. Being Portuguese, Magellan pitched his plan to King Manuel of Portugal, who repeatedly refused to fund the journey. A lesser man may have given up, but Magellan instead turned to King Charles of Spain who agreed to bankroll the expedition. After all, if a quick route could be found to the Spice Islands in Indonesia, that would mean valuable cloves would line the king’s pantry and silver coins would jingle in his pocketbook.

Magellan at last had his chance to secure his place in history, following in the watery footsteps of his personal hero, Christopher Columbus.

So far, so good.

* * *

In September 1519, Magellan set sail with five ships, 260 seamen, a chronicler named Pigafetta, and a woefully incorrect map of the world.

Previously, no one had found a waterway from the Atlantic Ocean around or through the large land mass we call the Americas, but Magellan had a plan. The map he used showed a strait, a small body of water that sliced through the southern part of the Americas. Magellan went to sea to seek that strait and find a thruway to the Pacific, and he proved himself a true hero in this part of the journey. He led the expedition through a stormy crossing of the Atlantic, suppressed (albeit brutally) a mutiny, identified the mouth of the strait, and managed to continue with three ships after one was lost to a storm and another was taken over by mutineers and turned back to Spain.

By the time the weather was good enough to enter the strait, Magellan, ever the disciplined seaman, carried on and led his group through the treacherous waterway. This was no small feat. The strait was so circuitous, with winding inlets that went nowhere and weather that worked against the expedition, that some historians call Magellan’s crossing of the strait the greatest navigational feat in history.

To put it in perspective, the waterway that came to be known the Strait of Magellan is 350 miles long, a shorter distance than that from Los Angeles to San Francisco.  It took the expedition over a month to maneuver through it. We can only imagine their delight when one morning they sailed out into a vast ocean—the first time a European vessel had crossed from the Atlantic Ocean to the new body of water Magellan named the “Pacific Ocean.”

So how was Magellan doing on the hero scale? He gets high marks for Leadership, Discipline, Endurance, and Courage. But the journey wasn’t over yet.

* * * 

Using his inaccurate charts, Magellan expected it would take just a few days to cross this new ocean to the Spice Islands. It took over three months until they sighted land.

Up until then, Magellan had shown himself to be up to the task of the hero, but once the expedition arrived in the Philippines, his ability to deal with the nuances of other cultures proved to be far weaker than his skill as a seaman. When a tribal king complained about a possible fight with another tribe, Magellan offered to punish the second king by warring with them. In the skirmish that followed, Magellan and several of his crew were killed.

Without Magellan, leadership was lacking, and progress to the Spice Islands was slow. In the end, only one ship managed to acquire a load of spices and complete the circumnavigation. The Victoria sailed into Seville harbor in September 1522, almost a full three years since it had left. Of the 260 sailors in the original expedition, only 18 were aboard.

Following the magnificent accomplishment of the first circumnavigation of the Earth, other expeditions were sent out to retrace Magellan’s route, but they all failed. It would be fifty-eight years before another explorer, Sir Francis Drake, would complete a circumnavigation of the world.

* * *

Authors will appreciate that one major accomplishment of the expedition was the work of the chronicler, Pigafetta, who survived the journey to publish his personal narrative, one version of which resides in the Library of Yale University. Of Pigafetta’s work, Bergreen notes

“…it is a compilation of events, illustrations, translations of foreign tongues, prayers, descriptions, epiphanies, and bawdy asides… The reader of Pigafetta’s chronicle hears his voice, alternately bold, astonished, devastated, fascinated, and in the end, amazed to be alive in the cruelly beautiful world of his time.”

Although his original goal was to find a route to the Spice Islands, perhaps Magellan’s most heroic accomplishment was to have single-handedly changed the map of the entire world. Bergreen writes

“Although no continent or country was named after him, Magellan’s expedition stands as the greatest sea voyage in the Age of Discovery.”

Maybe no countries were named for him, but Magellan did have a couple of impressive remembrances. The Strait of Magellan was named in his honor a few years after the expedition, and two galaxies orbiting the Milky Way that are visible from the Southern Hemisphere were named the Magellanic Clouds. Not bad to have your name enshrined in the heavens.

* * * 

So TKZers: What do you think about Magellan? Hero? Flawed meddler in someone else’s quarrel? Cruel task master? Or maybe a combination of these qualities. How do you construct the heroes of your stories? Do you have a Magellan-like hero?

* * * 

 

Heroes come in many sizes and shapes, and the lure of treasure is bound to propel them into adventure.

Join Reen & Joanie as they tackle a treasure hunt with determination and a little help from their friends. Can they fend off the evil Alicia, solve the strange puzzles, and bask in the glory of success? Click on the image to go to the Amazon detail page.

