Patricia Stoltey

The Winner of "The Taming of Enkidu" is...

2012-01-27T13:31:00.004-07:00

The winner of a copy of the e-book

The Taming of Enkidu

by Thea Hutcheson

is

Karen Duvall

Congratulations, Karen!

Flat versus Full or How I Flesh Out a Scene by Thea Hutcheson, Guest Blogger

2012-01-26T06:00:00.001-07:00

Please welcome Thea Hutcheson, also known as Thea Hudson, author of The Taming of Enkidu, a historical, paranormal, erotic romance. I'm not sure whether Thea is keeping her real identity a secret or whether she just likes keeping a low profile, but the photo below is her beloved kitty cat Ed Gumji.

Thanks for sharing this excellent writing tip with us, Thea.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Flat versus Full or How I Flesh Out a Scene by Thea Hutcheson, Guest Blogger

You've read it, I know you have. Bland descriptions that do nothing for the atmosphere, nothing to ground you in the story. Your character is in the forest. You sit at your computer and write, "She entered the forest."

So is it a pine forest, an old growth forest, a forest teeming with wolves or fairies or home to a Green Age Walmart?

It's a forest you say, you know, with trees.

I say, "Stop." Put yourself in that scene. Just stand for a moment and be there. Look, listen, taste, feel, and hear what is going on. Experience the forest around you for a few moments. Then put all that into the scene.

Dean Wesley Smith says you should have all five senses in every thousand words. That works out to roughly one and a quarter senses on every manuscript page. You can spread them out, and you should, so it doesn't overload the reader, but when setting a scene, nothing works better than a full house of sensory detail.

Think about it. Which would you rather read? "Carolis stepped into the forest and began her journey."

Or

"Carolis nudged her chestnut war horse between the two massive oaks that signaled the entrance to the Dragon's Wood. The winter shorn tree limbs reached toward her like witches claws (sight). One scraped over her steel helmet and she shivered, her belly clenching tightly (feeling). Pearly light filtered down through fog that billowed in the light breeze (sight and feeling) and helped muffle (hearing) her horse's hooves as the gelding made his way over the thick mulch of centuries of fallen leaves. Those same hooves kicked up the smell of damp humus (hearing), reminding her the years she'd spent tending the mulch pile on the farm at her foster home. The water from the fog condensed on her hands, chilling them and turning gilded leather reins slick between her fingers (feeling). What a way to start a quest."

So you know where you are and what is going on (she's starting a quest). You get a hint of who she is (gilded reins and a steel helmet, grew up on a farm with a foster family), how she feels about it (clenched belly and shivering). Much richer than just "Carolis stepped into the forest and began her journey."

A lovely exercise to get you started on learning how to pull all that richness into the scene comes from Kristin Kathryn Rusch, an award winning author and editor across many genres.

It's very simple. Close your eyes and picture a place you know well. Do as before -- put yourself in it and experience the place with all senses wide open.

When you have it, write five paragraphs, concentrating on one sense in each one. Then take the best sentence or two out of each paragraph and combine them into one paragraph. The result is rich and full, giving the reader a complete suite of sensory details about the place. It is amazing what you can pull out of the scene if you will immerse yourself in it and how thoroughly you can ground a reader in the story.

Remember, all setting is Point of View -- what the character notices and how he or she describes it or experiences it. This goes a long way toward building character voice.

But that's a different essay!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Renaissance E-Books has graciously agreed to give away one e-book copy of The Taming of Enkidu to a reader who leaves a comment on today's post. We'll select the winner at noon Mountain time tomorrow (Friday, January 27th) and will announce the winner here.

"When the people of Uruk beg the gods to do something about their despot God King, they make Enkidu, a wild man. Enkidu is set down on the plains where he becomes the animals' champion, disrupting the hunters who prey on them. When the hunters complain about Enkidu to the king, he sends Shamat, one of Ishtar's temple harlots, to the wild plains to seduce the savage man and make him civilized. Over seven hot days and hotter nights, Shamat will teach Enkidu what it means to be a man and the scorching pleasure to be found in the experienced arms of a Goddess' harlot."

You can learn more about Thea and her books at her website. She is also on Facebook and Twitter.

Wednesday Potpourri

2012-01-25T06:00:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow's Guest

Author of steamy hot romance (and a bit of erotica under a pseudonym) Thea Hutcheson is this week's Thursday guest. Her post is about fleshing out scenes in your writing. No. the post is not about sex. Sorry! :)

The Lightfoot Chronicles

Northern Colorado mystery author Cricket McRae of the Home Crafting mysteries launches her new series as Bailey Cates in May. The dual author/series website has links to the Hearth Cricket blog as well as the newly launched The Lightfoot Chronicles blog.

"Welcome new witch and professional baker Katie Lightfoot as she shares her lessons in magic and hedgewitchery, herbal craft, baking and the South."

The first book in the new series is Brownies and Broomsticks, already available at online booksellers for pre-order. Cricket....I mean Bailey.....will be my guest blogger on May 31st.

Favorite Tweet of the Week

From @SusanSpann (California attorney and mystery writer): "I am raising a geek. I asked my son if he finished his homework, and he looked at me and said 'Error 404...Homework not found.'"

My Interview with Terri Bischoff at Chiseled in Rock

Terri is the acquisitions editor for Midnight Ink, publisher of crime literature in most sub-genres. If you didn't catch this interview yesterday, here's the link.

Five Star Publishing is on Facebook

Here's a great place to learn about new mystery releases from Five Star. It's worth a visit just to scroll through the gorgeous cover art, so drop by and "Like" the Facebook page.

25 Ways to Increase Blog Traffic

This excellent blog post is at My Name is Not Bob, Robert Lee Brewer's blog.

What I'm Reading

I'm just finishing up Tilt-A-Whirl, the first mystery in the John Ceepak series by Chris Grabenstein. I liked it a lot, so I'm jumping straight into the second book in the series, which I think is called Mad Mouse.

Facebook's Timeline Roll Out

If you're on Facebook, everything you wanted to know about the Timeline Roll Out (or should know about it, whether you want to or not) is in this post from Mashable.

Where Have All the Flowers Gone?

I think I'm tired of winter, even though the weather has been relatively mild. The truth is, I'm missing color in my days. There have been a few spectacular sunrises, or so I hear, but I wasn't up early enough to see them. I'm putting this flower here just to cheer me up:

There. Now I feel better.

Chiseled in Rock Tuesday: Interview with Midnight Ink Acquisitions Editor, Terri Bischoff

2012-01-24T06:00:00.000-07:00

Terri is the acquisitions editor for Midnight Ink, publisher of all kinds of crime literature. Join us at Chiseled in Rock to learn more about Terri, her job, and Midnight Ink.

Where Do Your Characters Come From? by Camille LaGuire, Guest Blogger

2012-01-23T06:00:00.000-07:00

My special guest today is Camille LaGuire, a Michigan writer of mystery and adventure stories. She has published fiction in magazines ranging from Cricket Magazine to Handheld Crime, to Marion Zimmer Bradley's Fantasy Magazine. Her work has been reprinted in educational materials and overseas, and her short fiction has been nominated for Derringer awards. Her thriller play, Slayer of Clocks, was produced to sold-out audiences at the inaugural Discovering New Mysteries Festival in 2007.

Thanks for joining us today, Camille.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Where Do Your Characters Come From? by Camille LaGuire, Guest Blogger

People ask how I come up with my characters. Do they come from people I know? Do I use character development sheets? Do they just spring fully formed from my imagination?

Characters are complicated. They may develop in all of those ways and more. For me they often start with an image, or an idea, but they usually come to life with an emotion -- something that feels like the heart of the character.

The title character in my latest book, George Starling, started when I was thinking about old-fashioned action stories. What would happen if this masterful "take charge" guy were to take his rescued damsel home and move in? He might come across to her family as a dangerous control freak. I had some fun with that, coming up with amusing or dramatic misunderstandings, but it didn't lead to a compelling character.

But then I thought: what if he wasn't really a masterful action hero who arrogantly takes control of every situation, but just a guy who has a compulsive need to make things better? What if he's trapped by his own need to rescue people? What if he needs to be rescued from himself?

That was everything I needed. With that question, I knew what his deepest worries were and his greatest desires. I even knew his blind spots, which is important to any character. But even more than that, I now not only had a character, I had the theme and title of the story: The Man Who Did Too Much.

Is George like anyone I know? No, he's a fantasy cliche made gently human. I mean, sure, I use my own feelings of pride or self-doubt, or annoyance to inform my writing on any character. But I don't know anybody like him. I wish I did. (I sometimes have fantasies of George stepping into real life, and staging a coup at my day job or in local politics. It's something that I imagine he might do if his girlfriend were inconvenienced in any way....)

The other major character in The Man Who Did Too Much is Karla Marquette. Her creation was more deliberate. There were two things I wanted to do:

The first thing I wanted was to write a mystery series in the old-school way, with a quirky, highly intellectual but perhaps socially inept master detective. I was thinking about detectives like Mrs. North, and Nero Wolfe, and even Ellery Queen. Happy, contented people without a driving problem, and who are a little detached from reality, and therefore able to see things that others can't.

I also wanted to try writing a character who was very close to home. Perhaps someone based on, uh, ... me. Or elements of me; my foibles, highly exaggerated. And, I'm afraid, the whole "detached from reality" thing made me an obvious match for that classic detective.

But, of course, Karla is not me. I let her grow out of a collection of quirks. She didn't click, though, until I stuck her in some scenes with George, and then it all came together. Karla is the opposite of George. He has wide experience of the world and reality, and she barely leaves her house, but while he has no idea how to be happy, Karla is a master at it. If anybody can rescue George, it's Karla.

It feels like magic when characters click like that, but in reality, that comes from a lot of work. I played those characters in my head for months, maybe years. I let them play through all kinds of scenes, sometimes replaying the same scene in different ways, to let them grow the way little kids grow. They succeed and fail and learn, and I learn with them.

But I'll admit it, I don't know if this is the best way to develop characters. I only know that it's the most fun. It really comes down to playing with the characters. It's why I write -- I end up falling in love with them and I have to tell their stories.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Man Who Did Too Much is the first of the Starling and Marquette mysteries, a combination of cozy mystery and comic suspense which take place in northern lower Michigan. Camille also writes the Mick and Casey Mysteries, about a pair of young married gunslingers who solve mysteries in the old west.

Learn more about Camille and her books at her website. You can follow her ongoing adventures in writing at her blog The Daring Novelist. Camille is also on Twitter.

Two More Writing Contests

2012-01-20T06:00:00.000-07:00

Incite Denver

In addition to the Northern Colorado Writer contests I mentioned in this week's Wednesday Potpourri, there's a brand new contest sponsored by Chiseled in Rock blog that you need to check out.

This one is called Incite Denver, has minimal requirements (except that you have a completed manuscript), and doesn't cost anything...unless you have to travel from a great distance for the February 29th event in Denver because only those in attendance have a chance of winning. I guess that means most of the entries will come from the Denver area, or at least the Front Range of Colorado.

Killer Nashville's 2012 Claymore Award

Registration deadline is May 31, 2012. Visit the Killer Nashville website for more information on this award for unpublished crime literature.

The Four P's for Attending a Writers' Conference by Kerrie Flanagan, Guest Blogger

2012-01-19T06:00:00.001-07:00

Kerrie Flanagan is the director of Northern Colorado Writers, a writers' support organization born from Kerrie's desire to help writers of all types learn their craft and succeed in the marketplace. Her business started as a small conference targeting local writers in Northern Colorado but has grown steadily. There is now a writers' studio where classes are held and critique groups can meet, as well as the annual conference.

Welcome, Kerrie. I'm getting very excited about the 2012 conference, especially now that I've seen the lineup of workshops, presenters, agents and editors. As usual, you have something for everyone.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Four P's for Attending a Writers' Conference by Kerrie Flanagan, Guest Blogger

Each year I host the Northern Colorado Writers Conference. As we get closer and closer to the event, I get more and more excited. I love spending two full days with writers. My personal opinion is that every writer should attend one conference a year. Of course I am partial to mine, but there are so many wonderful conferences around the country to choose from, you shouldn't have a problem finding one that fits your needs. (Visit Shaw Guides for conference information).

I have put together these four P's to help you get the most out of a writers conference you might be attending in the near future.

*Be Prepared*

The Boy Scouts were definitely on to something here. Take time to research the faculty who will be there. This will allow you to figure out who you want to meet and also give you some talking points when you do visit with them. If you are pitching to an agent or editor it is imperative you do some upfront work. (Here is an article I wrote with tips on pitch sessions.) Make a plan of the sessions you want to attend and what you hope to get from them.

*Be Professional*

Writing is a business and I believe all writers need to treat it as such.Therefore, at a conference you should be professional. Have business cards made and ready to hand out when people ask for one. Be respectful of the agents and editors. You want to be remembered-- but not for stalking. Put some thought into what you should wear (think business casual).

*Be Polite*

A conference is not the time to be a wall-flower and hide in the corner or in your hotel room. It doesn't matter if you are a self-proclaimed introvert, you need to dig deep inside and unearth any extrovert skills you may have. Introduce yourself to other writers at meals, hand out business cards, ask questions during sessions and talk to the agents and editors. You never know what may come from this meeting.

*Be Productive*

Go to as many sessions as possible and meet as many people as you can. Regardless of how tired you get, you should stay until the end. There is plenty of time for sleep and rest after the conference. A lot of time goes into making a great event from start to finish, so take advantage of that.

*What are the conferences near you that you will be attending in the next couple of months?

*Do you have any conference advice for those writers new to the conference scene?*

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

To learn more about Kerrie and Northern Colorado Writers, visit the NCW website. She can be found on Twitter as @Kerrie_Flanagan and on Facebook as Kerrie Stephen Flanagan.

Kerrie's article mentioned above on How to Pitch to a Literary Agent at a Writers' Conference for WOW! Women on Writing, is a must read for conference goers.

Wednesday Potpourri

2012-01-18T06:00:00.002-07:00

Tomorrow's Guest Blogger

Kerrie Flanagan, director of Northern Colorado Writers, will be here with tips on getting the most out of a writers' conference. The NCW Conference is scheduled for March 30-31 at the Hilton in Fort Collins, Colorado.

NCW Writing Contests

First, there's the Top of the Mountain Book Award associated with the Northern Colorado Writers Conference. There are both fiction and nonfiction categories, and you do not have to attend the conference to enter. Guidelines are on the NCW website. Submissions close on February 15, 2012.

Short Fiction:

NOW OPEN: Short Fiction 2012
DEADLINE: January 31, 2012
We are proud to announce that the 2012 Short Fiction contest will be judged by award-winning author Antonya Nelson!

What I'm Reading

I'm finally getting around to the four John Ceepak novels I bought at a mystery convention about 4 1/2 years ago, which shows you how far behind I am in my reading. I sat next to the author, Chris Grabenstein, at dinner one evening and fell in love with his sense of humor. I'm now reading Tilt-A-Whirl, the first book in the series. Chris has written several more Ceepak mysteries since, so I have some serious catching up to do.

Thoughts on Keeping My Nose to the Grindstone When Katie Cat is in the Room

It's really hard now that Katie has discovered there's an interesting cursor thingie that moves across my computer monitor when I'm typing....or the even more interesting cursor thingie that flies around the screen when I'm hopping from Twitter to Facebook to other places.

Katie Cat gets on my desk, parks her butt right in front of the monitor, and watches the cursor. When she gets tired of that, she tries to use my shoulder as a launching pad to the table behind me where all my plants are now in protective custody. And when that fails, after leaving a few claw wounds in my shoulder, she paces back and forth, meowing loudly, demanding I follow her downstairs to play her new favorite game, Shoestring.

It's really hard to stick with a task to the end when she's in her "Do what I want right now" mood...which seems to be most of the time these days.

As I was writing this post, she was on my desk, watching the cursor again. I was typing blind, and had to lean around her to proofread my work.

It's funny, though...most of the time.

Chiseled in Rock Tuesday: Three Authors, Three Questions

2012-01-17T06:00:00.000-07:00

Today I'm launching my new series, "Three Authors, Three Questions", over at Chiseled in Rock blog. I hope you'll stop by and give me feedback on the series and the format.

Tattered Cover LoDo Bookstore in Denver Has an Espresso Book Machine

2012-01-16T06:00:00.000-07:00

I am awed by this development in book publishing. Tattered Cover LoDo has the equipment and will be operating this arm of the company as Tattered Cover Press print on demand.

Isn't this cool?

Brain Freeze

2012-01-13T06:00:00.000-07:00

I get these every once in a while. Slumped in my chair here in my little office, I gently place my fingers on asdf and jkl; and wait. Nothing. My inquiring mind goes to work:

What exciting things happened this week? Surely there's a post somewhere in all this chaos.

Well, there's the new workout schedule.

Nah, everyone's doing that. What about Katie Cat. Any good kitty stories?

Only the one about her biting me on the nose. She didn't break the skin or I might be in the hospital by now getting pumped full of antibiotics. Probably not worth mentioning.

The weather?

It's been mostly lovely with only a little wind and one day of cold. Nothing to talk about there.

No writing news?

Not really.

Then what have you been doing all week?

Stuff. It's hard to write a blog post about stuff. I'm not George Carlin, you know.

That's for sure. I give up. Sit there with your fingers on asdf and jkl; and I'll check on you later.

As soon as my inquiring mind wanders off to do her own thing, I'm outta here. See you Monday.

Putting Hard Truth in Fiction by Jeff Bibbey, Guest Blogger

2012-01-12T06:00:00.003-07:00

I'm pleased to introduce author Jeff Bibbey to my blog today. I just finished reading his novel, Off the Mat, and can report that it does indeed tell the hard truth. It's powerful, it's inspirational, and it's gut-wrenching. I suspect no one could tell this story quite like a teacher and coach.

Jeff Bibbey has been a teacher, coach, and mentor for over twenty years. He resides with his family in Northern Colorado.

Welcome to my blog, Jeff.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hard Truth in Fiction by Jeff Bibbey, Guest Blogger

As a grizzled twenty-two year veteran of teaching and coaching, my time in the trenches brought me experiences that claw at my soul. I’ve buried students to overdose, suicide, and accidents, visited and written them as prisoners, and against all advice, brought some into my home. I watched methamphetamine destroy families, and good kids go all the way to murder. My sport, wrestling, attracts a high percentage of risk-takers. The nature of this sport allows teammates and coaches to see aspects of personality often hidden. With a burdened heart, I found myself unable to articulate what I learned to others.

