MMWUC: Another Can of Beans

A friend asked me to help him out. His publisher had been pressuring him to create a web presence via a web site. He wondered if it was worth it. Well, I'm no marketing expert, but I agreed with his publisher. The higher the name recognition, the better the sales. The more times you show up on a web search, the more likely you won't be like an old can of beans stuck on a shelf waiting for some granny to get you on discount. You'll be the "AMAZING NEW ALL-TEMPERATURE WRITER on display in front of the store.


That written, there is a time drain involved with doing anything other than writing. Blogs and web sites can turn into the nightmare from Cleveland, the thing that wouldn't leave, or that blood-sucking monster under the bed. Don't get pulled into a big trap. Learn to budget your time. And if you're uncomfortable about your ability to build a website or blog, get some help. Sydney has some thoughts to help.

1. Look at the websites of authors you like. Steal the idea; make it better.
2. Keep the web page simple so that you don't have to update it every five minutes; though, you will be on it a lot in the beginning as you load up pertinent information.

3. Whoever designs your website, make sure they keep it simple to update. You don't want some expert geek giving you something that only he can update.

4. Create a blog that's linked to the website. Again, keep it simple. I hate going to a blog and spending a half-hour just trying to figure out what's going on.

5. Use the website for more static information; use the blog for more dynamic-interactive information, though there are times when the web site is better suited for contests and some other events.

6. Link, link, link, link. Should I say it once more. Link. Link the website and blog to everything you can. (via Twitter, Facebook, Linked-in, etc.)

7. Create a signature line to make sure people remember who you are and how to get more information about you.

8. Pick a theme for both your website and blog. They don't have to be the same. What are you trying to say that separates you from the crap that's out there clogging up the web?

9. Create consistency with your blog so that you aren't updating it daily or, god forbid, hourly. Leave the updates that your cat just barfed on your WIP for twitter. Write your weekly or bi-weekly blog entry about the positive affects of cat barf on the re-editing of a previously perfect WIP, as an example.

10. Don't let either the website or blog consume you. Without that next book, your career will wither and die. You must write.

Go forth and pollute the web. Does anyone else have additional advise?

Guest Blog: Virginia Winters "Revising and Editing"

I'm sitting at the kitchen table in front of the bow window. Beyond the glass, the bird feeder is busy this Sunday morning, with chickadees, purple finches, American goldfinches, doves, nuthatches and cardinals the most frequent diners. In front of me sits a mound of paper, my trusty MacBook Pro and James Scott Bell's book entitled Revision and Editing.

It's that time. The third in my Dangerous Journeys series lies before me in pieces, some in the bowels of the computer and some in that mound.

I read through the lot after I'd put it aside for a month or so. I tried to come to it with fresh eyes, and didn't edit or revise.

Now I'm on the hunt for the adverbs, the dreaded "ing", the clauses beginning with "as". My weapons are markers, orange and pink.

What to do about "had"? I've come to terms with removing or rewriting phrases such as "congealing on her yellow linen skirt" or "as she watched the birds" or any word ending in "ly".

But what to do about "had"? My English teacher and my Latin teacher were both tough. An event in the remote past called for the pluperfect (past perfect) and nothing less.

The complaint by current writers seems to be that the use of this tense slows down the action. I like the clarity of knowing just when events occurred and in what order. I want to understand the cause and effect, and I need the past perfect for that.

So what happened in the past, stays in the past, held in place by that useful little "had".
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Virginia Winters - The Facepainter Murders, available at Amazon.com and http://www.writewordsinc.com vwinters@sympatico.ca http://www.virginiawinters.ca http://ginny200.wordpress.com/

Book Review: "Ties That Bind" by Carolyn Arnold

Sometimes a person (or character) will just rub you the wrong way. So it is with Madison Knight in Ties That Bind by Carolyn Arnold for me. As a detective, Madison hates clichés as much as, well, seemingly most people. She is Kojak with a candy bar substituting for the lollypop but without the charm. Her attempts at empathy are mostly swallowed up as repetitious and muddled internal thoughts. She appears uncomfortable in her own skin, and I never knew if she was going to laugh or punch her partner one more time. (I'd have hit her back a few times!) The book has more than its share of clichés in the form of cardboard characters, a sounding-board partner with belabored personal issues dragged out far too long, and an overused twist regarding the bad guy--though it was nicely handled.

My copy of the story had numerous formatting issues. I can't hold that against the author, but I believe a stronger editor would have tightened the decent story line, cutting some of the lengthier scenes and eviscerating the partner. (Second bananas need to bring something to the table, and he just doesn’t.) Is it really that bad? No. Personal preferences will draw (and have drawn) some readers to Madison's tough-as-nails personality. The investigation proceeds more like real-life: hard work, bad breaks, lucky finds, bad timing, confusion, inexperience, intrusive politics, etc. The twists are well handled, and while the suspense is not as sharp as it could be, it was there. All total though, this is just a slightly better than average read, shy of a four rating. It is a "3."

I'm Just Following Orders

Guile told me to do this for reasons I'm not sure, but I've been tagged to show, from my current WIP, page 77, beginning with 7 lines from the 7th line.
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"Yes, a screw. He'd been screwed. Move on. Do you have anything more conclusive?"

      Norm pushed his glasses up to the bridge of his nose and cleared his throat. "I found a small bat that fits the mark on his head. I bagged the bat. It wasn't near the body and was unlikely to have struck him with sufficient force to kill him when the meteor crashed through the office. He was hit hard. Doc needs to take a liver test, but from my experience, he was dead three to five hours before he had his close encounter."

      Jerry's close encounter wasn't close. It was dead on. I popped an aspirin for my growing headache,
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Conclusion: Sometimes you feel like a nut; sometimes it's confirmed.

MMWUC: You Titled Your Novel What?

If I've read one article about titles, I've read a hundred. While first time novelists going through the traditional publication route don't have a tremendous say-so about their titles, the wave of indie (self-pubbed) writers have total control. Much has been written about the power of titles on readers as they browse the racks at the store or scroll through the endless twitters or online lists for a new read not associated with everyone's favorite word: FREE. Titles can make a break a sale. No magic exists that can derive a perfect title, but for fun the LULU Title Scorer can derive the value of your title.

Also, this article covers some dos and donts for television titles; however, it might be instructive for that new novel of yours. And I don't like your title: Why Jennifer Aniston Barfed on my Date with Her

Guest Blog: Is 'The End' Really The End?

Query, Synopsis, Pitch, Logline:  Essential Elements and Differences

The novel written, you take a deep breath and stare in disbelief at the words on your computer screen: The End. Perhaps you reward yourself with a drink or a cup of tea. You deserve it. Many wannabe writers talk about wanting to write a novel, few have the courage (or are crazy enough) to type ‘Chapter One,’ many will run out of steam by page one hundred, but you have persevered. Go ahead, enjoy the feeling of accomplishment, because what writers dread most lies ahead. Can you say query, synopsis, pitch, logline, and not shudder?

Actually, I’m here to tell you that those four writer’s tools have gotten a bad rap. So relax while we examine together what they are, and what each should contain.

1.      Query: There is plenty of information on this subject, and much conflicting advice. Let’s sort it out. First, do not overthink; use the inspiration and writing skills that make your novel shine. Since you only have a few seconds to grab the agent’s attention, open with a powerful hook. Of course, if you have a strong personal referral or have met the agent, by all means mention that right away. Follow this with four succinct paragraphs that cover: (1) why you chose this agent (e.g., she specializes in your genre); (2) the story line (only the highlights—this is not a plot summary), including the protagonist’s goal and the main obstacles to reaching it; (3) your potential market and/or comparison with successful books; and (4) your credentials, focusing on any prior publications and your motivation and qualifications for writing the book.  

2.      Synopsis: How do you distill the essence of your full-length novel into a one- or two-page synopsis? The temptation is to summarize the plot as if in a book report, which is guaranteed to make an agent’s eyes glaze over. Concentrate on the arc of the story, the main events upon which the plot turns, shedding details of settings and other things that do not entice the agent to read the manuscript. Make your synopsis a vital selling tool. In your best writing style let the reader feel with your characters and their conflicts. And you must reveal the ending, at least in broad terms.