Amazon’s Latest Rollout – And Controversy

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Amazon’s Latest Rollout – And Controversy
Terry Odell

Amazon is rolling out a new feature, “Ask this Book,” a new feature that allows readers (of Kindle books) to interact with the book. It’s currently available for thousands of English-language books on the Kindle iOS app in the U.S. The feature will be enabled on Kindle devices and Android OS next year.

Forget a character’s name? Can’t remember where a scene took place? Instead of searching, which can be a tedious process, you can now ask the AI genie inside the book and it will answer you, also inside the book. No scrolling, no losing your place.

That seems harmless enough. Helpful, even. But you can also ask more general questions, and AI will answer in a paragraph, and that’s where the controversy begins.

This example is from a Kindlepreneur article written by Kevin J. Duncan, Head of Content. Using the book “Alice in Wonderland,” he asked what was the role of the Cheshire Cat.

The response:

The argument continues that these sorts of answers are the “opinions” of AI. To quote Duncan, “the system is giving you its version of what that thing means. It decides what matters, what doesn’t, what’s central, and what can be glossed over.”

My own test. I don’t own a Kindle, and I buy almost all my books from Barnes & Noble, but I do have a few books from Amazon, admittedly. Most of them are the freebies that come with my Prime membership, with occasional purchases from authors I’m familiar with. I didn’t have access to the Ask This Book feature when I opened a book from my Kindle library to read on my PC, but I did get the feature on my phone.

(Personal note. Reading on my phone is a last resort. I have a Nook tablet and an iPad mini, both of which are much more eye-friendly, but sometimes I’m stuck waiting unexpectedly and don’t have one of those devices with me.)

The Ask This Book feature is activated by tapping the page and getting a menu of icons at top of the screen. Ask This Book is the diamond shape with the little +.

Or, you can highlight a word or portion of text, which should give you the option to ask your question.

You can also choose between having AI look at the whole book, or only up to as far as you’ve read, which is supposed to avoid spoilers. I used the whole book option and asked the question, “What kind of person is Mike Romeo.”

This is the response I got. (Sorry, but my phone wouldn’t let me shrink the text to get the entire answer on the screen, but you can probably figure out the first sentence.)

**If you’re reading this, JSB, what do you think about this characterization summary?

The Author’s Guild is pushing back. This is what they had to say:

“The Guild is looking into whether the feature, which was added without permission from publishers or authors, might infringe authors’ and publishers’ rights.

“Ask this Book, which is slated for a wider rollout in 2026, allows readers to query an AI chatbot about books they have purchased or borrowed. So far there is no way for publishers or authors to opt their books out of the feature, though as of this writing the feature is not available for all ebooks. It allows a reader to highlight text and click on an “Ask” icon to ask the AI to “explain” the selected text or enter their own question in the chatbot. All responses are generated from the book itself.

“The Guild is concerned that Ask this Book turns books into searchable, interactive products akin to enhanced ebooks or annotated editions—a new format for which rights should be specifically negotiated—and, given Amazon’s stronghold on ebook retail, it could usurp the burgeoning licensing market for interactive AI-enabled ebooks and audiobooks.”

Writer Beware isn’t too happy about the feature, either. They say, “Agents and publishers broadly regard anything to do with generative AI as a separate right reserved solely to the author, and publishing contracts are increasingly addressing this issue. The primary focus has been on preventing unpermissioned AI training, but with the technology embedding itself at warp speed in all aspects of the book business, the rights implications are expanding just as fast…especially where, as here, they sneak in under the radar.”

Should this be considered yet another format of a book? If so, what are the author’s rights?

As of now, there is no opt-out choice. Ask This Book is included automatically. It operates independently of the author, so they don’t get to review answers, suggest changes, or flag problems.

Your thoughts, TKZers? Are authors and publishers getting shortchanged?

**Note: if you’re upset with Amazon, my books are available wide.

New! Find me at Substack with Writings and Wanderings

Deadly Ambitions
Peace in Mapleton doesn’t last. Police Chief Gordon Hepler is already juggling a bitter ex-mayoral candidate who refuses to accept election results and a new council member determined to cut police department’s funding.
Meanwhile, Angie’s long-delayed diner remodel uncovers an old journal, sparking her curiosity about the girl who wrote it. But as she digs for answers, is she uncovering more than she bargained for?
Now, Gordon must untangle political maneuvering, personal grudges, and hidden agendas before danger closes in on the people he loves most.
Deadly Ambitions delivers small-town intrigue, political tension, and page-turning suspense rooted in both history and today’s ambitions.

 

Terry Odell is an award-winning author of Mystery and Romantic Suspense, although she prefers to think of them all as “Mysteries with Relationships.”

What’s In A Format?

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What’s In A Format?
Terry Odell

Happy New Year. It’s hard to believe we’re already two weeks into 2026. And that’s all I’m going to say about that.

birthday cake and balloons next to 3 formats of Deadly Ambitions by Terry OdellI hope you don’t mind if I indulge in a little BSP. It’s release day for Deadly Ambitions. Happy Book Birthday!