A letter from a former athlete set into action my growth from a dabbler to a writer, resulting in my novel Off the Mat. He was with us a short time, fresh on the death of his father. Finances made his family transient, and he was gone before our relationship could develop. His surprise correspondence years later cited how a few weeks in middle school with an intense coach and an intense sport became something to cling to through long difficult roads.

I am committed to not exploiting real-life stories. I hold confidences of others and remember things they may have erased from their own memories. In addition, I believed I could tell more truth by writing fiction than by citing confusing details that come with complicated lives. At the time Off the Mat came to life, I was frustrated by much of my recent reading. “Epic” novels of 450 to 700 pages provided little payoff for the investment. However, shorter novels such as Falling Boy by Alison McGhee and Reservation Road by John Burnham Schwartz told deep stories over long periods of time in concise and inspiring fashion. I wanted to create a book that might hook someone into reading it in a weekend flurry, or by staying up too late. I also found spiritual and natural inspiration in David Guterson’s Our Lady of the Forest.

The setting became northern Oregon. Portland and the coastal towns are often thought of in terms of their progress and beauty. But having lived there, I was aware of the underbelly that would support the story. In fact, the northwest has been an epicenter of meth’s destruction. The water –waves, rain, and glaciers, helped set moods. Removing the scenes in the book from my home in Northern Colorado, allowed me to push farther into fiction and further away from my secret experiences.

When the villain of the story is addiction, the protagonists strive. They strive for sobriety, lost love, missed opportunity, the image of intact family. As Off the Mat’s characters strive to touch the hand of God, be warned. Off the Mat is no fairy tale, it pulls no punches. You may not like where it takes you, it can get rough, but I go to sleep at night knowing that through fiction and tall tales, I told the truth.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thank you so much for sharing your story, Jeff. This is an excellent post.

Off the Mat was released in the fall of 2011 by booklocker.com. Local release was supported by the Colorado Meth Project. The book is available at Reader’s Cove in Fort Collins, Tattered Cover stores in Denver, and online with Booklocker, Amazon, and Barnes and Noble.

You can find Jeff on Facebook and his book page is on Facebook too.

Wednesday Potpourri: What's New and What's Coming?

2012-01-11T06:00:00.001-07:00

Tomorrow's Guest

My guest blogger tomorrow is Jeff Bibbey, author of Off the Mat. His novel involves the ugly truth about troubled kids and drug addiction combined with a great story about young athletes in the sport of wrestling. It's a book for adults. It's time we all learned more about the tough temptations today's kids face. Jeff's novel is one way to get started.

My Guest Post at Chuck Sambuchino's Guide to Literary Agents Blog

It was my turn to be a guest yesterday at Chuck's blog with my post called 10 Tips on Guest Blogging and Blog Tours. I hope you'll stop by and check it out. There's a chance to win a signed copy of The Prairie Grass Murders if you leave a comment.

Registration is Open for the Northern Colorado Writers Conference

The conference is scheduled for March 30-31, 2012, at the Hilton in Fort Collins, Colorado. There are a number of excellent authors lined up to teach various topics, four agents and an editor or two to share information on panels and/or take pitches, outstanding guest speakers, good food, networking, door prizes...really, what more could you ask for?

Well, you could ask for a writing contest...and yes we are launching a contest this year called the Top of the Mountain Book Award. You don't even have to attend the conference to enter.

So go here for the schedule, or here for the detailed information on workshops, or here for the scoop on the faculty, including editors and agents, or here for registration.

Those who register for the conference also may attend a free pre-conference workshop to help attendees get the most from the conference experience.

Phew, that's a lot of links. If you want to do your own navigating of the conference information, just go to the conference homepage and Take the Road Less Traveled.

There's a Man Who Gives Me Chocolate (and it's not my husband)...

When I was surprised by a bar of my favorite dark chocolate from a writerly bloggerly friend, I considered it serendipitous to also see this Dying for Chocolate post on Bittersweet Chocolate Cookies: Bittersweet Chocolate Day from Janet Rudolph, Chocoholic. Can you imagine the yummy smells that will come from my kitchen when I try out this recipe? I'll be sure to let you know when I take them out of the oven.

(Snort...like that will ever happen!)

Chiseled in Rock Tuesday: What's New from Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers?

2012-01-10T06:00:00.001-07:00

Yes indeedy, it's time for my monthly report on some of the new books from members of Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers. Find us at Chiseled in Rock blog.

And for those of you who are authors, scroll down to see yesterday's Chiseled in Rock post on book marketing written by Janet Fogg, author of Fogg in the Cockpit. This is the first post in a series on marketing.

If You Could Ask Your Favorite Author One Question...

2012-01-09T06:00:00.000-07:00

I'm launching a new series called "Three Authors, Three Questions" at Chiseled in Rock blog the third Tuesday of this month. Three authors will answer the same (or at least similar) questions in January. In February I'll have three different authors and three new questions. And on and on as long as I can find authors willing to play the game.

January is a great kickoff to the series. I'm not going to spoil the surprise by revealing the names ahead of time, but I have one Colorado author whose paranormal novels have gone international, a mystery author whose main character is headed for television, and the author of seventeen bestselling medical and political thrillers.

In February, I'm featuring a local author with a new YA sci fi series, and two mystery authors (one from Colorado and one from Minnesota). In my next author search, I'll be looking for writers of women's fiction and horror.

Is this going to be fun or what?

If you have favorite authors you'd like to see on this series, let me know. I'll do my best to track them down and issue the invitation.

If you have a question or questions you'd like to have me ask the authors, just say the word. I'll be looking for a total of 36 different questions for 2012. Suggestions are welcome.

And for now, be sure to check out my "What's New From Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers?" post at Chiseled in Rock tomorrow. RMFW authors rock!

The Winner of Sentinel: Archive of Fire is...

2012-01-06T12:13:00.003-07:00

The winner of a copy of

Sentinel: Archive of Fire
by
Betsy Dornbusch

is

Helen Ginger

who blogs at
Straight from Hel

The Twins from the Dew Drop Inn by Betsy Dornbusch, Guest Blogger

2012-01-05T06:00:00.001-07:00

Our guest today is Betsy Dornbusch, an editor with the ezine Electric Spec and the sole proprietor of Sex Scenes at Starbucks where you can believe most of what she writes. In her free time, she snowboards and air jams at punk rock concerts.

Betsy's most recent book is Lost Prince, book one of the Salt Road Saga, an erotic space opera. Sentinel: Archive of Fire, the first book of her urban fantasy series featuring demons rebelling against Asmodai, King of Hell, is her January 2012 release, available soon from Whiskey Creek Press. Her short fiction has appeared in many print and online venues, including the anthology Deadly by the Dozen.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Twins from the Dew Drop In by Betsy Dornbusch, Guest Blogger

Fifteen years ago and a few hours to the day my book Sentinel: Archive of Fire, comes out, I celebrated New Year’s Eve in the Dew Drop Inn.

It’s in the middle of some woods in Berkshire, England and it’s been there for about 400 years. I recall driving for a long time down a tree-lined, shadowy road lightened only by snowpack. I remember lots of beer and laughing on our parts. The place was quiet with just a few regulars, and I think my brother and I and our spouses livened it considerably.

Amid the revelry, I looked up and saw, in my mind’s eye, a couple of guys walk in the door. They were only in their 20s but hardened by something horrible. Much too stern for their age - especially the one - like soldiers just off the battlefield. Though black cloaks flapped around their heels, they wore present day street clothes. They were there to meet someone. Someone dangerous. They looked us over, determined us harmless, though they didn’t like my curiosity. And they were definitely twins.

Huh.

Fast forward seven years. My son was three and my daughter was a couple of months old. My husband left on a business trip. And abruptly, the twins from the Dew Drop Inn …well, dropped in.

I wrote, and I wrote, and I wrote some more. Nearly 800,000 words of Aidan and Kaelin’s story.

Pity the writing sucked.

Fast forward eight more years. Critique groups. Classes. Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers. Conferences. Science Fiction Conventions. Reading stories for Electric Spec. Selling stories. Writing and selling erotica. Studying my craft. I dismantled the book and reassembled it. Set it aside. Rinse, repeat. The twins refused to be put away. Aidan shouts at me. Kaelin, not so much. He just watches me and waits with infinite patience. Almost on a whim I submitted it to the regular side of my erotica publisher, Whiskey Creek Press. They bought it in three days.

Funny thing about first books verses second books, though technically, Archive of Fire is my fourth release. You get fifteen years to mull over the first one. You get a year and change, if you’re lucky, to write the second.

I’ll give away the book to some lucky commenter. I also thought I’d throw in a snippet from the middle. Our boys are just coming to grips with the sharp left turn their lives have taken.

Kaelin closed the distance between them, hating that he was about to do just as Nathanial had asked. “You know things other people don’t. You’re different. But you’re not the only one. We aren’t normal, either one of us.” He pulled the pistol from his waistband and showed it to Aidan. “How many guys you know get a pistol served with breakfast?”

Aidan reached for it and ejected the magazine. When he saw it was full, he raised his eyebrows at his brother.

“Yeah,” Kaelin said, taking the gun back. He drew in a breath and took a leap. “You saw Mom, back there at home. Something’s wrong with her, something bad. If Nathanial meant to kill her, he would have done it then. I think he really is trying to help her.”

To Kaelin’s shock, Aidan didn’t argue. “Why? Why would he do that?”

“I don’t know. Maybe he still loves her. Maybe it’s for us. But I believe he wants her safe.”

Aidan stared at Kaelin, their faces close. “What he wants is to come between us, and you’re letting him.”

He should have known better than to try to trick his brother. Kaelin sighed and went for blunt honesty instead. “Come on, bro. Think. Nathanial assigned us to the strike team because he wants someone on his side. Besides, if he wanted us all dead, he’d have just arranged a hit and had it done.”

Breath hissed through Aidan’s lips. Kaelin realized he was trembling.

“You don’t have to trust him, but trust me.” For the first time in years, Kaelin put his arms around his brother and hugged him. “I’m not going to let anything happen to you or Mom, I swear it."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thanks for being my guest today, Betsy. And an extra thanks for giving away a copy of Archive of Fire. Those who comment on this post by noon Mountain Time Friday (January 6th) will be entered in the drawing. We'll announce the winner here by Saturday noon.

To learn more about Betsy and her new Sentinel series, visit her blog Sex Scenes at Starbucks. Betsy can also be found at Facebook and Twitter.

Wednesday Potpourri: A Lot About 2012

2012-01-04T06:00:00.001-07:00

As you can see, I've renamed my Wednesday post for the new year. I'll also include a question at the end of each Wednesday post (assuming I don't forget...).

Thursday's Guest

Betsy Dornbusch is my guest author/blogger tomorrow. She's also an editor at the ezine Electric Spec. Her blog post is a good story about where ideas come from and how and when they develop into novels. As a bonus, Betsy is giving away a copy of her latest book, so be sure to stop by and leave a comment.

2012

I will continue having a regular Thursday guest blogger. I'll also have occasional guests on Mondays and Fridays for writers on blog book tours. My guest spots are still open to most genres, but I'll invite more mystery, suspense, and thriller writers this year.

The A to Z April Blog Challenge 2012 is on my schedule. Sign-ups begin on January 30th and I'll remind you of that (with a link) when the time comes.

The Northern Colorado Writers Conference is scheduled for March 30-31 at the Hilton in Fort Collins. I'll be there for sure. If you're interested, check the NCW Website for the schedule of panels and workshops and the agents who will be attending.

I'll still be a contributor at Chiseled in Rock blog on Tuesdays and have a new monthly feature called "Three Authors, Three Questions." I'm mixing and matching authors and genres, including a few bestselling writers, so I expect this project to be a lot of fun.

My plan includes more writing, more photography, more manuscript submissions, more exercise, more music, more fun...more just about everything except television and snacking.

Links of Interest

Did you know Literary Agent Rachelle Gardner has moved to a new agency? Here's her post with all the details: Welcome to 2012.

25 Things Writers Should Stop Doing... at Chuck Wendig's terribleminds blog is the post getting a lot of buzz this week. It's funny, irreverent, and so true.

What I'm Reading

Off the Mat by Jeff Bibbey (who will be my guest blogger on January 12th). This is a novel about wrestling, meth addiction, and kids in jeopardy, written by a teacher and coach who found writing fiction was one way to deal with the hard facts of life.

The Wednesday Question

What living author would you like to invite to dinner, and what would be the first question you would ask?

Chiseled in Rock Tuesday

2012-01-03T06:00:00.000-07:00

I'm over at Chiseled in Rock blog today, talking about ways you can increase your blog and/or book exposure (or just have fun) by taking advantage of these social media opportunities. I hope you'll drop in and add your own links and ideas.

Wow. 2012. How did this happen?

2012-01-01T13:49:00.005-07:00

Time sure flies when we're having fun, doesn't it?

The snow has almost melted on the Northern Colorado Front Range and we're getting warmer temperatures way too early in the year. That usually triggers the crocuses and daffodils and tulips to start growing, and that usually results in early blooming spring flowers crushed under a new layer of spring snow.

Makes for a pretty photo though.

My blog vacation is almost over. I'll have a new post up at Chiseled in Rock blog on Tuesday. As you can see in my sidebar, I'm filling in the guest blogger schedule for the first half of the year. If you're an author with a novel coming out in 2012, and if you want to write a guest post for me, just let me know. I'm looking for mostly mystery/thriller writers, but I like to mix it up with other genres from time to time. All writers of all genres have interesting things to say about the writing life.

Katie Cat is doing very well these days. She's a bit mischievous and very demanding. You'd think she owned the place and that my husband and I were the pets.

When Katie decides she wants to play shoestring or chase around the house, she loudly and persistently meows until one of us gives in and starts playtime.

One of the things I'm doing today and tomorrow is arranging my calendar for 2012, setting goals, and making schedules. Katie helps me by sitting on my calendar and chewing on the pages.

See you Tuesday at Chiseled in Rock where I'll have a few suggestions for taking advantage of social media opportunities in 2012.

I'm On Blog Vacation in Snowy Northern Colorado

2011-12-22T08:52:00.003-07:00

I hope you have a wonderful holiday season and that your 2012 is the best year ever. Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, and a very Happy New Year.

Wednesday Scramble

2011-12-21T06:00:00.001-07:00

What I'm Reading

The Dance of the Electric Hummingbird, a memoir by Patricia Walker. And I'm enjoying every minute of it.

Blogging from A to Z Challenge April 2012

Arlee Bird has a new badge on display for the 2012 challenge at the dedicated blog: Blogging from A to Z April Challenge Blog. It's time to start thinking about whether you'll participate or not this year.

My Blog Vacation

I'm starting my vacation tomorrow and won't be back on a regular schedule until Wednesday, January 4th. I may post a photo or a short post here and there, and I'll work on getting my 2012 guest list in my sidebar.

Mostly, however, I'm going to entertain company for five days, read a lot for fun, and maybe even go to the movies. If I get bored, I can get my calendar organized for a new year of blogging and writing and submitting.

And this afternoon, I'm spending 90 relaxing minutes on my massage therapist's table, getting rid of all the kinks in my muscles I accumulated while moving furniture and books and cleaning house. Life is good.

My Wishes for You

I hope you have a wonderful holiday season and that your 2012 is the best year ever. Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, and a very Happy New Year.

Chiseled in Rock Tuesday: Revisiting Ways to Relax

2011-12-20T06:00:00.001-07:00

Once again I'm at Chiseled in Rock where I'm replaying my Ten Cheap Way to Relax When You Have Too Much To Do. I hope you'll drop by and add your suggestions for de-stressing.

A Breakthrough Monday

2011-12-19T06:00:00.001-07:00

Hi everyone. I'll be visiting Stephen Tremp today at Breakthrough Blogs with a post about one tiny aspect of book promotion: the necessity of learning to read your work aloud. Hope to see you there.

Five Things You Didn't Know About Me

2011-12-16T06:00:00.001-07:00

These are shocking, I know. But the truth has to come out some time.

1. I once performed with a belly-dancing troupe. The keyword there is once. I was embarrassed and chickened out after one performance and quit. However, the training does make one very fit and graceful (which I actually was about thirty years ago). Learn some basic moves by watching Arabic Belly Dance for Beginners on You Tube.

2. I studied piano for nine years. I still can't play worth a darn. I do have a keyboard, and I do plan to start playing again...soon.

3. One of my hobbies is crochet. I've crocheted nine afghans from the identical pattern using different color combinations each time. Also four shawls using the same pattern but different colors. Also baby blankets I give as gifts or donate to Project Linus. Contrary to popular opinion, crocheting while I watch television does not inhibit snacking.

4. When I was a clumsy short kid (who wanted to be a ballerina), I took tap dancing lessons. For one year. That's all the dance instructor could stand. I didn't like it much either. After watching a few elder gals in the local S.O.A.P. (Slightly Older Adult Players) shows dance with energy and enthusiasm, I wish I had tried harder.

5. My current favorite book of all time, which does change from time to time, is Wind in the Willows. First published in 1908, the book is about true friendship.

"When Mole takes a break from his cleaning and wanders down to the river bank, he meets the Water Rat and a friendship is instantly formed. The two, together with Badger, spend a glorious summer messing about on the river, picnicking on the bank, and taking life easy. But when their hapless friend Toad gets into a spot of bother they dash to his aid. Soon the four friends are fighting to save Toad Hall from the dastardly stoats and weasels."

There you have it. Now hit that comment box and reveal something fun about yourself.

30 Second Elevator Interview by Stephen Tremp, Guest Blogger

2011-12-15T06:00:00.001-07:00

My guest today is Stephen Tremp, an author and blogger I "met" way back when I took Dani Greer's online Blog Book Tour class. Stephen is using his knowledge of technology and the sciences to write a cool thriller series featuring physics professor and discovery-seeker Chase Manhattan. It's all about a scientific breakthrough in the science of wormholes. The first book in the series was Breakthrough. The second book, soon to be released, is Opening.

Steve, welcome to my blog.

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30 Second Elevator Interview by Stephen Tremp, Guest Blogger

Hi everyone. As always, thanks for stopping by. Here is a fun little exercise I learned from one of my Yahoo! Writer's Groups. You can do this in your spare time (what's that?).

