Carolina Conspiracy

Ghost Stories by Joyce Lavene

2010-04-26T16:23:00.002-04:00

Do you believe in ghosts? Asking this question will make most people relate a ghost story, sometimes from their childhood. They immediately say they DON'T believe in ghosts, not really. It's not like anyone has ever proven that there are ghosts.

But some things don't need to be scientifically proven for people to believe in them. People throw salt over their shoulder when they spill it. Not that they believe it's bad luck exactly, but why take chances? There are hundreds of things that we believe in that haven't been proven - like shamrocks being good luck - and weather prediction. (ouch!)

But can we explain why we have those strange feelings when we walk into a house? Those creepy little sensations like someone is watching us? And what about the photos of ghosts that crop up from time to time? Are those real?

Most people either know someone who has seen a ghost or believe they have seen a ghost. They believe in otherworldly activity. Most people believe they have spoken with their dead loved ones, even if they haven't seen them.

I can't debate who's telling the truth and who isn't. But I've seen ghosts. The first one was my great-grandmother when I was about 5 years old. Was she real? I don't know for sure, but I believe she was.

The paranormal will always interest us, with or without the benefit of scientific approval. Maybe we all want to believe that the people we love are still with us. Maybe we see it as our own kind of immortality.

The question is always - Do YOU believe in ghosts?

Joyce Lavene
www.joyceandjimlavene.com
A Timely Vision
Paranormal Mystery from Berkley - May 4

Friends by Joyce Lavene

2010-04-21T14:49:00.002-04:00

I never thought becoming a writer would change my life so much. I have met so many wonderful people in the 11 years since my first book was published. Terry Prather (pictured with me and Jim at the Friends of the Library luncheon in Kannapolis, NC on Tuesday is one of them.

She is a dynamo, keeping her library going, setting up programs for writers and readers, inspiring people and listening to her library patrons.

She has sent strangers my way, telling them what a wonderful person and writer I am, showing them my books at the library. She has helped me with research and listened when I complained about things I thought weren't fair.

She is a sweetheart and I am glad to call her my friend. One of many people I didn't know were out there until I took up the pen to write.

Wise people have always said that it is the journey that matters as we travel to our destinations in life. Terry, and other friends like her, make me believe.

Joyce Lavene
A Timely Vision
Berkley - May 4
www.joyceandjimlavene.com

Dropping Clues About Our Characters—by Elizabeth Spann Craig

2010-04-17T09:43:00.001-04:00

So I was in the grocery store….again….(must make more lists) and was nearly run down by a little guy pushing a shopping buggy that was bigger than he was.

“Benjamin! Watch our for the mommy!” fussed his mother before apologizing to me.

She kept on scolding, “Honey, you can’t just go running through the store with the cart! You could have hurt this mommy.”

I was—quickly—walking away by this point, but I was struck by the fact that the woman had pegged me, twice, as a mother.

As far as I’d known, I hadn’t put on a “Hello, My Name is Mommy” nametag before leaving the house.

I didn’t have a child with me.

But—I was at the grocery store in the middle of the morning on a work day. I didn’t look at all professional—I wore my usual uniform of a cotton v-neck tee shirt, shorts, and flip flops. And I’m sure I looked distracted— par for the course for most moms. I hadn’t slept well (which is completely normal for me) so there were circles under my eyes. I had “Mini-Moos” green and yellow yogurts in my cart and “Goldfish”-type crackers.

The clues were all there, despite the lack of children.

That’s what I’m aiming for with my character descriptions. I want the clues to be there. I want the reader to pick up on the hints and feel clever about their deductions.

Some things have to be told, but it’s a lot more fun planting clues about our characters for the readers to discover.

Next time I’m at the store, I’m wearing a dress, though.

Old Books by Joyce Lavene

2010-04-14T06:23:00.004-04:00

There's nothing like cracking open a new book that you've waited for by an author you love. I like to buy books and hurry home to sit and read in a quiet corner somewhere.

But I also love old books. They have a romance and flavor to them that is very attractive. They have been well worn and loved, in any cases. And I'm always eager to see what's inside - not just the words either.

I've found shopping lists in old books. Probably used as a book mark and forgotten. I found a love letter once that was started but never finished. The words haunted me for months, wondering who Rosa was and if her friend ever got up the courage to tell her he loved her.

I've found parking tickets, report cards, memos about going to the vet or the eye doctor. These sneak peeks into other people's lives, people I will probably never meet, are always interesting.

I know some people believe it is wrong to sell these old books - after all, we don't get royalties more than once. But I would have missed so much by not reading them that I hate to think I'll never see another.

The last book I bought, Roses Love Garlic by Louise Riotte, had a pressed rose in it. It is a story in itself. I'll probably wonder about how and when it got there (and make stories up about it) for a long time to come.

Joyce Lavene
A Timely Vision
from Berkley - May 4

I LOVE festivals! by Joyce Lavene

2010-04-08T08:10:00.003-04:00

I love festivals! I don't care if they're wine festivals, like the one I'll be at on April 17 with Elizabeth Craig and Kathleen Delaney (The Carolina Conspiracy) or if they're at gold mines or farmer's markets. Going to festivals with my books is a relaxed, happy atmosphere to meet readers.

Some of my favorite memories have been at festivals. I've met so many people while talking about giant radishes or comparing notes on historical happenings. Some of them read my books--some don't. Many pick up a few while we're talking. We compare our favorite authors and their books too.

Sometimes the atmosphere at book stores can be a little tense. People see you sitting at a table full of books and they KNOW you expect them to buy something. I worry about some of them getting whiplash, they turn away so quickly. Some of them come right up to the table then say they don't read books. Others just want to know where the bathroom is.

But at a festival, under a tent, the sun beaming down, people seem to be less fearful. They can stand around and talk for a while. They don't seem to make as many excuses. Sure, there can be weather issues, but it's worth it anyway.

It really doesn't seem to matter if your books have anything to do with the theme of the festival. I have sold dozens of NASCAR mysteries at garden festivals and garden mysteries at Renaissance festivals.

Of course, you know the Ren Fests are my favorite! Huzzah!

Writers, try a few out this spring and see how they work for you. You might be the only one with books at a crowded festival full of happy readers. These things really do happen!

Joyce Lavene
A Timely Vision
May 4, 2010
from Berkley Prime Crime

In Defense of Grammar - By Kathleen Delaney

2010-04-07T14:42:00.001-04:00

Years ago, before any of my novels or articles were published, I decided that if I was going to get serious about writing I needed a writing class. The instructor wrote children’s books. Past middle age, gray hair twisted into a knot at the back of her neck, short, and given to smock tops. She also wore tights under her long denim skirts, Birkenstocks and was delightfully vague. My perfect mental image of what a children’s author would look like, maybe any author. I’ve learned a lot since then.

She was a lovely person, but she wasn’t a very good teacher. She had no idea of how to impart knowledge on how to construct a story, build characters, and incorporate tension. Those things I would learn much later. But what she did do was empathize the importance of a good story. And she inadvertently introduced me to the importance of grammar in the telling of that story.

There was a man in the class who, from the first day, interrupted constantly to correct her grammar and everyone else’s. He ignored the story importance entirely and concentrated on correct sentence structure. Poor lady, she didn’t know how to stop him and fumbled around each class, trying to tell him that it didn’t really matter how correct the sentence was if it didn’t say something interesting. If it didn’t push the story line forward, didn’t build empathy for the characters, it didn’t matter if it wasn’t grammatically correct because no one was going to read it anyway. He finally dropped out.

Maybe it was because I grew up in Catholic school, back in the days when they were staffed by nuns in habits who were addicted to diagramming sentences, but I’ve always hated grammar. I didn’t really care if my participles dangled, if my page was littered with commas all in the wrong place, and if my spelling was atrocious. I was a reader; I had no thought of becoming a writer, and didn’t want all those little annoying details to get in the way of a good story.

It is only now, years later, that I realize the importance of grammar. How, for instance, a misplaced comma can impart a very different meaning to a sentence than what you had intended. That a complete sentence is not a luxury but a necessity. That misspelled words are like a jumbled jigsaw puzzle. The story stops while the reader tries to figure out just what that word was exactly and what the writer meant by it. That the best story in the world is no good if poor grammar and misspelling is so distracting to the reader that they put it down in frustration.

Where I have really noticed how distracting poor grammar and spelling can be is in comments put up on the Internet. Especially now, in this climate of vitriolic comments on the government, people of other nations, people of faith other than the commentator’s, or about their neighbor across the street, the one with the kids who dare to play on the sidewalk. The Internet is replete with comments, most of them grammatically incorrect, some of them indecipherable.

When I’m in the mood for a puzzle, I read some of them. Mostly, I don’t feel strong enough to unravel the wandering thoughts that never seem to come to any real conclusion, the lack of punctuation, and the words that are so misspelled you have to guess at them. That’s when I thank Sister Mary St Herbert for her love affair with the semi-colon and Sister Mary Katherine Patrice for her insistence on complete sentences with proper punctuation. Some of what they taught me actually rubbed off.

And I wonder, where were the sixth grade teachers of those who favor us with their thoughts on the Internet? Or are they so intent on getting their pearls of wisdom posted for the entire world to see that they don’t re-read what they have written? Maybe they have missed the button that takes you to spell check. I’m sure they don’t know what the delete button is for, or some of the things posted would come down before they go up.

One of the first things writers learn is to edit. Re-read what you have just written. Does it make sense? Do the sentences flow together to present your thought accurately, and is it a complete thought? Does that comma really belong there? Should there be a question mark at the end?

And, most importantly, if you have something to say, something you think is important, do you really want to say it in a way that makes you sound like an idiot?

More people will read your comments, or your blog, or your posted comments on Facebook than will ever read your novel, which, I am sure, you have re-read and re-written many times. So, whether you are a writer or just the person making the occasional comment, go back and re-read what you just wrote. You may want to revise that a little. Or a lot. And, in case you missed it, Spell check is under Tools on your space bar.

Skiers and writers by Kathleen Delaney

2010-03-28T18:38:00.001-04:00

Like just about every one else in the world, I watched the Olympic. The figure skating is my favorite, probably because, in the past, my oldest daughter was a competitive skater, went on to skate with Ice Capades when it was a popular show, then later became a skating school director for them. My appreciation for what those skaters do is immense, and made even more so by my little bit of knowledge of what they have to go through to achieve those dizzying heights of perfection.

That doesn’t take away any of my awe of what people in other sports achieve. For instance, I have just enough experience with skiing to know that the bunny hill is terrifying. The thought of going full tilt down those hills, either straight or weaving in and out of poles you can barely see, makes me slightly faint. And the bobsled/luge people! And—we could go on and on. They are all slightly nuts but just about the bravest and most skilled nuts I’ve ever seen.

There was a lot of commentary along those lines, but I was struck by one phrase in particular that came up often as we watched the skiers zoom down the hillsides. The commentators kept talking about “letting the skis run.” That phrase struck a cord.
So hold on, here’s where the writing analogy comes in.

Letting the skis run seems to be a sort of controlled form of pointing them downhill and hoping you stay upright until you get to the bottom.

Writing characters is a little like that. You start out with a character that seems integral to the vague idea you have for a story, and you start to build them. What is this person like? How do they look, walk, what do they sound like? What do they do for a living, why do they do that? Are they happy? Why not? Are they old? Young? Married? Dating? Athletic? A couch potato? Shy? Social? Mean? If so, does that make them evil? Or just mean? Or are they nice? Really nice, not just to impress people. What do they like to eat? And where do they like to eat it? Do they like horse racing? Or NASCAR?

Pretty soon we have a person we think we know. We may like them a lot, or not at all, but we think we know them, and we’d better. The action in our story is going to spring out of those characters, who they are and what they do in any given situation. Remember, no two people will ever act, or react, the same under the same circumstances, What will drive one person to murder may not phase another much at all. What will make one person courageous under stress may make another run for cover.

Stories are about conflict. They wouldn’t be very interesting if they weren’t. Only, sometimes, we don’t let our characters reach their full potential. We hold them back. We throw all kinds of stressful situations at them, murder, mayhem, danger of all sorts, yet we don’t let them react. There they are, little cardboard figures, going through the motions, but without the emotions so essential to telling the story.

So, when you are writing that next tense scene, let your heroine struggle to be brave. She really should be afraid to go down those cellar steps alone, so lets make sure she has a darn good reason to go, one that overrides her very justified reason to stay safely at the top. Lets see that struggle, let’s feel it. We also need to feel the reason the murderer did what he/she did, Maybe he/she is filled with rage at an injustice, perceived or real. Maybe the destructive effect of greed, or pride (remember pride goeth before a fall?) is the motive for murder, or perhaps the fear that for some reason they have boxed themselves into a corner and the only way out is murder.

Whoever they are, and whatever the motivation for their action, let your character sit on top of that hill. Let them take a deep breath, ready to take off and fly to the bottom of the hill, or the end of the story, with a heart stopping run. Go with them. Let those skis run. You’ll have a much better story, and you’ll have a lot more fun, too. So will the reader.

Paper Management—by Elizabeth Spann Craig

2010-03-24T00:02:00.000-04:00

Y’all have caught me at a bad time—I’m really feeling the need to do some spring cleaning (it’s very springy here now in North Carolina), but I’m smack dab up against a huge deadline. Actually, make that 2 deadlines.

So I have cleaning on the brain. :)

There are certain kinds of messes that drive me crazy. If the laundry or the dishes aren’t done, I’m not going to be able to focus on anything until I’ve started a load.

Paper? It can wait a little while. But when it becomes a smallish stack, it starts bothering me, too. Plus I won’t remember to take action on whatever is on the paper if I’ve got it covered up with something else.

So this, for what it’s worth, is my method for dealing with paper:

Act on paper as soon as it comes into the house: RSVP, write the date on the calendar, pay the bill, write the check for the school yearbook, etc.

Write down all the information off the paper onto the calendar or another central location and then throw the piece of paper away.

Open the mail over the recycling bin.

My reminders go in at least one place—sometimes two. I’ve been known to lose my day planner. :)

My writing papers are gathered up at the end of each day and transcribed onto the computer.

I go as paper-free as possible. I unsubscribed myself from the junk mail people, I’ve opted for electronic bills and statements when possible, etc.

I keep only a few back issues of magazines. I can usually find the articles that interest me out of the magazines online when I need them.

Do you have a good clutter-management solution? Please share them with me! :)

Promotion Madness by Joyce Lavene

2010-03-07T14:29:00.004-05:00

Promotion Madness - it's here again.

Of course, every author promotes all year long. But there's that special time right before and right after a new book comes out that becomes like a crazed journey to see how, where and when you should advertise for that book.

Right now, it's Promotion Madness time for A TIMELY VISION, our May 2010 mystery. The book has been out for reviews since the end of last year - check, some reviews are back and on the website which was just changed - check. Contest in place for the book and a Duck, NC tote bag - check.

Setting up book signings and other events is underway. There will be the familiar and the not familiar places. The book launch party will be the day the book comes out - if Berkley can get copies to the bookstore in time.

There will be magazine ads, local ads in the newspaper. The trailer is progressing. Booksellers have cover flats. Friends and relatives in faraway places are poised to turn all the books face out when they appear on the shelves.

Have we forgotten anything?

Every few weeks there are articles in magazines like this one from the LA Times: www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/la-ca-book-tour7-2010mar07,0,5647724.story about how books should be promoted and how they are promoted. There are no exact rules to follow, no real guidelines even to know what works and what doesn't. It's a crap shoot.

Does spending a lot of money work? It all depends on who you talk to. Will it help if you get a publicist? We've had a few of those and ended up doing more than they did for a lot less money. But many authors swear by them.

I've known authors who spent thousands of dollars on ads in big glossy magazines that should have produced results. They didn't.

What's an aspiring author to do?

All you can do is read everything you can and do what you can afford. Do what feels right and move on. Will your book be an instant bestseller? Who knows. But if you find what works for you (blogging, chats, radio spots, interviews, guest shots, etc.) keep doing it and hope for the best.

If someone ever finds a sure-fire way to promote a book that leads to a bestseller, we'll all find out about it on Facebook, Twitter and other resources. Until then, I have to get back to checking off my list.

Joyce Lavene
www.joyceandjimlavene.com
A Timely Vision
Berkley Prime Crime

What’s Unique about the Writer’s Lens—by Elizabeth Spann Craig

2010-03-03T08:23:00.001-05:00

I’ve noticed that many people I know view life through a lens.

Some of them use a political lens—they look at everything in relation to politics.

Many use religious lenses.

There are some that use a financial lens: everything boils down in terms of money.

There are egocentric lenses…how everything in life affects them.

There’s even a motherhood lens—how life’s hardships and joys affect their children or the raising of them.

The big thing that seems to set writers apart, to me, is our lens—it’s an observational one.

It doesn’t seem to be a very analytical device… we’re not so much into the why people behave the way they do as watching it happen.

I do know many different kinds of writers and there are some extroverts in the bunch, but I’d say it’s probably 90% introvert to the 10% extrovert that I know.

Most of the writers I know are happy to sit on the edges of a group or gathering and watch the people. We’re less happy being the center of attention—you can’t observe life as well when all eyes are on you. We’re the perfect bystanders.

We don’t mind the quiet.

We can get so caught up in our writing that we don’t feel self-conscious about taking notes or writing in a public place.

This filter provides us with a little distance from other people. This can be a very welcome distance. I can come across a really annoying person, but through the writing lens they come through as complex and different.

And, yes, still a little annoying. But we need those kinds of people in our books, too.

But the biggest thing that stands out to me is the watching and recording that writers do. We’re listening and looking…jotting down names of people and places, unusual situations, people’s personal conflicts. We’re sorting through ideas.

And I think this note-taking is frequently done in a nonjudgmental way—we’re just relating these life observations to readers. We’re the middlemen…we polish up our notes to make them interesting or entertaining, but it’s truth, on paper.

Do you see yourself as an observer?

Book Covers by Joyce Lavene

2010-02-25T06:32:00.006-05:00

Book Covers

Book covers are exciting or colorful or scary. Or something in between. They have a few seconds to catch a reader's attention before that person's eye moves to something else. Your poor little book can't jump off the shelf into a reader's hand. But a good book cover can make a reader pause, thumb through, and finally buy a book.

Berkley Prime Crime does an awesome job with their covers (which you can see from my book cover from A TIMELY VISION and Elizabeth Spann Craig (writing as Riley Adams) book cover from Delicious and Suspicious).

Readers have remarked many times about how beautiful the covers are for my Peggy Lee Garden Mysteries and that the covers of the Ren Faire Mysteries made them pick up the books because they looked like fun.

Writers don't have a lot to say about their covers. Editors ask what you think as the cover is being drawn up. They ask for suggestions about the art before the cover is started. After that, it's up to the artists who design and create the book covers. They are talented and fast workers. Like everyone else on the team that gets the book ready for stores, they're on a deadline and have to finish the product to keep up with production.

I think one thing that makes Berkley covers so good is that they tend to stay away from animals and people. I don't know why, but figures don't seem to translate well to this form. The people can be too big for their surroundings or their faces can be frightening. Animals are usually just plain weird looking.

People compliment me often on my book covers. I'm not sure what to say since I had nothing to do with it. I usually mutter politely and change the subject. I can only take credit for the writing inside.

So here's to Dan Craig (www.ba-reps.com/artists/dan-craig)
and Lesley Worrell (www.covercafe.com/contest/2005/AR-res05.html)
Ben Perini(www.123people.com/s/ben+perini)

and all the other Berkley cover artists and designers. You guys rock! You make it easy for writers to get compliments they don't deserve and to sell our books!

Joyce Lavene
PS - Just for the record, I have nothing to do with the change in cover style between large print and mass market paperback either.
A Timely Vision (and another fine cover)
May 2010 from Berkley Prime Crime

Making the Ordinary Extraordinary

2010-02-24T00:03:00.000-05:00

My husband’s sister and her husband live in Africa where they work as translators. My sister-in-law speaks French fluently and perfectly accented. Her husband speaks 5 or 6 languages, including Swahili.

For years they lived in Nairobi, Kenya. Life there; apart from election violence over a year ago, living in a guarded housing compound, and occasional run-ins with police (who aren’t like our police); was pretty tame compared to life in their current home in Bunia, Congo. Congo hasn’t historically been the calmest place on the globe to live.

Their day to day life is an adventure: for fresh water, reliable utilities, and even a safe place to live. Their country is exotic…the plants and wildlife are different, the language and customs are different.

In many ways, it’s the perfect place to write. But they’re not writers.

In contrast, I look at my life in suburban America. My adventures are pretty tame in comparison. Will I find my daughter’s missing library book before it becomes overdue? Will I make my deadline? Why is the washing machine making that strange noise?

Some of us write fantasy and sci-fi and the appeal there is completely clear—it’s the escape from reality for readers.

But what about those of us who write using everyday settings about everyday people? What’s the appeal there?

I think it must be that our readers can imagine themselves in the same circumstances. That we’ve made a connection with the ordinary reader. That we’ve either 1) created people like themselves who are suddenly facing extraordinary circumstances (they’re accused of murder, won the lottery, gotten lost in a snowstorm), or 2) we’ve created extraordinary people that our readers wish they could be, but aren’t.

My two protagonists both fall under the first category, I think…ordinary people who have been put in extraordinary situations.

What about you? Do your characters fall into either category? Both? Or do you write a genre where the extraordinary part is the escape from reality?

Do you know what I mean? by Joyce Lavene

2010-02-10T17:53:00.003-05:00

Maybe you've noticed those signs in front of churches. They're kind of like spiritual billboards trying to point the way to heaven in the two seconds you have to see them as you pass.

I saw one this morning that said 'The sky shall like up with fire'

hmm . . .

No one said the signs had to be correct but the editor in me always cries out for them to make sense. There's a big difference between writing what we write and writing what we mean to write.

I noticed another sign a few miles down the road (not a church sign): The Greenwood Golf Curse will be open starting May 1.

I almost went back and looked at this one again.

As writers, it isn't always easy to spot mistakes in what we write. We seem to be born with an innate skill for words and don't really notice if they need polishing or rethinking. We write what's in our heads but the words don't always make it to the paper (or sign, in this case).

And before you ask, Spellcheck can only do so much for you on this. In fact, my Spellcheck doesn't know the difference between it's and its. If I paid attention to it, I'd always be wrong.

You have to read what you've written to see these glaring mistakes. It may not be exciting but at least you'll be able to spot stupid things that shouldn't be there. Wanting it to be perfect, like saying exactly what you mean, are two different things.

It must have been the day for it, because on the way home, I saw another church sign that read: 'Are you passing threw life without God?'

There is so much wrong with that, I don't know where to start.

But I have a sign of my own that could be helpful: SOMETIMES YOU HAVE TO READ TO RIGHT!

Get it?

Joyce Lavene
www.joyceandjimlavene.com

Slips of the Tongue—by Elizabeth Spann Craig

2010-02-09T00:06:00.000-05:00

I was in—as usual—the grocery store on Saturday afternoon. As soon as I walked in the door, I was greeted with a big smile by a couple of men at a table. I did a mental groan—they wanted me to do something. Sure enough, it was time to update that plastic discount card the grocery store assigns us.

I was at the deli counter getting some ham and trying to put the little loyalty card on my keychain. One of the deli workers said, “So you got your card updated?”

