Guest Author: Jenny Milchman

Jenny is an amazing, accomplished woman, as you'll see when you read her bio at the end of this blog. Not only does she teach writing, but she is a published author, proving that some teachers no only teach, but also do. It's not easy to write suspense and she does a surperb job.

Making It, or: How Salmon Spawn

On my blog is a forum called Made It Moments. Over 125 authors so far have dropped by, answered the question “How did I know I’d made it,” then stayed to chat for a while.

I love this forum because every single answer is utterly unique—while all saying the exact same thing. I haven’t.

The concept of success in this writing world is a really hard one. The bar can be set awfully high. Once we pass one mile marker, we immediately see another one ahead.

Beginning your first novel. Finishing your first novel. Editing your first novel. Again and again and again. Realizing it may not work and beginning your second novel. Or your third. And so on. (In my case, all the way to eight, before I sold.)

The roads diverge then, and as Robert Frost wrote, the one you take may make all the difference. Or, it may not. In Amanda Hocking’s case she parlayed serious success as an independent author into serious success as she embarked on the traditional route. Whether that success continues remains to be seen. Whether she would’ve had such success if she didn’t start out independent is likewise an unknown.

If you travel down the traditional path, mile markers of success will be: Getting an agent. Getting published. Receiving reviews. Having your book in bookstores. Doing a signing. Doing a signing where more than five people come. Doing a signing where 500 people come. Hitting a list. Winning an award. Selling subsidiary rights of various sorts.

If you travel down the independent road, other mile markers will ensue. Finding a good editor. Designing a cover. Deciding on print options. Uploading to various platforms. Setting a price. Seeing those first sales come in. Tweaking the price. Seeing the first double digit numbers hit. Triple digit. Quadruple. Or even higher. Then you get to be interviewed along with Karen McQuestion, John Locke, and let’s throw in Amanda Hocking again.

Have you made it?

I think the reason this question hangs us up is because we’re defining success based on the wrong things. The above things—any of the above.
Think about the salmon’s perspective.

He’s ‘made it’ when he arrives at the top of the stream without getting eaten.

The writer’s equivalent is, I think, getting up every day and putting words down on paper or screen without letting the inevitable discouragement creep in and stop you in the act.

Discouragement comes from all sorts of sources. It’s that little voice in our head that says things like, You can’t do this. And even if you can, what are the chances you’ll succeed? (See? Making it again). You’re not getting paid. You may never get paid. Aren’t there other, more important things to do? Clean the house, help a friend, take the kids somewhere, get a ‘real’ job?

And it’s not that those things aren’t all very important.
But—your writing is, too.
This is how it happened for me. I always wanted to write. I studied poetry and fiction until I graduated from college. During my sophomore year, my parents, who were not overly practical and typically encouraged my dreams, so I was wont to trust them, suggested that I might want to pursue something that stood a chance of allowing me to feed myself. I decided to double major in English and Psych, and wound up ABD in clinical psychology. But the siren’s call of writing never stopped singing, and during my internship, I began writing my first real novel.
I call it ‘real’ because this was the book where I found my writer’s voice in suspense. I’d always loved to read suspense, but somehow I never wrote it before.

Because I had heeded my parents’ advice and was working, I wrote this novel at 4 o’clock in the morning before leaving for shifts at the hospital. It took me about five months to complete—that’s how fired up I was. The novel was unpublishable, but it did earn me offers from agents. And once that carrot was dangled, my hunger pulled me through seven more books, two more agents, and many, many close calls.

The fact that you write, that you have this creative urge deep inside you, is a gift and deserves to be nurtured. Taken seriously. Given some time.

Virginia Woolf called it a room of one’s own.

You deserve for your writing to have a room.

If not a whole room, well—at least a converted closet, such as the one I wrote those eight novels in, and recently began my ninth.

If you can honor your gift enough to give it some space, and a dedicated portion of your day, however you manage to come by those things, then the results might surprise you. You just might come to something great enough to deserve revision, querying, uploading.

You might make it.

Jenny Milchman is a suspense writer from New Jersey. Her short story ‘The Very Old Man’ has been an Amazon bestseller, and another short piece will appear in the anthology ADIRONDACK MYSTERIES II in fall 2012. Jenny is the Chair of International Thriller Writers' Debut Authors Program. She is also the founder of Take Your Child to a Bookstore Day, and the Made It Moments forum on her blog. Jenny teaches writing and publishing for New York Writers Workshop and has designed curricula to teach writing to children. Her debut novel, COVER OF SNOW, will be published by Ballantine in early 2013.

Jenny in 2001 when her first book went on submission (above right).

A closet of my own

The No Plan B photo my husband gave me when I was close to giving up

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Okay, now this is just weird. Because years ago when I was first writing, I took a large closet in my one bedroom condo and turned it into an office, complete with one of the original IBM PCs and a daisy-wheel printer. In those days, publishers wouldn't accept manuscripts printed on dot-matrix printers which were the only other alternative to a daisy-wheel.
 
Times have changed, at least in how your furnish your closet.
 
Thanks Jenny and I hope you sell a billion!

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: Joselyn Vaughn

The holidays are a time for family, friends, and maybe a sweet romance or two. Joselyn's romances definitely fit the bill and are perfect for stealing away (perhaps to hide behind the Christmas tree) and relax for a few minutes.

Joselyn Vaughn

How much research do you do?
It depends on the story. For Hauntings of the Heart, I had to learn more about ghost hunters and inadvertently found out that a building across the street from my house is said to be haunted. The ghost hunters who had investigated there hadn’t finalized their investigation yet. I am no longer interested in seeing the inside of it. Of course, this fits with the stories I’ve heard. My friend was on the fire department and had to do a walk through. He said it was creepy. The closest I’ve been to a haunting experience is when my sewing machine started running on its own. We figured out that it was caused by a faulty extension cord, but it still gave me the creepy-crawlies. And my sewing machine has never been the same.

For Sucker for a Hot Rod, I had to do a lot of research into poison ivy cases. Because I had issues with the timeline of the story, the character had poison ivy for two months. Worst case scenario, a rash will last about two weeks. I also learned that I’m thankful I’m not particularly susceptible to it. You can get it from the dried roots in the winter. You can get it in your lungs by breathing in the smoke from burning it. There are some pretty scary cases documented online – they include pictures. Yikes.

