Blog Archives
The Real Women of CARA
I’ve written about CARA before, and I’d like to introduce you to my fellow authors.
CARA is short for Chattanooga Area Romance Authors, a group of five romance writers—all published— who found each other and quickly became friends. Between the five of us, we represent most of the romance spectrum. There should be something here for just about everybody.
In reverse alphabetical order (because I have to be different), here are the women of CARA:
Nita Wick—published in historical and paranormal, Nita turned to contemporary romance in her latest novel, Designs on Haley now available.
Laurie White—Ardent animal lover and very sweet person, her novel Desert Heat will be out from Secret Cravings Publishing later this year.
Kelle Z. Riley—scientist during the day, romance writer at night. The multi-talented woman has more energy than one person should be allowed. Look for some news from her soon.
Leigh Riker—celebrates women with a long list of novels. The most prolific, and published, of our group, Leigh sets the standard for the rest of us.
Cheryel Hutton—Me! I just signed a new contract with The Wild Rose Press, and my new novel should be out early next year.
Have a great hump day!
Cheryel
It’s almost Halloween. Celebrate with a great haunted house read. Shadows of Evil available in both electronic and print format. Boo!
Blood, Fingerprints, and DNA
For me, at least, the most fascinating workshop at Moonlight & Magnolias was Junkyard Forensics given by Sheryl McCollum . Fellow CARA members Laurie White, Kelle Z. Riley, and I had a great time learning.
Sheryl showed us how to take everyday materials and use them for forensic tools. Who knew cinnamon would show if there were fingerprints on a plate? Or that you could put food coloring in milk and use rubbing alcohol on a Q-tip, or even your finger, to make it spread out into a rainbow design? I didn’t, but I do now.
Other things I learned: fingerprint powder is really messy. Superglue really can uncover fingerprints. I got to see footprint casting powder. Found that 24 hours in a trunk and anyone can tell there was a dead body there. Flies tell the story of a dead body. That 24 hours is the life cycle of a maggot/fly. You can test ink and know if a pen wrote a certain document. That DNA can be processed in one day, but usually takes about 6 weeks.
We got to see touch and use those special flashlights (can’t remember the name) that show blood and stuff. Actually, they show blood, urine, bleach, and scorpions. Honest. And a few other things we won’t talk about. We got to play a bit and discovered that the public bathrooms at our hotel were cleaned very well.
Sheryl is a wonderful speaker, and I learned a lot and had a great time. If I ever get another chance to hear her speak, I’ll be there.
Have a great week!
Cheryel