Kelly Brady Channick's Blog

Part of my New Years Resolutions this year was to read 10 Non-Fiction Books.

Each year, I typically read around 100 books, but few (if any) tend to be non-fiction. In fact, I mostly hang around the mystery, crime, or sci-fy genres…

Thus, this year I was determined to change that.

I’m happy to say that not only did I read ten, but I breezed through that number and have successfully more than doubled that goal.

I can honestly say that I’ve been missing out on some pretty good reads. I always figured nonfiction was more memoir-y/biographical. And I questioned why people would be so apt to read about another’s experience.

Now, I see I was half-wrong. Yes, a large portion of nonfiction is about another person’s life—but that doesn’t mean there’s nothing to gain by reading it.

I’ve always been into running and staying active in general. However, my food choice hasn’t ever been that healthy. I can honestly say after a few interesting and even captivating reads, my diet has now changed for the better (I even feel more energy, and with three kids, three and under that’s huge!)

Hence, I’ll sum up this blog by encouraging others to dip into genres not usually read. Who knows what you’ll learn?—or how you’ll change for the better?

In no particular order:

Longer days—well, a longer amount of daylight and more time to enjoy the outdoors!

Being outside MORE!

Swimming

Eating S’MORES

Watching fireworks

Summer Concerts

Family visits—we live at the shore! Of course, we love using that as an excuse to host family and friends!

Camping (separate, but includes number 4)

Shave Ice and Ice Cream in abundance

Working out, outside—the best workouts are often the sweatiest!

Why Cozy Mysteries?

When I originally wrote out and outlined my young adult mystery series, Asbury High, I honestly had never heard of that genre. To be fair, I was eighteen and this was twelve years ago—pre Kindle Unlimited and Cozy Mystery advertising all over the computer.

Yet, after realizing my series was pretty different than many of its young adult counterparts, I realized there had to be a subset of mystery somewhere to explain my book better.

There had to be some category I fit into better.

My young adult book did not have any explicit language, or sex scenes, or gruesome violence. I wanted to write an old-fashioned mystery—full of goofy yet lovable characters, top notch amateur sleuths, and (of course) filled with red-herrings. However, it just seemed too different from the young adult mysteries that were out there, and doing quite well.

Then, I cam across the term cozy mystery. By definition, a cozy mystery sums up my series perfectly. None of the aforementioned explicit language, sexual or violent scenes are permitted inside the world of the cozy. Moreover, most cozies take place in a small town—Asbury is a fictional small seaside town!

After discovering this niche, I then jumped into the world of cozy mysteries! I quickly realized many of my favorite books are cozies—hello, Nancy Drew and all of Agatha Christie’s novels.

After many hours spent reading and studying cozies, I feel proud to say Asbury High has found its home.

I love reading pretty much every genre—but truthfully, I read to take a break from the real world. I enjoy going outside my comfort zone, but sometimes I just want to be entertained—not saddened, not scared.

Cozies provide this outlet, this ticket to another world. I love when readers leave me a review and mention how much they enjoyed a good ‘old-fashioned’ mystery.

So, if you want to be read a mystery—where I guarantee you’ll be stumped on who did it!—then grab one of my cozies.

What better way to start off a new year than with resolutions? I know, I know, a lot of people laugh at resolutions and vision boards ( I’m a believer in both), but the power of positivity and belief is not something I scoff at— and both have proven quite fruitful in my life.

To the good part—below are my resolutions:

Get my adult mystery novel published (I do have a title but will keep that secret, for now)

Release book 6 in my Asbury High series (May 2022)

Write three other WIPS (one of which is a series…)

Read 10 Non-Fiction books (I typically read over 100 books a year but rarely venture out of the fiction realm)

Practice my Spanish everyday (I can read in Spanish—novels, papers, etc.—but have difficulty in conversation)

Get my back healthy and bring lifting back into my workout routine (I’m a cardio fiend, but herniated my disk and pinched my sciatic nerve last year and am struggling)

Continue to have a healthy and happy family

Possibly go on a family vacation (Covid and regulations pending really)

Double my savings and increase our monthly investments 

Finish my t-shirt quilt (every year I put this on my resolutions and get a step closer, last year I measured and cut each shirt I plan to use!)

So that’s it! I like having ten things (10 is my favorite) and making sure I have a wide array of goals.

There is nothing more satisfying than a job well done. Especially when you’re the one doing the work!

I love DIY anything. It’s so fun to be creative and just let your mind focus on one task at hand—I often find my mind likes to wander and think of many ideas at once. When I’m building or making something though, it’s like my command center gets whipped into shape.

