It's Not What You Know . . .

 It's my pleasure to welcome LOIS WINSTON to LadyKillers. I love this new twist on an old topic.

Full disclosure: Besides being a wonderful writer, Lois is my also my extraordinary agent. Lucky me!

It’s not what you know…
by Lois Winston

First, I want to thank Camille Minichino for inviting me to guest blog today at LadyKillers as part of my month-long blog tour to promote the release of Death By Killer Mop Doll, the second book in my Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mysteries. And no, this isn’t another blog about writing what you know. We writers have talked that topic to death, haven’t we? This is a blog about whom you know.

The other day I overheard someone grumbling about someone else’s good fortune. “It’s not what you know,” she said. “It’s who you know.” This was in regard to a job she lost out on, not to a more qualified candidate, according to this woman, but due to nepotism. As I eavesdropped, I wondered if it had more to do with a better command of grammar on the part of the woman who’d scored the position, but that’s not the point here.

The conversation got me thinking. Had I ever benefiting, not by my talents, but by knowing the right person? I could only come up with one instance. When I was in college, I was hired over Christmas break as a gift wrapper at a privately owned women’s department store. I stood in the store’s drafty display window for eight hours at a stretch, wrapping gifts, as shoppers hurried by on the street outside.

After working in the window for a week, I was introduced to the store’s owner. On hearing my last name, he asked if I was related to a friend of his. “Yes,” I said. “He’s my father’s cousin.” I was immediately promoted from gift wrapper to sales clerk. No more drafty window. I now had to deal with obnoxious, wealthy customers who treated me like pond scum. But hey, I got a 25 cent an hour raise, and for a college student putting herself through school on scholarships and student loans, every additional quarter counted.

Now the funny thing about this story is that I’d never met my father’s cousin, although we lived not too far from him. My grandfather was one of 13 children. My father had scores of first cousins, most of whom had little or nothing to do with my father. That’s another story for another time, though. For now, let’s just say I’ve used my father as fodder for several antagonists in my books.

“It’s not what you know but whom you know” is the hook that propels the action in Death By Killer Mop Doll. In Assault With a Deadly Glue Gun, the first book in the series, Anastasia initially learns of her husband’s gambling addiction when he drops dead at a casino in Las Vegas, and she’s confronted with the massive debt he’s secretly accrued.

In Death By Killer Mop Doll, Anastasia’s well-meaning, but oft-misguided mother, hooks up (in the Gen X sense) with the producer of a morning TV show. Mama convinces him that his faltering ratings will turn around if he revamps the show and hires Anastasia and her fellow editors as “experts.” Mama is very pleased with herself for having found another stream of income for Anastasia until the editors discover there’s a clause in their contracts that forces them to work on the show (which is owned by the same conglomerate that owns their magazine) without additional pay.

So in this case, “It’s not what you know but whom you know” totally backfires. A disgruntled member of the production team trashes the set and leaves one of Anastasia’s mop dolls behind as a calling card. Vandalism escalates into blackmail, then murder, and Anastasia finds herself in a killer’s crosshairs. Talk about best laid plans!

Have you ever benefited from knowing the right person or had a connection backfire on you?

As part of my blog tour, I’m giving away five signed copies of Death By Killer Mop Doll. To enter to win a copy, post a comment to this blog post or any of the blogs on the tour. The full tour schedule can be found at my website, http://www.loiswinston.com and the Killer Crafts & Crafty Killers blog, http://www.anastasiapollack.blogspot.com. In addition, I’m also giving away 3 copies of Death By Killer Mop Doll on Goodreads, http://www.goodreads.com/giveaway/show/15173-death-by-killer-mop-doll


 

Lois Winston is the author of the critically acclaimed Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mysteries published by Midnight Ink. Assault With a Deadly Glue Gun, the first book in the series, received starred reviews from Publishers Weekly and Booklist and was recently nominated for a Readers Choice Award by the Salt Lake City Library System. The new year brings with it the release of Death By Killer Mop Doll, the second book in the series. Read an excerpt at http://www.loiswinston.com/excerptap2.html. Visit Lois at her website: http://www.loiswinston.com and Anastasia at the Killer Crafts & Crafty Killers blog: http://www.anastasiapollack.blogspot.com. You can also follow Lois and Anastasia on Twitter @anasleuth.

