Jinx Schwartz's Blog

By popular demand, a re-blog on DYI Kindle e-books; I did it, and so can you

2011-12-10T10:00:00.000-08:00

DYI KINDLE e-books.

I did it!

Okay, that I should be a we, because my husband is the one with the patience, but between the two of us we converted all seven of my books into Kindle and put them on sale for .99 with only one exception, Troubled Sea at 2.99. We tried to do the ninety-nine cent bit with this book, as well, but Amazon deemed the file too large, which is a heads-up when writing my next book; keep the word count down. You can see all of my books on Amazon at
http://amzn.to/ro70QS

We also used Smashwords for all other digital formats, but that's a whole 'nother blog.

The tedious—but in the end, rewarding—exercise began with my decision to reclaim the rights to my books, and take over my writing destiny. This was not the easiest decision to make, as there are many authors out there who would kill for a publisher, but as a purely business decision, I think I did the right thing.

So now what? Pay someone to convert seven books? Not on my budget. We tackled the project ourselves and now I'm sharing with you what we learned. Was it easy? Nope. Was it worth it? Yep.

When I ended my publishing contracts, I asked for, and was granted, the rights to the cover art. This was a huge help, because the books were already for sale on Amazon, so we got to skip the new cover art process.

We are not techies, so I am going to lead you through these DYI steps in plain old English that even we understand. READ THE WHOLE BLOG FIRST, THEN BEGIN**.

1. Establish an account with Amazon Digital Text Platform. READ THE FINE PRINT! Yeah, I know, a pain in the you-know-what, but it will save you time, and even more pain.

2. Your manuscript MUST be in MS Word. If it is not, you gotta make it so.

3. Open your MS Word manuscript, SELECT ALL, and COPY.

4. Close MS Word.

5. Open Notepad in your computer's program list under Accessories. Then click EDIT and PASTE. (This will put your file in Notepad. Notepad will remove all previous formatting from your MS Word file.)

6. Click on EDIT and SELECT ALL in Notepad.

7. Click on EDIT and COPY.

8. Open a new file in MS Word.

9. Click on EDIT and PASTE. This will put the file from Notepad into a new (CLEAN) MS Word file to work with.

I know, this seems a little convoluted, and I am sure there are other, easier, methods, but this one worked for us, seven times, and was entirely FREE (my husband's favorite word.)

10. You now have a clean new file to work with. Go to your toolbar and click on the "start new paragraph sign" (if you can't find it, hit ctrl+shift+8) so you can see the paragraph marks and space dots (no double spaces between words allowed) in your manuscript. Click on EDIT, and SELECT ALL.

Format FONT to Times New Roman, 12 point. You can adjust font sizes as necessary for chapter titles, etc. later. We had NO luck with other fonts.

11. Click EDIT, SELECT ALL. (VERY IMPORTANT) and Format paragraph as follows:
Alignment Left
Outline level Body Text
Left and right 0
Special First line
By .5
Spacing before and after 0 point
Line spacing Single
Click OK

SAVE AS: Your book title

Now comes the fun part. You have to edit the manuscript. Change font sizes where necessary for chapter headings, and (this is important) insert page breaks at the end of each chapter. Make your manuscript look like it is supposed to, and for crying out loud DO NOT USE TABS.

**Whenever you see a warning in all caps and bold, rest assured this was a mistake we made.

If you do not have any photos in your document, SAVE AS Web Document (HTML). You will now have two* files to use for uploads; one in HTML FORMAT AND an MS WORD DOCUMENT. Hang in there with me, there is a reason for this.

It is now time to see how your book looks on a Kindle. To do this, guess what? you have to have access to a Kindle ebook reader. Use the email address that you set up for downloading Kindle books, and send an email:
(your username) @free.kindle.com
SUBJECT: convert.
Attach your WEB (HTML) document to this email (if no pictures)
Attach the MSWORD document (if there are pictures)
See, I told you there was a reason for two* types of documents!
Send the email.

Turn on your Kindle, make sure the WiFi connection is on, and within minutes, just like magic, your book will appear. If everything looks good, you are READY TO PUBLISH!
If not, go back to your word document, correct, save as Web Page, and re-upload to Amazon. I think I did this at least ten times for each book.

When you have it right, go to YOUR Amazon's Digital Text Platform account, follow the instructions, and upload your book.