What’s it about?

Here’s the description:

Mapleton Police Chief Gordon Hepler is juggling a bitter town council candidate who refuses to accept election results and a new council member determined to cut his department’s funding, funding he needs to finance refresher training modules for his officers. Grant money is slow in coming.

Meanwhile, Angie’s diner remodel continues to suffer setback after setback. During the process, she uncovers an old journal. Her search for the girl who wrote it, along with the mysterious “Johnny” help keep her mind off the construction. Are the delays normal? Or are they personal?

When Angie’s in danger, Gordon must balance following the letter of the law with caring for his wife. Could there be a connection to the remodel? Or the journal? Or something else?

Does the threat to Angie come from history or from much closer to home?

I had a lot of fun—along with the sweat and frustration—writing the book. Fun because it was another in my Mapleton Mystery series, and I always enjoy spending time with the familiar characters.

Frustration because it’s always a challenge to keep things moving forward when I’m tempted to spend time chasing plot threads that entertain me, but aren’t needed for the story. In writing/researching Deadly Ambitions, I learned a lot about Colorado history along with Angie and Gordon.

Also, I wrote about health issues that (I hope) will sneak a little education into my readers, should they not already know about them. (No spoilers here.) And, I confess to taking some small pleasure in putting my own spin on some of the chaos of the ‘outside world.’ Justice might be hard to come by there, but in a book, I get to make sure it’s meted out.

Advance readers have given wonderful and positive feedback.

  • “Her crisp writing paints a visual picture of the town and its workings, incorporating real world situations that readers can relate to.”
  • “Odell does a skillful job of weaving in and out of the subplots to bring the reader to a satisfying, and somewhat surprising, resolution. A great read!”
  • “Before you start reading, set aside some time because you will not want to put this book down. This Mapleton mystery grabs you from the start and just keeps getting better.”
  • “A great addition to the series.  This one is tough to put down and you have more than one mystery to solve.  Will the diner ever get completed?  How can it possibly be involved with the death of the ex-mayor?  Or is it?  Who is behind all of the mysteries?”
  • “Deadly Ambitions drops the reader right into a small town cozy mystery complete with well-drawn characters, unexpected plot twists, and unidentified bones found in an abandoned mine. Personalities clash between Police Chief Hepler and local politicians, well balanced with a sweet love story as Angie’s bakery runs into construction delay after delay.”

Okay, and on with what the subject of the post says I’m supposed to be talking about.

Deadly Ambitions is available in three formats: ebook, trade paperback, and audio, which brings me to a pet peeve. I’ve seen far too many social media posts talking about Real Books.

They’re adamant in saying if it’s not printed on paper, it’s not real.

I say hogwash.

I spent months writing 85,000 words in the creation of Deadly Ambitions. Actually, a lot more of that before edits kicked in.

Then, when it was as good as I could get it, I published it as an ebook. After that, I adjusted formatting, changed front and back matter, and published those same 85,000 words in trade paperback format.

And, I hired the narrator who’s done all my Mapleton mysteries, and he read those same 85,000 words and created an audiobook.

Which one is real, I ask you?

Is my book club member who confesses to dyslexia not getting the same story when she listens to the audiobook? What about the person who has trouble holding a print book, or the one with vision problems who prefers a digital format she can manipulate to suit her eyes?

What do you think, TKZers? Does format matter? (And if you want a copy in the format of your choice, you can find them here)

New! Find me at Substack with Writings and Wanderings

Deadly Ambitions
Peace in Mapleton doesn’t last. Police Chief Gordon Hepler is already juggling a bitter ex-mayoral candidate who refuses to accept election results and a new council member determined to cut police department’s funding.
Meanwhile, Angie’s long-delayed diner remodel uncovers an old journal, sparking her curiosity about the girl who wrote it. But as she digs for answers, is she uncovering more than she bargained for?
Now, Gordon must untangle political maneuvering, personal grudges, and hidden agendas before danger closes in on the people he loves most.
Deadly Ambitions delivers small-town intrigue, political tension, and page-turning suspense rooted in both history and today’s ambitions.

Terry Odell is an award-winning author of Mystery and Romantic Suspense, although she prefers to think of them all as “Mysteries with Relationships.”

2025 in the Rearview Mirror

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“What you get by achieving your goals is not as important as what you become by achieving your goals.” —Zig Ziglar

 * * *

As we approach the end of 2025, it’s a time to get together with friends and family, enjoy good food and fellowship, and celebrate the joy of the season. Oh yeah, and review that list of goals we wrote down at the beginning of the year to see how we did.

Each time I review my list of goals for a year, I think of that song from The Mikado where Ko-Ko, the Lord High Executioner, sings “I’ve Got a Little List,” which turns out to be a very long list indeed. Here’s a fifteen-second clip from the Austin Gilbert & Sullivan Society performance (with my favorite actor playing the role of Ko-Ko) to illustrate:

 

Why set goals?

