Vinnie Hansen's Blog

Why, you may ask, have I been gobbling up Karen McManus's ONE OF US IS LYING young adult series? When I was a high school English teacher, I used to read a lot of young adult material to cull my classroom library, but I've been retired now for 13 years. However, because I was a high school teacher for 27 years, teenaged characters frequently creep into my own books even though I write for an adult audience. And I can certainly relate to the high school setting of the first book in this trio set in the fictional town of Bayview outside of San Diego. Reading the three books has been like eating popcorn for me. But the main reason I've been reading the series is that I've received this honor: https://www.bookshopsantacruz.com/kar...

Writers often get asked where our ideas come from. It's tempting to answer flippantly, "Everywhere." They come from snippets of conversation, birds that fly into windowpanes, and the directions for using glue. Really, anywhere. On the other hand, many of my stories have come from the very direct source of a prompt. My most recent publication, a story titled "Perfect Partner," had to respond to the theme of the anthology Hook, Line, and Sinker. The theme was "grifters, con artists, and their marks." Today at Art Taylor's The First Two Pages, find out how the first two pages of "Perfect Partner" evolved. https://arttaylorwriter.com/2023/02/0...

That's what my mom used to say to our lame excuses. With my new novel, One Gun, out in June, I certainly "shoulda" been more on top of promotion.

And I "woulda, coulda," but my husband and I spent most of June sick. Tell me, how did we elude Covid for two and a half years only to get bronchitis?

Then there's been a time-consuming hunt for a new mattress (rather like "The Princess and the Pea") and reading for my upcoming "The Modern Gumshoe" panel at Bouchercon.

I did have a great virtual launch of One Gun via Bookshop Santa Cruz. The incomparable Susan Bickford interviewed me. You can view it here: https://youtu.be/9zp1QoEJ7is

And there are great events yet to come . . . . https://vinniehansen.com/2022/08/more...

It’s probably not what you think.

My parents came of age on South Dakota homesteads during The Great Depression. Rounding up cattle to be shot and buried before they starved. Picking up bones of dead animals to be sold by the ton. They were steel-forged in the heat of the Dirty Thirties.

Read more: https://vinniehansen.com/2022/04/my-p...

A few years ago, my husband and I interrupted a burglar in our home. Screaming for help, my husband chased the young man down the street while I frantically dialed 9-1-1. The thief stopped, pulled a gun, and aimed it at my husband’s head . . . .

Read more: https://vinniehansen.com/2022/03/one-...

If you ever need an artery nipped out of your temple, have a plastic surgeon do it. My doctor was so deft, his sutures so neat, I’m not quite sure where to slather the antibiotic ointment.

What’s going on? That’s the million-dollar question . . . .
https://vinniehansen.com

Producing a book can be roughly divided into three parts. Writing the story is only the first third. Then there’s editing, revising and proofreading–sometimes over and over. My current work-in-progress is on draft 11B. As John Irving said, “Half my life is an act of revision.”

And finally, for me, the most difficult part–marketing! Whether indie published or with one of the Big Five, authors are expected to promote their own books.

Even though I’ve lived the last 50 years in California, I was born and raised in South Dakota; I’m a reserved, understated Midwesterner by nature. It is very difficult for me to say, . . .

https://vinniehansen.com/2021/11/holi...

In honor of Veteran’s Day, I offer you the free story below titled “Private First Class.”

Long ago when I took “Private First Class” to my critique group, one member said it was “inane” while another proclaimed it the best thing I’d written. I’m sure this thinly fictionalized account of my dad’s World War II experience lies somewhere in between.

The story is part of a collection of fictionalized autobiography called The Celestial Division of Instruments. Many of the pieces have been published individually. Some day I hope to see the whole collection in print. Certainly, “Private First Class” is a work which gathers poignancy in context with the other stories.

Private First Class

1945

Private First-Class Mitchell Nelsen, 37773149, lay in the hull of a boat. To conserve oxygen, the new recruits had been ordered to lie down except to go to the bathroom. They were packed in, Mitchell thought, like the slaves must have been, only the soldiers had cots and wool blankets and weren’t chained.

They had two and a half weeks to wonder what Germany would be like and whether they would ever see their families again. Sometimes they murmured back and forth, but often they retreated to their private sadness and fear, listening to the powerful engine that propelled them across the Atlantic to fight Hitler’s army.

(to continue follow this link to my website)

https://vinniehansen.com/2021/11/priv...

I previously wrote a blog about how where we read a book impacts our perception of it. For example, reading Cara Black’s Murder on the Left Bank while staying on the Left Bank definitely heightened my pleasure. While the book remains the same, our surroundings can make it more—or less—enjoyable to read.

A recent experience made me contemplate how when we read a book might also affect our enjoyment. I’m not talking about reading in the morning vs. in the evening. I’m talking about when in our lives we encounter the book—whether we are young or old, whether the times are calm or . . . .

Read more at https://vinniehansen.com/2021/05/when...

I can’t say that there is a single positive to COVID-19, especially when I know people who have been quarantined and have lost loved ones.

But the forced changes to our lives have not been all bad—at least not for me. These are some of the silver linings, listed in no particular order:

Change is hard; it upsets my tummy. But it defines life. It’s essential to creativity. Forced change causes us to re-evaluate. Re-wire. Re-purpose. Probably some of it long overdue.

Read more:
https://vinniehansen.com/2020/04/10-s...