Dylan's Song Virtual Book Tour

Today we have another guest author, P.M. Terrell, and I hope you will enjoy hearing about this new tale of suspense and mystery, set in Ireland.

DYLAN'S SONG

By

p.m. terrell

BLURB:  

Dylan Maguire returns to his native Ireland with psychic spy Vicki Boyd. Their mission: to locate and extract a CIA Agent who disappeared in Dublin while on the trail of a known terrorist. But when Dylan receives word that his grandmother is dying, he is plunged into a past he thought he’d left behind forever. His mission and the dark secrets he’d sought to keep hidden begin to merge into an underworld that could cost him his life. He must now confront his past demons and the real reason he left Ireland—while Vicki harbors a secret of her own.

Suspense Magazine says, “p.m.terrell’s writing is powerfully written and masterfully suspenseful; you have to hang on for the ride of your life.” Midwest Book Review says the Black Swamp Mysteries series is “page-turning action, unforgettable characters, breathtaking descriptions and unexpected plot twists.” And syndicated reviewer Marcia Freespirit says the series is “riveting, spell-binding, sexy and intense!”

  

EXCERPT: 

“Why are you so adamant about not going back?” Vicki said. “I don’t understand.”

He strode to the back door. With his hand almost on the knob, he stopped abruptly and turned around to face them. “The flight is a hundred hours long.”

“It’s six hours,” Sam said.

“I’ll have jet lag for weeks!”

“Two days, tops.” Sam’s voice was becoming quizzical.

“Are you afraid of flying?” Vicki asked.

“No!” he bellowed. He opened the kitchen door. “The weather there is atrocious!”

“I can’t believe you’re acting like this is such an inconvenience for you!” Vicki shouted.

“In me whole life,” he said as if he hadn’t heard her, “it’s rained once.” He held up his finger. “One time!”

“Really?” Vicki said. “Once?”

“And it’s lasted for thirty years!” With that, he marched outside and slammed the door behind him.

Vicki and Sam stared at the door for a long moment without speaking. Then she turned to him. “I’m at a loss here.”

He continued staring at the kitchen door as if he hadn’t heard her.

“Do you know why he doesn’t want to see Ireland again?” Vicki asked.

“He can’t refuse a mission,” Sam said quietly. “You can’t pick and choose your missions in this line of work.”

Vicki turned to stand directly in front of him.

“Do you know,” she said in a stronger voice, “why he doesn’t want to see Ireland again?”

He looked at her as if seeing her for the first time.

“You know, don’t you?”

He looked away from her. His eyes roamed the kitchen as though he was searching for something. Vicki stood her ground until he said, “No. I have my suspicions; that’s all.”

INTERVIEW: 

Why did you decide to write?
I began writing in grade school when my father (an FBI agent) was transferred to the Mississippi Delta from New Jersey. It was 1967 and the area was undergoing a particularly troublesome period; my father was helping to break up the Ku Klux Klan; the Civil Rights movement was in full swing; and so was the Vietnam War. My school principal encouraged me to write and I found it took me away from the hostilities I encountered as a northerner in a small Southern town. It opened up worlds that have continued to entertain me and enthrall me, decades later.

How much research do you do?
It depends on the book I’m writing. With my historical adventures, I averaged more than 30 hours of research for each 1 hour of writing. With a stand-alone contemporary suspense, I could perform an average of 3 hours of research per 1 hour of writing. But with the Black Swamp Mysteries series, I find the research is getting faster and easier.

What was the most interesting thing you discovered when you were doing your research?
I am always fascinated when reading CIA declassified documents. I suppose one of the more interesting things I’ve discovered is the psychic spy program on which I based the main character’s vocation. It surprised me that a government agency would employ such people, and even more surprising was the fact that our enemies started it first.

What’s your favorite method for researching?
Hands-down, it’s the Internet. But there is so much information out there that I make it a policy to go to recognized websites such as government agencies (the CIA has a section right on their own website for reading through declassified documents), libraries, historical societies, etc. I always fact-check through three sources before anything based in fact make it into the book. I don’t believe I could have written the books that I have without the immense amount of information at my fingertips. The Internet truly has revolutionized research.

With themes, I love placing ordinary people into extraordinary circumstances. I like the additional layer of a character evolving through the book or series. I like multi-faceted characters as well; Dylan Maguire, the CIA operative, for example, is tender and romantic but he is also capable of killing.

When do you write/what is your writing day like?
When I am at home, I will often begin writing first thing in the morning and I may not get up from my chair for 10 or 12 hours. When I’m on the road, I will write in hotel rooms in between book signings and appearances. I write at least six days a week and often seven days.

What is the best advice someone has given you about writing? The worst advice?
The best advice anyone ever gave me was to keep writing and keep honing my skills. The worst advice was from a New York Times bestselling author who told me after my first suspense had been rejected by three publishers to give up.

How do you approach a new book? Outlines? Just an idea?
I will plan the crime first. So I’ll research all the elements of the crime, even down to the flaw that will lead to the crime’s discovery or the criminal’s apprehension. I then look at the best way to tell the story. In the Black Swamp Mysteries series, I have several main characters that I can move between, depending on whose view is best for the telling of a particular plot: a psychic spy, a CIA operative, a computer hacker, and a political strategist.

What makes a great book in your opinion?
A book has to grab my attention and hold it there. I have so many things vying for my attention—work, volunteerism, family commitments—that a book must grab me from the very first page. The plot has to be thought-provoking, the action has to continue without lulls and time-consuming descriptions, and I have to be able to feel myself in the role of one of the main characters. If I can’t picture the main characters, if I can’t identify with them, and if I am not interested in where the plot is going, my attention span becomes very short.

If a reader took away one thing from your book(s), what would you like that to be?
When a reader reaches the last page of one of my books, I’d want them to wish they hadn’t reached the end—and immediately look for the next book I’ve written. That’s always a sign of a good author: when you can’t wait to read their books but you find yourself reading them more slowly as you get toward the end because you don’t want it to end!

AUTHOR INFORMATION:

p.m.terrell is the award-winning, internationally acclaimed author of more than 16 books. Vicki's Key, one of the first books in the Black Swamp Mysteries series, was one of five finalists in the 2012 International Book Awards (Mystery/Suspense) and 2012 USA Best Book Awards (Mystery/Suspense.) River Passage, an historical work based on her ancestor's migration to Fort Nashborough in 1779-1780, won the 2010 Best Fiction & Drama Award. The Nashville (TN) Metropolitan Government Archives determined it to be so historically accurate that they entered the original manuscript into their Archives for future researchers and historians.