 “If you don’t know where you’re going, you’ll probably end up somewhere else.” —Yogi Berra

Setting a goal means you know where you want to go. A goal focuses the mind and gives clarity and direction. Most of us lead complicated lives with lots of things to do, so having a list of goals keeps us from getting overwhelmed by the volume of it all

Not only is it motivating to have something to shoot for, we all know the pleasure and sense of accomplishment that comes by realizing a goal and checking it off the list.

I read an article on goalbuddy.io recently that listed nine benefits of setting goals. (Read the article for an explanation of each one.)

 1. You become more charismatic
2. Goals make you live longer and you are full of energy
3. Goals help you stay motivated during tough times
4. Life doesn’t just happen to you, you make life happen as you want it to be.
5. Goals unlock the potential of your heart
6. Goals provide you with the clarity in which direction to go
7. The goals focus filter solves the problem with overwhelming once and for all
8. You feel like you are winning the game of life and you want more of it
9. Goals help you learn and grow

 It’s a good list. I particularly like #4, and I’d love to always make life happen as I want it to, but realistically, life does “just happen” sometimes. I missed one of my goals this year (completing the second Lady Pilot-in-Command novel) because of the time-consuming adventure of moving to a new home—something that wasn’t even on the radar at this time last year.

As for the rest of my 25 writing goals for 2025, I accomplished some, missed a few, and made progress on others. I even exceeded one: I intended to release one Reen & Joanie book in 2025, but I managed to publish two.

* * *

Moving on to 2026

Now it’s time to make plans for 2026. The second Lady Pilot-in-Command novel tops the list, and I’ll carry over some of the goals that appear every year (e.g., a bi-weekly blog post on TKZ, monthly post on my blog, attend at least one writers conference).

As we finalize our lists, let’s keep in mind that wise guidance spoken by the Cheshire Cat in Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland: “If you don’t know where you’re going, any road will get you there.”

* * *

So TKZers: How about you? What were your goals for 2025? How did you do? Have you made your list for 2026 yet?

This is my last post for 2025. Wishing you all a healthy and happy holiday season. See you in 2026!

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The Reen & Joanie Detective Agency series

Smart sleuthing, real-world stakes, and heart—join Reen and Joanie as they chase clues, challenge assumptions, and prove that persistence and truth always matter. Both ebooks are on sale for the rest of the year. Click the image to go to the Amazon series page.

Almost Full Circle?

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Almost Full Circle?
Terry Odell

Lately, I’ve seen a growing number of authors choosing to take selling books into their own hands. I get it. Selling through the “usual channels” means sacrificing a chunk of the profits. Plus, people are stopping making purchases from certain outlets for personal reasons. With sales from the Big Store dropping, or a desire to stop sharing revenue, I can understand indie authors wanting to find other ways to make up for lost sales.

My thoughts? Note: This post is focused on e-books.

This takes me back to the pre-Kindle days, when ebooks were starting out, and e-publishers were popping up like mushrooms after a rain. These were actual “publishers.” You had to submit your book, it had to be accepted, and most likely went through an editorial process. How rigorous that process was varied.

They had an art department that designed a cover. How much input an author had varied there, too. Some accepted suggestions. Other said if your name and the title were spelled correctly, that was it.

For these publishers, your book lived on their site, and people had to go there to buy it. If you published different books with several of these, then a fan might have to go to each site separately to buy the books.

Here are some of the early ebook pioneers.

Ellora’s Cave, and its offshoot, Cerridwen Press
Loose ID
Samhain Publishing
Fictionwise
eHarlequin/Harlequin Digital
The Wild Rose Press, which is still around.  (I was their first outside contracted author back in the day, when their main offering was short romances.)
Liquid Silver Books

There were no e-readers then, either. You read on your computer, a PDA, Palm Pilot, or printed the book. PDF was a common format. Anyone remember Rocketbook/.rb?

A while later, other sites (still pre-Kindle) would let you put your books up for sale in their “stores.” This meant you didn’t have to get approval, and you could put your book on more than one site. A step toward one-stop-shopping, although most had a specific genre focus.

Some examples:

Fictionwise
eReader.com
All Romance eBooks
Diesel eBook Store

Most met their demise once Amazon and the Kindle joined the party.

At the time, my genre was romantic suspense, so I was publishing at venues that targeted romance readers. If someone bought their books from All Romance ebooks, then by golly, I was going to make sure mine were there, even if it was a single reader who requested it.

Now, with authors creating their own storefronts, it’s come almost full circle. I’m not a big fan. If I want to shop, I want to look at books from lots of authors. I don’t want to have to bounce from one site to another, buying from author A here, author B there, and author C somewhere else.

Does this mean I might miss books by excellent authors? Probably. Heck, I already deal with that because I buy my books from Barnes & Noble.

