Today’s guest is Patricia Gligor, a Cincinnati native who enjoys reading mystery/suspense novels, touring and photographing old houses and traveling.  But her passion is writing fiction. Desperate Deeds is the third in her Malone Mystery series.  She’s giving away a free copy of one of her books to someone who leaves a comment. But first, let’s hear what she has to say about What would you like to do.

 “What would you do?” is a popular TV show. I’m sure most of you have watched it. But, in case you haven’t, here’s an overview. On the show, actors act out scenes of conflict in public settings while hidden cameras videotape the scenes. The focus is on whether or not bystanders will intervene and how. My question in the following scenarios is not what you would do in a each situation; it’s what you would like to do.

1. You’re in line at a retail establishment and the person in front of you has brought several items to the checkout. Not one of the items has a tag with the barcode, which the cashier needs in order to scan it. She has called for her supervisor. Minutes go by. No supervisor. You wait and you wait. How do you feel? Impatient and frustrated? The other lines are backed up so moving to another register isn’t really an option. You could just drop your purchases on the counter and walk out but that would mean you’d have to come back later or go to another store because you need most of the items. After a ridiculously long period of time, the supervisor finally shows up with an obvious attitude and she takes her time resolving the problem. She doesn’t even bother to apologize to the customers in line; in fact, she’s rather rude and gives you a nasty look. What would you like to do? Would you like to scream at the supervisor or even slap her?
2. Your boss is always on your case. He singles you out for being two minutes late, embarrassing you in front of all of your co-workers, many of whom are habitually late but are never reprimanded. What would you like to do? Do you fantasize about telling him off or maybe kicking him in just the right place?
3. You have your two toddlers in the back seat of your car. As you’re driving down the road, a car appears out of nowhere and cuts you off, missing your car by inches. How do you feel? Relieved that your cars didn’t collide and grateful that your children are safe? But aren’t you also angry at the lunatic driving that car? What would you like to do? Pull him out of his car by his hair and shake him? Or worse? After all, he placed your children’s lives in jeopardy.

There are so many things in life that cause us to become frustrated and/or angry. Things over which we have little or no control. We might feel like killing the driver who cut us off on the road – but we don’t because we have a sense of morality and we don’t want to go to prison. So, how do we handle all of those feelings? We can rant, rave and cuss but another way is to write those negative feelings away. To live vicariously through our characters. To place them in situations where they can experience similar emotions and then to let them act on those impulses. Our character can scream at the supervisor, beat her boss to a pulp or she can even indulge her urge to murder someone. No one goes to jail and, after we write the scene, we feel a whole lot better. Ah, the joys of being a writer. 

JIM:  Patricia’s latest mystery is Desperate Deeds.  Here’s a brief look at it, and a link.

As Ann Kern starts her new business as an interior decorator, the temperatures have risen, tulips and daffodils are in bloom and there’s a feeling of endless possibilities in the air. She has no idea that her world is about to be turned upside down. 

Leave a comment and you’ll be entered in a drawing for a free copy of one of the Malone Mysteries.

Get Desperate Deeds on Amazon at:  http://amzn.to/1tDZfgs

Her website is http://pat-writersforum.blogspot.com