Prior to becoming a full-time author in 2002, terrell founded and operated two computer companies in the Washington, DC area. Her clients included the United States Secret Service, CIA, Department of Defense and federal and local law enforcement. Her specialty is in the areas of computer crime and computer intelligence. Her experience in these areas have greatly influenced her books' plots.

She is the co-founder of The Book 'Em Foundation, whose slogan is "Buy a Book and Stop a Crook" and whose mission is to raise awareness of the link between high crime rates and high illiteracy rates. She founded Book 'Em North Carolina Writers Conference and Book Fair, an annual event to raise money to increase literacy and reduce crime.

For more information on Book 'Em North Carolina, visit www.bookemnc.org and www.bookemnc.blogspot.com.

p.m.terrell's website is www.pmterrell.com and her blog is www.pmterrell.blogspot.com.

She can be found on Twitter @pmterrell

On Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/author.p.m.terrell and https://www.facebook.com/pages/pmterrell/129318810431554.

Contest Information

Be sure to leave comments and follow Ms. Terrell's book tour as one lucky person will receive a gorgeous Celtic knot necklace from those who participate.

You can check out additional stops on the blog tour at the following link: terrell tour

 Good luck and thanks for stopping by!

Step One of The Dream

The First Day

As of Jan 1, 2013, I'm a full-time writer, and it's only taken almost 36 years to reach this point. To celebrate, I got up before dawn to take a photo of this grand occasion, and here it is.

Well, okay, that was actually later in the morning, after I realized that the rain wasn't going to stop and my real picture of what should have been dawn looked more like the one here (which is, incidentally, of dawn on 1/1/2013).

It's rained for the last three days, every morning, so I still don't have my beautiful sunrise on the first morning of the rest of my life, but whatever.

Did I mention that I also had the flu and had to go to the emergency room around midnight? That was fun. Dehydrated from being unable to keep anything down and feverish, my husband carted me off to the ER. They tested me and pronounced the dreaded flu (despite the fact I had a flu shot) and they decided to replenish the fluids via IV. That was fun, too. I kept feeling them swabbing my arm and when I finally glanced over to see what they were doing, well, it looked like the Texas Chainsaw Massacre in 3-D. Blood spurting everywhere. But they finally got the IV in and after a few injections of drugs and a bag of fluid, I was ready to go home.

That's the point at which the nurse said to the lady handing me a fistful of prescriptions, "Can you get the other nurse? I can't get the IV out."

Really? You can't get the IV out? Really?

Another episode of Texas Chainsaw Massacre. A few glorious waterfalls of blood later, I was discharged into my husband's care.

So finally, here it is 1/3/2013 and I'm working on being a full time writer, at last!

All hoopla aside, my contemporary mystery, Whacked!, was also released by Five Star as a hardcover. I'm so glad to see it available now. I have every hope I can pull my next mystery into shape and send it on to Five Star for another stab at the big time!

Best wishes to everyone for 2013!

Thinking About the Fall

Most of you are probably wondering why I suddenly diverged from writing about writing, books, history and those types of things to gardening. The fact is, I love gardening almost as much as writing, so I thought I'd share some of the information I've gathered over the years. There is also the odd circumstance that my rose gardening and researching roses led me to set some of my mysteries (A Rose Before Dying, Smuggled Rose,  and The Necklace, to name a few) in the period when rose gardening really started coming into its own (early years of the 19th century).

Although we are firmly in the middle of summer, it will only be a few weeks before the weather starts cooling off. That means, now is a good time to line up and even order plants or seeds you want to plant in the fall.

Which brings me to the real subject of this blog: Fall Rose Planting. :) You knew I'd get there, one way or the other, right?

Fall is a Great Time to Order Roses

Fall is a wonderful time to order and plant roses.  As the weather cools, you can start thinking about what new roses you’d like to see blooming in the spring.  By ordering--and planting--in the fall, you give your roses a chance to “dig in” and get settled over the winter in their new location.  When spring arrives, they will be ready to put on a wonderful show for you.

In North Carolina, fall planting has an additional benefit in that we often start getting a great deal more rainfall.  This rain and the cooler weather will help your roses put down good roots to support extra blooms when the weather warms up in March and April.

If you’re considering taking this advice, there is a new category of “Earth Kind Roses” that Texas A&M University has been using to designate roses which stand up to insects, widely varying soil conditions, and minimal care.  The program has been used to find roses which can be used in areas, such as between roadways, where they will have to survive with very little cosseting.

A few of the roses identified as EarthKind follow.  They span a range of rose classifications and there are sure to be some which would do very well in your garden.

Belinda’s Dream:  Shrub rose with medium pink, very double flowers.  ARS rating of 8.4

Caldwell Pink:  Polyantha rose with lilac pink flowers, height up to 4’.

Else Poulsen:  Floribunda, medium pink, semi-double with 10 petals.  ARS rating of 8.1.

Katy Road Pink:  Also called Carefree Beauty, Shrub rose with medium pink blooms of 15-20 petals.  ARS rating of 8.7.

Knock Out:  Shrub with blooms that are a red blend, single flowers.  ARS rating of 8.6.

Marie Daly:  Polyantha rose in medium pink with an ARS rating of 7.6.

Mutabilis:  Hybrid China rose with single flowers (5 petals) that start out pale yellow and age through pink to deep rose.  ARS rating of 8.9.

Perle d’Or:  Polyantha rose with double flowers that are a yellow blend.  ARS rating of 8.4.

Sea Foam:  Shrub rose with white flowers which are double  ARS rating of 8.1.

The Fairy:  Polyantha rose with light pink, double blooms.  It has some (slight) fragrance.  ARS rating of 8.7.

The list of EarthKind roses has been expanding recently to include the following roses, as well:

Cecile Brunner:  Polyantha with double, light pink flowers.  ARS rating of 8.4.

Comtesse du Cayla:  Hybrid China rose with semi-double blooms that are an orange and pink blend. [Picture on the left.] ARS rating of 7.0.