Make a keyword list. Then make a book synopsis using lots of those keywords. In fact, for fun, use them all! But NO MORE THAN THREE SENTENCES. Yes, that's right. Your book in three sentences. It may be the worst synopsis/blurb you've ever written. See if you can make us understand what the heck your book is about.

Here's my blurb I made from my list of key words:

A scientific breakthrough in Einstein-Rosen Bridges, or wormholes, is stolen by a group of misguided M.I.T. graduate students who wish to usher in a global science-based oligarchy leading the way with breakthroughs in physics, biochemistry, and nanotechnology. As the death toll mounts, Chase Manhattan and a multi-faceted cast of characters must battle this skilled team of killers on both coasts in a desperate race to control or destroy a discovery which threatens life as we know it. Greed, betrayal, murder, mayhem, spiritual contemplation, and unconditional love define the power-play struggle in this fast-paced suspense thriller of technology gone too far.

* Battle
* Betrayal
* Biochemistry
* Breakthrough
* Chase Manhattan
* Death
* Desperate race
* Destroy
* Discovery
* Einstein-Rosen Bridges
* Fast-paced
* Global science-based oligarchy
* Greed
* Killers
* M.I.T. graduate students
* Mayhem
* Multi-faceted
* Murder
* Nanotechnology
* Power-play struggle
* Physics
* Science
* Spiritual contemplation
* Stolen
* Suspense
* Technology
* Threatens
* Thriller
* Unconditional love
* Wormholes

Feel free to leave your three sentence blurb (no matter how good or bad it sounds) or other exercises you use in the comments. Have a great week.

If you think this post is worthy of Twitter or Facebook, please select the appropriate icon below. Thanks!

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Thanks, Steve, for the fun exercise. For those of us who might need to give an elevator pitch from time to time, picking the key words from our novels and putting them together in the way you've demonstrated looks like an excellent technique.

To learn more about Steve and his science thrillers, visit his excellent Breakthrough Blogs. He can also be found on Facebook and Twitter.

Wednesday Scramble

2011-12-14T06:00:00.001-07:00

Tomorrow's Guest Blogger

Stephen Tremp, author of the science thriller Breakthrough and the soon to be released Opening, will be my guest tomorrow with a great exercise to help you hone your skills at writing elevator pitches.

My Most Recent Purchase for My Kindle

I just bought Back in the Real World by Colorado author Cara Lopez Lee and Ed Turner. Here's the description:

"Kim Mancini has forgotten the day her Vietnamese mother gave her up to save her from persecution as the half-black baby of an American soldier. Vietnam war veteran Michael Frost can never forget the day he led his squad into a fatal mistake. Decades later, their pasts are tormenting them and tearing their families apart. When Frost’s old chaplain dies, he must confront his war buddies and the mistake he has failed to put behind him. When a coworker attacks Kim, it brings back memories of a childhood mired in violence and its consequences. In Back in the Real World, two survivors of war find themselves on a collision course with the past. Facing that past may be their only path to redemption."

What I'm Reading Now

I'm enjoying The Glass Castle, a memoir by Jeannette Walls. I'm finding it very hard to put down, and I hope to finish it tonight.

25 Things Writers Should Know About Rejection

This blog post about rejection was linked from Janet Reid's site, but the original post is at terribleminds.

What's Going On At My House?

Mostly cleaning and furniture rearranging in preparation for company. Yesterday (at least it seemed like yesterday) I thought I had all the time in the world, like a month or more. Now I suddenly discover my company will arrive in only nine days. How does this happen?

Chiseled in Rock Tuesday: An Article on Getting Ideas from Author Pam Nowak

2011-12-13T06:00:00.001-07:00

If you've ever wondered how some writers get their ideas, here's how Pam does it.

Today's post over at Chiseled in Rock is a reprint of an article from the Rocky Mountain Writer, the newletter for Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers. Award-winning author Pam Nowak is published in the historical romance genre, and she has long been an active member of RMFW as well as conference goddess for Colorado Gold held in Denver in September.

See you at the Rock!

I Was Just Thinkin'...

2011-12-12T06:00:00.001-07:00

1. That I should take more than a week off from blogging during the holidays,

so I'm going to be on blog-holiday from Wednesday, December 22 through Tuesday, January 3rd (although I'll have something short and sweet at Chiseled in Rock on the 2nd).

2. That I've let my To Do List grow too long again,

so I'm going to cross a few things off. I didn't say I was going to do the tasks, I just said I was going to cross them off the list. With a red pen.

3. That I'm dying to get back to my NaNoWriMo novel even though I have tons of stuff to do before my company comes on the 23rd,

so I'm going to treat myself to a whole weekend of writing time on Saturday and Sunday.

4. That I don't play any of my CDs anymore,

so I'm going to spend an hour or more each evening in my thinking chair listening to great music. I'm going to start with the score of Phantom of the Opera.

5. That my office still looks like it was rifled by a team of burglars looking for my stash of dark chocolate,

so I'm heading for Office Depot this afternoon to finally purchase the needed storage shelves.

6. That I haven't fixed homemade pizza for ages,

so that's what I'm fixing for supper (with onions, mushrooms, spinach, and two kinds of cheese).

7. That I haven't finished my Christmas shopping,

so there are quite a few people who are going to get gift cards this year. I'm fine with that. :)

The Winner of the 2012 Writing Planner is...

2011-12-09T16:13:00.002-07:00

The winner of the 2012 Writing Planner
designed by Northern Colorado Writers Director Kerrie Flanagan
and featuring the drawings of April Moore
is

Kayelllae

otherwise known as

Kristy Lantz Astry

Congratulations, Kristy

Getting the House in Order

2011-12-09T06:00:00.000-07:00

Today

The new kitchen floor has been installed and now it's time to put the house in order. The first thing on the agenda is to go buy more shelves for my office closet and the kitchen pantry. The urge to organize is now stronger than the urge to write, so I need to seize the day. The urge to organize never seems to last very long.

Around noon Mountain Time I'll select the winner of the 2012 Writing Planner designed by Northern Colorado Writers Director Kerrie Flanagan and illustrated by the NCW Visual Designer, April Moore. You need to go back to Monday's post to enter. Sometime this afternoon I'll post the winner here.

And A YA Book Recommendation

If you have a YA fan to buy a book for this holiday season, I'd like to recommend the new sci fi novel from Amy Kathleen Ryan, Glow (the first book in the Sky Chasers series). Amy is an excellent writer, and your YA reader doesn't need to be a big sci fan to enjoy this one. (Note to the gift giver...you might want to read it before you wrap it up.) Apparently I'm not the only one who thinks it's a good story. There's a buzz, and the online bookseller rankings and reviews tell the tale.

Four Little Words by Sharon Ervin, Guest Blogger

2011-12-08T06:00:00.000-07:00

Former newspaper reporter Sharon Ervin has a degree in journalism from the University of Oklahoma. She writes in several genres, but I first met her (virtually, of course) when I discovered and read her Five Star mystery, The Ribbon Murders. Her most recent tale of mayhem is Candlesticks, a Jancy Dewhurst Mystery.

Welcome, Sharon.

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Four Little Words by Sharon Ervin, Guest Blogger

Four little words launched many writers, including me. Those four little words still make me tingle.

Daddy worked nights. Evenings when he was home, he read to me. A first child gets attention from parents that later offspring do not. Back then, being read to was one of those advantages.

I remember sitting on Daddy’s lap and, later on, snuggled close beside him, pointing out words I recognized before I could actually read. I could recite “The Night Before Christmas” before I was five, a result of Daddy’s reading it over and over again.

He and I went downtown by ourselves one night, to the massive, art deco Oklahoma City Library. I still remember the hush and the rich, mingled fragrances of polished oak and books. The rooms had high ceilings and ladders that gave patrons access to the upper shelves. Waving his hand, Daddy said, “See these books? They all belong to you.”

I would have to read fast if I were to get through all “my books.”

Volumes in the children’s area welcomed me. I belonged there. Books became my friends.

Mother and Daddy divorced when I was was ten. My sister was seven. Both of my parents remarried and had other children. Busy, they didn’t take time to read to my siblings, but I did. I introduced them to libraries as I was introduced, and saw that they had library cards and visited regularly.

With television and all the electronic devices today, most busy parents don’t read to their children. Kids develop their love of words and reading by other methods...or not.

My growing up families and, later, my own offspring, moved around the country. Uncertain at first in a new place, we learned to feel at home as soon as we found a local library. Antiquated or thoroughly modern, libraries were familiar, still often smelling like polished oak and books.

My husband and I and our four children, and now their children, are active library patrons. One son who lives away, enjoys online access and e-mails us from his neighborhood library.

Grandchildren, not only check out books, but they borrow CDs and DVDs from their libraries. Like their parents and grandparents, they have learned that all the materials and the expertise available at public libraries belong to them, and they make good use of their access.

This love of books and libraries and reading began as I snuggled in my Daddy’s lap all those years ago. He often began our sessions together with those four little words I grew to love.

Those words still make me smile and provide a warm glow. Most of us know those words, have heard them all our lives. They are: “Once upon a time....”

-------------------------

Sharon, thanks so much for sharing your story with us today. Those of us who love books and grew up hoping to read all the books in the world understand just what those four words can mean.

You can learn more about Sharon and her books at her website or her Amazon Kindle page. You can also find her on Facebook and Twitter.

Wednesday Scramble

2011-12-07T06:00:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow's Guest

Sharon Ervin, author of mystery and romance, is scheduled to be my guest this week. Check out the list of titles and the cover art at her website.

What I'm Reading

Dan's War, a techno-thriller by Northern Colorado writer Milt Mays.

2012 Writing Planner Giveaway

I posted this giveaway on Monday and residents of the U.S. and Canada have until Friday noon (U.S. Mountain Time) to enter. Go to Monday's post and leave a comment.

This Week at My House

I'm expecting a crew to show up bright and early tomorrow morning to put down my new kitchen floor. Unfortunately, I'm not even close to being ready. My husband and I have more stuff to move out of the pantry, I dismantled the breakfast nook but need his help to carry the table and benches into the dining room, and I want to clean the oven. There's more, but I won't bore you with the details. If I'm missing from blog world, Facebook, and Twitter today and part of tomorrow, you'll know why.

On top of that, an evil monster attacked my laptop Monday evening and it has been seriously injured. I must find time to work on eradicating the demon, even if it means beating it to death with a hammer. Maybe Friday.

Chiseled in Rock Tuesday: What's New from Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers?

2011-12-06T06:00:00.000-07:00

Yep, I've hopped over to the Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers Chiseled in Rock blog to bring you another "What's New?" feature. This month I have two new releases to report...one from the erotic pen of Thea Hutcheson and the other a thriller from Robin Perini. You should drop by just to look at the eye-catching cover art.

And while you're here at my blog, don't forget to enter the 2012 Writing Planner giveaway I announced yesterday (Monday). Just scroll down and leave a comment to enter.

The 2012 Writing Planner Giveaway

2011-12-05T06:00:00.001-07:00

I have a beautiful 2012 Writing Planner from the creative mind of Kerrie L. Flanagan, Director of Northern Colorado Writers. This year, the planner is enhanced by the addition of drawings by NCW's Visual Designer, April J. Moore.

This planner is a calendar (full-month pages as well as weekly pages), a goal-setting tool, a query/submission tracker, and a motivator (writerly quotes).

You know I always make my giveaways easy. The only thing you need to do is leave a comment, and make sure your e-mail address is either in your Google Connect profile or in the comment.

This giveaway is open to residents in the U.S. and Canada. The deadline for entry is Noon, U.S. Mountain Time, on Friday, December 9th.

The Winner Is...

2011-12-03T17:13:00.002-07:00

The winner of the book giveaway from Carolyn J. Rose
on Thursday's guest post

(a copy of A Place of Forgetting)

is

Jacqueline Seewald

Congratulations, Jacqueline

Christmas Holds a Special Place in My Heart by Natasha Wing, Guest Blogger

2011-12-02T06:00:00.000-07:00

Very special guest and Northern Coloradoan Natasha Wing is the author of a whole bunch of "Night Before" books for kids. Since tomorrow is Take Your Child to a Bookstore Day, I'm especially happy to welcome Natasha with her recommendations for your holiday book shopping trips, especially her favorites for the Christmas Season.

The Night Before the Night Before Christmas and other books listed can be purchased from online retailers and from many of your local chain and independent bookstores.

Thanks for joining us today, Natasha.

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Christmas Holds a Special Place in My Heart by Natasha Wing

Christmas holds a special place in my heart – partly because there are two Christmas books that influenced my writing career.

The first one is The Polar Express by Chris Van Allsburg. I was browsing at a Christmas bizarre in Phoenix when I came across a book with a captivating cover of a locomotive in the snow. I picked up the book and flipped through its pages, and like a slow-motion dream, people around me disappeared into a blur then a sparkly white light enveloped me. I remember standing in silence, totally in awe of the book, and declaring that I wanted to make this kind of magic for kids. That’s when my path toward writing and publishing children’s books began.

The second book is The Night Before Christmas. As a child I loved that poem. And when I got the idea to write an Easter book, I wanted to pay homage to The Night Before Christmas and wrote my Easter story using the same storytelling structure except that I put my own twist on the holiday. One book grew into a 15-book series and for that I am thankful because my Night Before books enable me to continue to write for a living. There are hundreds of versions of this story, but I am recommending The Night Before Christmas: The Classic Edition by Charles Santore since it contains the original telling and spelling of the story as it was first published in 1823.

Books have brought magic into my life – as both a kid and an adult. This Christmas, you can bring a little magic into a child’s life by giving a book. Here are a few that I thought would make good gifts.

I have read countless children’s books over the past 20 years of my writing career, so it is impossible to narrow down a list of my favorites. But let’s start with two books about…books!

It’s a Book by Lane Smith is about a jackass who is curious about monkey’s book and asks what the book does and how to use it. It’s a comedic commentary on technology that adults will get a kick out of while kids will enjoy the funny exchanges between the jackass and the monkey.

For kids who have advanced to easy readers, another funny book about books is from the Elephant & Piggie series by Mo Willems called We are in a Book! Elephant and Piggie think they are being watched. And they are – by the reader of the book! They play with the reader and dare him to say a word that sets them into giggle fits. Their silliness will tickle the reader as well.

One of my favorite book characters is Fancy Nancy. (I must admit I am showing a touch of bias because the author, Jane O’Connor, is my editor for my Night Before books.) What I particularly like about this series is that Fancy Nancy is cleverly teaching children to improve their vocabulary. Plus I love the fanciful illustrations. These books make for easy pairings with other fun gifts such as a tea set, boas, tiaras and oo-la-la! Girls will love playing Fancy Nancy. Jane O’Connor has written a bazillion Fancy Nancy books, but I suggest if your child has not been introduced yet, start with the first one.

For the artist in your family – or the child who is worried about making mistakes- Beautiful Oops by Barney Saltzberg is a reassuring board book about how what first looks like a mistake or oops is really part of a creative masterpiece. Pair this book with a paint set or craft paper to inspire your child to create his own beautiful oops.

For a multicultural twist on The Twelve Days of Christmas, there’s Pinata in a Pine Tree: A Latino Twelve Days of Christmas by Pat Mora and brightly illustrated by Magaly Morales. The book includes a glossary and a song so the whole family can sing along. It’s always fun to discover how other people celebrate holidays, and this book offers a joyful peek at the Latino culture.

Because Fort Collins is a dog-loving town, I am highly recommending a book for pre-teens, teens and grown-ups, too – A Dog’s Purpose: A Novel for Humans by W. Bruce Cameron. It’s about a dog that is reincarnated several times and each time brings a piece of its past life into its new life. You see how a dog views its surroundings and human behavior. But most of all, you are moved by a dog’s devotion to humans. It made me smile. It made me cry. But if you know a dog lover and want to give a heart-touching present, there’s nothing better than a good dog story.

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Thanks again, Natasha, for your recommendations. I know just the kid for It's a Book...and just the grownup for A Dog's Purpose.

For more information about Natasha and her own books, visit her website. She blogs at Natasha's News where she's currently doing a series on awesome books from awesome Colorado writers. You can also find her on Facebook.

If What You Ate Affected What You Wrote by Carolyn J. Rose, Guest Blogger

2011-12-01T06:00:00.000-07:00

My guest today is Carolyn J. Rose, the author of 11 novels including A Place of Forgetting, a story about love, war, betrayal, and Thoreau, set in 1966. A cozy mystery, No Substitute for Murder, is due out soon.

Carolyn grew up in New York’s Catskill Mountains, graduated from the University of Arizona, logged two years in Arkansas with Volunteers in Service to America, and spent 25 years as a television news researcher, writer, producer, and assignment editor in Arkansas, New Mexico, Oregon, and Washington. Now getting her quota of stress as a substitute teacher, she lives in Vancouver, Washington, and founded the Vancouver Writers’ Mixers. Her hobbies are reading, gardening, and not cooking.

I'd like to add that Carolyn has a wonderful sense of humor, and she demonstrates it well in today's post.

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If What You Ate Affected What You Wrote by Carolyn J. Rose, Guest Blogger

“You are what you eat.”

My grandmother used to tell me that. Maybe yours did, too. Or maybe you heard it in a health and nutrition class.

When I was very young, I worried that I would literally turn into my favorite foods: spaghetti, cauliflower with cheese sauce, baked potatoes loaded with sour cream, garlic bread, cashew nuts, and black olives. I feared I’d wake up some morning with spaghetti for hair, a body like a loaf of bread, a potato on my neck, cauliflower for ears, olives for eyes, and a cashew instead of a nose.

I was relieved to learn what the saying really meant, but not relieved to realize that if I couldn’t cut back on my favorite foods, I’d be pudgy for the rest of my life. (For the record, in my 30s there was a three-year window when I was, according to accepted weights and standards, Not Pudgy. The rest of my life I’ve lived a few pounds over the line into Pudgyville.)

Recently, as I sat down to a salad with just a mist of dressing and a couple of tasteless crackers, I thought about that old saying and how interesting writing would be if we could use food as more than physical fuel and emotional sustenance.

What if what we ate influenced what we wrote?

And what if we could channel and direct that influence?

Let’s say I wanted to write a tense scene filled with biting dialogue. I might heat up a bowl of super-hot chili and sprinkle on cheese to bind it. Hot and sour soup might work as well.

If a scene called for light and witty dialogue, I might dine on sparkling cider, fluffy biscuits, and whipped butter.

