Peg Herring, Mystery Author

Here are some songs that are about travel by train or bus, which is how we saw Grand Canyon last week. We took the GC Railway from Williams, AZ, into the park, took a bus tour of the high points, and then had a day to explore on our own before taking the train back to Williams. We highly recommend it! 1. Train: "____ Island Line" (Johnny Cash) 2. Bus "Thank God and ____" (Roy Clark) 3. Train "City of ___ ___" (Arlo Guthrie) 4. Train "The ___ Train" (Duke Ellington) 5. Train "Engine Engine # ___" (Roger Miller) Answers: 1. Rock www.youtube.com/watch?v=VBeZPJ03lW0 2. Greyhound https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tx8x3LCnYZw  3. New Orleans https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TvMS_ykiLiQ 4. A https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cb2w2m1JmCY 5. 9 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BjQsI8BrTtk

Someone asks me this about once a week, so I thought I'd attempt an answer. I just finished the final edit for the 4th Simon & Elizabeth mystery, Her Majesty's Mischief . If you've been paying attention, I had some trouble choosing a title for this one, and readers gave me some great suggestions. I chose this one because it has a double meaning. Simon is sent to Scotland to try to determine if Mary, Queen of Scots is hatching mischief in the form of revolt against Elizabeth, now Queen of England. In his absence, Elizabeth hatches some mischief of her own, secretly sending Simon's old friend Calkin to investigate a murder in Simon's family. Both endeavors lead to trouble, of course. I have no release date yet for that one, but they said I'll get Advance Review Copies in December, which means it should come out about two months later. I will let readers know through my newsletter, so if you aren't signed up, you can text 22828. It will ask for a passwor

In honor of my delightful visit to Birchwood Farms Golf & Country Club yesterday, songs about farms. 1. "How You Gonna Keep 'Em Down on the Farm (after they've seen ____)?" 2. "Thank God I'm ___ ___ ___!" 3. "Out Behind the ___" 4. "The farmer said to the ___ ___, 'Why'd you pick my farm?" 5. "She Thinks My ____ ___" Answers 1. Paree https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UgqVCJpRqWQ 2. A Country Boy www.youtube.com/watch?v=aRgL92K5zuE 3. Barn https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1_mUz3RWKHQ  4. Boll Weevil https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z5H6iwQGWl4 5. Tractor's Sexy https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uWu4aynBK7E

Here's the G-rated version: "Opinions are like noses. Everybody has one." America is a country that has long valued the right of each individual to have an opinion, and that's good. The problem comes when opinions are all a person has. Here's my take on the subject. *A person's opinions should be based on evidence, and that evidence must be real. It's difficult--sometimes really difficult--to look at the evidence, read or listen across a range of information, and make a conscious decision as to what you think about a subject. It's often easier to take the word of someone you think is smart or knowledgeable or well-read on the topic. The problem is that his/her opinion might be just as misinformed or slanted as anyone else's. If all it took to be right is brains or education, there wouldn't be so much disagreement in the highest levels of government. As a debater in high school and college, I learned that it's essential to look at both sid

Name the artist associated with the titles of songs that mention songs. 1. "Silly Love Songs" 2. "Song Sung Blue" 3. "Never-ending Love for You" 4. "With a Song in My Heart" 5. "I've Got a Name" Answers: 1. Paul McCartney & Wings   www.youtube.com/watch?v=2_9QooYDYtU 2. Neil Diamond www.youtube.com/watch?v=P1t9zOwmWok 3. Various, but this one is George Jones & Tammy Wynette https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S3Vgsv-T2gg 4. Again, various, but this one's Doris Day https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZPs0H4cydGU 5. Jim Croce https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YcqauC49Xmc

Songs that mention water or bodies of same. 1. "____ River" Suicide spot? 2. "How High's the Water, ___?" Family discussion 3. "____Lake" The place to be for summer sun 4. "Moonlight ___" Voices singing about sticking around 5. "A Sleepy ___" Night on a tropical island Answers: 1. Moody www.youtube.com/watch?v=hLMbAq9r8Wk 2. Momma   www.youtube.com/watch?v=hLMbAq9r8Wk 3. Indian www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qw7ubMgByYQ 4. Bay https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ebuS01qjOas 5. Lagoon https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fmcWaIbLUMk

Newcomers to writing often comment on how nice everyone is. Writers give each other advice. We share successes and failures. We explain the piece we're presently working on (sometimes in too much detail) with little thought that someone will "steal" our ideas. (You can try, but it will still be a ton of work for you.) In a field where every new book adds to the dizzying amount of competing works, one might think that writers would hide their secrets, keep the means of success to themselves when (if) they stumble on it, and perhaps even mislead naive newbies in order to send them in the wrong direction. That doesn't happen. Maybe because of how difficult it is to get published, most writers feel an empathy with others that causes them to ignore the prospective competition and give advice that's as helpful as possible. Have a question for an author? Just ask. It's likely she will share what she knows (unless she has a deadline looming). Why are we so nice? Wh