Perception or Reality?

Posted on 3 Oct 2016 by Author Julie Seedorf

My latest column from the Albert Lea Tribune on October 3, 2016

I found my summer clothes. The problem with finding my summer clothes is that I was looking for my winter clothes. Do I have you confused yet?

At some point in the last year I organized my closet and my clothes, and instead of leaving summer and winter clothes together in my drawers and my closet, I decided to change them out so I would have more room. I function very well when I am not organized. I forget where I put things when I organize. Remember the place for everything and everything in its place? When things are in place I forget where that place is.

This summer I was sure I had more summer clothes the year before. But, I did remember I gave some of my summer clothes away. Last fall I weeded out those clothes that did not fit and got rid of those I wasn’t in love with. When spring and summer came this year I had four pairs of jeans, a couple dresses, seven summer shirts and a pair of shorts and capris. I washed more than usual. And I must say I got along with those few pieces of clothing choices. I berated myself for giving away some of my favorite items of clothing. I didn’t think I would have done that, but, I could not find them.

Cool weather is settling in. The other day I had to dress up a bit and I shoved and pushed my meager assortment of clothes in my closet to find my fall and winter dress pants. I knew I had some because I just bought them last year. Again, I seem to remember in the spring I decided to organize. But I can’t remember where I put my winter clothes. And, that is how I found my summer clothes. Actually it was Natasha, my beautiful, furry kitty, that helped me find my clothes. She hid under the bed, and as I tried to get her out, low and behold there was a flat storage container slid far enough under the bed to the middle that you couldn’t see it. Maybe I should dust under the bed once in a while.

Excitement filled my veins when I saw the container. I knew I must have put my winter clothes in it. I am not an under-the-bed storage person but I think I recall listening to an organizer guru that said it was the perfect place for clothes. I pulled off the lid and there they were — my summer clothes. My feelings held a mixture of excitement that I found my favorite summer blouse, and a mixture of disappointment because I couldn’t wear my dress pants to church.

Though we welcome the change of seasons in nature, it is perhaps harder to welcome the change of seasons in our lives as we age. One of the things that happens with age besides our bodies changing, is the fact we have history to fall back on. With that history comes knowledge. It is that knowledge of what we have lived through that shapes the choices we make today and the viewpoints we have that affect what we do going forward into the future.

There is a quote about reality by Robert Bolono that states: “People see what they want to see and what people want to see never has anything to do with the truth.” Watching the presidential debate and seeing the comments afterward, I think that statement rings true. Each and every one of us has something we wish to happen for the future, and we back the candidate that we feel matches what we need, no matter what is proved to be false or wrong. We believe unscrupulous websites because they are telling us what we want to hear. And there is something in us at each season in our lives that tells us we can’t be wrong. We don’t want to admit our views could be skewed because what does that say about us?

After the debate there was one statement that people asked of their friends time and time again and that is, “Did we watch the same debate?”

Everyone has a different stake in this election. The younger generation is afraid for their future and the future of their children. They are worried about crime and terrorism and the economy. They want their children to be able to afford college and health care and to own their own home. This is their future. It is the season of their life where they want to grow and flourish.

As a senior citizen, we want to ensure our retirement and our health care. We want to ensure we will be able to afford to live, and one of the differences of us being in the autumn and winter of our lives, is the fact we remember what was, and we are having a hard time reconciling it with what is.

As I hunt for the past season’s change of clothes I hunt for the past seasons of my life and remember the race riots in the ’60s and ’70s. I remember my parents talking about Hitler and the war. I remember waiting for someone I love to come home from Vietnam. I remember the assassination of President John F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr. But I also remember neighbors helping neighbors and people standing up against hate. I remember the kindness of strangers and the wisdom of many leaders from both parties. I remember the good and the bad.

It is no different today. We believe what we perceive to be our reality. It is neither right nor wrong because we live the seasons of our lives. Our perception will influence our votes and therein lies what kind of truth we see.

My truth: I am better in creative chaos in my house than organized neatness. That is my perception of my reality.

Bedtime is Party Time for My Cats!

Posted on 19 Sep 2016 by Author Julie Seedorf

Today I am sharing my column from the Albert Lea Tribune. This blog is in transition and if you are looking for more about Authors and my writing, please visit my website at http://julieseedorf.com to view my blog there. Today I feature Author Jessie Chandler who I interviewed about her book Operation Stop Hate, Operation #1. My website will be where I am sharing my writing adventures. This blog will be about whatever hits my heart. Today it is my cats. I hope you enjoy both blogs. At the bottom of http://julieseedorf.com there is a place to sign up for my newsletter and to be notified when my site has changed. Enjoy.