There are plenty of excellent authors who prefer to go wide and make their books available to as many outlets as possible. If I really want a book by an author who’s not at B&N, I go to my library. I’m not going to get into a “which is better, wide or exclusive”? argument here. Those are personal decisions.

I also have no plans to open my own storefront. Too much bookkeeping, more hoops to jump through, and there are still costs of doing business. I’m lazy.

Your thoughts? Shopping from multiple author storefronts or the one-stop-shopping at the major ebook stores, such as Kobo, Barnes & Noble, Apple, or Amazon?

Authors, do you have a storefront? How’s it working for you?

New! Find me at Substack with Writings and Wanderings

Deadly Ambitions
Peace in Mapleton doesn’t last. Police Chief Gordon Hepler is already juggling a bitter ex-mayoral candidate who refuses to accept election results and a new council member determined to cut police department’s funding.
Meanwhile, Angie’s long-delayed diner remodel uncovers an old journal, sparking her curiosity about the girl who wrote it. But as she digs for answers, is she uncovering more than she bargained for?
Now, Gordon must untangle political maneuvering, personal grudges, and hidden agendas before danger closes in on the people he loves most.
Deadly Ambitions delivers small-town intrigue, political tension, and page-turning suspense rooted in both history and today’s ambitions.

Preorder now

Terry Odell is an award-winning author of Mystery and Romantic Suspense, although she prefers to think of them all as “Mysteries with Relationships.”

A Lighthearted Look at Writing

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A Lighthearted Look at Writing
Terry Odell

I’ve had editing on my mind lately. The process with my editor is I send her my “best I can make it” file, which she returns with her feedback. I make the adjustments as I see fit and send it back.

I’ve just returned my second round of edits, and I’ve also gone through the tedious process of letting my computer read the manuscript to me, which reveals things we’ve both missed. In this phase, it’s less about the story and more about accuracy. The eyes glaze over.

I stumbled across this piece buried in my hard drive. The closest I came to finding its origin was William Safire, Fumblerules: A Lighthearted Guide to Grammar and Good Usage , New York Times, November 4, 1979; later also published in book form. Most sources gave credit to “Anonymous.”

Although the piece is designed to be humorous, the points made are legitimate considerations to make while writing and editing.

How to write English

Remember to never split an infinitive. The passive voice should never be used. Do not put statements in the negative form. Don’t use contractions in formal writing, and don’t use no double negatives. It is incumbent on one to avoid archaisms. Proofread carefully to see if you words out or incorect speling. It has come to our considered attention that in a large majority of cases, far too many people use a great deal more words than is absolutely necessary when engaged in the practice of writing sentences. If you reread your work, you can find on rereading a great deal of redundant repetition can be removed and eliminated by rereading and editing.

A writer must not shift your point of view. If the writer is considerate of the reader, he won’t have a problem with ambiguous sentences. Don’t write a run-on sentence its hard to read you must punctuate it. If a dependent clause precedes an independent clause put a comma after the dependent clause. But avoid commas, that are not necessary, and don’t overuse exclamation marks!!! Use the semicolon properly, always use it where it is appropriate; and never where it isn’t. Reserve the apostrophe for it’s proper use and omit it when its not needed. In statements involving two word phrases, make an all out effort to use hyphens, but make sure you hyp- henate properly.

Take the bull by the hand and avoid mixing metaphors. Always pick on the correct idiom. Avoid colloquial stuff, and trendy locutions that sound flaky. Also, avoid all awkward or affected alliteration. Unqualified superlatives are the worst of all. Beware of and eschew pompous prolixity, and avoid the utilization of enlarged words when shortened ones will do. Avoidification of neologisms strengthenifies your prosification. Avoid using sesquipedalian words. It is not resultful to transform one part of speech into another by prefixing, suffixing, or other alterings. Perform a functional iterative analysis on your work to root out third generation transitional buzz words. Steer clear of incorrect forms of verbs that have snuck into the language. The de facto use of foreign phrases vis-a-vis plain English in your written tete-a-tetes makes the sentence harder to understand.

Everyone should be careful to use a singular pronoun with singular nouns in their writing. Place pronouns as close as possible, especially in long sentences, as of 10 or more words, to their antecedents. Writing carefully, dangling participles must be avoided. If any word is improper at the end of a sentence, a linking verb is. Write all adverbial forms correct. Verbs has to agree with their subjects, and the adverb always follows the verb. This sentence no verb. Which is not a complete sentence, but merely a subordinate clause. A preposition is something you should never end a sentence with. And don’t start a sentence with a conjunction.

Last but not least, avoid dyed-in-the-wool cliches like the plague; seek viable alternatives.

OK, TKZers. Sometimes it’s nice to take a break, right?

