Guest Post: Cap'n Random

Mystery

Date Published: July 2013

When crime scene cleaner Charles 'Yey' Reyes helps a detective friend solve a Roanoke homicide, he shuns the praise. He quickly changes his mind when his friend is killed while on duty. But this time, his offer to help is rejected by the police captain. Meanwhile, homegrown celebrity Sydney Estes buys a house near town. As the citizens swoon, Yey notices a link between Sydney and a flurry of homicides. Harangued by the captain, local media, and Sydney's fans, Yey struggles to connect clues which will prove his theories.

Chris DeBrie is an American publisher, author, and artist. He has written hundreds of news and sports articles for a variety of sources. DeBrie has independently published several novels and comic books. He lives in Roanoke, Virginia.

Website: www.meanpimento.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/WYHP/94601729756

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Guest Post:

What Are Your Writing Quirks and Must-Haves?

I see photos, or hear and read descriptions, of the offices of writers who have these awesome set-ups. The computer, an open window with fresh breezes, cat scratching at the keyboard, Enya on the radio, a snack of cheese and crackers on the side table, and so on. It always looks so idyllic and peaceful.

My writing space doesn't look anything like that.

I have the laptop and the cat, and from there things branch off from those magazine-quality images. Usually the television or sports radio is on, for background effect. In recent years I listen to radio and web sermons, or Bible readings, when my eyes get tired. I can't really do that as I write, because learning about the Bible requires all of my attention. TV and talk radio is low-level in comparison--all mental bludgeonings, like a toxic mind wash that I can drift in and out of while I get a sense of what's going on in the world. That stuff doesn't deserve my full faculties. It's pretty well impossible for me to continually write all day. I can and have had ten-hour writing sessions. But the actual writing might be two-thirds or three-fourths of that and something must be available.

Ideas are constantly coming at me while I write. So as I'm hammering away at a story, song snippets are flooding in too. That means the guitar and digital recorder are nearby. I might only touch the guitar for a few minutes but it has to be there. Coffee is nearly always perking and the crockpot gets a lot of use. I like to cook but I'm going in many directions. You can't do everything--not well, anyway. A slow cooker comes in handy as I don't need to watch it all day. Sometimes I forget to eat regularly until my stomach is climbing the wall.

I draw cartoons, so my storyboards of the latest project are always within eyesight. Something I just typed might spark a new lyric or comic book character revelation. A stack of sources, like books and old magazines that I plan to slice up for articles or books of my own, are usually stacked within reach. My longer breaks occasionally include a video game where I can shoot a few virtual basketballs, or maybe even a virtual enemy soldier.

My whole life is in this one room. All of it co-exists and bleeds together, especially the art, music and writing... not only influencing each other but feeding off the last thing. That means my office reflects my mind--a mishmash that probably doesn't make sense to the next person. But then, that is true of most people, I imagine.