Leann Harris: Blog

Murder and Valentine's Day

Sun, 22 Feb 2009 23:22:53 -0500

Killing me softy…

I have always written murder. It worried me. I am a normal person, mother and wife. Yet, when I write, a dead body shows up. What was wrong with me that I couldn’t write romance and not have a dead body?

After I been around other writers who do mystery, and found they share my mind-set (notice I didn’t say twisted bent), I struggled with how could I write murder and Christian romance? What are most mysteries about? Greed, infidelity, murder, stealing—bad behavior. Or in other words—sin. When you start thinking about all those sins, you can find vivid examples of them throughout the Old and New Testament. Murder—Cain and Able, infidelity—David and Bathsheba, jealously and murder—Absalom, greed—Ananias and Sapphiar.

You name the sin, there is an example of it in the Bible.

When I write a murder, I can bring justice to the victim, and the characters learn how to deal with grief and the pain of that death. I had a heroine who had miscarried a baby. She hadn’t deal with grief, but in her book she had to face her ex-husband, and both characters had to deal with their grief and how it affect their marriage. I had a reader tell me “thank you” after she read the book. The feelings the heroine experience the reader shared. It was a truth that spoke to her heart. Sometimes when I am writing, a lesson appears that surprises me, but I know the character needs that lesson. It is my prayer that what my characters go through could touch a reader’s heart and help and encourage them.

That is the best reward for my writing.

Leann

Get to know the Author.

Sun, 11 Jan 2009 12:58:00 -0500

This is the same post I did on Craftie Ladies of Suspense. Please viist the site for other interesting authors’ bios.

Hi, I’m Leann Harris. I am so excited to join this site with all these wonderful authors. Like Carol, I’ve been married young, 19. The man I married was getting his PHD in physics. Me, I took a second year of biology to avoid the subject. That was thirty plus years.

I’ve a boring teacher by day. I teach high school students ASL (sign language) and by night I write danger and suspense. I’ve often wondered about my desire to write murder. It worried me. What did it say about me? What was wrong with me that I couldn’t write a story without a dead body? I wanted to write romance, but falling in love is so boring, but throw in a dead body, and now you have excitement.

So what about me? What would you like to know?

How I got my first name is when my mother was in nurses’ training, she had a good friend with my name. Years later, when I was born, I was named after her friend.

My writing name is my middle name. I’ve just sold my 11^th book. It will be the second for LIS.

How do I pick my hero/heroine’s name? That is probably what takes as much time as anything I do in a book. I have to know their names. I go through the phone book and try out the names. I also have a baby name book I used for my children’s names. It has old names in it, but those names are rock solid. I also like to see the meaning of the names. I had one character that was named Matthew Hawkins. He’d been a book before. As I continued writing his story, there was something wrong. When I started referring to him as “Hawk” I knew that was the right handle for him.

Interesting tidbit…

1) I am a master composter. When I took the class, I thought what a wonderful way to get rid of a body. One of the people working with the city composting education said that is how they dispose of farm animals in Indiana. Who knew?

2) I sign. I taught deaf students most of my teaching career.

3) I survived a brain aneurysm. I bled into my brain one Saturday at my writers’ meeting. I remember clutching the commode throwing up blueberry pancakes (it was a while before I could eat blueberries again) when the paramedics pulled me out of the bathroom and took me to the hospital. Three months later, I started to remember. There are a lot of lessons I and my family learned. I hope to share some of those lessons.

All About my Books:
1. How I stumbled into writing suspense…Again, I find my brain just puts dead bodies in the plot. Reading the newspaper, you see about a murder and my mind starts spinning ‘what if’. What I love is a good ticking clock in a plot where the hero/heroine have to solve a mystery.
2. My favorite suspense book I wrote and why…This is like asking me which child do I love the most. In each book you write, there is something that you love.

Leann

Author intrusion

Mon, 29 Dec 2008 21:36:10 -0500

My characters haven’t blogged very much, so the author will start blogging. I am very excited to let everyone know that I will join a group named the Ladies of Suspence. I will be blogging on their site. http://www.ladiesofsuspense.blogspot.com/

The relaunch of the site will be January 1. Please join us for news, encouragement, funny stories. We’ll share a little about ourselves and hopefully give you inspiration and enjoyment.