3.      Pitch: This is the blurb you’ll find on the inside flap of a hardcover’s jacket or on a soft cover’s back cover. It must compel the reader to ask for more. Think of movie trailers that give you enough to whet your appetite but not so much as to satiate it. Therefore, the pitch should end with a strong hook that begs the story question without revealing the ending. For examples check out my pitches for The Stasi File and its sequel, Teya’s Kiss, as entered in the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award (ABNA) in 2011 and 2012, respectively, on my website.

      

Logline: In addition, your promotion tool kit should include a one-sentence logline a/k/a elevator pitch or book concept. Here is mine for The Stasi File:

An American lawyer and his former lover, an Italian opera diva, are drawn into an assassination plot by a Stasi General desperate to prevent the collapse of the East German police state after the fall of the Berlin Wall.

And here is the one for Teya’s Kiss:

When a Washington trial lawyer and a budding opera diva are pressed into searching for a missing archaeologist in the Santa Fe hills, they not only encounter ruthless antiquities traffickers, but find their fates intertwined with that of a shaman’s daughter, who centuries earlier played a crucial role in the Pueblo Indian Revolt that drove the Spanish from New Mexico.

5.      Differences:

(1) Query - Its purpose is to capture an agent’s interest so that she will request additional materials like a synopsis, the opening chapters, or even the full manuscript.

(2) Synopsis - It must represent your best writing style so as to wow the agent to where she will want to read the manuscript.

(3) Pitch - You will most likely use your pitch at a writer’s conference or in a contest like the ABNA. For an oral pitch, be sure to memorize your three-hundred-word version so well that you can recite it not verbatim but in a way that feels as if you were making it up on the spot. In other words, you fake spontaneity.

(4) Logline - It should be short enough to enable you to spout it off even if awakened from a deep sleep.

You can appreciate the impossibility of covering these essential sales tools in detail in this short article. I hope you’ll find what I’ve stated here useful to get you started on your road to publication. But no matter what happens, don’t forget to congratulate yourself on the accomplishment of writing the novel you always wanted to.  

Peter Bernhardt, Author, The Stasi File: Opera and Espionage - A Deadly Combination; Quarter Finalist 2011 Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award; Amazon/Amazon Kindle: Sequel: Teya's Kiss. http://sedonawriter.tripod.com - http://sedonaauthor.blogspot.com - tweet @sedonawriter

  

Short Bio: A naturalized U.S. citizen who emigrated at age 23 from Germany, the author served as editor-in-chief of the Tulsa Law Journal. He graduated first in his law school class. His 25-year legal career included 18 years with the Department of Justice as the Civil Chief in a U.S. Attorney's Office. Writing has been a lifelong passion. Teya’s Kiss, sequel to his first novel, The Stasi File, will soon be published. 

Book Review: Murder Deju Vu by Polly Iyer

Any book published on my birth date has to be read. It was this in mind that I bought Polly Iyer's "Murder Déjà Vu," a book with a strong plot, solid writing, and well-drawn characters. The plight of ex-convict Reece Daughtry, trying to live out his life after an overturned conviction for murder on a technicality is compelling and his emotional upheavals believable. This is especially true once he meets a woman who trusts him at every turn, even when events put him back into the cross-hairs of various characters bent on Reece's demise. The story details surrounding the two major settings put you right there. And the romance intertwining with the mystery seemed unforced and true. This is a solid read with numerous twists, turns, and surprises worth the space in you library. It rates a solid 4 stars.

MMWUC: Are you in Writing School

As we mature, people tend to surround themselves with mirror images. Career, family, school, our social media trends, and outside activities create a homogenous lifestyle. As a writer that's both instructive and deadly. Instructive, if we keep our senses attuned like John Updike, in understanding at a deeper level what is happening around us, capturing nuances and subtleties that others outside our circle might miss. It is also deadly in that our world gets isolated and the process of like-think begins. People with similar values, beliefs, and actions glued together. For a writer, like-think is deadly. No matter what lifestyle we live in, we are a minority and slowly lose our sense of other lifestyles. Save us Chuck Palahniuk.

I'm too old, settled, and not brave enough to live life on the edge--sleeping under railroad bridges, drinking myself into a stupor, or bitch-slapping some puny guy I picked up in a bar only realize that she's a he and only after the $20 bill in my wallet. That's why I go to Writing School.

I watch Maury Povich, COPS, Judge Judy, and sadly, Jerry Springer, when doing brain-idling chores like folding laundry, cleaning, or cutting caramel wrappers. "Who are these people, Maury?" You may prove whether or not he's the father, but the children of these louts don't stand a chance based on the sad overall behavior they put on for 10 million viewers for a few guest bucks. COPS is instructive for both the idealized cop and the irrationality of the criminal mind. "I don't have no dope," says the guy with a joint tucked behind his ear. Maybe the double negative gave him away. "You’re an idiot," screams Judge Judy to someone who thought that wrecking a car got them out of paying for their loan. And still believes it! And Springer proves that just when you thought life couldn't be more weird, out pops the mom who abandoned you to an alcoholic father, and she's now a transsexual who's there to tell you that your wife is really your sister with whom your mom's been having an affair.

It's Writing School. Exposure to characters I have a hard time dreaming up. But now I know they are real and necessary if my books want to dip a toe into some realities that my like-think readers might not have been exposed to and might feel a bit uncomfortable being around. Where is your personal Writing School.

Guest Blog: "Deadly Deadlines or Power Prompter" by Sherry Gloag

Who, in their right mind, would want to work to a deadline? Well for many they have no choice.  It is part of their job description (so perhaps they did have a choice, after all.) But surprisingly many people thrive on working in just that way.  It’s not that they are disorganized, or forgetful, it’s not that they are slackers, and hope to pass the job to someone else before they have to approach it themselves.

No.  For many people the approaching deadline is the incentive they need to get ‘those juices’ flowing.  They are people who enjoy working under pressure to meet a deadline, and if done in the right way, they deliberately apply pressure to inspire themselves into action, even massive action. For these people putting themselves under pressure stretches them personally and breaks through the limits they’ve set themselves.

Most authors know all about deadlines, and believe me there are more of them than just turning in a manuscript on time. So why, you might ask, do they do it if they can avoid it? Well, sometimes they can’t.  Sometimes it is the process that creates the deadlines, but in many cases a little bit of organisation could avoid the additional stress created by looming deadlines.  But, and as ever there is a ‘but’ here.  Not a proven one, but an interesting one, never-the-less.

Authors, writers, are creative people, who have to provide hooks and conflicts in their stories to hold their readers’ interest.  Is it possible, on some subliminal level, they frequently work to the wire themselves because of the environs of their writing?

While adrenaline is mainly associated with the ‘fight or flight’ scenario, it is also naturally produced in high-stress or physically exhilarating situations, which is why so many people actually derive pleasure from leaving everything ‘till the last moment.

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The Gasquet Princes novels from Sherry, From Now Until Forever and His Chosen Bride from Astraea Press, are now available at Amazon and Barnes and Noble. She can be contacted at her website, blog, Facebook, or Twitter accounts.

Book Review: "Penelope and the Movie Star"

OMG! Penelope In Trouble Again

Tween mystery-solver Penelope Amour rises to the occasion again in Ron D. Voigts' "Penelope and the Movie Star". Back at Tiffin Prep, events unfold with Penelope constantly at odds with Headmaster Malcolm Merriweather, some teachers, cops, bad guys, and many of the other students. But troubles start to mount for Penelope almost from the moment her oversized suitcase pins her to the ground and her mother tells her to stop fooling around. Student alliances are realigned after spring break when a new girl starts classes. Dining is no longer a pleasure courtesy of the new cook who's cooking more than the food. And when a film crew comes to Tiffin to shot a movie, murder is once again in the air. Altogether, this gives Penelope another load of difficult challenges to surmount to solve a murder mystery that baffles the adults. Penelope's penchant for attracting trouble and getting out of it shines, as do the antics of some of the secondary characters. I'm serving PATMS a 4-star rating.

MMWUC - Taking It To The Edge

Your protagonist is in trouble. Things look bleak. And then you write...

Johnny's gone. Standing in the cheap apartment, she sighs. The ragged toe-nail has put a run in her stocking, but she finishes suiting up to do battle with the department store over the shoes she's returning. She finds the receipt in her purse before glancing at her leg. The clear nail polish trick has made the run fade into obscurity, empowering her. "I'm going to get my money back," she says and drives to the store.

ARE YOU KIDDING ME? This is your version of taking it to the edge! Harlan Coben is turning over in his grave in New Jersey. Wait! He's still alive? Sorry about that homeboy, but you get my point.