New! Find me at Substack with Writings and Wanderings

Deadly Ambitions
Peace in Mapleton doesn’t last. Police Chief Gordon Hepler is already juggling a bitter ex-mayoral candidate who refuses to accept election results and a new council member determined to cut police department’s funding.
Meanwhile, Angie’s long-delayed diner remodel uncovers an old journal, sparking her curiosity about the girl who wrote it. But as she digs for answers, is she uncovering more than she bargained for?
Now, Gordon must untangle political maneuvering, personal grudges, and hidden agendas before danger closes in on the people he loves most.
Deadly Ambitions delivers small-town intrigue, political tension, and page-turning suspense rooted in both history and today’s ambitions.

Preorder now

Terry Odell is an award-winning author of Mystery and Romantic Suspense, although she prefers to think of them all as “Mysteries with Relationships.”

Do FBI Profilers Mistake Writers for Serial Killers?

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You might be surprised by how many traits writers share with serial killers. FBI profilers have actually profiled a subject only to discover s/he’s not a killer. They’re a writer. Here’s why a profiler might mistake writers for serial killers.

We work alone.

Writers spend hours alone, plotting and planning the perfect demise. We let the fantasy build until we find an ideal murder method to fit our plot, and a spark ignites our creativity. We’re giddy with excitement and can’t wait to swan-dive into our story.

Serial killers also spend hours alone, plotting and planning the perfect demise. They let the fantasy build, evolve, until they find an ideal murder method, and a spark ignites them to act. They’re giddy with excitement and can’t wait for the inevitable kill.

In fact, this stage of serial killing is called the Aura Phase.

Joel Norris PhD is the founding member of the International Committee of Neuroscientists to Study Episodic Aggression. In his book SERIAL KILLERS, Norris explains the serial killer’s addiction to crime is also an addiction to specific patterns of violence that ultimately define their way of life.

A writer’s addiction passion for crime (romance, sci-fi, fantasy…) writing is also an addiction the pursuit of patterns of violence routine that ultimately defines our way of life.

Still not convinced a profiler might mistake writers for serial killers?

During the Aura Phase, the killer withdraws from reality and his/her senses heighten. Time stalls. Colors become more vibrant as though the killer’s literally viewing the world through rose-colored glasses. The killer distances themselves from society, but friends, family, and acquaintances may not detect the psychological change.

The same is true for writers.

Think about that shiny new story. What do we do? We withdraw from reality, into our writer’s cave, and our senses heighten. Time stalls as our fingers race over the keyboard. And our worlds spring to life. On the outside we may look “normal” to family and friends while obsessing—a psychological change—over details, lots of details, details about characters, plots, subplots, dialogue, and yes, murder.

Trolling

When a killer is on the hunt he’s trolling for a victim. Rather than state the obvious, I’ll pose a question: How much time have you spent deciding which character to kill?

via GIPHY

But they looked so normal.

How many times have we heard a reporter interview a serial killer’s friend or neighbor? And they all say the same thing. But they looked so normal. I had no idea.

Now, think about the first time a friend/relative/acquaintance read one of your gritty thrillers. Stunned, they close the cover. But they looked so normal. I had no idea this was going on inside their head. Or they’ll say to the writer’s significant other, “You must sleep with one eye open.”

Search History

Smart serial killers might research things like:

• How to commit the perfect murder.
• Will my fingerprints be in IAFIS if I’ve only been arrested for a misdemeanor? For non-writers, IAFIS stands for Integrated Automated Fingerprint Identification System. Why am I only addressing non-writers? Because writers know law enforcement acronyms, like CODIS (Combined DNA Index System), NDIS (National DNA Index System), BAU (Behavioral Analysis Unit), and SOP (Standard Operating Procedure).
• What’s the fastest way to dissolve a corpse?
• How long does it take to strangle someone to death?
• What’s involved in decapitation?
• Jurisdictional map of [insert state].
• How to pick a lock.
• Will a 3D-printed gun set off a metal detector?
• What’s left of a body after being hit by a train?
• Will black bears consume human remains?
• How many hours after death till rigor mortis sets in?
• Will Luminol detect bleach?
• How deep is a standard grave?

Writers, can you honestly say your search history doesn’t look similar?

An organized killer might brush up on forensics and/or law enforcement procedures to avoid detection.

via GIPHY

How many of you have pondered: Where should I dump the corpse?

via GIPHY

Let’s face facts, writers are a different breed. The only ones who truly understand us are other writers and writer spouses. If anyone deserves an award, it’s the writer’s family. I mean, c’mon, how many of you have dragged them to check out that out-of-the-way swamp to dump a fictional corpse? Or said, “Stop the car!” while passing a wood-chipper?

A writer’s “uniqueness” affects the whole family.

The other day “The Kid” called, his voice bursting with excitement. “I found the perfect place for a murder. No one around for miles. You could really do some damage there.”

Now, normal parents might be concerned by this conversation…but I’m a writer. So, I said, “Awesome! Shoot me the GPS.”