Duchesse de Brabant:  Tea rose with light pink flowers consisting of approximately 45 petals.  ARS rating of 8.6.

Marchesa Boccella:  Hybrid Perpetual rose with light pink blooms that are very fragrant.  ARS rating of 9.1.

Marie Pavie:  Polyantha rose with white flowers which are double.  ARS rating of 8.9.

Mrs. Dudley Cross:  Tea rose with double flowers in a yellow and pink blend.  ARS rating of 8.3.  In North Carolina, this rose can grow into a very large and well-formed bush, about 6’ by 6’.

Reve d’Or:  Noisette rose (that in my personal experience can very well take over a small building in one season).  The blooms are pale yellow and double. [Picture on the right.]  It has an ARS rating of 9.4.

Souvenir de St. Anne’s:  Bourbon rose with light pink, fragrant blooms.

Spice:  China rose classified as an Old Garden Rose.  Spice is blush pink and is very fragrant.  It grows from 3 to 5’ in height.

 Roses Unlimited is a great source for "Earth Kind" roses, so I hope you'll check them out.

Planting Roses

Planting roses in the fall is really not much different from planting in the spring, except you do want to ensure you use a good, thick coat of mulch.

Select a site which has both good air circulation and at least six hours of sunshine.  There are a few roses, such as Rambling Rector which will grow into trees and can withstand some shade, but they are the exception and even they will do better with more sunshine!

Make sure you prepare your beds while you wait for your roses to be delivered.  It is never too soon to prepare a bed since having good soil is a key element to healthy roses.  If you can, get the Agriculture Extension Office to test some soil samples to make sure you use the proper amendments.  Good drainage is critical.  No roses like to stand in water.  If you have clay or slow-draining soil, you can add organic matter and gypsum to help condition the soil.

When you get your roses, be sure to water them well.  Dig a hole twice as deep and twice as wide as the container in which they are growing.  Plant your roses at the same depth in the ground as they were in their container.

After you dig the hole, mix the soil you removed fifty/fifty with organic matter and soil conditioners, such as alfalfa meal or cottonseed meal and gypsum.  You can also use the fine, bark-like soil conditioners to break up clay soil.

Trim back any broken or damaged stems, but leave healthy leaves if you plant before November.

Top dress with three to four inches of mulch to allow for good drainage, moisture retention, and weed control.

Once your roses are planted, don’t forget to water them (unless the winter rains have already begun, in which case you can sit back and relax).  Water deeply at least once a week; two to three inches of water is recommended.  Try not to get the leaves wet when you water, particularly in the fall as the cooler nights can promote diseases such as black spot.

You will not need to fertilize your roses in the fall, that task can wait until spring.

 Duchesse de Brabant, a Tea rose and one of the EarthKind roses that do well in the North Carolina area.  “No spraying required!” [Picture on the left.]

Interestingly enough, Duchesse de Brabant was one of Teddy Roosevelt’s favorite roses, and he frequently wore a bloom from this wonderful rose in his lapel.

Guest Author: Chris Redding

Mystery author Chris Redding agreed to let me interview her, and we're lucky to have her here. One of the things that is so frequently overlooked when talking about writing is the preparation work. Wej all have this fantasy that writers just sit down and...write. But months, if not years, of research go into every book to try to make it as accurate as possible. Chris is no exception as she mentions in this interview.

Chris Redding

Why did you decide to write?
I can’t not write. If I don’t write down what’s in my head, I can’t focus on anything else. My brain gets too cluttered.

How much research do you do?

This really depends on what I’m writing about. For A View to a Kilt, I actually spent a lot of time talking to a Philadelphia Detective. He taught me so much about investigating crimes. For Incendiary, not as much. My husband has been a volunteer firefighter for many years so I could pick his brain for that part of it. I was on a first aid squad for many years, so I already knew that part of it. For the novella I’m writing now I need to research what happens when a company goes public. It’s something I know nothing about so I will spend more time because there is a learning curve.

When do you write/what is your writing day like?
I write in the morning when I am writing new stuff. It’s when my brain is at it’s best. If I am revising, then I can do that anytime. I have to fit writing in between kids, husband, part time job and the morning, after everyone leaves, is the best time.

What is the best advice someone has given you about writing? The worst advice?

The best advice was to keep at it. The worst was to try to break into Category Romance first. I don’t write like category writers. Nothing wrong with them. Love a good Harlequin a couple of times a year, but that’s not my style. My plots tend to be more intricate.

How do you approach a new book? Outlines? Just an idea?
What if? It’s the first question I ask my self. Then I map out the goal motivation and conflict of the main characters. Then I careen down the hill like Bode Miller, hoping I get to the bottom in one piece. Can you tell I’m a pantser?

What makes a great book in your opinion?
It needs to resonate with the reader. I can’t tell you how it should, but that the reader needs to be able to identify with at least one of the characters. It also needs to have a beginning, middle, and end with character growth.

Do you have any tips for aspiring authors?
Learn everything you can and keep it at it.

Where do you see yourself as an author in five years?

I see myself making enough money to quit the day job and to pay someone else to clean my house.

Where do you see the publishing industry going in the next few years and where do you see yourself within this industry?
I am not one of those people who can predict things. What I’d like to see happen is more and more of the money going to authors. There is no reason that we shouldn’t be able to make a decent living from writing. Look at surgeons. They get paid a lot of money because not everyone can be a surgeon. Not everyone can be a good writer. Some people have the desire, but are not willing to put in the work. However we get there, we should be paid for what we do.

Brief Bio
Chris Redding lives in New Jersey with her husband, two kids, one dog and three rabbits. She graduated from Penn State with a degree in journalism. When she isn’t writing, she works part time for her local hospital.

Guest Author: Eloise Hill

Most of my readers will be stunned to know that I have not one, but two tarot card decks. One is a deck with pictures from the Regency period and the other is the more traditional tarot deck. So it seems natural to invite Eloise Hill to join us today, as a real psychic, as well as a mystery writer.

Eloise Hill

What made you decide to write?
I think the seed was planted, in the back of my mind, at the age of nine. I remember pulling a gothic romance off of the shelf, at a local drugstore, and hearing a voice in my head say, “You’re going to write books someday.” Someday turned out to be forty-three years and a nursing career later, after my mother’s sudden, unexpected death from cancer. She was a very dynamic woman, seemngly immortal to friends and family, and her passing left me thinking about opportunities I knew she had denied herself, my own mortality, and how authentically I was living my own life. Some advice from an acquaintance triggered the memory of my nine-year-old self standing in the drugstore, paperback in hand, and, within six months, I had quit my job and was writing my first paranormal cozy, The Eight of Pentacles. So, I guess you could say the time had come.