When do you write/what is your writing day like?
I always wish I could answer this with something like I write for three hours in the morning, then revise or do marketing in the afternoon. But right now, I’m lucky if I get through my email in the afternoon when my kids are resting. Somehow the time they need for afternoon rest keeps shrinking. If I’m not completely exhausted when they go to bed, I try to do some then. I don’t set daily writing goals right now. It’s too frustrating for me when I can’t make them. So I mostly write in fits and bursts.

How do you approach a new book? Outlines? Just an idea?
I usually start out with one of the main characters. They start doing something and the story grows from there. Hauntings of the Heart started with Minnie, a character from my first book CEOs Don’t Cry, slamming the door in someone’s face. I had to find out who was on the door step, why they were there, why Minnie was angry with them and what she was going to do about it. Simply answering those questions developed quite a story.

What makes a great book in your opinion?
When you start writing, you notice the writing in other books. You don’t get to read for pleasure very much anymore. You notice that they repeated a word or phrase within two sentences or you pick up the sly hints/foreshadowing much too easily. For me a great book has become one where the story is so engaging that I don’t notice any of this stuff—that is allows me to read purely for pleasure. I know I’ve got a good one when I carry it around with me, trying to read here and there throughout the day.

If a reader took away one thing from your book(s), what would you like that to be?
At the least, I would hope that they didn’t feel that they wasted their time. My goal would be that they had a few laughs and enjoyed the story.

Do you have any tips for aspiring authors?
Write and rewrite. The great thing about writing is that your first draft doesn’t have to be your last. (Unless you’re taking an essay test. But then it only has to be mostly legible. ) I think I went through a million drafts on my first book, but each one was a learning experience that made it better.

Find a good critique partner or group. You need people you can trust to give you an honest opinion, but that you also know are trying to help you be a better writer. It’s easy to find the honesty, not so easy to find people who truly want the best for your writing.

Where do you see yourself as an author in five years?
Some days, I hope I’m still writing in five years. There are moments that can be quite discouraging and it’s hard to keep plugging away on your current story. I hope that in five years, I have continued to learn about the craft and have improved as a writer and a story teller. And maybe be able to write faster, and if not that, at least type faster. I think I’m the slowest typist in the world.

Bio
Joselyn Vaughn lives in the Great Lakes states with her husband, three energetic preschoolers and two barking Beagles. In the rare minutes when she is not chasing them and encouraging them to use their inside voices, she enjoys thrift store shopping, reconstructing clothing and, of course, reading.

Her first book, CEOs Don’t Cry, was the winner of the WisRWA Write Touch Readers Award in 2010. It was also a finalist in the GDRWA Booksellers Best Award and the USA Book News Best Books 2010 Award.
For more about Joselyn and to keep up with her adventures, you can visit her blog at http://joselynvaughn.blogspot.com/  or hang out with her on Facebook Http://facebook.com/joselynvaughn .

Hauntings of the Heart Blurb

When lost love shows up on your doorstep, what do you do? Minnie Schultz slams the door in his face. She and Gordon Anderson have a history—close to ancient history, given the fifty years since their last encounter. After all that time, it might seem like water under the bridge. But the water pours from the plumbing in Minnie’s bed and breakfast, the Lilac Bower, uncovering all the secrets and heartache between them. With the help of some paranormal investigators, an Elvis impersonator and a couple of nosey friends, can Minnie and Gordon find the future they were meant to have?

Buy Links
Astraea
Amazon
Barnes and Noble 

Contact Links
Email: jvaughn@joselynvaughn.com
Webpage: http://joselynvaughn.com/
Blog: http://joselynvaughn.blogspot.com/
Facebook: http://facebook.com/joselynvaughn
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/joselynvaughn

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Thanks Joselyn, and Happy Holidays!

Guest Author: Anne K. Albert

Do you like cozy, funny mysteries? Want something to keep you warm over the holidays?

Then you definitely want to check out Anne Albert.

Why did you decide to write?
Until I reached a ‘certain’ age, okay, middle age LOL, I never imagined ordinary people could be writers. It seemed like such an incredible occupation--this ability to create worlds with words.

It was the late 1980s, I was a display advertising sales representative for a small weekly newspaper and I came face-to-face for the first time with a computer. I fell in love with the sound of fingertips flying across the keyboard. As strange as this sounds, that’s what inspired me to write my first book! I love that sound. It’s music to my ears.

Do you have a favorite theme or message for your readers?
I write to entertain. If I can make readers smile, laugh out loud, or give them an ‘ahhh’ moment as they’re reading one of my books then I’ve succeeded.

When do you write/what is your writing day like?
My writing day is mainly devoted to promotion and marketing, I’m afraid to say. This came as a huge surprise since getting published. Like most people, I just thought an author writes a book, turns it over to the publisher, and then begins writing the next one. Whoa! Talk about a reality check. The publishing arena is changing, and so is an author’s list of responsibilities.

On the bright side, I’ve met some incredible people along the way. I really believe my life is enriched because of it. It’s a wonderful time to be an author!

As to when I write, I find afternoons and evenings are my best writing time. When I’m really in the ‘zone’ it’s usually after midnight!

What is the best advice someone has given you about writing? The worst advice?
The best advice came from my editor. She said promotion and marketing is a marathon not a sprint. That has really helped me to keep at it day after day. She also told me to stop applying so much pressure on myself to write the next book. I’m working on book 3 and having a much harder time in that regard! I wanted to have it released months ago, but that didn’t happen. Protecting Hope, book 2 of the Piedmont Island Trilogy series, will be available soon, however…really!

As for the worst advice? That’s easy. Years ago, before this surge in e-books, a multi-published author advised to jot down how long it takes to write a book. Then, when an editor asks, you’ll have a good idea.

It sounds like a great idea, but it’s no longer applicable. Promoting and marketing on Facebook, Twitter, etc. is a huge commitment. Having all day to write is a luxury few authors have.

With zero interruptions, I can write a book in about 8 weeks. I know because I kept track on both Defending Glory, book 1 of the Piedmont Island Trilogy, and Frank, Incense and Muriel, book 1 of the Muriel Reeves Mysteries. When I spoke to my editor about book 2 for the Piedmont series, I used that calculation/information to set a deadline. Needless to say, that deadline came and went, and I’m still writing Protecting Hope. I haven’t even begun to write book two of my mystery series…ack! I can feel my blood pressure rising. I have to stop and breathe… ;-)

How do you approach a new book? Outlines? Just an idea?
Definitely just an idea. I’m a pantser who writes to find out what happens next. That is literally from one sentence to the next. I have no idea who will say or do what, or where the plot will go.

