(The significance of a window star is not universally known. A blue star is placed in the window when a loved one goes to war. If they were wounded in action the star is changed to silver. If they die, it is changed to gold – a Gold Star family)
ASSUME NOTHING is a collection of short mysteries about four ordinary women, who find themselves in extraordinary situations, while looking for the truth.
Do you like short, fast-moving mysteries with a unique protagonist?
ASSUME NOTHING is a collection of short mysteries about four ordinary women, who find themselves in extraordinary situations, while looking for the truth. Each story can be read in a couple of hours while on a beach, an airplane, by the pool, next to a fire on a cold afternoon or sitting in a comfy chair with a steaming cup of coffee, tea or glass of your favorite wine.
Search for Justice – Kelly Williams hasn’t seen her eight-year-old son since her husband gained custody after their divorce three years ago. Determined to find Tommy, Kelly enrolls in a class designed to locate missing persons. There she meets Roger Ross, who offers to help, but his trust falters when Kelly reveals a secret past. Will Roger follow his instincts or the evidence that never lies?
Vanished – If Holly Hall had a life most women would envy, why did she leave her husband? When Bill discovers Holly and half the money in their joint account are missing, he hires a private investigator to find her. The pursuing cat and mouse game reveals both Holly and Bill have been living different lives.
Family Matters – Lucinda Lawrence inherits a fortune from a total stranger. While attempting to uncover her benefactor’s identity, half-siblings begin to surface and then are mysteriously murdered. The evidence mounts against Lucinda, making her the prime suspect.
Fakes, Frauds and Forgeries – When Paige Jenkins learns her grandmother’s Santini portrait is a forgery, she initiates her own search to discover the truth. After identifying two more fake paintings, she contacts Byron Cruise, an insurance investigator, whose company insured the paintings. In her quest for answers, Paige repeatedly finds herself in the wrong place at the wrong time, and unwittingly becomes involved in robbery, kidnapping and murder.
Excerpt from Search for Justice:
Kelly drove to Tommy’s school and stared at the empty playground, not sure what to do. I could go into the building, identify myself as Tommy’s mother and take him home with me. But that would be kidnapping. Mom always said, ‘Two wrongs don’t make a right’. Besides, Tommy thinks I’m dead. It would be a shock to suddenly appeared.
She waited across the street and watched as different groups of children came out to play in the yard. When she spotted Tommy’s blue-and-white striped shirt, she left the car and hid behind a palm tree. Her heart ached. She wanted to climb the fence and hug him, but resisted the urge. I found him, she thought jubilantly. I know where he is. He’s safe and happy.
She walked to the car after Tommy’s class went inside the school. A sudden wave of panic flowed over her. Maybe I shouldn’t leave.What if Buddy takes Tommy away again?
Assume Nothing by BarbaraHelene Smith is available as an e-book and paperback at Amazon.com.
Any public group depends on volunteers to keep the organization active and worth attending. In a non-profit like LCRW, the officers, coffee maker, room set-up crew, and providers of edible goodies are all volunteers, and we are proud of them. Oftentimes, the monthly educational presenter is a group member and thus, also, a volunteer. We firmly believe in “authors helping authors.”
If you are a regular visitor to the LCRW website, you may have noticed the presentation titles and presenter names have been jumping around on our calendar. That’s a side effect of depending on volunteers. Life happens, as we say, and people need to juggle responsibilities. It’s all right. We do what’s necessary to keep the calendar full and the information flowing. By leaving all the monthly listings up, anyone can see what types of subjects we cover.
On Saturday, June 27, the presentation will be given by New York Times Best Seller Kathryn Shay. She will explain HOW to add conflict to your story. I, for one, need this class. I can write a good soap opera-type scene, but adding a separate conflict that the character has to overcome or solve and that keeps the reader turning the pages is one of my weaknesses. (So are long, wordy sentences.)