Do you have a favorite theme or message for your readers?
My nursing career and thirty years experience working as a psychic have both taught me the value of taking the time to listen to my inner voice and value my intuition. So my protagonist, Eileen McGrath, represents the more fearless aspect of living like that: pushing her dimunitive self past her polite Southern upbringing and against the powers that be, if what’s being presented to her doesn’t ring true. I also teach a variety of tarot classes and I know there are a lot of readers and collectors out there who share my love of the cards, so it seemed a natural fit to incorporate into Eileen’s intuitive practice, weave into the story line, and use as a theme. Plus, it gave me the opportunity to “create” my own deck for the series: something I had wanted to do for a long time.
What is your favorite method for researching?
I start my research with the murder setting and build out from there; I am fortunate to live in Northern California, where there is no lack of eye candy to hang a story on: both scenic and not so. The setting for the murder in The Eight of Pentacles was a five minute walk from my home, at the time: a wildlife sanctuary and man made salt-water lake on the edge of Oakland, California’s uptown. It’s a lush, placid spot ideally suited for working-out, bird-watching, sailing, and family gatherings, but also a place with a history of drug-dealing, prostitution, and outbreaks of violence, after sundown. The contrast between the two faces of Lake Merritt appealed to the crime writer in me, so I visited the nature center and gathered all the available information the employees there had to offer, checked out several books from the library by local authors on the lake’s history, and finished up on the internet. Like most writers, I’m guilty of getting a little too absorbed in my research and ended up injecting only about twenty percent of what I learned into the story.

How do you develop your characters?
I developed the base personalities for the characters before I wrote the book. I needed Eileen to be a middle-aged protagonist who was a psychic and a nurse: a single woman, deprived of her ability to make a good income and forced to use her intuitive abilites to help make ends meet. Daniel Burnette, the antagonist/homicide investigator, was based on a favorite Irish actor who has a penchant for brooding intensity and Atticus Spencer, the more layed back p.i. character, was inspired by my ex-boss and my partner; he started out as a hybrid and gradually morphed into his own man as the book progressed. Like so many of us who live in urban areas and away from the families we grew up with, Eileen is very much on her own and I wanted her to find an extended family in her neighbors, Tessa and Jessamae: both amalgams of co-workers I have known and loved. I spent several weeks listening to rap music and watching locally produced “crunk” videos and interviewed a Bay Area rap artist to get a better sense of how to create the prime suspect, FoZ. And, Audie, Eileen’s cat, was inspired my by an ex-roomate’s Blue Russian, Sundance, who preferred “murping” to meowing, as his favored form of communication.

What is the best advice anyone ever gave you about writing?

Two pieces of advice come to mind. The first came from a Bay Area sports writer, who was incredibly kind and encouraging when he found out I was working on my first novel. I’m paraphrasing here, but he said something along the lines of “Do your first draft, your second, your third, complete all your edits…and then go back and take out everything that isn’t absolutely essential to the story.” Killing your darlings can be a painful process, but I think the bare bones approach makes, in the end, for honest writing and a more fluid read.

The second piece came from the actor, Peter Riegert, at a writer’s conference I attended several years ago. He referred to the part of the Pesach Seder where children are asked “Why is this night different from all other nights?” and suggested applying that model to your writing. That really stuck with me, the idea of checking in, as you were preparing a scene and asking yourself “What makes this character and the response to whatever I’m subjecting them to unique?”

What makes a great read in your opinion?
Obviously this varies a bit depending on whether the book is fiction or non-fiction, but I generally look for two things in a book: I want to be transported and I want to come away from the experience having learned something new, including more about the craft of writing. I don’t like a novel that reads like a textbook, but I do like enough well chosen detail to drop me into the whatever alternative reality the author has created. And I love books where the writer has planted little “enlightment bombs”: asides that make me stop and re-think the world.
Bio
Eloise Hill grew up in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia, resides in Northern California and is a writer, nurse, and psychic who has been in love with the Tarot, and all things metaphysical, since she picked up her first Rider-Waite deck at the age of eighteen. In addition to the tarot, she teaches classes on a variety of subjects including Candle Magic for Muggles and The Womanly Art of Tea Leaf Reading.

Website: http://www.eloisehill.net/
Email: candlestonetarot@me.com
Amazon link: http://tinyurl.com/3n329gv
Digital format available (for Amazon Prime members) in Kindle Lending
* * * * *
Thanks Eloise!

Guest Author: Eleanor Sullivan

Eleanor Sullivan joins us today to talk about writing and her latest mystery, Cover Her Body, and although she may not realize it, we have a lot of the same interests. We're both interested in life in the 19th century and have a fascination for the kinds of medical details you always seem to need in a mystery. And it's sort of funny that she mentions a distant grandfather who left Germany to establish a villiage in Ohio. I also had a German grandfather who married an Irish woman and settled in North Dakota. I wonder if it's something to do with our German genes that make us both want to write historical mysteries? Weird.

Anyway, enough oddball speculation. Here's Eleanor!

Eleanor Sullivan

Why did you decide to write?
After winning awards for my nonfiction books for nurses, I decided to write a mystery series featuring a nurse. Few books, TV shows, or movies show nurses’ work accurately. (Nurse Jackie is the exception.) With 20 years success in nonfiction, how hard could it be? I found out: very difficult! But, numerous workshops, classes, and critiques later, my series of three nurse-themed mysteries were published. That inspired me to turn to a historical mystery fiction series.

Why historical fiction?
I grew up hearing stories about my distant grandfather who led a beleaguered band of religious dissenters safely out of Germany to establish a village in the Ohio wilderness in 1817. Why not set a series in the quaint village, I thought. It remains a historic town, complete with museums and reenacters who demonstrate the work and lives of the settlers.

Uncovering the beliefs and practices of this unusual group of believers surprised me. Named Zoar, it was one of the lesser known utopias, idyllic settlements where disenchanted Europeans (in this case, Germans) found refuge from religious persecution in the new world. Of course, all was not perfect in this Garden of Eden, I discovered after researching the lives and religious practices of the inhabitants and by visiting the town.

