I’m happy to welcome award-winning author Charlene Bell Dietz. Today, Charlene shares her creative journey and novel, The Flapper, the Imposter, and the Stalker.

Interview

What was your inspiration for this book?

The Flapper, the Impostor, and the Stalker holds dear to my heart because this book grew out of my forced association with a cantankerous old aunt, I knew little about. As her only relative, I ended up caring for her. She told stories about her life in 1923 when she was a teen. She refused to tell me juicy details, for the most part, so this book really is fiction. My aunt stole my heart, and this story did too.

Describe your writing space

If you were to imagine an ideal place to create and write, where would it be? Would you love a retreat in a forest where deer and wild turkeys, with their babies, walk right up to your patio or window so you could see them up close? How about a place to rejuvenate by strolling through tall grasses and wildflowers between ponderosa pine and pinon trees with mountain tops visible nearby? I have all of this. We live in the foothills of the mountains in central New Mexico, fifty miles from the nearest city. Our nearest neighbor is over a half mile away. There’s nothing better than the fresh smell of falling rain, or the sweetness of clover, filling the air. I can sit at my computer in my studio, surrounded with windows, and watch the birds, clouds, and whatever is out there, brings me inspiration. Writer’s block doesn’t happen. If I feel bogged down, I take a long, long walk. That’s when my characters come alive and speak to me. I’m one lucky author.

Which authors have inspired you?

Alice Hoffman, with her engaging magic, teaches me to add to my stories a touch of that other world we don’t truly understand.

Philippa Gregory’s eye for the historical unique and vivid detail she shares with her readers, are gifts we all should strive to embrace.

Michael Connell takes a flawed character, and humanizes this person to the point his readers become avid fans. He knows how to twist and turn plots, and takes the ugly and turns it into something worth reading.

I read over seventy-five books a year and have discovered many wonderful authors. I’ve only mentioned a few, of the many, who stand out in my mind.

What is your favorite quote?

Fear is the Mind-Killer. – Frank Herbert, Dune
(also) Courtesy is contagious.– attributed to the Air Force Space Command, but my father said this to me as a child, many, many years ago.

Besides writing and reading, what are some of your hobbies?

I write in my studio, built for drawing, painting, and sculpting; however, those arts are neglected. Writing and reading take up a good deal of my time. This last year, I started keeping bees. Building a hive and learning all about the art of bee keeping has added a valuable dimension to my life.

Any advice for aspiring writers?

Start your writing knowing many rewrites are in your future. The rewrites are where you’ll find the exact and perfect verbs. Excellent choice of verbs makes your writing strong. When rewriting, you’ll discover there are many, many ways to write the same concept. Try them all out, but pick the simplest one that gives your reader the best information to understand your story. To make your writing sparkle, you’ll rewrite to make room for your readers to share in the writing process by using their own intuition and imaginations. You’ll do this by not writing “on-the-nose” dialogue, eliminating redundancies, and learning the power of subtext.

What are you working on next?

I’ve started a (minimum) three book historical mystery series set in New Mexico at a fictitious high school in downtown Albuquerque in 1967. This was the year test scores across the nation for high school students plummeted. They’ve never recovered. This was a year when schools suffered over-crowding, unsupervised latch-key students, and lots of drugs being passed around. This year and subsequence years became nightmares for dedicated teachers.

Blurb

A privileged teenager from Minneapolis in 1923, scraps her college scholarship and runs away to become a flapper in dangerous, chaotic Chicago. In her search for illusive happiness, she confronts the mob and then must contrive a way to not be murdered.

Excerpt

Crystal stood and moved her hand toward the hall stairway. Sophie and Kathleen set their plates down and followed. Before they left the parlor Kathleen picked up her pocketbook and valise and nodded for Sophie to do the same. She didn’t want Crystal to rummage through their things while they were upstairs trying on dresses—or whatever they were to do. When they reached the top of the stairs, a door stood open at the far end of the long hall. A single hanging lightbulb illuminated a rack of dresses with shoes lined up underneath, and at the back stood a large chest of drawers.

“Goldie, I’ve told you—keep that door closed and locked. Now hurry.” The girl lunged down the hallway. Crystal guided Kathleen and Sophie into the first door on the right.

“This is one of the bedrooms. The other is right next to this. Down the hall next to the closet you’ll find the bathroom. We don’t have hot water, but I’m sure that’s not a problem when you consider your rent is free.”

“Free rent and free dresses?” Kathleen congratulated herself. Even with moths batting around in her brain, she knew a ploy when she heard it. Crystal pushed open the door into a small bedroom. The room contained a table, a chair, and a bed. With the shade pulled down, the cleanliness remained questionable, and the room smelled funny, maybe from sweat or body odor. Kathleen couldn’t identify it.

“Goldie does have an eye for size. This dress should do you nicely. Tell her what size shoe you wear. Now, let’s go next door and see what Goldie has for Sophie. Isn’t this fun?

Buy Links

Barnes and Noble | Amazon | Treasure House Books

*********The book will be $0.99 during the tour.*********

Author Bio and Links

Charlene Bell Dietz’s award-winning mystery novels The Flapper, the Scientist, and the Saboteur combines family saga with corporate espionage, and The Flapper, the Impostor, and the Stalker propels readers back into 1923 in frenetic Chicago. The Scientist, the Psychic, and the Nut gives readers a frightening Caribbean vacation. Her latest novel The Spinster, the Rebel, and the Governor is a historical biography about Lady Margaret Brent, the first American woman to be called an attorney, whose integrity and intelligence saves pre-colonial Maryland from devastation. This book won the New Mexico Press Women’s first place award and an award by the National Press Women. The Spinster, the Rebel, and the Governor will be released as a second edition by Artemesia Press in February 2024. Two of her Flapper books have won the coveted Kirkus stars, and two were named best book of 2018. Charlene, a retired educator, lives in the foothills of the mountains in central New Mexico where abundant wildlife, solitude, and natures’ beauty inspires her creativity.

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Giveaway

Charlene Bell Dietz will be awarding a $25 Amazon/Barnes & Noble gift card to a randomly drawn winner via Rafflecopter during the tour. Find out more here.
Follow Charlene on the rest of her Goddess Fish tour here.