Last week (June 6th) my dog turned eleven. Zuri has lived the longest of any of my Rhodesian Ridgebacks, and so far he seems to be in pretty good health. He did start getting fatty tumors (non-cancerous) when he was around four. Now he has them all over his body. And he has trouble moving when he first […] [ ... ]
I love being able to send e-mail; I hate making phone calls, especially cold calls. I don’t know why using the telephone is so difficult for me. My co-workers used to tease me that I didn’t even like calling to order pizza. Calling someone I know personally isn’t as bad, but even then I worry. […] [ ... ]
In the last six months I’ve entered three (3) contests. In each case it was a spur-of-the-moment decision. In one case I received a letter in the mail, let it sit around for a bit, and finally decided “Why not?” In the other two cases, emails I received prompted me to take the plunge. In […] [ ... ]
I have put together a rough outline for the third (and I think final) book in my P.J. Benson Mystery series, but I can’t start writing. Actually, I probably could write one or two pages, but then I’d have to stop. Why? Because I don’t know the whos, the whats or the wheres that I […] [ ... ]
Several years ago another published writer and I presented a debate at a conference we were attending. She took the positive position regarding critique groups, I took the negative. At that time I saw a lot of negatives to critique groups; since then, I’ve changed my mind. Oh, many of the points I made that […] [ ... ]
Today I had lunch with a writer friend. He’s written short stories, novels, a memoir, and plays, but he was feeling down today. He said for the last few months he simply hasn’t had the desire to write. There hasn’t been anything he’s wanted to write about, and that bothers him. He likes being a […] [ ... ]
While at the Retreat from Harsh Reality (http://www.retreatfromharshreality.com/) last weekend I had breakfast with a new author who mentioned that she is really stressed due to mishaps and delays regarding her book, which is due out this summer. I tried to give encouragement, but I’m not really sure it made any difference, and I remember […] [ ... ]
I’ve probably blogged about this before, but it’s a problem that simply doesn’t go away. I remember when I started writing. I had two preschoolers at that time and finding time to write was a real challenge. My two still remember me telling them if my door was closed, I didn’t want to be interrupted […] [ ... ]
Two more days and we’re heading north. I’m going to miss the sunshine and constant warmth, but it will be great to be close to family and friends. And don’t feel sorry for me, I’m leaving one beautiful location to go to another beautiful location, and soon it will be summer…days of sunshine and warmth. […] [ ... ]
Being a writer is a hurry-up-and-wait business. Either you set deadlines for yourself, or, because you’re under contract, you have deadlines set for you. So you push yourself so you make those deadlines, and then you send the story off . . . and you wait. You wait for the agent or editor to say […] [ ... ]
Please welcome my guest blogger, Shelly Bell, as she talks about: The Day the Music Died Music is part of my soul. When I was younger, my head was always full of music. No matter what I was doing, I had some song playing in my mind. I’m not the only one. In college, my […] [ ... ]
I have one change and then one more read through of my work in progress (wip), and if all goes well (meaning I don’t find any major problems and I do fix all minor ones I come across), my story will be ready to send off to the agent who requested it. I don’t know […] [ ... ]
I’ve had an agent request a look at my work in progress (wip), and I’m eager to send it to her, but before I do, I want to (need to) make sure it’s as good as I can possibly make it. That means I’m going through it page by page, checking formatting, making sure I haven’t switched names, hair […] [ ... ]
1) The best thing you can do to sell your book is write a REALLY GOOD BOOK. a) Word of mouth is your best sales tool. 2) Advertising (in whatever form you choose) is going to be 99% on your shoulders. 3) You need to organize your time so you don’t spend too much […] [ ... ]
Short blog today. I’m in Orlando, Florida at Sleuthfest 2012, a mystery writers’ conference put on by the Florida MWA Chapter. Actually the conference doesn’t begin until tomorrow, but I came a day early to go to the gun range. I can say this, I’ve shot guns (a little 9mm and a 22), but this […] [ ... ]
Next week I’ll be on a panel at Sleuthfest where we’ll all be talking about our methods of plotting a mystery. That’s had me thinking. How do I plot a story, be it a mystery or a romance? When I first started writing (eons ago) I really had no idea how to plot, which my […] [ ... ]
I’m always getting after my husband, who buys something and then tries to make it work without reading the instructions. And I’m always telling new writers to go to the agent’s or publisher’s web site and read the guidelines before formatting or submitting any work. Well, now I’m the one at fault. Last week I […] [ ... ]
Coming soon: The Crows by Maris Soule Of course The Crows had its initial birth December 2007 as a hardcover published by Five Star mysteries. Then, about a year and a half later, it had a rebirth as an audio book put out by BooksinMotion. And, of course, once I had the rights back, The […] [ ... ]
I joined Linkedin this week. For months I’ve received invitation to join, mostly from people I didn’t know. I think they simply invited everyone on their email address list. A couple of invitation came from people I did know, but when I asked them what the advantage was, they weren’t sure. Now that I’ve joined […] [ ... ]