Lorrie Struiff

Good Morning Lorrie.

Margaret, it’s so wonderful to be on your blog today. Thank you for inviting me.

You’re very welcome. Pull up an armchair, we’ll have a nice cup of tea and a scone, while you talk about what lead you to writing. I love your book cover by the way.





Thank you, I thinks its cool too! My whole writing career started with some nuts.

My Whacky Family

My writing career began when I decided I wanted to write for my family. Instead of the usual family tree, I wanted to write personality profiles of my kid’s great aunts and uncles, etc. I figured if my daughters and grandkid’s read about the time Uncle Nick hid on grandma’s garage roof to dump a bucket of water on Aunt Mitzie’s head for our annual Dunkin’ Day festivities, they would know them better other than dates of birth, death, marriage, etc. Well…I thought it was a great challenge.
I decided to take a creative writing course. After all, if my profiles were for prosperity sake, I needed to do them justice. Off I went to our Community College. I had fun and met some great people.
With my classmates, I’m afraid my whacky sense of humor took over. After all, I do have a lot of nuts on my family tree. The aunt that was married seven times, the uncle who was known as our town’s famous gigolo. Another uncle, when older, still loved his comic books and would put on his leather helmet with goggles, a blanket cape and run through the neighborhood playing Captain Midnight. And especially my dad who I still can’t figure out his weird rationale. He was the small town shoplifter. All the storekeeper knew he was sneaking the small items and kept a tab. Then they’d wait for me to stop in and pay for the items. Since he was such a fun, personable guy, they didn’t say a word to him. Besides, he did most of their accounting and-- without a calculator. He did it all in his head. Yep, we had or share of nuts.
When my classmates read my first submission, they laughed, and I took a deep dive into self-consciousness. I thought they were chuckling at me. I brooded for days. Then they read the story about my uncle who wanted his cremated ashes scattered over the Lithuanian Club grounds—he was so proud of her heritage-- and how I had climbed over their fence on a moonlit night to grant his last wish. Honest. I didn’t know I wasn’t supposed to be standing downwind when opening the container. Yes. Most of uncle ended up on me. Ick!
Then I wrote the short piece about arguing on the phone with a priest when my other uncle died. I mean, for goodness sake, my uncle was sitting at the dining room table across from me, stone dead, and the priest was telling me my uncle’s preplanned burial plot was already in use by the same uncle who had died the previous day and was now the corpse sitting at the table. Say what?
The class howled with laughter. That’s when the professor told me I have a talent for writing quirky humor and the class looked forward to my submissions. Whew. Good to know.
However, I digress. When the course was over I decided to dig in and learn more. I read many “how to” books such as all of the “Elements of Fiction” series and more. I started a critique workshop at the local bookstore and led the Waterfront Writers Workshop for seven years before I passed the baton. Meanwhile I was also on an online writing critique site, Critique Circle, and made many wonderful friends.
Yes, I still have my whacky sense of humor. So here I am today, a published author of short stories and author of the novella “Gypsy Crystal.”
Oh, and I promised my kids I’d finish those profiles one day soon. I’m also beginning to think that this nut didn’t fall far from the nut tree.
Oh, how funny. What a lovely story. So would you like to give the readers a blurb of your new release?
Instead of a blurb, let me tell you what you will find interesting in the novella.
Rita Muldova, my homicide detective has pure Roma blood. She wears a mystical crystal amulet that gives her the power to see in a dead victim’s eyes the last image he/she saw. What a career boost. Now, with the task force, she is hunting for the “Ripper,” a serial killer loose in her town that is targeting prostitutes. But, oh, oh, for this murderer, the crystal has stopped working.
A yummy FBI agent, Matt Boulet, has been on the Ripper’s tail since the killings started in New Orleans. He has a yen for Rita and they have a weird connection. Plus, Rita would like to jump his bones.
Rita’s mother, Anna, is a great seer whom Rita turns to in time of troubles, but Anna can’t offer Rita an explanation of why the crystal has stopped working. Anna does tell Rita the lore of their clan. Rita is both shocked and horrified of the tale.
Filled with gypsy customs and lore, the novella takes you on a wild ride into the mystical world of the paranormal with thrills and chills.
Now here’s a short excerpt.LOL
Chief Lipinski rose to his feet. “Back off, people! I have my orders, too. We follow Boulet’s plan. Hank, you and Sully hand out these sketches to as many girls you see walking the streets before Della and Rita start their rounds.”
Della nudged Rita. “Guess we get our ‘Sluts R Us’ duds out of mothballs.”
Rita nodded. She would follow orders, but too many unanswered questions floated in her mind. She raised her voice. “Since he’s such a big, strong, badass, who lived to provide the sketch?”
“Me.”
The way Boulet uttered that one word made her teeth click together.
Boulet tugged down the ribbed collar of his sweater. A red scar marred the cords in his thick neck. “My partner and I were doubling him. We were too late to save the woman. He nicked me first. While I was trying to stop bleeding, he took out my partner.” He studied the floor, then his eyes hardened as he made eye contact with everyone in the room. “But now I know this bastard, and I’ll be ready for him.”
“Sounds more like a personal vendetta,” Rita said.
“Yeah, that too.” His lips pulled back with an ironic chuckle. “More than you can imagine.”
For more details and reviews, visit my website at http://struiff.wordpress.com/
Gypsy Crystal is available in print and e-book formats at Amazon.



Thanks for popping by Lorrie