If you have followed instructions, your book will be available for sale at Amazon Kindle store within a few days. If not, start over. Try it, let me know how it works for you. If you have questions, feel free to contact me at jinxschwartz@yahoo.com or kindlejunkie@yahoo.com.

All good things must end: Last day of Mystery We Write Christmas tour

2011-12-09T00:01:00.000-08:00

I AM LOOKING FOR YOUR COMMENT! LAST CHANCE TO WIN A FREE e-book.

After two weeks of blogs by fifteen authors, we have reached the part where we give away the books we promised. This entails going back to all the blogs, seeing who commented, then drawing names from from a hat to keep it clean. I will be doing this on Sunday or Monday, so you have time to go the the following blogs, look up my blog, and make a comment!

Here is a list of the blogs:

Nov. 25 – Earl Staggs http://earlwstaggs.wordpress.com/
Nov. 26 – Anne K. Albert http://anne-k-albert.blogspot.com/
Nov. 27 – Beth Anderson http://www.bethanderson-hotclue.com/blog/
Nov. 28 – Ron Benrey http://blog.benrey.com/
Nov. 29 – Pat Browning http://pbrowning.blogspot.com/
Nov. 30 – John M. Daniel http://johnmdaniel.blogspot.com/
Dec. 1 – Alice Duncan http://aliceduncanblog.blogspot.com/
Dec. 2 – Wendy Gager http://wsgager.blogspot.com/
Dec. 3 – M. M. Gornell http://mmgornell.wordpress.com/
Dec. 4 – Timothy Hallinan http://www.timothyhallinan.com/blog/
Dec. 5 – Jackie King http://www.jacqking.com/blog/

Dec. 6 – Jean Henry Mead http://mysteriouspeople.blogspot.com/ and http://theviewfrommymountaintop.blogspot.com/
Dec. 7 – Marilyn Meredith http://marilynmeredith.blogspot.com/
Dec. 8 – Mike Orenduff http://thepotthief.blogspot.com/

Earl Staggs, my fellow Texan and last, but by NO means least, guest on this MYSTERY WE WRITE blog tour

2011-12-08T00:01:00.000-08:00

BOOK GIVEAWAY! Earl will be giving away a print copy of Memory of a Murder and a copy of the Short Stories fo Earl Staggs (e-book version) to lucky commenters randomly picked at the conclusion of this tour. Don't wait to leave your comments, because this tour is rounding up!

Derringer Award winning author Earl Staggs has seen many of his short stories published in magazines and anthologies. He served as Managing Editor of Futures Mystery Magazine and as President of the Short Mystery Fiction Society. His novel MEMORY OF A MURDER earned thirteen Five Star reviews online at Amazon and B&N. His column “Write Tight” appears in the online magazine Apollo’s Lyre. He is also a contributing blog member of Murderous Musings and Make Mine Mystery. He hosts workshops for the Muse Online Writers Conference and the Catholic Writers Conference Online and is a frequent speaker at conferences and writers groups. Email: earlstaggs@sbcglobal.net Website: http://earlwstaggs.wordpress.com/

Today Earl shares with us: HERE’S WHAT HAPPENED

Once he’d figured it all out and knew whodunnit, Adrian Monk, everyone’s favorite OCD TV detective, would say, “Here’s what happened.”

Then he would tell how the crime occurred. As he described it, the audience viewing at home saw the event take place on the screen exactly as it happened in the past.

What better way to let an audience know what happened in the past than with both a narrative retelling AND a visual reenactment? They can do that in movies and on TV. Writers do not have that luxury, but we still have to tell our readers, “Here’s what happened.” We call it backstory.

We have different ways of presenting backstory. We can have the narrator stop telling the current story and tell the backstory. If it goes on for a long time, however, we run the risk of boring readers and tempting them to skip over the “info dump” completely. Imagine Monk telling what happened without the visual reenactment. His show would never have lasted as long as it did.

One way to bring in backstory -- our version of a visual reenactment -- is to “show” what happened before, complete with dialogue and action exactly as it happened. That requires, first of all, a clear transition to the past so readers aren’t confused about where they are in the story. Once that’s done, the scene plays out just as it did before. Here’s an example, beginning with a transition:

Jane would never forget the day Dan left. She’d walked in the door and saw his bags packed in the foyer. She’d hurried into the dining room to find him sitting at the table.

“What’s going on, Dan?” she asked.

“I can’t take it anymore. I’m leaving.”

Yada, yada, yada.

When the reenactment is finished, another clear transition is needed, of course, to bring readers back to the present without confusion.