And I said. “Mm-hmm. Last time I came in I just pretended I didn’t see them.” Then I’m sure I looked really cross because I don’t say things like that, I think things like that. Some evil sprite possessed me and made me say something rude.

The counter guy just laughed. “Yeah, you were probably ignoring me. Because I’ve been working that table until tonight.”

Which made me even more cross at myself.

It also made me think that frequently we’re our own worst enemies.

Writing cozy mysteries, I really like to do things on a small scale. Because of the nature of the books, I’m not doing any Hollywoodesque car crashes, explosions, or chase scenes.

I don’t have cataclysmic events in my books—no natural disasters, terrorism, or ghastly epidemics. Although I really enjoy reading books like these, they just don’t fit my genre.

A horrific day in my books? Someone’s slip of the tongue results in their murder. They knew too much.

Think of all the uses faux pas can have. Because we’ve all said things that came out wrong or that people took the wrong way.

A slip of the tongue could result in someone really getting furious with an in-law or other family member. Maybe it represented the last straw for the person—the one that made them decide to end a relationship.

Faux pas can end friendships. Maybe a friend blabbed about the protagonist’s secret. Maybe the slip is viewed as a betrayal by another character.

A slip of the tongue could result in someone getting fired. Maybe someone leaked something that their office wanted to keep strictly confidential.

Military men and women who accidentally disclose too much information involving location during a war, you’re actually endangering lives.

Think of all the politicians who end up saying, “I misspoke.” So many have said thoughtless things, or uttered racially insensitive statements when “misspeaking.”

There are so many different ways to plot around someone sticking their foot in their mouth. And the reader? They won’t think the results are unbelievable at all. Because we all make our little faux pas.

Some thoughts on the power of storytelling by Kathleen Delaney

2010-02-04T07:27:00.002-05:00

The other day I picked up a copy of a volume of short stories by Sharon McCrumb. In the preface, she writes about growing up in a family of storytellers. Her father, her grandmother, everyone would gather around the porch, or table, and tell stories, about the family’s adventures in settling in the Blue Ridge mountains, about the funny things that happened, the struggles to carve out a life there, about the deaths and the births, and she talks about what an impression those stories made on her. She says that is where she got her love of stories, and it most likely is.

I know that’s where I got my love of them. My father also was a great storyteller, and oh how we loved to listen to him He grew up in Pipestone, Min. and moved to Lemon, SD when he was a young man, and he made those years alive for my brother and me. They had two ponies, Barney and Dick. Those horses pulled the carriage, took my father and his brother into town and to school, and helped my grandfather plow. The stories were so real, that although I never met those horses, I feel as if I had.

Other stories weren’t so happy. My heart still stands still when I think of how Dad lost his dog, Shep. They were making the move to SD, and Dad was to ride in a boxcar with some of the livestock. He’d broken his leg right before the move, and was on crutches. The dog jumped out of the car during a brief stop, and Dad couldn’t jump out after him. The train started to move and, although Dad frantically called to him out the open boxcar door, the dog couldn’t catch up. The last he ever saw of him, the dog was chasing the train, and loosing ground. They advertised all up and down the tracks, but the dog was never found. I heard that story over sixty years ago and it still brings tears to my eyes.

The stories we loved weren’t all family tales. The Saturday Evening Post came to our house, full of all kinds of stories, but not too many my brother and I were interested in, at least not when we were really young. But there was one series we loved, and reading those stories became a beloved ritual. I don’t remember who wrote them, maybe I never knew, and don’t remember even one title, but to us, they were the Babe and Joe stories. Babe and Little Joe were children about our ages who lived with their father and their Uncle Pete on a ranch somewhere in the mid-west, I think during the depression. Uncle Pete wasn’t very respectable, to be honest, he—drank.

Their mother had died and their father was having a hard time hanging onto his land, but they all somehow made it through each story. My brother and I loved them, and each week we searched the pages for a new Babe and Joe story. If one appeared, the ritual began. The magazine was carefully put on the table beside the chair where my father sat, for one of the best parts of the stories was Dad reading them aloud. We waited impatiently for him to get home from work, then attacked him with the joyful news.

Another Babe and Joe story had come and he needed to read it aloud to all of us, right now. But of course we had to wait. There were clothes to be changed, dinner to eat, and dishes to do. Those were probably the only nights my mother got help with the dishes with absolutely no fussing from us. When all was ready, my father would take his chair, my mother would settle in on the sofa, and my brother and I would sit cross-legged on the floor. Dad would pick up the Post, carefully find the page, and begin.
I’ve wondered if the stories were really that good, or if it was the ritual we made of the reading of them that made them so special. We don’t seem to do that anymore, have those kinds of family rituals. It’s hard to gather the family around the computer, and somehow even congregating around the TV doesn’t quite make those kinds of memories. And today, there is so much out there, we are bombarded with information, social networking, twittering, texting, all kinds of things.

But they’re not stories. Really good stories, about people we like and have learned to care for, will never be replaced with a tweet. At least, I don’t think so. Short blurbs on Facebook will never reduce you to tears, ones that you remember for years, and those blurbs will never make you rejoice for someone you’ve never met when they finally achieve the goal they have been striving for. I know, we’ve all seen the atrocities that are captured by cell phone cameras, and those impressions certainly last.

But stories take us all over the world, they take us back in time, and they take us into the lives of others, They let us experience adventures we might never otherwise have, and they make us care about people we would never otherwise have met. And by doing that, hopefully they give us greater insight into our own lives and relationships. But best of all, stories are about sharing. Whether its your father telling you about his growing up or Dick Francis taking you over fences in a steeplechase in England, you are sharing, experiences and emotions both.

So, get ye to the library, or to the bookstore, or just sit down and talk to your grandma, your elderly aunt, your mom or dad or your kids, and really listen. You just might learn something about one of them you never knew before, something about your family that makes you laugh. Or cry. And, you might even find yourself saying to someone you love—“let me tell you a story.”

Editing out the Extras—Elizabeth Spann Craig

2010-02-01T10:18:00.001-05:00

Alan Orloff at A Million Blogging Monkeys had a great post last week dealing with scene pacing. As he mentioned, it’s best to start a scene late in the action and end the scene early.

Otherwise, our characters start doing boring things.

My characters love doing boring things. I let them have their way with the manuscript on the first draft, but for the second? They’re not having pointless phone conversations anymore. They’re not walking to the front door, putting on their jacket, and strolling out to the car.

We don’t have to be with the character every step of the way in a book. We don’t have to sit with them through their meals, watch them do their dishes. We don’t have to be there when they go to bed at night or wake up in the morning.

Instead, we can start scenes in the middle of the action.

So instead of having my Memphis BBQ protagonist Lulu get dressed in a floral dress, eat a bowl of Fruit Loops, happily sing along with the radio, arrive at her Aunt Pat’s barbeque restaurant, and discover a body, I could do this instead:

Lulu unlocked the door to the restaurant, reached in, and fumbled for the lights, still humming that tune from South Pacific. Her keys hit the wooden floor with a clunk. There was a body in a pool of blood smack dab in the middle of the dining room.

The reader just assumes that Lulu got ready for her day. I don’t have to shadow Lulu while she decides which of her dozen floral dresses she’s going to put on for the day. The reader assumes that Lulu has gotten dressed. They know she didn’t just show up for work unclothed. And she probably had something to eat, too.

Okay, let’s say we’re spanning two days. We have one event that happens in the early evening (say Lulu finds a clue), then we have something that happens the next afternoon (a suspect is taken in for questioning.)

So Lulu has made a major discovery pertaining to the case. It’s a clue…or maybe a red herring, we don’t know yet. This is a very exciting development for the case. But I’m going to water down that exciting moment if I suddenly go into documentary mode and follow Lulu home, have Lulu turn in, have some time-filling stuff going on all the next morning, lunch, and early afternoon. I’ve just killed my exciting moment.

Instead, I’ll have Lulu’s world rocked. She’s discovered a clue—and it points to the guilt of someone close to her. Lulu’s stomach knots up. End of scene.

How do I transition to the next scene, nearly twenty-four hours later? Very simply: The next afternoon, Lulu was cleaning up after the lunch rush when two police officers strode into the restaurant.

That’s all there is to it. The reader doesn’t even really notice that time lapse…it’s as innocuous as using ‘said’ to tag conversation. Our brains just kind of register it and move on.

Right now, looking at my first draft, my characters are doing all kinds of monotonous stuff. I think, for me, it’s the writing equivalent of using ‘uh’ and ‘um’ in conversation. They’re just cleaning up, dressing, sleeping, and eating while I figure out what to do with them next.

But once I’m in second draft mode, their nonsense is all edited out. With 75,000 words, I don’t have time to waste.

Plotting? Moi? Guest Post by Terry Odell for the Conspiracy

2010-01-29T00:09:00.000-05:00

Thanks to Terry Odell for guest posting today. Terry’s books straddle the mystery and romance genres and you can find out more about them here. *******************

I'm not a plotter or an outliner. I tried. Really tried. Went to all those workshops about storyboarding. But after a short time, all I could think was, "enough of this." I don't do character sheets, because that's as much of an "enough of this" exercise as plotting.

For me, writing is a matter of moving in short bursts, and keeping track of what's happened, or where I think I might want to go. But as Nora Roberts is famous for saying, "I can't fix a blank page." So I write and see what happens.

First writing of the day is looking at what I wrote the day before. It's had time to settle, and the typos tend to rise to the top. It also gives me a running start for new material. I have an on-line critique group, and if they've given me feedback, I'll decide what needs to be addressed. If they catch a plot hole, I have to fix it before going further.

Late afternoons and evenings, I write new stuff. That's simply the way my mental rhythms work out; everyone deals with their own schedules.

My current manuscript was my first straight mystery, and I thought I might drag out the storyboard again. Still a no go. But I did find I could use it to keep track of what I'd written, and also of ideas for scenes, plot points, character moments. I used two separate boards: one for the ideas, and one for tracking the story.

First came the ideas. Plain and simple, it was brainstorming. Lots of "what if" thoughts. For previous books, I'd done it on a computer document, but having the physical sticky notes to pick up and move around gave me a better visual, and made it easy to change things. As I dealt with each 'idea' I'd either toss it or put it on the story board in the appropriate chapter box.

Since I've been "trained" in romance, I tend to focus on the big GMC: Goal, Motivation & Conflict for each character. I would figure out what my characters wanted, why they wanted it, and why they couldn't have it. Again, a lot of trial and error. For example, in the book I just finished, the underlying motivation was for Justin to find a "secret something" (at the beginning of the book, that was enough for me) at his grandparents' home. A big question I ask myself all through the process is "why". So, why would Justin want something? And, the bigger why: Why doesn't he just ask his grandparents for it? They love him; they'd probably give it to him. So figuring out what "it" was required a lot of discarded ideas.

But I don't need to know exactly what it is right away. Heck, I didn't even know who the villain was until at least halfway through the book. I strongly believe that our subconscious minds will know, or at least lead us in that direction.

Using colored post-its made it easy to see at a glance where the story was going. I learned what I needed to track and started adding things like where the scene took place, what secondary characters appeared, what clues were revealed, what day it was, etc. I used big sticky notes for the POV characters; a different color for each. I used smaller ones for the secondary characters, locale, etc. By the end, the story board was jam-packed, and my idea board was almost empty. If I'd looked at the empty board and tried to fill in before I started writing – well, "enough of this."

So, I suppose if I had to summarize my writing technique, it would be plan a little, write a little, fix a little. Rinse. Repeat. When I finally get to "The End" I do tightening edits, but by then, the story should (note "should", not "is") be complete. After the tightening comes the polishing, where I'll find the rest of those problem children that have risen to the top. But, again I don't play by the rules. I can't write scenes out of order. If I'm waiting for feedback on a critical point, rather than write ahead and take the chance everything will unravel when I find out whether the cops can actually do what I want them to, then I'll do some polishing. Maybe I'll plug a chapter into Wordle.net and see what words I'm overusing. Or make sure my transitions are clean, or my dialogue isn't drivel.

If you want to see how my storyboard technique worked for me, there's a summary on my website. http://www.terryodell.com

Hope this helped someone – I'll be happy to answer questions. And I chat about other aspects of writing at my own blog, Terry's Place, http://terryodell.blogspot.com

************************

Thanks so much, Terry! I love finding out how other authors plan and write their books. And that storyboard is very cool-looking—Elizabeth Spann Craig

Calls to Adventure—Elizabeth Spann Craig

2010-01-26T09:28:00.001-05:00

Maybe your protagonist is an international spy. His days are rarely boring since he’s always hopping a plane to a dangerous spot on the other side of the world.

Or not.

For most of us? Our protagonists are fairly ordinary people—like we are. But something extraordinary happens to them, pulling them out of their routine.

The moment when the story really starts has been called the “Call to Adventure” in the hero’s journey, as detailed by author Joseph Campbell.

In my books? My characters are just minding their own business when they discover a dead body.

There are many other calls that form the genesis of stories.

Protagonists:

Are confronted with a challenge—he must go on a dangerous trek to destroy an evil ring in a fiery volcano.

Are put in an extraordinary situation. This could be a plane crash, a sinking ship, a devastating natural disaster or a devastating manmade disaster (war, terrorism, etc.) A group of British schoolboys try to survive on an island after their plane is shot down during World War II. Or...a girl discovers a magical wardrobe is the gateway to another world.

Are asked for help. A Harvard professor gets an emergency phone call in the middle of the night. The curator of the Louvre has been murdered. Can he help solve a mysterious cipher?

Are on a quest for a treasure. Can Charlie find the golden ticket? Can he survive the tour of the factory to obtain a greater prize?

Meet their soul mate…the call of their heart. But the journey to a relationship is a rocky one. Twilight, anyone?

Realize their dream—and follow it. A girl realizes she wants nothing more than to return home. She embarks on a remarkable journey, encountering dangerous obstacles along the way.

The protagonist makes a decision—do they answer this call? Are they reluctant to accept? Are they dutiful, eager, terrified? Their reactions to the call help introduce the reader to the character.

Calls to Adventure usually come fairly early in a book. As a reader, I like knowing what direction the story is heading in—the sooner, the better.

Has your protagonist heard a call? How did he or she answer it?

A new dog in the house by Joyce Lavene

2010-01-14T06:54:00.005-05:00

Our dog, Bear, died in 2008. He was a black lab, 15 years old (the oldest black lab our vet had ever seen). It was a terrible death because he suffered in the last few days. Then we had to make the decision to have the vet kill him (why call it putting him down?)I kept hoping he'd die during the last night so I wouldn't have to make that decision.

I held him and sobbed as he died. He'd lived a good life, I assured myself. We'd rescued him from the pound when he was barely a year old. He was my shadow after that, moving from place to place with me in the house or outside. He never deserted me.

The day he died, people started telling me I should get a new dog. I couldn't. The memory of Bear's death was too fresh and painful. I couldn't even think about it.

But last year, a friend of mine who'd lost her dog around the same time got a new dog. I started thinking about how much I missed having a dog around the house. I waited, hoping the right dog would come to me. 2009 passed without that happening.

I needed a smaller dog (Bear was very big)and a dog who'd survive being with my cat, Quincy, who is a handful. Again, I felt like the right dog would come to me. I just had to wait. Since being a published writer means being patient, this was easy.

Then Barbara from the Stanly County Animal Rescue League (SCARL) sent me some information about a dog that was found almost starved to death in a local park during a recent cold snap. She sent me a picture and I asked about him. He had the sweetest face.

Monday morning, as the newspaper was set to run a story about the dog found abandoned in the park, Barbara stopped in with him on her way back from the vet. She told me she'd never done anything like that even after rescuing 44 animals with SCARL. She apologized for pushing him on me and said she just felt like he was right for me.

It turned out that she was right. I took Rudi home that day. He's very thin (you can count every bone in his body) but he's holding his own. He hates to go outside which presents some potty issues but I think we can get over that. He's very laid back (which helps with the cat)and all he wants is some love. I can handle that part.

Of course, a new dog means new issues, especially a puppy. But when he looks up at me and wags his little tail, I know he's worth it. I will always love Bear but there is room in my heart for Rudi too.

Joyce Lavene
www.joyceandjimlavene.com

Should You Tell People About Your WIP?—by Elizabeth Spann Craig

2010-01-09T07:45:00.002-05:00

“So, what are you working on now?”

Do you mind telling people about your WIP (work in progress)? Or does it make you grit your teeth when they ask? Do you wonder why people never ask accountants what they’re working on?

Usually, if you’re out of the writing closet, this is a question that you’re going to get from time to time. I get it pretty frequently from acquaintances who know I write.

Upside of telling them:

You get ideas—If I tell you about my WIP or you’re a first reader and you offer some ideas? I’m not shy about taking them. Sometimes you can even adapt an idea and change it into something really useful. Both Dorte and Hart have given me great ideas for two separate books (one a Myrtle, one a Memphis.) I love ideas. And they’ll be in my acknowledgments section!

You get accountability—The next time you see this person, they’re likely again to ask (right after they finish commenting on the weather), “So how is that book going? The one with the murdered supper club guest. Have you finished it yet?”

You get encouragement—“That’s a cool idea for a book. Where do you get your ideas from?”

Downside:

You might not have fully formed the plot yet. You might not be able to really even say what exactly it’s about. So you halfway describe it and the person you’re talking to looks confused. Because it is confusing—it’s not a solidified plot.

You might not be in the spot where you want to share your WIP’s plot because it’s malleable. And you don’t want it transformed before you figure out where you’re trying to go with it.

When you share your idea, some people may criticize it or appear disinterested when you tell them about it. When it’s in the formative stages, that’s not fun. Then you start second-guessing your plot.

Accountability in a negative way. I’ve told people about WIPs that later ended up in my manuscript graveyard. Then every time I see these particular people, they ask about it. And it’s been 1 1/2 years since I even picked the darned thing up. I’ll tell them I put it aside to work on something else (something I was paid to write, which is always given a priority!) and they’ll say, “But I really liked that idea!” I want to tell them they’re free to write it…

Reading this over, it looks like I’m seeing more of the downside to WIP sharing. I wouldn’t have said that, going into this post. Maybe it just depends on the person I’m sharing the info with. If he’s a writer, that’s one thing (he’d understand.) If I’m sharing with non-writers? Maybe I should keep it vague.

Do you tell people what you’re working on?

Writing in a 'real' place - by Joyce Lavene

2010-01-06T09:35:00.004-05:00

Books are either set in a real place; Chicago, the Congo, Venezuela, or a place in the writer's imagination: Oz, Mars, an underwater city. Maybe you write stories with characters based in your old hometown or your characters travel to exotic locations you may have never been.

Whatever your setting preference, it can be as important to the story as characters and plot. Setting, in many cases, becomes another character you have to work with in your story. Winter storms set back an investigation, high seas cause chaos or a murder victim is found drowned on a dry, hot day in the desert.

There are also the little details, especially in books where the setting is real. How long does it take to get from the airport to a particular hotel in Boston? What are the streets like in Minneapolis, Minnesota? Can you take a train through Charlotte, North Carolina? These details make readers crazy when they know the right answers and the author telling the story doesn't.

When Jim and I wrote the Peggy Lee Garden Mysteries, we made every detail of the area where Peggy lived and worked as accurate as we could. People actually emailed us that they couldn't find her shop in Brevard Court in Charlotte. Some of them were a little put out because they wanted to stop by and say hello.

Then we started writing the Ren Faire Mysteries. This wasn't a 'real' place at all but rather the best of many places put together in the old Air Force base in Myrtle Beach, SC. We figured that area could handle a full-time Renaissance Faire. Readers seem to get that it isn't a real place, although many have told us they would like to live there if it ever is.

Now we're writing the Missing Pieces Mysteries set in a real place again; Duck, NC. We loved the name and the area when we were down there and thought it would be a great place for mysteries, filled with pirate lore, legend and ghosts. But Duck isn't very big and our editor wasn't sure how people at tiny, one of a kind shops would feel about murder investigations tromping through there.

So we tried to stay as true to the real Duck as we could without actually using real names. The places exist but their names, as it goes, have been changed to protect the innocent. Will people who live in (or visit) Duck know them? I won't know until May when the first book comes out.

But if any Duck, NC shop, hotel or restaurant would LIKE for us to kill someone there, please let us know. We'd be happy to do so, if only for the sake of setting realism.

A Timely Vision
Book 1 in the Missing Pieces Mysteries
May 4, 2010
www.joyceandjimlavene.com

Classes--by Elizabeth Spann Craig

2010-01-03T00:15:00.000-05:00

You don't have to spend a lot of money to become a better writer. You can use your library card and get more information than you can ever find time to absorb.

Sometimes, though, we need a little extra help. When I was writing my first book, I was definitely aware of areas where I had shortcomings. I wanted more information on “show, don’t tell.” I wanted to know how to write a well-crafted synopsis. I wanted to learn more about creating well-rounded characters.

So, I took online classes. And they worked out really well.

Like anything, it depends on the instructor. But the classes I had, that were taught by working writers. And I only sought out classes that were in the $30-$50 range. Some of them, like the Blog Book Tour class, were free.

In my experience with online classes, they work like this:

*You go to the website find the class you’re interested in. Usually you pay via PayPal or credit card.

*You then will be joined to a Yahoo group, which goes active on the first day of the class.

*The classes that I took usually lastly four weeks, with two lessons posted a week.

*Everyone in the class will introduce themselves on the email loop. The instructor introduces himself/herself, gives his/her qualifications, and then provides the syllabus.

*The instructor gives a first lesson, usually in some detail, and with examples of vivid characterization, or plotting, or whatever the class is covering.

*The lesson ended with an exercise for the class members to do individually, then post back to the email loop. The instructor gives feedback on each individual person’s assignment and answers any questions. Usually you have a certain number of days to post on an assignment before you’re expected to move to the next posted lesson and assignment.

There are classes online that run into the hundreds of dollars. I really just can’t recommend those. I think you can get much the same experience, on a wide variety of topics, at a much lower rate.

Here are some links to online organizations and sites that sponsor online classes and their calendar of upcoming workshops. The classes range from $15 to $50.

http://www.writeruniv.com/

http://www.writersonlineclasses.com/?page_id=22

http://www.rwanational.org/cs/chapter_conferences_and_events#online

http://www.rwamysterysuspense.org/index.php

http://www.romance-ffp.com/workshops.cfm

Have you taken any online classes? What did you like or dislike about them?

Tell Me a Story by Kathleen Delaney

2009-12-22T14:17:00.002-05:00

My Christmas Tree is up. So are the lights, and there’s garland on the mantle. I don’t usually decorate this early, but two of my grandchildren were here over Thanksgiving and they wanted to decorate “their” trees.

Last year I bought two of those little fake trees that come with lights for the front porch. But things didn’t go quite the way I had planned. I barely made it home for Christmas, having spent a month in the hospital, and those trees were almost the only ones we had. The kids claimed them, and decorated them. For some reason they didn’t make the cover of Southern Living, but the kids loved them, and so did I.

This year they wanted to do it again. It seemed like a good idea, so we dragged them out, one thing led to another, and the next thing I knew, we were Christmased.

It seems that decorating for Christmas requires more than ornaments and bows. Hot chocolate and stories are an integral part of the ritual. Family stories, mostly, and their favorites are stories about their mother and their aunts and uncles. One story in particular is required telling.

When their Uncle David was about eight, he ventured into forbidden territory, the main street a few blocks from where we lived, to buy me a Christmas present. How he ended up at the florist I don’t remember, and maybe never knew, but he came home with a small ceramic Santa’s boot, and in the boot was a fat red candle and fresh holly. My first thought was, of course, to ground him for life for scaring me half to death and my second was-where did he get the money?

