About

About Barbara W. Klaser

I’m a blogger, book lover, novelist, editor, lifelong journal keeper, knitter and lots of other things.

I’m the owner of Mystery of a Shrinking Violet as well as a few other blogs. (See my Other Blogs page.)

The English language has been the basis of many fulfilling endeavors in my life. I was one of those weird kids who actually enjoyed diagramming sentences. With my love of books and stories, as well as the English language, and as someone who often has my head in the clouds, writing fiction seemed a natural fit. But first I had to make a living, so I spent over two decades in the world of technical manuals, while I pursued fiction writing in my spare time.

About Mystery of a Shrinking Violet

This is an updated and revived version of a blog by the same name that I kept regularly between mid-2004 and and the end of 2009. I intended it as an author blog, but really it was more of a personal blog with a little about books and writing. After 2009, my posts there dwindled for a time and then stopped. At the time, I had the impression that blogging was becoming obsolete, due to the advent of social media, primarily Facebook. Social media seemed to take over the internet, and people even seemed to abandon communicating by email, at least for personal uses, and gave up forums as well, in favor of Facebook and Twitter. But I’ve missed blogging ever since. I did it at first grudgingly, as something I was told I needed to do as an aspiring writer. But it grew on me, and I’ve realized recently that I missed it. Then I realized that I wanted to have a focused books and writing blog, and not only that, I wanted to have another focused knitting blog, and … well, this idea grew until I realized I wanted a cluster of blogs, each focused on a topic important to me. I also explored a little and realized that in fact blogging isn’t dead. It’s very much alive, and I still prefer it to social media. So here we are. Some of my posts from my older blog will be included here,  but that will happen gradually as I check them for broken links and information that needs updating. Those will be either backdated or updated as new posts, if they seem to fit my narrower focus for this newer blog.

So, Mystery of a Shrinking Violet is reborn, and will focus primarily on books I read, writing (mostly fiction writing), books about writing, and some writing niches I’m currently interested in, which for all I know may shift and change over time. I find that I’m still mostly interested in writing mystery with romance.

I’m an introvert with a tendency toward shyness, so the name of the blog still seems to fit.

Welcome, and I hope you’ll comment and join in the fun.

About My Reviews

The older I get the less I like star ratings, and even reviews. Star ratings can be so ambiguous, and each reader has their own notions about how to assign them. My star ratings (which I don’t use here, only on Goodreads) are based partly on writing and editorial quality, partly historical and research accuracy, and mostly on my personal preferences and opinions on what I read. My ratings and reviews may even reflect my mood at the time I read the story, and I’m a very moody person. Don’t take them too seriously.

My Goodreads star ratings (which I may mention here from time to time):

5 Stars
Loved the book, highly recommend it. I would definitely read it again.

4 Stars
Liked the book very much, recommend it. I might read it again.

3 Stars
Liked the book, possibly loved some things about it, but there were one or more major aspects that threw me out of the story, slowed me down, made me almost stop reading, or annoyed me. May or may not recommend.

2 Stars
It was okay, kept me reading to find out how it ended, but it had major problems and I probably wouldn’t recommend it.

1 Star
Very rarely given because I usually don’t finish these books.

Comments Welcome!

I welcome comments from the authors of books I review, or other bloggers I mention here, whether we agree or not, and whether I liked your book or not. In fact all writers/authors/content creators are welcome to comment here.

All comments are welcome from all readers of this blog. The first one or two may be moderated to keep this a safe space online. If you comment and you’re a blogger or have a website, feel free to add that link to your comment.

I only ask that everyone be considerate and civil and not get sp*mmy. I realize those are broad rules, but most people know what those terms mean. I’ll be the judge of when someone breaks them, but if you find yourself harassed on this site by other commenters, and I don’t seem to have noticed, please use the contact form to let me know. Harassment in comments, of myself or anyone else, will not be tolerated. Behave as if you’re in someone’s home as a guest, and we should all be ok.

Barbara W. Klaser
October 23, 2022