For a scene set in the dead of winter, I’d sacrifice myself to a tub of vanilla ice cream. For a midnight setting, a double chocolate cake. For noon, maybe lemon meringue pie.

For a scene dense with backstory and characterization, I’d go for something meaty, perhaps a pot roast with potatoes or a plate of turkey and stuffing, or even that bowl of oatmeal my grandmother always swore would stick to my ribs.

For fast-paced action, perhaps a bowl of prunes and bran flakes.

If the food-for-fiction theory worked for scenes, the sky would be the limit in applying it to complete works.

If I wanted to write a short story, I’d eat only drive-through-diner food. For a novel, I’d whip up a seven-course dinner.

I might eat specific foods for specific genres.

For science fiction, Moon Pies and Starburst, Milky Way and Mars Bars.

For romance, I might dine on candy hearts, honey, and champagne.

For humor, a bowl of nuts.

For mystery, I could order off the menu at my favorite Chinese restaurant, picking numbers at random without peeking at which dishes they matched up with.

Eating those dishes without asking about the contents, however, might be too much of a challenge for this Virgo.

If this blog got you thinking about how you’d fuel your fiction, and if you’d like to get your name in the drawing for a book, stop by and leave a comment. I’ll get back to you soon. I’m working on a scene set in Hawaii and I just made myself a Lava Flow and opened a can of macadamia nuts.

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Carolyn, thanks so much for being my guest today. And an extra thank you for giving away a copy of A Place of Forgetting.

Everyone, be sure to leave a comment if you want to be entered in the drawing.

To learn more about Carolyn and her books, visit her Amazon Author Page or the Deadly Duo Mysteries website.

Wednesday Scramble

2011-11-30T06:00:00.000-07:00

Upcoming Guests

I'm lucky to have two guests this week.

Tomorrow Carolyn J. Rose will be here with a fun twist on "you are what you eat." You'll enjoy If What You Ate Affected What You Wrote, so be sure to stop by. Carolyn plans to give away a copy of A Place of Forgetting as part of her guest appearance.

And because Saturday, December 3rd, is Take Your Child to a Bookstore Day, my special guest on Friday is Northern Coloradoan Natasha Wing, author of "the night before" books for kids. Natasha is going to share her thoughts on her favorite books that have become classics as well as some newer selections.

Katie Kitten's Close Call

Monday, just as I sat down to begin my big push to the 50,000 word mark for NaNoWriMo, I heard a couple of clicks near the window. Katie had knocked down the cord from the mini blinds which I'd tucked up high out of reach, and she was playing with it.

Before I could hop out of my chair and put the cord back out of reach, Katie jumped or fell, catching one of her back feet in the loop. The most horrible thumping and yowling and hissing and thrashing brought me to my feet in a flash, and I ran to the corner to rescue her. Fearing injury from her teeth and claws, and totally intimidated by her hissing and fighting, I pulled the cord down (and the blinds up) as far as they would go. That created just enough slack for the cat to pull free and race out the door. She moved so fast I didn't see her run, so I didn't know if she was moving on three legs or four.

She was under our bed, and I couldn't coax her out. I decided to go back to my computer and wait for a while to see if she'd come out on her own. About five minutes later, she tiptoes into my room, stretches her neck trying to see into the corner where the invisible monster had attacked her, prowled around the bookcase, and finally went into the corner to sniff the walls, the carpet, even the side of my desk. Convinced the danger was gone, she was fine the rest of the day.

And she's walking and leaping and playing using all four legs. It was a very close call, and another good reminder how dangerous those cords can be for pets as well as kids.

Speaking of NaNoWriMo

And hoping the subject rests in peace until next November (unless I decide to do Camp NaNoWriMo this summer)...I reached 50,172 words Monday evening.

Queries

Here's an interesting post about query letters from Janet Reid at Janet Reid, Literary Agent. It's called Notes from the incoming query holding pen.

And Finally

Be sure to drop by on Monday, December 5th, because I'll be giving away one copy of the 2012 Writing Planner designed by Kerrie Flanagan, writer and director of Northern Colorado Writers, and featuring unique drawings from the pen of writer/artist/food blogger April Moore.

Chiseled in Rock Tuesday: Revisiting the Interview with Literary Agent Rachelle Gardner

2011-11-29T06:00:00.000-07:00

That's what I'm doing at Chiseled in Rock today as we wind down during the holidays. If you didn't see this interview when it first ran last May, you may want to stop by and check it out. I've talked to Rachelle now at two different conferences and found her to be one of the nicest and most helpful agents I've had the privilege to meet. And her office is in Denver. You can't beat that.

I Almost Forgot the Good Gifts Gone Bad Link Up

2011-11-28T15:36:00.002-07:00

Carolyn at Hooked and Happy came up with this fun idea for a Good Gifts Gone Bad link up in advance of the holidays, perhaps as a warning to everyone to think twice before we shop...and before we receive.

And now for my story. In my case, it was a gift from my mother to be opened at a big family gathering. Mom never bought household appliances, so I thought I was totally safe to say this as I started to unwrap her gift: "I hope this isn't a crock pot. I finally gave mine away because I never used it."

The gift was, of course, a crock pot.

NaNoNaNaNeNe Whatever!

2011-11-28T06:00:00.000-07:00

I might just reach that 50,000 words by the end of today, but I have a lot of other stuff to do as well...like getting groceries...like doing laundry...like coming up with something besides leftover lasagna for dinner since we're already eaten that stuff two days in a row.

Nothing against NaNoWriMo though. I'll have at least 50,000 words of first draft quality that actually has enough plot to work with.

I've learned that I don't need blocks of time at least four hours long to write as I've always claimed. A one hour session works just fine.

I've discovered a deadline is a powerful motivator, so I plan to create more of those for myself.

Blocking out my whole month's schedule and marking writing times with a bright pink marker was a useful tool to avoid procrastination.

Here's the big question. Can I carry the almost daily writing habit and the momentum forward? If I fail to do that, I'll be reporting for Camp NaNoWriMo this summer for a refresher course in commitment. Or maybe I'll just go to camp for the fun of it. Can't hurt.

How I'm Spending my Black Friday

2011-11-25T06:00:00.000-07:00

Don't even think for a minute I was up all night, trying to beat the competition in keeping the most ridiculous shopping schedule and spending the most money on Black Friday (which included a lot of Thursday in many stores). I just don't do that.

There are three things on my agenda today.

One is to drop in at the Holiday Artisan Mart at the Fort Collins Senior Center. This annual event is a shopper's paradise for those who want to support artists and crafty sorts, most of them from Northern Colorado.

My second stop will be the Northern Colorado Writers Holiday Mart. There I'll be looking for yummies from the bake sale and books by local authors.

And the third thing on my plan is to hurry home and add a bunch to my NaNoWriMo word count. My goal is to finish on Tuesday...or even Monday.

Have a great weekend.

Wednesday Scramble

2011-11-23T06:00:00.000-07:00

Thanksgiving and Gratitude

I wish you all a wonderful Thanksgiving Day doing whatever makes you and your loved ones happy.

In addition to my sweet family and treasured friends, I'm so grateful for all who drop by this blog from time to time, for the wonderful writers who share their experiences and successes with us as guests, and for the writing life.

Good Gifts Gone Bad Blogfest

Here's a fun opportunity to enter a giveaway for a $25.00 gift card from amazon.com. Carolyn at Hooked and Happy Blog is hosting a blogfest on Monday, November 28th, for bloggers to post about great gifts given or received that didn't work out as well as the giver hoped. All the rules for participation and entry are contained in Carolyn's November 21st post.

Resources for Writers at Suite 101

Here's another site with a lot of very helpful information for writers. Check out Small Presses Publishing Hardcover Books for Unagented Writers.

Spring Writers Conferences in Colorado

Registration is open early for the Pikes Peak Writers Conference in Colorado Springs scheduled for April 20-22,2012

Registration will be open early in December for the Northern Colorado Writers Conference March 30-31, 2012.

And now, back to NaNoWriMo

See you Friday.

Chiseled in Rock Tuesday: The NaNoWriMo Experience

2011-11-22T06:00:00.000-07:00

My week three report on NaNoWriMo is posted at Chiseled in Rock. As of last night, I had 35,299 words in the NaNo bank. I've progressed from "I think I can" to "I know I can," but I still have nine days to go. You'll get my final report on Wednesday, November 30th. I'm so confident I've scheduled a massage on the 30th to celebrate. I can't mess up now.

Book Giveaway: Letters from Katrina

2011-11-21T06:00:00.001-07:00

When I attended the five year birthday party for Reader's Cove bookstore in Fort Collins, Colorado, I received two copies of this wonderful book of photos and letters from Colorado kids to the children from communities devastated by Hurricane Katrina, Letters from Katrina: Stories of Hope and Inspiration. These books were donated to Reader's Cove for the event by the author, Mark Hoog.

You can find out more about the project, the book, and the author, Mark Hoog, at the Growing Field Website.

To be eligible to win one of the two copies, you must be a resident of the U.S. or Canada. Leave a comment on today's post by noon Mountain Time, Friday, November 25th. Make sure your e-mail address is in the comment or easily obtained from your profile.

Saturday Surprise (The Glow Giveaway)

2011-11-19T06:00:00.000-07:00

You all know I don't post on Saturday unless I have something cool to report. Today I do.

Amy Kathleen Ryan is a wonderful YA author from Northern Colorado, and she has debuted the first novel in a new series. The intro for the Glow synopsis says "What if you were bound for a new world, about to pledge your life to someone you'd been promised to since birth, and one unexpected violent attack made survival—not love—the issue?"

There's a buzz going on about Glow with all kinds of starred reviews. The whole series is going to be a winner for the YA audience as well as adult readers like me (I already have my copy).

So when I saw that another writer from Northern Colorado, Carolyn of the popular Hooked and Happy blog, was giving away an advance reading copy (ARC) of Glow, I wanted to pass on the news.

The giveaway is open to US and Canadian residents only, and the deadline is 7:00 PM Mountain Time on Wednesday, November 23rd.

To enter, go to Carolyn's Nov. 16th post at Hooked and Happy which is called My 2012 To-Read List {and GLOW Giveaway!}. And if you don't win the ARC for this fine novel, here's the link to amazon.com.

The Writing Road Trip by Joanne Kennedy, Guest Blogger

2011-11-18T06:00:00.000-07:00

According to the bio on Joanne Kennedy's website, she ran away from home to the West at the advanced age of 32 and was delighted to discover that cowboys still walk the streets of Cheyenne. Her fascination with Wyoming’s unique blend of past and present leads her to write contemporary Western romances with traditional ranch settings.

I love cowboys (and just the idea of cowboys) so when I find another author who writes in the Western romance genre, I have to pay attention (especially when their books have such delightful cover art).

Welcome to my blog, Joanne.

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The Writing Road Trip by Joanne Kennedy, Guest Blogger

Writing a book is like taking a road trip. It takes planning—but if you map out every move in advance and time everything down to the last second, the lack of spontaneity will take all the fun out it. I’d rather just pile the kids in the car and start driving, hoping for a grand adventure and wondering where the heck we’ll end up.

So when I start a book, I basically toss my characters out onto the page, which is a relief because they’ve usually been with me for a while, chattering in my ear and generally being annoying so I’ll take them somewhere. I have a rough idea of where we’re going, but mostly I just follow the road as it unfolds.

My characters usually cooperate with this process better than kids deal with road trips, but eventually they start squabbling and sulking and poking each other. Then it’s time to step out of the story and look at it from the outside so you can find them something constructive to do. This corresponds to the part of the road trip where you get out of the car, stretch, and take a look at the map while the kids run around decimating wildflower beds and filling the back seat with rocks.

Even now, you don’t want your plan to be too detailed. You need to stay loose and let your instincts carry you forward. It’s those impulsive side-trips to Reptile Kingdom and the spontaneous stop at the World’s Largest Prairie Dog Town that make the best memories on a road trip, and it’s the same way with a story. Unexpected destinations are what make a book memorable, too.

Of course, this can all go terribly wrong. Characters can dash off on useless tangents, pursuing some elusive purpose that never really gels. Reptile Kingdom can turn out to be smelly and sort of pathetic. Prairie dogs can hide in their holes and refuse to come out. Plot threads can tangle and wander off in the wrong direction.

That’s where you need to hang onto hope and a whole lot of faith. You have to hope your instinctive sense of story will see you through, and have faith that you had that instinct in the first place.

Losing that hope and faith corresponds to the part of the trip where you decide you’re a terrible mother who never does anything right. You bang your head on the steering wheel, berate yourself for not planning better and try not to let the kids see you cry. In writing and in road trips, this is a good time to stop at a Mini-Mart and get some powdered sugar donuts. Snacks are great sources of faith and hope.

The sugar donuts will help for a while, although they might be the reason the kids are squabbling and poking each other again. And eventually you’re liable to come to an intersection and discover that you’ve been off course for the past fifty miles. Or maybe somebody left their precious stuffed bunny back at the Reptile Kingdom cafeteria. You’re going to have to backtrack to your last turning point and start again. You’ve probably wasted a couple of hours going in the wrong direction, but that’s okay. You’re on track now.

It’s been a long trip, though, and there comes a point where your characters finally stop misbehaving. The problem is, they’re not doing anything else, either. They’re asleep in the back seat with Precious Bunny, and you’re going to have to stop for the night and recharge. This will give you more time to look at the map and figure out how you ended up in Indiana instead of Illinois and what road will get you the heck out of there.

Okay, maybe that’s not the best way to take a road trip. But it’s okay to write a book that way, because unlike a road trip, you can go over it when you’re done and fix everything that went off-course. Did you take a wrong turn in Chapter 8? You can rewrite it. Did your characters misbehave in Chapter 12? Go back and make them do what you want.

And maybe that’s why hope lives through even the worst writing experience. If you work hard enough, you can turn even the bumpiest road trip into one heck of a story.

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Thanks again for being my guest today, Joanne.

Joanne Kennedy is the author of Cowboy Trouble, Cowboy Fever, and 2010 RITA® nominee One Fine Cowboy, all published by Sourcebooks Casablanca. Her latest release, Tall, Dark & Cowboy, was released November 1st and is available online and in bookstores nationwide.

TALL, DARK AND COWBOY
ISBN 978-1-4022-5144-3 $6.99
Available in paperback and ebook editions

In the wake of a nasty divorce, Lacey Bradford is on the run from her ex-husband’s criminal cronies. Swearing off her ex’s ill-gotten gains, she runs to her old friend Chase Caldwell for help. But the boy she once knew has changed. Embittered by the loss of his family farm due to Lacey’s ex-husband’s machinations, Chase is hardly thrilled to see the girl who broke his heart.

As Lacey begins to create a new life for herself, a new, surprising attraction ignites from the ruins of their former friendship. And when danger comes to Grady, Wyoming, Chase learns that this delicate Southern flower just might turn out to be a steel magnolia.

You can learn more about Joanne and her books at her website.

The Unnamed Step--The Rest That Isn't Restful by Susan Oleksiw, Guest Blogger

2011-11-17T06:00:00.000-07:00

My guest today is mystery writer, Susan Oleksiw, who was published in hardcover by Five Star/Cengage and now in paperback by Harlequin Worldwide Mystery. Under the Eye of Kali is set at the cozy seaside Hotel Delite in southern India.

According to her website bio, before turning to crime fiction, Susan received a Ph.D. in Sanskrit from the University of Pennsylvania, and lived and traveled extensively in India as part of her studies.

Welcome, Susan. And congratulations on having Harlequin pick up Under the Eye of Kali for their mass market paperback edition.

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The Unnamed Step--The Rest That Isn't Restful by Susan Oleksiw, Guest Blogger

Writers have habits and practices that we rely on to help us complete the manuscript we're working on, and some of them are quirky and some are just good practices. Others seem too obvious to mention, but these can be crucial. I am in the middle of one of them right now that is especially frustrating but necessary.

After I've finished a major first draft, which means I've been over it twice and made changes to the plot, modified or added characters, and started on serious revisions, I set it aside and send it out for a critical reading by two people I trust. This means I send out two hard copies and then I sit and wait. I do no rereading, revising, editing, or rewriting. I try to let my mind move to other things, to let myself get some distance on what I've basically been immersed in for weeks and months. I force myself to wait. This drives me crazy but I do this with everything I write.

During this waiting period I might try writing a review or doing research into a related topic for another writing project, work on some promotional efforts, work on a short story, or dust my bookshelves. I weed through the paper in my files, or make plans for research trips. But I won't let myself start on anything major, and I won't pick up the mss that is being reviewed.

My restlessness while waiting is something I just have to live with because I think this set-aside period is extremely important for the finished book. For writers like me who work by getting into the story and living it as I write it, it is hard to pull back and see the story and how it's written with any objectivity. And yet if I don't change gears, I'll never be able to bring a truly critical eye to the work. I have to move on myself enough to see and think differently or I will never see the mistakes and gaffes and omissions in my work. I have to feel differently from when I was writing, and that takes time. This can mean three weeks or three months.

Given enough time, I become objective about my own work, able to judge it clearly, and do the hard work of finishing and polishing. This often means I have to cut scenes or characters without hesitation, and tighten passages that I originally thought were absolutely crucial. With enough distance, I can see at once that a particular character is unnecessary and her contribution to the plot can be handled by another character. Or I can see that the setting I once thought contributed great atmosphere is just a muddle of cliches.

I hate the waiting because I don't want to do anything else (impatience is a weakness I confess to) except finish the book, but I know I can't really finish the book until I can see it as an editor and not as a creator. Waiting patiently, letting the book settle, letting myself change and move forward all mean that when I do sit down again with the mss, it will seem new to me. I will see the characters develop and stumble into the holes in the plot, the inconsistencies in the villain or the protagonist, the lagging pace in the middle of a chapter, the abrupt leap between scenes. I will see the flaws and know what to do.

Seeing these flaws is half the job of fixing them, so I'm willing to wait to let my eyes adjust so I can come to the mss fresh. Writers talk a lot about revising and rewriting, but we are able to do that work because of something we talk less about--the time of rest between the writing and rewriting, when we pull back and wait and then rediscover our own work as if we'd barely seen it before.

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Thanks again, Susan. This is great advice.

You can learn more about Susan and her writing at her website and her blog, One Writer's World. The paperback edition of Under the Eye of Kali can be purchased at the Harlequin Worldwide Mystery online store.

The Shortest Wednesday Scramble Ever!