It seems he had saved his allowance, which couldn’t have been very much, and I believe he did some special chores for his father. David didn’t get grounded, and the boot, now somewhat battered, comes out every Christmas. I still have the candle, but it gets fresh holly and the story gets a little better. David is now almost fifty-two, so that story has grown quite a bit.

This year we had a few new stories. Dalia, who is eight, took on the chore of story teller. The characters were familiar, but the story line—well, lets just say there were events I didn’t recognize, and I’m fairly happy about that. The child has a very vivid imagination.

It occurred to me, while we were retelling favorite stories and making up new ones, how important story telling is. We don’t often sit down and record our family history, it comes down to us through stories and it is through stories we really learn about the people that shaped our past world, and who influence who we are today. George Washington may not have really cut down the cherry tree, but that story tells us what kind of person he was, and serves to teach us the value of honesty.

But the stories about my Aunt Frank are true. She really did put on her hat and coat every time she opened the refrigerator. She was afraid she might catch cold. I dearly loved Frankie and spent many happy hours with her, listening to some pretty odd ideas, and learning that all people, even those that are a bit peculiar, have great value.

And that’s what story telling, or writing fiction, its all about. Stories about ordinary people and extraordinary people. Stories that make us laugh with someone, cry with someone else, and ones that make the hairs on the backs of our necks stand up.

The stories I like to write put ordinary people in traumatic circumstances, and then I can sit back and see how they handle whatever it is I throw at them. Mostly, its murder. Such fun.

We have to care about the characters. Peculiar people can’t be just peculiar, heroines can’t be just pretty faces, they have to anguish over something and grow through whatever trials and tribulations we put in front of them, and villains can’t be all evil. Unless you’re determined to do Hanibel Lector one better, of course. But you don’t usually want to read about pure evil, and it’s pretty hard to write about it.

Humans are complex. Sometimes mean, sometimes generous to a fault, sometimes happy, sometimes in agony. So are the characters in your story, or they should be.. Don’t fail them. Breath life into them. Remember, action springs out of character. So, don’t be afraid to give you characters a little—well—character.

Dalia has it right. Her characters live and breathe. Of course, her stories are mostly about an eight year old girl, her six year old brother, their mother, and sometimes their grandmother.

The stuff about the grandmother isn’t true.

Starting Over by Kathleen Delaney

2009-12-01T06:53:00.001-05:00

It’s been almost exactly a year since it happened. The absolutely last thing in the world I would ever have imagined. I started out for Georgia, looking forward to spending some time with my daughter and my grandkids and to all the Thanksgiving festivities we had planned. Instead I ended up in the hospital and returned home, minus my left leg, right before Christmas. Talk about starting over.

There were times when I really didn’t think I could do it. How could I learn to walk again, drive, wash dishes, at the age of 73? I was too old to start over. Only that isn’t true. I’m doing everything, driving all over the country, going to the Y to exercise, having my family here for Thanksgiving and doing all the cooking, and probably a lot of the dishes. And I’m writing. I’m even starting a new series. Now, that’s starting over.

When I look back, I’ve started over constantly. Like everyone of us, there have been chapters in my life when the change I faced was joyous. Like having my first child. Talk about a life changer. Others were a lot harder, like the death of someone you love, or getting divorced. But you don’t give up. You start over.

But we start over in small ways as well. As I put on my leg this morning, (doesn’t that sound strange) I thought about all the times in my writing life that I’ve started over. When the book stunk, I’ve started over. When the next chapter just wouldn’t come, I’ve gone back to the beginning and started over. And when I got rejected by the agent I really wanted to work with, or my manuscript came back from the umpteenth publisher, I’ve started over. I may have cried a little, or cursed a lot, but eventually I’ve started over. Again.

So, for all you out there with a drawer full of rejection slips, don’t despair. Take another look at that manuscript, see if you can make it better, then get out the list of agents who handle your genre, check off the ones who said no, or take another look at the publishers who will look at unsolicited manuscripts, take a deep breath, now another, and start again. You can do it. I know you can.

Remember, the settlers at Jamestown did it. They started over when only a handful of them were left. And then they went out celebrated their good fortune, which consisted of the fact that they were still alive and finally had something to eat, with the first Thanksgiving. So, think about what you have to be thankful for. You’ve had your flu shot, the refrigerator is full, and you don’t have to pluck the feathers off the turkey.

Birth Order—by Elizabeth Spann Craig

2009-11-29T09:28:00.001-05:00

It was a great Thanksgiving. Our family enjoyed a trip to South Carolina to visit my parents.

My sister stayed in the Charlotte area to have dinner with her husband’s family there. I’ll be catching up with her in a couple of days.

My sister and I, although we get along really well together, are absolutely nothing alike.

I’m very introverted; she’s very extroverted. She chose a job in the financial sector where she deals with numbers daily. I chose to work with words, instead. She claims she has no creativity at all; I got more than my fair share. She is extremely coordinated and was a serious ballet and modern dancer in college. I have a hard time walking and chewing gum at the same time and staircases remain a major challenge for me.

Most of those things are just genetic flukes. But there are definitely some behavioral differences that I believe result from the fact that I’m first-born and she’s second.

Birth order has always interested me. I read a book on it a few years ago and was surprised at some of the book’s claims. It stated that we frequently befriend people who share our birth order—we may not know their birth order, but we’re attracted to our common traits.

But, stated the book, we usually marry partners who don’t share our birth order. Opposites can attract, when it comes to romance.

I thought it was a load of hooey---but it just so happens that all my closest friends are first borns. My husband is a second-born.

I’m always interested in gaining a little insight into my characters or making them stronger. Birth order isn’t something I mention in my books, but the traits can be useful when inventing characters and studying personality traits.

(Oh, am I stirring up trouble! Now y’all….there are exceptions. And this isn’t necessarily scientific. But here goes. This is from the British paper, The Guardian.):

*************************************

Oldest children

Typically responsible, confident and conscientious, they are more likely to mirror their parents' beliefs and attitudes, and often choose to spend more time with adults. Oldest children are often natural leaders, and their role at work may reflect this.

Because they are more likely to have authority over younger siblings, or take on the role of surrogate parent, they have a tendency to be bossy and want things to be done their way. Oldest children can be perfectionists and worriers, and may put pressure on themselves to succeed.

Middle children

Likely to be adaptable, diplomatic and good at bringing people together, middle children are often popular and patient. However, because their role in the family changes from youngest to middle, it is thought that they often struggle to establish a clear role for themselves, and many go through a period of rebellion.

Middle children can be competitive: they do not have the time on their own with their parents that oldest children enjoy, and their role as the baby of the family is supplanted, so they have to find other ways of getting their parents' attention.

Youngest children

Charming, impulsive and good at getting their own way, the youngest child's role as baby of the family means that he or she is likely to be indulged. This may mean fewer responsibilities and more opportunities for fun, but youngest children often find that they aren't taken as seriously or given the independence they crave. Youngest children often rebel as a way of distinguishing themselves from older brothers and sisters. They are more likely to take risks, and often choose a career that is different from other members of their family.

Only children

Only children enjoy the same parental attention as first-borns and are often confident, conscientious and socially mature, due to the amount of time they spend in a largely adult world. They may have a tendency to assume that others know how they are feeling, or think the same way as they do, without question. They may be dependent on their parents for longer than other children, spending more time at home and delaying decisions about their future.

******************

These results, obviously, change in very large families, or if there is a large gap between children.

I will say that a lot of the above is related to family dynamics and how the parents treat each individual child.

But it’s interesting. And, for me, it’s fun to find perspectives on what motivates and drives my characters.

On a separate note, please pop over and see my fun interview at the Book Resort today. Thanks!

My Thanksgiving

2009-11-26T12:43:00.003-05:00

It’s turkey day and I’m not cooking! Well, that is nothing except the green beans. My daughter is supplying everything else. It feels great not to be chained to the stove today. Of course that might be easier than what I have to do.

The movers will be here at nine o’clock in the morning. I still have boxes to pack and things to put aside for Good Will. And I have to keep my cat, seventeen year old Jefferson, from going nuts in all these boxes. (See Jefferson above) But I'm sure he and I will make it. I hope.

Downsizing is not easy. My cat and I moved last January and thought I’d gotten rid of a lot of things, but I think they’ve somehow reproduced. When I moved from a fifteen hundred square foot condo to a twelve hundred square foot one, I thought I’d never be able to fit what I kept in. Now I’m moving to a 1 bedroom apartment (I had 3) and I’m stuck in a quandary about what to keep and what to give away.

In case you’re wondering why I’m moving down so drastically, let me explain. My son-in-law was a big builder and was in the process of constructing 3 developments, one which was to have 250 houses. After sinking a huge amount in these land deals, the crunch hit. Things were going great and suddenly he was bankrupt. My daughter hadn’t worked outside the home in ten years. She’s now back teaching school. To top it all off, my son-in-law suffers from Crone’s Disease and with all the stress it came back with a vengeance. I decided that they could use my help and I could use theirs because the stock market crash hit me hard, too.

They live in a big house and there are three rooms off to the side where he had his office and the activity room. Now the activity room is going to be my living room. His office is now my bedroom. There is also a bathroom. The area has its own private entrance. All this leads into the kitchen (which we’ll have to share), but that’s going to be easy to work out. She loves to cook and I don’t live the same hours they do. (For me getting up at six o’clock would be worse than torture.)

My two grandchildren – ages six and thirteen – are excited about me moving in. For some reason I have the reputation as the fun grandmother who they say is younger than their mother. (My daughter doesn’t like this comparison at all, but I love it.) They have been told that they have to knock on my door when they want to visit my part of the house. It remains to be seen if they’ll abide by this.

I know we all have a lot of adjusting to do, and this move may not be a permanent one. But it is an adventure that I’m looking forward to. At least it will be more feed for the writing appetite.
A mystery where the mother-in-law is knocked off with everyone at home and nobody finding her for a couple of days and ….

With all this, I'm still thankful for the many blessings in my life.

Wish me luck in this transition!

Giving the Reader What They Want--by Elizabeth Spann Craig

2009-11-21T08:41:00.002-05:00

I was putting my daughter to bed the other night and she said, “I want to stay with you forever!”

Of course I told her she was sweet, and continued tucking her in. But she held onto my hand and said, “I really, really do, Mama. Can’t I always live here, even when I’m a grown-up?”

I smiled at her and gave her a hug. “I know you think that now. But you’ll be a teenager and won’t want to spend as much time with Mama. And then you’ll grow up and want to have a family and a house of your own.”

I kissed her goodnight.

The next night was a determined repeat of the last. “Can’t I always live here with you, Mama?”

I opened my mouth to give The Truth of the Matter, Part II, when it finally occurred to me that that was not the ending she wanted to hear. I wasn’t giving her what she wanted. She was going to keep trying for the alternate, better ending.

“You can always live here. Even when you’re a grown-up. You’ll always have a home here with Daddy and me, if you want it.”

Big smile and she was happily off to sleep.

Critics and movie goers frequently like different things. Critics see movies all the time and are bored stiff by formulaic movies. Movie goers are frequently happy with comfortable familiarity. Critics wouldn’t mind some really tragic endings to films. Movie goers are less tolerant of unhappy endings.

Are readers really any different?

What does a reader want? Frequently:

Unambiguous endings

Tied up sub-plots

No cliff-hanging endings

And….for many readers….happy endings.

I’ll admit that I try to plug into what readers want. I really want to make a career of this writing gig. I get emails from readers and read what readers have to say in comments on book blogs. I’m taking it all in. For me, satisfying a reader is priority #1. If I’ve satisfied readers, my editor is usually pretty happy, too.

Clues: Planning and Planting Clues for Your Mystery—by Elizabeth Spann Craig

2009-11-16T00:01:00.000-05:00

To me, one of the most fun things about reading a mystery is the puzzle. I love finding the clues along with my sleuth...and being misdirected by the author's red herrings.

I also have fun writing in clues and distracting my readers from them in my own book. But I admit that planting clues is the hardest part of writing a mystery for me. I want them to point to the killer, but I also want to make sure the reader doesn't have a neon sign blinking "CLUE! CLUE!" whenever I plant a clue.

Agatha Christie did a great job writing in her clues. She frequently slipped in an important clue among some useless information that seemed more important than the actual clue. Or she would plant a clue, draw the reader's attention to it, then have two characters suddenly burst into the room in the midst of an argument that completely shifted the reader's attention.

There are some good websites out there that can help writers learn more about writing effective clues and red herrings:

Don't Drop Clues: Plant them Carefully! by Stephen Rogers does a great job covering the types of clues, how to misdirect your reader, and mistakes to avoid.

Suite 101 covers planting clues in different ways: tucking them in a paragraph, heightening the drama, clues of omission, missing weapons, and clues from real life.

Author Sandra Parshall's website explains how "Clues Drive the Mystery Plot."

The Christie Mystery website demonstrates how Agatha Christie used clues and other plot devices.

Stephen Rogers writes a different article on red herrings and how to use them effectively.

With a little thought, you can create an interesting puzzle for your reader to try to decipher. And have a lot of fun in the process!

That Awful Query Letter

2009-11-12T21:19:00.002-05:00

Unfortunately, unless you're a Stephen King or Mary Higgins Clark, or one of the other best selling authors, you'll have to write and mail that awful query letter someday. Let me assure you, seasoned writers hate them as much as you do. I know I do. Sometimes I think it's easier to write the book than the query letter. And then when you've sweated blood and think it's the best you can do, you send it off only to be ignored or worse still, they write you back and criticize what you suffered to write.

It happened to me this week and believe it on not I had to laugh. I admit that when I sweat and cry and work and finally produce a query, I send it to more than one editor or publisher. I do change the name to who it goes to and I make sure I have the right company named in the body of the letter.

I sent the same query letter to two different publishers a few weeks ago and both had asked for the manuscript with the query. I got a reply from both of them this week.

The first one said, we liked the way you presented your story in your query and we read the entire manuscript. On the basis of this, we would like to offer you a contract, if you would be interested. (Duh! I'm not crazy. I emailed them right back and said I'd be thrilled to get the contract. They emailed it and had me download a copy. I signed it and mailed it back today.)

From the second publisher I got a note that said to the effect that they couldn't get past the bad query and they would not be interested in publishing my book. (Oh, how I wanted to send them a copy of the email from the other publisher. Of course, I didn't. I might want to query them again sometime, maybe, someday, in the future, when I run out of other places to query.)

So it goes in the publishing world.

Write that query to the best of your ability, address it to a specific editor, and take your chances. And expect that some editors will like it and others won't like it at all. It all goes back to that age old saying - 'One man's junk, is another man's treasure.'

Lynette

Sleuths--by Elizabeth Spann Craig

2009-11-05T08:50:00.003-05:00

One of the most important elements in your mystery novel is your detective. Depending on the type of book you're writing (police procedural, thriller, cozy), your detective might be a member of the police department or a gifted amateur who unwittingly becomes involved in your case.

If you plan on writing a series, your detective's personality needs to be one that you can explore over the course of several books. There are many wonderful mystery series featuring the same detectives that you can read. It's nice to have a sense of how other authors create interesting characters for their readers to enjoy book after book. Interesting sleuths include: Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock, Colin Dexter's Inspector Morse, Agatha Christie's Hercule Poirot and Jane Marple, P.D. James' Adam Dalgleish, Raymond Chandler's Philip Marlowe, Anne George's Southern Sisters, and Nancy Atherton's Aunt Dimity.

M.C. Beaton's series feature two intriguing detectives: Hamish McBeth (a police constable in a Scottish village) and Agatha Raisin (formerly a busybody, currently a private investigator.) Hamish is a lovable officer--a gangling man who loves his village and desperately tries to prevent his own promotion (which would mean he'd have to leave the place he loves.) The readers tune in each book to check in with the recurring characters, see what's happening with Hamish's disastrous love life, and see how he plays down the fact that he has solved another case. Agatha Raisin, on the other hand, sometimes causes as many problems for the police department as she solves. It's fun to pick up a new Agatha Raisin book and see what trouble Agatha is in this time.

If you do choose to have an amateur detective, make sure that he or she is involved in the case in a natural and believable way. It's a stretch to believe that the sleuth just decides to play detective one day, for example. It makes a lot more sense that they would become involved if they or someone close to them is a suspect (and they want to clear their name) or if the victim was someone important to them.

It's nice for the detectives, amateur or professional, to have their own foibles to deal with. I loved it when even Christie's brilliant Hercule Poirot had faulty reasoning or made an error. Of course, he always figured it out in the end, but when he took us along on a red herring it was always fun.

Some publishers and agents are looking for books with specific hooks for the readers (this is especially true in the cozy mystery genre.) Does your sleuth also do crosswords? Quilt? Scrapbook? Hobbies can be tools to reel in readers.

In Christie's books, Poirot usually explained his reasoning and unveiled the murderer in a room full of suspects. That's less common today in mysteries. The reader is more likely to find the detective locked into a dangerous confrontation with the killer at the book's denouement. In a police procedural, you might find a similar situation--perhaps the police are desperately trying to locate the murderer (once they discover his identity) before he kills someone else. Or maybe the police have realized who the killer is at the same time they're recognized that a particular person close to him will be in danger.

Whatever personality and foibles you create for your detective, remember that they can help to make or break your mystery novel.

Blogger Tags: creating a detective, how to write a mystery, mystery sleuths, sleuths, writing a mystery, your detective

Everything changes

2009-11-02T15:44:00.003-05:00

Well, it's official. Our long-time agent, Jacky Sach, is leaving Bookends. We've known for a while already. All those telephone messages and emails assuring us that everything would be all right.

We raced up to Jersey last weekend, in the middle of a terrible storm, to meet with her partner, Kim Lionetti, about representing us. The irony is that Kim was our first editor at Berkley. We've joked for years about Jessica and Jacky stealing her.

This was the second surprise this year for us. In May, our long-time editor at Berkley, Sandy Harding, moved on. In that case, our editor, Faith Black, from Avalon, where we first started writing mysteries, came onboard to take her place.

And while we are reassured that everything will be fine, there is also a certain melancholy in the changes. No matter how wonderful both these changes may be for us, there is always a reluctance to go on, a part of ourselves we leave behind in the passing.

A wise man once said that there is no stability in life, only a chance to change for the better.

This will have to be our change for the better.

Flying Solo, Day 2 by Kathleen Delaney

2009-10-27T14:40:00.001-04:00

Flying Solo Day 2

It looked like rain. The radio said rain. But I had so many things I wanted to see, I decided to try positive thinking. I don’t know if it worked, but it didn’t do anything all day but spit, and be cold.

Today was to start at the Payton Randolph house. I had talked to the Food-ways director who said I could stay as long as I wanted in the kitchen and ask as many questions as I could think of. I started off, across the green, pushing my wheel chair and carrying my question list. Wheel chairs come in handy for more than sitting. They can carry your purse, your tote, and your jacket. They also are good when there is no bench free.

Payton Randolph was a very wealthy man and his house showed it. It’s beautiful, and except for the lack of indoor plumbing and a gas stove, I could move right in. Oh. And I’d need a vacuum cleaner. After the tour of the house, I headed for the outbuildings, mainly the kitchen. It is attached to the laundry, not a common thing, but it makes sense. In between loads of laundry, it could accommodate loads of dirty dishes and pots. It took days to do laundry, washing, scrubbing, boiling, rinsing, and then, drying. Everything had to be ironed. And they heated the iron on the fire. It probably didn’t stay hot very long so it wasn’t a fast process. I think I’ll add my washer and dryer to my list of things I’m keeping.

The woman in the kitchen was great. She was making what we would call French toast. She took slices of day old bread, and back then day old bread was pretty dry, dipped them into a bowl that contained white wine and then into beaten eggs, and fried them in melted lard. They smelled delicious. I asked where she got the lard, afraid I already knew the answer. Yep. She’d made it. If you really want, I’ll send you directions, but I’m not going to try it. She was also cooking a fish on a plank in front of the fire. Butter was the only thing she used to baste it with, which, of course, she’d churned. I don’t think she milked the cow, but probably most women did. I have. I’m not doing it again. All of the food turned out in that kitchen looked and smelled wonderful, even the baked goods. But how they knew when the cake was done is beyond me. Then she pulled some coals out of the fire onto the brick hearth, put a trivet over them, and a pot on top of it, and started another dish. I’ll never complain again about how much work Thanksgiving is.

The afternoon was spent in the barn. The horses are spectacular and so beautifully taken care of, and the carriages are awesome. They have old breeds of chickens, sheep and cattle. They have quit breeding the horses, mainly due to lack of pasture area, but we had a great time talking about them, and I learned a lot.

Benedict Arnold arrived at the capitol building in the late afternoon and raised the British flag to the boo’s of the towns people, helped out by the rest of us, and George Washington road into the armory right behind him and retook the town. We all cheered like crazy and the fife and drum corps played and the muskets were fired in salute. By that time it had started to drizzle, and it was getting cold. It was time for a glass of wine.

I finished the day by dining in the Regency Room in the Williamsburg Inn. The epitome of understated elegance. No wonder Queen Elizabeth elected to stay there.

The weather report was for rain. Lots of it. And I planed on leaving in the morning for Mt Vernon.

I was afraid my positive thinking had just run out.

Starting Out—by Elizabeth Spann Craig

2009-10-26T08:25:00.001-04:00

On Friday evening, a friend of mine asked me some questions about mystery writing while I was at the Brownie Scout sleepover. Naturally, since this is my favorite thing to talk about, I was happily prattling off all kinds of info when it occurred to me that my non-writing friends aren’t ordinarily that interested in the process of writing. They’re incredibly supportive, but not usually asking the kinds of questions that my friend was asking.

I’m slow on the uptake, I’ll admit it. Especially in conversations. “Oh! You’re interested in writing.” Which was wonderful. Because if I could convert everyone into becoming a writer, I’d do it. The world would be a happier, if odder, place.

My friend wanted some ‘starting out’ information about writing. My mind really boggled. There’s such an incredible amount of information out there. Where do you start? What’s useful?

I think it’s good to do some research ahead of time. Some. Not enough to stifle the creativity. Not enough to feel like the process is too daunting. But enough so your first attempt isn’t way off course.

What genre do you want to write? What do you read? What do you like to read? Is it different from what you feel like you should be reading? You might even want to focus in on a particular subgenre—a paranormal mystery. An apocalyptic sci-fi. It would definitely make it easier to query later on because agents and editors want to know what kind of book you’ve got.

In that genre, what is the usual word count range? For a ballpark idea on what you should think about shooting for, try this article. Why is this useful? You need to think about whether your idea is sustainable for 75,000—95,000 words (which is likely the range of most adult books.) And you want to stop yourself before you write too much material. More usually isn’t better, as far as agents and editors are concerned.

Where do I start? At the beginning….or not. There’s no rule that you have to start at the beginning if that’s the part that’s tripping you up. Skip the beginning and move on to the next scene. You could even write the ending first.

Set a small, attainable goal. Otherwise, it’s like a New Year’s Resolution that ends up getting ditched. Even 10 minutes a day is good, as long as you’re looking at your manuscript and writing.

Don’t worry about agents and editors until your book is done—unless you’re writing nonfiction and want to send out a proposal for your project before writing it.