If you know Kathryn Shay as a romance writer, you are fortunate. May I also recommend her book, The Perfect Family. It’s an in-depth look at what happens to a family and its circle when one of the children comes out as gay. Until I read this warm, natural account, I did not understand the ripple effect.
And this blog post is also a grand example of how easy it is for a writer to change topics mid-essay. I think I need a class on how not to do that! The culmination remains: LCRW has many different levels of writers and wonderful volunteers that make our group worth belonging to.
Come visit us. Your first time attending is always free, and our dues are only $20.00 a year. Did you notice how I just changed topics again? It’s all right in this type of writing.
When my husband finally retired at age 76, we discovered music cruises. The Star Vista group charters Holland America ships and holds seven-day music parties at sea. There are eight different genres of music. In January 2026, we enjoyed our second New Orleans Jazz and Blues cruise, called The Big Easy Cruise. Live music on several different stages at the same time from noon until 1:00 AM. We boarded the ship in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida after flying from Rochester, New York. During the week, there was a 24-hour stop in New Orleans and later a 12-hour stop in Cozumel, Mexico, before returning to Lauderdale. Of course, we had to fly back to Rochester.
While in New Orleans, my husband and I were exploring the French Market near Jackson Square when we saw our Rochester friends who were also on the cruise, so we called out to them by name. We realized that it wasn’t often that one could do that in another city.
In Cozumel, we went on a submarine excursion. It was a small, white submarine that held about fifty people with windows lining each side. We did have to enter it by climbing down the ladder through the hatch on the top while it bobbed in the ocean. There are only a handful of these subs in the world. After being amazed by the underwater trip, we were back on land in Cozumel in search of an authentic Mexican restaurant. What we get in our home locale is too Americanized. Walking through the shopping center, we heard our last name called from afar. How often does that happen in a foreign country? It turned out to be the parents of Michael Christie, who plays trumpet in our favorite NOLA band led by John “Papa” Gros. Harold and Pam gave us a good recommendation.
At the end of cruise week, we arrived back in Fort Lauderdale to find the East Coast had been blasted with a snowstorm two days prior, so the airports were in chaos. American Airlines emailed us suggesting we stay an extra day in Florida. We did that on our own nickel, then decided we wouldn’t stay a second day even though they offered us cash; it wasn’t enough to cover the cost of another hotel night. We made it out of Lauderdale and landed on time in Charlotte, North Carolina, where the runways still had small but noticeable snow banks along the edges. Then the “fun” began. Delay after delay after delay, then a cancellation and rebooking. Five hours later than scheduled, we had a gate change. Ugh! At the new gate, we wondered what was to come next and heard our first names, Bob and Sue, called from within the waiting area. Turns out it was a musician friend, Jim, who had been to Vegas and was also trying to get back to Rochester, New York.
So I’m standing, talking to Jim, telling him about being called by name in the most unusual settings, when the gentleman at the podium announces he would like to talk to one of the Spitulniks. I probably gasped out loud, and my husband and I looked at each other, ready to explode if we were told we wouldn’t be getting on this particular airplane. I went to the podium, and the attendant said, so only I could hear, “I have two seats open in first class, but they’re not together. Would you and your husband like them?” Well, of course we would. Why not? At that point we felt like we deserved them, but so did everyone else. We did learn later they were offered to us because of our American Airlines credit card status. We thoroughly enjoyed feeling like the elite.
It was quite the trip, and you are probably wondering why this was posted on a writing group’s blog page. Well, you just read a memoir essay. It wasn’t full of dark family secrets, trauma, or bad news. I hope you found it interesting, and the lesson is that memoir does not have to be self-introspection. It can be a good experience that is fun to share with others.