If you want your reader to care, take them to the edge. If you aren't uncomfortable with the big dramatic scene in your book, then your reader probably won't be either. And you want the reader to feel something. In mysteries, you have to make the reader feel as though the protagonist can lose and has something worth losing.

The ragged toe-nail ruins her stockings. She sobs. It's her last pair. Tears fall unabated as her anger chokes her, and the face of that mousy little sales clerk who forced her to buy the shoes she couldn't afford crystallizes in her mind. "That bitch," she screams not caring who might hear her though the cheap walls. The sobs dissolve, and the anger turns to rage. She grabs a shirt and pulls it over her head, slams into jeans, pounds her foot into boots. The shoes are still in the bag, but the receipt is gone. Did she ever give it to me? Purse. She dumps the contents on the unmade bed. No receipt. "Dammit." She opens the nightstand drawer looking for it and Johnny's old snub-nosed .38 rattles in the otherwise empty draw. She hesitates before grabbing the gun and car keys. "Little bitch can have two-timing Johnny, but I'm damn sure going to get my money back, receipt or not."

Guest Blog: Alicia Rasley Defends Adverbs

As You Wish: Adverbing Your Verbs, or In Defense of Adverbs in Dialogue Tags

If we're trying to replicate the experience of a conversation for the reader, we want to convey more than just what is spoken. In an actual conversation, there are actions and body language, both of which can be described in the narrative, and will convey something about what the speaker means. (For example, if he grips his hands into fists, that's going to convey "anger.")

But "tone of voice" is another way we convey meaning in a conversation-- especially a meaning that is in contrast with the words being spoken.  A woman might say, "Of course you're right, dear. You're always right."  And you'd think, oh, she thinks her husband is infallible!

Of course, the speaker probably DOESN'T think her husband is infallible. She's probably saying that-- how? SARCASTICALLY. If we were in the room and heard her tone of voice, we would hear the sarcasm in her words.

In the past, tone of voice was usually conveyed through the quote tag, the actual verb used for the action of speaking.  Remember all those great synonyms for said?  He intoned, or she muttered, or he hissed, or she demanded, or he commanded, or she exclaimed, or of course, everyone's favorite:  He ejaculated. Alas (I love all of those! :), a couple decades ago, many writers reacted against the undoubted overuse of those quote tags and decided the only allowable quote tag was "said".  He said. She said. Simple. Streamlined. But unfortunately, too straightforward to convey any nuance, any subtext, even any conflict between what is said and what is meant.

The way in prose we convey tone of voice (if we don't get to use "expostulated!") is through adverbs. Said + adverb. No, we don't have to add an adverb to every piece of dialogue. Sometimes the speech line itself says all we need to know-- "I don't need any help!" for example. "Luke, I'm your father."

Examples of meaningful quote tag-adverb combos, from a few of the best dialoguists:

"I wish you'd go home," said Lethbridge wearily. (Georgette Heyer)

"Dad," she said, as gently as she could, "I don't need your support." (Susan Elizabeth Phillips)

At last she said unsteadily, "It's such a beautiful dream!" (Susan Howatch)

"Come now, John Bell," said the bosun reproachfully. (Patrick O'Brian)

"No, no," said Alverstoke soothingly. "No one is as stupid as Endymion." (Georgette Heyer)

Sure, if your characters say only what they mean, and are never mistaken, and never raise their voices or ask questions, or characters who don't always tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth, you can probably get away with using only "said."  But if you're writing characters with conflicting desires and mixed motivations, who sometimes lie or sometimes express skepticism or sarcasm, or just have eloquent and expressive voices, well, consider amplifying the "said" with a handy adverb-- just when you need to, when the words they speak aren't enough to convey all of what is really meant.

Bio: Alicia Rasley is a RITA-award winning Regency novelist who has been published by major publishers such as Dell, NAL, and Kensington. Her women’s fiction novel The Year She Fell has been a Kindle #1 bestseller in the contemporary fiction category, and her newest book is Poetic Justice, available on Kindle. Her articles on writing are collected on her website.

Book Review: "Sleeping With Patty Hearst" by Mary Lambeth Moore

About ten years ago, my book club read six books in a row, all women's fiction, in which all the male characters were scum of the Earth. As one of only two men in a group of fourteen, my testicles were constantly on the chopping block. "Sleeping With Patty Hearst" by Mary Lambeth Moore made me think of those days. In Lily's coming of age story, no man has a positive character litmus test, and I saw it coming early on. She does, however, rise up over my lowered expectations of male bashing and weave a story about two half-sisters with a Patty Hearst fixation. Moore draws us in with details, details, and more details into small southern town life, painting a strong picture of Lily's attempts to have some measure of normalcy in a dysfunctional family. Her mother, Lorraine, clings to a dubious past and hopes for rescue for a glorious future while Lily's sister, Connie, seeks to chart her own course in the world. At times funny and at times heartbreaking, the story pulled me on longer into the night than I usually read with some well-played twists and turns. For this reader, the ending felt abrupt, and I'm not entirely sure I understand the Patty Hearst relationship, which, at times, seems up front and center, and at other times, seems to fade into the background of the story. Nevertheless, these are minor criticisms of a strong debut novel with well-drawn characters and vibrant images. If your taste runs to women's fiction, this is a solid 5. For me, it's a really, really high 4.

MMWUC - Free Versus Paid

Yesterday, I took a look at the top 20 mystery novels on Amazon by sales ranking. It was interesting to see so many FREE books with 4.0, 4.5, or 5.0 ratings, while so many books that had to paid for had rankings of lesser stature. In fact, the book ranked 18th overall, OVERALL for all Amazon mysteries had a rating of "2" out of 24 reviews.

How does a novel, with mostly scathing reviews, end up as the 18th overall best selling novel on Amazon?

It snowed for the first time this winter here. I need to set a story in the bitterness of a harsh and unexpected winter snowfall where everyone is inappropriately dressed and have forgotten the ability to drive and people sit on hoards of bread and milk going to waste while others survive on sardines, the only food left in the emptied southern grocery stores when the "s" word is mentioned in the forecast. Why is it that my memories of snowfalls in my youth weren't this traumatic to the structure of the world? We shoveled. Dad's went to work. School sometimes closed. We played. Built igloos. Sled on unplowed streets, down small hills, or off the low-hanging roof of a shed down at the end of the street. Heck, maybe I should write a snow memoir instead. So, what wintry mix story invades your frozen brain on a snowy day.

Guest Blog: Jeannette de Beauvoir asks "Why Write Historical Fiction?"

It’s a valid question. It’s hard enough telling a story in the here and now … without contending with whether or not some style of clothing, a city’s layout, or the presence of a certain technology is going to be anachronistic and break the spell one hopes to cast over the reader.

And yet I find myself constantly drawn to write stories that take place in the past.

Note that I didn’t say I’m writing about the past. That’s for nonfiction writers, academics, those who want you to understand what life was like then. I’m happy enough to give you a window on what life was like then, but the real function of the past, I think, is in its role as backdrop to the issues and drama that I want to explore with the story’s characters.

It’s something that historical fiction has in common with fiction that takes place “somewhere else” — it seems to me that putting one’s characters and stories against an unfamiliar backdrop serves to strip away readers’ assumptions and help them see the people and situations for what they are, unclouded by the presence of the familiar. The past is indeed a foreign country, and it’s sometimes by going somewhere else that we really understand who we are.

And it’s that connection that’s at the core of historical fiction. Look at it this way: we all keep photographs of our family, including our ancestors. It really doesn’t matter if Uncle Ernie was a terrible black sheep or if Grandmother’s eyes were slightly crossed … they’re part of who we are. Our family’s history is intrinsic to the persons we’ve become, and knowing about it is, in a way, knowing about oneself.

And in a sense the whole of history is our story, not just in the grandiose “birth of a nation” sense, but in the small things, the intimate details of life. We have a great deal more in common with people who live apart from us—whether the distance is created by miles or by centuries—than we may think. In one of my novels, one beginning in 1305, a father frets about his daughter’s involvement with unsuitable men, a young anarchist challenges the status quo (occupy the middle ages, anyone?), a sister-in-law gets nasty with her brother’s wife, a mother falls in love with the wrong person, and an unhappy cousin decides to get revenge over a property deal.

Could be 1305. Could be 2012.