Which, now that I think about it, may be part of the problem with Protecting Hope and why it is taking me so long to complete. I wrote the synopsis at the request of my editor before I’d completed chapter three. I realize I don’t have to stick to it exactly, but writing the synopsis first just feels all wrong! While I’m proud of Protecting Hope, I don’t think I’ll write the synopsis for my next release until after I’ve written the book!

How do you develop your characters?
I usually have at least one trait in mind for each character when I begin writing. He’s determined. She’s spontaneous. The villain’s just plain old bad! Then, as I continue writing the first draft, they do something that shows me they’re so much more than that.

It’s very much like meeting a person in real life, actually. You develop a snap first impression of them when you’re introduced. The second time you meet you gain a little more insight into who they are. With each additional encounter you get a deeper understanding of what makes them tick. By the end of the first draft, I know my characters better than they do!

What makes a great book in your opinion?
A fast-paced plot with intriguing characters works for me. I have to care about them. I want to hit the ground running and not be caught up with a lot of backstory. Add a mystery or murder to solve, a dash of romance, a laugh, and a satisfying ending and you had me at Chapter One!

Where do you see yourself as an author in five years?
Writing. Promoting. Writing some more! Oh, and traveling, too. Thank you so much, Amy, for featuring me today! It’s been such fun.

Bio
Anne K. Albert’s award winning stories chill the spine, warm the heart and soothe the soul…all with a delightful touch of humor. A member of Romance Writers of America, Mystery Writers of America, Sisters in Crime, and married to her high school sweetheart for more than a quarter of a century, it's a given she'd write mystery and romantic suspense. When not writing she loves to travel, visit friends and family, and of course, read using ‘Threegio’ her cherished and much beloved Kindle 3G!

Book Blurb

FRANK, INCENSE AND MURIEL is set the week before Christmas when the stress of the holidays is enough to frazzle anyone’s nerves. Tensions increase when a friend begs Muriel to team up with a sexy private investigator to find a missing woman. Forced to deal with an embezzler, kidnapper, and femme fatale is bad enough, but add Muriel’s zany yet loveable family to the mix and their desire to win the coveted D-DAY (Death Defying Act of the Year) Award, and the situation can only get worse. This cozy, comedic mystery is recipient of the prestigious 2011 Holt Medallion Award of Merit.

To read a sample of Frank, Incense and Muriel click here: http://amzn.to/pg67sx .

Visit Anne online at her website http://www.annekalbert.com/  and blogs http://anne-k-albert.blogspot.com/  and http://muriel-reeves-mysteries.blogspot.com/ . She is also on Facebook www.facebook.com/annekalbert  and Twitter www.twitter.com/AnneKAlbert .

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Thank you Anne and Happy Holidays!

Truth is Too Far-fetched for Fiction

Truth really is stranger than fiction, and thank goodness for that. While writers get their ideas from all kinds of crazy places including the cob-webbed corners of their dark little minds, sometimes their best ideas come from a bit of reality that is too weird to pass up.


That’s what happened to me.

I was researching crime in the 19th century and ran across an article about a young woman who had been living as a man. Catherine Wilson. It seems like the type of thing that only happens in fiction, but it does not. In fact, this one only one of many cases where independent women chose to live as men rather than face the restrictions and terrible choices endured by women before the 20th century.

One generation as passed since women broke through the barriers that said the only proper role for a woman was to be a wife and mother. Many today don’t have a real conception of what it was like to be beaten, starved or even imprisoned in a mental institution if you did not agree to do what you were told, and yet that’s what many women faced. You did what your parents or guardian said you should do and married who they said you should marry, and that was pretty much it. Sure, some ran away with lovers, but many of those subsequently ended up in poverty or resorting to prostitution to survive.

It was not a lovely world for women with no visible means of support.

So what about Catherine Wilson?

Catherine Wilson lived in Perth and by her account, assumed the dress of a boy when she was between six and seven years old. Her brother had died and when her parents followed him, Catherine found herself without protection.

She donned her deceased brother’s clothing, took the name of John Thomson, and sought employment with graziers (working with cattle). When she was around fifteen, she drove cattle to Hallow Fair, Edinburgh and left her job as a grazier to work in the stables of one Mr. Lawson. She left Lawson’s service when she got a better situation as a groom and foot boy with J. Williams, Esq.

She worked for the Williams family for two years, but was discharged after an argument. She wandered up to Leith and managed to find another job as a “lumper” and she lodged at a house run by a woman named Gray.

This was the start of her downfall.

Mrs. Gray somehow found out that John, aka Catherine, was a woman. Mrs. Gray had a daughter who had an affair with their butcher and gotten pregnant. Well, the butcher was already married and broke things off with the girl when he heard the news.

When Mrs. Gray discovered her tenant, John, was really a female, she saw a way out of her dilemma. She told John/Catherine that she was liable to transportation for going around dressed as a man, unless she agreed to Mrs. Gray’s demands. The Grays demanded that “John” marry the pregnant Mary Gray in order to conceal Mary’s shame and prevent the compulsory disclosure of the real father.

John/Catherine didn’t want to do that and ran away to Edinburgh where she got employment as a bricklayer. But she didn’t escape the clutches of the Grays. Mrs. Gray followed with a letter from Mary, reproaching John for deserting Mary after seducing her. Mrs. Gray handed this letter to John/Catherine’s employer, who discharged John/Catherine on the basis of this depravity.

Mrs. Gray assured John that the butcher agreed to pay a dowry to support his child if only John would marry Miss Gray. John/Catherine finally consented and married Miss Gray. But the couple never got the dowry and married life didn’t agree with John. John/Catherine found it difficult to support a wife, child and his mother-in-law. The last straw was when his “wife” Mary resumed her affair with the butcher and got pregnant again.

John/Catherine couldn’t stand it any longer and tried to run away, only to be dragged back by the parish officers for desertion of “his” family. Finally, John/Catherine went to the parish officers and revealed her true sex.

She resumed her petticoats and went to Glasgow where she sought work in a factory.

And that, my friends, was the story of Catherine Wilson and the inspiration for the premise behind my Regency romantic mystery, The Bricklayer’s Helper. My heroine, Sarah, becomes Sam when her family is murdered. She dons the attire of a lad and obtains work as a bricklayer, until the murderer discovers she’s still alive.

