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As authors, we think about setting as a major aspect of our characters’ lived experience, but setting also matters for us as we do our writing. In her guest essay, Carol talks about the places she writes and where she created her new series, the Coyote Canyon Mysteries, which begins with her recent release, Exposure.

 

Places Where I Write

by

Carol Preflatish

 

Thank you, Lynn for hosting me on your blog today. Let me start by saying that I hate writing blog posts, which is odd since I do have my own blog. I suppose I spend so much time writing my books that my mind is too tired to come up with an idea for a blog. That being said, I thought I’d give it a shot for Lynn’s blog.

I’d like to give everyone a glimpse at the different places where I write. Obviously, the main setting I write is at my own desk, which is in a corner of my living room. I always have my television turned on and you’d think that would be a distraction, but it’s not. As long as the show on the set is one that I have seen many times, I don’t pay much attention. I love to write with the original Law and Order playing in the background. If I get stuck with my writing at my desk, I sometimes switch to my couch where I’ll write in long hand. I think I’m way more creative writing with pencil and paper. It’s just not as fast as typing.         

The other place where I love to write is at a coffee shop. I’ve had several writers tell me that they are too distracted writing in a coffee shop, but it’s just the opposite for me. I can zone everything and everyone out while I’m there and rarely get writer’s block. I have three shops that I go to. Starbucks is the closest to my home and they now give free refills while in the store, so that’s a plus.

 

7-Brew is a drive-through-only coffee shop across the street from Starbucks. If I plan on writing from home and want a fancy coffee, I’ll go there to pick up something and then back to my desk at home.

However, my favorite coffee shop to write at is a local place called Coffee Crossing. When I first moved to the town where I live now, I tried all the coffee shops in town, and Coffee Crossing was my favorite. They have the best caramel lattes, both hot and iced, that I always get. If you follow me on my Facebook page, you have no doubt seen all the photos I post from the coffee shops. Coffee Crossing also hosts “Coffee with a Cop” every year and I was able to meet several officers from my town when I went last year.   

In my newest book, Exposure, a Coyote Canyon Mystery, the Java Bar is the coffee shop in the town of Coyote Canyon where the sheriff’s department officers go for their coffee, and the owner is the sheriff’s girlfriend. Exposure is about Sheriff Sam Winslow, the youngest sheriff ever elected in Colorado, as he settles in for what he hopes will be a quiet Sunday night. The 911 line starts ringing: lost boy on Black Bear Mountain. With the temperature dropping, Sam works fast to deploy his deputies, the fire department, and search and rescue teams to the mountain.

Fortunately, the boy is found, but a member of the search team also finds a dead body at the bottom of a nearby cliff. Sam immediately starts an investigation, but it quickly gets complicated. The boy and his two friends eventually admit to Sam that they found thousands of dollars while exploring an old silver mine on the mountain near where the body was found. With this news, the sheriff fears the boys’ lives are now in danger from whoever hid the money.

Another problem develops when an FBI agent shows up to claim jurisdiction and wants to take over the case.

Knowing he will have a fight on his hands, Sam is not giving up this case willingly.

On my own blog, http://CarolPre.blogspot.com, you can read about some of the officers in Exposure and see renderings of how they look. Exposure is the first book in the Coyote Canyon Mystery series. You can purchase it in paperback and e-book on Amazon at https://bit.ly/4khN44H

BIO:

Carol Preflatish, from southern Indiana, has been writing for over twenty years, and is the author of the Coyote Canyon Mysteries and the Nathan Perry Mystery Series, as well as several romantic suspense novels, and two non-fiction books. She is also a multi-award-winning screenwriter. When she’s not writing, she loves to read mysteries, watch golf and Indianapolis Colts football, and do just about anything outdoors. An avid photographer, Carol has had many of her photos published in newspapers, magazines, and books.