Author Archives: Author Julie Seedorf

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About Author Julie Seedorf

As human beings, we are always a work in progress. From birth to death we live, hurt, laugh, cry, feel, and with all of those emotions we grow as people, as family members, and as friends. I'm a dreamer and feel blessed to have the opportunity in my writing to pass those dreams on to others. I believe you are never too old to dream and to turn those dreams into a creative endeavor.” I live in rural Minnesota and am a wife, mother, and grandmother. Throughout my life I have had many careers or should I say opportunities at jobs where I have learned different skills such as working as a waitress, nursing home activities person, office manager, and finally a computer repair person eventually owning her own computer sales and repair business. Add my volunteer activities such as Sunday School Teacher and SADD advisor and more and it's been a full life. I never forgot my love of writing and quit my computer business in 2012 after signing a contract with Cozy Cat Press for Granny Hooks A Crook, the first book in my Fuchsia, Minnesota Series. I currentlyntly have written nine cozy mysteries, three children’s books, participated in three group anthologies or mysteries, and write three blogs about various subjects.

Do I Read or Do I Write?

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I can’t stand it! I have so many good books on my Kindle that I have downloaded. Having a Kindle is so easy. With the click of a link I can have another book or magazine.

When it comes to books I am like a kid in a candy store, I can’t resist and now that lure carries over to my Kindle. Amazon sent me suggestions for Catherine Coulter, who is one of my favorite authors. I visited the page. My finger hovered over the link to buy. I put my hand down and lifted it again, indecisive, not about wanting to read the book but about adding any more books until I read what I already have downloaded on my Kindle. I settled for adding the Catherine Coulter books that I haven’t read recently in the wish list. Yet, I still want to go back and put them on my Kindle. It is a feeling that I missing out if I don’t get them today.  Am I addicted to books for my Kindle?

Right now I am reading Strangled by Silk by Barbara Jean Coast. On my long list of downloaded books to read are: Don’t Cry Over Killed Milk by Stephen Kaminsky, The Shop of Spells by Sharon Grey, The Girl Who Started the War to End All Wars by Rachelle McCalla, Slip and Go Die by Sharon Rose and those are only a few from the long list. I have many more mysteries to go, not to mention cookbooks, gardening books, Christian devotionals and essential oil books. The magazines I have waiting for me are Prevention, Guideposts and Do It Yourself. Plus, since I am now signed as an author  with Cozy Cat Press, I want to read all the books from the other authors at Cozy Cat Press that are now my friends.

Since I also love the feel of a good book in my hand, I have bookshelves of real books I have not read. Recently when visiting a Barnes and Noble, I wanted to scoop up all the new journals to record my thoughts. They are so cute and I feel the itch in my hand to pick them up and sniff the smell of the book. It makes me sigh and want to buy them. I love journals and appointment books too. I had to control myself and walk out of the store with only a magazine. After all, how many appointment books does one person need? I write the appointments in the books and then don’t look at them. Perhaps I do need more, one in every room in my house so I can’t forget to look at them. I must revisit that store. The itch is twitching.

Can you feel my stress? How can someone be stressed about reading? My heart pounds faster, my body tenses as I describe all of this. Perhaps instead of working, I want to be reading and work is keeping me from reading all those delectable books on my Kindle.

Did I mention that I am a writer? I have written “Granny Hooks A Crook”, a silly book about a fictional silly town in Minnesota. It is the first in the series and I am working on Fuchsia Series #2. Of course then there is also the weekly column I write for the Albert Lea Tribune and the Bi-monthly column I write for the Courrier Sentinel called Something About Nothing. I am very good about writing about nothing. I am also doing free lance articles.  And there is Whatchamacallit?Thingamajig? another series about Grandmothers and Grandkids I am supposed to be writing but the reading bug insinuates itself deep into my soul. It makes me lazy, it teases me and tells me that the dishes can wait, the laundry can wait and the writing can wait, because you never know what is going to happen on the next page.

The books keeps calling to me. The pages keep turning.  They tell me to put aside my writing, and stay with their pages. Do you hear the pages of the books calling to you? Can we resist? Will we work today or will the lure of words on the pages keep us enthralled? It’s a mystery.Cozy Cat Authors

It’s All In The Reader’s Perspective (Reviews and Comments, Consider the Source)

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granny_hooks_a_crook_4I read free books. I read books that I buy. I read magazines. I write a column, Something About Nothing. I have a book published by Cozy Cat Press titled “Granny Hooks A Crook.” I have a self-published book called “Whatchamacallit? Thingamajig? I also write free-lance for a few newspapers.

Because I read and because I write, I write reviews and comments about books and articles that I like and dislike. Because I write, I receive comments and reviews from people who like my work or don’t like my work.