2011-11-16T06:00:00.000-07:00

I want to announce two more guest authors this week.

The first is Susan Oleksiw whose post will appear tomorrow. Susan is the author of Under the Eye of Kali: an Anita Ray mystery.

Friday's guest is Joanne Kennedy, author of Tall, Dark, and Cowboy.

Meanwhile, I'm plugging away, staying even with what I need to do for NaNoWriMo. As of last night I was at 25,219 words, just over the halfway mark.

Will I run out of story before I run out of month? Stay tuned....

Chiseled in Rock Tuesday: What's New from Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers?

2011-11-15T06:00:00.001-07:00

It's that time again. My post highlights three of the newer books from authors who are members of Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers. Aren't they a talented bunch? Join us at Chiseled in Rock.

Angel in My Hair by Pat Walker, Guest Blogger

2011-11-14T06:00:00.000-07:00

One of the many things I like about Pat Walker is her energy -- each time I'm in the same room with her, I feel lighter, as though my battery has been recharged and my priorities rearranged. She's a special lady, and I'm honored to welcome her to my blog to celebrate the release of her inspirational memoir, Dance of the Electric Hummingbird.

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Angel in My Hair by Pat Walker, Guest Blogger

All my life, I wanted to be a writer; I just never knew it. I thought everyone had words that excited them so much that they had to scribble them down on the steering wheel while driving 75 miles per hour down I-25 or onto the corner of a pizza-grease-infused napkin while having lunch with one of their kids in the school cafeteria.

I didn’t take writing seriously, though, until I met Sammy Hagar, multi-millionaire tequila magnate and former lead singer of the legendary rock band Van Halen.

In 2003, I wandered into a bar in Mexico with my husband, expecting to enjoy a rock concert by a famous singer I’d not previously heard of, but something frightening and wonderful happened instead. In the midst of the screaming guitars and the cheering fans, my spirit rose out of my body and became engulfed in a white light and a feeling of ecstasy that should not have been humanly possible. I saw God. And my soul. At the time, I considered that perhaps I shouldn’t have had that second margarita! But before long, more strange things started happening, things I wasn’t even sure I believed in—psychic revelations, glimpses of past lives, and contact from spirits and angels.

Months passed and the paranormal episodes escalated along with my concern for my sanity. I couldn’t stop writing about any of it, so with equal parts privilege and trepidation, I wrote to Sammy. I explained what was happening to me and how it all started during his concert in Mexico. To my utter shock, he wrote back. He also took it upon himself to help me decipher the meaning of all the supernatural events. And he encouraged me to tell my story. Now I’m just your average, drive-the-kids-to-football-practice-in-my-minivan mom, these things don’t happen to people like me—the explosive world of sex, drugs and rock stars—combined with mystical experiences, no less. But they did.

I kept writing until a full-length book spilled out of me.

After eight years and 8,976,544 edits, sending out countless queries, pitching my book at writer’s conferences, and like most authors, getting those dreaded rejections, I grew discouraged. I knew I had a great story—a spiritual journey similar to Elizabeth Gilbert’s Eat, Pray, Love—but with an unusual bent: the personal involvement of a rock star. So what if agents didn’t believe in me? Sammy did. He promoted my book at many of his concerts and on the radio; his fans couldn’t wait to read it.

I decided to self-publish, but first, something told me to contact an author I’d been in touch with years earlier. He wrote a book about a similar experience and we exchanged a few e-mails at the time. When I contacted him again, he recommended I e-mail his friend at Rainbow Ridge Books—the publisher who made Neale Donald Walsch’s Conversations with God series an international sensation.

It was impossible that a publisher with such an illustrious reputation would even consider an unknown author like me, right? But like all the other “impossibilities” of late, it just fell into my lap so I went with it.

Within two weeks, we signed the contract.

Thus began a series of legalities, negotiations, and relaying of messages between publisher, rock star, and Aaron Hagar, the rock star’s son—a professional artist whom Sammy recruited to do the cover artwork for my book. I had no time to breathe let alone find someone to advise me on how to deal with these unusual circumstances, but true to the serendipitous nature of my journey once again, it all came together and better than I ever could have imagined.

People often tell me that my story may have positive spiritual undertones that are sometimes passed on to others, even if just in small ways. One woman said she loved the angel in my hair in the cover painting, and how clever it was that we put it there! Well, we didn’t put it there, not intentionally anyway. I didn’t even notice it until she pointed it out. Coincidence? Perhaps, but after everything I’ve experienced, I no longer believe in coincidences.

My journey showed me spiritual dimensions beyond my wildest dreams. It forced me to reevaluate my perception of what is real and what is important in life; it taught me the incredible power of my mind and spirit, and I learned firsthand, that nothing is impossible. Nothing.

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Thanks again for being my guest today, Pat.

To learn more about Pat, her writing life, and Dance of the Electric Hummingbird, visit her website. The memoir is now available at amazon.com and Barnes&Noble.com as well as the Van Halen store. It will soon be available in the gift shop at Sammy Hagar's Cabo Wabo Cantina in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico.

Pat is scheduled for a guest appearance on Sat., Nov. 26 at 5:00 MST on INTERVIEWS AND INTERACTIONS, live on KTTK radio 630 AM or at www.K-TALK.com;

A book signing at Reader's Cove, 1001 East Harmony Rd., Unit C in Fort Collins, on Thursday, Dec. 1 from 5:30-7:00 PM (970) 266-1618;

And on Sat., March 10, 2012, from 9:30-10:50 am MST, she will be a guest on "Exploring Unexplained Phenomena" live on KZUM 89.3 FM, Lincoln, NE or via http://www.e-u-p.org. Listeners may call in at 402-474-5086.

You can find Pat on Twitter as @Bajarockpat

Friday, Friday, so good to me

2011-11-11T06:00:00.000-07:00

The reason this Friday is so good is that its page on my calendar is completely blank.

I LOVE THAT!

Although I am going to make a quick grocery store run, today will be all about NaNoWriMo word count and getting some blog posts pre-scheduled.

Many Guests

I have three guests next week. My visiting authors represent memoir, mystery and romance, something for almost everyone.

Northern Colorado writer Pat Walker will be here Monday...her memoir, Dance of the Electric Hummingbird, describes her spiritual awakening at a Sammy Hagar rock concert and how her life has changed since that experience. I read an early draft of Pat's manuscript, a wonderful mix of inspiration and entertainment, and am now one of her biggest fans. I plan to be first in line at her December 1st book signing.

This Old House

Margot Kinberg blogs about crime fiction at Confessions of a Mystery Novelist... and was kind enough to use my first mystery, The Prairie Grass Murders, as one of her examples in a post called "My House is Out of the Ordinary". Many thanks to Margot for the mention and for quoting from my story.

The Versatile Blogger Award

Wyoming mystery author Cindy Keen Reynders passed on the Versatile Blogger Award to me this week. This is a really nice award. If you want to see the seven facts I revealed about myself back in July of 2010, follow the link to: More Award Fun -- Two for the Price of One.

I'd be most pleased if you'd pop over and join Cindy's new blog as a special thank you from me. You'll find her at Saucy Lucy Wisdom: Aunt Gladys and Cindy talk about the writing world. Aunt Gladys is one of the delightful characters in Cindy's mysteries.

I'll reserve the right to pass this award on again in a future post. Thanks again, Cindy.

And now we return to NaNoWriMo, especially since I fell a bit behind in word count yesterday. Sigh!

Where on Earth Does He Get His Ideas? by Barbara Graham, Guest Blogger

2011-11-10T06:00:00.000-07:00

I first met Wyoming mystery author Barbara Graham back in 2007 when our debut novels were published by Five Star. Her mystery series features Theo Abernathy and her quilting group. Since Theo is married to the Sheriff of Park County, Tennessee, in the Smoky Mountains, you can imagine that means trouble for the sleuthing Theo.

And just so you know, Barbara includes a pattern for a mystery quilt in each one of her novels.

Barbara, I'm so pleased to have you as my guest today.

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Where on Earth Does He Get His Ideas? by Barbara Graham, Guest Blogger

I’m often asked where I get my ideas for my books. For me, the whole process hinges on my imaginary friends. Most of them are very nice people. Some are not nice at all so I’d have to say I also have imaginary enemies. I often feel more like the characters’ biographer or chronicler than their creator.

Somewhere between the time I begin writing a new book and typing “The End” I lose control of the characters and therefore the plot. They come up with their own words and actions and I, the author, begin to feel like the person with a shovel, following the horses in a parade. I’m doing my best to keep up with them as they dash about killing people or falling in love or buying chocolate. They could at least share the candy.

I know authors who outline and keep firm hands on the proverbial reins, guiding their people through the jungle of plot and place. These authors accept no backtalk from any of them. I am jealous. Even in the real world I’m a pushover—my dogs have taken over the furniture in the living room, even the official no-dogs-on-this-one chair. Halfway through summer the weeds own my garden and I’m only allowed to visit and say admiring things about the new additions to the family. I suppose, therefore, it’s only natural for my imaginary people to tell me what’s really going on and expect me, with my pitiful typing skills, to “sit there, be quiet, and write this down”. And so I do.

Writing is different with series characters than those in stand-alone novels. Although there is much to be said for a character whose role is finite. Write them in, write them out. They can get married or divorced or die on page twelve and although they may haunt the author who tortures them, it’s a done deal. Series characters have lifelines just as we real people do, some days are good for them, some bad, and they get the flu, spill the milk, suffer from heartache and lose money in the stock market. Keeping track can be a nightmare.

Series characters can also become members of the author’s family. I know some of “my people” much better than I do my relatives or the neighbors. One of my bossiest and most irritating characters is a little old man named Orvan Lundy. His physical prototype was a homeless man who came into my office many years ago to get warm. He didn’t cause any trouble but he did tell me some interesting tales about “haints” and things in general. As I labored on Murder by Serpents: The Mystery Quilt, the first book in my series, he showed up in the sheriff’s office, wearing bib overalls and his customary shoe polish on half of his hair. He had a story to tell. I blindly followed his instructions, typing what he told me and never suspecting he would insist on a recurring role. The third book in the series, Murder by Music: The Wedding Quilt just released and like in the first two, Orvan is there, as scrawny and irritating as ever.

I’m working on the next book, and he’s already wandered into my office, showed me his hair, and confessed. Like some holiday traditions that begin with good intentions and the children insist on upholding long after the parents tire of them, there are characters with habits and foibles that may irritate their creators. But, here’s the other side of the same truth—I’m happy when Orvan shows up, puts his scrawny backside in a chair in my imaginary sheriff’s office and starts to talk. Chin resting on my hand, I listen to his story and find myself wondering “Where on earth does he get those ideas?”

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Barbara, thanks again for this fun post. I think this might be the question most asked of writers by their fans, and perhaps one of the hardest questions to answer. All I can say is, anytime you get tired of listening to Orvan, send him down here to Colorado. We have writers who need a change of Muses.

To learn more about Barbara and her books, please visit her website. You can also find her on Facebook.

Wednesday Scramble

2011-11-09T06:00:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow's Guest

Wyoming buddy and Five Star Mystery author Barbara Graham will be here tomorrow. The new release Murder by Music: The Wedding Quilt is book three in Barbara's quilting mystery series.

52 Wonderful Twitter Chats for Writers

If you're as much of a Twitter fan as I am, and have learned or are learning about hashtags and hashtag chat groups, you'll like this list of ongoing writerly gatherings. Some are random and some have regular meeting times. Either way, you're sure to find something you like on this list.

Snow White and the Seven Thwarts

If you don't regularly read Chiseled in Rock blog (the official blog of Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers), I highly recommend you begin with Janet Fogg's Monday post, Snow White and the Seven Thwarts. It's a fun post about the writing life. Monday I claimed to be Happy, but yesterday I was definitely Sleepy. Today? It's too early to tell.

What I'm Reading

I'm still reading Deon Meyer's Tracker. NaNoWriMo is slowing me down.

Submissions 101

This is another article worth checking out. BookEnds, LLC has updated the 2009 version of this post to reflect changes in the industry.

What I'm Doing

NaNoWriMo. If you want more details, check out yesterday's post at Chiseled in Rock blog. And if you have the time to listen to a few NaNoWriMo songs, blogger Sommer Leigh has put together a post with several of the video clips all in one convenient place.

That's it. Back to work. Don't forget to stop by tomorrow to meet Barbara Graham.

Chiseled in Rock Tuesday: The NaNoWriMo Experience

2011-11-08T06:00:00.000-07:00

If you want to know how I'm doing so far with National Novel Writing Month, and what another Northern Colorado writer is using his NaNo challenge to accomplish, come on over to Chiseled in Rock. Hope to see you there.

Have you ever seen a fox on a fence?

2011-11-07T06:00:00.000-07:00

I sure hadn't, so when we spotted this fox in our yard earlier this year, I grabbed my camera and caught a photo before he got away. I'm not sure what he was hoping to find. Katie Kitten was safely inside the house, and that pathetic dried up apple didn't look very appetizing.

And that's all I have for you today, my friends. I have my nose to the NaNoWriMo grindstone, and I'm posting a short report about my progress tomorrow at Chiseled in Rock. See you then.

Crime Writers and Research: Learning About Touch DNA

2011-11-03T15:17:00.004-06:00

My guest post, Crime Writers and Research: Learning About Touch DNA, has been posted at Joe Giacalone's The Cold Case Squad blog. I use information about two well-known Colorado cases to show how crime writers have an enormous amount of information at their fingertips (or keyboards) for researching the technology that makes our stories accurate and up-to-date.

I hope you'll stop by Joe's blog and let us know you were there.

BRRRR!

2011-11-03T10:05:00.003-06:00

Wednesday Scramble

2011-11-02T06:00:00.001-06:00

Tomorrow...

I don't have a guest tomorrow, because I've submitted a guest post to Joe Giacalone's blog, The Cold Case Squad, on what I learned about Touch DNA while researching the process for a new story. I'll post the link here when it goes live.

First NaNoWriMo Report

Here it is, already Day Two of National Novel Writing Month. I made a good start on my 50,000 words yesterday by writing the first chapter and part of the second for a total of 2,310 words. If a participant writes every day during November, and adds 1,667 words to the total each day, he'll make it to 50,000.

In my case, I've blocked off the writing days and the non-writing days to allow for grocery shopping, appointments and meetings, and a little exercise. I figure I'll have twenty-three days when I'll focus on writing until I have at least 2,000 words completed and four other days when I'll write at least a couple of pages. There are three days, including Thanksgiving, when I probably won't write at all.

I had hoped to attend the NaNoWriMo Launch Party last night, but that didn't work out. With more snow coming in, I decided to get cozy at home and use the extra time to read a few more chapters of Dyon Meyer's Trackers.

Babbles from Scott Eagan

This is one of the literary agent blogs I enjoy reading. Yesterday's post, "What Is It That Catches My Attention In That Initial Query?," is another good one from Scott.

That's all for today -- NaNoWriMo is waiting.

Chiseled in Rock Tuesday: Revisiting the Interview with Chuck Sambuchino

2011-11-01T06:00:00.002-06:00

If you missed this interview I did with editor Chuck Sambuchino (Guide to Literary Agents) in March, you might enjoy stopping by Chiseled in Rock blog to check it out. I've added new links to the 2012 market guides, and mentioned the latest news about Chuck's humor book, How to Survive a Garden Gnome Attack.

For the month of November and December, Chiseled in Rock will be reposting our best editor and agent interviews, and I'll also be reporting from the NaNoWriMo trenches. Stay tuned.

A Thousand Words, at Least… by Ann Parker, Guest Blogger

2011-10-31T06:00:00.001-06:00

I'm very pleased that Ann Parker agreed to do a guest post for us. Ann is a California-based science/corporate writer by day and an historical mystery writer by night. Her award-winning Silver Rush series, featuring saloon-owner Inez Stannert, is set in 1880s Colorado, primarily in the silver-mining boom town of Leadville.

It shouldn't be a surprise that Ann writes historical mysteries based in Colorado. According to her website bio:

"Ann's ancestors include a great-grandfather who was a blacksmith in Leadville, a grandmother who worked at the bindery of Leadville's Herald Democrat newspaper, a grandfather who was a Colorado School of Mines professor, and another grandfather who worked as a gandy dancer on the Colorado railroads."

Thanks for joining us today, Ann.

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A Thousand Words, at Least… by Ann Parker, Guest Blogger

It all started when I was zipping around eBay, looking for old photographs of Manitou Springs.

I was partway through the writing of Mercury’s Rise, which takes place in summer 1880 in Manitou Springs. My protagonist, Inez Stannert, travels to Manitou to see her sister and her young son, after nearly a year’s absence. Inez’s friend, Susan Carothers, accompanies her. I needed old photos of Manitou and its environs to help me re-create the area, but I found more. Much more.

You see, Inez’s friend Susan is a photographer (unusual, but not entirely unknown for that day and age). Sooo, when I stumbled across a cabinet card taken in the Manitou Springs area circa 1880 that was “Photographed and Published by Mrs. A. Galbreaith,” my research antennae began to quiver, and questions arose.

A woman photographer, taking commercial photographs in the very area I was writing about? Talk about serendipity! So, who was Mrs. A. Galbreaith? What was she doing in Manitou Springs? Did she actually have her own studio?

Intrigued, I began a search.

Mrs. Galbreaith wasn’t listed in the 1879 or 1880 or 1882 city directories. Unfortunately, the city directories from 1883 through 1885 are missing, and she wasn’t listed in 1886 either. Luckily, I made a connection with a local historian, who was able to tell me that Anna Galbreaith was indeed a local photographer back in the mid-1880s, and that she also ran a Manitou boarding house (a proper one, I hasten to add) called the “Ohio House.”

I found a couple more tantalizing references to Anna G’s work, far from “home.” She appears in the Guide to the Julia Driver Collection of Women in Photography (Gen MSS 690), by Matthew Daniel Mason, in the Yale University Library, where she apparently has a couple of cabinet cards as part of the collection. The other reference I found was in a Princeton University document, WC064: Western Americana photographs collection.

Mrs. Galbreaith rated a few lines in each of these documents for her landscape card photographs (cabinet cards), which are stored in these various collections.

Her cards also spring up, occasionally, on eBay, and I was lucky enough to snag one of “The Narrows,” in Williams Canyon, shown here.

Now, this card has turned out to be worth far more than a thousand words, not just for the image and for leading me to Mrs. Galbreaith, but also for the information printed on the back.