When it comes to DIY, my favorite category would be crafting. It’s such a wide area of fun! Now that I have two little ones, we are constantly doing legos or building blocks or coloring anything we can get our hands on. The older they get, the more we are able to do—and it’s so refreshing! I honestly love making something just for the fun of it.

And, by doing crafts with my kids it’s even more special. Yes, we are building memories and being sentimental but that’s not what I mean. I’m talking about being in charge of our own rules and our own little world.

Feel like building an upside-down house?

Or coloring only outside the lines?

Or gluing pieces of tape together?

Things that might not make sense are the best type of crafts. We always end up erupting into fits of laughter and talking about what we made weeks later! I’m not much of a hoarder or project saver, but there’s been a few good ones I haven’t been able to rid myself of yet (flying rabbit-crocodile-dinosaur, I’m talking to you).

So yes, DIY anything is my category. I wish I was better at DIY home construction, but that’s an area I’ll leave to the professionals. Give me the nonsensical, mess-inducing, made-it-up ourselves crafts any day.

I’m a firm believer that laughter is the best medicine—and I’m married to a doctor.

But think about it, laughter has the uncanny ability—the power, actually, to make things end. Whether that is stress, tears or fear. Bad feelings are momentarily forgotten!

If just the act of smiling is said to psychologically brighten your mood, imagine what laughing does! I’d venture a guess that it adds years to your life.

Throughout my life, I have turned to comedy to make sense out of things or people. For the past few years, what with political turmoil and seemingly angry people taking over the world (or at least the news), humor has been a beacon.

Offering hope to those who are lost or confused. While there are some events that need to be taken seriously, sometimes people need to take a collective breath and laugh it off.

There is a reason that satire has remained a popular genre since the dawn of time—I can only imagine the jokes the cavemen and women used to tell.

In my humble opinion, I think people get so caught up in small details and issues that they lose sight of humanity. And you can’t spell humanity without humor, it’s half the word!

Seriously though, think about it.

Everyone knows someone who takes themself too seriously. I have often found that if you can’t laugh at yourself, you really cant laugh at anything…which is a whole other issue.

As someone who was voted Class Clown her senior year, I know the value of a good joke. Teens often overstress and overwork themselves. When really they should be enjoying life and growing up happily—especially before they enter the world of taxes and paychecks and rent…

The next time you are with a group of people, or even just one person, try to make them laugh. I guarantee you that the act of bringing humor to another is the greatest gift of all. Not only does the world become a brighter place for that moment, but people tend to recall funny things. I’d bet the next time you are with that person or group, someone brings up how you made them laugh, and everyone shares in a fun, joint memory.

So, take a second, breath in and out, and laugh your heart out.

While yes, today is National Homemade Cookie Day, and I did allow myself to indulge in such a sweet day, I know and appreciate the importance of healthy eating.

Now, I’m sure everyone knows or at least had heard of the many merits of eating well. Your weight, sleep and mental well-being is affected so positively just by consistently choosing to eat healthy food.

Unfortunately, for many, eating healthy and cooking meals seems to be difficult.

Whether one is short on time, or money, healthy cooking tends to get put on the back burner (pun intended 😊).

But, it shouldn’t be! There are plenty of ways to save money and buy healthy ingredients.

You can buy in bulk and meal prep. You can choose the ‘ugly’ fruit and veggies—the ones grocery stores don’t like to stock because they don’t look as nice—they taste the same! Heck, you can even coupon.

Plus, the more you order out, the more you’re spending on fees and tipping.

It’s a no brainer.

When it comes to taste…while many of us are addicted to sugars (unknowingly or not), when you cook meals yourself you know what you are putting in your food. No surprises! The only thing that might surprise you is how delicious the food actually tastes.

Yup, with healthy foods and home cooking there is more taste. Add some herbs and a spice here and there, and boom you could cook the same veggie a million different ways.

I love cooking healthy, because its fun. My little man is only two but already he enjoys being in the kitchen. Cracking eggs, shaking in some spices, or mixing the pan or bowl up (with my constant supervision of course) and he’s a regular chef!

Seeing as his aunt is literally a professional chef, he does get a little bit of an edge when she comes and shows him a trick to two. I’ve found that cooking is one of the best ways to get the family together and make delicious memories.

And finally, my last reason: your body will thank you. It’s no secret I was a student athlete and, I consider myself an athlete for life. I knew when I graduated college that I wanted to keep an active lifestyle and stay in shape. No longer would I be forced to run or lift or go through rigorous drills. Yes, I could workout on my own, and I do, but without the right diet I would not be able to keep up a solid routine.

Cooking my own meals, and making sure I eat healthy most of the time, helps me stay energetic and definitely cuts down any possible chance of lethargy.