When I review a book I have to look at it a couple of ways. Do I not like the book because it is  a subject, or the kind of story I usually do not read? Or do I not like the book because of its profanity and violence? Or do I not like the book because it is poorly written? I very seldom, after reading a book give it a 1 or 2 star review because most of the time, if I don’t like a book, it is because it is not the genre I like to read. I download many free books so I have a varied palette to choose from. Is it fair for me to give a bad review simply because it isn’t to my taste? If I love a book I can get carried away by that, love but I have to tone myself down to make sense and have others take my review seriously.

As a new writer I realize it takes a thick skin to weather reviewers and those that aren’t always kind to your written works. As I was reading a review of “Granny Hooks a Crook” this morning on Goodreads, I could not fault the reviewer. “Granny Hooks A Crook is not for everyone. Most of my reviews have been very good but this reviewer did not like the book because she thought it was too silly. It is silly. It is a book about a fictional Granny that gets into a lot of mischief. I wrote about Granny this way because many people who are older feel that life is finished for them.

I am sure you know people like this that are in their 60’s, 70’s and 80’s that never go out after dark, stay in their routine and do not try anything new and generally are very sedate. When you meet these people, occasionally you believe they are older than they are because of their attitude. There are others that are the same age, and if they told you their age, you wouldn’t believe them because they are witty, happy, involved and busy, even if they have physical problems. They seem to have a skip in their step even if the steps they take are  with a walker or a cane. These seniors are always up for trying something new. This is who Granny is, a senior always up for something new and always using her imagination. Granny is an exaggerated character,  although my mom at 90 could have given Granny a run for her money. The only thing my mom didn’t do was chase crooks.

We, as writers, have to remember that we have no idea where a person is in their life when they leave a comment. I don’t like history. I don’t like gore. I don’t like bad language. Recently on a visit to a book store a clerk pointed out a book to me that she thought was fantastic. It probably will be on the best seller list eventually. I would not like it and probably would only give it three stars because of all the gore and swearing in the book. That is my taste. It could be a New York Times best seller but it wouldn’t be for me, so my review and comments would not be raving.

As writers, we need to write what moves our creativity and not worry about reviews and criticism. Yes, we have to sell books but not at the expense of changing who we are. I could write a biography, a history book, a how to book and they might sell well. If I wrote a book such as this, it would not be a labor of love. It wouldn’t stir my heart like a human interest story would, or a tale about an animal or a funny, silly mystery that makes people laugh.

Yes, Granny might not enthrall everyone but those who want a little silliness, a little fantasy, a little humor and a break from the gloom and doom of the real world might love Granny. I do, she is who I want to be when I grow up, tenacious, strong, sassy and at times lovable.

Writers, new and old, established writers and those that are still hoping to have their works published, write what you love, don’t give up and when reading reviews of your work, consider the source but then, what do I know, I created Granny and Fuchsia, Minnesota. That tells you what world I live in.
Granny Hooks A Crook

Survival of the Fittest

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I watched my cat Borris attacking something hidden in the window seat this morning. He would stalk, go down low and pounce. I had to see what he was after so I walked over and lifted the cushion. A fly flew up, anxious to get away, but Borris was too quick and with a leap and a bound he had the fly.

Once he got him, he didn’t know what to do with him. I didn’t know what to do either. I am not a fan of flies. But I also have a soft heart and realize that the little fly is a creature of God’s. Did I want Borris to eat him? Or did I want him to fly around my house, in which case I probably would swat the fly without a second thought at killing a creature of Gods.

I feel that way when I see the picture of a deer and look at it’s soft eyes and know that someone will someday probably hunt him down. Could I do that and not give it a second thought because of the thrill of the hunt?

I swat at mosquitos and definitely go for the kill without a second thought. People hunt squirrels and rabbits. We eat their meat. We eat the cows and the pigs, but we have a soft spot and don’t eat horse meat. We are picky in our choices of what creatures should live and what should not.

Animals seem to be the same way. They hunt to survive, just as we eat to survive. It is survival of the fittest.

Where do we as humans fit into the chain of survival of the fittest?

Do we hunt each other down with words? Do we hunt each other down with criticism? Do we hunt each other down with bullying and even physical confrontation in some cases?

Are we narrowing down the fittest by not taking care of the homeless and the sick?

Will we eventually not give it a second thought when someone that is homeless dies, when someone is murdered, when someone commits suicide? Will we just toss our hands in the air and say “It is the survival of the fittest?”

Just wondering why I give no thought to the tiniest fly and mosquitos because they irritate me? Or the deer that’s eyes that remind of my Borris, sitting in the window gazing at me with love?

Will we as a society eventually not give a second thought to the value of a human life? Will  we eventually become like the fly or the mosquito and be swatted away when we are no longer useful to society? Just pondering.