Today’s column:

Natasha and Boris

Do you remember the cartoons and movies where the toys came alive at night after their owners shuffled off to bed? Thoughts of the toy cartoons pass through my mind every once in a while when I think about my shysters, Natasha and Boris, who are our cat babies.

Boris entered our lives first. He was a rescue my daughter found for us. He was approximately seven months old and a pretty laid back guy. He loved to snuggle and wasn’t prone to getting into much of anything. As long as he had a warm body and love he was content.

We spend time visiting our children, and I felt bad that Boris had to live by himself while we were gone. I thought he might get lonely, so we adopted Natasha who is part Siamese. She was not the typical noisy Siamese. In fact, she and Boris had the wimpiest meow ever, and they didn’t use it much. But Natasha changed our household.

In a matter of days she showed us she could get our folding doors open. She could jump through the opening between the kitchen and the porch if we locked her out of the porch. She could open cupboard doors. If she wanted to be petted she would flop sideways down on the floor for us to pet her. Boris watched all of this from the sidelines. He was still content to be a laid back and stay-out-of-trouble cat.

We have had them both about three years now. Natasha is a great teacher. Boris now can open doors and climb in closets. He too has become a jumper and can jump on the highest shelf. Doors are not a problem for him either. And after about six months of watching Natasha take a dive on the floor on her side to be petted, he now does the same thing. We never know what the two of them are going to think of next.

In fact, I have an old chair that is toast, so I let them have an entire chair as a scratching post. This chair also has a hole in the bottom, and Natasha loves crawling in the bottom of the chair when she is teasing Boris. Because he is 17 pounds, he usually can’t crawl under the chair. However, one night he managed to get under the chair and into the hole. The problem he had — he couldn’t get out. I might mention if we haven’t seen the two of them for some time we start looking, because we know they are in trouble and got locked in somewhere. Don’t worry, when we go away we barricade all the closet doors, and we also have child locks on the cupboard doors so they can’t get in and get locked up while we are away.

My thoughts of toys in movies waking in the night, and causing havoc, were brought about by my two cats. Boris and Natasha spend most of the day sleeping. Natasha’s favorite place to sleep while I am watching television in the evening is right in front of my computer screen on the Tivo box so she blocks my view. It doesn’t matter how many times we move her, she goes right back, and she isn’t afraid of noise or water spray. She is fearless.

Boris sleeps in my husband’s arms or anywhere he can find a soft spot. He is not fearless and is easily directed.

The minute I and my husband start our journey to bed for the night they wake up. First they meow so I remember to put food in their bowls even if they have food. They can’t stand a hole in their bowl. It is a crime if I let the bowl show. Then they sit at the door to our bedroom waiting for us to leave the room.

The party begins. The chase goes up the stairs, through our upstairs bedrooms and into the living room. You can hear the stampede going on for hours. Occasionally we hear thumps from jumps or mischief. Once in a while Natasha lets out a curdling meow. The first time we heard it we thought she was dying, but it was only her attacking her play mouse.

In the morning I will find drawers opened, socks from one of the drawers strewn around the room. Rugs will be out of place, the food dish will be showing through the food, blankets will be on the floor and once in a while in their foraging they find an old candy wrapper or some of their toys I have not seen in a long time. Did I mention Natasha hides toys and other things?

As a child, I would always dream I had a secret toy room at the end of the hallway in my grandmother’s house, and the toys would come alive at night. Who knew this many years later part of my dream would come true — only it is my cats that come alive at night and make me smile in the morning while surveying their playtime damage. And for some reason my cats missed this tidbit of wisdom.

“Authors like cats because they are such quiet, lovable, wise creatures and cats like authors for the same reasons.” — Robertson Davies

Welcome Christa Nardi, Author of The Cold Creek Series

Posted on 18 Aug 2016 by Author Julie Seedorf

61XHx3MRE6L._UX250_ I am pleased to have Author Christa Nardi on my blog today. Her new book Murder In The Theater was release on August 15, 2016. Let’s get to know Christa.

Thank you for taking the time for this interview Christa.

Thank you, Julie, for having me as your guest.

If people are not familiar with Christa Nardi what would you like them to know about you?

I read a lot – and I always have read a lot. I probably talked with the librarians at school as much as anyone else. As a child I mastered reading in dim light when I was supposed to be sleeping and now my kindle has a nightlight so I can read and not disturb my sleeping husband. The best thing about a kindle (or other ereader)? When I travel, I can easily bring along four or five books! Mystery and romance, and at various times, the fantasy side of science fiction were my favorites.