What sparks my interest, as both an author and as a reader, is the thought of what people might do under certain circumstances, how they might react to certain events. The wealth of choice presented by history makes it easy to find a time and situation that presents any given challenge. How could someone choose betrayal? Place that character in an occupied country in WWII. How does someone cope with loss? Give her a ship’s captain husband in the 1700s. It’s easy to choose a backdrop where the character will absolutely be faced with the issues that I want to explore in my novel or short story.

So if you don’t already read historical fiction, consider it. It’s not just the dreaded list of England’s rulers, or the myriad battles waged by Napoleon, or the dates you were forced to memorize in school. It’s people, people dealing with the same issues, emotions, and decisions that we’re dealing with today.

And you may just learn something. If not about history, about yourself.

Jeannette de Beauvoir helps writers find their voices at Customline Wordware and writes her own historical fiction at http://www.jeannetteangell.com/ and http://www.jeannineallard.com/.

Book Review: "Volk's Game" by Brent Ghelfi

"Volk's Game" by Brent Ghelfi has the kind of plot twists that thriller readers will love, but that's where the love stops. VG is grim, violent, and with many events (the impromptu NYC to Moscow trip comes to mind) that snap the suspension of disbelief. The hero knows how to find anyone. He can go anywhere unimpeded or disappear into the shadows at will. And it is hard to root for a trained psychotic killer, existing in a world of paranoid, sick, and ruthless people. Despite some nice attempts to give us the feel of Moscow and St. Petersburg, and some past and recent history that shapes Russia, he sparks no desire in me to travel to such a cold, drab place where, seemingly, everyone is corrupt, bitter, or just plain evil. And though the author tries to show the human side of the protagonist, it's crumbs at the feet of a starving man. No one is left unscarred by the end of the book. Thriller lovers may like it, but it's a 3 from me.

Book Review: "Awakening Evarun (1 of 6)" by Tom Barczak

I should have looked more closely. "Awakening Evarun (Part I of VI)" by Tom Barczak is not the first novel of six, it is the first four chapters (30 pages) of the book. A marketing hook, I have to presume, like the old serials. While the first few pages of AE start out promising, it devolves into a series of fast-paced but confusing incidents that tap into a veiled reworking of dramatic incidences in the life of Jesus for meaning. Repeated imagery, vague scenes, a confusing stoning, and a boy (and angels) who come and go with no inherent logic pepper this teaser. Fantasy lovers may like the ploy and vague story line, but it's a 3 from me.

MMWUC: Literary Guild Gives Thumbs-Up for "One Promise Too Many"

On Thursday evening, 02/09, I met with the Oxford Hunt Ladies Literary Guild. They had chosen One Promise Too Many as their February read and invited me to their first grilling of the author. Fortunately, the spit I rotated on turned out to be only warm and toasty, peppered with interesting and probing questions, and seasoned by some insights to my book that warmed my heart. They read and understood the story, even down to some rather subtle details. What did I take away from the wonderful evening with the bakers dozen of avid readers? They loved the details; research counts kiddies. They loved the suspense; hold back, hold back, hold back turns of fortune or vital information--make the reader sweat with concern. They loved the hint of more to come; leave them wanting more. And in the end, I got brave. I asked, "What could I have done better?" I think the question surprised them, but I want to give my readers my best. After a long minute, they thought of two things: fewer named characters to follow and consistency when mentioning a character by name, that is, either the first name or last name, but don't alternate in a pattern only the author sees. Live and learn. Write and write better. Write on!

Bonus. Doubleday's Literary Guild page picked up my tweet. Sweet!

Double bonus. Writing buddy, Ron D. Voigts, published on Saturday the third book in the YA mystery Penelope series, Penelope and the Movie Star.

Guest Blog Day - Ashley Memory asks, "Who is Your Publicist?"

I was recently amused when another author posted the following comment on my LinkedIn wall: “Who is your publicist?”

This may or may not have been a compliment, but since it fell on the heels of a blog post on special events to promote my new novel, I had reason to believe that she meant well. My answer was short and to the point: “Me!”

While I’m very fortunate that an independent publisher agreed to publish my novel, nearly every event that I’ve attended has been scheduled by me. But I wouldn’t trade the experience for anything. Not only have I learned a great deal, I find it quite liberating not to be dependent on someone else’s labor.

Three Quick Hints for Finding the Publicist in You

1. Where are other authors going? Join a local writing organization (such as N.C. Writers’ Network) and find out where other authors read. I’ve been amazed by the variety of businesses and organizations that seek out writers, from bed and breakfast inns to retirement communities.

2. Find a connection between your book and a local business. My most lucrative event so far has been my first, when a local restaurant specializing in my main character’s specialty—French crêpes—agreed to host a signing and serve dessert crêpes for free.

3. Contact local civic clubs and ask to speak at their events. They’re always seeking speakers and are grateful for your time and expertise. Some will say no but all it takes is one yes. My first Rotary appearance led to three more invitations to speak.

Hollywood celebrities can afford to hire publicists because let’s face it, they’re far too busy to make cold calls but more than one of these relationships has ended acrimoniously. Fortunately for me and “my publicist,” we can’t part ways so easily. While not every event is a wild success at least I only have myself to blame. And if someone asks me who created this cheesy People magazine cover, I’ll just roll my eyes and say: “That crazy publicist of mine!”

Ashley Memory is the author of Naked and Hungry, which was named as one of the season’s most promising debut novels by The Library Journal on October 2011. For more questionable writing and promotion tips, visit her blog.

Book Review: "Just Like That" - Edgerton Hits Hard

Les Edgerton's "Just Like That" opens the door to the mind of a felon who lives by a code of ethics authored by the hardscrabble life with a meandering family in the post-WW2 era and edited by the schizophrenic penal system of the 1960s where "...the best blacks and the worst whites got to be hacks...." The protagonist, Jake Mayes, is the embodiment of Les from his time in prison. I love the Elmore Leonard directness and in-your-face style of this story, but am mystified why this was touted as an on-the-road buddy story--more than half of it is set in prison. Still, it comes at you relentlessly with tight conversational writing and Jake's own brand of truths. Incidences in Les' life are strung together to give us a strong story of finding freedom and tranquility within oneself in the most restrictive of environments by being the baddest mother around. While it is easy to get caught up in the story and root for Jake on many levels, one has to be reminded that on the street, Jake would rob you, stomp you, and maybe even kill you, just like that, amigo.

For me, this story flows with just enough blood, guts, and spare writing to dribble into the five star bucket.

MMWUC - The Groundhog's Super Bowl Valentine's Writing Day

Wake up! Groundhog's Day is over. We have six more weeks of wintry weather. That's some good writin' time. Super Bowl is over. Congrats Giants. Green Bay next year. 2016-it's the Detroit Lions vs. Jacksonville Jaguars. Yeah, Valentine's Day is coming up-a card and a few flowers covers it for most guys-it's a quickie. Some dead guys get celebrated-as they should-but now it's time for real writers to get to work. Seriously, we need some good indie books written.

Pretender's pepper their New Year's resolutions with goals like lose 100 pounds without being on America's Biggest Loser (can you imagine the pitch this guy had to do with that as the title), climb the highest peak in each of New Jersey's 21 counties, and write a best-selling novel. Real writers' mind closets are bursting with new story lines, characters, places, events rendered differently than the history books suggest. Real writers take a short vacations from pressing keys, but they are always writing. Real writers never run our of ink, they just find another tool. Give me that chisel and hammer. I've got an idea.

Real writers just write. As we say on Twitter #amwriting. Outta my way blank page.

WINTER LOVERS TORN ASUNDER
--------------------------
February 2, 1887, Fred and Ernie lay in blissful slumber in the frosty domain until the mayor of Punxatuney ripped Fred from his beloved partner, held him up in front of a bunch of drunken Methodists, and proclaimed, "Six more weeks of Winter. Let's eat." Ernie bit the mayor on the ankle. Fred wiggled free and dove for cover deeper than before in their hidey-hole where they lay in each others loving embrace for another six weeks.

Friday: Guest Blog Day - by Nell DuVall

Given the opportunity to write on anything related to writing is daunting. However, considering this last year, one word comes to my mind: Persistence. I've been writing fiction for twenty-two years with indifferent success on the publishing front. Yet others have had similar experiences. Sue Grafton didn't sell until she wrote her sixth novel. J.K. Rowling suffered from many rejections. However, both women persisted.