Aspiring mystery writers—and other genre-writers (since some of the info isn’t genre-specific)—here are some links I’ve thought were helpful in the past. Most of them I would only use if you get stuck. If you try to read a whole bunch of information before writing, it can really mess with your mind (at least, it does with mine.) Obviously, take what you need and ignore the rest. There is a formulaic aspect to writing mysteries, but we all infuse the process with our own personalities on paper.

Tripod.com's Classic 12-Chapter Mystery Formula This can give you an idea of what plotting a mystery is like if you’re not really sure where different elements come in. It’s by no means a Bible…and the word count is usually higher than 60,000 words.

Write That Novel , which has useful, printable sheets for characterization, plotting, storyboards, etc.

Book Crossroads , which has links to online mystery writing groups, hardboiled slang dictionaries, forensic information, and legal overviews.

Twenty Mystery Writing Rules

Writing Clues: Help for mystery writers

Don't Drop Clues: Plant them Carefully! by Stephen Rogers does a great job covering the types of clues, how to misdirect your reader, and mistakes to avoid.

Suite 101 covers planting clues in different ways: tucking them in a paragraph, heightening the drama, clues of omission, missing weapons, and clues from real life.

Author Sandra Parshall's website explains how "Clues Drive the Mystery Plot."

The Christie Mystery website demonstrates how Agatha Christie used clues and other plot devices.

Stephen Rogers writes a different article on red herrings and how to use them effectively.

Hope these help and good luck with your writing journey!

Elizabeth Spann Craig
http://mysterywritingismurder.blogspot.com
Pretty is as Pretty Dies—August 2009, Midnight Ink
Delicious and Suspicious—May 2010, Berkley Prime Crime

Kathleen Delaney - Flying Solo

2009-10-22T06:39:00.001-04:00

Flying Solo Day One Blog for Carolina Conspiracy

It’s been ten months since the removal of my left leg, so its been that long since I’ve gone anywhere but the grocery store by myself. It was time.

I have an idea for a new series and wanted to do some research. The best place for it was Williamsburg. That I just happened to love going there had absolutely nothing to do with my decision. And, since I was going to be in Virginia, I thought I might as well go to Mt. Vernon and Monticello, places I somehow had never managed to see. So I started planning. It takes more, I’ve discovered, when you only have one leg. It also takes more guts. I almost backed out a couple of times, but I didn’t.

It is not easy to find wheelchair accessible rooms. That’s what they call them nowadays. Handicapped is out, accessible is in. I don’t know why, but it turns out to be confusing. Sometimes that just means you can get the wheelchair from the door to the bed, other times it means you have a roll-in shower and that you can reach the hairdryer. Booking on line doesn’t tell you, so you’d better ask someone, and hope to get someone who sort of speaks English. The person I got was very kind and helpful but had no idea where or what Virginia was. We both got an education during that conversation.

I started off Tue morning bright and early, prepared to enjoy the early fall drive north. Going alone has several advantages, one of which is there is more room to bring stuff. And to bring even more stuff home. And, there is room for the wheelchair, which takes up lots of room. The directions I had pulled off the Internet were, at best, confusing. I had no trouble as long as I kept on 85, but the closer I got to Williamsburg, the more I was convinced I was going the wrong, or possibly just the long, way. Why would I want to go through Richmond? I needed gas anyway, and the other comforts gas stations provide, so got off on Hwy 40. What a blessing that turned out to be. Just keep on 40, the woman said, and you’ll end up at the ferry that takes you across to York and Colonial Williamsburg.

I love ferries. It started when I was young and had cousins who lived in Coronado, just across from San Diego in California. That was before they built the bridge. Going on the ferry was the best part of visiting them. So, when she said ‘ferry’ there was no chance I was going back to the interstate. The road was two lanes and sort of meandered through fields and small towns. Wonderful. I passed cotton whose pods had split, the white fibers bursting out, ready for plucking. Other fields were stubble, freshly harvested of what I had no idea. There were fields of plants about three-four feet high whose leaves were turning all of the lush fall colors whose identity I never discovered, and then there was the swamp. Black stubs of trees sticking out of a huge field of equally black, and very still, water lent a surreal feel to the drive. Disney couldn’t have done it better. But then the clear cutting started. Field after field of nothing. You could see where trees had once stood, and some places where they were trying to grow back with little success. Pines of some kind were growing vigorously, along with lots of scrub of various kinds, but the big, beautiful old trees were gone. Not all, there are still long stretches of woods, but they seem to be slipping away. I soon drove into what I think is the reason. The welcoming sign on the small town proclaims it to be a company town, and right in the middle of it is the factory. They make particle board. I’m sure not all of the huge old trees I saw being trucked out go into that factory, but I bet some do. I’m hoping they can use the scrub growing so enthusiastically and leave what remains of the old trees to guard the forest.

Just a little further up the road I rounded a bend and there was the bay. And there sat the ferry. Going across was great, as usual, and it was free. That was not usual, but hooray for Virginia.

My room was in the historic part of Colonial Williamsburg and looked out on market square. It was great, and I was able to do several things before dark. I can walk on this artificial leg pretty well, but not long distances and not on cobblestones. Turns out rolling a wheelchair down a cobblestone street is a definite challenge as well. I ended that day with dinner at Shields. What fun and a great dinner. Our waiter regaled us with funny customs from the eighteenth century such as the fact that most people didn’t have spoons. Instead they scooped out the last of their soup or stew with a piece of dried bread called a sippett. I’ll keep my spoon. Met Mrs. Shields and she says her cornbread is the best in the town. If that be so---. Only disappointment is they no longer serve Syllabub. However, they do have a punch---.

A great day, and tomorrow the real reason I came begins.

Stress and Tipping Points—by Elizabeth Spann Craig

2009-10-21T05:57:00.001-04:00

I’m one of those people who usually likes to go with the flow. I think that’s because I’m in a writing fog half the day. But once I come down off my happy imaginary high, reality hits. And once I get my hackles up, watch out.

I’ve unfortunately been on a roll the past week of problems that needed to be addressed. The tipping point for each thing, the bit that spurred me into action? My children, each time.

It started with a group my son volunteers for. It was a school night, the day before a test. Pouring down rain, very chilly. He was with some other middle school boys, removing a barbeque pit that they’d help set up the week before for their yearly barbeque sale to raise funds for the group.

He had a nasty cold. Two hours into the mandatory volunteer work in the cold rain, I called his cell phone. “I’m on my way to get you.”

“Mom—they said I’m not allowed to go.”

“Well, I think you’ve done well to work for two hours. I’m going to pick you up and you can work on studying for your test tomorrow.”

“Mom—he says I’m not excused. We have another hour to go.”

A pause.

“Tell this gentleman your Mama wants to talk to him.”

A moment and a quick conversation later, “He says it’s okay, Mom. See you in a minute.”

Ohhh, I hate to act ugly. Why is it that the squeaky wheel gets the grease?

Confrontations or getting ready for a confrontation is stressful to me. I’m a very different person when I’m stressed out or angry.

My characters reach their tipping points, too. Everybody has something that’s going to set them off. In a mystery, that straw that broke the camel’s back could result in a murder.

As I’ve mentioned before, our characters are stressed out. Their lives are completely upside-down. I wrote about the way the confusion they might feel a few posts ago. Yes, they would feel very taken aback at the way their lives were running completely off track.

But what about stress? What kinds of things might a character do under stress?

They could say something they shouldn’t have said. This could cause a ripple effect in many ways but could especially create a rift between characters during an argument.
Stress could cause them to briefly act out of character. Have you got a well-controlled, polite character? Reacting to a stressful situation could make their temper flare up and open up some plot possibilities.
A character might drink too much under stress. This could create a whole host of other problems and conflicts in our plots. They might start a bad habit, like smoking, again.
They could react in a very wholesome way—increasing the amount of exercise they’re getting, watching what they eat, and trying to work in more sleep. (But really, what fun is that to write with? :) )

In my murder mysteries, stress causes my murderer to kill again. Naturally, the killer wants to remain unknown and will eliminate anyone who knows his identity.

Stress causes my suspects to point the finger at other suspects—who had been their friends prior to the murder investigation.

Character stress causes arguments and conflicts in my small town settings and old grievances bubble up to the surface again.

Got stress?

Fun to be interviewed!

2009-10-16T15:56:00.002-04:00

I like being interviewed! Maybe I'm a ham. I know we're supposed to demure and lament the horrors of it, but that's not me.

It's fun to talk about your work and your life. You get to decide how intimate you want to be, after all. It's not like you have to tell your deep dark secrets, if you have any. I have three children and five grandchildren who all live within, five minutes of me. I don't have any deep or dark secrets.

If it's any consolation for my lack of modesty about this, I enjoy interviewing other people for the newspaper and magazines too. Listening to their stories about their lives is very motivating sometimes. Or a caution about how to live your life. Either way, it's fun. I really like when people get excited about it too! No one ever told them they weren't supposed to like it.

So here's a new interview with me and Jim. Nothing deep or dark but it was fun! Thanks, Don McCauley for a good time! I hope to interview you right back someday!

Joyce Lavene

How do you know when it's time to move on

2009-10-15T19:51:00.002-04:00

How do you know when it's time to do something else? How can you tell when what you're doing isn't working for you anymore?

My week has been full of these questions.

It connects to writing but also to every other phase of our lives. When do you give up on a relationship? When do you decide you've tried as hard as you can to make a job work for you?

Sometimes you don't have any choice. Sometimes whatever it is comes up and kicks YOU out the door. The job you were thinking about leaving suddenly lays you off. The person you were beginning to think you could live without decides to leave you.

No matter what, when you leave something behind, there is a certain melancholy, even when it's something good for you. We too often look at the end rather than the beginning.

We are creatures of habit and want to continue doing what we're used to doing. But sometimes, we have to move out, move forward.

As writers, we sometimes find ourselves feeling trapped in what we're writing. An agent wants us to write mysteries but we yearn to write fantasy. We seem to be very good at writing nonfiction, but we want to write romance.

It is a trap of our own making, especially if you are successful, even moderately successful. What if we do something different and no one wants to read what we've written? What if we are dumped by our publisher or agent and left to manage alone?

Sometimes, we just have to let go and let ourselves move forward. We might be afraid. Maybe we'd rather keep things the same despite our yearnings. But if we want to grow, we have to step forward. We have to be willing to take chances.

Am I willing to take those chances?

Joyce Lavene
www.joyceandjimlavene.com

Shopping for the Right Publisher—by Elizabeth Spann Craig

2009-10-14T07:42:00.001-04:00

For the first time ever, my son asked to go shopping with me on Sunday. This was a real jaw-dropper, since our usual modus operandi has involved my going to the store, buying clothes, and forcing him to try them on later at home. Then I’d return what didn’t fit or what he didn’t like. And this was worth it to me because he was such an unhappy shopper and made the experience miserable for both of us.

But this time he was raring to go. He wanted a new pair of jeans, some new shorts (we’re entering a cold streak, but it’s still pretty warm on normal days), a sweatshirt, and some other things.

That day, he got hungry at 2:00 in the afternoon (two hours after eating a filling lunch of a turkey sandwich on whole wheat bread, yogurt, chips, and a plum). He ate a barbeque sandwich, edamame, and grapes. Two hours later, he ate a huge plate of alfredo pasta.

He’s thin as a rail.

I’m guessing he’s growing.

This influenced where we were going to shop. He wanted cool clothes. I figured he would outgrow them very, very soon. Old Navy was my pick…no Hollister or Abercrombie and Fitch on this shopping trip.

When I was shopping for a publisher for Pretty is as Pretty Dies (necessary, because my first book from five years ago was with a small publisher that has—as many small publishers have lately—unfortunately gone under), I had a shopping plan, too. I needed a larger publisher with a more substantial print run. I needed to approach a publisher that wouldn’t require me to have an agent--which, at the time, I didn’t have. I needed someone that was currently open to admissions. I needed a publisher that published humorous cozies. I looked to ensure the publisher published regional mysteries, too. I found Midnight Ink and they were a perfect match for my manuscript.

All the writers I’ve ever spoken to have had similar shopping trips. You increase your chances substantially by not sending your YA book to a romance publisher. Or by not sending your 120,000 word mystery to a cozy publisher (who will be looking in the 75,000 word range.)

Publishers are shopping too, of course. Some of the things they’re looking for: conflict, hooks, riveting beginnings, original characters, and a strong voice.

They’re also looking for basic things like correct spelling, good grammar, active voice, showing-not-telling (some of the time, anyway), and some indication you’ve done your homework (their name is on the query, you’ve spelled their name correctly, you know the type of books the house publishes, your manuscript isn’t extremely long or extremely short, your query doesn’t state that your neighbor/child/cat loved your manuscript, etc.)

If I’d been looking for a suit for my son, we wouldn’t have gone to Old Navy.

If a publisher is looking for non-fiction, they’re not going to come to me. If I’m looking for a cozy mystery publisher, I’m not going to submit to Forge.

But if we do our research and have the merchandise publishers are looking for, both sides will get what they want.

Shopping Tools:

Writer's Market : Online, or in bookstores and libraries (be sure it's this year's edition)
Literary Market Place: Same as above

Online searches--Have a publisher you're interested in? Google the publisher's name + submission guidelines. Then, look at the publisher's website and see what their most recent releases are. Check those books out from the library or look for them in a bookstore and compare them to your own.

Elizabeth Spann Craig
Pretty is as Pretty Dies—Aug. 2009
Memphis BBQ series—May 2010
http://mysterywritingismurder.blogspot.com

Writers Workshops

2009-10-10T17:29:00.002-04:00

Every time I do a workshop with my fellow Conspirators I consider it a learning experience for not only the members of the audience but for mysef.

We have done workshops where it was almost SRO (there were 75 at the Gastonia Library) to 5 at Waldenbooks at the mall in Concord, to a captive audience of 1 at the Mint Hill Library. No matter the size of the group everyone is there to hear what each of the conspirators has to say about different aspects of writing.

I am really looking forward to doing a Novello Writers Workshop on Oct. 25th at the Hickory Library. A group of about 40 writers have accepted the library's challenge to write a novel in 30 days! The library has asked the Conspiracy group to do a round table discussion with them on our writing experiences.

Well that is all for now. I am getting ready for a vacation in Atlanta from 10/16-10/24. Keep fighting the good fight! Doug The Executioner Walker

cliches

2009-10-06T07:26:00.001-04:00

I was watching the News Hour last night and they had a special correspondent on from NPR. I am always interested in putting a face on the people I hear so often on the radio, and was especially interested in what she had to say, so was paying close attention. However, I quickly started to pay attention to something else.

Clichés. Her piece was filled with them.

Now, I probably wouldn’t have been so struck with them if I hadn’t attended all those writing classes. Don’t use clichés, we were told. Go through your manuscript and take them all out. They are the lazy person’s way to express themselves and an editor will immediately reject you if you use them. Besides, they mark you as uneducated, uninformed, not willing to go the extra mile to properly express yourself. So, for a long time I have had a horror of those innocent little expressions.

Only, are they really so awful? Didn’t they come into being because they were a good shortcut to express a very real sentiment?

I’ve known as many people with college degrees whose speech is littered with clichés as those who still are struggling to get their GED. Maybe more. And, when writing dialog, they can come in handy when you are drawing the profile of a character. And that character doesn’t have to come across as lazy, ignorant, or anything other than that’s the way they talk.

It’s the way we all talk. If we didn’t use them so often, they wouldn’t be clichés. Of course, if you are going to use them, it’s a good idea to use them appropriately. I knew someone who kept referring to a relative as “my shirttail relative.” That usually means someone who hangs onto your shirttail while you drag them along behind. It’s a faintly disparaging term. Only, in this case, the relative was pretty rich and handed out possessions and money to the rest of the family.

So, if we are going to use phrases that are termed clichés, it might be a good idea to at least know what they mean.

Kathleen Delaney

A funny thing happened on the way to . . .

2009-09-30T15:55:00.003-04:00

Last night, mystery author Cathy Pickens and I were talking about funny things that people have said to us about our work. We were at Uwharrie Books where Cathy was signing books and talking about her writing.

Okay, maybe everyone won't find it funny that Cathy has received threatening letters and I've had a stalker come to my house, but we had a good laugh over it.

Every author has some stories to tell about strange emails they've received or people contacting them in ways that made them cringe. There are also the review stories that we tell like old war tales, showing our private and public scars from words that hurt our feelings.

You have to learn to have a thick skin when you write for a living and let other people read and buy it. There is always going to be someone who loves it and someone who hates it. In between there are the people who like it but wish you'd have gotten a quote right that was wrong (according to them) and people who disagree with what REALLY happened in your story.

Recently, I had woman email me to say she didn't like the Renaissance Faire Mysteries because she hated Renaissance Faires and Festivals in general. I wondered what made her read Wicked Weaves when it's pretty clear what the book is about.

She answered my email by saying she'd hoped the events would be different than she recalled when she'd gone to a Ren Faire years ago. "I was hoping Ren Faires had changed, but I can tell from your book that they haven't. It's just like being at one of those events," she said in a return email. "I'll read the next book that comes out in that series and hope for the best."

You never know what to expect next and I guess that's part of what makes it fun!

Thanks for the laugh, Cathy!

Joyce Lavene
Ghastly Glass
Yes, it is JUST like being at the Renaissance Faire!
www.joyceandjimlavene.com

An epiphany . . . of sorts

2009-09-28T15:55:00.001-04:00

This morning I had an epiphany of sorts.

I actually got out of bed, showered, dressed, got breakfast, cleaned up the kitchen, started the laundry---get the picture? You do and you are saying, so what? We all do that, every day of our lives and we don’t even think about it.

But that is exactly the point. I didn’t either. At least, I didn’t until I lost my leg. Then I wondered if I would ever be able to do those things, or anything else, again without a struggle. Have just another day. And this morning, it happened.

I was thinking about other things, actually a great many other things, and I went through all of those meaningless tasks automatically. Of course, months of practice went into this morning. Hours at therapy, weeks of wheeling myself around in a chair, more learning to walk upright once more. And while I still have a long way to go, I’m a lot better.

Which made me think about writing. Or, more accurately, rewriting. Someone whose name escapes me once said, fiction isn’t written, it’s re-written. And that should be the first rule of writing. Accept the fact that if you want to be good, you are going to re-write. And why not?

Baseball players practice hitting and throwing until I’m sure they think their arms are going to fall off. Dancers practice one step over and over until their toes bleed. Good cooks quietly throw out as many dishes as they, finally, proudly serve. So what makes writers think they are so different?

The Carolina Conspiracy has been giving workshops lately, and Joyce and Jim Lavene have been talking about re-writing, how we need to get over our fear of the delete button, and they are right. Get out that red pen and take out all of the words, sentences, paragraphs, that don’t fit, read too long, or make the same point fifteen times. Take out that cute description about how the cat ripped out the back of the sofa. It doesn’t move the story forward, and, if truth be told, it isn’t all that cute.

Writers have to practice their craft just like the dancer, the ball player, and the cook. And just like I had to, learning to walk again. It takes time, our toes bleed, and the garbage can overflows with our failures, but if we keep at it, paring down those sentences, ruthlessly throwing out those little gems we thought were so great but in our heart of hears know aren’t, tightening up that plot and pouring our hearts and souls into making our characters live and breath, we will eventually produce something publishable.

Or, more important, something we are really proud of.

Kathlenn Delaney
And Murder for dessert

A writer is a writer

2009-09-21T17:50:00.002-04:00

I have been recently been involved with writing policies for the Town of Midland where I live. I have also written press releases for myself and others, webpage content, resumes and newsletters. People look at me and say, "You can write. You should be able to do this."

To a certain extent that's true, but there's a big difference between writing about killing people and writing how the Town of Midland should engage in environmentally sound practices.

Writing for the newspaper is different too but a writer friend of mine subsidizes her fiction by writing grants for companies. She feels like if you can write one thing, you can write another.

And she must be right because here we are doing it.

I frequently wonder if artists feel the same way. Are they called on to paint houses because they can paint landscapes? Or is stringing words together less impressive than doodling?

Back to writing soup labels . . .

Joyce Lavene
Ghastly Glass
www.joyceandjimlavene.com

Hendersonville NC Apple Festival

2009-09-05T19:32:00.002-04:00

Today we went to Hendersonville and enjoyed the annual Apple Festival. The crowd was huge and parking was hard to find, but we had a good time.

There were lots of exhibits, music and, of course apples. They also had several live bands.

While we were there we stopped by Mountain Lore Books and More, which is owned by Joslyn Bleick. They were set up to host another author's signing, so I introduced myself. She is very excited and has a copy of my book to read. She will contact myself and the group about doing future signings at the store!

Thats all for now. Fight the Good Fight! Have a safe and wonderful Labor Day weekend!

Doug The Executioner Walker

Marketing Conspiracy

2009-09-04T07:42:00.004-04:00

Here is an article by author Linda Faulkner (click on title) about marketing the Conspiracy!

Look for us in Gastonia, NC at the library on September 26 at 2 pm!

Joyce Lavene
www.carolinaconspiracy.com

Twysted Tayles

2009-08-30T20:51:00.002-04:00

Ever since I was young I have loved The Twilight Zone. It was always exciting watching the storylines unfold, not knowing what the endings would be.

As I have gotten older I have enjoyed reading the works of Stephen King. He is the master of horror fiction, from the postapocalyptic world of The Stand to the psycho clown of It, he is one of the best in the world.

I have been writing short stories off and on for years. My first one, Hell No! We Wont Go! was actually rejected for a short story contest by Twilight Zone magazine. Undaunted, I have continued writing, and Twysted Tayles has been born.

At this point I have finished 8 stories, and will probably have a total of 16 when it goes to my publisher. So far the storylines are 1. A high school janitor has a spooky encounter during a dance, 2. Earth's first encounter with aliens (not counting Roswell), 3. an unusual wedding ceremony, 4. the real reason why Nixon got out of Vietnam, 5. a friday night poker game, 6. a family trip to the zoo, 7. a holocaust denying teen visits Auschwitz, and 8. a published author returns home for a book signing.

I will caution my readers of one thing: Dont get too comfortable with how you think each story will end. I promise that, like The Twilight Zone, you will not see the endings coming.

I will keep everyone posted as the book proceeds.

In the meantime, keep on reading and writing.

Best Wishes, Doug The Executioner Walker

Went to a book signing, fight broke out

2009-08-27T21:39:00.002-04:00

I was invited to do a book signing at a wrestling event in York, SC . There were about 150 fans in attendance. We got there a couple of hours early, got to meet the wrestlers, and watch them prepare for their matches.

The Main Event was a Tag Team Iron Man Match: The team that won the most falls in a one hour time period was the winner. This match didnt even start until 11 PM. About 1/2 way throgh the match Wendy said she needed to go to the restroom, and left me to my own devices.

I was sitting there minding my own business, and watching the match. The action suddenly spilled out of the ring, and the wrestlers were fighting in the back next to me! I was scrambling for my life, grabbing books and money and anything I could get my hands on!

I suddenly realized that I was holding a metal chair in one hand. One of the good guys was standing near me. I looked at him, he looked at me. I handed him the chair. "Do you want me to hit one of them with it?" He asked. "Sure." He hit the bad guy in the back with it. He then handed the chair to me, and announced, "Put that in your next book!"

In the meantime Wendy was watching the goings on from the concession area. She said to the manager, "You wont believe what my husband just did!" "What?" She told him. He replied, "I'm gonna kill em!" And stormed in to keep a better eye on things.