Note: we’re booked on The Big Easy again in January 2027. starvistalive.com
Kimberly Gore is a multi-genre author whose imagination thrives on curiosity, compassion, a dash of mischief. Her young adult novel Seven Little Secrets won first place in the 2018 Next Generation Indie Book Awards, while Knucklebone captured top honors in two national competitions judged by author Cynthea Liu, literary agent Jennifer Jaeger, and the Write On Con/Reading Room Aspiring Writer’s Competition. She also penned Save Me a Song and the middle-grade adventures The Miss-Adventures of Amy and Tracy and The Wish Problem series and she’s written several “how-to” guides. Beyond the page, Gore co-wrote a screenplay optioned by Minor Distractions Entertainment, created and produced IMPRINT Journal, a local literary magazine, and has spent two decades coordinating Rochester’s largest writer’s group, hosted by Barnes & Noble in Greece, NY. A seasoned instructor and conference speaker, she’s taught creative writing for community education programs and presented on the craft of storytelling at Astronomicon, Lilac City Rochester Writers, and RIT’s StoryCon.
Sue Sevard Brockport, NY Memoirist
The idea of filling each day as a writer had never before crossed my mind until the death of my husband, Jim, in 2010. For a reason I have never understood myself, I decided to write the story of our meeting, marriage, life, and love as a gift to our children. This project took me three years to complete and 4 writing classes at RIT and 3 at Brockport State, plus multiple memberships in writing groups. When I finally completed the book and published Autumn Leaves, I felt I had given my best and left a legacy for my four children. I never expected the book to be enjoyed by friends, relatives, and readers across the United States. By the time that book was completed, I was hooked on the writer’s bug. What can I write now? As the director of the Brockport Museum & Library of Local History, I found a new mission – writing stories about Brockport’s heroes. That idea started me on a new and interesting hobby which I shared with fascinating people from Brockport’s past.
Louise Penny is one of my favorite authors. I just finished reading, The Black Wolf, her twentieth book. Her novels have been translated into over 23 languages, sold millions of copies worldwide, and repeatedly reached number 1 on the New York Times Best Seller list. She has also earned prestigious awards including multiple Agatha and Anthony Awards, and was appointed a Member of the Order of Canada and an Officer of the National Order of Quebec in 2017.
Penny is a Canadian crime-fiction author, best known for her Chief Inspector Armand Gamache of the Sûreté du Québec series. She was born on July 1, 1958, in Toronto, Canada, and has a Bachelor of Arts Degree from Ryerson Polytechnical Institute. After graduating at age 21, she embarked on an 18-year career as a radio host and journalist with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC). She left the CBC in 1996 to take up writing. She started a historical novel but had difficulty finishing it and eventually switched to writing mysteries.
Besides her wonderful writing, there are two features I like about her books:
The intricately constructed plots often reflect current events, and explore universal themes as love, friendship, loss, and redemption.
Her characters are unique and familiar.
Chief Inspector Armand Gamache, head of the Homicide Department of the Sûreté du Québec, inspired by Penny’s husband, Michael Whitehead, is not the typical world-weary and troubled detective, but compassionate and kind. Gamache and his team, including his second-in-command, Jean-Guy Beauvoir, investigate conspiracies and murders by unconventional means.
I suggest you start by reading her first novel, Still Life, in which she introduces the characters living in the Village of Three Pines. In Three Pines, based on her town of Knowlton, Quebec, Canada, you’ll meet an assortment of memorable residents: an artist (Clara Morrow), a psychologist-turned-bookstore-owner (Myrna Landers), a cantankerous poet (Ruth Zardo) and her pet duck (Rosa), and a gay couple who own the local bistro and bed-and-breakfast (Gabri Dubeau and Olivier Brulé). Gamache lives in Three Pines with his wife, Reine-Marie, but when the crimes are set in more distant locations, the quaint village of Three Pines and its residents are central elements of the novels.
So, you’ve written something and you’re just not sure if it’s good as it could be. You really need someone to look it over, but, (Oh no!) I couldn’t possibly have one of my friends see it. They would probably just tell me how much they like it and that wouldn’t help. Who knows what they might think? They might even tell one of their friends how dumb I am.
