Tag: Terry Korth Fischer

Double Dipped (One Scoop or Two)
by Terry Korth Fischer

It is my pleasure to welcome Terry to Escape With Dollycas today!

Inspiration
by Terry Korth Fischer

Flannery O’Connor claims that those who survive to the age of fifteen have enough material to write stories for the rest of their lives. Yet, a frequent question I get at workshops is, how do I come up with story ideas. Comments usually start with, “If I write from experience, I have nothing to write about; my life is boring.” Or ordinary, or dull, or average… Yet, none of us live dull lives. Every day combines physical activity, amazing people, complex situations, and fleeting fears. Take any one of these, and you have the makings for a story. As author Orson Scott said, “Everybody walks past a thousand story ideas every day. The good writers are the ones who see five or six of them. Most people don’t see any.”

So, you aren’t a mass murderer, internet influencer, or brothel madam; you are a complicated person with plenty to draw on when drafting a story. But, just in case you don’t know, what you know, here is a list of five advantages you start with when you sit down with an idea.

• • Intellect. You can learn. You use your intelligence to pick up knowledge in classes, daily life, books, and conversations with friends or mentors. You are continually trying to figure out what life is all about. Did you discover something new today? Something that led you to seek more information, ask questions, and feel amazed? Include that curiosity in your writing.
  • Intentions, willpower, and dreams. Your life is an unfolding adventure. You direct your efforts, focus your thoughts, and get where you want to go—or try to. Give these traits to your characters. Recall the determination you summoned to finish a job, win an award, or solve a puzzle? Or desiring something so badly it hurt? Your characters, too, need goals.
  • Emotions. You express a range of feelings. You’re not only serious, motivated, and eager, but sometimes silly, fierce, generous, sad, optimistic, and stubborn. And more often than not, you experience many of these feelings simultaneously. So, you know how they feel, what they do to your voice and body. Remember how you felt in the waiting room before taking the dentist’s chair? Or sitting in the dark waiting for electricity to be restored? The tingle of a kiss?
  • Experience. Memories of significant events color the present. Your experiences have expanded your knowledge and widened your perspective. Personal history shapes a unique point of view. Where did you attend grade school? Where were you when Neil Armstrong stepped onto the moon, or Hurricane Harvey hit? The journey from birth to now shapes your stories and makes them uniquely yours.
  • Senses. You have instincts, inherited characteristics, a gender, and a general state of health. You have experienced cold weather, sweltering days, sleepless nights, physical pain, aching muscles, and a blinding headache. Did you escape first love, embarrassment, the feeling of failure, or hear a bump in the night? You’ve been there—done that.

• Thank you, Terry, for visiting today.

Keep reading for my thoughts about Double Dipped.

About Double Dipped

Double Dipped (One Scoop or Two)
Cozy Mystery Novella
Setting – Wisconsin
Part of: One Scoop or Two (50 books)
The Wild Rose Press, Inc (June 29, 2022)
Print length ‏ : ‎ 137 pages
ASIN ‏ : ‎ B09W8RLJ4X

Accepting second best is good for her career, but first-grade teacher, Retta Curt, delays signing up for the disappointment. Given two weeks to reconsider her contract, she retreats to Gram’s cottage on Moon Lake, the last place she felt contentment. But the cottage is derelict; Cousin Julie, distant; childhood beaux, Dean, bitter; and Sweet Picks, the family ice cream stand, in danger of folding. Magruder, a surly newcomer, is buying and then neglecting properties until nothing remains of the idyllic lakeside community she remembers. When vandals target Sweet Picks, Retta’s dreams to recapture her happy childhood collapse, and the return to Moon Lake becomes a decision worse than accepting her teaching contract. Star-crossed, can she save the family business and rediscover happiness, or is Retta destined for a second-best future?

Dollycas’s Thoughts

Can you ever really go home again?

First-grade teacher, Retta Curt feels like her life is at a crossroads. There are some changes coming to the school where she teaches meaning her contract is now for a higher grade and she just isn’t sure if that is what she wants. She has just two weeks left to make her decision so on the spur of the moment she packs a bag and heads for Moon Lake. She has so many great memories of her time there with Gram and other friends and family.

When she arrives her heart just drops. The cottage is in bad shape, as is Sweet Picks, her family’s ice cream stand. So much more has changed as well. Family cottages are being bought up and turned into rental properties. The businesses are being bought too. A man named Magruder has big plans for the area turning it into a place Retta will no longer recognize.

Can she take the man on and try to return the charm to a place she loves so much or should she sign her contract and go home? She doesn’t have a lot of time to discover her bliss but she is going to use her time at Moon Lake to try to figure out how to get to her happy place.

Retta Curt is an excellent main character. She is dealing with real-life issues. She is easy to relate to and I found her very engaging. It is tough to go back and see people she hadn’t seen in years. There are emotions in play that have been brewing for years and like her, her friends have some challenges and sorrow in their lives. The author does a nice job of giving all the characters layers to peel away.

There was definitely something fishy going on at Moon Lake. Vandals have been targeting the ice cream stand and other places but there is something more. Retta is completely in the dark about what happened years ago but is quickly brought up to speed and works with her friends to solve the current crimes. The author portrayed the true complications of dealing with something huge in a small town where everyone knows each other and most of their business.

I loved the way the community supported Retta and her cousin Julie after so many things went wrong at Sweet Picks. It is something you used to see in a lot of small towns and it gave the story such a positive ending. It gave me the feelings I had growing up as a child when I played outside until the street lights came on and if I needed anything I could go to any house on the block.

Double Dipped is a fast read at only 137 pages but the characters developed nicely and the mystery was interesting. It is a sweet summer read that I found totally entertaining. I know this book is part of a compilation of books but I do hope we get to visit these characters again including a very lovable long-haired dachshund named Herman.

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Your Escape Into A Good Book Travel Agent

About Terry Korth Fischer

Terry Korth Fischer writes short stories, memoirs, and mysteries. Her debut mystery, Gone Astray, introduced Detective Rory Naysmith, a seasoned city cop relocated to small-town Winterset, Nebraska. The Rory Naysmith Mysteries continued with Gone Before, January 2022. Transplanted from the Midwest, Terry lives in Houston, Texas, with her husband and two guard cats. When not writing, she loves reading, gardening, and basking in sunshine. Yet, her heart often wanders to the country’s heartland, where she spent a memorable—ordinary but charmed—childhood. Learn more about Terry at her author website: https://terrykorthfischer.com

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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. Receiving a complimentary copy in no way reflected my review of this book. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”