Let’s Talk with Maggie Toussaint Archive

Whoooo are you, Maggie Toussaint

Whoooooo are you? I ask myself that question at various times because I’ve worn different hats in my lifetime. Growing up in the 1960s in a shrimping community of mostly relatives was an idyllic experience and the end of the Baby Boomer spike in population growth. So, it is always poignant looking back to those […]

Mayday! Mayday!

Are you familiar with the international distress call of “mayday, mayday”? It’s used by airplane pilots and boat captains when life and/or vessel is in extreme danger. Because this is the radio call of being in severe emergency, authorities exert heroic means to try to avert the danger or stage the rescue of survivors. Did […]

Out like a lamb

With both January and February coming in like a lion, I wasn’t sure what March would bring. Most years, the whole direness of winter weather in the coastal south is usually temps in the fifties and a strong wind. Not so for 2026. It’s true for the entire country that 2026 came in like a […]

Roses are Red, Violets are Blue

My first ever brush with poetry was on Valentine’s Day in first grade. I’d never thought about sentence structure, indeed I was barely reading, but there was a special something about poetry that always caught my attention. Oftentimes poems have a certain beat created by the word patterns. As an example, I often think of […]

Of Milestones and Millstones

We are wonderfully unencumbered when we’re born. There is no sense of responsibility, no worry about letting people down, or even concern about doing our part. Those things come later. When I was a teen, many in my class wanted to get as far away from their parents as possible after graduation. But somewhere along […]

Scary this and scary that

When you were a child and heard the words “Once upon a time,” did you sit up straighter or maybe even move to edge of your seat? I certainly did. I loved fairy tales (and still do). I worried about Rapunzel held captive in that tower, worried even more about the poor guy quaking in […]

A beehive of thoughts

My mind is buzzing with topics, and I can’t settle on just one. Hence, my beehive of thoughts follow. September is coastal Georgia’s big month for hurricanes nowadays. I keep looking around and thinking “what else needs to be secured if we are in a storm’s path?” There are always things in the yard to […]

Cozy Mystery Foods

I recently realized I tend to share the love of my favorite foods with my amateur sleuths. The choice was purposeful. I loved those foods, their texture, taste, and aroma, and thus had firsthand knowledge of them. In fact, I gave all my main characters of my previous 29 books a similar palate to mine. […]

Is Redemption Possible?

When crafting characters, authors assign certain traits with each character to make them unique. In a series, the characterization may deepen with each book, so that by the time readers reach the last book, they know the characters inside and out. But what happens when a beloved character’s cover is blown, and he or she […]

Let It Be

How many songs are forever lodged in our heads? I’ve always loved the opening lyrics of “Let It Be,” which are copyrighted, so I won’t share them here. Like so many of the songs from my teens and early adulthood, I home in on memories of that time that return every time I hear those […]

The Pink Dress

By Tabby Winslow, amateur sleuth of A Magic Candle Shop Mysteries My family size has been shrinking for years. When I was a kid, Dad disappeared one day. Went out for eggs and never returned. Now I have a phobia about buying eggs. Last year Mom died. She used her energetic power to its max […]

Wedding Bell Blues

A Character Post by Dr. Quig Quigsly of Candle With Care Some say I have a supporting role in my fiancé’s adventures, but I have a starring role. My name is Octavian Henry Quigsly, IV, and I’m the third person in my family to be a Medical Examiner. Men in my family have been called […]

Endings, Celebrations, and Beginnings

Though we are firmly in the new year and many of us are holding fast to our New Year’s resolutions, the cycle of endings, celebrations, and new starts stands out in my mind. Some lifetime endings include graduations, leaving a job, moving, end of a competition, loss of a loved one including pets, divorce, finishing […]

An Ingredient for Murder

As the months slide deeper into fall, the weather chills and the skies are light fewer hours of the day. While doing research for a talk I recently gave, I learned that children of all ages list fear of the dark as a primary fear. No wonder we all use lights and candles to keep […]

When it isn’t this or that, what is it?

Authors can get stumped when creating their story setting. Often we know a minimum about a place, but it’s important to have more than a physical description. Taking the time to layer details can come in handy later on, as I’ve found to be the case. Using the example of The Book and Candle Shop […]

Five Ways to Beat the Heat

It’s hot out there!. In coastal Georgia, we’ve been living with the Dog Days of August in late June and all of July. The high temperatures make me want to hunker down until the outdoors stops roasting. Here are my top five ways to beat the heat: 1. Stay inside, preferably in air conditioning, and […]

Beat the Summer Heat

With summer upon us, there are many who bask in the summer heat. One of my favorite summer activities is going to the beach. The offshore breeze makes the air cooler, and for me, the beauty and natural sounds of the beach fill me up on the inside, restoring and recharging my soul. Is it […]

Beginnings and Endings

A Group-Think Post wrangled by Maggie Toussaint Beginnings and Endings are facts of life. They bring us great joy or push us out of our comfort zone. The everyday ones we rarely consider, like getting up ends our time sleeping but it’s the start of the day, but the other beginnings and endings that happen […]

Plant a Tree for Arbor Day

Arbor Day was first celebrated in Nebraska City, on Friday, April 10, 1872, thanks to the efforts of one man. Julius Sterling Morton was a new resident of Nebraska and was concerned about the lack of trees. This Father of Arbor Day became a man on a mission, planting many trees on his land, and […]