According to Wendy she is surprised we have not been banned for life from that group! But I have actually done a couple of other signings with them since then.

Until next time, Fight the Good Fight!

Doug The Executioner Walker

Introducing myself

2009-08-25T22:12:00.002-04:00

My name is Doug Walker, and my pen name is D L Walker. My wife, Wendy, and I live in Kannapolis, NC, and I have worked for GE Capital for almost 29 years. I realized this weekend that I have been a member of the Carolina Conspiracy for 3 years now, and have loved every minute of it!

My first novel, Scaffold, came out on August 20th, 2007. It is set in Charlotte in the world of Pro Wrestling. A terrible incident occurs during a PPV that is put on by a very corrupt fictional wrestling group, and the book tells of the incident and the investigation that follows.

I am currently working on Twysted Tayles, which is a collection collection of short stories that are a combination of Stephen King meets the Twilight Zone. If you like stories that have unexpected endings I think you will like these.

Well, it is getting late, and I do need to do some writing before bed. Will keep you posted.

Doug "The Executioner" Walker

Today Is Tomorrow

2009-08-23T10:51:00.006-04:00

Jim and I met with a small group of beginning writers last week. There are always plenty of questions at events lke this. How did you get published? What was your first book? What do I have to do to get published?

The last question, What do I have to do to get published? is always hard to answer. It's different for every writer. Every writer has a story of how it happened for them.

The one thing we all agree on is that you have to WRITE! And I'm not talking about thinking about writing. It's always easier to think about doing anything than actually doing it. I like to think about cleaning my house a lot. That way I don't have to work too hard at it!

We always tell everyone that you have to write every day, even if it's only for 15 minutes. Most people can find a way around that. "Oh it wouldn't work for me to do that." or "I'm too busy to do that."

Author Janet Dailey (yes, that Janet Dailey) was our inspiration on this problem. We saw her at a conference where she said something that changed our lives and got us published, at least that's how I feel.

Janet said get up early, stay up late, do whatever you have to do to get something written. She said you'll be tired but there is always a price for getting what you want. "If you really want to do this thing, you have to sacrifice something like sleep, security, personal comfort, to get it done. It's not going to come to you any other way."

We took that to heart and went to work, early in the morning AND late at night. Within two years of hearing that statement, we had our first book contract.

Coincidence? I think not.

The question is: What are you willing to sacrifice to achieve your dream of being published? How important is it to you? That is where the answer lies to the question, "What do I have to do to get published?"

You'll know when you get there.

Joyce Lavene
Ghastly Glass
September 1

Overused Words

2009-08-20T01:00:00.003-04:00

At out last Carolina Conspiracy workshop Jim and Joyce asked everyone to be mindful of words they overuse in their writing. I made a list of words I use and my list was longer than I though it would be. I ran them through search and find and was amazed at the number of unnecessary words I found in my work in progress. I decided to do a little editing as I went along so it wouldn’t be as hard when the serious editing started.

That: I knew I overused the word that, but I didn’t know how much. The best test to see if it is necessary is to say the sentence without it and see if it works. ‘She knew that the candy melted in her pocket.’ – ‘She knew the candy melted in her pocket.’ At other times the word which does as well.

Just: This word crept up everywhere in my writing. So ‘I put it near the top of this list just to remind myself not to use just so often.’ It would read better if I wrote, ‘I put it near the top of the list to remind myself not to use just so often.’ Many times the sentences are better without the word just or words like only or merely can be substituted.

Suddenly: In mysteries things happen fast and we tend to say things like, ‘Suddenly the car lurched backward,’ but it is more effective if we write ‘The car lurched backward.’

To The: Example – ‘The door to the office squeaked.’ Better- ‘The office door squeaked.’

Up & Down: These two words are often implied and are not necessary. ‘She stood’ instead of ‘She stood up.’ And ‘He sat’ instead of ‘He sat down.’

Began: ‘She picked up the pen and began to write’ is not as good as ‘She picked up the pen and wrote.’

Of the: ‘Most guys wore jeans to the party’ is better than ‘Most of the guys wore jeans to the party.’

To Be: ‘He needs to be scrubbing behind his ears’ –‘He needs to scrub behind his ears.’

Out: ‘She spread the cloth out on the picnic table’ – ‘She spread the cloth on the picnic table.’

I bet if you check your manuscript as you go, you’ll find many of these and other pet words you tend to use. The best writing tends to show up after rewriting and editing.

Social Media Report

2009-08-17T08:02:00.001-04:00

I thought I’d give a little lowdown for anyone out there who is looking at social media as a way to connect with friends/family, or as a promotional tool.

Facebook: Facebook is a wonderful way to connect with family and reconnect with people you’ve lost touch with. Basically, you load a picture of yourself (or not), put up links, tell a little about yourself, and use their tools to find old college buddies.

I did set up a different Facebook page for promoting and am not letting the two spheres meet. After all, I don’t think my readers really need to see silly sorority pictures of me from over 15 years ago.

Twitter: I was not excited to sign up for Twitter at first. All I’d originally heard about it was that celebrities were using it and people were using it to say what they’d eaten for supper.

I’ve been pleasantly surprised at how useful it’s been. I’ve gotten book review offers from it, reader connections, and have networked with other writers. On a local level, I get news and weather updates on my community.

Blogging. Blogging does take a good deal of time. You want to put up posts that people want to read, after all. But it’s become a very satisfying way to connect with other people and share ideas on writing. I also use my blog as a vehicle to share my Facebook and Twitter addresses and network there.

My information: On Facebook, I’m Elizabeth Spann Craig, Author
On Twitter—ElizabethSCraig
My blog--- http://mysterywritingismurder.blogspot.com

My First Trip Without a Real Leg - Kathleen Delaney

2009-08-12T18:23:00.005-04:00

I just got back from California. My middle daughter got her PhD and we were having a gathering of the clan to celebrate. I was really looking forward to this party, but, I must admit, I was also filled with apprehension. I can hear you now, so-what’s the big deal? Never been on a plane before? Actually, quite a few, but always with two legs. Only having one complicates things.

I left Atlanta with my youngest daughter and two grandchildren. We were meeting the rest of the clan that evening for dinner in California. At least, that was the plan. It didn’t quite work out that way.

Our plane left, or was scheduled to leave, at 11:00 AM. Plenty of time to get the kids up, make sure they had breakfast, get to the airport and leave the car in long-term park, and go through security, which now means I get hauled off to a corner and get patted down. All over patted down. They even take swabs of the wheelchair and off the metal bar that is now my leg, as well as both shoes.

But, we got to our gate in time to board the children, my daughter, me, and my wheelchair. Things take longer with only one leg. Of course, as I counted who had which carryon as we left security, I found I’d left the autograph hound I’d bought for everybody to sign on the back seat of the car, but at least I’d remembered the floppy bonnet that goes with the PhD regalia, so I wasn’t too upset. At least we were at the gate on time, and I’d think of something else for everyone to sign.

My wheelchair was safely stowed in the front closet of the plane and we were all seated, the kids next to the window, me on the aisle with the fond, but futile hope that I could prop my unforgiving prosthesis in the aisle. The plane loaded, all of the overhead bins were closed, and nothing happened. We sat. I kept looking at my watch. We only had 45 minutes in Dallas to change planes, a much too tight time frame at the best of times, and with two small children and a woman with a fake leg and a wheelchair, our chances were marginal at best.

By the time we finally made it off the ground I was sure any chance of making our connection was gone. I was right.

Dallas is a rotten place to try to make up a missed flight, even if it’s not your fault. The only place worse is St Louis. They close the terminal down around ten o’clock and you get to sit up all night, hoping you can get on a morning flight out.

Because there were four of us, we were doing a St Louis repeat. The best we could do, according to one not very helpful attendant, was a flight out the next morning. As it was about 2:00 in the afternoon, this was not a very appealing prospect. He then said he could get three of us on a soon to leave for LA plane. My daughter was getting a bit testy by that time and asked which one of us he suggested we leave behind, the six year old or her handicapped mother.

His only suggestion was to go out to the main ticket window and see what they could do. We finally got confirmed seats on the six o’clock flight, which left at nine that night. In the meantime, we went back through security three more times. Each time, I was patted down, twice by the same woman. Not once did they find traces of whatever it is they look for, but the soles of my shoes were sure clean.

Security is not the only place you get slowed down. Public bathrooms, I find, have only one handicapped stall and its almost always full. I have waited outside for quite some time, to find that the people using it walk out just fine. I never thought much about this before, but if you’re left wiggling in a wheelchair, waiting for someone who actually has a choice of places to visit, it can be more than aggravating. It can be downright potentially embarrassing.

However, the trip was overall a great one. The party was great, family came from all over the country, we invaded Disneyland and I found out I can go on Indiana Jones just fine, but the Log Ride is not a good idea. I also found out how much I can do, things I really didn’t think I would be able to master, I did, and I’m ready to go again. This time with a lot less apprehension.

One note a caution, however, for any of you who are also missing a leg. Try not to let small children wheel you. Especially at Disneyland. They have a tendency not to pay much attention and the trashcans there are pretty solid.

Kathleen Delaney
And Murder for Dessert

Uwharrie Books

2009-07-31T20:26:00.004-04:00

Jim and I always wanted to open a bookstore. Probably because we love books! We talked about it all the time right after we were first married, but so many things got in the way. Somewhere along the way, we decided to write instead and have never looked back

We've spent the last few weeks helping our daughter and son-in-law get their bookstore, Uwharrie Books, open for this weekend, August 1. It's been a big job but the store is so cute! It reminds me why we wanted to open a bookstore when we were much younger.

Handling all those books, deciding where they go, and putting them on shelves reminds me all over again why I love books. It's great that our kids love them too.

It's exciting seeing the store come together. I hope Uwharrie Books prospers. I'm happy to have our books there and look forward to seeing Ghastly Glass for sale there in September!

Joyce Lavene

New Release and General Craziness

2009-07-27T21:44:00.001-04:00

I’ve decided that having a book released is a little like having a baby. Sometimes it’s great, sometimes there are complications, and it’s always a real rush to prepare for the new arrival.

Like a new mom, I’m excited to have Pretty is as Pretty Dies release on Saturday (August 1.) Everything seems to be in place…I’ve got my promotional materials in hand, I’ve sent out the press releases to the local media, I’ve got reviews and guest blogs lined up.

In many ways, though, I’ll be glad when junior is able to do more things himself. It’ll be a relief to be able to focus a little more on my next deadline, which is approaching alarmingly fast on September 1.

Life has been pretty busy here, and I feel like I haven’t had as much time to connect with friends and family while I’m answering phone calls and emails. I’m hoping to catch up with everyone really soon once the baby sleeps through the night….

Time to Update!

2009-07-24T16:09:00.006-04:00

I love when it's time to update our website because that means it's time for a new book! In this case, it's Ghastly Glass, the second book in the Renaissance Mysteries from Berkley Prime Crime. Jessie's back in the Village!

I'd like to tell you this book was made up of blood, sweat and tears, but it would be a lie. Jim and I laughed until we cried while we were writing it. We wanted to write this series to remind people of the good times they have at Ren Faires and festivals across the world. It's one of the best times we know of, like a playground for adults!

So if you're expecting to read something introspective or something that will make you cry, this is NOT the book for you. If you like Ren Faires, you'll enjoy it. With GHASTLY GLASS, if you like Halloween; ghosts, ghouls, goblins, vampires and werewolves, it's the place for you too.

Jim and I both loved Halloween growing up and were thrilled when Berkley liked the idea of setting this mystery during that time.

Halloween and Ren Faires are a match made in heaven. Our local Ren Festival in Huntersville, NC has a Halloween night event while they're open in the fall each year. When you read this book, you'll know why Jim and I try to be there!

So take a look at our updates and sign up to win a free copy of Ghastly Glass while you're there. We hope to see all of you at the faire this year!

Ghastly Glass
Ren Faire Village Mystery, #2
September 1
www.joyceandjimlavene.com

The Gaffney Serial Killer

2009-07-21T20:12:00.002-04:00

The Gaffney Serial Killer

Mystery writers deal in death. Some of us write “cozies” which means we leave out the more gruesome details of how our victims died. No graphic sex, no graphic gore. Some of us write thrillers and then its no holds bared. You can strew the landscape with body parts as well as bodies, crank up the tension as high as you can get it, and deliberately create a climate of fear. But its all make believe. Even when we write about sorrow and loss, about horror and fear, there is always that very real distance from actual horror and fear.

Well, Gaffney, South Carolina, came face to face with real horror and real fear a couple of weeks ago. I live in Gaffney, have for a little over two years.

This is a town where you don’t worry about locking your doors. Where you sit out on your front porch and talk to whoever passes by, whether you know them or not. And if you don’t know them, you will by the time they walk on. A town where the people in the bank know you by name and where the people in the library welcome you as if you were a guest in their home, where the people in the grocery will tell you that the kind of ice cream you like is on sale and would you like some.

It’s not the kind of town where people get murdered by strangers for no immediately obvious reason. But that’s what happened.

A murderer came to town and before he was finished, five people were dead. Innocent people. Good people. And the rest of us were scared to death.

People were frantically going through their junk drawers, looking for the house key. Front porches were empty. So were the parks. Guns came down off the shelf in the bedroom closet and out of the gun racks in the cabs of the pick ups. The gun store and Walmart sold out of ammunition.

I don’t own a gun, preferring the protection afforded by my German Shepard. But I seem to be in the minority. And, frankly, for the first time in my life, I thought about it. Not for long, but the thought was there. Instead, I moved chairs and boxes up against the doors at night and piled noisy things on them. Lots of my friends admitted to the same thing.

The relief when we found out that the killer was dead was palpable in this town. Storeowners no longer looked at each new person who walked into their store with open suspicion. Children appeared on their bikes again. Women no longer looked at each man they passed in the grocery aisle or on the street with trepidation. I put the chairs back where they belonged.

Things are back to normal. Only, they’re not. The grief the victims families carry will never go away. We can only imagine what they are going through, and will continue to go through, and our hearts grieve with them. But we have all lost someone at sometime, a mother or father whose life came to its natural end, a sibling or other relative or close friend to accident or illness, and as tragic as that has been, we have learned to cope.

There was nothing natural about any of this, and I wonder if these families will ever be able to, how they will go about putting their lives back together again. I wonder how this town will cope with the jolt of fear we have all shared this awful month. How soon will it be before the house keys go back in the kitchen drawer, the guns back up on the bedroom shelf? How long will it be before we let our kid’s bike to the park without following them in the car? People in cities have lived like that for years. We have been spared. But no longer, and I wonder if that carefree time will come back. I hope so, but fear it may not. The Gaffney serial killer destroyed five lives. He may have also destroyed a way of life.

As for me, I am locking my doors. The house keys were indeed in the kitchen drawer but they are now on my key ring. I resent it each time I click the dead bolt, but I don’t forget to do it. I am more conscious of who walks down the street and not so willing to engage any stranger in conversation, even though my dog never leaves my side.

And, when I write about fear, it will be with a ring of experience it never had before.

Kathleen Delaney
And Murder For Dessert
Poisoned Pen Press

Back from Vacation, sort of

2009-07-15T06:03:00.005-04:00

Well, we're back from Myrtle beach and hating it.

Not that we didn't have a good time but it takes so long to get back into the groove of your life again. Don't get me wrong; I LOVE my life and wouldn't change anything.

I guess my head being blank for so long while I floated around in a pool or lazy river, watching my kids play and contemplating the horizon of the Atlantic Ocean, didn't prepare me for the real world. Kind of like college.

But here I am faced with deadlines and committments that involve actual thought and it's taking too long to figure out how it all went together in the first place.

Next year, I might stay home and avoid all of this.

Or I might just bring my laptop and actually look at it!

Joyce Lavene
Ghastly Glass
September 2009
www.joyceandjimlavene.com

The Appeal of Small Town Settings

2009-07-06T17:34:00.001-04:00

On the Poe’s Deadly Daughters blog, there was a post recently about using small town settings.

Sandra Parshall mentions several appealing aspects of these settings: descriptions of attractive scenery, reader nostalgia for simpler times, and limited suspects.

I love the gossipy elements that small-town settings provide. I grew up in Anderson, SC (pictured above….my kids and I went to see my family over July 4th) and well remember how everyone knew everyone else. And, actually, how they could put this knowledge in context with their family. Like: “Oh, well. Yes, he was messing around. But his daddy messed around and his granddaddy messed around and I can remember that his grandMAMA messed around, too. It’s in his blood….”

When you have an amateur sleuth and no forensic lab helping him or her out, gossip and scuttlebutt is incredibly important. It can supply red herrings or actual clues….the reader and the sleuth won’t know which is which until the end of the book.

Books I’m reading: The Private Patient by P.D. James

Cool Sites for Writers and Readers: http://themysterybookshelf.blogspot.com/ , http://bloodredpencil.blogspot.com/ , http://coffeecanine.blogspot.com/

Newton, NC Workshop

2009-06-28T08:04:00.002-04:00

Last weekend, the Carolina Conspiracy gave a writing workshop at the Catawba County Library in Newton, NC.

There was a great turnout and many people took notes as different authors talked about setting, the revision process, keeping motivated, agents and editors, and creating characters.

I took notes, too. There are so many different ways to come up with a finished manuscript. I love to hear different ideas from authors on getting the job done. Trying someone else's approach, even if it may not work as well for me, keeps me interested in my project and helps me look at my manuscript with fresh eyes.

I'm looking forward to the other writing workshops the Conspiracy is giving: August 8 in Concord, NC and October 3 in Mint Hill, NC. Check out our website at www.carolinaconspiracy.com for updates.

On other topics---it's summer reading time! What's on your list? Right now, I'm getting caught up on books I wanted to read earlier. P.D. James' The Private Patient is currently on my nightstand and I'm hoping to pick up the sequel to Girl with the Dragon Tattoo next.

Elizabeth
http://mysterywritingismurder.blogspot.com/

Keeping your stories straight

2009-06-26T14:03:00.003-04:00

One of the most frequent questions people ask is how Jim and I keep our stories straight. When you write more than one book a year, it's a valid question.

I guess to me it's like anything else in life. It calls for a plan and committment. Once you have a plan, you've done half of it. Then you just follow through.

Our plan was always to write everything down and we do; characters, places, plots, red herrings. We keep it all in a file for each story and take it out before we start on a new book in each series. We have notes on each book, maps of the places we talk about and series notes.

Most things you can recall. It's the details that will bite you in the butt if you're not careful.

We also keep photos we took for the book (people, places), newspaper articles or anything else we used for research. We write down where our ideas came from and how we formulated them. It's a big help when you want to review. You understand the ideas behind the story as well as what you've written.

We usually have at least two or three versions of the beginning of each book. We keep those too. Sometimes the character is there but the rest has to come out as you go along. It's right when you know it's right. The early versions show us where we've been and what we've done.

If that seems like a lot, sometimes it is. But writing is a job, not always an easy one either. You have to be willing to do what it takes to get the job done right!

The Decision is Yours

2009-06-24T23:14:00.008-04:00

At some point in your writing, you’re going to have to make a decision whether or not this is going to be your career or if it'll always remain a hobby. And if you fail to make a conscious choice, don’t worry (or maybe you should worry) the decision has been made for you. Not deciding is a decision itself – the decision that you’re going to let fate decide for you without any input or action from you. And that’s okay, if that is what you want – BUT if you really want to be a writer, you’re going to have to decide to be one.

As Dr. Phil often says, “Keep doing what you’re doing and you’ll keep getting what you’re getting.”

Of course there are exceptions to every rule, but these exceptions are rare. I don’t know of many famous writers who slid into the profession without any conscious decision or preparation on their part. Oh, don’t get me wrong. I’m sure many writers have held down other positions before they decided to write for a living. But if you check, I wouldn’t be afraid to bet that somewhere in their history you’ll find they harbored the desire to write a book or story and made the decision to write if only part-time.

Hundreds, maybe thousands of people have said at one time or another, “I’d like to write a book someday” or “I’ve thought of writing a book but I just don’t have the time” or even “I might write a book someday” or some variation of these statements. Are these people writers? Unless they actually sit down and do it the answer is NO, they’re not. They’re in the same category as the people who say “I’d like to travel in Europe and maybe live there someday” or “Sometimes I think I’d like to chuck it all and join the circus” or “If I became president, things sure would be different.” All legitimate thoughts, thoughts many of us have had, but are they decisions to do these things. Of course not. They are just whims or passing fancies.

If you want a writing career don’t let it be a passing fancy. Make the decision to do it. Your children can’t make the decision for you! Your parents can’t make the decision for you! Your husband can’t make the decision for you! Your friends can’t make the decision for you! This is one you have to make for yourself. It is YOUR decision and whatever you decide will be the right decision for you.

My Chuck E. Cheese blog

2009-06-21T19:11:00.006-04:00

Not everyone has a Chuck E. Cheese blog in them. I didn't know I did until I took Jason, Eric and Gabrielle there for their Annual End of School reward.

In case you don't know, Chuck E. Cheese is like Las Vegas for kids. They feed coins into the games, play them, then run and get more coins. Kids, of course, have no idea how the coins relate to money. They just know they need them in their little plastic cups to continue playing. They come back when the smiling rat cup is empty, take a drink of soda, and head back to the games.

Watching them is fun, but watching their parents and grandparents who aren't happily content to let them play, is even more fun.

"Get that one! You can do it! Roll the ball faster!" becomes "Let me show you how!" These parents definitely need their own smiling rat cups and coins but they probably wouldn't admit it.

Chuck E. Cheese is loud, expensive and their food is bad, but they know how to entertain kids. Now if they just had a helicopter and pretend horse BIG enough for parents to ride or maybe I could crawl into that tube that runs along the ceiling and jump into the ball pit . . .

Joyce Lavene
GHASTLY GLASS
2nd Ren Faire Mystery
Coming September 1

It's time again for the annual Writerspace Beach Party, to celebrate summer and find some terrific beach reads for this year's vacation! So please join me and dozens of your favorite authors at the 2009 Beach Party at Writerspace on Sunday, June 28th from 8pm ET to 11pm ET.
Authors will be dropping in to chat all during the evening and we will be giving away 100s of new books and other fantastic prizes -- autographed, hard-to-find, advance copies plus special treats like gift baskets and more. We hope to see you Sunday night! You don't have to be present to win, but you must be registered. To register, and for details on all participating authors and the prizes they're giving away, visit http://www.writerspace.com/beach

Writers who give up

2009-06-17T18:53:00.004-04:00

Sometimes, writers say they give up. Usually what they mean by this is that they give up on trying to get published. It doesn't mean they are going to stop writing. Writing comes as naturally as breathing to most people who write. You write because, well, because. It's a part of you, like your hair and your toenails.

But publishing is NOT as natural. Especially because most writers are introverts. Publishing means you have to let other people see your stuff. They get to touch it and change it. As many writers have said to me when I talk about revisions, "It's not really yours anymore than, is it?"

I still feel like it's mine, but I get their point. Publishing is a joint effort. Writing is solitary, you and your story. Publishing isn't right for all writers. Some people are better off writing because they love to write, not worrying about what the market is or what your editor is going to think.

Because despite all the times you've heard that you should write the book of your heart or that writers don't worry about the market for their next work, none of that is true. Even the BIG name writers worry when it's contract time. It's a crap shoot whether you will be picked up again or not.