What follows is my own saga. I started with short stories and found I enjoyed writing, but, despite sporadic efforts, I never managed to sell any. However, I won first place for a children's story that paid more than most magazines.

Turning to novels, I began with a sweet romance of around forty-thousand words. Then I progressed to several long novels over 120,000 words. Still no sales, but with a demanding, full-time job, my submission efforts were sporadic. I received a few letters beyond the generic rejections, but no acceptances.

Meanwhile, I wrote and sold several successful nonfiction books while also starting a small print-on-demand press to provide a place for local writers and artists to publish.

Determined to sell my novels, I approached a respected small publisher and sold one novel for a modest advance. It also made it into large print.

When that publisher discontinued the line, and, with my past lack of success with major publishers, I decided to try ebooks. I found a couple of ebook publishers looking for stories that fit some of mine and submitted two stories to two different publishers. Both accepted the stories. So, I sent off another four and three were accepted and published in a single author analogy. Best of all, both publishers liked my writing.

I've since written and submitted other stories, all accepted. So, I submitted novels to both publishers and they both accepted them. These were over 100,000 words and will appear in May 2012. In addition, another novel is scheduled for August.

Reviews have appeared of the three analogies and all gave favorable mention to my stories. As to money, that is yet to be seen, although I received an advance on one of the novels.

Writing is a craft and takes time and effort to learn. We have to expect rejection and still persist. Unrealistic expectations defeat a lot of writers. However, those who persevere and grow can succeed.

Some may ask why I choose to use an epublisher instead of the do-it-yourself approach. I'd sort of done that with my small POD efforts and wanted an established base and copyediting for my novels. I'd rather write than spend my time formatting and moving the product into the publication stream, something I share with Amanda Hocking who recently switched from successful self-publishing to a traditional publisher.

I and others on the Internet Writing Workshop are proof that persistence pays off for hard-working writers who want to be published. You can do it.

Nell writes romance, mystery, and speculative fiction. You can find her at http://www.spritepress.com/. Her works include Train to Yesterday Lrg Prt,Thorndike Press 978-1-4104-0878-5, Rg Prt(Five Star (Cengage)) 978-1-59414-663-3, "Corpulent Chiropteran" in Curious Hearts, Melange ISBN 978-1-61235-207-7, "Saving Christmas" in Warm Christmas Wishes, Melange, Dec 2011, When Lilacs Bloom, etopia, May 2012, Beyond the Rim of Light, Alex Stone, Melange, May 2012, Selvage, Melange, Aug 2012.

Book Review: Beneath the Dune

Walter Ramsay's slim book, Beneath the Dune, packs a lot into a small space as Tucker Lee Anderson, a local sports writer, is thrust into covering the finding of a skeletal body that is identified as the missing fifth victim of a convicted serial murderer of children. Tucker investigates beyond the surface facts of the case after meeting the death row inmate and feels that not everything is right with the official version of the investigation. Along for the ride, we are introduced to his family and a host of other key players that fill up his life that's on cruise control.

Soon, events have Tucker looking for answers using visions from a distant Indian relative at night and trying to keep the investigation alive in the daytime. Late onset maturity and a growing sense of civic responsibility might push Tucker in the right direction or into the path of the rich and powerful who play by a different set of rules.

A quick summer read, Ramsay gives us easily-identifiable characters, a few unexpected twists, and a final twist that was, well, a bit twistier than believable to this reader. Still, it is a solid, well-written debut novel that touches many sidebar life issues and provides some insight to this part of the Florida coast. A Solid four-star book.

MMWUC - New Year's Resolutions

Okay, it's the end of January in the new year, specifically 2012. Do you know where your protagonist is?

What? You have touched your book since you had the flu on January 2nd, and now your protagonist is hanging off the Matterhorn with the only known vile containing the antidote that can save the world from a deadly virus being injected by evil alien dinosaurs into all the deciduous trees in the world so that when the leaves fall and deteriorate they will cover the earth with the virus' toxic vapors! Get back to the pen and pencil, typewriter, computer, or tablet and save your protagonist. Send up a former female American Gladiator with the strength of Arnold Schwarzenegger and the looks of Megan Fox, nah, not her, too pouty, how about Christie Brinkley at 30, better. Have her rescue him so he can rescue her and they can rescue the world. Show Clive Cussler how it's done. It's time to recharge those New Year's resolutions and take a bite out of the alien dinosaurs.

I hear they taste like chicken.

The Danger of Sun Beams on a Writer's Protagonist

I fell today over sun beam. We haven't had much sun as of late, and I guess I forgot the strong winter rays have a tendency to trip people who don't pay attention. I also fell last November. Same reason. Sun beam. I hit hard last November. I actually thought I'd broken my knee, because I had nothing to brace myself with when I went down. It's still discoloured, and I don't walk right, but I think that's more the arthritis then the fall, though it hurts. But today's (Thursday) fall got me worried. Aside from the grapefruit looking ankle, a few marks on my side, and the glancing blow to my head when I head butted the car (car won), I find my wrist starting to hurt. It's several hours later, and writing this is painful, and I'm not sure that everything I wrote will make sense tomorrow.

I don't write about superheros. I must remember that when my detective has to hit someone, he might knock them down, but his hand is really, really going to hurt soon after, if not immediately. Writing lesson tucked away that's not part of Elmore Leonard's top ten rules.

#11. Dangerous sun beams and knockout punches have to hurt the protagonist as well as the villain. And the best example of it ever was Indiana Jones in the hull of the ship with Marion Ravenwood trying to find a place that doesn't hurt to plant a kiss on poor Indy. I could use her now.

Rick Bylina Interview - Indie Writing

We interrupt your daily activities to alert you to yet another interview of, well, ME, by Kris Wampler, author of "Love Train", on his Indie Writing blog. He can also be found also on Facebook and lurking on Twitter.

Book Review: Child of my Heart

Everyone's search for what is most precious to their heart takes twists and turns. Some twists are devastatingly tragic, some turns are lovingly wondrous, and some events in life are just plain magical. For Annie Lancaster in "CHILD OF MY HEART," the touchstone of her journey is being a nurse for damaged children with little hope of making that journey. Heartbreak co-mingles with joy in Annie's professional life as she nurses children suffering from the worst that life can dish out. Disappointment and hope punctuate her personal yearnings, which seem destined never to be fulfilled as time marches on. The combination would break a weaker person. Yet, Annie faces the day-to-day challenges head-on with an innate kindness in this literary novel that reads more like a heartfelt memoir of someone for whom you could really care.

A Heartfelt Read - 5 Stars

MMWUC - Super Bowl of Writing Awaits

Within the family at the start of the playoffs I wrote, "Whoever won the New York Giants versus Green Bay Packers game would be in the Super Bowl and lose to the New England Patriots." Well, it has come to pass and the final battle is set, even though both the Baltimore Ravens and the San Francisco 49ers gave the winners all they could. Four evenly-matched titans fought it out, but someone had to fall. The games kept me in my seat through dinner, the desire to go to the bathroom, and all the work that I needed to get done. It's a lesson to all the writers. You want drama, re-run the Giant/49er game. Just like this game, in your story the antagonist and protagonist must struggle to the bitter end, keeping the reader on their toes, giving them thrills and chills along the way, unexpected victims along the way, heroes rising to the challenge, and someone snatching victory from defeat, until the last kick in the ass at the end of the story, and the vanquished lay down before the victor.

I want to write the way they played. It's Monday. Let's get out there and write something masterful.

Book Review: Little Mountain

Little Mountain has a big story. Who is this Bob Sanchez and how did he write such a well-crafted story? "Little Mountain" mixes a sad piece of personal Cambodian history with the need to solve a present day murder for Detective Sambath Long. He has to try and bring closure to both his past and solve a heinous murder that dig into his haunting memories. The story has twists and turns that this mystery writer appreciated. His characters come alive on the page, the dialogue is crisp, and the descriptions of the backstreets of Lowell and the noirishly oppressive weather make you feel like you're on a ride-a-long.

Sanchez has carefully interwoven Sam's sad past with his desire to do the right thing in spite of significant obstacles placed in his way. Married, with a small child, he teeters precariously as many cops do between ensuring family security and doggedly pursuing his duty. Politics and priorities clash with the right amount of give-and-take until Sam has to do what he believes is right. And like all great stories or baseball games, "It ain't over until it's over." Sanchez pulls the story strings tight until...well, you'll just have to read this 5-star novel to learn the harrowing ending.