How much research do you do?
Lots! I’m a former professor and author of scientific articles so accuracy is paramount to me. The medical situations in my first series are accurately portrayed, but research for the historicals is much more difficult. Not only did I have to reconstruct 19th century life, I needed to know such esoteric facts as what the men’s suspenders were made of (fabric, if you want to know).

I was helped by a 1930s dissertation from Ohio State University that chronicled the lives of the people who settled the town and by the historian who spent more than 30 years as the town’s site manager. Both sources could be counted on to be accurate. Here’s a photo of my ancestor’s cabin today.

What’s your favorite method for researching?
Of course the internet has revolutionized research even if some sources may be suspect. Primary sources, often transcribed and posted online, were invaluable.
Traveling to the location is a must for me. I made several visits to Zoar, Ohio to take photos of buildings (interior and exterior) and walk about gardens and take paths through the woods. I interviewed a tinsmith, cabinet maker, and blacksmith. Also I visited other historical towns of the same vintage—New Harmony, Williamsburg, VA, and Amish country. Finally, I try to put myself in the scene, capturing the sights, sounds, and smells of the moment.
Do you have a favorite theme or message for your readers?
Readers tell me that the theme that comes through all my stories is the strength of women whether they’re contemporary or historical.

When do you write/what is your writing day like?
I keep a regular schedule. After an early morning workout, breakfast and shower, I’m in the office by 9 to start writing. Mornings are my best time. Then I break for lunch, run any necessary errands, and return to the office to review what I’ve written, revise and, when my brain seems completely depleted, I stop. I don’t try to push through because I found whatever I write then is garbage. Then it’s time to answer email, check Facebook, and tidy up anything else awaiting attention. I leave the office about 5. That’s it except I do find that my mind keeps working on tough problems and I often awake the next morning with how to solve them. Hurray for the subconscious!

How do you approach a new book? Outlines? Just an idea?
As a former scientist and nonfiction author, I can’t imagine writing content without an outline to guide me.
I start first with the murder: who’s murdered, by whom and why.

I make two outlines. The first is a list of scenes in the best order I can imagine. Here’s an example my latest book, Cover Her Body:
Scene 1 Adelaide finds body in river, knows the girl didn’t drown
Scene 2 Benjamin learns body in river, fears it’s Adelaide but learns it was Johanna
Scene 3 Adelaide tells Nellie about Johanna’s death, fearing her reaction

Then I flush out details of each scene in an expanded outline with notes about who was there, what happened, descriptive details, how characters felt, how the scene ended, and anything else I think of. This is not an onerous task. I just jot down ideas as they come to me.

Of course the outline changes as I write. I add scenes, delete some, and reorder them throughout the writing process. But the outline keeps me on track. Without it, I think I’d wander around endlessly without getting anywhere.
How do you develop your characters?
Since I start with the murder, I create the victim and perpetrator first, identifying their characteristics, physical appearance, and relationship.

For the protagonists (I have a husband and wife POV in Cover Her Body), I develop a detailed backstory and rationale for their flaws, fears, and hopes.
For the entire cast, I create a mind map, linking names to reflect their connections. I give each a role in the story and then figure out each character’s name to convey just the right message about the person. At the same time, I work on his strengths and weaknesses as well as his appearance that could reflect his personality or counter it.
If a reader took away one thing from your book(s), what would you like that to be?
That they’ve been taken into a different world for a time, that they’ve learned about people and places, that they’ve been caught up in the characters’ plights, and, finally, that they’ve been satisfactorily entertained.

Cover Her Body, A Singular Village Mystery Blurb

In a strict, religious society in 1830s rural Ohio, a 16 year-old girl is murdered because she’s pregnant, but the only person who suspects it wasn’t an accident is a young midwife, who puts her own life in danger when she tries to find the killer.
“…finely drawn murder mystery…expertly crafted, perfectly paced novel…”
Kirkus reviews, December 6, 2011

“…enjoyed the storyline, the writing style, the well-rounded characters…no facet of the story I did not enjoy!”
Reader Views, December 1, 2011

Brief Bio
Eleanor Sullivan is the award winning author of books for nurses, the former dean of nursing at the University of Kansas, and past president of the world’s largest nursing organization. Turning her attention to mystery fiction, she authored the Monika Everhardt medical mystery series and, more recently, a series of historical mysteries set in the 1830s religious settlement of her ancestors. The stories feature a midwife and her cabinet-maker husband in the Northern Ohio village of Zoar. Cover Her Body, A Singular Village Mystery, is the first book in the series.

Website: http://www.eleanorsullivan.com/
Blog: www.EleanorSullivan.com/category/blog
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Eleanor-Sullivan

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Thank you Eleanor!

Guest Author: John Lindermuth

Someone once said to me that the best writers were once newspaper editors or journalists. I'm not sure that I would go that far (after all, I'm not one) but it's certainly true for John Lindermuth. Perhaps it's the ability to dig down to the truth, do the research, and pick out the elements that appeal to our emotions and natural curiosity.

Whatever it is, I'm fortunate to have John with us, today.

John Lindermuth
Why did you decide to write?
Like many writers, I was an early reader. Our community had no library until I was in high school. Fortunately, my dad had books ranging from the classics to mysteries and Westerns. As I got older, I started emulating some of the writers I admired. Eventually it became something I ‘had’ to do. When I entered the Army they recognized I had some ability and sent me to J-school. That provided a career which paid the bills as I learned to write fiction.

How much research do you do?
It depends on the project. For a modern mystery I’ll look into necessary aspects of police procedure, forensics, etc. I want enough information to be reasonably accurate, though I prefer not to bog down the story flow by getting too technical.

What’s your favorite method for researching?
The Internet has made it so much easier for most research. For historical subjects, though, I still like to explore sources like newspapers, magazines of the period. You can’t beat those for getting a feel for the period.

When do you write/what is your writing day like?
I try and write something every day. Life sometimes gets in the way but it’s like dieting or exercising—you can’t let excuses gain the upper hand or the battle is lost. Even if it’s no more than a few paragraphs, it’s important to keep up the flow.