Welcome to the LCRW Critique session. Three times each year, members have a chance to turn 2500 words of their manuscript over to six or seven other members who will read what you gave them and offer an objective review of your words. And you will do the same for them. Several important points guide each reviewer in the process. For example:
Reviewer should comment on the content, not the person who wrote it.
Remember, this is their story. Don’t try to make it yours.
Take it from me, this is an excellent way to learn from the valuable insight of the LCRW membership and their sensitivity to your hard work. One fine day, I heard about this critiquing process and submitted one of my short essays that was about people, the Adirondacks, kayaking, and the great outdoors. Returned to me a few days later were about a half dozen or so reviews offering wonderful feedback about my written words and some great ideas to consider to improve the piece.
Not everyone will see what you write the way you see it. Some may give advice you decide not to follow. After all, it was you who wrote it in the first place. But, when three or four members make the same suggestion, THAT is worth hearing. You would be smart to make the suggested changes.
This may be the opportunity that you’ve been looking for.
One review session is offered to any author without becoming a group member. Try it. You might like it. Our next critique is July 18, 2026. Please contact us via the contact page on this site to get rules and dates for the July submissions.
Our regular monthly meeting is Saturday, April 25. The business meeting will begin at 9:00 AM, or when Sue tells everyone to be quiet…
If you are thinking of visitng our group for the first time, the business meeting is worth attending because we do what is called the “round table.” After the formalities that every club needs to attend to, we go around the table, and each member gives an update on their writing accomplishments since the last time we met. It’s a great time to learn the members’ names, hear about the varied projects, and get to know everyone.
The presentation usually starts around 10:15. This month, we have member Kat Doran, who is an editor at Wild Rose Press, giving a talk about marketing your book(s). The title of the talk is “Marketing for Dummies.” No, that is not an insult; it’s a piggyback on the line of books available at your local library or bookstore, with many how-to books written in plain language for beginners or those inexperienced in a certain field.
There is always time to ask the speaker questions or seek clarification of a point if needed. Our meetings are laid-back, informative, and friendly.
Light refreshments are available, as well as coffee and tea. The meeting location and other details are available on the home page of this website. We’re happy you found us. And in case you are wondering, the dues to belong are only $20.00 a year.
What is LCRW, you may be asking? It’s the acronym for Lilac City Rochester Writers.
Have you visited our author page and gotten acquainted with our members? Here’s a glimpse.
Do you like to read romance novels written by a New York Times best-selling author? Kathryn Shay is one of our members, and she also gives presentations to our group on the craft of writing. It’s a privilege to learn from her.
BarbaraHelene Smith spent her career as an FDA inspector. She has published twelve books about the different types of investigations the FDA handles. The Connie Murphy Mystery series is exciting, and it teaches at the same time.
Rick Taubold writes in varied genres and hosts an online magazine: Fabula Argentia. We think his best book is Punctuation for Fiction Writers. In it, he explains and gives examples of how to use correct punctuation for dialogue, which is different from that used for regular prose.
Rick Iekel also writes in varied genres. He wrote the book The Roc – Journey through the 20th century. It’s the history of Rochester, New York’s airport. He was the best person to write it as he worked at the airport for 30-plus years.
Donna Collins’ name will pop up in your magazines where her recipes and articles about country life appear.
John Caligiuri is our resident science fiction and alternative history author. He mentions local places (near Rochester) in his stories. It makes one feel more involved in the action when they recognize the locale.
Kim Gore teaches writing classes, hosts a writing group, and has multiple books out in different genres, both fiction and non-fiction. She is also a regular presenter in our group and publishes an annual Halloween anthology. She’s our “firecracker.”
This is only a synopsis of the authors you would have the privilege of spending time with if you attend LCRW. Click over to our authors tab to read more about each one, and others not mentioned here. We love visitors at our meetings and always welcome new members who we can help advance in their writing journey.