MMWUC - Surviving without Twitter, Facebook, and Linked-in.

Stop the train. I want to get off. Well, you can't. However, you do have options. You can step off the communications train for a day per week. And I plan to do so.

I've been thinking about spending some time with my protagonist sans the Internet, which means no email, Twitter, Facebook, Linked-in, blogging; my brand new Kindle safely tucked in it's cover; and, dare I write it, my cell phone in the recharger. I want to go for a long walk with my protagonist without electrons pulsing through my body. Find out, what he would do if totally cut off from the world, able to just think about the important things in his life or my life, not be at beck-and-call for 392 emergency queries that each day brings. I did not know I was that indispensable.

Sometimes it is okay not to have to answer the tweet, the Facebook message, the Linked-in update, the 243 emails that arrive every day. Sometimes your protagonist has more to say to you than your sixth cousin, four times removed who found you on Facebook and now wants you to buy a spot of prime land in Chad. "Need a decision today." Funny how tomorrow, the ability to make the decision is still available.

"Let's go fishing, Stark."

"Hear they're biting down at the coast."

And so we talk or not and find out that sometimes a quieter life leads to better thoughts about a story than an avalanche of information.

Interview: Kim Kardashian Wasn't Available But Rick Was

Sometimes people interview me. Why? Gee, I don't know. I think it's because someone like Kim Kardashian or Snooki or Steven King wasn't available. Lindsey Lohan is still working in the Coroner's Office, fretting how to settle her $90,000 IRS bill without dipping into the million dollars that Playboy gave her to pose nude so they could airbrush her sculptured body to make it perfect. So, it's easy to find an interview of KK, S, OR LL out there. Little harder for SK. As for me, it's getting easier each month, and this month you can find me on The Muriel Reeves Mysteries blog. I ain't pretty, but I writes okay. Check it out. Leave a note for me, or Kim or Lindsey (Wasn't she so cute in "The Parent Trap."). Maybe you'll even be enticed to by one of my novels. Wouldn't that be a novel thing to do. Did you see how I used both definitions of the same word, novel.

Book Review: The Girl in the Blue Beret

History buffs looking for insights into the resistance and readers of literary fiction who like to read about protagonists searching for their emotional centerpiece will enjoy Bobbie Ann Mason's novel "The Girl in the Blue Beret". Ms. Mason spent considerable time and energy trying to bring alive the stepping-on-egg-shells existence of those who helped the allies in a time when resources were scarce, but courage abundant. She did a fine job though the on-page tension lags at times. Marshall peels back time, revealing his past as he meanders through his present. He searches for post-retirement meaning and a measure of understanding about what he and those who risked their lives to save him went through to save him as a downed pilot in WW2. And at the center of his searching is the girl in the blue beret. I could fall in love with her. While I appreciated the back-and-forth of time and space, it sometimes felt abrupt, as did the ending. I even turned the page thinking there was more, sadly, there was not. This is a solid and enjoyable read. 4 stars.

MMWUC - Resolutions, Goals, and Promises

Ah, the freshness of a new year, which always coincides with my birthday and the making of resolutions, goals, and promises. First, thanks for all the birthday wishes in 2012 from my Twitter, Facebook, and assorted other friends. In the rear view mirror, 2011 was a somewhat bizarre year, which started out with a semi-reluctant re-emergence into the corporate world at a promising job in a "recession-proof" industry. Two months later, I was let go before my probationary period ended. No harm, no foul, no paycheck. It was a blessing in disguise, acting as the final push to take my future into my own hands and self-publish my novels. Plus, the vegetable garden was well-established and promised much in the way of back-up food stores.

Along with my buddy, Ron, we examined the horizon and decided to publish our respective books, found out that marketing is hard, and girdled our loins (gee that sounds nasty) after examining what worked and what didn't work to be better prepared for 2012. To quote Yoda, "There is no try, only do." No real resolutions need be made, no goals for anyone else to understand, or promises to make to family and friends about 2012. There is only do; and, I intend to do when it comes to my life as an author.

It's January 9, 2012, do you know what your protagonist's goals are?

MMWUC - Silence is Golden

I knew this day would come, but I didn't think it would happen so soon. I have nothing to say. I'm too busy writing about the affect of snow on the perception of the perfect Christmas. But I guess to be politically correct, it would be a perfect "holiday" season. I do like snow, and miss it here in North Carolina, despite the fact that the average kid gets 7 snow days a year. Want a snow day? Just get the forecaster to put it in the forecast three days in advance. But expect to lose some playing time being dragged to the store for milk, eggs, bread, and maybe some poptarts. Where was I at? Oh, yeah. It is a darn shame though that there are so many holidays jammed together in the cold of winter, right when we have the shortest days of the year, and the seasonal temperatures are still battling so that the snow is probably slushy, or icy in the south, or just a damn, cold rain. Religious leaders should get together and sprinkle these holidays out during the warmer months, so we can enjoy them more and pay attention to the message a bit more without freezing to death in a snowbank. I didn't have much to say, and like most pundits on radio and television, I guess I proved my point.

Holiday Stocking Stuffers

Try these new books in 2011 from mostly new authors to stuff stockings:

* Beneath the Dunes by Walter Ramsay - Mystery
* Child of My Heart by Shelia Rudesill
* Ghost on Black Mountain by Ann Hite
* Hungry and Naked by Ashley Memory - Mystery with a touch of humor
* The Kingdom of Childhood by Rebecca Coleman
* Little Mountain by Bob Sanchez - Mystery
* Marina Melee by Lynne Hinckley - Mystery with a touch of humor
* Penelope and the Birthday Curse by Ron D. Voigts - YA
* Penelope and the Christmas Spirit by Ron D. Voigts - YA
* Penelope and the Ghost's Treasure by Ron D. Voigts - YA
* Random Violence by Jassy Mackenzie (Shamus Award nominee)
* The Gospel According to the Romans by Robin Helweg-Larsen
* The Stasi File: Opera and Espionage by Peter Bernhardt
* The Teaching Man and Other Tales by Nell DuVall

* The Unhewn Stone by Wendy Laharnar - Historical Fantasy

* Trail of Destruction by Linda Johnson - Political Mystery

On Memories These Days

There was an old man who wrote a book.
And an old lady who took a look
She got a surprise
And widened her eyes
The story was her life that he took.
 
Did I write this or just imagine it? Sometimes you find things on your computer that no longer remain in the brain. Be careful what you read, it can kill you.

Nothing from Nothing is Nothing

Sydney is asleep on my knee, deeply asleep for a 20-year-old cockatiel. But alas, I have to go to the bathroom, really bad. Those seven diet cokes are catching up to me. His current peacefulness is that of a child after a long day of sickness, and he had a rough day yesterday. I accidentally pulled out a tail feather. It had blood on the end of it. He screamed. Hollered. Howled. Shook. He even flew a few feet before turning around and looking at me, cocking one head to the side, accepting, but questioning.

I had to hold him for hours on my chest as he cuddled up under my chin--the knowledge of how he ended up in agony long lost by his simple forgiveness (and short attention span) and superseded by the pain that hurt whenever he moved. I could hear him, 'Daddy, help me.' How can I disturb him now for my own sake? I'm in discomfort now; he's in peace. He's so innocent; I'm an ogre. I need to make him some comfort food: mashed potatoes and cheerios. I just wish I would have put on some Depends this morning.

Do you make your protagonist dig or feel so deep? If not, why not?

MMWUC - Back to Writing Basics

Writing basics - having an idea, inspiration, or thought about what you want to write. Just read an interesting tidbit. The oldest canned food ever opened and eaten was meat. It was 114 years old. It's sad that the article didn't indicate where it was canned or kept all that time or the type of meat (probably SPAM), or who the lucky person was who had the honor of eating it. At nearly the same moment, there was a NOVA story on the difficulty of various aspects of a manned flight to Mars. Fuel, air, water (very yucky), and food. Food seemed to be a particularly difficult issue to overcome. Not sure why. I had some great twenty year old WWII rations when I was in the army. But then again, I imagine the astronauts might get a bit bored of their food. These people should have consulted with the people who had the 114 year old can of meat. Oh, the secrets they could have shared.

Now, I'm thinking of a dystopian novel where a cache of really, really old food is found and what my seven survivors might do with it.

What weird ideas have slammed together in your head that lead to a story.

