to sweep the odd tarantula out of the garage and, on walks, I've seen guinea hens, armadillos, deer, fox, box turtles that are like minature army helmets, and a variety of furry life: squirrels, raccoons, and possum. The esthetic is very good for your head and creative thought.
There are million dollar homes here on one of the five lakes or nine golf courses, but I am content being in a lessor-trafficked area. It is truly a resort community.
You have so many passions: one was being a foster mother for a capuchin monkey named Ziggy. How did Ziggy come into your life and tell us about your time together before she moved on to an assignment. You even wrote a book about your experience. Are copies still available?
I used to write for career magazines and did profiles of people and their jobs. It was interesting because I interviewed an FBI agent, a chimney sweep, a sheet metal worker, crane operator, and many others. I was looking for a subject that would be inspirational to young women and found M.J. Willard. She was a behavioral psychologist and studied with the now deceased, B.F. Skinner.
Through our interview, I found out that Willard had to walk one of Boston's critical injury floors in order to get her thesis completed, and she met a young adult quadriplegic named Robert. Each time she visited Robert's room, he asked her for help with simple tasks-quadriplegics cannot use their arms or legs, mainly as the result of a spinal-related injury. She asked Skinner if there was some type of animal that could be trained to help people like Robert, and Helping Hands was born. She got a $2,000. grant, and a cage-wild monkey named Hellion, and the rest is history. They are a nonprofit since 1979, and help many people.
I got so caught up in Ms. Willard's story and tales about the monkey experience, I found myself putting in an application to be a foster family. We got Ziggy about eight months later. What a life-altering experience! She came to us at five weeks old with a small piece of sheep skin, a Minnie Mouse doll, a preemie diaper and one very tiny baby bottle. Of course I had never been closer to a monkey than about 40-feet away at the zoo, so, raising Ziggy was a true, seat-of-the-pants adventure. It's like raising a human infant child on f-a-s-t forward. And monkeys get as smart as a human 2-to-5-year old, so you must stay on top of your game. It's very challenging and I have become somewhat the primatologist and have now studied the behavior of monkeys and apes for almost 20 years.
We had Ziggy for thirteen years (they live 40-46 years), and I documented my family's learning experience in a book called Bringing Up Ziggy: What Raising a Helping Hands Monkey Taught Me About Love, Commitment and Sacrifice. It was published by Renaissance Books (now St. Martin's Press), in 1999. And I do still have boxes of books and sell them from my website. (That book even got me on a television show called To Tell the Truth, a game show that was run by John O'Hurley-do you know the phrase? "Will the real Andrea Campbell please stand up!")
One very happy coda to this story: I just received Ziggy's graduation certificate a few months ago and she is now the helper/companion for John, a 38-year old man who lives alone in extreme pain every day. The photos of them have put my worry at ease-they have truly bonded and Ziggy looks very much in love with "her man."
Michael and I joke that if our sons do something as valuable as she is doing, we will be very happy. We miss her every day but know that Ziggy is bringing love and a psychological lift to someone who truly needs joy. Plus, Zig has a great sense of humor.
You also seem fascinated with all elements of Crime from a writer's perspective. Making Crime Pay: The Writer's Guide to Criminal Law, Evidence, and Procedure helps writers of mysteries, crime novels or screenplays get their details right. What inspired you to work on this writer's reference book, which was published by Allworth Press in New York. Where did you begin your research? Tell us about your background in criminal justice.
The very beginning was when I studied an obscure science from a Catholic priest called "graphology," a form of handwriting analysis. (Actually forensic scientists who work Questioned Document Evidence-the paper trail with all crimes-consider graphology to be like reading your horoscope; but I digress.) Anyway, I signed up for a course given by the American College of Forensic Examiners (ACFEI) and got member number 489. Today, there are probably over 15,000 members and many doctorates in forensic psychology, forensic accounting and all the other disciplines.
Because of this interest, I started attending forensic science workshops, learning other disciplines, and that led to getting a degree in criminal justice. As part of the course requirements, I had to study criminal law, criminal procedure and do things like: visit Cummins Prison, learn about juvenile delinquency, attend talks from the local truant officer, a worker from our juvenile center, a parole officer, and, I even learned about the justice system of Islam. My law instructor is now the municipal judge for Hot Springs and I helped on his campaign, getting him speaking engagements here in the Village, and writing some of his campaign material.
I went on to study forensic reconstruction sculpture with Betty Pat Gatliff, one of the pioneers (that is creating a 3-D bust out of clay using a skull), and soon I was taking comprehensive composite art from Karen T. Taylor, one of the best in the country. Instead of doing eyewitness drawings from traumatized victims though, I would rather do cadaver drawings or fugitive updates. About five years ago I joined the International Association for Identification (IAI), was on their board of directors locally, but now am editor for their quarterly, the Arkansas Identification News. It goes out to forensic scientists (most of whom work at the Arkansas State Crime lab), law enforcement, and parole officers in our state.
Every year I participate in forensic science/criminal justice training conferences, and I am like a sponge. I suck up information about the various jobs, how to do certain tasks, and take notes on their "case" files. It gives me great information for the books I like to write and is interesting, without me having to walk crime scenes myself, a horrible and tragic thing to have to do.
Your first book for Chelsea House is Forensic Science: Evidence, Clues and Investigation. What was important for you to include in this book? Have you have feedback from forensic departments?