What is the best advice someone has given you about writing? The worst advice?
The best advice I ever got came, indirectly, from an artist. My initial goal as a youth was to be an artist. I wrote Thomas Hart Benton and asked his advice. His reply was one word: “Paint.” I think the same formula applies to writing. I’m an empiricist. I believe the only way to learn anything is by doing it. I definitely agree with Charles Nodier who wrote—“A writer should read until he is filled to the brim and like a pitcher which is over-filled over flows. And then he should write.”

How do you approach a new book? Outlines? Just an idea?

My stories generally begin with an image in my mind of a character in a situation and grow from there. I’m not much of an outliner. My outlines, if they can even be termed as such, are a few mere jottings—hieroglyphs that would be meaningless to anyone else. I usually know where it’s going to end up, but I don’t want to have everything planned out in advance or I run the risk of getting bored.

How do you develop your characters?
They have a tendency to create themselves. I may think I know them, but they have a way of surprising me.

Who are your favorite authors? Have any authors inspired you or influenced your work?
I can’t really name one favorite writer; there are too many I admire and love reading. I’m sure I’ve been influenced to some degree by all. Some classic favorites include Poe, Melville, Emily Bronte, Twain, Dumas, Cervantes, Robert Louis Stevenson and Jack London--the list goes on. Among modern writers I’d name Peter Matthiessen, John Fowles, Nabokov, Jim Harrison, and mystery writers like Charles Williford, Ruth Rendell and James Lee Burke—again the list goes on and I’m always discovering new writers (including many who aren’t famous) who make me envious.

Do you have any tips for aspiring authors?
Ray Bradbury once advised a person who wanted to write to stay away from college. In his opinion the only way to learn to write was to do it—everyday. His second bit of advice was to believe in oneself.

Where do you see yourself as an author in five years?
A best seller, film, fame and riches might be nice to imagine, and I’d be lying if I claimed to not want any of those things. Few of us write fiction because we expect to get rich. We don’t write because of lack of ability to do something else. We write because we want to—and that doesn’t demean it to the limit of a hobby. Not that there’s anything wrong with hobbies. But a hobby is something we do primarily for entertainment; a diversion from the trials and cares of every day life. Anyone who tries it will soon learn writing fiction is not always entertaining. It’s hard work and anything but a diversion.

My hope is to continue writing stories someone will want to read.

Brief Bio
A retired newspaper editor, J. R. Lindermuth lives and writes in central Pennsylvania. Since retirement, he has served as librarian of his county historical society where he assists patrons with research and genealogy. He has published nine novels, including four in his Sticks Hetrick mystery series. Three other mysteries are under contract for 2012. His articles and short stories have appeared in a variety of magazines, both print and on line. He is the father of two children and has four grandsons.

Website: http://jrlindermuth.com/
Blog: http://jrlindermuth.blogspot.com/
Amazon page: http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B002BLJIQ8
https://www.facebook.com/john.lindermuth
http://twitter.com/jrlindermuth

Blurb for The Limping Dog, a mystery coming from Whiskey Creek Press in March 2012

Gavin Cutter, an artist living in an isolated village on the New England coast, witnesses the crash of a sailing ship onto a reef. The first aboard the wreck, Cutter rescues a dog, the only living creature on the vessel. Ron Myers, wealthy owner of a growing computer firm, and the ship’s crew have disappeared without a trace.

Myers is alleged to have developed a radical new microprocessor system. Some assert the system was lost with its creator. Others believe it exists and have devious plans to profit from the invention.

When TJ Flood, an insurance investigator, questions Cutter and others, he learns a sheriff’s deputy has concealed knowledge of a woman who also witnessed the wreck. Flood is attracted to Dee, Cutter’s daughter, a newspaper reporter. They join forces in investigating the ship incident and strange coincidences surrounding it, including a break-in at Cutter’s house and mysterious concerns about the dog. The result is threats, danger and, ultimately, several murders before the case is resolved.

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Thank you John!

Guest Author: Liz Jasper

We have Liz Jasper, author of Underdead joining us today with an absolutely brilliant blog. She's an EPPIE award winning mystery writer and her books are a wonderfuly way to spend a few holiday moments. It was hilarious when I saw the title of her blog, since More magazine once featured a small tidbit about me called, the kid with the crayons. I'd like to say that great minds think alike, but I don't want to drag Liz down to my level.

Even more exciting, Liz has agreed to give an ebook version of one of her books to a lucky commenter, so be sure to leave a comment! 

What Vampire Mysteries Have to Do With...Crayons 

The genius about writing paranormals is, in theory, that you don't have to research the real world, you can just create your own. Aren't theories nice? The reality, however, is that I have to fact check all the time and the simplest things can send you off in wild-goose-chase land. Take this little section for example from Underdead In Denial:

"Dan Sterling—Drama Dan, as the students adoringly called him—had made another conquest. I tried to figure out what the big thrill was. I suppose Dan looked a little like Leonardo DiCaprio, if you imagined the famous actor redrawn with crayon colors. Dan Sterling’s eyes were sky blue, his cheeks were lightly flushed with pink sherbet and his hair was yellow straight out of the basic eight crayon box. He might be a little too boyishly handsome for my tastes, but that didn’t seem to be keeping just about everyone else from joining the Drama Dan fan club."

First off, I had to figure out how to spell crayon, because when I say "crayon" it actually comes out as "cran." Just a guess here, but if I said that Dan looked like he was fashioned from crans, no one would know what I was talking about.

That's not really research, of course, more of a spelling issue. But then I realized that I didn't know what crayon colors were in a box these days. So I had to do some research.

Now, I majored in Biology in college and I was a science teacher and I did ecological field research in China, Belize and Costa Rica. And let me tell you, being upside-down in the ocean with a snorkel, a ruler and an underwater tablet and trying to measure coral polyps before the next wave came or I was eaten by a pissed off eel was far easier than trying to understand the world of crayons.

When I was a kid all anyone had was the mongo box of 64 because it was a better deal than the few smaller boxes and our parents probably figured we'd stop asking them for crayons if they thrust a giant box of them at us every so often. And 64 does sound like a lot of crayons but let's be real. After about 3 days the box had been reduced to a fought-over stub of "sky blue", an untouched stick of burnt sienna, and a bewildering one called "flesh" that was...well let's just say I've never met anyone that particularly bright shade of yellowy-orange-beige.

