So, when I first contemplated writing this blog post, I thought to do the most popular choice of the format options: the Character Interview. However, this is something that I’ve done almost exclusively for other blog posts and decided that I’d rather write a little about my history, my writing path, and my upcoming release Champagne Toast, Murder Chaser – A River Bend Mystery.
In looking back, I pondered how we all get started in our hobbies, our chosen fields of work or research, and the like. Obviously, we’re all products of our environment … and our childhoods, no matter how good or bad. We rise up or are lifted up by those experiences in different ways, but they inform how we see the world, how we react to it.
As children, we’ve all spent a ton of time playing pretend, make-believe. ‘Let’s pretend that this is our house and I’m the mom (or the dad).’ ‘Let’s pretend that this is my store and you’re coming in to buy something.’ So many different choices and our creativity runs wild in those early years. We also go through a boatload of career choices starting at a young age*. ‘I want to be a nurse when I grow up … a fireman … an astronaut …* a movie star. You fill in the blank. For me, the latter was close. I always wanted to be an actress, and in my heart, I knew I would be good at it. Most of us change our minds over and over again until we actually enter the workforce.
That being said, I know in my soul that our childlike wonder, our penchant for make-believe never really leaves us, but for most, it fades into the background as adulthood takes shape and form – and life gets in the way. However, for some of us, it doesn’t fade so much as scream from our subconscious. It demands to be heard … and daily. And it’s never easy. On the contrary, it can be daunting. Our creative minds bombard us with endless choices. Where do we start? How do we choose?
I came to my first love—theater—in my early 20s. I had always wanted to try, to be up there on the stage like so many others, but I was shy, introverted. One day I found an ad in the local newspaper for an open audition for a musical at the college I was attending. I had a pretty decent singing voice and thought, “Why not try? If I don’t get a part, I’ll probably never see those people again, so no harm, no foul.” I was terrified, but ended up with a leading role. The opening scene was me and a white spot light! Hard to believe I was ever that young and wide-eyed.
Writing came into my orbit a couple of years later at the same college. I’d always loved making up stories when I was younger but had never really thought much about it. I was taking the requisite English composition class and the professor was a huge supporter of the college theater – she came to every play. One night after a performance, she came backstage to tell me how she’d enjoyed the show. But the next thing she said to me has stuck with me in the back of my mind all these years later. She smiled and said quietly, “You know how much I love to watch you on stage. You have such a spark, and it’s just a delight. However, I hope you never stop writing, because you have a true gift.”
Well, coming from someone I respected and held in such high regard, I was kind of gobsmacked. It took way too long—20 years too long, in fact (life got in the way)—and maybe there wasn’t noticeable screaming in the back of my mind, but that statement has quietly spoken to me ever since.
Of course, the first book I wrote when I finally tried my hand at writing will never see the light of day, and rightfully so. Ugh! I can truthfully say without even flinching that is wasn’t great, but it did serve to inspire me to do better and brought that quiet voice out into the light. It showed me what could be. Eleven books and two short stories in, I’m still a novice with this writing thing, but I’m learning and evolving every day. And one thing of importance has become very clear to me: theater and writing are my adult versions of pretend and make-believe, and they both bring me such pleasure. If I never sell another book, I will continue to write because I can’t not write. Along with theater, it is a joyous thing for me. I retired from my day job at the end of February, so now I’m free to work on what I love full-time: my writing—spending time with the people who inhabit those other realms in my head. Pretending, make-believe. Taking my childhood wonder out for a spin … daily.
Other than the original creative writing and composition courses I took as electives in college, I’ve learned what I know of the craft by reading, attending writing conferences, and watching others. I’m a linear writer. I write from start to finish. I write the first 3-4 chapters before starting a chapter-by-chapter timeline. I also start a list of what I think the reader needs to see before The End. I take that list and put those bullet points into a logical order, and then add them to the timeline where I think each scene will need to go. I have a critique partner and a small team of incredible friends who line edit and beta-read for me along the way. It’s fairly simplistic and definitely not a process that would work for everyone, but it works for me – at least, it has so far.
Champagne Toast, Murder Chaser is the 4th book in my River Bend Vineyard Mystery series. Though make-believe, these characters are my family, my friends. I know them, can put a name and face to each from my own life. I adore the whole lot of them with all their quirks and shortcomings. They’re good people who’d help anyone in need, yet can be more than a bit snarky, and a whole lotta fierce when it comes to defending their family and friends. I’d love to be part of the Beckett family (in my head, I’m a distant relative.) They were my first, and though Delphine, Texas came out of my creative subconscious fully formed and inclusive of them all, I sometimes feel like I am invading their world whenever I dive back in to write about another major event in their lives.
Elise Beckett and Sheriff’s Deputy Jackson Landry have finally tied the knot in this latest episode, something I’ve been awaiting with anticipation for a while. It was the wedding event of the season in Delphine and a lovely affair. I have the photos in my head. Wish I could share them with y’all, because they’re simply fabulous. However, where the wedding was a glorious occasion and the honeymoon starts out just as wonderful, the happy couple are soon embroiled in yet another murder case, and this time, in another state. Jackson is waaay out of his jurisdiction, but of course, that doesn’t seem to hinder our girl Elise when it comes to sleuthing, much to her new husband’s chagrin.
Anyway, I hope y’all will enjoy this fourth peek into Delphine, TX and the quirky characters who live there. As they say out on the vineyard, y’all come by for a lovely glass of wine, a little romance, and a murder mystery … or two.
Oh, and be sure to dig around and take your childhood wonder out and dust it off now and again. Go ahead. Let your creativity run wild. Pretend … play make-believe.
Want to learn more about Champagne Toast, Murder Chaser?
The splashy wedding for Elise Beckett and Sheriff’s Deputy Jackson Landry was the event of the season at River Bend Vineyard in Delphine, Texas, and the first ten days of their honeymoon in Napa Valley wine country was just as lovely. Yet when the happy couple meets up with the rest of the wedding party at Bella Luna Castle Winery and Vineyard in Oregon, the end of their fabulous honeymoon trip takes a disturbing turn when the group tours the winery and discovers a body in a most bizarre setting.
Jackson and his partner, Jim Stockton, are way out of their jurisdiction but are pulled into the investigation by the Shiloh County Sheriff. However, not to be sidelined, Elise starts digging. The mysterious death seems to have a connection to the original sale of the vineyard. It’s a history steeped in underlying land schemes, sabotage, and unsettled scores where secrets are plentiful and everyone is a suspect—even their good friend and majority shareholder, Miranda Rollins.
A native of Oregon, Joni Sauer Folger spent twenty two years with an airline traveling and moving around the country before settling down near the beautiful Pacific Ocean with her three very spoiled cats. She writes Urban Fantasy and Paranormal Romance under the name J.G. Sauer, and Cozy Mysteries and Romantic Suspense under Joni Folger. When she’s not spending quality time with the characters she creates, she enjoys gardening, crafting, and working in local theater.
You can find her on her website, Facebook, Instagram, and Bookbub.
