The Real Marnie Gellhorn

New Collaboration with Author Monica Dale

IF I haven’t mentioned it before now – I have the greatest publisher in the world.. It’s a tiny niche publishing house, A L Press Publishing, but I love them for that! It’s run by people that love books and writing. They aren’t looking for the next slick self-help psychobabble New York Times Best Seller.. They actively seek out new and different voices, and more importantly, welcome all genres.. It’s not vanity publishing for a price – it’s an out-fashioned publishing house, operating in a digital era, embracing on-line publishing.

But, why I am talking about all this? Well, because A L Press is also the publishing house of another female author, Monica M. Dale. Her first book, “Losing Andres & Finding Helen: How Diary of a Mad Black Woman Saved My Sanity,” is an incredibly personal story of personal betrayal, the breakdown of a marriage, menopause and illness. I first met Monica at an author’s event in Memphis, where we shared a table sponsored by A L Press. We spent the afternoon together, and exchanged contact information along with copies of our respective books.

As I was drawn into this incredibly personal book, I felt compelled to reach out to Monica. I had just started writing lyrics, as part of my current writing project, and I mentioned it to Monica. That was all it took. She listened to some of my songs, and immediately suggested that we collaborate on a soundtrack to her book.

I am thrilled to announce that we finished and published the book soundtrack this week!

Losing Andres and Finding Helen: the soundtrack is out and available on Spotify, Amazon music, iTunes, Youtube and other music platforms.

I am particularly proud of this work – it’s different from anything else I’ve done. Not only that, but Monica graciously invited me to sing on the album (which is not something I’ve done before..So that raspy, scratchy voice on the tracks, well, that’s mine.. It was a real challenge to sing in Spanish, but that’s kind of why we did it. (One of the things we both have in common is the idea of embracing challenges.)

Anyway – my newest chapter.. Not a journalist, more than a novelist, now SINGER – songwriter…

Still writing..

Notes, songs, and the latest book.. Having a wonderful and engrossing time doing background research on the current book – and just keep chasing more and more fascinating historical footnotes.. I was back in Memphis for a book event last week – and I stopped in to see Dr. Duenas at the University of Memphis. She’s a prominent researcher on Colombian history, and we had a delightful afternoon exchanging notes, stories and other information.

My song collection on Spotify, Amazon Music, etc.. is growing.. Most of it is Colombian history. I started writing verses as a memory prompt, but I am genuinely enjoying writing verses about the history of Colombia. Some of them cover some pretty intense periods of Colombian history, and others are just songs filled with random (but interesting!) bits of Colombian trivia..

Coconuco

I guess, because I am Marnie Gellhorn and writing is in my blood, I couldn’t help by write another song, about our protagonist, Christine and her adventures. I have been knee-deep writing her story for the last few days.. and it was just too irresistible. So there’s a new song on the Marnie Gellhorn Youtube channel (and most of the other streaming music sites) called “Coconuco” which is the ancestral home of the Gran General Mosquera..

This is the Spanish version of the song..

Writing..

While working on my latest project, I have been knee deep in various research projects. Christine has been keeping me very busy with her activities.. Researching Mosquera, studying history.. She’s even started writing songs – as part of her blog.. It’s getting to be a bit much. But I did want to share some of her songs.. Published under my name, of course, since she’s just a character.

I’ve included the link to Spotify, but you can also find it at I Heart Music, Amazon Music, YouTube Music and multiple other streaming music sites. Apple requires me to set a price, but please don’t buy the songs since they are AI voices (and music arrangements), just stream them (and leave me a like!)

Speaking of AI – I believe very strongly in intellectual and artistic honesty. My writing is always 100% mine.. But I do use AI to generate images of my characters, to create songs with my lyrics and generate videos.. That’s why I don’t want to sell the songs – but I still like to share them for other people to enjoy..

Christine and For the Love of Tomas

So our favorite new heroine, in knee-deep in her new adventure, a full-fledged love affiar with Tomas.. I can’t repeat all the “wonderful, amazing, handsome, brave, strong, old-fashioned charm and gallentry” superlatives that our darling Christine has bestowed on her romantic interest.. But you can read them yourself – at her own blog, Christine.

Christine, being our impetuous headstrong Christine, even has a podcast or two.

For the Love of Tomas is Christine’s podcast.

It’s available at substack,

Spotify

Amazon Music and other podcast services. Not only that, but she’s also in Espanol..

Of course, when Christine is writing and producing podcasts, it means that I’m not. So, I can’t promise regular and prompt content from Christine.. But she’s such a character, I just couldn’t wholly suppress her and contain to the pages of my wee little book..

Author meet & greet

Fun news! I’ve been invited back to the Bartlett Library.. This time for a one-on-one event, where folks can come out and Meet the Author.. More information soon – but for now:

Bartlett Public Library on Stage Road – Bartlett, TN

July 17th at 1:30 pm..

In other news, as part of a Kindle pilot program – they have translated the books into Spanish and German.. I am hoping to find some test readers – because I want to make sure that the translations are reasonably sound. I don’t expect that they can translate a southern accent so to speak – but I’d like to know that the book is understandable.

This is the first time this series has been translated. (The nonfiction work is already available in Spanish, courtesy of a flesh-and-blood professional translator.)

the Book Bonanza

It was a quick visit to Memphis for the Bartlett Book Bonanza.. I love Memphis, so it’s painful to be in and out – and then back on assignment.. Not enough time to visit old friends, have some good eats and enjoy everything that I love so much about the city..