As a long-time workshop leader, I’m in awe of how some writers are masters at putting themselves on a path of creative self-destruction. In a way, it’s a beautiful, albeit demented, thing to behold—sort of like watching Glen Powell wrangling that F-5 tornado in Twisters. As a writer myself, I watch them and think, Wow. And I thought I was good at making myself miserable and getting in my own way.
What is it that makes these master self-saboteurs so good at what they do?
The question got me thinking about Stephen R. Covey’s book The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change. The book has sold over 40 million copies and is still transforming the lives of everyone from presidents to parents. After revisiting that book, it occurred to me that highly effective people and highly ineffective writers have a lot in common. Indeed, I’d say they both share the same seven habits, except the latter applies all that initiative in the wrong direction.
What follows are examples of how highly ineffective writers manage to twist Covey’s seven habits for positive change into powerful lessons on personal sabotage.
Habit 1: Be proactive.
In his book, Covey writes that highly effective people take responsibility for their choices. They don’t just sit around waiting for whatever befalls them. They make it a habit to act rather than react.
The same goes for highly ineffective writers. Master self-saboteurs preempt any potential criticism of their work by being the first to trash talk it. They don’t succumb to outsiders trying to influence or support them with feedback, instruction, brutal honesty, or praise. When it comes to personal sabotage, highly ineffective writers always make the first move, pooh poohing all routes to a more productive and positive writing life.
Habit 2: Begin with the end in mind.
Imagine you are at your own funeral. What are people saying about you at your service? Covey says highly effective people decide how they want to be remembered—from their achievements to the values that guided their success. They then use those insights as the foundation for living a principle-centered life that helps them focus and flourish.
Highly ineffective writers also begin with the end in mind. Often, before they have even started their novels or memoirs, they fast forward to how all their efforts will likely play out:
Their book never sells because, let’s face it, unless you’re a celebrity or know someone, it’s next to impossible to land an agent or publisher, plus no one reads anymore anyway.
Or, miracle of miracles, their book does get published, but then they’ll be expected to (ugh!) promote it, and the idea of having to hawk their work feels exhausting, nerve-wracking, and, frankly, beneath them. Indeed, just the thought of marketing their book makes them not even want to write it.
Reviews! What’s the point of dedicating so much time and effort into publishing a book, just so a bunch of snobby critics and haters on Goodreads can trash their efforts for no good reason.
Or, equally dismal, their book is a smashing success, which means they’ll be under relentless pressure to replicate that success. The highly ineffective writer takes a moment to imagine their own funeral. “I can’t think of anything more pathetic,” says one of the small handful of mourners in attendance, “than an author who turned out to be nothing more than a one-hit wonder.”
Habit 3: Put first things first.
Highly effective people act. Every day, they manage their time and make choices in a way that feeds their personal and professional life. They say “no” to the things that don’t match their principles and goals, and they prioritize the things that provide meaning and balance in the here and now.
Highly ineffective writers also make choices every day about where they spend their time and energy. First things first, they choose to start their days by texting all their writing friends to see if anyone else got up early to write. Then they check out a bunch of Instagram reels and go down that rabbit hole of celebrity StarTracks until finally, after they’ve finished clicking through a slideshow of fifty unforgettable looks at the Venice Film Festival, they are ready to work on that new chapter…except now it’s time to go to their day job.
And so goes another morning, another week, another weekend. For the highly ineffective writer, every day is a race against the clock to say “yes” to as many things as possible—social media, rearranging the photos on the mantle, volunteering wherever they are needed. The highly ineffective writer is a master of prioritizing anything that is not writing.
Habit 4: Think win-win.
Forget about winners and losers. Highly effective people see life as a cooperative, not a competition. When interacting with others, their goal is to seek a mutually beneficial agreement or solution—a win-win where both parties feel satisfied with the outcome.