Then the troubles really begin.

While I really wanted her to marry her employer’s daughter (because I thought it would be hysterically funny) my editor convinced me to make it more believable. Obviously she’d never heard of Catherine Wilson and how she married to continue hiding her identify.

Sometimes, reality is too far-fetched for fiction.

Guest Author: Lise McClendon

If you're like me, you have a wide range of books you like to read and crime thrillers are on the top of my list. I'm particularly glad to have Lise McClendon here today as she's recently released a new thriller, Jump Cut, under her persona of Rory Tate. In the interview below, Lise gives us a fascinating glimpse into her creative process.

Lise McClendon
Why did you decide to write?
I decided to write because I love to read, and I wanted to tell stories. Now that I’ve been writing for twenty-five years, seriously, I have been become fairly intolerant of forms that don’t actually tell a story, that don’t have a beginning, a middle, and an end. They can be long, short, or in between, but if there’s just a little scene or vignette, a humorous slice of life, I start to twitch. I need narrative. I breathe it. I was a film reviewer and love movies too. I am somewhat more tolerant of a film without a distinct plot, like Ingmar Bergman, say, but still I like a well-rounded tale, the denser and more complicated the better.

Do you have a favorite theme or message for your readers?
I used to harp on theme to students and critique group members -- a lot. Man v. nature, man v. man, all that. But after writing for so long I have found out what my overarching theme is, in every book. Kinda strange to just figure it out after all these years, isn’t it? But all my novels are about connection, about the bonds of family and what they mean to each of us, about the disparate ways we can hurt each other, and love each other. And laugh at each other! Don’t forget that one. I never set out to have a “message.” Hey, use Western Union, right? But in looking back, the relationship theme, the weirdness that can be family, the drama, the turmoil: all is a recurring constant, sometimes just an underlying rumble, in my books.

How do you approach a new book? Outlines? Just an idea?
I am, sadly, an intuitive writer. Tony Hillerman always said he wouldn’t take an advance without writing the book because he never knew if he could do it again. He wasn’t an outliner either. I get an idea, or half an idea, and try to see if it will work as a novel length idea. (A short story idea is easier, because it’s more of a one-note.) I’ll get an idea that might work for a novel and fill a spiral notebook with ramblings, then fill a computer journal of more ramblings and copied-and-pasted-in research. This can take months and much of it is ultimately useless. But I don’t have a very ordered mind. I approach writing as someone who needs focus. Writing actually gives me that, a purpose, and grounds me. Eventually I do work up an outline, a very squishy one. I’ve even done post-it notes and index cards in different colors! I’ll do anything to get organized. Sometimes I have to cut photos of my characters out of catalogs or magazines to get me started. I’m visual that way.

How do you develop your characters?

Sometimes a character springs full-blown from the imagination, but usually it takes some work to get not only the voice right -- the internal thinking, the view of the world, the mood -- but also the physical attributes, the background, and especially the name. Naming your character is so important. Work can mean writing and rewriting, or just thinking hard. In my latest manuscript I changed the main character’s job several times, making her less and less an expert. She ended up a policewoman, plain and simple, who just happened to be back from Iraq with PTSD and an expertise in bomb investigation. Which leads me to this question....

How much research do you do?
I could have made my character an ATFE agent with an expertise in explosives. I needed somebody to help at an explosion site in the first scene of the book. I even interviewed a very helpful federal agent. But in the end I wanted her grounded in her community, not popping in from the big city. And guess what, it would have been a lot more research to make her an expert. I love to research, don’t get me wrong, but it can overwhelm me, and scare me with so much information I can never find my way back to the story. Sometimes you just have to tell yourself, stop!

Who are your favorite authors? Have any authors inspired you or influenced your work?
One of my favorite authors is Alice Hoffman. She is so original, and writes such great characters. Her book, ‘Turtle Moon’ is everything a novel or a mystery should be. I wish I could write magic realism but apparently I am too literal! On my practical side I am a Jane Austen Jane-ite of long standing. In mystery fiction I love Jasper Fforde’s crazy vision and James Lee Burke’s lyrical writing. They all inspire me.

What makes a great book in your opinion?
A great book transports you into someone else’s life and makes you feel what it would be like to be that person. So a living, breathing, full-bodied character (or three). Then, I was told years ago that every story needs a birth, a death, and a sacrifice. In crime fiction, deaths are not difficult. Births somewhat more so, if you take it literally. But a birth can be a new start, a reckoning, a sea change in perception. Keeping in mind the need for sacrifice in a story can give you focus while writing. Who can sacrifice, and what can they altruistically give up? Maybe that’s why we love that O. Henry story where each lover sacrifices their favorite thing for the other: double bonus.

Where do you see the publishing industry going in the next few years and where do you see yourself within this industry?

I see publishing fragmenting so that there really is no “publishing industry” per se. There are big publishing corporations some of whom also sell books directly, there are authors who publish with them or on their own, and there is everything in between. I started a small press a few years ago with my friend Katy Munger, to bring our backlist into print again. With the rise of digital books and readers we’ve gone that direction. My new novel, Jump Cut, is our third original title. We’ve also ganged up with other authors to create a group called Thalia Press Authors Co-op. We blog together and we just published our first short story anthology, Dead of Winter. There are so many opportunities these days. You have to stay sharp and don’t try to do everything. And don’t forget to actually write. That’s what it’s all about. I tell myself that daily.

Brief Bio
Lise McClendon’s new novel, Jump Cut, written as Rory Tate, is out from Thalia Press. A modern thriller, it follows a Seattle TV reporter and a narcotics detective searching for answers in the deaths of three prostitutes to redeem their reputations and save the city they love. She is co-editor of the new anthology of chilling crime stories, Dead of Winter. Her website is http://lisemcclendon.com/ and Rory Tate’s is http://rorytate.com/ where you can view a short video trailer about Jump Cut. Her suspense novel, Blackbird Fly, has just been released in audio from Iambik. She lives in the wilds of Montana where she has discovered she is a ‘bear magnet.’ Learn more about Lise on her blog, on Facebook and Twitter: @LiseMcClendon.

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Funny note: I got a kick out of her being a "bear magnet." We're just a "weird magnet" here in North Carolina and our daily walk to the mailbox often has unexpected surprises. Once, there was a barracuda (yes, the fish) lying in the middle of the road. Another time, there was a cow trimming the weeds around the mailbox. Don't ask. All I can say is, it's a weird world out there.