Y’know what? He did find the perfect place for a murder.

via GIPHY

Is it any wonder an FBI profiler might mistake writers for serial killers? 😀 

Edits and Covers

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Edits and Covers
Terry Odell

I’ve been focused on getting my new book, Deadly Ambitions, ready to meet the public. Given scheduling conflicts between my editor and my own travel, plus not wanting to compete with the barrage of holiday books, I’ve decided to put of the release until early next year.

Does that mean I can relax until then?

(Sputter, Snort, Guffaw.)

The first complete draft came in at about 85,000 words, which was longer than I wanted, so when I did my first read-through, I looked for excess. I talked a little about my process in my last post. Plot threads, scenes, and just plain wordiness. SmartEdit makes it easy to find these culprits, although it’s a tedious process. I’ve managed to cut about 4,000 words. One “thing” I’m doing this time around is opening the manuscript to a random page and looking at random paragraphs and sentences. Taken out of context, I’m finding places where my penchant for rambling shows through, so I’ve done some microsurgery using that technique.

But Wait. There’s More.

As an indie author, I wear many hats. My least favorite is the marketing chapeau, but it’s a necessary evil. I’m no marketing guru, but I know enough to know people want visuals. That meant a cover.

What did I want on the cover? I had plot threads running through the book that I considered. . One revolved around a construction project. A half-finished remodel wasn’t likely to entice readers. Or it would make them think it was a DIY book.

Another thread began with a traffic accident. A little more compelling, but I was having trouble finding images, not to mention Deadly Puzzles already had a similarly-themed cover.

A car tipped down a snowbank with an overlay of puzzle pieces

I regrouped (after a few nudges from one of my critique partners).

Since my Mapleton Mystery series is set in Colorado (although I’ve never pinpointed  where), I decided on a Colorado image for the background, something many of the other books included. But what? The book is set in December, so snow-capped mountains? Been there, done that.

Wait. We’d been up to a couple of old mining towns recently, and I’d decided to go along with the Hubster when he pulled onto a side road, saying “he just wanted to check something out.” Of course, that meant a hike along one of the old mine trails. I finished the hike with a bunch of pictures of old mining equipment.

What a coincidence. There’s a plot thread relating to an abandoned mine in the book. I browsed through some stock images on the site my cover designer, Kim Killion of the Killion Group, prefers and found one or two that might be acceptable. However, after going through my own images, I found one I thought had promise for the background.

Turned out, that’s the one she preferred. Yay me!

But the book is a mystery, and it’s not actually set in a mine, or even a mining town. How to let potential readers know it’s a mystery? I followed that plot thread (don’t want too many spoilers here), and sent Kim some more ideas.

This is what she came up with. I hope you like it.

Cover of Deadly Ambitions by Terry Odell

What’s your favorite and/or least favorite “non-writing” part of getting a book published? Do you like having creative control, or would you rather turn everything over to others?

New! Find me at Substack with Writings and Wanderings

Danger Abroad

When breaking family ties is the only option.

Madison Westfield has information that could short-circuit her politician father’s campaign for governor. But he’s family. Although he was a father more in word than deed, she changes her identity and leaves the country rather than blow the whistle.

Blackthorne, Inc. taps Security and Investigations staffer, Logan Bolt, to track down Madison Westfield. When he finds her in the Faroe Islands, her story doesn’t match the one her father told Blackthorne. The investigation assignment quickly switches to personal protection for Madison.

Soon, they’re involved with a drug ring and a kidnapping attempt. Will working together put them in more danger? Can a budding relationship survive the dangers they encounter?

Available now.

Like bang for your buck? I have a new Triple-D Ranch bundle. All four novels for one low price. One stop shopping here.

Terry Odell is an award-winning author of Mystery and Romantic Suspense, although she prefers to think of them all as “Mysteries with Relationships.”

Finished the Draft. Now What?

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Finished the Draft. Now What?
Terry Odell

marked up manuscript printed in 2 columns

Since my last post, I reached “the end” of the current manuscript. Yippee! Of course, now the real “fun” begins. Editing. Previously, I’ve talked about how I attempt to fool my brain with printing the manuscript in columns and in a different font. You can find that post here. That’s what I’ll be doing for the next several weeks before sending it off to my editor.

One thing I’m super happy about is that I found a title. I know some authors can’t start writing without one. For me, it’s usually the last thing I come up with. I can think of only two exceptions. What’s In A Name? got its title when I was forced to fill out an entry sheet for a RWA chapter contest. There was this big, blank line that said “Title.” The title was almost a placeholder, but I realized that it actually fit the story. Subconscious at work? Maybe. Probably.

The other one was Starting Over which is exactly what I was doing. It wasn’t so much a name of the manuscript, but rather the name I gave the folder in my computer where I would be saving drafts, chapters, notes, etc. The title worked, for the book, too, as it turned out.

