Why would a person lie about a thing like that?Just because I’m bringing this misunderstood phobia out of the shadows, does not mean I should be mocked.
Some may read Of Mice…and Murder and see the humor, mystery and drama. But for those of us who are musophobes (look it up, I can’t do EVERYTHING for you) this is an intense, life and death struggle.
You know, I decided at a very young age (too young to be deciding anything) while pondering eternal things like heaven and … well…NOT heaven, to avoid four letter words.
I gave considerable thought to whether instead of eternal darkness, or a lake of fire, I might possibly end up in a room full of mice.
God knows each of us, you know. God knows what our definition of NOT heaven might be.
The worst of that youthful pondering was the horrifying thought that maybe, talking eternity to
adjust after all, I might actually get so I didn’t mind being in a room full of mice.That makes me really sad.
But I’ve made my peace with God and accepted Jesus as my personal savior, mice being the least of that decision, so I don’t dwell on that much anymore.
In Of Mice…and Murder my heroine Carrie is afraid of mice. Nothing else. She’s a very brave woman, but mice…….EEEEEEEEKKKKKKKKK!!!!!!!
In book two of the Maxie Mouse Mystery Series, Pride and Pestilence, my heroine is a shy insomniac bookworm. Hello, borrowing from my life again!
Yes, I am a shy, insomniac bookworm, musophobe. My life between the pages of a book. And yes, when I meet people they inevitably say, “You’re not shy.”
But it’s all internal. I know how to behave myself in public, but inside I’m a squirming, twitching, overly sensitive, lunatic. All my reactions are to go home, go pull the covers over my head, better yet, go write. Have both sides of the conversation myself. Create COOL tough, bold women. Exactly NOT like me.
Or read books with those same cool, tough, bold women. Now THAT’S living.
So then, book three in the Maxie Mouse Mystery Series—The Miceman Cometh. What part of that is me?
The heroine in that is a genius who’s so caught up in her studying and thinking that she’s detached from the world. She tends to fall over her feet and say the wrong thing and her clothes are always a mess because she doesn’t notice.Okay, except for the genius part, that’s me.
And it’s all set in small town Nebraska. Now THAT’S me. That’s the world I know.
In book #1 Of Mice…and Murder, the small town newspaper, I actually worked at one. The horrible, hilarious typos, we did that. You know there are a LOT of words in a newspaper. It’s seriously hard to get every SINGLE one of them right. The really funny mess-ups, I can’t even write them here, too awful.
Book #2 Pride and Pestilence Melnik builds a new library. This is inspired by the beautiful new library our town just built and how much work and fund raising and community support it took to get done.
Book #3 The Miceman Cometh is the effort (continued from the earlier books) to energize tiny (fictional) Melnik, Nebraska. Small towns struggle all the time to grow and provide services and keep folks in town to shop. But then if the town does grow, as it’s growing in Melnik, you have the dreaded newcomers, who don’t fit in. And who don’t understand how small towns work. They bring their weird big city ways and odd lifestyles. Small towns are pretty resistant to change, even as their in the midst of proclaiming all their changing and growing.
So get a peek of Mary-the-Lunatic within the pages of the Maxie Mouse Mysteries, and a really nice, if somewhat exaggerated, look at life in a small Nebraska town.
The basic rule of small town life
Everybody knows
That’s it.
That’s it.
The best thing and the worst thing about a small town is the same thing.
Everybody knows
Everybody knows
If you need help, have a death, lose a job, are sick or injured, everybody knows. They’re at your door with food and lawnmowers and company and even cash.
If you mess up, humiliate yourself, get caught in some outrageous act (you ALWAYS get caught) everybody knows.
If you mess up, humiliate yourself, get caught in some outrageous act (you ALWAYS get caught) everybody knows.
Welcome to Melnik
There is no escape
There is no escape
Posts
16 comments:
I love Mary Connealy. (Shy, really?) I loved meeting her at ACFW and love her writing in Petticoat Ranch and Calico Canyon - can't wait for Gingham Mountain (I think) and now I am super excited about these 3 books - they look great!
Janna
I can't for these next books to come out! I have read the first two of the western series (Petticoat Ranch and Calico Canyon) and they are fantastic! When is your next book out??
Oh - I read them too. I really enjoyed the witty dialogue as well as the action. I can't believe all that snappy banter came from someone who's shy!
Ok, I haven't heard of Musophobia, but the meaning was pretty clear. :) I have coulrophobia (google that one).