What is the first thing you ever wrote that gave you the idea that perhaps you would like to be a writer and author?

A short story back in grade school – I don’t even remember what it was about though. It was fun writing it though. In high school, I wrote poetry – much of which was never shared, some shared only with friends. I wrote some short stories and toyed with the idea of writing a book – writing was for my enjoyment.

You are a cozy mystery writer. Was it an easy decision to write cozies instead of something more gritty? And will you stay with this genre?

As a reader, I am a big fan of cozy mysteries, although I do like romantic suspense as well. I find I “skip” over the blood and guts and grit (and graphic sex) when I read – I’m more interested in the plot and the characters. I realize some readers like the graphic descriptions but that’s not for me. Will I stay with cozy mysteries? Probably, though I am working on a new series that is more young adult – still mystery, still not graphic or gritty.

Tell us a little about the beginning of your Cold Creek series. What made you choose the state of Virginia and what inspired the first book in the series?

I’m originally from the Northeast and particularly love the coast so I naturally graduated to the East coast. I didn’t want to draw from “Southern” theme or a “Yankee” one. I like Virginia with the coastal towns and the hill towns. It seemed like a reasonable place for a private four-year college to be situated.

As for what inspired the first book, academic settings (and pretty much large corporations of any kind) are the same regardless of where they are in terms of the pressures, academic culture, and personalities. Across settings, there is the eccentric, the bossy, the loner, and the womanizer. With all the personalities, it was a perfect opportunity to vent my feelings toward “the womanizer” in the workplace (any workplace).

How has the series progressed?

In the first one, Sheridan (the protagonist) is directed to help the detective investigating the murder of her colleague. Her curious nature leads her to ask questions and make connections between people, much as she would do in her previous life as a psychologist. At the same time, she is in charge of the crisis response on campus, so has to work with college administration and gets pressured from them. In each subsequent book, someone else is accused of a murder but believed to be innocent and others ask her to help prove the person’s innocence. At the same time, Sheridan and Brett’s (the detective) relationship progresses with a few bumps.

Was Murder in the Theater easier to write now that the series is established or was it harder knowing your readers expectations?

Both. The relationship with Brett was the easy part. Many readers commented how much they liked some of the other characters (Max and Kim in particular), so they had to be considered as well. The hard part was having the murder happen some place other than Cold Creek – after all how many murders and murderers are likely to be in one small town? A community theater in another town, but still somehow connected to Sheridan fit the bill.

What gives you joy and how is that translated into your writing?

I like solving puzzles or problems and having it all come together. I think that’s why I like reading mysteries or working with others to meet their goal. I don’t start with all the pieces to the story; I let the characters and the story tell me how to put all the pieces together as the story unfolds. I’m not always sure who the murderer is when I start writing – so creating AND solving the mystery is double the fun!

Tell us a little bit about your character Sheridan Hendley and how did you decide on the name. Was your character named after anyone you knew?

Sheridan Hendley is a smart, warm, curious, and strong female character; she is educated, middle-aged, and divorced. She’s a professor and a psychologist – she looks at problems very analytically. Where did the name come from? I looked through various lists of names and found a first name and a last name I liked. I’ve never known anyone named Sheridan (or Brett) and I wanted a name that wasn’t very common.

Where can we find your books?

Print and kindle version are available on Amazon, and only on Amazon. http://smarturl.it/Theater

And last but not least, what advice would you give to new writers starting out?

Write, write, and write. Find others who write and talk to them, find a local or regional writer’s group, share critiques, and be prepared to throw out whole parts and start over. Get lots of feedback. Be prepared to learn about writing, publishing, and marketing. Then write some more.

Synopsis

The drama program has never been so dramatic. It’d be the season to be jolly if only someone hadn’t set the stage for murder. When a student is arrested for the crime, Professor Sheridan Hendley is cast in the role of amateur sleuth. Tensions run high, friendships are strained, and the college administration is beginning to panic. As the plot thickens Sheridan is yet again drawn deeper into danger. Will she find the truth before the final curtain call? Cold Creek Series Book 4, Murder in the Theater by Christa Nardi, is another great cozy mystery.

AMAZON

Books in the Cold Creek Series

MURDER AT COLD CREEK COLLEGE

MURDER IN THE ARBORETUM

MURDER AT THE GRILL

MURDER IN THE THEATER
For more information on the Cold Creek Series:

http://christanardi.blogspot.com/p/cold-creek-series.html

https://www.facebook.com/ColdCreekSeries/?ref=aymt_homepage_panel