Thanks Lise!

Guest Author: Charles Rosenberg

Remember the move, The Paper Chase? Or shows like LA Law and Boston Legal? Perry Mason? We've all been thrilled by courtroom drama and intrigues by lawyers (despite the jokes about them) and I'm honored to interview Charles Rosenberg, a gifted writer and lawyer.

Charles Rosenberg
Why did you decide to write?
After having been the legal script consultant to four TV shows – The Paperchase, LA Law, The Practice and Boston Legal, plus having been one of two on-air analysts for E! TV’s coverage of the O. J. Simpson criminal and civil trials, writing Death on a High Floor, which is a legal thriller, just seemed a natural thing to do. Although the truth is that I started a similar novel in the mid-70’s, but never finished it. So maybe it all started back then.

How much research do you do?
Didn’t have to do any research, really, on what life is like inside very large law firms since I spent a significant part of my life as a lawyer inside such firms (although I want to be sure to point out that none of them was as mean as Marbury Marfan, the firm in Death on a High Floor). Nor did I have to do much research on criminal procedure since I taught that subject as a law professor once-upon-a-time, have represented clients in criminal matters (although they involved white collar federal prosecutions rather than murders) and, of course, watched every minute of the Simpson murder trial plus a couple of others. So all I had to do was brush up a bit on current California criminal procedure. As for ancient Roman coins, which play a key role in the plot, I collect such coins (in a minor kind of way), and I own all of the books that are referred to in the novel. So that research was done from my own book shelves. I did have to learn a bit more, though, about the particular coin in the book – the EID MAR (Ides of March) denarius of Brutus—the coin Brutus minted to celebrate his assassination of Julius Caesar, complete with double daggers and the Latin words EID Mar (Ides of March) on the back. That research I was able to do on the Internet. Other than that, it was just odds and ends Internet research.

What was the most interesting thing you discovered when you were doing your research?
That counterfeit ancient coins are even more common than I thought. Indeed, I discovered that some forgeries were so good that there are people who collect them.
(Note from Amy: I had no idea people collected forged coins, but I can see why. Many are works of art and show real talent on the part of the forgers. Makes you wonder what they could accomplish if they set their mind to doing real work. :) )

What’s your favorite method for researching?
The Internet, particularly things like Google Scholar.

Do you have a favorite theme or message for your readers?
Hmm. I think I’d like people to take from the novel that circumstantial evidence of guilt doesn’t always mean that the person is guilty.

When do you write/what is your writing day like?
My life, because it involves continuing to be a full-time lawyer, as well as an adjunct law professor, is hard to plan from day to day. So I just write whenever/wherever I get the time. There is no standard “writing day” in my life. Might be nice if there were.

What is the best advice someone has given you about writing? The worst advice?
Best advice was: Finish it and then go back later and polish it. Worst advice: use an outline.

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

Outlines work well for many people, I know. They just don’t for me. I approach a mystery just by asking myself who died, who did it and why. That provides, instantly, two characters (although the dead one doesn’t have much of a role). From there, it just develops as I write.

How do you develop your characters?
I think they develop organically through interactions with the other characters as I write them, mainly through dialogue. I’m a big believer in “show, don’t tell.” In some ways, I just start with a broad character outline. For example, the main criminal defense lawyer in Death on a High Floor is anti-technology: doesn’t own a computer or a cell phone. Once you have that down, the rest of his personality just flows from that—he’s something of a crank in everything. The ancient coin dealer, Serappo Prodiglia, is quirky, in part because I think that to be a dealer in ancient coins you have to be a bit quirky. Aren’t all antiquarians quirky in some way?

Who are your favorite authors? Have any authors inspired you or influenced your work?
I always have trouble with this question because I’d need to break it down into many categories, and name a favorite for each. In the thriller genre, I’ve always loved Frederick Forsyth, who wrote Day of the Jackal. Currently, in the area of novels that are more “literary,” I’m enamored of Hilary Mantel, who wrote Wolf Hall (the Man Booker Prize winner in 2009), among many other novels. In terms of true influence, though , I’d have to say it would be the non-fiction work by the late John Gardner, The Art of Fiction, Craft for Young Writers. I first read it when it came out in 1984, and it’s still full of good advice and insight.

What makes a great book in your opinion?
Being able to be absorbed in the fiction in so profound a way that you truly forget that the characters never really lived.

If a reader took away one thing from your book(s), what would you like that to be?
A sense of what it’s like, psychologically, to be accused of a crime you didn’t commit.

Do you have any tips for aspiring authors?
Just finish it!

Where do you see yourself as an author in five years?
I have a second novel that’s about 70% done (not a sequel) that I hope to finish in a couple of months. Then I plan a sequel to Death on a High Floor. And then there are some novels beyond that, one of which is a historical novel, and one of which is a sci-fi “space opera.” And I hope to be better known.  But what author does not?

Where do you see the publishing industry going in the next few years and where do you see yourself within this industry?
I’m sad to say (because I still like hard copy books, even though I now read most books on my Kindle) that print books, except for specialty items, are going away. As a result, large brick and mortar book retailers (like retailers of music) are going to be largely gone (Barnes & Noble lost a lot of money this year), and publishers are going to find themselves, like record companies, re-emerging in forms they can’t now quite envisage. There will also be, as with record companies, a lot more consolidation.

Bio
Charles B. (“Chuck”) Rosenberg has been the credited legal script consultant to three prime time television shows: L.A. Law, The Practice and Boston Legal, as well as The Paper Chase (Showtime). During the O .J. Simpson criminal trial, he was one of two on-air legal analysts for E! Entertainment Television’s live coverage of the trial. He also provided commentary for E!’s coverage of the Simpson civil trial. He is also the author of the book The Trial of O.J. Simpson: How to Watch the Trial and Understand What’s Really Going On (Publishing Partners 1994) and is a contributing author to the book Lawyers in Your Living Room! Law on Television (ABA Publishing 2009). He has taught extensively as an adjunct law professor, including at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles, the Loyola Law School International LLM Program in Bologna, Italy, the UCLA School of Law, the Pepperdine School of Law, and the Anderson Graduate School of Management at UCLA. A graduate of the Harvard Law School, where he was an editor of the Harvard Law Review, Chuck currently practices in the Los Angeles area. He has been a partner in several law firms, including a large international firm. Currently, he is a partner in a three-lawyer firm. Chuck and his wife have lived in Los Angeles since the early 1970s. He is at work on a second novel.