As writers we live with this insecurity, not because most of us make a lot of money, but because we all love doing what we do. We all live for the next book, the next words, regardless of whether or not anyone EVER reads them.

It's madness. It's addictive. And it's divine.

Joyce Lavene

The Conspiracy welcomes author Linda M. Faulkner

2009-06-10T06:14:00.003-04:00

What Next?

Coming up with ideas isn’t always easy.

Sure, when you’re in the shower and access to a keyboard is either impossible or deadly, they crop up like weeds in the garden. I’ve also found that some of my best ideas come to me in the middle of a business meeting when I’m paying more attention to the other people attending—along with their idiosyncrasies, than I am to the boring speaker or the topic.

So what do I do when I’ve just finished writing a scene or a chapter, my outline has a big hole in it, and I don’t know what to write next? This happens to me with every book, kids. Always has and probably always will. While I may not be an expert in telling you what to write next, I’m pretty darned experienced in the matter.

Here’s the scoop. I generally start a book with either a detailed back-story for one of the characters or a spectacular plot point. I know the story’s ending…or, okay, I usually have a vague idea how it ends. My outline is pretty detailed up to the mid-point. Then—nothing ‘til the ending. I used to worry about it. Now I don’t. It’s my personal way of allowing my unconscious, and the characters, to finish the story the way it needs to be finished.

Sometimes, though, when I get to a scene, I can’t write it the way I planned because it simply doesn’t work. Or I do write it and it stinks. Here are some things I do:

· Follow Lawrence Block’s advice in Telling Lies for Fun and Profit. He says that the stakes have to keep mounting as you tell a story. He uses a terrific example of a guy fleeing a bear. The bear chases the guy, who climbs a tree to escape. As he’s sighing in relief, the guy notices the bear climbing up behind him. He scrambles out on a branch and the branch breaks and falls into a river. The guy sees another branch and grabs for it. Another big sigh. Only the branch isn’t a branch, it’s an alligator… While your story might not be suited to bears and alligators, dream up some important obstacles and challenges—and keep dreaming them up. Just as your character achieves a feeling of comfort, shake her up!

· Free associate. Gabrielle Lusser Rico’s book, Writing the Natural Way, talks about right-brain/left-brain techniques and the one I love best, and have used successfully for years, she calls “clustering.” Take a piece of paper and jot down your dilemma in the middle of the page. What to write next, for example, and circle it.

Then free associate, writing ideas on the page inside their own circles, and connecting them to previous ideas (or the central idea) with lines. For example, if your hero and heroine have just made love for the first time and have achieved their feeling of comfort (yes, the pun was intended!), you need to shake them up and deliver an obstacle or challenge.

The following might be some ideas about how to shake them up: the dog jumps on the bed, his mother not only arrives unannounced—she doesn’t ring the doorbell and surprises them by walking into the bedroom, the smoke detector goes off because the kitchen caught fire, a machine gun blast rips through the window, etc. You get the picture. Avoid the trite and expected (i.e. the phone ringing, the doorbell ringing, the dog and mother-in-law.) Of course, whatever obstacle/challenge you create should tie into the storyline and move the story forward. I’ve come up with some terrific scene ideas this way. They don’t always fit into the story I’m writing, but if they’re good—I always find a way to use them later.

The kicker about not knowing what to write next is that my mind always tells me when I’m in trouble—and how to get myself out of it. Yours will too—if you listen to it. If I can’t figure out what to write next, I’m probably in a fix: a character is acting out of character, the plot/storyline is stale, or my train [of thought] has simply run out of steam. If I’m not sure what’s going to happen next, chances are the reader won’t know what’s coming next either—unless I do something expected. Which gives me the perfect opportunity not only to shake my characters up, but also to deliver a powerful punch to the reader—emotionally, that is.

What do you do when you need to figure out What Next?

Linda M. Faulkner
June 2009
For Carolina Conspiracy Blog

Tied to Technology

2009-06-08T05:26:00.001-04:00

I really like to think of writing as the go-anywhere, pick up any-time wonder-craft.

And it is. But boy, it sure is nice to do it on a laptop.

It’s been a rough few weeks at my house. For some reason, everything at our house decided to kick the bucket at once. Is it like that with everyone else? You know….one minute everything is just fine and dandy, and the next you’ve got a bunch of car and house repairs on your hands.

Then the worst of all possible things happened to me—my laptop died. I’m sure I gave a scream heard round the world.

Everything was backed up—that wasn’t the problem. The problem was how accustomed I was to writing on the sofa with a computer in my lap. And writing in the library. And writing in the coffeehouse.

For some reason, this laptop order is taking a very loooong time. In the meantime, I’ve been working upstairs in the kids’ playroom on the desktop. But I have suffered!

I’ve also written a lot in notebooks. The only problem with that is that you have to later transcribe your scribblings back into a Word program, so it takes twice as long.

Isn’t it funny how quickly we get hooked on something? And how quickly we just can’t do without it?

Elizabeth

http://mysterywritingismurder.blogspot.com/

Do you have a book trailer?

2009-06-03T14:15:00.003-04:00

Do you have a book trailer?

I didn't until about a month ago, just before the release of A Corpse for Yew. I talked with Carol Green at Serenity Promotions and she gave me a great deal on a trailer and some other promo items.

I've never had a book trailer before because I can't decide if they're worth much as far as selling a book and they were too expensive. I probably could've done one myself but frankly, I have enough on my plate already. It was a treat to hand it over to someone else!

Carol did a good job. It was kind of stop motion with good pictures and some promo words about the book. I especially like the red, red flowers when the words say Peggy found someone dead with curously red lips.

Did it help book sales? Hard to say. The book started out #13 on the B & N bestseller list but Perfect Poison (last May's book) was about the same. Sales are good on Corpse but is that because of the trailer or because of everything else we put into it? I asked around to see what other writers and readers thought.

Here is what I found out:

LaVonne Stein said: "I've only seen one by Dana Stabenow and one by Brad Melzer. They were great! I think they aren't done much, but with all of the access to YouTube and other social media sites, it seems like a good way to spread the word."

Author John Desjarlais said, "It's much too early to tell whether or not book trailers help to sell more books, especially since, in my case, the book isn't out yet. However, I've noticed some of my Facebook contacts are passing the trailer (or a link to it) along to their friends. It's just another way to get the book's title out there, create a buzz and stand out from the clutter." PS: Here's the trailer link for BLEEDER: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VPt5y1p5yJc

CC's own Judy Nichols said: "I've heard authors talking about their book trailers at great length, but I've never heard a single reader say a word about having seen a book trailer, let alone buying a book because of one."

So if you're a reader or an author and have some ideas on this, please speak up. Maybe I can get some concrete answers to the question before I buy a trailer for GHASTLY GLASS this fall!

Thanks! Joyce Lavene

PS - Here is my trailer. Does it make you want to buy my book?

Don't Give Up!

2009-05-29T13:47:00.002-04:00

Have you ever wanted to give up on your writing career?

There are times in our writing career when we don’t want to get up and turn on the computer and pull up our work in progress. If we do turn it on, we don’t want to do anything except play solitaire or hearts or see what we can find to occupy our mind on the internet.

After all, when we left off we had written ourselves in a corner and aren’t sure which way to go now. Our characters are stubborn. They won’t follow directions. Our plots are thin and watery – just like stale dish water. Nobody will care what happens to our hero. At the moment we don’t care either. No publisher will ever put out this junk and if it happens to get in print no one will buy it and if they do they’ll toss it away after reading a few pages. Why not chuck it all and get a real job or volunteer where you can actually do some good in this world?

It isn’t the end of the world, though we might think it is. We’ve just come to that place most writers get to every now and then in their career. We’ve run smack dab into that dreaded enemy, WRITERS BLOCK. It doesn’t happen often, and it doesn’t last forever, but it’s one thing that most of us have to contend with on occasion. The big question is what are we going to do about it?
After I rant and rave to my cat and swear I’m never going to write another word, I calm down and remember a story I read a long time ago. I think it was a true story, but I don’t recall the names or where it took place, though it had to be in the west, probably California. It went something like this: A man sold everything he owned and invested in equipment, went to an area where gold had been found. He used all his resources and dug and dug, but no gold. He ran out of money and eventually he grew so discouraged he gave up and sold his equipment and moved back east to start all over. The man who bought the mine hired a surveyor and was told to move six feet either right or left, I don’t remember, and start digging. In a short time he hit gold and the mine became one of the largest gold producing sights ever found.

My mood changes and I get back on the computer and pull up that work in progress and begin working my way out of the corner. I’m not about to give up when I might be only six rejections from the next sale, or six small books away from that big contract.

What’s Your Alias?

2009-05-25T07:17:00.001-04:00

Since it’s a holiday, I thought I’d post something on the lighter side today. Recently, I had to come up with a pseudonym for myself for an upcoming project. I wish I’d found this online gem before I chose it. :) Who knows what my name might have been? The directions are simple and the result is fun. But my name is singularly bad for this type of exercise!

1. Your real name:
Elizabeth

2. Your Gangsta name:
(first 3 letters of real name plus izzle.)
Eliizzle

3. Your Detective name:
(fave color and fave animal)
Yellow Dog

4. Your Soap Opera name:
(your middle name and street you live on)
Spann Haviland

5. Your Star Wars name:
(the first 3 letters of your last name, first 2 letters of your first name)
Crael

6. Your Superhero name:
(your 2ND favorite color, and favorite drink).
Blue Guinness

7. Your Witness Protection name:
(parents middle names)
Alva Begg

9. Your Goth name:
(black, and the name of one of your pets)
Black Shadow

I hope everyone has a wonderful Memorial Day!

http://www.mysterywritingismurder.blogspot.com/

25 minutes until my birthday

2009-05-22T23:36:00.002-04:00

Happy Birthday!

Are you 10 or 55 today? No matter what the greeting cards say, it's just as exciting to have my birthday in 25 minutes now as it was when I was 10.

There is the sense of occasion, of marking that important moment when you came into this world. I wouldn't miss it or deny it because it makes me older.

This is REALLY the new year. What will I do this year? Where will I go? What wonderful things will I see?

Of course, it all comes out in my writing. It always has. It's fitting that I greet each personal new year with words since they seem to be so much a part of me.

Only 20 minutes now. I can feel the excitement. I've always had a hard time sleeping through the night before this special day. Only now, I don't have to hide it!

If May 23 is your birthday too, I send you my best regards and hope that you too are eager for the coming day!

Joyce Lavene

Are you doing anything different?

2009-05-17T10:48:00.005-04:00

Are you doing anything different to promote your books this year? Has the economic downturn caused you to think differently about what you do and how you do it?

Let's face it, authors spend thousands of dollars each year to promote their books. Usually far more than they earn on them. The idea is that if you spend a lot to get the book up and running, you'll attract more readers, the next book will get a better advance and good placement in the publisher's line up.

Of course, sometimes that happens and sometimes, you're just out of pocket on a book that never sells through on your advance. It's part of the mystery of sales. In rare cases it might have something to do with the quality of the writing, but how many bestsellers have you read that you questioned how they got published?

So in these tight financial times, how many authors are cutting back and how many are pushing harder?

From the answers to the poll I sent out to various authors, just under half are cutting their budgets this year. Some are skipping high priced conferences while other are pinning their hopes on less expensive Internet promotion.

Here are a few of the responses:

"I have been concentrating more on online promotion. I've started posting on Facebook and Twitter and I did a blog book tour the last half of April after The Surest Poison came out. I'm not doing as much travel as in the past. I'm looking for places to sell books like street fairs and craft fairs. My grandson's private school had a marketplace after a ladies fashion show and we sold quite a few books there."
~ Chester Campbell,
http://www.chesterdcampbell.com

"The short answer is no. The expanded answer: There's always something, isn't there? I knock myself out to market (sell) my books, spending a lot more than I make on them, but it's all about building a reader base. Publishers of future books look favorably on those efforts. It shows commitment to self, and it makes their lives easier. I have a formal marketing plan, which I vary slightly with each book release. It works for me."
~ Lynda Fitzgerald, Of Words & Music,
http://www.fitzgeraldwrites.com

"My favorite line lately has been 'my book costs about as much as a Happy Meal but it lasts a lot longer'."
~ Sheila Connolly, Agatha Nominee, Through a Glass, Deadly by Sarah Atwell, Best First Novel, www.sheilaconnolly.com / www.sarahatwellwriter.com

"I'm getting out to conferences, events and signings, but I am also relying a lot more on Facebook announcements, book trailers, posting to online discussion groups and dropping into hospitable blogs such as yours. Certainly the level of interest in mysteries is still high. Although readers may not be able to travel to as many events in person, they are still passionate about crime fiction and it's great to find new fans and stay in touch with old friends in innovative ways. Here, have a book mark." ~ Mary Jane Maffini, www.maryjanemaffini.com, Death Loves a Messy Desk: a Charlotte Adams mystery

While it may seem prudent to cut back on what is essentially advertising for your books, read this article before making your decision:

"When the economy is faltering, advertising is often the first thing in the marketing budget that gets cut. This is true whether the business is Coca-Cola or the local car wash. But before you make the decision to scale back or cancel your advertising campaign altogether, consider the following tips."
~ http://www.allbusiness.com/marketing-advertising/10206900-1.html

Happy Promoting!
Joyce Lavene
www.joyceandjimlavene.com

Carolina Conspiracy welcomes Evelyn David

2009-05-14T06:52:00.002-04:00

How do you work together?

MEB – When we wrote Murder Off the Books, we weren’t speaking – literally. We had met in an Internet writers forum and our communication was by e-mail. We were painstakingly revising the first draft, comma by comma, and I finally sent a message that asked Rhonda to send me her telephone number. She replied with the info, but asked that I wait ten minutes while she combed her hair!

But the process, whether by e-mail or over the phone, is the same. We talk through a scene and one of us will say, “I’ll start.” That person writes a first draft, which then goes back and forth between us, often dozens of times. Each of us tweaks and adds to the scene until we’re both satisfied. We both write all characters – including Whiskey, the Irish wolfhound.

RD – Working with a co-author keeps me motivated to write. It's very easy to give up when you hit that wall at chapter 13. Having someone else depending on you to get a scene written or a problem solved helps.

How did you get started writing together?

MEB – We met on an Internet writers forum. Each of us were posting stories. We got to know each other through our stories, feedback we would send on the writing process, and then just chatting – and laughing – about writing and life in general.

RD – We got each other's jokes! For a lark we wrote a short story together and on-line readers sent us a lot of positive feedback. Who can resist that? Not us.

Tell us something exciting about your new book?

It’s the week before Thanksgiving and Mac Sullivan has a long to-do list before turkey and the trimmings can be served. He needs to:
· Get paying clients for his detective agency
· Help his drama queen goddaughter who insists someone is trying to kill her before she can say her “I do’s”
· Recover $100,000 worth of missing caskets
· Take his dog for a bath because she had an unfortunate experience at a turkey farm when the you-know-what hit the fan and the dog
· Buy a dating manual because his would-be girlfriend, Rachel Brenner, make-up artist in a funeral home, insists that Taco Bell does not qualify as a dinner date

Murder Takes the Cake has a story to die for, characters you’ll love, humor to make you laugh out loud, an adorable Irish wolfhound, and a touch of romance. It’s fun, fast…and furry.

What's the worst thing about writing with a partner? The best thing?

MEB – The best thing about writing with a partner is that there is someone to share, and when necessary commiserate about, the creative process. When it’s going well, it’s like being at a well-played tennis match, with ideas bouncing back and forth, faster and faster. Of course, when one of us hits the proverbial brick wall and can’t think of a single word to write, the other person is there to encourage, laugh, and gently prod her back on path. Having a writing partner also means there is someone to share the promotion and marketing efforts.

The worst thing about writing with a partner? In the case of Evelyn David, there really is no down side.

RD – The best thing is the friendship. Writing is usually a lonely pursuit. Having a co-author changes all that. I think Marian knows me better than my family. After exchanging emails for a couple of years before talking on the phone, my co-author has gotten very good at reading between the lines.

The worst thing –the same as the best - she knows me better than my family!

Describe your writing partner as a food - each of you, of course!

MEB – Rhonda is like a York Peppermint Patty – sweet with a refreshing zing.

RD – This is so hard! Okay – Marian is like homemade chocolate chip cookies right out of the oven – warm, dependable, and can always make a gloomy day much brighter.

Mystery Writing Checklist

2009-05-10T11:46:00.001-04:00

Sometimes a task can be easier if you make yourself a checklist to ensure you're covering all your bases. With that idea in mind, here's a brief checklist you might want to consult before sending your manuscript off into the big, bad world of editors and agents. Or, it might be more helpful to think about these things while you're still plotting your novel.

Genre: Have you got a clear genre for your book? Thriller, cozy, police procedural, hard boiled? If you can’t identify your genre to an agent or editor, your manuscript won’t go too far.

Have you followed the rules of writing a mystery?: (see Twenty Mystery Writing Rules )

Setting: Frequently, setting plays a role in a mystery novel. It limits the number of suspects if it’s a remote island, for example. For a thriller, you may want a faster-paced, big-city environment. See how setting plays a role in your book. If it doesn’t, you may want to consider tweaking your manuscript.

An Engaging Beginning: Have you started out with a bang? Or have you started out with some messy backstory that no one wants to wade through at the beginning of your book? Make sure you’ve lured your reader in from the very beginning so they’ll want to stick with you. Think twice before using a prologue or using flashbacks at the beginning of your manuscript.

A Murder that Happens in First 50 pages or so: Don’t wait until you’re half-way through the book for a body to be discovered. Your reader may give up on you.

Protagonist: This will be your sleuth or police detective. Are they likable people or at least people interesting enough for your readers to want to spend time with? What special talents do they have that make them capable of solving the crime? Are they easy to talk to? Have they spent many years in the police department? What sets them apart?

Suspects: Do your suspects all have motive, means, and opportunity? Does their motive make sense and is it believable? Have you given the reader a chance to meet each suspect and learn about them? Have your suspects misdirected your readers and provided some red herrings? Have they lied to the sleuth and the reader? Do they have secrets? Do they have some depth?

Murderer: The killer will need to be fairly clever so he isn’t caught right away. Is your culprit believable but not obvious? If the murderer ends up being the least likely candidate, have you made his motivation realistic?

Clues: The clues need to be made available to the reader as well as the detective. You have to be fair with your reader in providing them the clues, but make sure they don't stand out too obviously in the scene. If they do, think about pointing the reader's/detective's attention in another direction, quickly. There also needs to be more than one clue--preferably three or more.

Red Herrings: Make sure your red herrings don't last the entire length of the book---that's generally considered unfair. Red herrings are a good diversion to mislead your reader, but they can be taken too far. If the entire focus of your murder was blackmail and the ensuing investigation is wrapped up with blackmail victims and scurrilous gossip: and then the real motivation ends up being revenge or obtaining life insurance money, most readers will end up wanting to throw your book in frustration.

Victims: You know you need at least one. Do you need two? Do you need more? (Remember that some genres, like cozies, generally don’t have a high body count.)

Element of Danger: Does your sleuth or detective know too much? Are they getting too close to the truth? Adding some action or a touch of danger can help with sagging middles of books.

Exciting Chapter Endings: Don’t let your reader put down your book and go to sleep. Do you have some exciting chapter endings so they’ll want to go on reading?

Resolution: Did you catch the bad guys in the end? Did you tie up all the loose ends that you created? Did you explain how the sleuth/police followed the clues?

Errors: Have you checked all the grammar, spelling, mechanics? And double-checked it? Have you trimmed any pointless dialogue, scenes that go on too long? Everything you write should have a purpose….there’s no time to dilly-dally. Double-check to make sure you haven't made any major changes in your manuscript--did your character start out being middle-aged and then end up being older or younger? Did your story start out during the dog days of summer and then suddenly change to spring? Make sure you read your manuscript from start to finish to eliminate any content errors.

Elizabeth Spann Craig

http://mysterywritingismurder.blogspot.com/

Follow me on Twitter: @elizabethscraig

Technorati Tags: mystery writing tools,rules for mystery writing,mystery writing checklist,how to write a mystery

2009-05-05T20:25:00.003-04:00

New book time!

2009-05-04T18:01:00.003-04:00

Tonight is like Christmas around my house. No baking pies or turkey, but an excitement that is just as heady and bubbly. Tomorrow, a new book comes out.

A new book coming out is like Christmas and the Fourth of July all rolled into one. It's blood, sweat and tears. Long nights on the sofa and pacing the floor, wondering if it's right. It's a heartsick feeling when the edits come in and worse when the reviews roll in.

But it's also fireworks and smiles. It's dreams coming true and promises for tomorrow. It means there will be readers who gush how much they love it and ask when the next one will come out. It's a world that didn't exist except in your mind that comes to life for someone other than yourself. The only thing more intoxicating and exciting are my babies, furry and non-furry.

The first time you pick up that book and see it with its cover, all shiny and new, brings tears to the eyes and a broad smile to the lips. It may not be perfect (Some reviewers will be happy to point that out)but it's yours. It's a milestone and a lifeline. You are living your dream.

I guess that says it all. Tomorrow, A Corpse for Yew, fifth book in the Peggy Lee Garden Mysteries comes out. People always ask which book is our favorite. I always say I could never choose. Which daughter do I love best? Which grandchild is cutest? There is no way to measure these things and I wouldn't want to.I love them all the same. They are all a part of me. And Jim! 8-))

Joyce Lavene

A Place To Write

2009-04-30T23:52:00.003-04:00

I enter my place to write. It’s a beautiful study with floor to ceiling bookshelves containing every book I ever read, plus many I have yet to read. There’s a large walnut desk in the center of the floor facing the double carved doors with a soft leather chair I can whirl around sitting behind it. The chair turns to a matching computer desk with files neatly stored in the immaculately kept drawers. To my left are large spotless windows looking out on a beautiful manicured lawn that sweeps downhill to a lovely pond. On this pond the Canadian geese have stopped for their morning swim and are greeted by the long necked swans. On the padded window seat, my beautiful cat waits for the right moment to greet me with a soft purr.

THEN I WAKE UP!

My actual writing space is a spare bedroom on the first floor of my condo. There are no bookshelves, but there are piles and boxes of books. Some I’ve read, some I haven’t and some I probably never will. My desk is a second hand one I got when my son-in-law closed his building office. My chair is also an office reject. It does swirl around, but it squeaks. There is a window in my ‘office,’ but the association hasn’t cleaned them this year. I have to keep the blinds closed anyway because if I don’t the sun hits my computer screen and I can’t see what I’m writing. Besides that, my view is of the parking lot of the complex and offers little inspiration or relaxation. As for my cat – he’s trying to jump on the key board so I’ll rub his head or scratch his belly if he isn’t successful in making me get up and feed him again. This ‘office’ also serves as a storage area. My off season clothes are in here as are my Christmas decorations and some boxes that have never been unpacked since my move to this condo. A table to the side holds the items I’m trying to sell on ebay. In the middle of all this chaos I wander in here every day and sit down to write, knowing I have it better than many people.

I know a woman who writes on a card table in the corner of her bedroom. Another one has a set up in her basement near her washer and dryer. A male friend has put a computer station in his walk in closet. And many, many writers have written their books on the kitchen table or a temporary desk in the living room.

The point is not where you write, but that you continue to write. We would all love to have the perfect office as in my dream, but even that wouldn’t guarantee success in the writing game. Some of today’s best books have been composed in cramped or undesirable conditions. It doesn’t matter how plain or fancy your writing space is, the important things is that you set someplace up to write and then WRITE. The words on paper are what really count.