Highly ineffective writers go a step further with this mindset. They think in terms of win-win-win, which means when they sit down to write, they hope to satisfy three parties. Naturally, they want to fulfill their own creative goals; for example, to write a memoir about their childhood growing up on a small farm in Iowa. But they also want to make sure the people who appear in their story are happy, including their five sisters who read an early draft of their manuscript and all agreed, “That’s not how it really happened!” And lastly, they feel the need to accommodate the members of their writing group, one of whom offered this feedback: “No one is going to want to read about someone’s boring childhood on a smelly family farm in the middle of nowhere.”
With this kind of win-win-win philosophy, the highly ineffective writer sets out to revise in a way that will provide a satisfactory outcome for, well, for pretty much everyone they know.
Habit 5: Seek first to understand and then to be understood.
Listening. It’s a tricky skill because lots of people, even if they do allow room for others to talk, only listen enough to figure out what they want to say in return. Whereas a highly effective person makes it a habit to actively and empathetically listen before communicating their own views. They listen with the intent to understand.
Similarly, the highly ineffective writer understands exactly what someone is saying, mostly because they actively put words in the other person’s mouth.
What is said: “I think the opening of your story would benefit from some trimming.” What is understood: “Burn your entire manuscript.”
Said: “Your novel was a delight.” Understood: “I’m just being nice so you’ll leave me alone.”
Said: “Thank you for your powerful submission. Unfortunately, your novel is not a good fit for our press.” Understood: “We hated your novel and we hate you, too.”
Habit 6: Synergize.
The synergize habit is like habit 4 (Think win-win)—only on steroids. Highly effective people look for opportunities in all aspects of their life to unleash the power of collaboration; to create outcomes greater than the sum of their parts.
Given that writing, for the most part, is a solitary act, how does the highly ineffective writer practice a habit that involves teamwork, unity, and the type of math where one plus one equals three? The answer lies deep in their psyche.
Residing within the mind of the master self-saboteur is a quartet of collaborators—the creator, the editor, the critic, and the stan. Every time the highly ineffective writer sits down to write, these other team members unleash a torrent of opinions:
“Generate! Generate! Generate!” the creator insists.
“I don’t care if you’ve only written a few paragraphs,” the editor interrupts, “those passive verbs aren’t going to rewrite themselves!”
Meanwhile, the critic at this mental gathering doesn’t say a word because the musk of his disdain already communicates volumes. And the stan, bless his little heart, keeps piping in, “Your writing is perfect. Don’t change a thing!”
“Synergize! Synergize! Synergize!” the highly ineffective writer intones, while rocking back and forth, squeezing their head. But how can they make the whole greater than the sum of its parts when nothing they write ever seems to add up to anything?
Habit 7: Sharpen the saw.
We can all lose our edge from time to time, which is why highly effective people follow a balanced program of self-renewal in four areas of life: physical, social/emotional, mental, and spiritual. They regularly and consistently “sharpen the saw,” so to speak, to create growth and ongoing positive change.
The highly ineffective writer also sets goals in service to self-renewal, often to extremes:
Run a marathon.
Greet every sunrise with a sense of awe.
Help save a bunch of endangered species.
And, most importantly, write, write, write! Every. Single. Day!
And therein lies the final lesson in personal sabotage. Because while highly effective people seek a balanced program of self-improvement to renew their edge, highly ineffective writers are determined to make their saws so sharp they inevitably drive themselves right over the edge.
Joni B. Cole is the author of seven books, including the recent release Party Like It’s 2044: Finding the Funny in Life and Death. She is also the author of two writing guides: Good Naked: How to Write More, Write Better, and Be Happier (listed as one of the “best books for writers” by Poets & Writers); and Toxic Feedback: Helping Writers Survive and Thrive. Joni is the founder and facilitator of the upcoming “Good Naked Weekend Write-Away” in White River Junction, Vermont, Oct. 25 -27, 2024. For more information about her teaching, her books, or how to register for the Write-Away, visit: www.jonibcole.com or www.thewriterscenterwrj.com
Lilac City Rochester Writers 