When rights reverted, indie publishing still wasn’t a thing, so I approached another publisher. They accepted it, but didn’t want the same title, so it became Nowhere to Hide, which I kept when rights from that publisher reverted to me.

What was I talking about? Right. The new book and its title. It’s part of my Mapleton Mystery series, and the pattern for titles throughout has been a two-word title, the first word being “Deadly.” You’d think coming up with one word would be easy. Ha! Not for me.

Since I had finished the draft, I had some idea of a theme (I don’t think of those when I start, either). It came to me. Deadly Ambitions. It worked, my writing buddy liked it, and my editor liked it.

That puts me one step closer to publication.

But first, I have to whip this draft into shape.

We talk about first pages a lot here at TKZ. They’re important. Very important. It’s been months since I’ve written my first chapter, and there were changes as there always are when I’m starting a new book. Am I starting in the wrong place? Am I info dumping? Will it entice new readers to keep going? (The current wip is the 9th novel, and the 12th work in my Mapleton mystery series.) I write them so they can be read as stand alones, but there’s always the temptation to make sure new readers don’t feel confused when I introduce recurring characters. I know that bugs the heck out of me, which is the main reason I prefer to start with book one in a series. JSB is always saying readers will wait for answers, but how long?

My Mapleton books are small town police procedurals. Sort of. I’ve had reviewers comment that there’s a “cozy feel” to them. But they definitely do not fit the rules/guidelines/expectations of a cozy.

When I’m reading, I like seeing the off-the-job side of my protagonist. Through the series, Gordon has dated, become engaged, married, and is now at the “newlywed phase is starting to wear off” point. Angie, his girlfriend-fiancé-wife has been with him in some capacity since book one.

My dilemma, as is frequently the case, is how much page time she gets, along with how much page time Daily Bread, the diner she runs, gets. Are readers going to want to skim those scenes to get back to the Cop Stuff and Chief Stuff Gordon has to deal with? In the current book, she’s playing a significant role and is personally involved in one of Gordon’s cases. (No spoilers.) She’s part of the opening scene, but is it too much? Not enough? I’ll pose that question to you, TKZers.

These were the opening paragraphs in my first draft.

Gordon Hepler, Mapleton, Colorado’s Chief of Police, moseyed over to Jerry Illingsworth, newly elected mayor of the city. This was Jerry’s night, and it was in full swing. The event room at the Community Center was filled with his supporters, all enjoying the food and drink.

Angie, his wife, was in charge of the food, and she’d done a great job, deviating from the usual fare at Daily Bread. Jerry had requested something more upscale, and she’d been happy to comply, especially since her restaurant was closed for remodeling. The extra work provided much needed income.

Gordon snagged a shrimp-topped canape—Angie’s term. Gordon called them nibbles—from a passing server. The group around Jerry wandered off, and Gordon moved in to congratulate the new mayor.

“Would it be inappropriate for me to say It’s about time?” Jerry gave a quiet laugh. “Three recounts before Nelson Manning accepted—reluctantly is too kind a word—defeat.”

When I started my edits, I thought I’d devoted too much ‘dumping’ of who Angie was and her role, so I tightened it to this. (Only the second paragraph was changed.)

Gordon Hepler, Mapleton, Colorado’s Chief of Police, moseyed over to Jerry Illingsworth, newly elected mayor of the city. This was Jerry’s night, and it was in full swing. The event room at the Community Center was filled with his supporters, all enjoying the food and drink.

Gordon snagged a shrimp-topped canape—his wife Angie’s term—from a passing server. She was the chef, so she would know. Gordon called them nibbles. The group around Jerry wandered off, and Gordon moved in to congratulate the new mayor.

“Would it be inappropriate for me to say It’s about time?” Jerry gave a quiet laugh. “Three recounts before Nelson Manning accepted—reluctantly is too kind a word—defeat.”

What’s your take? Too much? Too little?

~~~~~

woman pouring a smoked Manhattan into a glassOh, and for those of you who are interested in my images from our anniversary getaway last month, you can find them here.

New! Find me at Substack with Writings and Wanderings

Danger Abroad

When breaking family ties is the only option.

Madison Westfield has information that could short-circuit her politician father’s campaign for governor. But he’s family. Although he was a father more in word than deed, she changes her identity and leaves the country rather than blow the whistle.

Blackthorne, Inc. taps Security and Investigations staffer, Logan Bolt, to track down Madison Westfield. When he finds her in the Faroe Islands, her story doesn’t match the one her father told Blackthorne. The investigation assignment quickly switches to personal protection for Madison.

Soon, they’re involved with a drug ring and a kidnapping attempt. Will working together put them in more danger? Can a budding relationship survive the dangers they encounter?

Available now.

Like bang for your buck? I have a new Triple-D Ranch bundle. All four novels for one low price. One stop shopping here.

Terry Odell is an award-winning author of Mystery and Romantic Suspense, although she prefers to think of them all as “Mysteries with Relationships.”