Do You Believe In Christmas Miracles (True Story)

For about an hour on Monday, I thought I would lose my mind. I also thought I'd ruined our Christmas. The day starts well enough with a trip to the doctor's office for a physical. Total cholesterol - 132; HDL - 55; Triglycerides - 143; blood pressure - 140/80; Pulse - 42 (I have an amazingly low pulse). Also, I drop off the office's homemade Christmas caramels. My other medical complications are in check. His advice. "Lose weight." He needs a parrot. He's been telling me that for years. Next, on to the in-laws at the assisted living center to gather packages to mail for them - check. I drop off more homemade caramels at the dentist's office. This always makes me feel evil for some reason.


Around the corner, I hit the bank for some spending cash and lots of cash for my wife. I hope it's for my present. Onward to Michael's for a box of special plastic baggies and find the last one. I head to Party City for some party trays to be used for house plants and notice the clouds thickening. I get the last three. The drive to my dermatologist, whose kid I feel like I'm personally putting through college, is uneventful as cars slip off the highway and clear a path for me. I drop off the office's Christmas caramels to a staff member who squeals with delight, remembering them from the previous years. Every light is green as I head back towards town and the Chinese store to pick up the last of the supplies for our annual New Year's Day party - our holiday present to our friends. I'm way ahead of schedule, though a few big drops splat on the windshield. I get out of the car, check my pocket, and find no wallet. The rain begins in earnest.

I panic. No wallet in the car, under the car, near the car. I drive away. No wallet at the Dermatologist's office. It's not lying comfortably on the ground, dangling in the bushes like the last bloom, or floating toward the sewer like a downed and drowned leaf. I'm ill. Nearly $600, credit cards, bank account numbers -- mine, my homeowner's association, ours. I try to center myself. I drive to the Party City with the closed satellite Police Station next door (budget cuts). It's not a bad area; it's just not a good place. It's the downside of the mall with seasonal stores featuring Halloween items no one wants at 90% off and a cornacopia of Christmas collectables of dubious quality, offices with no apparent clientele and stick-on signs, and stores with vacant-eyed associates. The wallet is not in the parking lot. I head for the door of Party City in a drizzle and walk in. A sleepy-eyed man in his early 30's stands near the unattended cash register. He looks bored stacking a few hundred boxes of candy canes.

"Do you believe in Christmas miracles?" I say to him without any preamble.

He looks at me surprised. Perhaps he thinks he misheard. "Huh, what?"

"Do you believe in Christmas miracles? Yes or no."

"Well, yes." A hint of a smile pushes out cautiously from the corner of his mouth. Is it really there or is he just humoring the distraught looking old, fat guy wearing a soaked, off-white USA sweatshirt and green gym shorts.

"Good. I'm looking for a wallet."

"Yeah, we found one." He walks to the register. "Your name."

"Rick Bylina."

Some of me must still be in the wallet. "Here you go." He hands me the wallet.

"Do you know who turned it in?" I want to give the person a reward or take him or her out to lunch.

"Nope." He walks back to the display.

I leave as the drizzle turns to a light mist. Back in the car, I let out a breath I have been holding and open the wallet. Everything, everything is there. I sit. The sun slices through the overcast as a parade of Santa's pass by, heading into one of the seemingly empty offices labeled "Santa Training." One waves as he walks past. I automatically wave back. He winks then bellows a hardy "Ho-ho-ho. Merry Christmas" before he slips into the office.

Yes, I believe in Christmas miracles.

Cyber Monday on MMWUC

This Monday Morning Wake-up Call includes a sale. ONE PROMISE TOO MANY and A MATTER OF FAITH are on sale for Cyber Morning for $.99. Why shouldn't I make you spew coffee with such a wonderful deal on your MMWUC? Do sales and gimmicks work? How the heck should I know? I'm just a marketing babe, but I do know that for one day, ONE DAY , the books are discounted at 2/3rds their retail price.

As far as writing the next book during NANOWRIMO, well, I'm going to all a bit short this year. With my wife's schedule eating away at mine, November has turned into a very bad month for me to write. However, I have about 30,000 words of a good story running with three possible endings and a very unusual bad guy. It does make me pause though and question is there any bad guy that hasn't been singled out yet for being written about? I'm thinking next time that a demented guinea pig goes about killing joggers because of the pig's repressed memories of being stuck in an exercise wheel that he couldn't get out of. No matter how fast he ran, it just went faster until one day.... I digress. Buy my book or two. :-)

Breaking Dawn - There's a story in all this.

It's breaking dawn, no, not the movie, the time of day. I was sleeping nicely after a frenetic Thanksgiving Day when my presence was requested at the local Home Depot by my wife to come and get "my" ten poinsettias for $1 per plant. Dutifully, I slip out of my heated waterbed and trundle outside to the frost-covered car and drive to the store to help out.

Upon arriving home, I scan the disaster that is my home. After eight hours of cooking two turkeys, 20 pounds of potatoes, making home-made stuffing (3 batches), and enough gravy to float a small boat, I washed and dried dishes for four hours. Sadly, there's still four hours of dish washing to go. I guess that's what happens when you have 26 relatives for the meal and everything is homemade and no automatic dishwasher. The turkey carcasses are being boiled down into broth for the next turkey day in April. We did bag 2,000 caramels in bags last night much to the chagrin of my visiting Wisconsinite nieces. And the Sheepshead card game was lively. It was nice to watch the 85-year-old Alzheimers-afflicted patriarch beat the pants off of his daughter, son, two grand-daughters, and a great-granddaughter (more interested in chewing and drooling on the cards than playing the game). Alzheimer's, such a weird disease. He can't remember what he ate two hours earlier (turkey dinner on Thanksgiving), but knew what each player had in their hand instantly and counted trump without fail.

The sun's up, and now I won't be able to sleep until the circadian rhythms overtake me around 2 p.m. It's a perfect fall day and there are plenty of leftovers for sandwiches, but not for at least a day, I'm full, and I have words to write before I sleep; words to write before I sleep.

Follow the Super Committee Example: Define Goals Then Fail

Super Committee
Does not exist in D. C.
Grade school fantasy

- - - END OF EDITORIAL HAIKU - - -

When I write, I try to follow the methodology I learned where the POV character of each chapter has a goal that is not attainable by the end of the chapter, thus putting themselves further from completing their quest and achieving their story arc goal. I don't always know what it is myself at times during the first draft, but when I edit what I've written, I find or insert it, and make sure it's there. The trick is not to necessarily let your reader know what the goal is on first reading, but to recognize it when the POV character fails to achieve the goal at the end of the chapter. It's kind of like subliminal goal setting. This doesn't mean hiding it in something like the last "5" in a Sudoku puzzle. The POV character may even state it explicitly (and I salivate when I put it out in plain sight).

MMWUC - The Message Is Simple

I've been spray painted with a lot of platitudes about writing lately, and I've been guilty of shooting off a few myself as I twitter my brains away on the social media platforms. But it's important to remember...

If you're a writer, the bottom line is:  Writer's write.

I need to remind myself of that basic simple rule every now and then.  That's the Monday Morning Wake-Up Call. If you're a writer, don't lose your sight of the lighthouse beacon guiding you through the rocky shoals of distraction to the port of creative development.

If you're not a writer, support your local writer, and find your own bottom line.

Australian Invader - Guest Blogger

Rick's vacationing over at Ron D. Voigts blog this morning, writing about the lessons learned from self-publishing, part 7 - What is Success? Join him there. Meanwhile, Sydney, Rick's 19-year-old cockatiel is guest blogging here.

"Got mashed potatoes? No. What kind of cheap outfit is this? Stop flashing that light in my face? I bite you know. Why am I here? I hatched. No mystery. No, I'm not from Australia, but mom was. I've never been out of North Carolina. I write, well, type. Gotta do something around here. Oh, wait! A good one. You're safe for another twenty minutes. Anyway. Here's a story I wrote. Took a year.



LOVE AND THE SINGLE GIRL
Dr. Frankenberry stared at the jellyfish and wondered if they were staring back.

"They're beautiful," he said to Inga.

"Oh, let me go, you’re mad." Inga, clad in a leopard skin bikini, which the doctor bought from Macy's using a seasonal coupon, jingled her silvery chains. "Pretty," she said, before remembering her situation.

"Just think," the doctor said, filling a needle with fluid from a jellyfish that writhed in obvious pain, "if this works, you'll be young and beautiful forever."

"I want to be free," she said emphatically.