Website: http://charlesrosenberg.wordpress.com/  (with links to blog and the book’s Facebook page)

Book blurb
Death on a High Floor
Simon Rafer is the roundly hated managing partner of Marbuy Marfan, a glitzy Los Angeles law firm with more than a thousand lawyers scattered across four continents. Robert Tarza, a sixtyish, laid back senior partner who is waltzing toward retirement, has the misfortune to get in early one morning and find Rafer dead in the reception area, an elaborate dagger struck in his back. It’s not good to find the body, and it’s particularly not good if you seem to have a motive, to wit: Rafter had just bought a rare ancient Roman coin from Tarza for a cool half-million dollars, declared it a fake and was demanding his money back. LAPD homicide detective Spritz has his eyes fixed on Tarza from the start, and seems near to building an air tight case against him for Murder One. Jenna James, the kick-ass woman associate whom Tarza has mentored for seven years, wants to defend him. And Tarza likes the idea, because he finds himself falling apart and needs somebody who believes in him. But then again, maybe Jenna herself is the real killer . . .

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Thank you!

Sample Sunday: The Bricklayer's Helper

It's sample Sunday again! This time, I'm giving you a small taste from my Regency romantic mystery, The Bricklayer's Helper.

What would you do if you were a young girl, orphaned during the early years of the 19th century? Without a family and references, there were pitifully few jobs for women, leaving them to face desperate lives of thievery or prostitution.

Sam faces this terrible situation in The Bricklayer’s Helper.

Her story was based on the actual life of Catherine Wilson, who was orphaned at fourteen and bravely refused to accept the social restrictions of her day. She donned her deceased brother’s clothes to find work under the name of John Thomson.

An orphan like Catherine, Sarah finds herself alone when a suspicious fire burns down her home with her family trapped inside. All she can remember about the horrific event is the warning to “run and hide.” Fighting to stay alive, Sarah cuts her hair, dons the garb of a young boy and obtains a job as a bricklayer’s helper. This disguise allows her to remain safe for nearly thirteen years.

Unfortunately, work takes her to London and a man from her past recognizes her. He arranges a meeting with her, only to be murdered before they can speak. Desperate that she may be vulnerable, Sarah hires an inquiry agent from the Second Sons Inquiry Agency.

However, Sarah is not too sure about the inquiry agent she's assigned. William Trenchard may be competant to fumble his way beneath a lady’s skirt, but can he discover who murdered her family? Despite her doubts, Sarah hires him, hoping to survive long enough to uncover the killer.
Unfortunately, their decisions may prove to be dangerous to their hearts…if not downright fatal.

Book: The Bricklayer’s Helper

In the scene below, Sarah, in her guise as Sam Sanderson, has gone to meet a man from her past, unsure what secrets he will reveal about the fire that destroyed her family.

Excerpt from The Bricklayer’s Helper
 
She glanced around, trying to listen over the pounding of her heart. No one shouted. No one except the major showed any interest in her—other than sheer annoyance when she impeded the smooth flow of foot traffic.


Major Pickering raised his hand, his eyes intent on her face. She took a slow step forward. Then without warning, he stumbled. His hand fell to his side. His gaze wavered. A look of confusion passed over his thin face. Glancing down, he pressed a hand to his side. And as he brought his palm up in front of his face, his legs buckled beneath him. He fell sharply to his knees, and with a shudder, he raised his head. His gaze once more met Sam’s as his mouth worked soundlessly.

A sense of urgency sent her running forward, hand outstretched. Alarmed by the pallor of his face, she tried to reach him to hear the words he uselessly mouthed. Then, although she couldn’t be sure with the jostling men between them, he shook his head slightly in warning. A spasm twisted his features.

Sam stopped and watched in agonized horror as he slowly crumpled, face down, onto the pavement.

A passerby dressed in black bent over him. His quick hands patted the major’s back and sides.

Several men trying to pass turned and exclaimed in surprise.

“What’s wrong?” one said, his voice carrying above the crowd.

“Drunk—”

“No—murder!” another man yelled. “Fetch the constable! This man’s been stabbed!”

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I hope you enjoyed the excerpt!

Guest Author: Anne Ashby

We're lucky to have author Anne Ashby join us today. We share a publisher, The Wild Rose Press, and I was delighted when she agreed to let me interview her. She and I both share the same writing goal: write a book that leaves the reader with a smile on his or her face.

More and more, when I read a book, I want at least some of the characters to survive (preferably characters I like) and be happy. Real life can be so difficult at times, that it's nice to think someone, somewhere has survived all the trauma and found happiness, even if it's just in a book.

Anne Ashby
Why did you decide to write?


I don’t think I can say why I began writing, it was just something that happened, a natural progression, I guess you could say. I loved to read and dreamed of putting my own stories onto paper, but it took the encouragement of Loree Lough, whose “romance writing” course I attended in MD, to make me realise I could actually do this.

How much research do you do?

Writing contemporary stories makes research very easy – I’m writing about today, in today’s world, with today’s problems and solutions. I’m in awe of historical writers and those who develop other worlds, but I’m not even slightly tempted to follow their lead. I’m sticking to contemporary. I haven’t yet set a story in an unfamiliar place so descriptions are either via memories or visits to those locations.

What was the most interesting thing you discovered when you were doing your research?

Researching for my first story “Worlds Apart” was the most involved and interesting as I used many of the language/cultural differences between USA and New Zealand we discovered when shifting to Maryland. Our family assumed movies and television had prepared us – after all, both countries speak English, don’t they? No, we discovered. American is spoken in US and New Zealand’s brand of English caused a few raised eyebrows. Much of every day living in US was initially foreign to us. But with the help of good friends we soon found our feet, and I discovered heaps of padding for my story. Each time my words baffled friends, or they confused me, out came the notebook to record yet another weird or wonderful distinction.

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

My tag-line is “warm, fuzzy and fun” and I always start off a story intending it to be light-hearted. My aim is to provide a ‘feel good’ buzz for my readers. But sometimes my characters take control and I’ve ended up writing about some very serious social issues. For example, in “Time to Bury the Past” teenage binge drinking plays a major part. Despite this, I hope my stories can always bring a smile and a sigh of satisfaction as the cover closes.

When do you write/what is your writing day like?

