Raven O'Fiernan

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Attitude #IWSG 04/01/2020

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Monthly Status Report

It’s been an interesting month on the writing front. More on that with the optional question, but the main thing is that I had a good conversation with someone about newsletters, and we decided that my primary focus right now needs to be getting my reader magnet ready. She had several resources, but probably due to the virus, never got around to sharing them, so I am doing everything myself.

In particular, that means covers. Lots and lots of covers. I am taking Holly Lisle’s Title. Cover. Copy class (which I bought ages ago either at a discount or when I had extra funds — not sure which at the moment), and it involves coming up with 6 titles (voted on by others) and then creating four covers for each title. That’s a LOT of covers: 24 for those of you not counting at home. For a short story. But it is good practice, and I enjoy it. I have pretty much finished the first eight.

The story is a prequel to the Hazel Kanetzki series of witch cozy mysteries, which features her first encounter with her ability to go into trance when in the presence of the dead bodies she prepares. It also explores her relationship with her late husband.

I have no ETA on when I will have it available, but keep watching this space for when it does.

Optional Monthly Question

Every month, there is an optional question you can answer. I like them because they usually allow me to share more about myself as a writer and as a person in a way I might not have thought of myself. So, here is this month’s question:

April 1 question – The IWSG’s focus is on our writers. Each month, from all over the globe, we are a united group sharing our insecurities, our troubles, and our pain. So, in this time when our world is in crisis with the covid-19 pandemic, our optional question this month is: how are things in your world?

Surprisingly well. The answer may change the further into Virus-land we go, but for now, I find myself in an exceptionally lucky position.

Physical Health: My own health seems to be fine. I am cautious and staying at home.

Mental Health: Mentally, I am only spending a short time on the news and deliberately seeking out more informative/less sensationalized outlets. I feel I have a handle on the things I need to know (state orders, medical advice, etc.) without going down the rabbit hole of everything that could go wrong or that is going wrong in other places. By other places, I mean not my home and not my parents’ home. It’s possible a lot is going wrong even in my city. The fact is, we aren’t testing anyone hardly, so no one really knows how many have it.

Also, I am an introvert, so for now, my reaction to “must stay at home” is more like “get to stay at home” and “don’t have to go anywhere”. That may change, but right now, I’m not going to try to make myself more miserable just because I might be frustrated later. I’ll be frustrated then anyway.

Financial Health: Good. Better than planned actually. My job is one of the few that is not suffering in this crisis. I do telephone interviews from home for people who are applying for life insurance (or disability, etc. but not health). I was already working from home, so did not need to change anything about how I do my job. Not only that, but instead of having cut hours we have been having overtime the last few weeks and the calls have been going crazy. This may die down as more and more agents are unable to get out, but hopefully, more of them will switch to Tele-sales anyway. As it is, it is really worrying to hear about agents going into the homes of 70-some year old people to sell them life insurance.

I have pretty much everything I need. I happened to get extra toilet paper before the shortage (but extra is starting to be less than extra now), and have been making sure to have enough food and other supplies if I need to actually be stuck at home for 14 days.

Social Health: Probably not that great, but it wasn’t that great to begin with. See above about being an introvert. The main disappointment was the cancellation of the writer’s retreat I was looking forward to and the meetings with my writing friend every Sunday. I’m not good at (read: don’t enjoy) social media much, so my main “socialization” has been my calls to my parents.

My main concern through all of this is my parents’ and other people’s health. I am not really worried about experiencing the virus myself. I am more concerned about the possibility of NOT having symptoms and inadvertently passing the virus on to someone else who suffers more. That thought really bothers me and is enough to keep me at home most of the time and to be extremely cautious when I go out.

So on that note: I wish you all the best. And – does anyone know where I can get some toilet paper?

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Meet Hazel Kanetzki

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Hazel Kanetzki is the owner of the Kanetzki Funeral Home (fictional) in the town of Stevens Point, WI (real town).  She is a member of the Order of the Good Death (real organization), and provides a number of services for the deceased and grieving.  She is also adept at reading the Tarot.

Hazel was born Hazel Connolly, the eldest child of the Connolly family, which is an old witch family (fictional) of Stevens Point.  She has twin siblings, a brother, Rowan, and sister, Ashley, who together run the Sun and Moon Coffeehouse and Bookstore, which is located on Main Street leading into what used to be a mall and which is now Mid-State Technical College (this is my rebellion against the Children’s Museum which ran my favorite Coffeehouse, The Supreme Bean, out of business several years ago — in my fictional universe, the Children’s Museum does not exist, and the Bean is now the Sun and Moon).

As a member of an old witch family, Hazel sits on the Watch Council.  The Watch Council monitors supernatural activity in Stevens Point and Portage County in general.  They maintain the Gate at Iverson Park, and provide services to supernaturally-aligned individuals who choose to join.  The Watch Council is essentially part HOA, part union.

Hazel married Peter Kanetzki, the heir to the funeral home, and inherited it upon his death two years ago.  When Peter died, Hazel discovered an ability to go into trance while preparing a body.  During these trances, she creates artwork that is somehow meaningful to the deceased and/or to her.

I have already written the short story in which Hazel prepares Peter’s body and discovers her ability, and hope to publish it in the near future.  I am also planning a series of murder mysteries in which the images within the art provides clues (including Tarot-based clues) to Hazel as she navigates various crimes.  She has a huge black Maine Coon cat, Belladonna, who is the reincarnation of one of the old Connolly matriarchs, and who will occasionally help Hazel with her cases.

Let me know what else you would like to know about Hazel!