Mass of the Rooster#Christmas #TheGiftofChristmas

I’ve never had the pleasure of being in another country during Christmas, but I love learning how other cultures and nationalities celebrate the holiday. My book Secrets of a Mayan Moon is set in Guatemala in the jungle and not during the holiday, but I wondered how Christmas was celebrated and gathered snippets from the blog, Guatemalan Genes. http://blog.guatemalangenes.com/ The woman who writes the blog, Cynthia, was born in Guatemala, lived in the U.S. for a while, and then moved back to her country.  She helped me keep things authentic in Secrets of a Mayan Moon when I couldn’t travel to the area.

There are many recipes that are served in Guatemala during the holiday on Cynthia’s blog so I won’t put any here, you can find them under her Christmas posts.

However, you will find mention of a Venezuelan Christmas dish, Hallaca, a plantain leaf-wrapped food that required days to prepare in my short story Isabella's Christmas Box found in the anthology, The Gift of Christmas by Windtree Press authors. Isabella prepares this dish for Tino during their first Christmas together. If you're an Isabella and Tino fan you might want to get the book. It's available in ebook and print. I'll be signing and selling copies at Jan's Paperbacks in Aloha, OR this Sunday the 14th at 5pm. 

One of the interesting stories I learned about a Guatemalan Christmas is the Misa de Gallo, or Mass of the Rooster. This sounds strange thinking of a rooster as being linked to Christmas and a mass. The Guatemalan legend says that at midnight Christmas Eve as the baby Jesus was born a rooster crowed. Everyone knows that roosters don’t crow at midnight, they crow when the sun is coming up in the morning. Because of this reality, “Midnight” mass is held early in the morning when the roosters really do crow

.

The other interesting event that Guatemalan’s do to celebrate, which is what you find in the United States during the Fourth of July and New Year’s Eve, they have fireworks displays at midnight.  I’ve found this to be true of other countries such as the Netherlands.

What you believe and how you celebrate Christmas is up to each individual. What is a tradition you have for Christmas?

Jazz and Mystery the Perfect Combination (SinC-up Blog Hop)#SinC-up

When I responded to a fellow Sisters in Crime member to partner with her for a “SinC-up blog hop", I didn’t realize we would have a writing trait in common other than we both write mysteries. It turns out we also like to listen to music when we write. You can read H.A. Somerled’s blog on writing with music here. And learn about her books here.

I’ve talked about how music has helped me get in character and dropped me into a deeper POV while writing. I listen to Native American drum and flute music as well as music by Karen Therese while writing the Spirit trilogy—three historical books set among the Nez Perce. 

While writing the Action Adventure books, I listened to first Guatemalan music while Isabella Mumphrey, the heroine, was in Guatemala, then Mexican music when she was in Mexico City, and Native American music when she found adventure in Arizona while tracking down a Hopi ceremonial kiva.

Now that I’m working on a mystery, I listen to jazz. My amateur sleuth is half Nez Perce, so why don’t I listen to Native American music, you might ask. Simply because Jazz lends itself to mysteries.

 

As a junior in high school I attended a Jazz music summer camp. At that camp we learned that you not only have to learn the song’s melody and rhythm, but you have to make up your own rendition of the melody when it’s your instruments turn to solo.

So, like a mystery story that starts out with the standard structure: someone is killed, sleuths-amateur or professional or both try to solve the murder, and there is a twist at the end, a jazz song also has the fundamentals of the song that everyone knows and adheres to. But then, like a jazz song has improvisation by several different instruments, the author gets to improvise by leading readers into what if’s and red herrings to take them on a ride of suspense, just like the instruments in a jazz song take the listener on a journey with their unique spins on the melody.

Jazz songs have emotion and melody. They have soft and hard. All the aspects that need to be hit in a mystery as it is being written and read.

And that’s why I listen to jazz while writing mystery.

Have you ever connected a song or artist with a book you read? 

A Birthday Gift for You- The Reader!

Since it's my birthday month and it's hard to server you a piece of Birthday Cake via the internet, I'm giving you a really good deal on the first three Isabella Mumphrey books in an ebook box set for $0.99 from June 15th - 30th.

Here are the blurbs and info:

Three ebook box set of steamy action adventure with anthropologist Isabella Mumphrey and DEA agent Tino Constantine. 

SECRETS OF A MAYAN MOON (Romcon Reader's Choice 2013)

What happens when a brilliant anthropologist is lured to the jungle to be used as a human sacrifice?

SECRETS OF AN AZTEC TEMPLE

Revenge is not always sweet… 

But when the love of his life, Isabella, strolls into his enemy’s home, Tino is challenged with the choice of saving her or fulfilling his revenge.

SECRETS OF A HOPI BLUE STAR

The truth doesn’t always set you free…

Landing in the underground world of human trafficking, anthropologist Isabella Mumphrey learns her own past is as sordid as the predicament she’s uncovered.

Windtree Press  /  Nook  /  Kobo  /  Amazon

What's a Blog Chain?

I was invited to be part of a blog chain by the lovely and talented, Melia Alexander. Here's a little bit about her:
A native of Guam, Melia Alexander is the author of sassy, sexy, fun contemporary romances.  She’s fortunate to work at The Male Observation Lab (a.k.a. her day job at a construction company), where she’s able to observe guys in their natural habitat.  In her free time, she’s busy conquering her CrossFit fears: ring dips, power cleans, and the dreaded 800 meter run. Her family appreciates her attempts at cooking and cleaning, although she uses that time to mostly daydream about her characters, which sometimes results in a burnt meal and a half-cleaned house.  Visit http://meliaalexander.com to learn more about her.