This young adult book is part of a "Crime, Justice and Punishment" series, but it is adult material. My objective was to describe the different forensic science disciplines, such as: ballistics, serology, trace evidence, toxicology and basically all the departments one would find at a crime lab. This overview of the science community is woven into some case stories used to illustrate important principles; I also give young adults an idea of some of the history behind the science, what it involves as far as work, and how valuable these jobs really are to society.
My colleagues have good things to say about my work. I guess that's why I create and edit their newsletter, Ha! But, seriously, I am all about learning everything I can.Forensic science evolves and each crime scene case is unique, giving us a glimpse of life (and death) under very challenging circumstances. You have to remember, I was studying this before it showed up on TV and became mainstream fare.
Your second book for Chelsea House was "Rights of the Accused. In it you present information focusing on the specific constitutional rights of those accused of a crime. Another very important reference book. What prompted you to write it?
Well, the editor of Forensic Science asked me to do it as part of the series, but I learned a lot more about criminal law through the doing. The history of how laws evolve and how we got our rights is both fascinating and puzzling. You know the history of law is built on the backs of men through torture, branding, even trials of ordeal-can he outlive drowning or fire to be proved pure and, thus, "innocent"? Hard to believe history was so barbaric.
Legal Ease: A Guide to Criminal Law, Evidence and Procedure, which was co-authored by Ralph C. Ohm, is a guide for law enforcement officers, lawyers or anyone who needs legal expertise. What information did you include to explain difficult legal terms?
Criminal law is traditionally written using arcane terms and jargon with historical underpinnings. Because of that notion, it is difficult reading and that is why lawyers get the big bucks.
Making Crime Pay begins by explaining how laws came to be, even starting with Mesopotamia-the ancient region between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers and the culture of early civilization. And then, in accessible language it defines all the criminal laws, leading into how laws are enforced by illustrating how police must act; then the book segues into who the players are in the criminal justice system: from the bailiff to the prosecutor; what their jobs are, what their day-in-the-life is like, and this culminates into an entire overview of the court system all the way from in-take to sentencing.
It took me about two years to put it all together. I hope to do an update this fall for Charles C. Thomas Publishers because laws change, the Patriot Act happened, and procedures evolve. Plus, I'd also like to add questions, quizzes and further guides for thought at the end of chapters to make it better for its role as a college textbook.
You've also touched upon a lighter, more personal subject, that of journal writing. iUniverse has published Your Corner of the Universe: A Guide to Self-Therapy through Journal Writing. Was this one of your own interests? How can journal writing improve our lives?
In the late 80's (the summer my foreign exchange daughter, Jopie, went back to Holland) a tumor was discovered in my jaw. Since I don't want to reiterate the whole "surgery" process, let's just say, a piece of my hipbone and skull bone are now in my jaw. I had my mouth wired shut many times, and seemed to be either waiting for an operation or recuperating from one. I was very miserable and always, "Why me?" Well, journal writing helped me to overcome my malaise, gave me an outlet for feelings, and allowed me the presence to figure things out. I felt that others who may have not thought about writing during bad times-or shall we say "plateaus" ?-could use my journal writing experience too. It's very much self-help and all about gaining maturity in double-time (to use a music metaphor).
Do you have any current projects you’re working on?
Yes, my first book, Great Games for Great Parties: How to throw a perfect party, was on the market with Sterling Publishers for almost 14 years. That was followed by Perfect Party Games. Now I have written a book called All Manner of Entertaining: The Complete Guide to Parties and Events. I am seeking publication for it-think of it as the Better Homes and Gardens of entertaining. I want it to be a reference bible that will sit on the shelf for a long time. Everyone, at one time or another, has to have a celebration, whether it is your daughter's first slumber party, a college graduation, throwing a wedding shower, a retirement party for gramps, or maybe a Quincinera for a hispanic friend, something will show up-Eek! the boss is coming for dinner!
So I'm also making a big deal of this book, that is to say, All Manner will have its own website, I am shooting for commercial sponsors and there are some other marketing ideas I have brewing. It's all very exciting. I just need to stop getting hornswoggled into chairing mystery writer functions, and teaching workshops, and all the other things I do. (We just had the first Mystery Writers of America Southwest Chapter and BreakThrough Promotions workshop in Hot Springs called Murder in Spa City. I was chair and it was a long, big project) so, at present, I am re-grouping. I have two NYC conferences upcoming-the MWA Symposium, and the American Society of Journalists and Authors conference; then one more forensic science conference in May, and I get re-prioritized once again. A constant trial for me, as I am a workaholic to the extreme. (I also teach an 8-week e-course online for Mediabistro called Publish That Book: How to Write a Nonfiction Book Proposal That Sells, with a class starting again in May.)
What’s your life like after writing so many informative reference books? What kind of feedback have you received over the years?
I'm listed as an expert on Pitsco's Ask An Expert site and I get forensic science questions from people as young as 7 and as old as 70. I get "help me" letters from those who have criminal law problems. I get mail from monkey owners (I write a column for The Simian Society-an organization whose members all own monkeys). I get lots of e-mail from students writing reports.
I do love it. I believe in outreach. I feel by helping others to learn, to remedy their problems, or to think logically, I am doing my part as a writer and someone who can impart knowledge, experience and wisdom and that, they, in turn, will pass it on.
Anything you might like to add?
Yes, I have an author's newsletter readers can sign up for called "Soup's On"-what else would someone named Campbell call it? This is a bi-monthly e-mail subscriber-based free publication. It usually has book author interviews, tips on promotion and just generally news I have picked up on. To subscribe send an e-mail to: campbell@arkansas.net and please put "subscribe newsletter" in the subject line.
copyright Denise Fleischer & GWN
April 7, 2006