Anyway, the deal with being a professional writer is that you do have to try to actually be right about things, which means that if I describe Dan using crayon colors, I need to become a crayon expert.

And yet, come on. It's crayons. How hard can it be?

Well, you try it. Wikipedia has a list of 133 Crayola crayon colors with the year they were introduced and retired. But that should make it even easier, right?

Hah.

In my mind Dan has that yellowy sort of blond hair. Which means the possible crayons that would match are: Yellow, Unmellow Yellow, Sunglow, Orange Yellow, Lemon Yellow, Laser Lemon, Goldenrod, Gold, Dandelion, Canary and Banana Mania.

Whatever. Pick the closest one and move on.

Okay. Lemon Yellow then. I remember Lemon Yellow. I think I drew a few hundred seriously awesome stick figures with Lemon Yellow hair when I was a girl.

Wait, whoops, Lemon Yellow was retired in 1990. Hmmm. Looks like Orange Yellow is out, too.

Laser Lemon is too day glow for hair. How about Dandelion? "Dan's hair was Dandelion..." Yikes. Way too cutesy. Canary? "Dan's hair was Canary..." it sounds like a bird not a crayon and is confusing. Banana Mania--is sort of fun but when I read "Banana Mania" I don't think crayon, do you?

How about Goldenrod? It's still around. It sounds like a crayon color to me without a lot of need further explanation. Except... it's really more strawberry blonde than blonde And would Jo, who is 22-years-old, have used Goldenrod, the hot color of 1958? I don't know. I kinda think she'd have been coloring with Banana Mania and Laser Lemon.

So we're left with... yellow. Okay, basic old yellow. Fine. "His hair was yellow." How do you know I'm talking about a yellow crayon and not just saying his hair is yellow? I need context.

Easy enough. I just have to reference a crayon box. Except... what size? All I know is the ratty, fought over 64 count box. Now I have to go to Amazon and look up bestselling current crayon box sizes and hope they've been the bestselling sizes for years so that the reference rings true for most readers.

At this point, I'm mostly aware that I've spent a ridiculous amount of time over crayons. I'm having a wild argument with myself. Why in the world did I ever come up with this stupid idea of describing a character in crayons? Just say he has blond hair and blue eyes and move on! Look how much time I've spent researching this one stupid paragraph! I could've brokered world peace by now.

And yet wait. There on Amazon is the eight count crayon box. Perfect in it's simplicity. A small, compact box of happiness and joy. And suddenly I'm done.

"... his hair was yellow straight out of the basic eight crayon box."

Except I still have to talk about his eyes and cheeks. But that can wait until after I've had some milk and cookies and maybe taken a little nap.

BIO

Liz Jasper is the award-winning author of the humorous UNDERDEAD mysteries about beleaguered science teacher Jo Gartner who is bitten by a vampire--sort of. If you don't usually read books with vampires in them, well, neither does Jo, so these are for you! Available now in ebook and trade paperback. The first in the series, UNDERDEAD, is on ebook special for 99 cents for the holidays.

Liz's website and blog: http://lizjasper.com/
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/AuthorLizJasper
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/LizJasperAuthor   (She's nearing the facebook max so has, reluctantly and resentfully, started a page.)

Underdead

Liz Jasper

EPPIE Award winning mystery about newbie teacher Jo Gartner who thinks teaching eighth graders is deadly…until she’s bitten by a vampire. Sort of. And then things really get out of control. Dead bodies. Police. Undead. Outrageous lies to her mother. But then someone wants Jo dead…the traditional way!

Underdead in Denial

Almost undead teacher Jo Gartner is having a good year until she volunteers for the Haunted House fundraiser. That's just asking for the vampires to show up! And then there's another dead body. And more cops. And Jo is forced to decide which side she's on before someone gets rid of her permanently.

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Thank you, Liz, and as a special holiday treat, we'll be giving away an ebook verison of one of Liz's books to a randomly selected person who leaves a comment.

So make sure you stop and say, Hi!

Happy Holidays!

Guest Author: S. L. Smith

I'm thrilled to be able to interview author S. L. Smith today. As most of you know, I'm a huge fan of mysteries and suspense and it's a real pleasure to feature a mystery writer on my blog.

S. L. Smith

Why did you decide to write?

I have written forever, even though it doesn’t seem like I’m that old. When I was in college, I wrote snail mail letters almost weekly to both of my grandmothers. I still treasure the letters I received in return. I compiled family memoirs for the families of both of my parents, believing the lives these documents portrayed deserved preserving. (Say that real fast five times.) In my career, technical writing was a primary responsibility. That was, generally, nonfiction.

I love to read, so sharing my thoughts and ideas seemed a logical next step. Mysteries and suspense have been my favorite genres forever. It seemed logical that I expand my interests from reading mysteries to writing them. I believed I could succeed, and that served as a stimulus. I had to find out if I was right. Once I reached that point, writing became an obsession. When I wasn’t working at my paid job, I was writing. On weekends, holidays and vacations I wrote.

In the meantime, the dust motes thrived, emails went unanswered and meals became anything I could prepare and eat with minimal interruption. The good news is that I am single, so I am not subjecting a spouse to what others might define as insanity.

How much research do you do? What’s your favorite method for researching?

Anything I don’t know first-hand I research. Many things I know first-hand I research. I want to get it right. Some readers put a book down the first time they find an inaccuracy and thereafter refuse to look at anything by that author. I work far too hard to risk that type of turnoff.

I spend a lot of time on research throughout the writing process, and the method I prefer depends on the most complete/accurate and time-saving method available. Let me give some examples:

My career required substantial interaction with the state police and local law enforcement agencies. That gave me a starting point for Blinded by the Sight, but it was just the beginning. A friend spent 25-years in law enforcement. He served as my reality check for those aspects. Knowing that I needed a captive audience to fulfill my mission, I’d take him out to lunch when I needed his input and feedback. Then I painted scenarios and with his help insured the way I handled each one was accurate, feasible—you name it.

Blinded by the Sight is set in St. Paul, Ramsey County, Minnesota. An investigator from the Ramsey County Medical Examiner’s Office would handle the crime scene and autopsy, so I found a phone number on the Internet, made a call, and located someone in that office. In cases like this, the luck of the draw can be a factor, but when you tell these professionals what you are doing, they are often willing to help. I found someone who patiently answered all of my questions—twice. Despite the fact I’d kept him on the phone for a half-hour the first time, he answered my second call and follow-up questions. Between the two calls, he explained what the investigator from the medical examiner’s office would do, as well as when, where and how.

