Improving with Age

 

Any writer worth his salt is going to improve the more he writes and the longer he writes.

When I look at my earliest poems and compare them to poems written 20 or more years later, I often cringe. “How on earth did I have the guts to show that to someone?” I ask myself.

Yet I did. Those early poems, as “bad” as I tend to think they are, were the best I could do. 

The good thing is I didn’t give up. And 20 intensive years of writing poetry and writing well over 1500 poems enabled me to become a decent poet.

It is the same with my fiction. My earlier fiction, while I think it provides a decent read, isn’t as good as my current fiction.

For me, my novels and short stories have gone from good to much better, and hopefully in the future they will move to the very best I will ever be capable of.

I think that is the case with most writers. Very few start out at the pinnacle of their ability.

Of my own series, my favorite is the Justinia Wright Private Investigator Mysteries.

The early books are good. Would I do things differently if I wrote them today? Of course. I’m a better writer today then I was 10 years ago.

And if you compare my books in the Magnolia Bluff Crime Chronicles series with the later Justinia Wright books, I think you’ll find the Tina and Harry books on the same level as Magnolia Bluff in giving you, the reader, enjoyment and pleasure. They are very satisfactory reads. I like them a lot.

But then I like all of my books. I’m not ashamed of any of them. I don’t think there is a bad one in the lot.

What do all of my books deliver? They give you humor, quirky and lovable characters, interesting story lines, and good writing. What’s not to like?

All of the books in the Justinia Wright series are standalones, although there is a character arc that spans the series.

The main complaint I’ve gathered is that some readers think the beginnings of the first couple books are slow.

But then they aren’t thrillers. You have to wait awhile for things to start blowing up and the suspense has you on the edge of your chair.

Nevertheless, you might want to read the later books first and then go back and read the beginning of the series.

So start perhaps with 

When Friends Must Die

Death Makes a House Call

To Right a Wrong

Then go back and read Festival of Death, which I truly like. It has one of my best endings.

Once I’ve completed writing my next offering for the Magnolia Bluff Crime Chronicles series (to be published January 2025), I’ll be going back to my favorite series and write more Justinia Wright mysteries. Tina and Harry are my favorite people.

Here’s a review by the late Caleb Pirtle III of To Right a Wrong:

I have a deep appreciation for old-fashioned mysteries when private detectives gathered clues, some real and some imagined, sorted them out, and gathered various and sundry suspects together, usually in the drawing room of a mansion, before revealing the villain in an atmosphere filled with bitterness, fear, jealousy, and suspense.

In his newest mystery, To Right A Wrong, CW Hawes has managed to assemble all of the key ingredients of those old-fashioned, drawing room mysteries of Nero Wolfe and Agatha Christie and bring them into a modern world replete with cell phones, GPS devices, and phone hacking systems.

The investigation is orchestrated by one of the most intriguing literary private eyes of all time, the unflappable Justinia Wright, who stands six-feet tall, smokes cigars, drinks high-dollar vintage Madeira wine as though she’s sipping water, once forged art to make a fortune, and drives as though she should have arrived yesterday even though she only left this morning.

To right a wrong, Justina only has to find one answer. Who was the greediest suspect of the bunch?

The story moves along at a leisurely pace, the dialogue is laced with biting and sometimes dark humor, and in the seedy rich man’s world of lies and deceit, the first liar never has a chance. To Right a Wrong is my kind of mystery. Modern technology doesn’t solve the crime. Old-fashioned investigative work does just fine.

Caleb was spot on in this review. And if this is the kind of book you love to read, then the Justinia Wright Private Investigator Mysteries are your cup of tea.

Here are two reviews for Festival of Death:

A PI mystery with humor and wit!

Festival Of Death is Book l in the Justinia Wright Private Investigator Mysteries. And what a fun introduction to this delightful duo it is. 

Although the plot is suspenseful and well-timed, the unique characters absolutely make this story entertaining and fun. 

Justinia, who owns the PI agency, is an ex-CIA agent with a colorful past. Enjoying the finer things in life, she marches to the beat of her own drummer, picks and chooses what she deems worthy of her time and does things at her own pace. 

Harry, the narrator of the story, is “Tina’s” assistant/butler/timekeeper/chief cook and bottle washer/voice of reason/PI, and her older brother. 

It is Harry’s quick wit, dry humor, pragmatic opinions, and laissez-faire attitude toward people and relationships and Tina’s quirkiness that brings this story to life. Add the “just the facts, ma’am” writing style and it is a winning story. 

The story is cleverly intertwined with the character’s interests (spelunking and chess are a few) that are effectively used both literally and metaphorically in solving this well-crafted mystery.

The case involves finding the missing adult son of a wealthy couple. There are few clues and numerous possible motives for the disappearance. Not a case Tina would normally take, but big brother knows what’s best, and what’s best is to make sure the bills for the expensive mansion, cigars, imported tea, madeira, and culinary delights are all paid for. 

You will love this unique and quirky brother and sister team! —Joy Shelton-York

I'm always excited to find a new author, especially one that writes this well. The plot is exciting and keeps your peepers glued to the page in what is a remarkably quick, fluent read. The main protagonists draw you in with their delightfully acerbic banter and the surrounding cast of characters are as interesting as they are varied. ...the novel is a thoroughly entertaining read and one that I wouldn't hesitate to recommend. From a Goodreads Review

If you’ve read my books in the Magnolia Bluff Crime Chronicles series

Death Wears a Crimson Hat

Ten Million Ways to Die

Who Mourns Elektra?