I started writing when my youngest child started school so I got into the habit of using “school hours” as my writing day. Over the last few months this has changed slightly as I work on self-promotion, with me spending about 30-60 mins posting onto loops/FB etc. I’m yet to dive into Twitter but will take that plunge one day soon. When writing, I usually read over/edit the previous day’s work then write whatever is itching to get out. I’m a pantser, attempts at planning my stories have so far fallen flat. I’m reasonably disciplined (maybe because of years in the military) and put in about 5-6 hours Mon-Fri on some sort of “writing-related” work.

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

Some ideas present themselves almost en masse, while others appear as just one scene and take a lot of thought before they turn into a whole story. It is my intention that every book will be planned, with a clear outline, the precise number of pages per chapter, personality charts, character arcs, everything! Only when I sit down to do this planning my mind turns to mush and nothing appears. So instead I let the jumbled story flow out and do an awful lot of editing once the draft is complete.

Who are your favorite authors? Have any authors inspired you or influenced your work?

I’ll be very surprised if anyone reading this has ever heard of my favourite author. New Zealander Essie Summers wrote over 50 stories for Mills & Boon, setting most of them close to where I grew up. Reading her romances and knowing the locations made the stories so real. I guess she provided a mile of inspiration – I could write stories set in far off New Zealand, too.

If a reader took away one thing from your book(s), what would you like that to be?

A smile.

Do you have any tips for aspiring authors?

Write, write and then write some more. Never give up if writing is your dream. Keep practicing and devour any writing related information you can grab, no matter where you find it. Then write even more. Submit your work, hopefully feedback will help you recognise your faults or weaknesses.

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

I’d like to hope I’d be still writing 4-5 books a year and getting them all published. The most important thing for me at the moment is to stay true to the “sweet” genre, but provide stories that are realistic in today’s world. Sweet doesn’t have to mean sickly.

Brief Bio

I’m a contemporary traditional/sweet author from New Zealand, published with The Wild Rose Press. I grew up in a very small coastal town in New Zealand’s southern-most province. An eagerness to travel, fostered by my mother, led me to join the Royal NZ Navy where I enjoyed a very satisfying career. I have been fortunate to have travelled extensively and lived in Singapore and Maryland USA. I began writing contemporary romances when my youngest child started school. I enjoy including family issues, genealogy, rugby and/or snippets from my past military life in my stories. I am dedicated to bringing something of my beautiful country to romance readers everywhere, so New Zealand always features in my stories, normally as the setting. When not reading or writing, I find plenty to occupy my time with my family commitments. I currently live in Auckland with my husband and two of our four children.

TIME TO BURY THE PAST

By: ANNE ASHBY

Available – Amazon, Wild Rose Press

BACK BLURB
PTSD forces American Naval Officer Zane Erickson to re-evaluate his life. A posting to untroubled New Zealand after years in Afghanistan will allow him to bond with his motherless teenage son. Unfortunately Cody doesn't share his father's enthusiasm for this new living arrangement.

Kelsey Hewitt is a single mother wrestling with her son's drinking problem, struggling to keep the truth about his abusive father from him and determined to exclude men from her life.

As Kelsey and Zane are drawn together by the boys' friendship they each have compelling reasons to avoid any possible intimacy. But while dealing with their sons' dilemmas, their attraction for each other deepens.

Can Kelsey risk allowing another control freak into her life?

Anne Ashby
Author of: “Worlds Apart” “Devon’s Dream” “Time to Bury the Past” “Wilderness Liaison” coming soon
http://www.anneashby.com/
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Thanks Anne!

Guest Author: Judy Alter

Mystery and Western writer Judy Alter joins us today to talk about book signings and finding a niche. I'm glad she was able to join us as she touches on two subjects that speak to the nostalgia of the season. My father loved westerns and mysteries and I inherited a good many of his books when he passed away. To my delight, I found after I married my wonderful husband, that his German mother also loved westerns and I felt privileged to share my father's books with her, too. Sharing books and finding new authors is one of the best ways to make a connection with others, so I hope Judy's blog helps you to connect with her and find a new, favorite author to share with your friends and family.

Judy Alter
Book signings and finding a niche


I’ve been following the Facebook postings of western writer Steven Law. He apparently arranged to sign books at Hy-Vee grocery stores across the nation. For the last three days, he’s been at Hy-Vees in the Omaha area—he always tells what part of the store he’s in, such as next to vitamins, the produce, whatever—once, by good fortune, next to the ATM machine. His book is a traditional western, Yuma Gold, and I doubt HyVee is mentioned in it. But he’s somehow made great use of a connection and has done successful signings in an unconventional venue for books.

My new novel, Skeleton in a Dead Space, is definitely a neighborhood novel, one in which the Fort Worth historic neighborhood of Fairmount is a major character. Kelly O’Connell buys and sells real estate and renovates older houses, particularly Craftsman style, in Fairmount, and she is passionate about the neighborhood. So are the residents there today.

Fairmount was built mostly between 1910 and 1930. For years, it was a stable upper-middle class neighborhood. But in the latter part of the twentieth century residents began to move to the suburbs, to more fashionable neighborhoods and, probably in truth, to safer neighborhoods. Many houses became rental property, with larger ones broken into apartments and rooming houses. It was a neighborhood on the decline until maybe the 1990s when young professionals began to realize the advantages of a neighborhood so accessible to downtown and the hospital district. They moved in, renovated the older homes, and turned the neighborhood around. Today it is more remodeled homes than not, but there’s still an occasional dilapidated house that leans and needs paint and has a washing machine on the front porch. There’s a great esprit d’ corps among the residents, and so I’ve marketed directly to them.

My book signings have been in unconventional signing sites but places dear to Fairmount residents. I launched the book with two signings at The Old Neighborhood Grill, a popular café about a block beyond the actual boundary of the neighborhood but one many residents frequent. In two signings—early (7:00 a.m.) Saturday morning and 5:30 the following Monday evening, I sold almost 75 books. Sure, lots of people came because I’d sent out emails and Peter, the grill owner, had fliers. But several regular customers walked up and said they wanted to buy books for their wives.

Fairmount also houses a wonderful store called Old Home Supply—it’s got everything you could possible want to redo your older home or add character to a new structure—from doorknobs to French doors, plumbing fixtures, fire screens, you name it. I once bought a metal couch for my porch there. It features two running horses and a Texas star. So now, Old Home Supply has eight copies of my book, and I signed there the Saturday after Thanksgiving. For that signing and the one at the local Barnes & Noble, I made a sign that said “A mystery set in Fort Worth’s own Fairmount Historic District.”