And who knows, someday you may hit the best seller list and be able to afford the writing space of your dreams.

Lynette

Defining Yourself as a Writer

2009-04-27T07:37:00.001-04:00

I’m sure there are other writers out there who can give me some tips on this one. Like most writers, I’m very much an introvert. I like to watch and listen to other people at parties (if I’m actually forced to go to a party) and stay on the fringes of a conversation.

I’m lucky to be a woman because at most gatherings of people-meeting-people, I’ve noticed that one of the first things a man is asked is, “Where do you work?” or “What do you do?”

That’s pretty far down the line of questioning for women. Usually I’m first asked if I have kids. Then how many kids I have, then if they’re boys or girls. Then where they go to school.

Then, finally, (and moms know this is a sensitive subject to be carefully introduced with other moms) if I stay home with the children or if I work.

This question invokes different responses from me. If I’m really just wanting to fly under the radar and escape from the conversation, I say “Yes, I’m home with the kids.” Although sometimes a friend will walk by and say, “Because you write books!”

I know I should always say (keeping promoting in mind) that I’m a writer. It’s certainly something I’m proud of. But I get such a variety of responses that I’m hesitant to admit to it. Sometimes I get the feeling that a woman thinks I’m showing off. Sometimes they don’t really know what to say and lurch ahead to other topics. Sometimes they’re really interested and ask about the book or my writing process.

When you’re “just another mom”, it’s much easier to be part of the Mom Club and the conversation follows a fairly predictable course. Being a writer is wonderful in most ways, but it’s not exactly the most ordinary of professions. Defining myself as a writer in a completely comfortable and confident way is something I’ll have to work on.

What I’m reading: Death of a Witch by M.C. Beaton.

Thought-Provoking Blogs:

Mysterious Matters on why some writers get rejected. I’m not sure I agree with a couple of the reasons. See what you think.

BookEnds blog with the two reasons why your query is rejected.

Make Mine Mystery on “waking up your characters.”

The Rejecter on what happens when contracts don’t work out.

Rachelle Gardner's blog on painful reviews.

Blogger Tags: cool blogs, defining yourself as a writer

The Caroina Conspiracy Guest blogger is Janis May

2009-04-23T15:27:00.003-04:00

Tell us about yourself.

Oh, dear, what a boring subject to begin with!

I'm a 7th generation Texan on one side and have almost 1000 years of Scottish ancestry on the other. I was first paid for writing when I was 9 years old (won an advertising slogan contest) and sold my first novel (WHERE SHADOWS LINGER) to Dell in 1979. I was one of the original 40 women who founded RWA back in 1980.

Since I bore quite easily, I've done a number of jobs, everything from talent agent and performer to jewelry designer to Supervisor of Accessioning for a bio-genetic testing DNA lab to editor in chief of two multi-magazine publishing groups... and just about everything in between. One thing I'm especially proud of is that I founded and for 9 years was editor/publisher of the NT Newsletter of the American Research Center in Egypt, a scholarly publication that for the duration of my tenure was the only monthly publication for ARCE in the world. It may still be, I don't know.

On a more romantic note, I married for the first time at 54, after being proposed to in a moonlit garden across the road from the Pyramids in Egypt. My husband is a Captain in the Navy Reserve, returned just last year from his second deployment to Iraq. He's also several years younger than I. My mother passed away unexpectedly 3 weeks after our wedding. Now we're living in the house where I grew up - which is a very strange feeling, as I hadn't really lived here in decades - with two neurotic rescue cats.

The Husband and I are both very interested in Egyptian archaeology - we met in an ARCE meeting - and plan to return to Egypt next year.

Tell us about what you're working on now.

As I said, I bore easily, so I always have several projects going. I'm working on a college textbook to be published in Peru for world-wide distribution on archaeological illustration. There are 4 or 5 of us working on the project, which - like so many scholarly projects - has been plagued with delays. My portion is the history of archaeological illustration before the Napoleonic paradigm shift of 1798. Not too shabby for someone without a college degree!

In the fiction field, I'm working on a romance about a couple who meet when they clash over custody of their orphan grandson. She's something of a free spirit gallery owner and he's the epitome of a button-down Eastern banker. This takes place in Albuquerque New Mexico, one of my favorite places in the world.

I'm also working on a mystery series about two very individualist women named Rebecca Cloudwebb and Flora Melkiot. Rebecca was a Dallas Police detective invalided out of the force after she was nearly killed in a shoot-out which she found out was orchestrated by her ex-lover, a dirty cop. She has opened an antique shop with her late partner's widow. Flora is the wealthy widow of a jeweler who could best be termed the dark side of Miss Marple. She listens at keyholes, picks locks and gleefully blackmails anyone and everyone into doing what she thinks best. If I'm not careful, she'll take over the whole series!

I'm also working on another mystery about a professional researcher working on the archives of an exclusive finishing school which closed in 1962. She's working for a very strange and egocentric writer, is getting a divorce from her wealthy cheating husband and is startled to find out that someone will still kill to keep the past buried. This could easily develop into a series.

That's all at the moment... I think.

What are your work habits?

Feast or famine. Some days I'll do anything - including dusting and laundry - to avoid turning on the computer. Other days I can't wait to get into the library where my desk and computer live and get started. Some days writing is a chore, roughly akin to jogging through Jell-O; other days, The Husband practically has to pry my fingers from the keyboard to get me to go to sleep at a reasonable hour. And everything in between.

The constants are - I must have coffee or Diet Dr. Pepper (sometimes both!) within easy reach. Same with Kleenex, hand lotion and lip balm. Cookies help too. There is always a cat hovering somewhere around and before we lost our beloved little poodle she would sometimes have to bite my ankle - she was very little - to make me realize she had to go out.

Tell us a funny story about being an author.

A funny story? Life as an author IS a funny story. You can begin with those people who think because you have published a book you're wealthy. Or those who - usually at a cocktail party - will with an air of great largesse tell you they have a wonderful idea for a book they'll tell you so you can write it and then you'll both split the money. One time it wasn't funny when I stabbed a particularly obnoxious specimen of these with one of those tiny colored plastic swords. First time those little swords were ever really useful. Or, if you write romance, the eternal question (usually accompanied with a leering glance) of Do you really do what you write about? After a while the hostesses learned to keep the little colored plastic swords away from me!

Before my mother died I was working on an idea that would later become ECHOES IN THE DARK. One of the major plot points is that the heroine, whose leg is in a cast, sees what may or may not be the ghost of a Confederate soldier. Mother said I'd been working too hard and she was going to take me to lunch. Well, I'd had an accident to my foot and it was bandaged to a fare-the-well. Mother drove us to a local cafe and I got out of the car, then looked up and saw a Confederate soldier calmly walking in the door. I shrieked and pointed him out to her, but by the time she could look up from locking her door, he was gone.

Of course Mother knew the storyline, so she was immediately convinced that I was hallucinating. I mean, you don't see Confederate soldiers strolling around suburban Dallas! Except I did. I took off at a rather ungainly and painful lope, Mother following shouting for me to calm down. I couldn't calm down. I was going to see if I had seen a soldier or not. If I had, there was a rational explanation. If not, I was going straight to the funny farm!

Just as I reached the door, it was opened from inside - by a Union soldier in full uniform. He never could understand why I started laughing and patting his arms and face, repeating, "You're real... you're really real." Turns out that a local reenactors group was having a meeting there.

Another time I was driving to Arkansas to visit a girlfriend. This was before I married. I had driven the route many times before and drove almost on autopilot while my mind churned with a particularly thorny problem in my work in progress. Suddenly there was a stop sign on a road where there shouldn't be one, and I realized I had no idea of where I was. I had to get into the next town to be able to find my location a map. Imagine my chagrin when I realized I had not only missed the destination town, I was in a completely different state! Did figure out how to solve my story problems, though!

So - it's a small wonder that The Husband says sometimes I'm only half in the world of reality. Luckily he loves me anyway.

New friends

2009-04-22T21:44:00.003-04:00

We met some new friends at the Mint Hill Farmer's Market last Saturday. Jim and I were there to give our poisoned plant workshop and sign copies of our books during the Herb and Flower Festival.

There was a big crowd and the weather was nice. We met readers who'd enjoyed our garden mysteries and found some readers who wanted to try them for the first time.

Joe Kish stopped by on his way back from the recycle center and told us he was going home to get his wife. "She's reading your books right now. She won't believe you're here and she can get you to sign her books!"

We were polite and said we would see him later. Of course, I can't say how many times people have said something like this and never come back. I think people feel a little strange sometimes when they see you sitting there with a big pile of books.

But Joe was as good as his word and came back about an hour later with his wife, Billie. She had a shopping bag with our books in it and wanted to buy what she didn't have already.

Both Joe and Billie were wonderful! It's amazing how you can connect with some people right away.

This Saturday, we'll be at the Rocky River Vineyard Spring Festival. We're looking forward to meeting old friends and making new ones over a few glasses of some muscadine wine and (hopefully) some beautiful weather!

Hope we sell out of books again!

Joyce Lavene
www.joyceandjimlavene.com

38 years and counting

2009-04-16T16:16:00.002-04:00

Jim and I were married 38 years on April 14. It hardly seems possible! Not so much from the standpoint of the years flying by as that it actually happened.

People often ask us about the secret to a successful collaboration, in marriage and writing. We have answers, of course, but the REAL answer is that we have always been separate but together. Both of us were loners when we met, outsiders, and we chose to be loners together.

The day after we got married (my mom's idea) I burned our marriage license. I knew we'd either stay together because it was right for us or not. No little piece of paper can make it so.

We have struggled and fought and made up a thousand times. There have been triumphs and tragedies. But through it all we have maintained our friendship, our passion, and our love for each other. It was only natural that it would spill over into the thing we loved best besides each other and our children: books!

I never thought it would last so long but I'm a one day at a time kind of person so it surprises me when I wake up each morning. I can't see the future so I don't know what it will be in regard to our relationship.

But on the 14th, we had about four hours to fill between meetings. We drank some red wine by a waterfall. We watched a thunderstorm cross our favorite lake. Then we had a wonderful dinner together. That night, his head was next to mine on the pillows when we went to bed. That's enough for me!

Joyce Lavene
PS Jim sent me this plant at the newspaper and now I have to wonder what he's up to.

How to Feel Dated, and Resolving to Write Something that Isn’t

2009-04-12T18:39:00.001-04:00

I think of myself as pretty young, usually. I just turned 38 this month. Aside from knees that sometimes make funny noises when I go up the stairs and maybe that time I pulled a muscle in my shoulder when I sneezed, I usually feel youthful.

But my kids seriously age me.

My son just turned 12 and got an Ipod for his birthday. At first, I felt like the cool parent because (since I have my own Ipod), I knew how to charge it, get it recognized as a device by Itunes, sync it, and even download a song from his wish-list from the Itunes store.

But then, something went wrong. I clicked the wrong button and the Ipod started syncing to my playlist. To my son’s utter horror and complete panic.

“Mom! What happened!? What is this stuff? Jimmy Buffett? Frank Sinatra? Who are these guys? How do you get this stuff off?”

Ugh.

One day my son didn’t know who Mr. Spock was. Sigh. But I just saw a trailer for a new Star Trek movie. Thank goodness…he’ll end up getting my dated pop culture references.

When I rented The Muppet Movie, my children didn’t watch it. Not even the seven year old.

I didn’t get very far with my evil plan to make them watch Chitty Chitty Bang Bang or The Nutty Professor, either.

I had slightly better luck when I introduced the kids to I Love Lucy. They seemed to really find it funny. My son seemed baffled by Leave it to Beaver although my seven year old watched it for a bit. I really want to see if The Brady Bunch holds up, but I haven’t tried it yet.

Some of the books I enjoyed when I was a child didn’t go over so well with my son. I wanted him to like “The Great Brain” series, but couldn’t seem to get him into them. But he loved Tolkien and C.S. Lewis and enjoyed A Wrinkle in Time and The Wizard of Oz. I am just about to introduce my daughter to Nancy Drew. But I want it to go well! I will be seriously disappointed if she doesn’t like Nancy. I know that’s awful, but somehow it’s really important to me. Luckily, they’ve updated Nancy a bit, so I may start with one of the modern ones and not Secret of the Old Clock.

I really shouldn’t be too upset. My kids have enjoyed true classics like Alice in Wonderland and The Wind in the Willows. And they’re loving the new, modern classics like Harry Potter. Their music isn’t very obnoxious (okay, sometimes Hannah Montana may grate a little, but it’s not all bad.)

I’m not aspiring to write anything that holds up as well as my favorite classic literature. I’m no Jane Austen. But I don’t want readers to pick up a used paperback of one of my mysteries in seven or eight years and snicker over dated references. So I won’t be mentioning our current economic crisis. And I won’t be talking about specific “new” technologies that will go through several generation changes in the next few years. Some things….humor and genuine emotion do seem to transcend time. It took my kids’ enjoyment of I Love Lucy to help me realize that.

www.elizabethspanncraig.com www.mysterywritingismurder.blogspot.com

Blogger Tags: keeping writing fresh, don't date your book, mystery writing

A conversation with William Spear

2009-04-10T06:42:00.002-04:00

WILLIAM SPEAR: Thanks for inviting me to Carolina Conspiracy, Joyce; it's a pleasure to be here. My writing at Lit Between the Ears - both the blog and my first book - develops characters and tells stories through sounds.

What are the types of sounds readers would find in your writing?

[Joyce Lavene] It would all depend on the book. In our NASCAR mysteries, it would be loud cars. In our Renaissance mysteries, it would be loud Huzzahs!

WS: Are there any sounds peculiar to the Carolinas?

[Joyce Lavene] You know, I haven't ever thought about it before. There is this loud bird outside my bedroom window that keeps saying 'percussion, percussion'.

JL: Do I get to ask any questions?

WS: One more from me - What radio dramas have you listened to and what did you enjoy about them?

[Joyce Lavene] I loved War of the Worlds. It was so dramatic. I also loved a series of Edgar Allen Poe stories dramatized on the radio. They were really creepy, in a good way.

JL : What made you so interested in sounds, William? Most people hardly notice sounds around them.

WS: When I was young, my family drove back and forth between Ohio and North Carolina. My parents would play old radio shows. The different beginnings hooked me.
By the way, I've directed The War of the Worlds ten times. Howard Koch's script holds up well. Also, Poe is a favorite here, too. My adaptation has been performed - complete with sound effects - and a version is posted at my blog. [ Spear: The Raven from the WGAE Big Apple Short Radio Drama Festival; link: http://twoplusplus.wordpress.com/2008/10/29/spear-the-raven-from-the-wgae-big-apple-short-radio-drama-festival/ ]

JL : What are your favorite sounds?

WS: Directing a studio full of actors and sound effects. It's kind of like DNA; the same ensemble of performers can create a comedy, drama, or horror. A performance can be big and expansive or modest and intimate. A more accessible definition is conducting a large orchestra.

JL : How do you develop characters and tell stories with sounds?

WS: It's about suggestion and inference rather than full descriptions. Set the characters in motion, share the stage with the listeners' imagination, and guide the whole play a series of plot points. The only fear is that the audience can change channels at any moment. That's a fairly strong inducement to make every line be meaningful.

Thanks for being here with us, today, William!

About William E. Spear
Mr. Spear published his first anthology, a collection of radio plays titled LIT BETWEEN THE EARS, VOLUME ONE: CHEKHOV, O. HENRY, SPEAR and TARKINGTON ON THE AIR, in July 2006. He is also Publisher and Producer of Lit Between the Ears, a blog which celebrates the power and people of dramatic audio. In 1999, he founded Hunterdon Radio Theatre, a 501 C3 community radio theatre corporation in Clinton, New Jersey.
His second anthology, title MAYONNAISE IN MY CAKE AND OTHER DELIGHTS, is scheduled for release on October 1, 2009.

He may be reached by email at: Two.Plus.Plus.Productions@gmail.com
Lit Between the Ears, Volume One (book): http://Volume-One.TwoPlusPlus.com/
Lit Between the Ears (blog:) http://Lit.TwoPlusPlus.com/

Carolina Writers Conference

2009-04-06T13:55:00.003-04:00

The Carolina Writers Conference was great this weekend! Lots of friendly people who listened attentively as about 20 authors spoke about various aspects of writing. I can't say enough good about the people from South Piedmont Community College, Wadesboro Library, and the Carolina Romance Writers who put it together! The event was close to home for me but there were also authors from outside North Carolina.

It makes me wonder why there aren't more local events like this. Sure, the Malice and RWA National conferences are good but unless you live in Hawaii (where Left Coast Crime was this year) or other big cities where most conferences take place, you miss out. What's surprising about it is that there is a ton of writers from all genres and nonfiction here in N.C. You'd think there would be lots of small conferences.

Money is always the problem (that's why they called it the root of all evil)and I'm not sure there is an answer to always having a BIG crowd. Maybe the best answer would be for people who put together conferences to seek out corporate sponsorship. I don't know. I've been asked to help put together a small conference locally. Once I get through that, I might have a better understanding of what we're up against. I'll let you know!

Joyce Lavene
www.joyceandjimlavene.com

But for now, thanks CRW, SCCC and Wadesboro! It was awesome!

Dress The Part

2009-04-02T13:56:00.001-04:00

In the writing game nobody cares if you get up in the morning, dress like a bum, don’t take a shower, don’t comb your hair, or don’t put on make-up if you’re a woman or don’t shave if you’re a man. But when you go out in public to promote your work, it’s a different story.

Just because you can get away with writing your books while wearing the shirt the baby spit up on or the jeans you wore to paint the bedroom it doesn’t mean you can get away with dressing this way in public. If you do the public will quickly shy away from you and this is not good. You want the public to swarm around you begging for an autographed copy of your novel. People will not do this if they are looking your over and wondering if you’re some street person who has stolen someone’s identity.

Dress the part of a professional. This doesn’t mean you have to go shopping and blow your budget on designer suits or fancy clothes. It simply means, make yourself presentable.

If you’re a woman wear a business suit or neat dress and keep your jewelry and your make-up tasteful. Good shoes are a must. If you’re going to be standing a lot don’t wear three inch heels unless you’re accustomed to wearing them daily. If you’re most comfortable in casual clothes, wear pants with a nice sweater or blouse. Use simple jewelry as accents – earrings maybe.

If you’re a man, a suit and tie are always good, but so is a nice pair of slacks and a casual shirt. Be sure your shoes aren’t scuffed and you need to make sure they’re comfortable, too. And yes, jeans are fine as long as they’re clean and neat.

No matter what your sex, be clean. Brush and floss your teeth. Use breath mints. Make sure your hands and nails are clean. A woman should never wear chipped nail polish and men shouldn’t look as if they’ve just changed the oil in their car.

Most important, always wear a smile. Sometimes it isn’t easy when someone rattles on and on to you about how they’d write a book if they just had the time, but you can do it. They probably won’t remember and tell their friends about your smile, but they certainly will remember if you’re scowling and rush them away.

(Taken from my book Writer to Writer)

Lynette

Inspiration from Unusual Places

2009-03-29T15:43:00.001-04:00

Most writers get one particular question a lot. It’s one many of us dread hearing: “Where do you get your ideas from?” The reason the question is so hard to answer is there’s no good answer for it. Or, maybe, we worry we would sound a little crazy if we talked about the times a turn of phrase or a particular word popped into our heads and we dashed from the shower to write it down (and the word/phrase initiated an entire dialogue or even plot.)

Writing is an odd thing. Some days I feel like I’m just scouting for material as I do household errands, volunteer at my child’s school, and go to Brownie meetings. Meeting interesting people is always good. How do the shy, retiring types really behave? What about the strident folks who mow you down with their personalities? Even negative experiences and impossible people can be fodder for your book---are they the perfect murder victim? Or maybe the murderer who gets his in the end?

And many of us owe our writing styles (and to a certain degree, plot structures) to authors who have gone before us—Dorothy Sayers, Agatha Christie, Poe, Conan Doyle, and Chandler. In fact, two authors recently took their inspiration not only from Charles Dickens’ style, but from his actual work—his unfinished "The Mystery of Edwin Drood" . Dan Simmons even went as far as to invoke Wilkie Collins as Dickens’ friend in Simmons’ Drood.

Friends and family can also provide inspiration. After all, these are the people we know the best. Sometimes their personalities, looks, and experiences creep into our writing. And, of course, the encouragement they provide is a real inspiration. They’re the ones who ask us how it’s going and help us stay on track with our goals.

Interesting Blog Posts to Check Out:

Bookends on "What Can Authors Do to Sell Books?"

Make Mine Mystery blog on "Putting Zip in Mysteries"

My Mystery Writing is Murder blog on Genre-Switching

Mysterious Matters blog on "Ten Characters to Put Out to Pasture"

Blogger Tags: mystery writing, inspiration, ideas

www.elizabethspanncraig.com http://www.mysterywritingismurder.blogspot.com/

2009-03-22T15:13:00.004-04:00

The Carolina Conspiracy welcomes author Camille Minichino to our blog!

How much time do you spend writing each week?
When I'm on a deadline, as now, it seems like 24/7! But I do stop for meals and The Mentalist, so it's probably more like 8 to 10 hours a day. I have a couple of day jobs, so sometimes those hours don't begin until ten at night. Sleep is overrated. I think the most important thing is to get it done (writing the book) not worry about writing on a schedule, or even writing every day. Sometimes rules like that stifle creativity. Often I'll go to the movies and meet someone for lunch during the day, and end up writing at two in the morning. Whatever gets the job done.

What is your favorite mode of death?
I love the old fashioned ways where someone is stabbed with an icicle and—oops—where's the murder weapon? But mine are much more conventional, like shootings and stabbings. Probably my most original was in The Beryllium Murder, where a man with allergies was killed by breathing in beryllium powder that had been dusted into his box of tissues.

Are you like your main character in any way?
I have two series, one with a scientist, like me, and the other with a miniaturist, like me. My plan is to have a series for each facet of my life. I guess a tech editor might be next, or a teacher. Or a canasta player. I think one of the hardest things is to keep point of view straight. When I'm writing Gerry Porter, in the miniature mysteries series, I have to remember that she is not a scientist and is very low tech, whereas Gloria Lamerino, of the periodic table mysteries, is at the other end, with a scientific world view. Gloria reads only science magazines, where as Gerry quotes Shakespeare. Gerry makes miniatures; so do I. I have a gallery of mini scenes I've made, at http://www.dollhousemysteries.com. I love donating them as raffle prizes or to the silent auctions at conferences. Gloria lives in an apartment above a funeral parlor; I've made a miniature of the mortuary, which is also shown at the site.

Does cooking play any part in your book?
My husband tells me there's too much eating my books! Mostly desserts and cappuccinos. But now that you ask, there's not a lot of cooking. I don't know how the food gets to the table.

Why do you write mysteries?
They're the most satisfying, the most quickly. The structure is there for you: Come up with a crime and solve it. It's like being given a ready made cake and told to decorate it. I add my characters, setting, and plot, and all the leit motifs I want, but basically I know where I'm going. Well, most of the time.

Thanks for the chance to visit! If anyone would like to read sample chapters or see more info: http://www.minichino.com or http://www.dollhousemysteries.com, which are linked.

