It Started With a Coffin

In the late nineties when the book and movie of The Garden of Good and Evil were all the rage, my husband and I traveled to Savannah to see the locations in the book. We stayed in a Bed and Breakfast on one of Savannah’s famous squares. As bed and breakfasts tend to be, this one was decorated in antiques, unusual collector’s items, and all manner of frou frou. Our room had a sewing machine theme: sewing machine tables as bedside tables, a dress-form in the corner, and tape measures, spools of thread, and scissors were used as art.

Outside our room, in the hallway, was a coffin! If you are a writer of short stories, as I was, how can you resist combining sewing and a casket?  My first ghost story was born. It was called Sew Scary and got published in some extremely obscure ezine that only stuck around for a few months. As ghost stories go, it was not among the best. There was even a decapitation. That is not my style, but it got me rolling.

I admit I was never a fan of the horror genre—some Stephen King novels and movies years ago—that was all. But I discovered I had fun writing ghost stories. As was the case with that first one, setting is usually my inspiration. I see a place that I think might be haunted, the more unlikely the better; then I think about what ghost might haunt it and whom might they haunt.

Because I don’t read a lot of horror, my writing is not influenced by other writers. That’s why I think other readers who don’t usually read ghost stories would like reading mine. There is very little gore and few foggy figures in the rain.

Ghost Stories

I have found some online articles that have helped me learn the craft. One such article discussed the motivations of ghosts. Most of my ghosts are inspired by unfinished business. They dwell in the in-between world because there is a personal debt they owe or an estranged relationship they want to set right. Then they can rest in peace. In a few stories I made the ghost the main character. I liked that challenge.

I had several ghost stories published in anthologies by Devil’s Party Press. To my amazement, the press offered to publish a collection of my stories. Of course I agreed. The Holy Ghost and Other Spooky Stories came out April 14, 2024.

The title The Holy Ghost perfectly fit the lead-in story and the book’s title. It occurred to me that the title might be considered sacrilegious, so I asked my minister her opinion. Her reply was, “It’s your book. You can call it anything you like.” And a member of my church came to my book launch. He bought two copies, one for himself and one for a church group to which he belongs. I am confident that the ghost in the story is holy, just not the entity usually associated with the name.

My collection of ghost stories is a big departure from the subject of my 2019 novel I Never Told You. That book is about a mother and daughter who hide their true selves for fear of losing each other’s love. It is set in small town Iowa, Chicago, and Hollywood. I am proud to say it was an Indie Next finalist for debut novel.

I am trying to place a completed novella and a short novel in a print journal as I no longer want to deal with publishers of books who expect a lot of marketing by the author.

An American Girl

Aside from that, I am not writing anything right now. I consider myself retired. I will occasionally write a short story, my first love, but I want to do other things.

What I most enjoy about writing is creating characters and their own little worlds. I am a visual person, and I see their stories unfolding in my head. I enjoy editing and tweaking until I think the story is the best I can make it. The process is satisfying.

I think it is important for women of all ages to have a creative outlet that gives them satisfaction. Almost anything has an element of creativity: it can be writing, singing in a choir, gardening, or sewing American Girl doll clothes – which is my current passion.

In fact, for my 76^th birthday on September 22, I am happily returning to my childhood. My husband is giving me an American Girl doll from their “design your own” collection. I will have fun sewing for her. At my birthday party I am having  a “name the doll” activity.  I’ve come a long way from a coffin, but not so very far from a Savannah bedroom with a sewing machine theme.