I did get to spend some time with loved ones, enjoy some Ciao Bella for dinner and A & R BBQ for lunch – and sell some books! The Book Bonanza was lovely – I hadn’t been quite sure what to expect – since it’s a smaller venus, but it was a lot of fun. Got to meet with some fans, talk with other authors and enjoyed myself quite a bit.. I didn’t have the big elaborate table I usually have, but because I’ve been working on location on my newest title, I couldn’t bring all my usual posters and such.

This will be the last book fair for a bit – because I need to sit, concentrate and write! While I enjoy all of the events, they do keep me from what I love most – writing! I have some characters I need to attend to! (They get jealous, you know, if I don’t pay attention to them).

Our newest heroine, Christine

Here’s another image of my newest protagonist, Christine. In this scene, she’s in the midst of a intriguing adventure..

We’re at 37K words so far, so we still have a ways to go. Spent most of the day doing research. Sharing some of it as cute little podcast lectures – available on Christine’s substack..

My newest adventure

Taking a break from my newest project to write a quick note.. The new story is quite a bit different from the last two, so I thought I would share a little bit as I go..

As I mentioned before, with the last book, I started generating images of the characters using AI, to keep me company as I wrote their stories. Developing characters takes quite a bit of time, if you aren’t using the same tired tropes. For characters, I follow the cardinal rule of writing (the one that I refuse to follow for anything else: “Write what you know!”

My answer to that is that what I know isn’t a particular place, time period, genre, or type of story**.

What I know is: People. I have a good understanding (and experience) with human nature, human emotions, and behavior – even what we often think of as ‘irrational behavior.’ I understand what motivates people and typical social norms. The caveat of that being that while I can empathize and sympathize with other people, I can’t feel what they are feeling, so the only way to authentically write about what the characters are feeling – is to put a little bit of “me” into many of my characters.

This means that my characters drive the stories.. But I research everything else – even places and things that I think I know. I have an obsession for details – and I enjoy the research process. To me, it’s more like a treasure hunt, and it’s something that I want readers to enjoy as well. I want my readers to be able to say, “well, that’s interesting” about any random stray detail and be able to “google” it or look it up and find more information about it.

For example, I like to put my fictional characters into as real a situation as possible. That means that if my character is eating peach cobbler in “Mabel’s Restaurant” in 1953, in a certain Memphis neighborhood, and her waitress’s name is Doris, you can bet your 35 cent pie, that a woman named Doris was working at that restaurant, in the 1950’s, and said peach cobbler was on the menu.

That’s because I think a good book, article or movie is one that makes you think. It’s something that stirs your curiosity, maybe even long after you’ve finished it. I want my readers to have that same feeling when they read my works – where they stop and highlight a section, or mark it on their kindle. I want readers to enjoy looking up these details and thinking, “Well, I’ll be darned.. I thought she was just making that up..”

The best compliment I can ever receive is when someone tells me that they ended up reading another book about something that I mentioned in one of my stories.

But.. Sometimes this habit gets me into strange situations… Situations that defy that cardinal rule that all writers are taught.. On a whim, I decided that one of my characters – well, her personality just meant that she wasn’t going to stay in Memphis. She was young, she was adventurous and she was ready to see something new. So, she decided to go to Paris…

Now, I’ve been to Paris.. But that doesn’t mean that I know Paris. What it does mean is that it took me over four months to research all of the information that I needed to write two chapters. I was looking at a specific time period, and a specific focus – so I ended up with my own specialty reference library on that microcosm of Paris, filled with different books, articles, maps and other reference materials so that I could depict the scenes accurately. Does it really matter to my readers? Probably not, but it matters to me.

** I don’t have a hankering to write anymore stories about being at the front – I’ve done plenty of that already. I don’t want to write about the life I already know, because I don’t write for my readers – I write for myself. (I love my readers, but I don’t try to write using the popular formulas for novels – maybe I should because it’s a good way to win readers particularly in specific genres like romance, but that’s not who I am or what I do..

In my next post – if readers are interested – I’d like to share some more of the AI generated images that I am using while writing this story. I don’t talk to them, (at least not outloud), but the definitely keep me company..

See you at the book fair!

I’ll be at the book fair in Bartlett, Tennessee.. It will be the last book fair for a while. While I love my readers, (and I love meeting and talking to all of you!), I am deep into writing my latest book. So, I will be staying at home for a while, writing and researching a new book. It’s not part of the Murder in the Mississippi Delta series. After several years of researching and writing about Memphis, Shelby county and the surrounding areas, I wanted to give something new a try.

The book is set in South America.. We have a new protagonist, Christine. She’s based on an old friend of mine. Like me, she’s from Memphis, and she’s a widow.. But that’s where the similarities stop. Several years ago, Christine was swept off her feet, and relocated to Colombia. Then her husband died tragically, and she’s been rebuilding her life ever since. She’s been studying for her citizenship exam with her friend, Professor Boutin. What seemed like an innocent evening escape – a themed Christmas event, has turned into a wild adventure.

I discovered while writing the “Princes of Shelby County” that I enjoy creating AI enhanced images of my characters to accompany me while I write. (It’s ironic, since I shun anything AI writing-related because I worry that AI authorship will be the death of writer creativity. But with the images alongside me as I write, it actually spurs me along..