Fairmount also has a book club, and I spoke to them, though it was a small group, and they talked as much about the neighborhood and its street repairs as they did my book. But it was a pleasant evening, and I bet the word spread. They eagerly asked if I’d come back to talk about the second book, and I assured them I would.

My point in all this is to suggest writers find the unique audience for each of their books and then look for alternative signing sites. My marketing in Fairmount has paid off wonderfully.

Check out my website— http://www.judyalter.com/ —for pictures of Kelly’s neighborhood and see why it’s a character in the book.

Author’s note:

Judy Alter is the author of fiction and nonfiction for adults and young adults. Much of her career focused on women in the American West, and she is the recipient of Western Heritage (Wrangler) Awards from the National Cowboy Museum and Hall of Fame and Spur Awards from Western Writers of America She also was honored with the Owen Wister Award for Lifetime Achievement by WWA. But she always wanted to write mysteries, and Skeleton in a Dead Space, published by Turquoise Morning Press, is her first venture into cozy mysteries. At least two more Kelly O’Connell mysteries are scheduled.

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Thank you, Judy, and Happy Holidays

Guest Author: Abby Gaines

We are really fortunate to have author Abby Gaines with us today. She's an absolutely terrific author of romances that are perfect to brighten up a long winter's night.

Abby Gaines

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


Yes, I do. The theme that comes through in all my stories is “You can be loved just the way you are.” Which isn’t to say that love won’t change and transform us—it does. But unconditional love is a very precious thing.

When do you write/what is your writing day like?

I get up at 5am Monday to Friday, and write until 7am. I used to do email etc first thing, but then I attended a talk by creativity guru Eric Maizel, who says the very first hour or two are the most creative of the day. Since I started using that early morning for creation rather than administration, my productivity has increased a lot.

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

I usually have an idea for a quirky situation, likely involving the heroine – the kind of “oh, no!” situation that makes you laugh and cringe for her at the same time. Such as, “Oh, no, she duped her boyfriend into going on a live TV wedding show, and he just jilted her in front of an audience of millions!” (Married by Mistake, available as a free download from www.tryharlequin.com). Or “Oh, no, she met the man of her dreams and he just fell in love with her best friend...and now she’s got to stop the wedding!” (Her Best Friend’s Wedding, Superromance, June 2011). And, my new book, The Earl’s Mistaken Bride: “Oh, no, she married the guy she’s loved for years, but it turns out he thought he was marrying her much prettier sister!”

Who are your favorite authors? Have any authors inspired you or influenced your work?

I read widely, but my favorite authors in the romance and women’s fiction genre are Karina Bliss, Sophie Kinsella, Kristan Higgins, Susan Elizabeth Phillips, Georgette Heyer, Julia Quinn...to name a few.

What makes a great book in your opinion?

I’m not sure what makes it, but this is how I recognize it: I’m still thinking about a month after I finished reading it.

If a reader took away one thing from your book(s), what would you like that to be?

A smile! I like to say that I write “stories that leave you smiling.” Which isn’t to say you might not cry a little bit along the way, but you should definitely end up smiling at the end of my books.

Do you have any tips for aspiring authors?

Keep writing, keep learning (even when you think you’ve already mastered the craft), keep submitting your work to editors. As far as possible, make every piece of dialogue and every action unique to your character...work hard to make sure they react in ways that person would react, rather than how you, the author, need them to react for the sake of your story. So, for example, if your hero makes hand-crafted furniture, rather than have him think of the heroine’s skin as being as smooth as silk, have him think of it as smooth as the finest French polish. Okay, maybe that’s not very romantic...but you know what I mean.

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

I have no idea! The publishing industry is changing so fast, it’s impossible to say. I can pretty much guarantee that whatever the next big thing is, I’ll miss it. I don’t seem to have very good timing like that. I’m loving writing my Regency inspirationals, but have also really enjoyed working on Young Adult and women’s fiction manuscripts recently. Whatever I write, it will always have a happy ending.

Brief Bio

Abby Gaines writes funny, tender romances for Love Inspired Historical and Harlequin Superromance -- she's currently at work on her 19th novel for Harlequin. She's also experimenting with a young adult novel and a women's fiction novel. Abby loves reading, skiing, traveling and cooking for friends, as well as spending time with her husband and children.

The Earl’s Mistaken Bride is her first book for Love Inspired Historical. Here’s the blurb:

As soon as Marcus Brookstone lifts his bride's veil, he sees he's been tricked. He made a bargain with God—to marry a good, Christian girl if his mother recovered from illness. But Marcus intended to marry pretty Amanda, not stubborn Constance. His next plan, to ignore his new wife, fails as well when Constance makes it clear that she wants a true union.

Constance Somerton doesn't dare reveal that she's been enamored of Marcus for years. The man believes love is for weaklings. Someone needs to teach him about marriage's blessings. Someone who sees beyond his arrogance to the tender heart beneath. Someone exactly like Constance….

Visit http://www.abbygaines.com/ to read an excerpt.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving!
I hope you are enjoying time with your family and loved ones, may you have the brightest and happiest day of the season!

Thank you to all my readers, friends and acquaintances who have shared their lives and inspiration with us over the years. We are truly fortunate.

I'm writing this in between bouts of cooking--this is one time of year when I truly enjoy being the traditional housewife. Yesterday, I baked bread and made the cranberry sauce. Today, we've got the turkey on the smoker and I've made a pumpkin pie and some deviled eggs. All that's left are the collards, green bean casserole and whatever else I get inspired to make.

Outside, there are still a few roses hanging on, like our Comtesse du Cayla, one of my favorites. The petals have a sheen that looks just like apricot silk. We've already had one frost, though, so I don't think the remaining buds will open, unfortunately.

Tip to Share
Here's a little tip, as well.
We're starting to clean up the garden and I found a few clusters of green tomatoes on the withered vines in my veggie patch. Rather than toss them into the compost, I went ahead and picked them. So last night, we had blackened fish and fried green tomatoes. Not half bad.

So the tip is: if you have a few small green tomatoes left on the vine, don't toss them into the compost.
Slice them about 1/4" thick, dredge them in whatever you like (I used chicken breader) and fry 'em up.
To conserve on oil, I like to use a small cast iron pan that I only fill with about 1/2" of oil. Just enough for the tomatoe slices to float in.

They only need to cook a few minutes, until brown.

Happy Holidays!
Amy Corwin