The doctor added a yellow fluid into the needle then injected her. He waited. He waited for hours. Nothing happened. Inga finally went to sleep and snored like the town drunk on Sunday morning.

"Drat!" He turned to his desk then sat. He immersed himself in his notes, looking for what could have gone wrong. Hours passed.

He pushed his glasses up his nose. A squishy sound erupted from behind him.

He turned.

"My God!"

Inga slipped out of her silvery bracelets and approached the doctor, stinging him repeatedly before consuming him. She turned to the wounded jellyfish in the tank, slipped inside the aquarium, and made sweet love to her wounded hero.

If William Shakespeare Can, I Can

I'm going to read in public, specifically at Davenport & Winkleperry’s, 18 E. Salisbury St., Pittsboro, NC. on December 13, 2011 sometime between 6:30 and 8:30 p.m.. Since it is open mic, I need to get there early. Maybe I'll be late. Maybe it'll snow. This will be different from when I read at my Book Launch Party. Then, the 100+ persons in attendance were my guest, most on good behavior, none drunk. This time, I'm hoping it doesn't end up like a medieval egg and tomato throwing contest. I don't read in public, but now I must. But what to read? A snippet from a currently published novel? A few lines from a new novel? A short story? A poem? Haiku?

THE PERFECT PERCH
-------------------------
Grounded and forlorn
Bare oak down from nameless storm
Treeless vultures morn

I only have eight minutes. I could run a mile in eight minutes. That should be far enough to get away from any eggs and tomatoes thrown.

MMWUC - The Anti-NANOWRIMO

I'm having this incredible tussle with the evil internal editor (EIE). I write, and the EIE twists my words and makes the all sound like fingernails across the blackboard in school. "They vill be edited. And they vill be edited, now," is the commanding voice. I fight. Honest, I do. But yesterday, the muse, so patient, so kind, so full of ideas, and sometimes baloney, finally spoke up. "SHUT UP!" She offered a compromise. For the next twelve months the EIE will leave me alone, then, during NANOWRIMO 2012, the EIE is in charge.

So, as long as the EIE can play nice as of Monday, next NANOWRIMO is the anti-nanowrimo. I'm to offer up 112,327 (don't ask how we came up with that number) words, and the EIE has as a goal, the opportunity to cut 50,000 words out of that novel of 112K+ words in one month. We're all happy for now.

So, what kind of crazy deals do you make with your internal and external demons to get a story completed?

The Big Bra

Every now and then, a story pops up that catches my eye for no good reason. This model is wearing a bra advertised as costing $2.5 million. Have I even made $2.5M in my lifetime? I mean I could have read about Paterno (sad in so many ways) or Lindsey Lohan (just sad) or even the big Alaskan winter storm (bad, real bad). Yes, the model is cute, but I bet after this gig she eats a whole turkey like a Viking returning from the sea so that her body doesn't shut down from malnourishment. But a $2.5M bra! Who buys these things? Some how, some way, there's a story waiting to be written about this bra. And, at what point did wings become part of a bra? I must have missed that when Mr. Hayes taught Sex Education and Leon A. kept asking questions to which he already had the answers. But I don't think he asked about bras.

Self-Published Marketing

Well, it's challenging - Twittering, blogging, co-blogging, swap-blogging, Linked-in, Facebooked, reviewing, face-to-face showing, book clubbing, independent book store cajoling, little sleeping, some writing, sanity questioning, interviewing, articling, Book Launch Partying (well, that was fun), writer meeting, calling, writing, emailing, texting, selling (sold two in an assisted living center - relax, it was staff), visiting (sold 7 on vacation in the Wisconsin woods - woowoo - who knew bears read mysteries), praying, singing (praises), next comes You-Tubing. If you're gonna be a self-published author, be prepared to wear a lot of hats, and always, always, carry a copy of your book along to sell.

NANOWRIMO and Losing My Religion

Not sure why the title of this post came to mind. Perhaps I heard R.E.M. last night before going to sleep. Or, maybe it's because I'm starting to wander into that no man's land of novel writing. That area somewhere between 10,000 and 20,000 words where the original inspiration for the story starts to flag and the "really neat" stuff you planned for later in the book can't happen yet. It's the point where the reader starts to lose interest in your underdone book and lays it down. "How was it Myrtle?" Myrtle shrugs her shoulders and starts yammering about the latest image of Jesus she found in the crabgrass. The writer's goose is cooked. Forget about word-of-mouth marketing by Myrtle.

So, after 14,007 words, I did something drastic to my character that I'd not thought about doing before that moment of inspiration when the Muse whispered in my ear at 11:27 p.m. last night as the caffeine fix waned and the call of the pillow trumpeted brain-dead salvation. Muse, thou has not forsaken me yet. And the religion of writing is not lost. Write on! Write on!! Brothers and sisters, amen. Write on!

MMWUC - NANOWRIMO and Me

If you're a writer, you probably know that NANOWRIMO is upon us. I struggled on Sunday, but I managed, in between cutting 672 caramels, meeting with neighbors about neighborhood security, fighting off the shrill sounds of four hours of seven recorder players finalizing thirteen holiday tunes, making (and cleaning up afterwards) enough gung pao chicken four a family of eight, to raise my total number of words to 12,081. For NANO, that's about a quarter way to the finish line. For the length of novels I write, that's about 1/7th of the way. I need to write shorter novels. Herein, without fanfare is the first scene of the first chapter of my mystery novel that has not title yet. It is the fourth novel in the Detective Stark mystery series (or maybe the fifth), and I had no idea what the story was about when I started, but I do now. Writing, even for an anal-retentive, Capricorn, German/Polish, former project manager like me is sometimes organic in nature.
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Chapter 1

I leaned my head out the window of the idling Ford Explorer to see a man in shorts and a parka running toward my car yelling, "Rabbits. They're everywhere. Huge rabbits." He dashed past my rented vehicle and kept on going for fifty yards before he fell down attempting to turn down a dirt road. He rolled over twice before he bounced up and sprinted from sight into the Newfoundland maritime forest.

Facing forward again, I shook my head. My stomach growled in response. I was hungry and ready for some good seafood, but fifteen or so cars clogged the road ahead of us. About ten of them had been in front of us since we had gotten off the last ferry run of the year at Argentia. The lead car held us captive on the squiggly highway 10A across the Avalon Peninsula for forty miles. I could not see the problem around the slight bend in the road, but, I hoped that whatever had blocked the slow parade of traffic would be gone soon.

I looked at my wife in the passenger seat. "Mary, are the rabbits really that big up here?"

"Yep," my wife answered, holding her forehead with her fingertips. Eyes closed. Lips curled up in a sardonic smile.

"Bunnies," Robert yelled from the back seat.

Mary turned to face our two-year-old son. "That's right. Bunnies." She laughed and poked Robert playfully in the belly before adjusting the car seat.

I stared straight ahead again. "Bunnies." I put the car into park and unbuckled my seat belt.

Mary reached for my arm, but I opened the door and slipped out of the driver's seat before she could grab me. "And just where are you going?" She positioned one arm akimbo, wrinkled her brow, and pouted.

I flashed a winning smile. She didn't formalize the question by including my name into her query. Good. Her fake anger at my inquisitive nature, when we were so close to our destination, was a good sign. The long flight from central Pennsylvania to Bangor, Maine and the fifteen hour ferry ride form Nova Scotia to Argentia hadn't taxed her stoic good nature to its limit. "There might be an accident. Besides," I said in a serious tone while shrugging into a warm jacket, "there might be bunnies."

"Bunnies," Robert yelled again then laughed.
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Y'all have a great day, and hope you made it to work on time.

TOO MANY PASSWORDS

I should be blogging about NANOWRIMO (I'm doing it), revising (I'm doing it), marketing my novels (I'm doing it), cleaning out the garden now that veggie season is over (I'm doing it), doing household chores (I'm doing it), fixing the cars--new battery for one; tires for both (I'm doing it), critiquing some chapters (I'm doing it), writing Sydney's biography (I'm doing it), spraying anti-deer stinky stuff (I'm doing it, although the last time I sprayed myself and even the mosquitoes didn't come near me), and cleaning house (I'm doing it).

However, what has taken top priority is getting my passwords and accounts in order. The computerized world has just gotten a bit out of control. I now have over 100 places that want me to have a user name/ID and password. And they all want me to change it on a regular basis. Yeah, I'm doing it, but it's taking a long time. Perhaps there's a story in it, but who has time to write it.