I think you’ll love sister and brother PI team Tina and Harry Wright.

Comments are always welcome! And until next time, happy reading!

CW Hawes is a playwright; award-winning poet; and a fictioneer, with three bestselling novels. He’s also an armchair philosopher, political theorist, social commentator, and traveler. He loves a good cup of tea and agrees that everything’s better with pizza.

If you enjoyed this post, please consider buying me a cup of tea. Thanks! PayPal.me/CWHawes

Ideas Come From Schenectady

 When asked where he got the ideas for his stories, Harlan Ellison said Schenectady.

About as good an answer as any, I’d say.

Last week we said, following Mr. Ellison, that writers write. Just like plumbers plumb, and carpenters carpenter, and mechanics mechanic.

However, in order to write, writers have to come up with ideas for their stories. Just like comedians must come up with jokes or funny stories. Now, take my wife… Please! Ahem.

So where do writers get the ideas for their stories?

My answer to that question is: ideas are everywhere. Take anything. A scene. A person. A story. A comment someone makes. A situation. Everything that exists in the world or the mind is grist for the writer’s mill.

Way back in 11th grade, my speech teacher told the class one day (when I wasn’t there) that I was the only person he knew who could talk on any subject, for any length of time, and say absolutely nothing. Thank you, Mr. Kline.

So the next time I was in class, my classmates wanted a demonstration. The subject decided upon was what does a rainstorm feel like to a horse.

I had all of 15 seconds to prepare. I spoke for 5 minutes or so, to rousing applause at the end.

I did what all good creative writers or speakers do, I made it up and made it entertaining. Because to this day I still don’t know what a rainstorm feels like to a horse.

Ideas are everywhere. What separates writers from non-writers is that writers see the ideas and non-writers don’t.

I think this applies to all creatives. Not just writers.

Michelangelo saw David in the block of marble and chipped away until he freed him.

My post-apocalyptic cozy catastrophe, The Rocheport Saga, began with a single sentence that popped into my head one day: Today I killed a man and a woman.

That sentence turned into 2200 plus handwritten pages. So far I’ve published 7 volumes of the saga and hope to return to it some day to finish it.

I was watching The X-Files reruns and asked myself what if Mulder and Scully were pursuing Cthulhu instead of aliens. And Pierce Mostyn was born.

Ideas are everywhere. One just has to see them. Writers do and non-writers don’t. Creatives create. Non-creatives don’t. Creatives see the ideas and turn them into art, music, literature, and inventions.

Festival of Death began life as a short story assignment for a Writers Digest course. The story was about a welfare worker (I worked in the county welfare department at the time) who wanted to reduce his ever growing caseload. So he invited his clients to his home for dinner, killed them, and ate them. The idea horrified my WD instructor.

Years later the clients were being sacrificed to Aztec deities in the rituals of a neo-Aztec cult in the caves below Minneapolis. The cult was discovered and broken up by my ace PI, Justinia Wright.

Justinia Wright herself came about from a  story I read featuring an amateur sleuth named Athalea Goode.

I pondered on that name. Athalea is from the Greek and means truth. Goode is English meaning good. Truth and goodness.

What if I switched it up to Latin? Justinia means justice, and Wright is English and means a maker or builder. A maker of justice.

And then drawing inspiration from my sister for her physical characteristics, Justinia Wright was born. For her Watson, I used myself as the model. And so the brother and sister PI team of Tina and Harry Wright was born. Additionally, I borrowed the ethos of the Nero Wolfe stories. And now I have 9 books and several short stories in the series and more are on the way.

Some writers get inspiration from their dreams. HP Lovecraft and Stephen King to name two well-known authors.

Dreams have never done it for me. I find more than enough material in the waking world.

I accumulate fountain pens. I like them. And sometimes I get a pen with the former owner’s name engraved on the pen. When I see that name I wonder why do I, a stranger, have the pen instead of some family member or significant person in the former owner’s life.

From that musing, my flash fiction piece, “It all goes” came about.

I buy a lot of estate pipes. Part of my desire to reuse and repurpose perfectly good items instead of dumping them in landfills.

I have several pipes made in Germany during World War II. I wonder who smoked the pipe during those years. Was it a Nazi official? A soldier? A submarine commander? A businessman?

Then how did the pipe find its way to America? And who smoked it here?

There’s a story, multiple stories, in those pipes. I just don’t know what they are yet. But it will come to me, of that I’m sure.

Ideas are all around us. Creatives see them, hear them, smell them, taste them, touch them — and turn them into wonderful things. The rest of the world just walks on by, not knowing they are there.

Comments are always welcome! And until next time, happy reading!

CW Hawes is a playwright; award-winning poet; and a fictioneer, with two bestselling novels. He’s also an armchair philosopher, political theorist, social commentator, and traveler. He loves a good cup of tea and agrees that everything’s better with pizza.

If you enjoyed this post, please consider buying me a cup of tea. Thanks! PayPal.me/CWHawes 

Justinia Wright Private Investigator Mysteries on Amazon!

Magnolia Bluff Crime Chronicles on Amazon!