After all, they say: look good, feel good. But they really should say: eat good, look good feel good.

Music.

I think this is one thing that everyone can agree on—music should be on everyone’s favorite things list.

Think about it, music is so diverse and expansive, it’s almost as unique as an individual self.

Sure there are songs that everyone loves or considers “their song,” but there are also some songs that only appeal to a few. And that’s what I love about music.

As an athlete, I know the importance of a good pump up song. Nothing quite gets your blood pumping and your mindset quite right, other than that song or songs that you know will get you going. For myself, in both high school and college there were two songs that I played right before each game: Stevie Wonder’s Sir Duke, followed right by Ninety-Nine Red Balloons.

And I can’t deny the results, not only did my teams win…but honestly, I usually dominated. Just saying….

Although my competitive days are pretty much done, music still gets me going. Especially as a mom. Whether I’m cleaning or cooking or just hanging with my pups and kids , a solid background track keeps everything together.

I’d go so far as to say music seems to be the glue of life.

I mean, can you imagine your favorite movie or TV scene without the music in that scene—or a favorite movie montage where the character builds him/herself up without that classic toe-tapping, rhythmic song? I think not.

Now, not to bring the mood down, but when one’s mood is down, music is the faithful sidekick that never leaves you. Plus, it will either agree with what you’re going through…or be the friend who attempts to change your mindset and set you on the path to success.

When I’m stuck on a scene in my writing, or have an itch I can’t quite scratch in my brain, I simply take a break from my work and tune to a favorite (Smash Mouth or the Beatles tends to be my go to…although even I jump around to whatever I feel).

For anyone who hasn’t appreciated music like they should, here’s a chance to reconsider its importance. After all, you don’t have to know how to make music in order to enjoy that. And for the instrumentally and vocally untalented like myself (although I happen to think my voice isn’t that bad…don’t ask Ryan though), that is music’s greatest gift of all.

As I write this, I have just gotten back from physical therapy and am on my way to acupuncture in a few hours.

Why? Well, although I love mysteries, there’s nothing mysterious here. I pulled my back out earlier this month (actually on the last day of last month), moving into our new house.

However, the one silver lining of straining one’s back muscles, is that for a few days I was told to relax and lay down when possible. (I’m also blessed to have family members swing by and help with the little ones).

Hence, during my relaxation, I’ve been able to read many, many mysteries. And, although I love the classics, I finally found time to knock out a few newer authors and reads from my TBR list.

Sweet, right? But did I really read only mysteries?

Actually yes. Although, I usually read every genre, during my current injury I decided to treat myself and fall into my comfort zone.

For as long as I can remember, I have always been pulled to mysteries. And I mean, any kind and way too—reading, writing and even watching anything in the mystery genre. One of the best aspects of any good mystery, is the element of surprise. How often, in real life and fiction, is the ending too obvious? Too boring?

The very best mysteries are filled with twists and turns. I myself, try my best to lure readers in multiple directions filled with red herrings, in hopes of shocking them at the end—although, realistically, I may add.

As much as I love routines and lists, which I truly do (especially with kids), there is no better way to take a temporarily break from reality than with a solid mystery.

So next time you find yourself down and out—or with some unexpected free time—crack open a mystery! You’ll never know what you might discover.

As I write this, I have just gotten back from physical therapy and am on my way to acupuncture in a few hours.

Why? Well, although I love mysteries, there’s nothing mysterious here. I pulled my back out earlier this month (actually on the last day of last month), moving into our new house.

However, the one silver lining of straining one’s back muscles, is that for a few days I was told to relax and lay down when possible. (I’m also blessed to have family members swing by and help with the little ones).

Hence, during my relaxation, I’ve been able to read many, many mysteries. And, although I love the classics, I finally found time to knock out a few newer authors and reads from my TBR list.

Sweet, right? But did I really read only mysteries?

Actually yes. Although, I usually read every genre, during my current injury I decided to treat myself and fall into my comfort zone.

For as long as I can remember, I have always been pulled to mysteries. And I mean, any kind and way too—reading, writing and even watching anything in the mystery genre. One of the best aspects of any good mystery, is the element of surprise. How often, in real life and fiction, is the ending too obvious? Too boring?

The very best mysteries are filled with twists and turns. I myself, try my best to lure readers in multiple directions filled with red herrings, in hopes of shocking them at the end—although, realistically, I may add.

As much as I love routines and lists, which I truly do (especially with kids), there is no better way to take a temporarily break from reality than with a solid mystery.

So next time you find yourself down and out—or with some unexpected free time—crack open a mystery! You’ll never know what you might discover.