How Kiki Are You? A Lot, I Hope!“Get Kiki!”
That’s the message on the new buttons I’m having made. Just two little words. That’s really all I need. See, I’ll be handing them out at Malice to promote my new book Paper, Scissors, Death. True, the buttons aren’t very big—2 ½ inches round—so there’s not a lot of room for long phrases. On the other hand, there’s not a lot more that I need to say.
My readers have spoken. They talk to me, write me, email me, and send me letters. They tell me, “I love Kiki!” And I’m very glad to hear that, because honestly, I worked very, very hard to craft a protagonist my readers would adore.
Why do folks react so positively to Kiki Lowenstein? I believe it’s because there’s a lot of Kiki in all of us. She’s the sum and total of so many women I know. Are you like Kiki? Take this test to find out:
- Would you rather laugh at yourself than at someone else?
- Would you rather pitch in to help than watch people work?
- Does the commercial about dogs and cats needing homes make you cry?
- Do you know a handful of ways to stretch a pound of hamburger into more than one meal?
- Would you rather buy one perfect home-grown tomato from a roadside stand than a plastic package of tomatoes from a chain grocery store?
- Would you sit up all night finishing a handmade gift rather than dash to a store and buy something at the last minute?
- Do you cherish the small things in life like beautiful sunsets, the first daffodil of spring, and the feel of a child’s trusting hand in yours?
If you answered “yes” to any of the above, you’re a Kiki-type of girl. I suspect there are a lot of us!
A Kiki-girl doesn’t take herself too seriously. In fact, Kiki Lowenstein calls herself “the original Mrs. Nice Guy.” She apologizes to carts she bumps in the grocery store. She wears a tablecloth to the front door when all her wet clothes are in the dryer.
A Kiki-girl is overweight, under-appreciated, and soft-hearted… to a fault. Kiki Lowenstein drives by a pet store and on impulse adopts a homeless Great Dane. “The dog and I had something in common. Nobody wanted us because we were both too big.”
A Kiki-girl is “a good girl.” She follows the rules she learned in kindergarten. In the opening scene of Paper, Scissors, Death, Kiki Lowenstein picks up paper scraps and trash after a pre-teen party at a scrapbook store. The other mothers stand around and yak, but Kiki feels the “polite thing to do” is clean up the mess she, her daughter, and the others helped make.
It’s a mistake to underestimate a Kiki-girl. When things get tough, a Kiki-girl pulls up her big girl panties and does what has to be done. Kiki Lowenstein pays back the half million dollars her dead husband has “borrowed.” She gets a job. She overhauls a “fixer-up property,” which she reflects is real estate code for “a dump with possibilities.” And eventually she faces down a murderer. She’s no push-over.
By the same token, these buttons are small but mighty. They carry the exact message I want to convey: “Get Kiki!”
I’m proud to be a Kiki-girl. You should be, too. I promise you that Kiki will always stay just as fun, lovable and endearing as she is right now. (I hope you never change either.)
Joanna Campbell Slan is the author of the Agatha Award Finalist for Best First Novel—Paper, Scissors, Death. The second book in the Kiki Lowenstein mystery series—Cut, Crop & Die—is now available for pre-orders through Amazon. You can follow Joanna and get her marvelous journaling prompts (to encourage you to save your personal stories) at www.twitter.com/joannaslan Her website is www.joannaslan.com
11 Comments on Paper Scissors Death - Joanna Campbell Slan, last added: 4/23/2009
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I'd buy this book just from the interview!! Kiki Lowenstein (Joanna Campbell Slan) rocks!!!
Mary
http://www.cynthiasattic.blogspot.com
http://www.woofersclub.blogspot.com
I metJoanna at Magna cum Murder mystery conf. at Muncie, In, in October. I love her book and am keeping my fingers crossed that she wins the Agatha at Malice Domestic. She has graciously accepted the offer to speak to my bookclub on July 2 - we can hardly wait!!
I want Kiki on my side! This sounds great!
http://nickvalentino.blogspot.com/
Where do I sign up?!?!?
Kiki sounds like my kind of gurl.
Diana
http://www.woofersclub.blogspot.com
http://www.booklandheights.blogspot.com
http://www.basicblackblog.blogspot.com
Whew, you step away from your computer for an appointment, and then come back to this great reception! Thank you, thank you, thank you.
Mary, yeh, Kiki rocks. She puts on those big girl panties and off she goes.
Marlis, I'm looking forward to coming back home to Indiana.
Nick, I'd want Kiki on my side, too. She's a never-fail friend who'd do anything for those she loves.
Diana, go to my website www.joannaslan.com and sign up for my free ezine. I'll keep people posted about the inaugural launch of the Kiki Lowenstein fan club. Earlier today I heard from a big scrapbooking manufacturer---do I smell sponsorships in the wind, you betcha!
Well, the first thing on your list definitely makes me a Kiki girl. Actually, I'd secretly rather laugh at other people than myself, but I seem to be the only one doing idiotic things.
Kiki sounds delightful. I'll have to get to know her.
Gayle
http://gaylecarline.blogspot.com
I am a Kiki kind of girl and darn proud of it!!! And am the proud owner of a signed copy of the said brilliant book which was part of my best of british scrapbooking prize recently. If you've not read it what are you waiting for!
Good luck with the sponsorshp too Joanna, go girl!
love
Michelle x
I think I flunked your test.
Norm
http://fangplace.blogspot.com
Gayle, of course we all might secretly snicker, but we'd never feel comfortable about it, would we?
As for you, Ms. Jackson-Mogford, it's just a shame I can't post some of your scrapbook layouts right here on Karen's blog so these people can fall over on the floor in awe of your huge talent. (Folks, this girl is somethin' else. Zowie. She makes stuff that is major fun to look at.) And as for your page on the back of ScrapBook inspirations Magazine this month--I'm drooling over that black and white paper. Can I beg you to scan it and share? Hmmm?
Norm, it's okay. Go bite someone, FangFace. You'll feel better, and maybe in your next life you can be a Kiki-girl, too.
Karen, thanks a zillion for having me. This was fun--and thanks for encouraging me to spotlight Kiki. You're one of the smartest cookies around, but you already know I think that, don't you?
Only just made it back here! Now I'm blushing!
I may just see my way clear to scan some handmade paper for you! Best go and find you on your own blog now!