P.S. My roommate has rats... Do they count?
I DID google coulrophobia
Very understandable.
Perhaps a really GIGANTIC glue trap is in order to protect yourself from this.
You actually live IN THE SAME HOUSE WITH RATS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
WILLINGLY!!!!!!!!!!!!
That is just SICK
This cozies are different from the historical westerns, but they're the same in one fundamental way.
Romantic comedy.
I had such a good time writing this books. But cozy mysteries are complex, lots of learning for me, as far as leaving sneaky clues behind, including false clues. Then tying everything up at the end. (I had to use real ROPE!)
But it was fun. I got to go a lot farther with the humor than I usually do, which I loved, whacky characters, quirky thinking. Very fun.
Hilarious!
A squirming, twitching, overly sensitive, lunatic inside? I KNEW we were kindred spirits!
These books look like too much fun. Can't wait to read them!
I noticed Buffalo Gal releases in October. I'm definitely reading that one, since you stared down death to research it!
Super great post, Mary.
I actually got close enough to a buffalo to take a picture of my hand TOUCHING THE BUFFALO.
Now there are some who might say that being afraid of mice is stupid if I'm willing to touch a buffalo.
That is odd, isn't it?
I was afraid of the buffalo mostly, except it was behind a really strong panelled fence. So I touched it.
And lived to tell the tale. I even got my arm back. YAY.
I was going to blog about it on my own blog....touching the buffalo that is....but this picture is... oh, just sorta a blurry hand and blurry fur. I couldn't get to far back after all, since I had to be able to touch the buffalo. So honestly, I might just be learning on a brown blanket. Not that dramatic.
Anyway, Buffalo Gal is a Heartsong Presents.
Of Mice...and Murder is a Heartsong Presents Mystery.
All, very very fun to be part of.
These books sound like real fun reads. I hope to get them all someday to read. My mom must have had musophobia. My phobia is a lot worse I have hudophobia(think that is the spelling) anyway its the fear of driving..I hate driving. If I didn't have to I wouldn't.
Can't wait to read these!
I'm a musophobe too! (I'm also a Ophidiophobic) I moved out of my house for three days one time because I thought I HEARD a mouse under the bed. Luckily, just something blowing in the wind outside, but you can imagine the horror of the thought. :)
I can't wait to read these, Mary. Your books are always a fantastic read.
hudophobia?
Whoa, for a split second I thought that was fear of a husband.
Tough one to handle.
Fear of driving though, that's gotta be a pain.
I don't have a fear of driving but I can see myself being one of those old ladies (starting any second) who won't go anywhere if she can't get home before dark. Won't drive in the city.
I already hate that. You know you shouldn't be driving if you pray the whole time, then count it as a miracle that you get out of town without an accident. Just bad.
Ophidiophobic
I totally understand this. I don't have it but I understand.
AND, you got to MOVE OUT BECAUSE OF AN IMAGINARY MOUSE.
I am seriously envious.
My husband just gives me that nasty eyeball roll and ignores the screaming.
HOW CAN HE LIVE WITH HIMSELF?????
Or better to ask, how can he live with me, I suppose.
Wow - another book coming out? What (aside from the obvious) is "Buffalo Gals" about? Is it part of yet another series or a stand alone?
Buffalo Gal is coming next month from Heartsong Presents.
Here's a short description.
They'll never see eye-to-eye.
Buffy Lange has spent her life learning about, caring for, and protecting buffalo. She's landed the job of her dreams, managing a huge buffalo ranch in South Dakota.
With stars in her eyes, she imagines all of the Midwest given over to free-ranging buffalo. To her, buffalo embody beauty, majesty, and strength.
To Wyatt Shaw, however, the buffalo are a constant threat. Wyatt's ranch adjoins the Buffalo Commons and he watches in trepidation as its owner expands and rides roughshod over the local ranchers. Buffalo are wild, untameable, and dangerous. They present a hazard to man and beast.
When disaster strikes, Wyatt's worst fears are realized and Buffy can do nothing but clean up the mess. With one determined to rid the area of buffalo and the other determined to see them flourish, the dust seldom settles around these two. Will they find a common ground or are they destined to forever stand alone?
HEY! I got my copies of Buffalo Gal today, my authors copies.
YAY, it's the first I've held them.
Very sweet.
Of Mice and Murder should be coming soon.
HEY! I got my copies of Buffalo Gal today, my authors copies.
YAY, it's the first I've held them.
Very sweet.
Of Mice and Murder should be coming soon.
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