Dear Reader,
Our guest today is Olivia Blacke, author of the Record Shop Mysteries and Brooklyn Murder Mysteries, finally found a way to put her criminology degree to use by writing murderously fun, cozy, and caffeinated mysteries. Olivia is a little nerdy, a lot awkward, and just the right amount of weird. Olivia wants to be a unicorn when she grows up.
A recovering ex-Texan, she resides with her husband, Potassium, and their roly-poly rescue puggle, Baileycakes. Olivia's new book
is Rhythm and Clues. It's raining murder in the third book in the Record Shop Mysteries…
It's been months since Juni Jessup and her sisters solved the last murder in Cedar River when disaster strikes again. After a sketchy financier dies outside Sip & Spin Records during a torrential Texas thunderstorm and the overflowing river spits out a macabre surprise, can they catch the killer without missing a beat? The rhythm is gonna get you.
You could be a winner. Enter the drawing to win one of three copies of Rhythm and Clues send an email with your preferred shipping address to: [email protected]
Reach out to Olivia via: https://oliviablacke.com/about/
Welcome to the book club, Olivia Blacke...
I Don't Know What I'm Doing
I've had a lot of jobs in my lifetime. Some have been mundane. Others, not so much.
I've been a carnival barker, a receptionist, a snake ambassador, and an ad copywriter. I've sold movie theater popcorn, scammy insurance, and budget fashion clothing. I've fixed computers, written complex software code, and managed huge networks. I've been a customer service rep for an international electronics manufacturer and a bank teller in a tiny tourist town on the coast. I've worked on Wall Street, at a major amusement park, for a telecommunications giant, and in a warehouse. I even did a stint as a phone operator at a dating service before the advent of online dating.
These days, I like to think of myself as an author.
One of the fun and challenging things about creating a new character is inventing an entire backstory for them--and nothing affects their life quite as much as their job. When we meet someone new, one of the first things we ask is what they do for a living. I shudder to think what my meandering career path says about me, but it's given me one advantage. When I write a character, I have knowledge about a wide range of different occupations to pick from. I know what it's like to be on my feet all day. I understand soul-crushing telemarketing calls and mind-numbingly transcribing numbers into a spreadsheet. I've had amazing bosses and horrible ones. I've eaten bag lunches in the cafeteria, catered spreads in fancy conference rooms, and everything in between. I've sat in traffic jams, teleworked, commuted hours on buses and trains, and racked up frequent flyer miles on different jobs.
All these experiences have shaped me as a person, and in turn, helps me shape my characters. Whether it's working a double, mucking out stalls at a zoo, or rubbing shoulders with the rich and famous, I've been there. My resume might be all over the place, but I like to think of it as gaining a wide range of experience I can later apply in a book. I've often found myself in jobs I wasn't fully prepared for, and while I might not always know exactly what I'm doing, I've learned enough along the way to make my characters' jobs believable.
-- Olivia Blacke
Enter the drawing to win one of three copies of Rhythm and Clues send an email with your preferred shipping address to: [email protected]
Thanks for reading with me. It's so good to read with friends.
Suzanne Beecher
[email protected]
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