Getting my story ducks in a row

As is often the way for authors of series, I find myself at a crossroads. I’ve been working on A Magic Candle Shop series for a few years now. The characters have been eating, working, and sleeping with me for all that time, and they are very sure of what comes next. You’d think I’d […]

Fishing…for agents and editors

A person can learn a lot about life from fishing. On the surface you may consider fishing as either a sport, a recreation, or a means to come-by dinner. It is all of that…and more. For the sport part of it, having the right equipment is essential. You wouldn’t show up at a tennis tournament […]

Giving Thanks

In this hurry up world full of people and technology on a speeding clock, how often do we stop to say thanks? I have a list of things to do each day, but I always run out of day before my list is done. Sometimes I work on Monday’s list all week long! On the […]

Gone To The Dogs

The Dog Days of summer are finally gone, and I’m celebrating with a doggie retrospective. This cute little terrier was on a neighborhood walkabout as I was recently driving to a photo shoot. Josie’s owner wasn’t home, so I left a message for her person and took Josie with me. The best photos were of […]

Beginnings and Endings

Something many unpublished authors rarely appreciate is the unlimited time to write that first book. Another undervalued perk of beginning to write is there are no reader expectations to meet. Brand new writers have the wonder and delight of working on a clean slate, of starting from scratch. What I love about beginnings is traveling […]

June 22 and siblings

In my family, June 22 is the day after two back-to-back family birthdays. We are normally sunburned, full of cookout food, and banking another fine set of sibling memories. This year my brother won’t make it home until early July, so it will be a solo birthday for my sister. She won’t want a big […]

Best Friends

I recently wrote a tribute on friendship. Once I finished, I had a startling revelation. My relationship with a childhood best friend formed the basis for Tabby and Sage, the twins in A Magic Candle Mysteries. In the series, Tabby and Sage are fraternal twins, but they are also more than sisters who shared a […]

Taxes, Smaxes

Earlier this spring I spent several days wrassling all my receipts, giveaways, and everything else into a spreadsheet for my 2022 income taxes. Every year I moan and groan about the process, even though I have all the receipts squirreled away and waiting for me. It is a thankless task of sneaky typos, squinting to […]

Glass Half-Empty or Glass Half-full?

I consider myself a glass half-full person, but there are times when I plunge into the deep end of glass half-empty. Concern for loved ones will do that, and health issues can shift me off-center. And then I stop and realize those concerns are totally out of my control. Worry isn’t positive. It can, in […]

New Year Thoughts

For 2023, our author collective resolves to take positive actions to make the world better in some way. There’s so much we can do for the people we already know and for those we haven’t met yet. Here are a few thoughts about how one kindness often begets another. First we shouldn’t worry about what […]

Happy Holidays to All of You from All of Us!

Happy Holidays to all of our friends, fans, and writing communities! Our authors are here to share their self-care tips that help them make it through the busy holidays. When your schedule gets overloaded, remember to take time for yourself. It will get better. Plus, what fun it is to de-stress with us! Maggie Toussaint: […]

Giving Thanks in a Post-Covid (I Hope) World

Happy Thanksgiving to All! Many of us have blessings we always mention on this occasion. Family, friends, home, career, transportation, personal health and mobility, community, pets, rewarding hobbies, and more are blessings that come to mind. However, our world changed in recent years. Covid took a toll on every level, with its stranglehold of fear […]

Twins and Other Duos

In my upcoming A Magic Candle Shop Mystery book one, SNUFFED OUT, writing as Valona Jones, My main character Tabby Winslow has a twin sister named Sage. They are fraternal twins, and, in case you aren’t familiar with that term, it means that they aren’t identical and are in fact from different eggs. My thoughts […]

Sand, Flower Petals, and Chalked Sidewalks

I’ve always loved touching things with my fingers. There’s an interesting grainy feel to sand, a wispy velvety texture to flower petals, an innocent silkiness to kitten fur. As a child I was drawn to an artesian well at our “Riverbank” swimming hole. A muddy clay rimmed the area where the fresh water flowed out […]

Oh, the Bubbaness of it all!

When I wrote BUBBA DONE IT, I broke one of the primary rules of the amateur sleuth trope. It was unthinkable really, except there wasn’t any way to proceed without telling whodunit in the first chapter. After all, my female sleuth, Baxley Powell, was just starting out in her police consultant role, just feeling her […]

You Don’t Get What You Don’t Pay For

In the course of real life, a saying I haven’t heard in a while cropped up: “You don’t get what you don’t pay for.” The context for this was in regard to a purchased item. Raise your hand if you’ve ever bought a knockoff brand of something and been dissatisfied. I have, but I’ve also […]

I Can’t See the Forest

I’ve been working on rough draft edits for what seems like months but is only a few weeks so far. Somewhere between reads five and ten, the book begins to feel more like individual words than sentences, paragraphs, scenes, and chapters. In other words, I focus on the trees but that means I can’t see […]

Planting a Flag and Love

By Maggie Toussaint In this most romantic month of the year some of us face a quandary. The person or pet we love with all our heart isn’t the typical greeting card kind of love or is no longer around. My feeling is that love is love. It’s putting yourself out there, risking the most […]

Let’s Talk about resolutions

Our Resolutions Every year when New Year’s rolls around, we are faced with the resolution question. Do we once again set a sky high goal and then let it slide as we get busy? Or do we take up the standard and seek something MORE for ourselves? What’s a person to do with all this […]

Let's Talk with Maggie Toussaint

Let’s Talk with Maggie Toussaint Archive

Our Books