The back is a bit of an advertisement for the area (a device commonly used for “tourist destinations” of the day), and includes a chemical analysis of the various mineral springs in Manitou (an analysis which proved very useful for my story), as well as names of the springs, and a description of the area and its sights. All very germane to Mercury’s Rise.

The front shows a young fellow posing in “the Narrows.” Hmmm. What are the Narrows? Well, pretty much just as they sound: a very narrow portion of Williams Canyon.

Knowing that, I had to go and see the place in person, so I put it on my “must see” list for my research trip to Manitou Springs. My local guide obligingly took me partway up Williams Canyon, through the Narrows. Photographs were duly snapped.

The upshot? Mrs. Anna Galbreaith plays a small but significant role in my story (and gives my fictional photographer, Susan Carothers, a reason to travel to Manitou in the first place, as well as providing a place for Susan to stay that is near Inez and the action). I liked the idea of two women photographers in 1880, getting together and sharing techniques and stories.

And the Narrows… well, that particular geological feature comes in for a few words as well in Mercury’s Rise.

All in all, that find on eBay ended up worth far more than a thousand words!

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Thanks again, Ann, for an excellent post.

The latest book in Ann's series, Mercury's Rise, is out November 1. Publisher’s Weekly said, “Parker smoothly mixes the personal dramas and the detection in an installment that’s an easy jumping-on point for newcomers.” Library Journal added, “Parker’s depth of knowledge coupled with an all-too-human cast leaves us eager to see what Inez will do next. Encore!” Learn more about Ann and her series at her website. She is also a contributor to The LadyKillers blog.

Mercury's Rise and the other Silver Rush mysteries are available from independent booksellers' Indie Bound, amazon.com, Barnes and Noble and other places where mystery books are sold.

Leave a comment on this post by midnight (Mountain Time) today to be eligible to win a Silver Rush mystery prize! Winner will be announced later this week.

To see the rest of Ann's blog tour schedule, see the Appearances page on her website.

Halloween Hop and Giveaways

2011-10-28T06:00:00.001-06:00

First the Giveaways

Northern Colorado Writers director Kerrie Flanagan is giving away one copy of the 2012 Guide to Literary Agents at The Writing Bug blog. The deadline to enter is Saturday, October 29th, at noon Mountain Time.

Sarah Johnson is giving away a copy of Michelle Black's mystery, Seance in Sepia, at Reading the Past blog. The deadline is Friday, November 4th. Read Sarah's review of this novel here.

Halloween Hop

Suspense Author Jeremy Bates is hosting a Halloween Hop this weekend. This is one more chance to make a few new blogger friends. As of yesterday afternoon, 89 bloggers had signed up for the hop.

In addition to posting the hop's badge and adding my name to the list, I'm supposed to visit as many of the participating blogs as possible this weekend, mention my favorite monster movie or book, and tell what my Halloween costume will be.

My favorite monster movie is really old. I loved Creature from the Black Lagoon (1954) because I was 12 years old and that movie scared the heck out of me. The only movie that has scared me more was Deliverance which I didn't watch all the way through until last year.

And my Halloween costume? I'll be dressed up as "me sipping a glass of wine while nibbling on dark chocolate."

C. C. Harrison's Quick and Easy Way to Cook a Book

2011-10-27T06:00:00.001-06:00

My guest today is C. C. Harrison, author of hundreds of articles and short stories as well as novels. When she's not writing, reading, or working out at the gym, she can be found in the mountains of Colorado or in some far-flung corner of the Southwest. She currently lives in Arizona, the setting for Picture of Lies. She also writes western historical romance under the name of Christy Hubbard.

Thanks so much for being here today, C.C.

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Thank you, Patricia, for inviting me to be a guest on your blog. I’m fascinated by the writing process and have always been interested in knowing how authors develop their books. I wanted to know specifically, step by step, what did they do? Eventually I realized there was no one way to write a book, and after my second book was published, I discovered a process that works for me – index cards. My critique partner at the time called them “cooking cards,” so here I’ll share with you my recipe for cooking a book. Follow directions carefully, then ENJOY!

C. C. HARRISON’S QUICK AND EASY WAY TO COOK A BOOK

PREPARATION TIME: Varies; days, weeks or months.

ASSEMBLE INGREDIENTS: Gather the following together in your mind or on paper-

- A story idea – Just a nugget will do, but more is better
- Character names – Physical descriptions can come later, but you definitely need names
- Setting—Geographic location, or specific city/town. It’s okay to make up a place name.
- Type of journey – Someone seeking something, keeping something, or getting get rid of something. Story goals are many, choose whichever appeals to you.
- A couple of major conflicts
- Ending – Yes, you need a general idea of an ending so you know what the finished product looks like.

MIX:

Combine all the above ingredients and stir gently in your head until the story begins to burst out of you.

THEN IMMEDIATELY:

Write a list of 20 (or more) events you want to happen in your story. This gets the creative juices flowing. Brainstorm!

ARRANGE ON COOKING CARDS:

Take a thick stack of 4”x6” index cards, and using a separate card for each, jot down story events, plot points, turning points, scene ideas, bits of dialogue, critical and/or emotional character reactions and stumbling blocks. Leave plenty of white space on each card so you can add more later. You WILL want to add detail as the writing progresses. Use back of card as needed.

SORT:

When you have a stack of cooking cards one-half to three-quarter inches thick (AND NOT BEFORE), lay them all out in no particular order on your bed or your dining room table. Carefully read each one. Then and only then, pick up one card at a time in the general sequence you think the events should appear in your book. By now, you will instinctively have a feel for this. Don’t worry about getting this part wrong, it can always be fixed later by rearranging the cards, which is why when you have your cards stacked in a general order, you will number them in the upper right hand corner IN PENCIL.

THIS IS YOUR STORY:

Wrap a rubber band around your cooking cards, or use a giant pinchy clip. Use the information on these cards one at a time to write your book, and you will always know where you are going even if you don’t always know how to get there. Shovel in huge amounts of creativity, triumph over innumerable challenges, and you will have a book.

This process is flexible enough to insert new ideas during the writing while still staying on track and moving in the right general direction. I revise my manuscript as I go, scene by scene, sometimes page by page, so when I reach the end, I have a nearly completed book requiring only minor revision and polishing, but no rewriting.

I used the process I described above to write my new book, Picture of Lies, a Five Star/Gale/Cengage October release. It’s the story of investigative journalist Keegan Thomas who travels to Monument Valley on the Navajo Indian Reservation seeking the whereabouts of people in an old photograph found in her grandfather’s belongings after his death. A child in the photo was kidnapped by missionaries and never returned. Keegan’s search for this child leads to a web of deception stretching back two generations, and the truth she learns about her own family is the most shocking betrayal of all. Nothing is true in the Picture of Lies.

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Thanks for this fun and educational post, C.C.

C. C. Harrison’s award-winning books include, The Charmstone, a mystery set in Monument Valley on the Navajo Indian Reservation called "An important book!" by Tony Hillerman. Next came Running from Strangers, and Sage Cane's House of Grace and Favor (written as Christy Hubbard), which was honored at the Aspen Institute as a finalist in the 2010 Colorado Book Award. Picture of Lies, another Monument Valley mystery, was released on October 21, 2011. Her fifth book is Cemetery Trees, a Michigan mystery. She is currently at work on The Missing Girl.

To learn more about C.C. Harrison and her books, visit her website and her blog.

Wednesday Scramble

2011-10-26T06:00:00.002-06:00

NaNoWriMo

Just six days left to organize my life so I can churn out those 50,000 words in November. Many of my posts will be short, but I'll still have some great guest bloggers this month. Historical mystery writer Ann Parker will be my guest on Monday.

The Cold Case Squad blog

I'm also making a guest appearance at Joe Giacalone's Cold Case Squad blog on November 3rd where I talk about the crime writer's research into new technology such as Touch DNA to keep their stories up to date. I know, it's so unlike me to do a serious post on writing, but Joe's blog is serious business.

Your Chance to Win a Copy of Peas and Thank You (a vegan cookbook)

Writer friend Carolyn has a wonderful blog about food and artsy-crafty things at Hooked and Happy. Check out her post (with yummy-looking food photos) from yesterday where she offers her followers a chance to win a copy of this well-reviewed cookbook. The giveaway at A Week of Peas and Thank You is open to U.S. residents and will close at 8:00 PM Mountain Time on Monday, October 31st.

The Weather

A big snow was forecast for Colorado, expected to start around 9:00 PM last night and lasting at least into midday today. I'll have some photos for you on Friday. This is a drastic change from temperatures in the 70s and 80s we've enjoyed this fall. But after all, it is Colorado.

My Wine in Progress

I added raspberries and a pound of red wine grapes to my Concord grape harvest and am trying to make my wine without additives or yeast...just a little sugar to help the fermenting along. It will be interesting to see if I get wine or vinegar. I'll keep you posted.

What I'm Reading

I'm finishing up Swedish author Kitty Sewell's excellent novel of psychological suspense, Bloodprint, and will then start the new novel from South African author Dyon Meyer, Trackers. I seem to be reading my way around the world these days.

A to Z April Challenge for 2012

This blogging challenge has grown so fast that it now has its own site for friends of the alphabet called Blogging from A to Z April Challenge. Pop on over and join as a follower if you want to know more about the challenge or subscribe to receive updates.

Chiseled in Rock Tuesday: Thoughts on Halloween

2011-10-25T06:00:00.000-06:00

I'm sure you want to know exactly what I think of Halloween, so follow me on over to Chiseled in Rock blog (and be sure to watch the very short video clip I found on You Tube to illustrate my point).

People and Things I Saw in My Town in October

2011-10-24T06:00:00.001-06:00

Art in a public place

Visiting mystery author Mike Befeler at Old Firehouse Books

More art in a public place

One of the pianos about town being tuned

A painted horse

A flash mob advertising a Rocky Horror Show

Another one of the pianos about town

And one more

One of these days I'm going to...

2011-10-21T06:00:00.001-06:00

One of these days I'm going to:

1. Take a ride in a hot air balloon

2. Ask a biker to take me for a (short) ride on a Harley (as research for my next suspense novel)

3. Eat movie popcorn one more time (haven't done that in years)

4. Buy a leather jacket

5. Get my face painted during some festival or other (just me and the rest of the little kids)

What are you going to do one of these days?

Writing Perseverance by Mark W. Danielson, Guest Blogger

2011-10-20T06:00:00.000-06:00

Today I'm welcoming Mark W. Danielson, author of Writer's Block and other novels. According to his bio:

"Writing fiction allowed his imagination to run wild. Using real events as a base makes his writing both believable and enthralling. An actual FedEx DC-10 fire inspired Danger Within. Likewise, the suspicious crash that claimed the life of US Secretary of Commerce Ron Brown inspired The Innocent Never Knew. Both novels provide fast-moving reality-based suspense, and have received excellent reviews. His third novel, Diablo's Shadow, based on a child disappearance was released in 2008 to critical acclaim."

Mark, I'm so pleased to introduce you and your books on my blog.

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Writing Perseverance by Mark W. Danielson, Guest Blogger

Rarely do authors become overnight successes. Even the most successful ones toiled for years, and many died before their work was recognized. My writing history dates back to 1977 when Sport Aerobatics published an article of mine. Prior to that, I dabbled with letters to editors, and never considered professional writing because it was too cumbersome. I didn’t care much for long hand, and because my typewriting skills weren’t the best, I kept running out of correction tape. (For those unfamiliar, Wikipedia “typewriter”.) Still, I persisted in crafting articles by hammering the keys on this mechanical device and throwing the lever to get to the next line.

When the word processor came along, writing became fun again because the computer could keep up with my thoughts. Since then, over one hundred of my non-non-fiction articles have been published in a variety of periodicals. I have also written seventeen novels, but of those seventeen, have chosen to seek publication on four. Writer’s Block, the most recent, will be released in November, 2011. Set in Fort Worth, it is the first in the Maxx Watts detective series.

It is logical to ask, “If you’ve written seventeen novels, why publish only four?” In truth, I don’t want the others published. In one case, the story seemed too close to the movie Swordfish, even though I had written it long before John Travolta’s movie was released. I am holding onto two firefighting stories for a time when publishers will accept Mother Nature as an evil antagonist. Other stories are no longer topical, so chalk them up to experience. And because it takes such an enormous effort to get a book published, I prefer moving ahead to looking behind.

My first three published novels were written for specific reasons, but Writer’s Block was just plain fun. This who-done-it mystery offers a unique look inside the publishing world. I’m at a good place in my writing, and I expect Maxx Watts will be around a long time. We may share elements, but Maxx is hardly my alter ego. Having said that, my characters do stem from people I’ve met and experiences I’ve had over the years. Even the guy who aimed his .38 revolver at me and a grocery store teller in 1981 left his mark. Thankfully, no one got hurt, but such memories help create believable situations for my fictional characters.

Because writing is such a solitary act, it is important to make it fun. Allowing my characters a sense of humor makes it fun for me and my readers. Taking yourself too seriously can lead to an early grave. Mel Blanc, Warner Brother’s “man of a thousand voices” cartoon actor, realized he was just another cog in the wheel of life and had the last laugh by having “That’s All Folks” inscribed on his tombstone; the same words he channeled as Porky Pig at the end of each cartoon. Three simple words said it all for Mel. Now, that’s good writing.

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Thanks again, Mark. I hope you'll drop by to visit us again soon.

To read more about Mark and his books, visit his website. He is also a contributor at Murderous Musings, a blog about murder and mayhem and more.

Wednesday Scramble

2011-10-19T06:00:00.002-06:00

Thursday's Guest Blogger

Mark W. Danielson is my guest tomorrow. Author of Writer's Block, the first in the new Maxx Watts mystery series, as well as several other mystery/thrillers, tells us how perseverance played a part in his path to publication.

Halloween Hop

Here's a cool blog hop for Halloween weekend. Check out Halloween Hop at Suspense Author Jeremy Bates and sign up to meet a few new bloggers and maybe pick up a few new followers. I mean, really, wouldn't you rather do this than tromp around town in a silly costume collecting chocolate?

Gearing Up for NaNoWriMo

This week I signed up for a two-night Jumpstart Your NaNoWriMo! workshop at our main library. Since it's my first time doing this 50,000 word project in 30 days, I figured a little extra advice and advance preparation wouldn't hurt.

What I'm Reading (and Watching on TV)

I went directly from Kitty Sewell's Ice Trap to her 2010 release, Bloodprint. This is psychological suspense at its best. I'm determined to make more reading time for myself, so I've dumped a few shows off my "To Be Watched" list. My new favorite, The X Factor, stays. So much amazing talent, and I love it that they opened up the age groups so a few over-30 performers are getting a chance to compete.

Chiseled in Rock Tuesday: Zombie Crawls

2011-10-18T06:00:00.000-06:00

I've posted the information about Denver's Zombie Crawl and the Fort Collins Zombie Fest at Chiseled in Rock blog today. If there's a zombie crawl scheduled for your town, be sure to drop by Chiseled in Rock and leave your town, state, and the website url for the event in the comments.

If I attend any part of the Fort Collins fest, it will probably be the afternoon fun for kidz where I feel I can hold my own...I'm not likely to be out anytime in the evening in places where big zombies congregate. That's just too creepy

Two Plotting Tools for the Pantser by Jacqueline Corcoran, Guest Blogger

2011-10-17T06:00:00.001-06:00

Jacqueline Corcoran was born in England, but has lived in various parts of the U.S. for most of her life. She now resides in Alexandria, Virginia with her husband, two children, two cats, and two dogs. She holds a Ph.D. in social work and has been a member of the faculty at the Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond since 2000. Although she has published articles in numerous professional academic publications and eleven books in her field, Jacqueline is currently finding new opportunities in fiction, a craft she has worked on for over 28 years.

I'm pleased to welcome Jacqueline here today to talk about techniques that will help "pantsers" -- and I'm one of those so I appreciate all the help I can get.

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Two Plotting Tools for the Pantser by Jacqueline Corcoran, Guest Blogger

For good or for ill, I am a “pantser,” meaning that I am on the side of “make it up as you go along.” I’ve tried valiantly to be a “plotter” because my main genre is the mystery in which plot plays a central role. I’ve gotten better, but I still fall on the “pantser” side. Despite my orientation, I have found a couple of techniques useful for coming up with enough of a “beginning, middle, and end” thought out ahead of time so I don’t get as terribly stuck as I once did.

One technique that people often think of as an end result is variously called “the pitch,” “the log-line,” “the hook,” or “the premise.” Yes, it is usually used in a query letter to attract agents and/or editors when your novel is complete but it is also a great way at the beginning to test out your concept.

As for the mechanics of the pitch, in movies, it generally consists of one-line but up to three lines for novel writing is fine. Alexandra Sokoloff has the best breakdown of what she calls “the premise” I’ve seen. She is both a screenwriter and a novelist and hosts a blog called the Dark Salon. She says that the pitch has the following elements:

• a defined protagonist
• a powerful antagonist
• a sense of the setting
• conflict and stakes
• a sense of how the action will play out

On the blog, she has many movie examples and a few from her own novels, but here is an example from my mystery A Month of Sundays: In this edgy mystery, 25 year old Austin Police Department counselor Alayne Vaughan pursues her detective boyfriend's case, the alleged suicide of a local poet, almost losing her love, career - and life-- in the process.

This pitch has all the elements named above

• a defined protagonist (a 25 year old counselor, Alayne Vaughan)

• a powerful antagonist (an implied murderer)

• a sense of the setting (Austin, Texas)

• conflict and stakes (the conflict is inherent in the fact that she tries to solve her boyfriend’s case, which he most certainly does not appreciate; she loses her boyfriend, job, and almost gets murdered trying to solve the mystery)

• a sense of how the action will play out (it’s a mystery, so there are certain conventions, but also the protagonist has access to police information both through her job and her relationship with the detective)

What I like about this exercise is that it forces you to define some of the main elements of your novel and ensures that it has enough going for it so that it may one day interest a publisher.

Another tool I find helpful is to write a synopsis. This is also generally considered something you write after you complete your novel when you know everything about it, but I use it to get my bearings at the beginning. I first learned of this technique as a plotting device by Judy Morris in Writing Fiction for Children.

Basically, a synopsis is a summary of the book, discussing the main characters and plot, with the ending included. Charlotte Dillon, a romance writer, has collected numerous Internet links and resources for how to write a synopsis.