Also, I want y’all to know that Detective Jonathan Littledeer will have his own book out. GUARDED SECRETS (tentatively 10/09) will tell his story. Jon is a man with a tragic past, but you’ll fall in love with the man.

Leann

You can still read about me.

Sat, 27 Sep 2008 22:57:18 -0400

It’s late September now. My—and mom and dad’s story off the shelf in most stores, but don’t be disappointed. You can still get a copy of the book. Here on the website, you can click and it will take you to Amazon. You can get our story there. You don’t know what exciting things you are missing if you don’t read it.

April

Hey, it's April, again.

Mon, 25 Aug 2008 23:39:16 -0400

I should be getting ready for bed since school’s gonna start, but I have to say something. It’s so neat having Elena tuck me in at night now. Dad comes, too, and we stiil read the Bible together.

I will say that I do have some fame at school The kids are asking me if I really saved Elena when that nasty man tried to kill us. I did. I was scared when Elena told me to run when she threw the glass paperweight at killer, but I ran. Lucky for me I found papa and told him what happened. I even got to call my dad’s partner, Raul Rodriguez, and tell him to bring help. Uncle Raul told me good job. It’s kinda embarrassing having the kids at school gather around asking questions. But I can handle it.

Welcome

Tue, 12 Aug 2008 23:42:45 -0400

I will add my welcome to our blog. I am Elena Seguar Jackson Stillwater. It was at my family’s antique shop where the murder happened. I will say I grieve for Joyce, our employee and friend. When I found her body, it spun me back to the awful day that my natural father murdered my mother. He was a drunk and a mean drunk. The only shelter my brother and I had was my mom. When she died—I didn’t know what would happen to us. It was a dark time in my life, but God kept me in the shelter of his hand. He never left me. I didn’t understand how He could let that happen. But God doesn’t require us to understand, just believe. One of the best days of my life was when my adoptive parents entered my life. My adoptive father showed me what the love of God is. He lived it. Dad was a giant, with a heart that was as wide as the vistas here in New Mexico. How big that was I would find out as Daniel investigated Joyce’s murder.

Please continue to be read our blog. I know April wants to add her opinions.

I'm not a blogger.

Sun, 03 Aug 2008 16:48:46 -0400

This is Daniel Stillwater. My daughter insisted I say something. What do I know about blogging? I know crime. Murder to be more specific. That’s my job. But when I was called to Past Treasures, I didn’t know how my life would change.

It is amazing how faithful God is. I didn’t matter that I failed both my first wife, who died of breast cancer and my daughter. He forgave and blessed me with a second chance with April and an amazing second wife. I wasn’t looking to marry again. But I hadn’t come up against my daughter’s desire for a mother. Elena saw the pain in April’s heart and ministered to it. Of course, what did I know of girls? I don’t understand what takes her so long in the bathroom. Or all the combs and brushes and hair stuff she needs to have. Or why she decided to take on the bully in her class and kick him. It’s a mystery that I will probably never understand. I do try.

It's August!

Fri, 01 Aug 2008 23:12:39 -0400

Hey, it’s me April Stillwater and it’s the 1st of August. You start looking for my story at the bookstores or in the grocery store. You can even order it online. That’s too neat. You’ll love it. The story is about how my dad solved the murder of Joyce Murphy. She worked for Elena at her shop, Past Treasures.

You know, I knew something was up that first morning when I called Dad and asked him to bring home milk for grandma to use. When he said he would and offered to bring apricot empanadas, too, I knew something was up. He saves those treats for special times. Later at my soccer game he was so preoccupied, I knew I was right.

I know you’re going to love the story, especially since my dad is in it. And I’ll try to get dad to blog tomorrow. He’s not real good about blogging. He’s a cop.

Okay, okay, I'll say something.

Sat, 19 Jul 2008 17:04:54 -0400

I hope you’ll enjoy the opinions and thoughts of the characters from my book, Hidden Deception. I think you’ll enjoy their views about what happened in the story more than mine. Please realize that all the these folks are from my imagination. In writing, the characters become friends and you learn all sorts of things about them that never make it to the page.

The thing that has me in awe the most is when the characters were speaking of God’s love and healing, those words were dropped into my heart from above. I hope you will enjoy and be blessed by their story.

From time to time I’ll put up links to other authors blogs and websites. I don’t think my character’s will mind. I hope you’ll enjoy all the information.