 

 

Comments

[Lisa Garrett]

I would love to read this. Thank you for the opportunity.

lag110 at mchsi dot com

[Lois Winston]

Thanks, Lisa! I hope you enjoy the book.

[Patti Brooks]

Sure can relate to knowing the right person. I accidently met someone who, in 1945, escaped by horse and wagon from Germany just as the Russians were coming to govern it after WWII. As a writer of mysteries set in the horse world, and, wearing a different hat, a writer of historical novels, what a find! Needless to say this will figure strongly in an upcoming book. Perhaps even take on a life of its own and become the book.

[Sandy Tilley]

I grew up in a small town in Alabama where everybody knew everybody else--too well. So who you knew often backfired. But as you show so successfully, it makes great fodder for fiction!

[Lois Winston]

Patti, what great serendipity! Good luck with the book.

Sandy, not sure I'd like the lack of privacy that would go along with living somewhere where everyone knew everyone else!

[Jane Robinson]

I'm sure there have been times that I've benefited from knowing the right person. But, mostly, I've just been in the right place at the right time. My best example was when I applied for a scholarship that required a personal interview. I didn't receive the scholarship, but the person interviewing me later offered me an assistantship, which was much more valuable and beneficial. He said he liked my interview and thought of me when the position became available. It was just a matter of being in the right place at the right time.

[Jeff Salter]

My first reaction to your question was: no, I've never 'known' anybody. But after I got to thinking, my answer is diff.
A school buddy's father owned a feed & seed store in town. That buddy had a major role in selecting who would be the Saturday guy (to candle eggs, haul feed/seed/fertilizer, and make deliveries). I knew his dad, but I know it was my buddy who 'hired' me. That Sat. job became a full time job for the summer before I went to college.

[Camille Minichino]

My first jobs behind a counter on Revere Beach came to me through Uncle Guido, and who knows who HIS bosses were!

[Margaret Lucke]

I've often benefited from knowing the right person. Friends and acquaintances have led me to jobs, agents, publishing opportunities, teaching gigs, and so much more. And I try to return those favors or pay them forward.

I'm sure that most of us, once we think about it, can say the same. It's not the kindness of strangers we rely on, but the kindness of friends.

[Camille Minichino]

A good point, Peggy, remembering to pay it forward.

[Liz]

I came across this Mark Twain quote, "Adam was the luckiest man; he had no mother-in-law", and immediately thought of poor Anastasia. Compounded by her own mother's good intentions!

[Anonymous]

In a town where "who you know" helps all others & they usually get the best jobs, it definitely backfired on me. The top boss in my dept. at the time was definitely NOT happy that the guy who had donated the most to the organization (and to his dept. as well) was my grandmother's first cousin's husband & that I had the temerity to actually want off to go to his funeral. I guess he could not understand doing something for someone who had not helped you jobwise & couldn't now? (I had gotten the job on my own with that name never mentioned.) I always joked that only I could have technical connections backfire.

[Camille Minichino]

It's been great to have you here today, Lois. Thanks for including LadyKillers on your tour!

[Lois Winston]

I posted a comment earlier in response to some of the above comments, but it looks like it's lost in some black hole of cyberspace. So I'll have to try to remember what i wrote.

Jane, being in the right place at the right time is often what publishing is all about, too. It's having the right ms. land on the right editor's desk on the right day.

Jeff, from what I remember of high school, most of the kids who had after-school and summer jobs got them through connections.

Camille, exactly what sort of work were you doing for Uncle Guido???

Margaret, paying it forward is so important. Good for you for doing so.

Liz, great quote! And so appropriate for Anastasia!

Anonymous, sounds like your boss was a real jerk!

Thanks for inviting me, Camille. It's been a lively discussion.