The working synopsis will evolve as you go but it forces you to think through some of the main plot points without getting ground down into too much of the details (unless of course you like that kind of thing). I won’t post my synopsis for A Month of Sundays here because it gives away too much!

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Jacqueline, thanks so much for this excellent advice and for being my guest today. The working synopsis has been very useful for me, even though I consider it a dynamic document subject to change at any time.

Read more about Jacqueline and her books at her website. Her blog, Memoirs of Mental Heath and Madness, includes book reviews of YA novels and follow-up articles related to the memoir topics.

A Month of Sundays is available from Whimsical Publications and from online booksellers, including e-books for Kindle.

The Pay It Forward Blogfest (and a Monday guest blogger)

2011-10-14T06:00:00.001-06:00

Special Announcement

I have a guest blogger lined up for Monday. Jacqueline Corcoran, author of A Month of Sundays, will be here with a post on "Plotting Tools for the Pantser." Pantsers, for those not in the know, are writers who write by the seat of their pants. They jump into a story on page one, often with no idea where they're going. I hope you'll join us on Monday to meet Jacqueline.

Pay It Forward Blogfest

Today's the day. The Pay It Forward Blogfest from Matthew MacNish at The Quintessentially Questionable Query Experiment and Alex J. Cavanaugh is designed for blogfest participants to spread the word about three blogs they enjoy. Not only can you check out the three I mention today, but you can go to Matthew or Alex's blogs to see the complete list of participants and visit as many of them (and the three blogs they've recommended) as you have time for.

The last time I checked, 198 bloggers had signed up. All in a day's work, right?

The three blogs I'd like to feature are:

Chiseled in Rock -- this blog is kinda sorta affiliated with Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers. I'm a regular contributor there on Tuesdays (so of course I want you to drop by and check us out). At least once a month I promote new releases from members of RMFW. Since the genres vary from romance to horror, there's usually something there for everyone. Contributor E. C. Stacy posted an interview with bestselling author Jeanne C. Stein yesterday. A couple of days ago there was an article about ghost writing from (the warped mind) of Tamela Buhrke.

Foodie Road Show -- I've known this blogger (Angela) since she was just a little whippersnapper, but now she's a grownup who knows her stuff about gardening, creating recipes, participating in and winning cook-offs, blogging about food and taking great foodie photos. I'm including it here because we all eat, we all enjoy trying a new recipe once in a while, and the eye candy Angela includes on the site is reason enough to follow her.

Inkspot -- This blog is from the authors published by Midnight Ink, so all of the posts are from crime writers, but often about the writing process, research, the writing life, etc. Two Colorado authors I know, Beth Groundwater and Cricket McRae, post here. If you love to read crime fiction or if you're a fiction writer in most any genre, you'll enjoy this blog a lot.

After paying these folks a visit (and hopefully following their blogs), I hope you'll hop over to Matthew or Alex's blogs where you'll find the full list of participants.

Catching the Clues by Elizabeth C. Main, Guest Blogger

2011-10-13T06:00:00.001-06:00

Elizabeth Main is a writer who loves the Northwest and sets her novels in Oregon where she lives. A former English teacher, she now spends her time writing and trying to keep up with this rapidly changing world of publishing.

Welcome, Elizabeth. It's a pleasure having you here today.

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Catching the Clues by Elizabeth C. Main, Guest Blogger

Thanks for inviting me to your blog today, Pat.

You’d think a mystery writer would be adept at spotting clues, but I hopped aboard the writing merry-go-round twenty-odd years ago blissfully ignorant of the changes about to sweep the publishing industry. As Gothic heroines used to say, “Had I but known . . . .”

My first clue that times were changing came in 1993 from the comments of the experienced agent who apologized for not being able to sell my first book, a juvenile/young adult adventure novel which she thought had great potential. Puzzled that her efforts hadn’t yielded results, she sensed that publishers were becoming ultra-conservative in their acquisitions because of the new consolidation of publishing houses. We parted company amicably and A Star for Courage went into the drawer.

In 2000 I heard of this new-fangled thing called an ebook. With nothing to lose, I pulled A Star for Courage out of the drawer and submitted it. Hard Shell Word Factory published it as both an ebook and a paperback. It won an EPPIE as the best YA novel first published as an ebook in 2001. I did little promotion because, after all, an ebook had only limited appeal, right?

My second and third novels, a romance (Richer by Far, Avalon, 1998) and a mystery (Murder of the Month, Five Star, 2005) sailed through the publication process. I collected my advances, did a few bookstore events, a little radio and TV promotion, and felt great satisfaction in knowing that my books resided in libraries across the country. Then I sat back and collected royalties. No sweat.

Following the publication of Murder of the Month in 2005, I decided to stick with the mystery genre, my favorite. I then entered an extended period of writing the sequel, No Rest for the Wicked. I went to conferences and heard tales of huge changes in publishing--platforms and blogs and websites--but I was fascinated with writing, not marketing. Having already published three books, I naively assumed that I could navigate the system.

Big mistake. Five Star accepted No Rest for the Wicked, but, oh, how things had changed between 2005 and 2011. Did I have a website? A blog? Uh, no. Bookstore contacts? Many bookstores had gone out of business since 2005, including the indie at which I had worked. Did I Tweet? Had I networked with fellow authors? Not really.

While I had been hunched over my computer, dreaming up fictional clues for my characters, I had missed the neon signs pointing to the revolution in the literary world. I should have been honing Internet-based promotional skills for the previous six years, not merely for the six months prior to the release of my fourth book. Fortunately, writers are a generous group. The Five Star Author Group, Sisters in Crime, Mystery Writers of America, the Pacific Northwest Writers Association, and multiple writing blogs all provided ample assistance as I played catch-up.

I used this help immediately. For example, after Murder of the Month went out of print, all rights reverted to me. This spring, I gave the book new life. Using CreateSpace for the trade paperback, and Kindle and Nook for the ebooks, within a month I put Murder of the Month back in circulation. What a perfect lead-in to the August publication of No Rest for the Wicked.

CreateSpace deserves special mention. While it’s not a slam dunk to figure out the formatting, it’s within the reach of any computer-based writer. I followed their directions and formatted the work in Word 2007 before saving it as a pdf file. Whenever I became confused, I called Customer Service and received a return call within minutes from their superb team. Choices about font size, pricing, purchase of ISBN, and distribution channels were clearly explained, with many options available to me. Preparation of the trade paperback version took about 10 hours, including the composition of a new cover.

Best of all, I receive royalties from the sales each month. The new publishing world is fast-paced, more like a tilt-a-whirl than a merry-go-round. Speaking as someone who ignored for years every clue pointing to the need for change, I maintain that if I can leap aboard this exciting ride, anyone can.

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Thanks so much for sharing your story with us, Elizabeth. I love the fact that the writing community is so open and willing to help others with blog posts like this.

To read more about Elizabeth and her books, please visit her website. You can also find her on Facebook as Elizabeth C. Main.

Wednesday Scramble

2011-10-12T06:00:00.000-06:00

Tomorrow's Guest

Elizabeth C. Main, author of No Rest for the Wicked from Five Star/Cengage, will be here with a post about keeping up with the rapidly changing world of publishing.

Agent Blogs

I follow BookEnds, LLC -- A Literary Agency blog, Rachelle Gardner, Literary Agent, Janet Reid, Literary Agent, Babbles from Scott Eagan, and Pub Rants (Kristin Nelson).

Do you have any other agent blogs to recommend?

The Office Cleaning Project

Finally, it's coming together. Most of my clutter is now in the hallway and will not be allowed back inside. Instead, I'm hauling down a box at a time to sort for shredding, recycling, or filing. I'm realizing through this process that I print too much stuff that quickly goes out of date, therefore wasting a lot of paper. I've resolved to print less and book mark more.

My desk has been turned so my back is not to the door. I've moved a few plants to my office -- I can protect them from Katie Kitten because she's only allowed in this room while I'm here. I finally hung up the bulletin board which I purchased two years ago (and the fact that it's slightly askew is barely noticeable). Katie has a clear path to her windowsill perch where she can watch the birds, squirrels, and the weather. And I'm off to buy a one-cup coffeemaker for my office to help me get through NaNoWriMo.

My writing life has changed more than you can possibly imagine, just by cleaning up my space.

What I'm Reading

Ice Trap, a novel of psychological suspense by Swedish author Kitty Sewell, is excellent. I'm having a tough time putting it down so I can get other work done.

Chiseled in Rock Tuesday: What's New from Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers?

2011-10-11T06:00:00.001-06:00

I've posted the cover art and short synopses at Chiseled in Rock blog for several new releases from the members of Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers. Whether you like fantasy, mystery, or romance, you're sure to find something to add to your To Be Read list.

Walking the Beans...a nostalgic and way too long post

2011-10-10T06:00:00.001-06:00

Most of you know I grew up on a farm in Illinois. It was like this:

I wandered down the dirt road, staying on the smooth ridge between two hard ruts that melted into black mud after a good rain. On this sun-baked summer day in 1953, I dragged my bare feet to raise puffs of dust as I passed--little clouds that hung for a moment in the air then sifted back to earth, leaving a powdery trail behind me.

Bored with reading, I snuck down to the drainage ditch to watch the muskrats and to wade in the shallow cold water. Wading was against my mother’s rules. Dirty shards of broken glass, as well as rusty nails that had worked free from the bridge’s worn boards, buried themselves in the loamy creek bottom, and poisonous snakes occasionally hid in the weeds and tall grasses along the banks. I looked back the quarter mile to the house to make sure my mother wasn’t watching before I climbed down the path my brother and I had worn in the steep bank below the bridge.

Perched on a large, flat rock, I plunged my feet into the water. The cold numbed my toes and eased its way up my legs. I stood up and took a couple of steps into the ditch then stopped and felt the mucky earth squish up between my toes as the creek bottom sucked my feet down like quicksand.

I yanked my feet free, stepped out of the murky swirl of mud I had created, and stretched out against the steep ditch bank. With my head tilted back, and both hands gripping clumps of tallgrass so I wouldn't slide into the ditch, I watched cotton ball clouds stretch and bend as they practiced their Tai-Chi forms in the sky. The silence was disturbed only by the far away drone of a tractor and the ringing song of a red-winged blackbird bouncing on a low-hanging branch of the spiny osage-orange tree that guarded the corner of our soybean field. The air smelled of white sweet clover and fresh-mown hay.

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We were tenant farmers and not rich in possessions, but as a child I had no idea how poor we really were or how precarious our existence. Whether attacked by vicious thunderstorms, waves of ravenous Army worms, persistent and devastating droughts, or simply the landowner deciding to sell his farm, we were vulnerable to forces we could not control. In the midst of all this uncertainty, my father did what he could to make our lives better. The installation of indoor plumbing in the old house provided by our landlord was, in my childish opinion, his greatest accomplishment.

The original bathroom contained a yellowed utility sink equipped with an old-fashioned hand pump which spewed forth icy well water after a few seconds of hearty pumping. A large, claw-footed, porcelain-coated tub sat under the window.

The critical facility was outside: a weather-grayed wood outhouse inhabited by huge spiders and a stink that took my breath away in spite of, or maybe because of, the germ and odor fighting chemicals my parents poured into the pit.

When the weather was really wicked, my mother gave up and hauled out a white enameled metal pot.

“Do you remember,” my mother once asked, “how it felt when you got up in the dark, half asleep, and sat down on the pot without remembering to remove the freezing cold lid?”

Oh, yes, I still remember that.

We had electricity in those days, but our house was heated in the winter by two oil-burning stoves, one in the kitchen and one in the living room. On wintry days we huddled close to the stoves to play our games or read because the other five rooms were so frigid we could see our breath.

To combat the chill my mother conducted this drill at bedtime: she took soft flannel sheet blankets and warmed them over the heating stove then bunched them tightly against her chest and rushed toward the bedroom. At the last second my brother and I raced to our beds, jumped in, and curled into tight little balls to hold in as much body heat as possible. My mother then wrapped each of us in a warm blanket, tucked us in like cocoons, and covered us with blankets and comforters.

There were other ways our parents enriched our lives over the years. My father planted an ambitious garden that provided enough vegetables to feed us all summer plus fill the freezer for winter. He raised all kinds of livestock including cattle, pigs, and sheep so we ate high on the hog compared to many of our city friends. The work that accompanied livestock farming wasn’t always pleasant but the rewards made it worth the trouble.

Except maybe raising the dumbest and dirtiest creatures I’ve ever known: chickens. I didn’t think eggs were worth the blue pointy bruises the hens pecked on the backs of my hands when I invaded their nests; and I didn’t think eating chicken was worth the disgusting job of raising them, much less the machete murders and boiling water de-feathering procedures that preceded gutting and washing the carcasses.

The worst farm chore I ever had to perform was cleaning out the chicken house. When I lifted the first pitchfork load of straw matted down by ripe chicken manure and broken eggs, a foul ammonia-like stench filled the structure and contaminated my sense of smell for hours. To compound my misery, I had to dust the cleaned building for chicken lice, an odd requirement since by then most of the vermin were crawling around on my body. I ran for the house as soon as I was finished, jumped in the tub, frantically scrubbed, and finally submerged myself to drown every last tiny insect.

I had another bad experience in that chicken house. Too lazy to put on shoes and socks to gather the eggs one day, I slipped my bare feet into a pair of rubber boots and shuffled past the row of wooden nests, running the top of my foot directly into a rusty pitchfork that had fallen off its nail and lay partially hidden under the straw. I still have my foot, thanks to the knowledge and attention of my mother, the R.N., but it was a tough and painful lesson about common sense.

My brother, Bob, also has unpleasant chicken memories. When he was young and cute, he was also fearless, rebellious, and downright ornery. When Mother needed to do barnyard chores she lifted my brother up onto the seat of a tractor and left him well-guarded by a large and evil white rooster. The attack rooster was vicious; it circled the John Deere, making angry pecking and scratching motions and flapping its wings as if to threaten an aerial assault. Bobber, as we called him when he was little, wasn’t afraid of much, but he was terrified of that rooster. He stayed put, howling in protest, until my mother finished her chores and chased the rooster away by flailing at it with a broom. My mother’s intent was not malicious and definitely not intended to scar Bob for life. He seems okay . . . most of the time.

Bob and I were not allowed to climb the trees on our farm, but I wasn’t sure whether my father was afraid one of us would fall and break something, or whether he thought we would damage the trees. It didn’t matter. We climbed them anyway, every time his back was turned. A small cherry tree was our training tree, but we eventually broke a couple of limbs and my father found out. That was a painful lesson on the subject of obedience, a concept neither of us ever fully grasped.

When I was older, the perfect tree was a black cherry that stood at the corner of our orchard. I climbed very high and straddled the solid support of a big smooth-barked limb, hidden from the world by a natural lattice of branches and leaves, tiny sprays of white flowers in the spring, and small, blackish cherries in late summer. It was cool and quiet there. I leaned against the huge trunk and hid out for hours, reveling in the privacy and freedom (not to mention the thrill of getting away with something I was not supposed to do). I was one with the earth and yet high above earthly concerns. I felt as though, safely anchored by that tree, I could wander anywhere in the universe, and no one would ever know I was gone.

Now, of course, I realize my mother knew exactly where I was and what I was doing there, but being an experienced and rebellious tree-climber and secret-traveler herself, she never told my father.

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When Bob and I were kids it was standard practice for central Illinois soybean farmers to “walk the beans.” The obsessive drive to keep a soybean field free of volunteer corn plants, butterprint, milkweed, and thistles (and the harvested grain free of foreign matter) created good summertime jobs for kids and farm crews for hire. It was a beautiful thing--a bean field with straight clean rows.

We walked the beans every summer, bullied out of bed at first light and sent to the fields with a hoe or a hook--a handle on a long rod with a sharp hook on the end. We usually covered three or four rows on either side, and walked from one end of the enormous fields to the other, back and forth, over and over. We spent at least two hours a day in good weather browning our skin, thinking, day-dreaming, or just being friends--but mostly arguing and throwing dirt clods at each other.

There were things to be learned out there in the fields. We learned that the velvety soft leaves of butterprint weeds make the best substitute for toilet paper; that our father had a very sharp eye and always noticed when we carelessly chopped out bean plants along with the weeds; that nothing tasted better than a drink of cold well water after a couple of turns around the field; and that even a dirt clod to the head didn’t hurt as much as skin brushed against the stinging hairs of a nettle plant.

My brother and I fought with great enthusiasm when we were kids, and the dirt clod battles were characteristic of how we dealt with our differences. As we got older our fights became more frequent, louder, and often involved smacking, pushing, and shoving. One day we stood on the porch and argued with such obvious loathing that my mother calmly came out of the kitchen and handed each of us a butcher knife.

“If you hate each other that much,” she said, “why don’t you just kill each other?”

She then turned and stalked back into the house, letting the screen door close softly behind her. I felt guilty, but I suspect my brother had his moment of temptation. I later found out that my mother stayed hidden inside, by the kitchen door, watching, just in case one or both of us missed the point of her lesson.

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I had dawdled down at the drainage ditch long enough. A breeze had picked up and the clouds had become thicker and darker. As hot as it was, a thunderstorm was likely so I knew I’d best head home. I scrambled up the steep bank, pulling at old roots and strong weeds to ease my climb. On the worn planks of the bridge I stood, legs apart, hands on my hips, and stared across the clean orderly bean fields with a sense of pride.

When I looked to the west, however, I sucked in my breath to see the clouds had taken on the greenish black hue of an old bruise. I turned and started running down the road toward our house. My mother stood at the end of the driveway jerking her arm back and forth, waving something white in my direction. I knew I was in trouble, but I didn’t care. I was scared. I wanted to get home.

We made it through that storm as well as we made it through most others: the oak tree lost a large limb which fortunately missed the house when it fell; the wind jerked a storm window out of my mother’s hands and smashed it against the ground; and something cut a path through the once tidy soybean field leaving a fifty-foot-wide trail of flattened, twisted, and uprooted plants.

I didn’t think of the financial impact of that assault on our crops. I thought about the hours I’d spent in the field, the beauty and order I’d created, and how quickly and easily it had been stripped away. However, there wasn’t much time for the philosophical musings of an eleven-year-old. We were soon back at work, lifting and straightening the damaged plants as best we could, walking the beans, moving on.

Who Did You Kill Today?