Another way to work in backstory, and a favorite of mine, is to bring it out in dialogue between two characters as part of the current story. Like this:

Jane knew Margie had something on her mind and waited for her to speak.

Margie took a sip of her wine and set her glass on the table, rotating it slowly with her hands. After several moments, she said, “Jane, you never did tell me why Dan left.”

“I’m not sure myself. I came home and saw his bags packed and sitting in the foyer.”

“Didn’t he say anything?”

Jane turned to the window and looked out. “I asked him what was going on. He said he couldn’t take it anymore and he was leaving.”

“Couldn’t take what anymore?”

Yada, yada, yada.

Another method is a quick flashback. Here’s how that might be done:

Dan had left two years ago. She’d entered the house to see his bags packed and sitting in the foyer. When she asked him what was going on he said, “I can’t take it anymore. I’m leaving.” She still didn’t understand why.

A short flashback like that is not a major intrusion to the current story and chances are, you won’t lose the readers. It lacks the immediacy and drama of a reenactment, however.

In a story called, “That Night in Galveston,” I used a slightly different form of flashback. Amanda Barnes is kidnapped by a crippled, disfigured man with a gun and forced to drive to a vacant warehouse. She doesn’t remember the man and has no idea why he is doing this. As she drives, little bits of information she’d wiped from her memory from twenty years before flash from her subconscious mind. Here’s one of them:

Darkness. . .waves crashing against a pier. . .sounds of an amusement park in the distance. . .someone down on all fours. . .screaming. . .begging. . .

Shortly after that one, there’s this one:

Three men standing over him. . .yelling. . .kicking. . .swinging something. . .

And a little later, this one:

Gordie standing over her. . .pulling her to her feet…forcing a pipe into her hand…“Hit him, you little bitch, or I’ll hit you with it”. . .

Amanda is pulled into the past even further when something flashes from before she ran away from home and hitchhiked to Galveston.

A thick, burly man entering her bedroom. . . holding a finger to his lips to say, “Don’t wake your mother. We don’t want her to know our secret.”. . unable to breathe under his weight. . .biting her lip to keep from crying out from the pain he caused her inside. . .

This altered flashback method worked well in this particular story. It was a graphic, dramatic, and efficient way to bring out the backstory. I liked it so much I gave it a name: “backflash.”

In many of our stories, we can’t get away from backstory. We have to tell our readers, “Here’s what happened.” Part of our challenge is to do it in such a way that readers are not confused or bored and with minimal interruption to the current story.

By the way, if you’d like to know how Amanda escaped her fate, “That Night in Galveston” is one of the sixteen stories in my collection, SHORT STORIES OF EARL STAGGS. You’ll find more information about it over on my website: http://earlwstaggs.wordpress.com

While you’re there, you can visit with my special guest for the day.

You can also read Chapter One of MEMORY OF A MURDER, my first mystery novel, which earned thirteen Five Star reviews.

And please don't forget to sign up for the drawing on December 9. The first name drawn from those who leave a comment will receive a print copy of MEMORY OF A MURDER. The second name drawn will have a choice of an ebook or print copy of SHORT STORIES OF EARL STAGGS, a collection of sixteen of my best short stories.

Anne K. Albert, my MYSTERY WE WRITE guest for today. And she's the one who organized this blog tour!

2011-12-07T00:01:00.000-08:00

Anne will be giving away e-book copes of Frank, Incense, and Muriel to some lucky commentors at the close of thie MYSTERY WE WRITE blog tour (December 9), so comment away and good luck! See below for details.*

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

So, heeeers Anne!

Thanks for featuring me, Jinx, on Day 13 of the second 2011 Mystery We Write Blog Tour. What a fantastic virtual ride this has been! I hope you’re enjoying it as much as I am.

Speaking of rides, I understand you live part of each year on a boat moored in the Sea of Cortez. How exotic! Being more of a landlubber, myself, I spend a great deal of time writing in my van. Weather permitting, of course. I call it as my ‘cone of silence’. It’s an ideal place to just focus on writing. There are no disruptions, no internet connections, no telephone calls, and no friends or neighbors to distract me. It’s a sanctuary in every sense of the word.

Jinx – Describe your writing process.