And here are my answers to the chain blog questions.

I'm currently working on the third book in the Isabella Mumphrey adventure series. She and Tino are in Arizona and as Tino deals with drug trafficking over the Mexico border, Isabella is on the trail of a Hopi ceremonial holy site and runs into some unexpected traffickers.

My work differs from others of this genre because it isn't really classified as a romance yet has more romance that other action adventure stories. It also has a female main character.

I write what I write because an idea or character comes to me that I'm passionate about. If I'm not passionate about the story it comes through in the writing. That's why I write historical and contemporary--westerns, action adventure, paranormal and mystery. I write the story that is calling to me, but I always try to keep the western or Native American spin on the story so readers know they will always have that element in one of my stories. I had hoped for more genre hopping readers, but right now it seems my historical westerns are the stories most readers are picking up. 

My writing process is as varied as the genres I write. Some books come to me through the character first and I have to then sort out the plot and conflicts. Other times the plot comes and I have to conjure up the characters to fit the plot. In either case, I always have to do research before I finish the story idea. If it's a historical, history could be a part of the plot, if it's a contemporary, either the location or the character's occupation could become part of the plot. Each book has it's own joys and obstacles when the plot is being pieced together, the characters formulating, and through the actual writing.

These are the next two who accepted the chain blog. They will be answering these same questions on their blogs on February 17th, please stop in and check them out. 

Jacquie Rogers

You can never take the country out of a girl’s heart.  Jacquie Rogers lives in Seattle,Washington, now but grew up in Owyhee County, Idaho, where her Hearts of Owyhee series is set.  (Owyhee, pronounced oh-WYE-hee, is the original anglicized spelling of Hawaii.)  She and her friends rode horses all over the hills chasing fictional outlaws and generally causing a ruckus.  Since taking up the pen, her books have won several awards.  Her latest novels are Much Ado About Miners and Sleight of Heart.

Jacquie is a member of Western Fictioneers and Romance Writers of America.  She teaches writing and research classes on occasion, owns the Romancing The West blog and the Pickle Barrel Bar & Books on Facebook.

Links

Jacquie’s Website: http://www.jacquierogers.com

Pickle Barrel Bar & Books Newsletter: http://eepurl.com/qhA_1

Pickle Barrel Bar & Books on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/groups/JacquieRogers/

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/JacquieRogersAuthor

Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/JacquieRogers

Amazon: http://amazon.com/author/jacquierogers

Lauri Robinson

Lauri Robinson's chosen genre to write is Western historical, and when asked why, she says, "Because I know I wasn't the only girl who wanted to grow up and marry Little Joe Cartwright." Lauri lives in Minnesota where she and her husband spend every spare moment with their three grown sons and their families—spoiling the grandchildren.

You can learn more about Lauri and her books at www.laurirobinson.blogspot.com, or connect with her on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/lauri.robinson1 or Twitterhttps://twitter.com/LauriR

Shadow Wolves - an elite team of trackers

While doing the research for my current WIP (work in progress), I was fortunate enough to stumble upon a group of elite trackers who work perfectly into my next Isabella Mumphrey action adventure.

Shadow Wolves are a group of Native American men who are hired by Border Patrol, Drug Enforcement Agency, and Immigration and Customs Enforcement to help track down drug smugglers and illegals crossing the Mexico border on the Tohono O'odham Indian reservation in Arizona.  Members of this team were even sent to the Middle East by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to help track down Al Qaida leaders.

This team is made up of different tribe members: Tohono O'odham, Navajo, Lakota, and Blackfeet. They are the best trackers of human beings. There are nine Shadow Wolves at the Arizona. Mexico border.  The border is seventy-six miles long and encompasses canyons and scrubland.  There are few paved roads.

Not only are they there to find and capture drug drops and mules(the people who carry the drugs on their backs over the border) they are there to find the illegals. Especially, when they are left to wait for another "coyote" to get them the rest of the way through the desert. Many illegals die from heat and dehydration waiting for the next person who is to take them through the desert.

Shadow Wolves are so good at their jobs that Mexican Cartels have put bounties on them. The team not only is tuned to tracking but they have some military training. They carry M-4 rifles and semi-automatic pistols. Watching a documentary on them, they look like a military patrol as they wind their way through the mesquite, creosote, and cactus.

They not only have to watch the land for prints and the plants for fibers, but they need to keep an eye on the hills and rises for spotters. The spotters use night goggles and a mobile phone or radio to to deliver encrypted messages to the mules, telling them where the Shadow Wolves or other law enforcement are. Some mules will tie pieces of carpet to their feet to try and hide their tracks.

When the Shadow Wolves can't follow footprints, they look  for fibers snagged by the thorny plants, studying directions of indentions in the soil and dislodged pebbles, and moisture from carelessly squashed cactus.

Disturbed soil and trees reveals how long since someone stopped to rest. They use the shade of the tree to determine the length of time. The person would have rested in the shade and if the disturbed dirt is now four feet before the shade, they can determine the time. They have been known to follow what looks to be a vanishing trail for twenty four hours and find their man.

The name, Shadow Wolves, reflects how they hunt like a pack of wolves. They may have high tech equipment like rifles and infrared binoculars, but they prefer using the same knowledge their ancestors used to find their enemies.

You can go here to watch the documentary I watch over and over to get information for my book.
http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/channel/videos/border-warriors-ground-zero/