2011-10-07T06:00:00.000-06:00

This question is for mystery writers, so I sincerely apologize if the title of this post misled you in any way. On the other hand, even if you're not a mystery writer but like to read the genre, you might be interested in this topic.

Here's the thing. I've been wondering how other mystery/suspense/thriller writers choose the victims of the crimes in their novels.

Do you have a real person in mind when you knock off a character, like the the young man who bagged your groceries and smashed the bread under a bunch of bananas? Or the retail clerk who was so busy chatting with another clerk that she pretended you weren't standing there with a question?

I've never pictured a real person as the victim in my stories, but one of my old high school chums felt I was a little tough on old boyfriends in The Prairie Grass Murders, implying I had real life boyfriends in mind. Not true. Really.

Or do your victims come from your imagination and have no resemblance to real people?

Totally from my imagination. Really.

When you begin a mystery, do you know who your victim will be, or do you assemble the characters and give them all identities before you choose which one will be the victim of a scam artist or serial killer?

My writing happens as I write, even if I have an outline. In one manuscript I knew who was going to die, but I didn't know who the murderer was until I wrote that chapter.

And finally, have any of your characters died unexpectedly...meaning you typed the guy's demise before you knew it was going to happen?

Yes, this happened to me in my newest manuscript, Dead Wrong. I'm almost sorry the character died, though. I loved writing from his point of view.

So what about you? How does the process work when you write?

The Endless Adventure of Research for the Historical Novelist by Michelle Black, Guest Blogger

2011-10-06T06:00:00.000-06:00

According to her website, Michelle Black was "born in Kansas and studied anthropology in college, then went on to law school where she graduated with honors. In 1993, she moved to Colorado and began to focus on her fiction writing."

"In 2008, she spent several weeks in India and was privileged to study with her favorite Buddhist writer and foremost proponent of secular Buddhism, Stephen Batchelor."

Those are just two tidbits from Michelle's bio that I found interesting. You can read more at her website.

Welcome, Michelle.

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The Endless Adventure of Research for the Historical Novelist by Michelle Black, Guest Blogger

I have written six historical novels, the most recent of which, Seance in Sepia, will debut on October 21. They all have one thing in common for me: each required research that led me into new areas of life that I never saw coming.

My first novel, Never Come Down, took place in an old mining boom town-turned-ghost town in the Colorado Rockies. Of course, I turned to history books and old newspapers, but the real joy for me was hiking with my two small sons to local ghost towns. We lived in Frisco, Colorado, at that time, elevation 9,100 feet, and we were surrounded by what was known as the Ten Mile Mining District. The mountains were pocked with abandoned mines and mining towns whose fortunes had played out a century earlier. We all know the phrase, “If walls could talk....” Well, the ruins of those old towns practically sung with stories of their rise and fall.

Research for An Uncommon Enemy, my novel about the aftermath of the Washita Massacre, when troops of the Seventh Cavalry, led by George Armstrong Custer, attacked a sleeping Cheyenne village in 1868, caused me to search for a Cheyenne-English dictionary. When local bookstores and even Amazon.com had none to offer, I broadened my search and eventually located a linguist on the Northern Cheyenne reservation in Montana who had put together a beginning course in the Cheyenne language.

I ordered the course and was fascinated by the voice on the tapes, that of the late Cheyenne elder, Ted Risingson (who happened to be a grandson of the great Cheyenne leader Dull Knife—for those of you who might be familiar with Cheyenne history, or who have at least read Mari Sandoz’s amazing Cheyenne Autumn).

The linguist was producing the course himself out of the local Kinkos, but I thought the material deserved a much wider distribution. I owned a bookstore in Frisco at this time and so was very familiar with the wholesale book market. I approached the linguist and offered to professionally publish and distribute the course. He was reluctant at first to deal with a stranger, so I traveled to Lame Deer, Montana, and visited the reservation to meet with him personally. Soon I was able to publish “Let’s Talk Cheyenne” and make it available to libraries and bookstore outlets all over the country.

The experience was an amazing education for me and I feel proud to have contributed. in some small way, to the preservation of our rapidly disappearing Native languages.

My research adventure for Seance in Sepia took me all the way to London, though the story is not set there. The novel begins in the present day when a young woman buys an antique “spirit photograph” at an estate sale. The Victorians were obsessed with the occult and some photographers of that era claimed they could photograph the dearly departed during séances.

When the spirit photograph’s origins seem linked to a notorious 1875 murder trial, my historical protagonist, Victoria Woodhull, enters the story. Woodhull was a real person who, in addition to being the first woman to run for the U.S. presidency, was also a spiritualist. This was a lucrative career for a woman of that time period and widely respected. Spiritualists had their own trade organizations and even held national conventions.

Woodhull was also an outspoken advocate for Free Love, which earned her so much public scorn, she eventually left the United States and headed for England. There she married a wealthy banker and lived out the remainder of her very long life as the “lady of the manor” in the English countryside (proving, I hope, that living well is the best revenge).

I began to correspond with a descendant of her banker husband who had inherited all her personal papers. When he learned that my family and I would soon be visiting London, he invited us to dinner at his elegant Chelsea townhouse on Tite Street, just a few doors down from where Oscar Wilde once lived.

A memorable evening, to be sure, and one which reminds me how much my writing career continues to broaden my outlook and life experience.

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Thank you so much for this guest post, Michelle. You have a wonderful range of experiences to write about, so I'm guessing we'll have many more books from you in the future.

Learn more about Michelle and her novels at The Victorian West of Michelle Black as well as her blog of the same title. The first two chapters of Seance in Sepia are available here. You may also follow her on Twitter and on Facebook.

Wednesday Scramble

2011-10-05T06:00:00.001-06:00

Thursday Guest Author

Michelle Black, author of a new mystery from Five Star, Seance in Sepia, will be my guest blogger tomorrow. Michelle's excellent post is about the unexpected side trips that happen while researching for historical novels.

I'm looking for Guest Bloggers for the first half of 2012

If you have a book coming out the first part of next year, and especially if you're planning a virtual tour, please keep this blog in mind. I'm especially interested in posts from crime fiction authors, most genres from Colorado authors, and debut authors in many genres. Contact me through the e-mail link in my blogger profile.

Pay It Forward Blogfest (Another Networking Treat Discovered via Alex J. Cavanaugh)

This one is scheduled for October 14th and offers bloggers an opportunity to send bunches of new readers to three of the blogs on your regular circuit. It's an easy blogfest, so give it a try. Just go to Alex's blog (linked in the title of this notice), read the rules, and sign up.

3 Tips for Professional E-Book Covers

This is an excellent post from Jane Friedman's blog. If you plan to self-publish an e-book, selecting good cover art is very important.

What I'm Doing This Week

1. Recovering from my writing marathon at the Northern Colorado Writers Retreat at Sylvan Dale Guest Ranch. I completed an outline for my NaNoWriMo novel, wrote a related research To Do List for said novel, and added about 4,000 words to a short story I'm working on. It was a very productive weekend.

2. Cleaning my office. Really!

3. Attending an evening workshop at the NCW studio given by literary agent Sara Megibow.

4. Pre-scheduling a bunch of blog posts.

5. And much, much more.

Chiseled in Rock Tuesday: The Scary Me Before My First Cup of Coffee in the Morning

2011-10-04T06:00:00.001-06:00

If you've never seen me before I've had my first cup of coffee in the morning, pop over to Chiseled in Rock blog. I can be very scary in the morning.

Heart Warriors Book Trailer

2011-10-03T06:00:00.001-06:00

Northern Colorado Writers member Amanda Adams has written a book about her family's experiences during her pregnancy and delivery of a child with congenital heart disease and all that has happened since.

"Five months pregnant, Amanda Adams was told her baby was missing half his heart and given two abysmal choices regarding her pregnancy: force her baby to fight for his life, or perform a late term abortion. Despite the fact that Liam's odds of death were high and his odds of suffering were absolute, Amanda chose life."

I had the pleasure of meeting this youngster not long ago. Liam has been through twelve surgeries, but to me he was just a regular kid with with regular kid charm. It's hard to imagine all this family has been through. I applaud Amanda's determination to put her family's story out there as memoir from her point of view in the hope that other families might receive comfort and support. I'm honored to share the book trailer for Heart Warriors here:

You can read more about Amanda and her memoir at Behler Publications. The book is due for release in April 2012. In the meantime, follow Amanda's blog at Amanda Rose Adams: Writing About Real Life. And if you know someone who has faced or is now facing this kind of life-changing event, please help spread the word.

Chuck Sambuchino's The Worst Storyline Ever Contest

2011-09-30T06:00:00.000-06:00

Here's one you don't want to miss. Chuck Sambuchino's The Worst Storyline Ever Contest has been posted at Literary Agent Rachelle Gardner's blog. The contest ends at 11:59 p.m., PST, Tues, Oct. 3, 2011.

All of the rules are on the September 29th blog post linked above. Here are the prizes:

1. A query letter critique from author and editor Chuck Sambuchino (Guide to Literary Agents blog)
2. A copy of the 2012 Guide to Literary Agents
3. Praise on Rachelle Gardner's blog from Chuck Sambuchino

Two runner-up prizes:

A copy of the 2012 Guide to Literary Agents

You all have great imaginations. Why don't you put them to work and enter your outrageous logline today?

Writing Tasty Scenes by Kelly Irvin, Guest Blogger

2011-09-29T06:00:00.000-06:00

It's my pleasure to welcome Kelly Irvin to my blog today. By reading her website bio, I discovered that Kelly worked as a journalist for many years, "six years in the border towns of Laredo and El Paso, where she was exposed to culture and language that serves as fodder for her fiction writing. She has written hard news, features, entertainment pieces, restaurant critiques, editorials, and weekly columns."

Her latest novel, No Child of Mine, is scheduled for release on October 12. It sounds like a good one:

It "begins the day Daniel Martinez’s foster son Benny Garza is kidnapped at Homicide Detective Ray Johnson’s wedding reception in Helotes, Texas. In their search for Benny, Detectives Deborah Smith and Alex Luna find the bones of a little girl not far from the abduction site.

Determined to save Benny and solve a five-year-old murder, the team of investigators travel from the seamy underside of San Antonio’s drug dealing gang territory to the back roads of rural America where secrets fester in simple country homes."

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Writing Tasty Scenes by Kelly Irvin, Guest Blogger

When it comes to using my five senses to make scenes three dimensional on a flat piece of paper (or a computer screen) I have no problems with seeing, hearing, or even smelling. Where I find myself struggling is with the other two: taste and touch. Quite often, unless it’s a restaurant scene or a love scene—and no, we’re not going there—writers in general seem to have difficulty with taste and touch. We use the same bitter bile in the throat thing over and over again. Tree bark is rough under our heroine’s fingers as she hides from the villain.

What smells, tastes, and touches can you imagine that will thrust readers into the scene, making it vivid for them, and at the same time, propelling the story forward? That’s truly the hard part. Not throwing in random stuff with no meaning. These sensory details must tell us something about the characters, help us understand them, and move the story forward.

No problem. Right?

Smells are a fairly easy way of planting your reader in a scene. But we often resort to the cliché even here—the smell of newly cut grass, freshly brewed coffee—when there are so many from which we can choose. In my new release, No Child of Mine, the book opens in the point-of-view of a seven-year-old boy who is abducted in the first scene. Smells heighten Benny’s fear as he’s snatched by a man who slaps his huge, sweaty hand over Benny’s mouth and nose. Benny smells the man’s sweat. Then he’s thrown into a car trunk and the assailant bends over him, his breath on Benny’s face. It’s so bad it gags the child. After the trunk closes, he’s left in the dark where he can smell oil and gas. The smells keep the reader right there with a terrified little boy.

So what about taste? It’s tougher. Benny’s eating a fajita taco as he trots along the road to his foster dad’s car. For a malnourished kid who’s gone hungry on more than one occasion it tastes good and represents a sense of security that will be destroyed only a few minutes later.

Recently I challenged myself to use all five senses in the opening scene of a new piece. As always seeing and hearing were not a problem. My heroine is at the library reading to a group of children when a vet, who lost a leg in Afghanistan, tumbles down the stairs. In my new manuscript, we see the kids gathered around, raptly listening to the story. We hear the tale told by the heroine. We smell what the heroine describes as her favorite perfume, eau de books. We hear the thump, thump on the stairs when the vet falls. So far so good.

I longed to take care of taste by having my hero, the vet, bit his tongue in the fall and taste salty blood. Which would connect nicely back to horrific memories of battles, won and lost, where the blood of his buddies was shed. Problem? The scene is written in my heroine’s POV. No cheating allowed. At the moment, I’m still struggling with taste in this particular scene.

Touch. My heroine stoops to help the hero pick up books from the floor. Her hand brushes his and touches rough, ropy scars from burns he suffered in the war. Scars that represent much deeper unseen wounds. She draws back. He assumes she’s repulsed. She’s not. So begins the tension between them, marking the start of a complicated relationship. This first encounter sets the stage for the development of both characters.

Using all the senses makes for a richer, more vivid experience for readers. Being able to connect them to the story serves to heighten the drama. It’s a tall order, but writers like that. We live for tall tales and tall orders. So breathe deep, keep your eyes and ears open and don’t forget to taste every word.

If you have any ideas for using taste in my scene, please let me know!

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Thanks so much for being my guest today, Kelly.

For more information about Kelly and her books, visit her website and look for her on Facebook.

Wednesday Scramble

2011-09-28T06:00:00.000-06:00

The Winner of Monday's Giveaway

Jenny of Choice City Native blog won my copy of The Ledge by Jim Davidson and Kevin Vaughan. I hope she finds it as exciting and as touching as I did.

Tomorrow's Guest Blogger

Kelly Irvin is the author of A Deadly Wilderness and the upcoming release, No Child of Mine, both published by Five Star. Her blog post, Writing Tasty Scenes, talks about using the five senses to bring our stories to life for the reader.

Katie Kitten is Fine Again

I'll never figure this kitty out. I keep telling her that my kitchen floor really is not clean enough to eat off of, but she does it anyway. Luckily her latest upset only lasted two days.

I'm Heading for the Ranch on Friday

We'll be hanging out in the bunkhouse at Sylvan Dale Guest Ranch this weekend, writing our little hearts out...when we're not eating or drinking coffee, walking around taking pictures, or just soaking up the solitude.

We have a little social time, but this retreat is mostly (and strictly enforced) quiet writing time. Some of us work in our rooms, some on the porches or balconies, or even sitting on the bridge over the river.

My goal is to do a detailed outline of the novel I'm going to write during NaNoWriMo. If I complete that task, I'll work on the two short stories I started and never finished.

Babbles from Scott Eagan

Scott is the literary agent with Greyhaus Literary Agency, which represents romance and women's fiction. His post yesterday, Why Harlequin IS the Place To Be, is a fine reference for a fine publishing company. If you write in these genres, or are thinking about making the shift in the future, you'll find Scott's blog very helpful.

Remember that 30-Day Challenge to Clean Up My Office?

I failed. I failed miserably. I'm taking up the same challenge again in the hope I can create a beautiful and tidy work space before I begin NaNoWriMo on November 1st. I've already taken the "before" photos...hopefully I'll be able to take "after" pictures in my lifetime.

What I'm Reading

I just started Foreign Body by Robin Cook, a thriller about medical tourism in India.

It's pretty hard to decide what to read next at my house since I have way too many books on hand. Unfortunately, our annual Friends of the Library book sale is scheduled for the second weekend in October. There are so many books the sale is held at the mall. The last two hours on Sunday is a bag sale -- we pay $5.00 for a paper grocery bag and fill it up with as many hardbacks and paperbacks as we can. Irresistible! I'll be there.

Chiseled in Rock Tuesday: A Writer Without Chocolate is Like...

2011-09-27T06:00:00.000-06:00

My first post about chocolate is up at Chiseled in Rock. I hope you'll drop by and enjoy this mouth-watering kickoff to the Chocolate Tour.

Monday, Monday: Announcing a Giveaway

2011-09-26T06:00:00.000-06:00

Oops, Murphy wasn't quite finished

One last word about Murphy's Law...Katie Kitten's digestive system started acting up again Friday night, so I'll probably be spending some time at the vet with her this this week. And of course, this is the week I plugged in a whole bunch of activities I can't or don't want to cancel. By the time Friday rolls around and I head for the Northern Colorado Writers Retreat at Sylvan Dale Guest Ranch near Loveland, Colorado, I'll be more than ready to focus on nothing but writing (and catching up on my sleep too). I've commissioned my Muse (the Nag) to send Murphy on his way. She's very persuasive.

Friday Field Trip from Jenny at Choice City Native blog

Jenny takes you on a drive along Trail Ridge Road in Rocky Mountain National Park. Her photos are beautiful.

Dead Wrong is dead done...for now

Of course, if a nice agent or editor wants me to make changes, I'll say yes and go to work. But for now, I'm ready to send it out while I turn my attention to new projects (such as the novel I'll churn out in November during NaNoWriMo). I already know which standalone suspense novel idea I'm going to develop.

I'm giving away one copy of The Ledge by Jim Davidson and Kevin Vaughan

Follow the link to read all about this tense real life story of mountain climber Jim Davidson who almost died in a crevasse after climbing Mt. Ranier with his friend, Mike Price, who did not survive the fall.

To enter your name in the giveaway, just leave a comment below and make sure your e-mail address is available in the comment or through your profile when I click on your name. I'll cut off the entries at noon tomorrow (Tuesday) Mountain Time and announce the winner in my Wednesday Scramble.

This is Gonna Be a Good Day...if Murphy Be Willing

2011-09-23T06:00:00.000-06:00

I've been finishing up the final edit on my novel for a week and a half and it shouldn't have taken this long. But you know how Murphy responds to people with deadlines. He throws every obstacle, complication, and time waster he can think of in the hopes he can derail our projects.

I've dealt with the tree people because our apple tree had fire blight, the doctor because my cat bit me and the injury was serious enough to require an antibiotic, ice packs because my hand was swollen and throbbed for two days, and plumbers because of a major leaky faucet in my kitchen that began to leak under the sink as well.

Even so, I can finish the editing today and submit my manuscript if nothing else goes wrong.

So I offered Murphy a chocolate bar from my secret stash and sort of hinted how bad it would be if the cat bit him. I'm kind of hoping he's done here and has moved on. But you know how it goes...anything that can go wrong will go wrong.

Which made me almost afraid to title this post This is Gonna Be a Good Day. I did it anyway. Little old risk-taker me.