Many authors plot their stories. They know the beginning, middle and end before they put a single word to paper.
Writing for me is more akin to being a fly on the wall.
I sit at the computer, or grab a pen and pad of paper, and focus on my characters. Like magic, I’m transported to their exact location and time. I’m there with them. I see, hear, feel, taste and smell everything they do. And like my characters, I have no idea what will happen next. Nothing is more exhilarating that watching the story unfold, and thinking, “Wow. I didn’t see that coming.” It’s a total rush!

Jinx – Tell us about your book.

FRANK, INCENSE AND MURIEL is set the week before Christmas when the stress of the holidays is enough to frazzle anyone’s nerves. Tensions increase when a friend begs Muriel to team up with a sexy private investigator to find a missing woman. Forced to deal with an embezzler, kidnapper, and femme fatale is bad enough, but add Muriel’s zany yet loveable family to the mix and their desire to win the coveted D-DAY (Death Defying Act of the Year) Award, and the situation can only get worse.
I’m proud of what readers are saying.
One on Amazon said, “Anne K. Albert's…wit shines through this lightly suspenseful novel and her characters ring sweet and true. Can't wait to read more about Muriel, Frank and the rest of the gang.”
Author Marja McGraw said, “Laugh out loud funny in places, and that's my favorite kind of book. I was totally entertained by Frank, Incense and Muriel.”
Night Owl Reviews gave it 5 stars and a Top Pick Award. “If you’re looking for a story with a little bit of humor, a whole lot of suspense and plenty of insanity, then you’ve found the perfect story.”
Frank, Incense and Muriel is also recipient of the prestigious 2011 Holt Medallion Award of Merit. J If you’d like to read a sample, click here: http://amzn.to/pg67sx

Thanks again, Jinx. I’ve enjoyed my virtual visit with you today. Happy writing, happy reading, and of course, happy boating!

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

*Remember to leave a comment and be automatically entered her comment-to-win contest.
CONTEST DETAILS: Comment to WIN! Three names will be selected at random from comments on all 14 of Anne’s Mystery We Write Blog Tour guest appearances. Winners will receive an e-copy of FRANK, INCENSE AND MURIEL, book one of the Muriel Reeves Mysteries. Visit http://tinyurl.com/3hzpqvv for her schedule and contest details. Good luck!

Didn't win? You can buy a copy http://www.amazon.com/Frank-Incense-and-Muriel-ebook/dp/B004CLYDRO/

Beth Anderson, my MYSTERY WE WRITE guest for today

2011-12-06T00:01:00.002-08:00

BOOK GIVEAWAY! Beth will be giving away a copy of Night Sounds, Murder Online, and Raven Talks Back at the end of this tour (December 9) to a lucky commenter to HER blog at http://www.bethanderson-hotclue.com

Beth Anderson is a multi-published, award winning author in several genres including romance and mainstream crime fiction. A full time author, she now lives in Washington state. She has appeared on Chicago's WGN Morning Show, The ABC Evening News, as well as numerous other radio and cable television shows. She has guest lectured at Purdue University, Moraine Valley College, and many libraries and writers' conferences. She loves music, particularly jazz.

Today Beth is sharing with us: The Part They Never Tell You About When You Start Writing A Novel

I’ve seen it in so many writers and I’ve done it myself. Write a little, stop. Write a little, stop. Put it down, put it away where you don’t have to look at it, under your bed or hidden in a computer file where even Bill Gates couldn’t find it. Anything to get it out of your sight and off your mind, because you don’t WANT to write today. Today stretches out into tomorrow, into the next day, and eventually you find you’ve wasted a week, a month, a year, and have not even one page to show for it, when what you originally SAID, and meant with all your heart, was, “I want to write a book.”

Sound familiar? I thought it might, but here’s what you need to realize: Someone a lot smarter than I said, “Writing is mostly re-writing.” And it is. Pages of great prose don’t just fall there by accident while you’re staring out the window thinking about something else. Oh sure, sometimes a brilliant thought or phrase or an unexpected scene does pop up and you don’t have a clue where it came from, but that’s one of those magic days when you’re blessed with some otherworldly sense and it flows from your fingers. It happens, although not often enough. You usually have to work at it.

Most days it’s just slogging away, hating what you just wrote, KNOWING you’re the world’s biggest fake because your dialogue is the suckiest ever, your narrative would bore any reader half to death, and nothing jells. That’s when you really have to buckle down and keep at it, because that’s the part you seldom hear about in author interview blogs. Published authors rarely want their readers to know what really goes on behind the scenes.