2009-03-18T10:19:00.003-04:00

The dreaded COPY EDIT

Besides query letters, there is nothing authors hate more than copy edits. These are the edits that come AFTER your editor has already had you do edits on the storyline and other things.

Sometimes, these can be a great help because another pair of watchful eyes catch things you missed that you wouldn't want to go out to the public.

Sometimes, not so much.

A copy editor can be blessing or a curse. If he or she doesn't 'get' the story, it can create a tug of war between what you want the story to say and what you DON'T want it to say. Those red pencil marks can create the devil with a nuance or an emotion, if the editor is on a different page.

We once had an editor who didn't get sarcasm. Since the story we were editing was heavily sarcastic, you can imagine the amount of red on every page. Explaining sarcasm to someone who doesn't get it is like explaining a blue sky to a dog.

Sometimes copy editors can be very school marmish, leaning toward perfect grammar in dialogue that makes it sound like your ten-year-old wrote it.

What can you do about it? Not much. Grin and bear it. Fight for the integrity of the story that will bear your name. You'll be the one who receives the letters and emails about it later. You have to work as part of a team with your editor, no matter how hard that is sometimes.

We are currently editing GHASTLY GLASS, the second book in the Renaissance Faire Mysteries. I'm not going to say whether this is a good edit or bad edit. It's just something you have to do if you want to get the book published with a traditional publisher.

If it gets to be too much for you, you can always go to a vanity press that will let you have it 'your way'. I've known a lot of authors who have done this rather than deal with the problem.

It's always your choice.

Back to the copy edits!

Joyce Lavene
www.joyceandjimlavene.com
Come see me on Face Book!

Escape With a Mystery

2009-03-15T19:44:00.001-04:00

It's hard to get away from the bad news these days. I've actually cut back on my avid news-watching habit to avoid the negativity. I still hear about the bad economy everywhere--from parents at my children's schools, from strangers at the grocery store, and splashed across the pages of the newspaper (which I absolutely can't cut back on reading. My little 5:00 A.M. ritual of coffee and the paper must be observed.)

There is, however, one great way to escape for those of us who can't just hop on a plane and hightail it to exotic places. Through books.

Mysteries are an especially gratifying escape. Where else can you experience heart-pounding danger from the safety of your living room? Feel terror as you sip your coffee?

Cozy mysteries, in particular, draw me in. An idyllic town. The introduction of a wicked element. The final resolution and peaceful reinstatement of tranquillity in the happy village. Bliss!

What I'm Reading: Pig Island. So far, it's really drawing me in. A cult on an island? Secrets? I'm in!

Best Recent Blogs:

Mysterious Matters blog delves into the wonderful world of mystery sub-genres.

Write to Done blog on getting inspiration from your everyday life (how I accomplish most of my writing)

Blood-Red Pencil blog on big publishers vs. small publishers.

Moonrat on acknowledgment pages.

Blogger Tags: mysteries, mystery writing, cool blogs, escapism

2009-03-12T16:07:00.002-04:00

The Carolina Conspiracy welcomes guest blogger Neil Plakcy

The Mahu Frittata

I have a Google alert set to let me know whenever my last name appears on the web. Since it’s a pretty distinctive name, shared only by an uncle and a handful of cousins, almost every alert I receive is about me, though I did learn when cousin Larry made a donation to a political cause in his hometown.
Not so the Google alert I set up for the word mahu. Since it appears in the titles of each of my books, I thought this was a clever way to catch any mention of the books that didn’t happen to include my name, or that somehow misspelled that name.
Instead, what I’ve learned is that this word, which I first heard as a negative epithet for ‘gay’ in the Hawaiian language, means so much more.
In most dialects of the Maori language, it means ‘gentle,’ and it’s the name of a natural skin care product for pregnant women in New Zealand. It’s a last name in Malaysia as well as in Canada; a girl named Kaitlyn Mahu plays basketball and always seems to be winning awards. Mahu was the chief of police of the pharaoh Aketaten, and his tomb can be found among the South Tombs at El-Amarna. He is shown “worshipping the Aten with a text of the 'Hymn to the Aten' in front of him.”
Since I still consider ‘mahu’ to mean a gay man, I thought it was pretty funny to find an online recipe for a Philippine treat called the mahu frittata—and no, it’s not a gay guy covered in egg and baked.
Apparently, there’s a Chinese delicacy in the Philippines called mahu, which means shredded dried crispy pork or chicken. The recipe included: “Mahu is delicious when eaten alone or as toppings for rice porridge. Kids love it when sprinkled on arroz caldo. Mahu is available at Chinese groceries and food shops in Chinatown.”
So there you have it. Not just a mystery novel, but a delightful, tasty treat!

Author of Mahu, Mahu Surfer, Mahu Fire, and Mahu Vice (August, 2009), mystery novels set in Hawaii.
Nominated for the 2009 Left Coast Crime/Hawaii Five-O Award (best police procedural)
www.mahubooks.com http://twitter.com/NeilPlakcy

2009-03-11T06:02:00.002-04:00

Salvia lands on the front page

It’s not often I get to deal with a controversial subject about plants. But I couldn’t help noticing that N.C. Sen. Bill Purcell has introduced a bill to add salvia divinorum to the Schedule I statute for drugs in this state. Schedule I is reserved for the worst of all the drugs like heroine, methamphetamine and cocaine. Marijuana is only rated as a Schedule VI. Obviously this would mean no one could grow salvia divinorum or face criminal prosecution.

How did this come about? It seems that YouTube may be to blame. There were several videos posted of college kids smoking the herb and doing a variety of stupid things. Sen. Purcell likened the use of salvia to the beginning of marijuana use and wants to stop it before it starts.

According to a New York Times article written in September about salvia use, there are no studies suggesting that salvia is addictive or its users prone to overdose. Pharmacologists have been working with the herb because they believe it could open new frontiers in medical use. Like all herbs, salvia has been used medicinally for centuries.

Gardeners have grown various types of salvia as long as there have been gardeners. Pliny the Elder wrote about the plants in ancient Greece. That was a long time ago. Salvia is a genus of plants in the mint family which includes common sage. The ornamental species are commonly referred to as salvia. There are an additional 900 species of perrennials and annuals.

Salvia divinorum is commonly refered to as Mexican mint. It is native to Oaxaca, Mexico. Mostly what we grow in our gardens is Salvia officinalis or common sage, with a Mediterranean heritage. They both have woody blue-green stems and purple-blue flowers. Officinalis has been used as a medicinal plant for centuries as well. It just hasn’t had the bad press that its cousin has had recently.

But many herbs could be considered dangerous if used incorrectly, like many other substances. We all know that SuperGlue is bad if you inhale it but it hasn’t been taken off the shelves. People have used draincleaner to kill themselves and others but it is still available.

Ephedra was banned in the U.S. because FIVE (5) people died while taking it. By comparison, acetaminophen, the active ingredient in Tylenol and many other over-the-counter and prescription painkillers and fever reducers, cause approximately 56,000 injuries, 25,000 hospitalizations, and 450 deaths every year. Medical professionals have concluded that long-term use, or large doses of the drug can damage the liver, leading to liver failure or death.

Hmm . . .

Is there some difference between chemicals that kill people in this country and herbs that kill people?

Apparently so.

Joyce Lavene

Snow Days

2009-03-05T14:03:00.002-05:00

What do you do when there is 6” of snow on the ground, your car is covered and you couldn’t get out of the parking lot if it wasn’t?

The first thing – I slept late. It felt good to loll in the bed and know nobody’s going to come to the door because they can’t get out of their house either. When I finally do get up, I spent time at the windows looking at the pristine scene outside and wonder if I should go out the glass doors. There is after all, a three foot icicle handing from the roof. I know it could be deadly if it hit me in the right spot. (Oh, good introduction to a mystery plot.)

After I had my fill of looking, I made coffee and wondered why I didn’t pick up something easy for breakfast when I was fighting the crowd for milk and cat food the night before. Ah, there’s a slice of raisin bread left. Toast it and smear it with some peanut butter and I’ll have a nursing meal. Close enough to one anyway.

With a cup of coffee and my toast I go to the computer – thank goodness the power didn’t go off – and check email. I have 52 messages. 32 of them are advertisements telling me how I can make a fortune on all these different websites, get 140 million dollars form a guy in Africa who only wants my bank info to send it to me, meet that special man or woman who will fulfill all my dreams and fantasies, or how to extend the warranty on my 10 year old car with 108,000 miles on it. But worst of all, I have two rejections from publishers and one from an agent. I suck up and read the funny, off color jokes my cousin in WV sent me.

It’s 11:00 AM and I’ve thought of a dozen places I need to go. The snow hasn’t budged because it’s 15 degrees out there. I’m scared to drive when it’s raining, not to mention ice and snow. So why not make snow cream?

I get a big pot and slip out under the huge icicle and fill it from the top of my heat pump. The cat runs when I drop a handful on his nose on the way back in. I made my snow cream, ate a bowl full, froze the rest for July and go back to the computer. I work for a while on my WIP but for some reason I can’t stay focused.

Now what? A friend sent me an invite to join Facebook. What is it and why haven’t I been on it? Okay, I’m on it now. Only took 6 and a half hours to get my photo to load. Picked up a few other friends and some relatives.

It’s 8:00 PM. I go heat a bowl of soup for supper. Back at the computer I delve into the writing. It’s flowing better now. At midnight I run out of steam. I look at my email again and see a new invite to meet that special person. I almost do it, but resist the temptation. Instead I go to bed before I do something out of character for me.

Snow days have always made me do crazy things.

How did your day go?

2009-03-03T15:25:00.003-05:00

The Carolina Conspiracy Guest blogger is Clea Simon!

Hi Joyce,
Thanks for having me on your blog! I'm very excited to introduce readers to my latest (April) Theda Krakow mystery, "Probable Claws." My first Dulcie Schwartz mystery, "Shades of Grey," will be out this summer, too.
- Clea Simon
http://www.cleasimon.com

What made you write for the first time?
I honestly cannot remember a time when I didn't write! I still have (thanks to my mom's archiving) a story I made up when I was first learning to write, about a turtle (misspelled) that found its way back home after being lost. Of course, I got to illustrate that, too. I majored in English literature and language in college, and after interning at a university press and working on various school and college journals, I figured I'd go into journalism because it got people to write on deadline! Books were the obvious next step.

Why mystery?
I have always loved mysteries, from Encyclopedia Brown in elementary school, on to the present. But I think I doubted myself at first. I wrote several nonfiction books, because I knew how to research and how to present facts. But it wasn't until a local independent bookstore owner (Kate Mattes of Kate's Mystery Books) told me "You should write a mystery," that I started writing one. I think in some way she gave me permission to do what I'd always wanted to. I had a draft of my first mystery, "Mew is for Murder," about four months after she told me that.

Is your main character modeled after anyone?
I have two main characters now, Theda Krakow and Dulcie Schwartz, and they're both modelled after parts of myself. Theda is a freelance rock critic, as I once was, and lives for the community of the music scene. It's all young adults who gather at night, support each other, romance each other, and just try to figure out their lives. A lot of us had cats, too, so Theda was a natural! Of course, she's much tougher than I am, so she's got a bit of my old buddy Kris in her, too. Dulcie is much more of a bookworm, a little innocent and very sweet. She's a literature grad student, which I never was, but she's my bookish side. She lives for her stories, her close friends, and, of course, her cat. So when she stumbles across a crime - her roommate is murdered - it makes sense that she turns to her books for answers. Only, the books she loves are Gothic novels, so ghosts and various psychic messages get involved... particularly the ghost of her late, lamented cat, Mr. Grey!

When we read your books will we know the real you?
You'll learn about things I love and know sides of me, for sure!

How long does it take you to write a book?
I can draft a book in four or five months, but then it's best if I let it sit for at least a few weeks before revising. I always find that some of what I thought I'd written stayed in my head! Then I have to put that in, and then we're good to go!

Dealing With Distractions

2009-03-01T15:36:00.001-05:00

I was talking to my friend Friday about our children. My son, a middle schooler, has his own cell phone and spends a good deal of time texting on it. The other day he was tackling honors math homework, texting several different people, talking to me, and eating a bowl of ramen noodles. Naturally, I assumed he wasn't doing any of these things well, based on the fact that I would have failed abysmally at juggling all these different things. But...his ratios and percentages seemed correct (to my English major brain, anyway), the people he was texting seemed to think they were all having a solo conversation with him, his dialogue with me was perfectly coherent, and the food was rapidly disappearing. Hmm. My friend and I decided that the next generation is obviously wired differently. Maybe, since they cope with so many competing media, their short attention spans don't limit the quality of their output.

Writing, for me anyway, doesn't work that way. I had an entire day of writing derailed last week by getting distracted. I started out being focused on my current manuscript. But then I got an email from the publicity person at Midnight Ink for the book, Pretty is as Pretty Dies, being released in August. Since the email seemed to indicate a deadline for some information they needed from me, I followed that tangent. But then I got a different email from my editor at Midnight Ink, asking me to review several corrections they had for the August release. Well, that suddenly seemed more of a priority (gosh, don't want the book to have any errors. Why even think about marketing a book that has errors? Better put off the publicity info and do these corrections real quick.)

And then it was time for something completely different: my daughter's school needed me to go over and watch the class for an hour and a half for the teacher. So, of course, still thinking about corrections and marketing, I dash out the door. I have brought nothing to entertain the second graders with--because, hey, my head is still at home even though my body is at the elementary school.

I hashed through where I went wrong on Thursday. Obviously, I never should have read my emails. I think that's actually the point where my train got derailed. Volunteering at the school was already set, but I should have handled it differently---focused on my work in progress first (no emails), then given myself twenty minutes to get my head wrapped back around going to the school (and figuring out what I needed to bring, etc...a book or a word search would have helped me out).

The lesson I take from this is that I need to disconnect from media when I write. The time I spend on writing needs to be dedicated time. I'll have an assigned time to check emails that's later in the day. Because I'm not a middle schooler anymore.

Interesting blogs:

Blog Book Tours blog, which appears to be the Holy Grail for authors interested in blog tours.

Mysterious Matters blog has a great post on motives for murder.

Blood Red Pencil has several entries on Elaura Niles' new book Some Writers Deserve to Starve: 31 Brutal Truths about the Publishing Industry.

Blogger Tags: mystery writing, dealing with distractions, cool blogs

2009-02-28T12:59:00.005-05:00

A JURY OF MY PEERS

I won another NC Press Association award last week. This was for Investigative Reporting. The story (as you can see from the photo) was about the drought.

I'm not the kind of person that cares much for awards. Mostly they feel like popularity contests that the same basic people win year after year. It's a lot like being picked first for softball when you were kid. You always knew who'd be standing there looking stupid after all the popular people were chosen to play.

People I've interviewed in the past 3 1/2 years of my journalistic career always say the same things when I ask them about winning an award. "It was humbling to be chosen." "It was an honor to be chosen by my peers for this." "I never really expected it." When I interview them, I always wonder of they were chosen first for softball too.

So winning three press awards in 2007 and another one this year makes me feel uncomfortable. I KNOW I'm not one of those first softball choices yet here I am holding these awards. Hmmm . . . wonder what a shrink would make of that???

It's kind of exciting to win, at first, like many things, but then it all comes down to the day-to-day stuff again. The woman who called me last week about people dumping trash in her yard and the farmer who wants me to interview him don't really care about my award. They have a story to tell and can't tell it by themselves. They need me to tell it for them.

In the end, it all comes down to telling the story for me, whether it's with my books or the articles I write for magazines and the newspaper. As long as I can tell the story (and make a little money!), I'm happy. The popularity, the awards, can all belong to someone else if they will let me keep telling those stories.

Joyce Lavene

2009-02-25T05:11:00.004-05:00

Our guest blogger is Mark Phillips who wrote
The Resqueth Revolution

What makes writing worthwhile for you?

By training I am a philosopher. I am convinced that the Great Philosophical Debate is now taking place in fiction rather than formal philosophy. I learned as much genuine philosophy from reading Heinlein’s works as from my classes in college. Even in genre fiction, philosophical world views, aesthetic arguments, ethical dilemmas, and political debates collide in fascinating ways, made pragmatic, meaningful, and personal by the profound magic of narrative structure. I’m addicted to reading and analyzing fiction for these insights. But I’m also incapable of sitting silent while the most important issues of the day are debated—I have to get my two cents in. Philosophical discourse is more fun when you actively participate.

Are you an early writer (wrote as a child) or a late bloomer (didn't start until an adult)?

I still have all the various attempts at fiction that I wrote as a child. I didn’t attempt to get published until high school and still have some very nice rejection letters from that period. In college I minored in film and thought that my future lay in filmmaking. But I’ve always wanted to be a creator of fiction.

Are you a plotter or a character writer?

I try to do both well. They are different sides of the same coin. Getting my characters to react to situations and influence events with meaningful, realistic, and philosophically interesting motivations requires a great plot that forces the protagonists into the kind of inescapable moral dilemmas that advance the Great Debate. On a more prosaic level, when I write in the detective and science fiction genres, I spend a lot of extra time on plot—if the plot doesn’t logically hang together, no one will read long enough for the philosophy to come across.

Do you write every day?
My day job is as a high school teacher. I teach precalculus and political philosophy. I try to write every day, but my most sustained creative writing occurs on weekends, holidays, and, of course, summer vacation. During the school year I’m more effective at research and editing. For The Resqueth Revolution, I spent nearly six months researching. When summer vacation started, I wrote the entire first draft straight out in about six weeks of marathon, twelve-fourteen hours days, seven days a week.

Have you ever had writer's block?

I’ve definitely been afflicted by writer’s block, but I rarely beat myself up over it. I have a great deal of faith in my subconscious writer, my muse, my daemon, whatever you want to call it. I research, ponder, and when I sit down to write and nothing good comes out, I figure that my subconscious writer isn’t done processing the problem. I go read, watch movies, take a nap. When I’m ready to, the prose comes out in unstoppable torrents of words that are just right (in terms of content, certainly not in terms of spelling, grammar, or style). The goal of schedulable creativity is a perverted ideal of our over-mechanized, over-commercialized world. Writers are not factory workers. I can schedule editing and research, but writing follows its own dictates. What I would like to do is keep several works going at the same time, so that if I’m in down time with one I may be more successful with another. But that would cut into my reading, movie watching, and nap time, so maybe not.

2009-02-24T13:46:00.004-05:00

Run for Mayor? I think not!

It seems hard to believe that some people where I live think I would make a good mayor. I don't know if it's because I work for the newspaper or if they just don't know me. I'm a far left leaning anarchist who could never agree with all the compromises and crap that mayors put up with. Not to mention that the mayor of my town doesn't even have a vote! That's SO not going to happen!

I suppose I appreciate all the people who have offered to finance my campaign (you know who you are). My editor, (SH) tells me that those people mean well. They think they can trust me to do what's right for the town. I don't know. Most of the mayors I know are a little shifty, to say the least, and some are downright irritating. What does that say about me that they think I would make a good mayor? (Sorry, SH!)

Anyway, I prefer to write about mayors in fiction and non-fiction. I understand that and I can handle it. I thought people were joking when they first started asking but now I see that there could be a write-in campaign. I just want to say that I would not welcome that, nor would I serve if elected.

Now now anyway. Maybe someday! ;-))

Joyce Lavene

A Writer Writes

2009-02-19T14:27:00.002-05:00

How many time have we heard “I’d write a book if I just had the time” or “I have a great story and I’m going to write it someday.” If you’re like me, you’ve heard these excuses and many more a lot. Like me, you also know these people aren't serious writers.

How do we know? We know because writers write, they don’t talk about it happening in the future. Their future is now. Writers don’t wait until they have all the free time in the world. They don’t wait until everything is perfect around the house. They don’t keep putting off sitting down at the computer or typewriter or even with a pen and paper. It takes writing to be a writer and people who do this are the writers.

They’re writers because they want to write. They need to write. They have to write. Therefore they will make time to write. They get up an hour early and write. The stay up an hour late and write. They block out time on the weekend to write. They write on their lunch hour. They write when they have a few minutes anytime they get the chance.

Don’t get me wrong. There may be detours along the way in a writing career. You may get sick. A loved one may die. A job may be lost. A marriage may fail. Or a million other things can happen. If you’re a writer, you’ll continue to write through these detours.

Oh, it won’t be easy. Nobody ever said it would be. But what in life worth having is easy?

Is it worth all the sacrifice, the work, the effort and the pain? Oh, yes! If you’re a writer, when you hold your first book in your hand or see your first article or story in print and your name is displayed on this work it is worth everything you went through to create it.

So if you want to be a writer, the only thing you have to do is write - and keep writing.

Lynette

2009-02-18T15:34:00.004-05:00

The Carolina Conspiracy Guest Blogger for today is author Jacqueline Seewald.

Tell us about yourself.

I took an early retirement so that I could write fulltime. I taught creative writing, expository writing and technical writing at Rutgers University.
I've also worked as an academic librarian, an educational media specialist, and a high school English teacher. I have two graduate degrees. I have two sons and a terrific husband who is very supportive.

Tell us about what you're working on now.

I've just completed several new novels that I've submitted for consideration. One is another romantic suspense mystery thriller entitled DEATH LEGACY. It's a novel of international intrigue and espionage, romantic and sexy with a strong mystery plot.
What are your work habits? I get up around six a.m. every morning and start to write while it's still dark and quiet. I'm very focused. I try to get out and do other things every afternoon.

Tell us a funny story about being an author.

I suppose what I find amusing is when people ask me how my "hobby" is going. I don't bother to tell them that writing isn't my "hobby," it's my life's work. I do put my heart and soul into my work. I write and rewrite until the work is as perfect as I can make it.

I'm excited about THE DROWNING POOL coming out and hope to reach a great many readers. I'd ask you all to look for the novel, check it out on Amazon. Two excellent brand new reviews just came out from Midwest Book Review and Crimespree Magazine.

In these hard economic times, I'm suggesting that readers request that their libraries order THE DROWNING POOL so they can read it without laying out for the cost of a hardcover book. And I'd love feedback!

The Drowning Pool Author: Jacqueline Seewald
Price:US $25.95
ISBN 13: 9781594147555
ISBN 10: 1594147558
Product number: 243771
Published/Released: February 2009

2009-02-16T13:59:00.003-05:00

Do you Twitter?

A woman at an event last week asked, "Do you Twitter?"

I know what she meant but I was surprised she was asking. This wasn't a 20-something author but rather a middle-aged author.

When I confessed that I had never Twittered, she laughed. "You know,dear, you can't market effectively unless you Twitter."

I don't know. I have a Face Book page. I blog when I can. I send out tons of press releases, read and write on various lists of mystery writers. What would make Twitter so much better?

Of course, no one really knows. I guess it's the idea of doing whatever you can. Shortly after the woman had gone back to her table to sell books, another woman came by and asked if I had a trailer for my new book.

Hmmm.

"You know, dear, you can't market effectively unless you have a trailer."

One thing I DO know and that is you can't market effectively if you don't have a book to market. All the Twittering, trailers and everything else is only as effective as your next book. You can lose yourself in doing all the things there are to do that ornament your book. I know writers who have had to give back advances because they forgot they had to write too!

Of course, sales are important. It's always tough to say when you should write and when you should market. Sometimes, I feel like you have to do both all the time, kind of like juggling.

I guess I'll go find out how to Twitter.

Joyce Lavene

2009-02-16T13:59:00.000-05:00

Do you Twitter?

A woman a an event last week asked, "Do you Twitter?"