It may have been possible to obtain this information on the Internet, but I dread to think the time commitment that would entail. Also, by having a local contact, I was able to insure that the picture I painted was specific to Ramsey County. There’s one other thing I’ve accomplished through this process. I now have a fan in the Ramsey County ME’s office!

There are two kids in the novel. Beginning, again, with the Internet, I found and reached someone in the applicable school district. She gave me the information I requested about the relevant practices and procedures.

I researched homelessness on the Internet. Then I added that information to my experiences working at a soup kitchen.

My bachelor’s degree is in psychology. I used some of the things my coursework taught me about people while creating my characters. To that I added a lifetime of interactions with friends, family, co-workers, you name it. Include a generous dose of the observation time that the day-to-day life of an introvert entails. However, once I created the personalities, what they did with their lives was up to them.

The St. Paul High Bridge, shown on the cover of Blinded by the Sight, plays an important role in my novel. I had driven across this bridge many times, but not in years. After writing the bridge into one chapter, I went there, walked back and forth across the bridge and checked out the surrounding area. Viewing the bridge on foot gave me a much better feel for the possibilities the layout offered. When I got home, I rewrote that chapter, making use of the knowledge I’d gained. The result: what happened on the bridge was much more compelling. The bridge tour qualifies as one of my favorite pieces of research.

Do you have a favorite theme or message for your readers?

I don’t have a single, favorite theme, but both Blinded by the Sight and the sequel, now in the early stages, have a theme. Unfortunately, disclosing the themes will disclose too much about the stories, so …

How do you approach a new book? Outlines? Just an idea?

When I began writing Blinded by the Sight, I had a victim, a homeless man who was wearing an impressive diamond ring. I knew why he was homeless. I had two protagonists—two investigators with the St. Paul Police Department. I knew their personalities. That’s it!

I know there are authors who use outlines, story boards, etc. and swear by these methods. I am not one of them. I start with a skeleton and let the characters develop the story for me. That makes writing the novel an adventure. I am waiting to see what happens along the way. Some readers skip ahead, checking to see “who dun nit.” With this methodology, that isn’t possible. I have to either be patient or work more hours.

Once the first draft is completed, I start at the beginning and add more meat, more description and detail. This part of the process takes more time than the first draft. At the same time, I begin listening to the manuscript, using the language bar in MS Word. I listen to a lot of audio books and forever find myself thinking of a better way to phrase something I’ve heard. When I’m writing, it isn’t possible for me to make that type of assessment. I do a much better job of that by listening to the manuscript once, twice, a dozen times or more. This is my best way of locating problems in the manuscript, including detecting when I’m using the same word repeatedly.

How do you develop your characters?

I seek to know and understand my characters from the outer surface to the core. A person’s physical appearance often influences his or her personality. More often it goes much deeper than that. As a result, I begin with the physical description. Next I do a detailed outline of their lives and personalities. I determine what their childhood was like, how they did in school, their likes and dislikes. I establish their triggers and their vulnerabilities. This applies to all characters who make more than a cameo appearance.

What makes a great book in your opinion?

For me, a great book is one that grabs my interest and doesn’t release its grip until I’ve either read or listened to the last word. It requires characters I like and want to know better, characters with whom I identify, or characters I hate but am given the opportunity to understand.

I like action and suspense. I dislike books that end on a sad note. I love Jodi Picoult’s writing, but I HATE the endings! I should qualify that. I’ve only read a few of her novels and stopped after Sister’s Keeper. Once I’ve grown attached to her characters, I can’t stand the way Jodi ends her novels.

Do you have any tips for aspiring authors?

I have two tips. First, don’t give up. There are more ways than ever to get published. In addition to the major presses, there are all kinds of small presses. Self-publishing is no longer only a last resort. Some highly successful authors are choosing that option. It gives them more control and can be more profitable. With eBooks storming the gates, print books are no longer the only game in town. At the same time, it seems there will always be a niche for print books.

Most important of all, whatever methodology you pursue, get your work professionally edited BEFORE you look for an agent or a publisher, self-publish, whatever. Make your work as perfect as possible. People will notice.

Bio:
Born in St. Cloud, I’m a lifelong resident of Minnesota. I obtained a bachelor’s degree from St. Catherine University in St. Paul, majoring in psychology. A died-in-the-wool introvert, I found the coursework engrossing. The things I learned in those classes have been invaluable to me in writing fiction. Writing nonfiction, however, was one of my major responsibilities during the 32-years I worked for the State of Minnesota, Department of Public Safety.

I’ve never been married. Although I have no children, eleven nieces and nephews do a wonderful job of filling the void. Among my other loves are reading and travel.

In the early days of the new millennium, I completed a different version of my debut novel. Realizing time was fleeting, that manuscript took a backseat to family memoirs. I spent four and a half years gathering information and finding anyone and everyone with a link to my family. In the process, I discovered a treasure trove of stories and pictures. Many date back into the 1800s.

Once I’d compiled and published those books, I returned to fiction. By then, the motive for murder was passé. The rewrite was huge, but I don’t regret prioritizing the memoirs. I believe they will accomplish what I’d hoped, i.e., preserving the memory of these integral parts of my family for future generations.

Although Blinded by the Sight is my debut novel, this isn’t the first time I was published. In the mid 1990s, three articles I co-authored were published in public administration journals. Even so, the memoirs and Blinded by the Sight feel more like they’re my babies. I have more of a feeling of accomplishment and satisfaction from them, perhaps due to the relative time commitments each project entailed.

http://www.slsmithbooks.com/

Blinded by the Sight

by S. L. Smith
ISBN 0-87839-439-7
Mystery set in St. Paul, MN
North Star Press of St. Cloud, Inc. • September 1, 2011

Police investigators Pete Culnane and Martin Tierney are as different as parchment and newsprint, and Martin s insecurities are fed by Pete s expertise and finesse. A homeless man wearing an eye-popping diamond ring is as inexplicable to both of them as the disappearance of the two boys who reported his body on St. Paul s Upper Landing.

Blinded by the Sight demonstrates how good intentions can go awry, resulting in unintended, life-altering predicaments.

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Thank you for joining me!