What happens is, if you’re smart and you want to be published any sooner than 2075, you keep noodling with it until it does jell. I would venture to say most of what most authors write is done like that. You sit there and force yourself to keep writing whether you like it or not. And then, when you save it and go back to it the next day, you’ll either find that it’s not nearly as bad as you thought and a few words will salvage it, or it is as bad as you thought. If it is, you go back and start noodling with whatever’s bothering you until you get it right. That’s how I do it, anyhow.

I don’t recommend my method for everyone. Many good authors say they keep on writing till it’s completely done and then they go back and fix everything. That works for them. It doesn’t work for me, and I’ll tell you why.

If I know something isn’t right with a scene I just wrote, I can NOT go on until it is right, and sometimes that means a day or so shifting words, paragraphs, deleting this, adding that, sometimes swearing the whole time, but I have to get it right. Then, and only then, I can move on. The good news about doing it that way is, when I write THE END, it’s as good as I can get it At That Point.

THEN I go back and fine-tune it, and that can mean any number of rewrites. That’s when I give into my motto: Write like a lover, edit like an ex-wife. THEN, when I think it’s perfect, I have others go through it for typos (yes, they do find them)and continuity or anything else they may spot that my feeble mind missed (and that happens). (Often).

So when I hear that tiny voice that says something’s not right, experience has taught me that if I don’t listen, an agent or editor will nab me on THAT VERY SPOT sure as God made little green pears like the ones sitting on our kitchen counter. It always happens. Every time. I go back until I find where it went wrong and fix it. I’m probably OCD that way.

You may be completely different. Things like that might not bother you. They bother me. OCD again.

The point I’m making is, writing a novel isn’t just a matter of sitting down and typing out a book in a month or two and sending it off. It almost never works that way except for rare authors I known who are certified writing machines. Most of us have to re-write until boiling hot blood spurts out of our foreheads.

Writing a novel isn’t always fun. You don’t end every day thrilled with what you wrote. You may have to completely rewrite it tomorrow, and the day after that, and maybe the day after that. But you’re still making progress, and isn’t it better than writing nothing at all?

If you want to get published and stay published, you don’t have a choice. You have to do rewrites and you have to keep at. You may have to do even more rewrites when an agent or editor gets hold of it. Grabbing that elusive gold ring called success in this business is about keeping after it day after day no matter how bored you are or no matter how disheartening it is, because keeping at it at least gives you a chance at getting where you want to go.

Ron Benrey: Mystery We Write guest for today

2011-12-05T00:01:00.000-08:00

BOOK GIVEAWAY: RON WILL BE GIVING A COPY OF DEAD AS A SCONE AND THE FINAL CRUMPET TO A LUCKY COMMENTER AT THE END OF THE BLOG TOUR ON DECEMBER 9, 2011.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004Q9U18W

http://www.ronbenrey.com/
http://blog.benrey.com/

Ron Benrey writes cozy mysteries with his wife Janet. Ron has been a writer forever—initially on magazines (his first real job was Electronics Editor at Popular Science Magazine), then in corporations (he wrote speeches for senior executives), and then as a novelist. Over the years, Ron has also authored ten non-fiction books, including the recently published “Know Your Rights—a Survival Guide for Non-Lawyers” (published by Sterling). Ron holds a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, a master’s degree in management from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, and a juris doctor from the Duquesne University School of Law. He is a member of the Bar of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

Please welcome Ron Benrey as he writes about The Proud Tradition of Writing Mystery Fiction

When a contemporary author sits down to write a mystery novel, he or she becomes part of a proud tradition that stretches back more than 150 years. Surprisingly, the basic idea hasn’t changed in a century and a half: a mystery novel depicts a detective—either a professional or an amateur sleuth—solving a crime.
    The enduring longevity of mystery novels attracts hordes of new novelists each year—authors who like to read mysteries and want to write them. When I say “longevity,” I mean it. Mystery novels fifty, sixty, even a hundred year old—classics written by Agatha Christie, Rex Stout, Raymond Chandler, Arthur Conan Doyle, and other masters of the craft—are sold in bookstores today, and are routinely purchased by current fans. I can’t think of another fiction genre where new authors must compete with so many writers buried decades ago.
    Another important aspect of mystery fiction’s durability is that the tens of thousands of mysteries published during the past century-and-a half have created specific expectations among readers that today’s writers must meet. Many of these genre conventions go back to the pioneering 19th century mysteries written by Edgar Allan Poe, Wilkie Collins, and Conan Doyle.
    1. A Plot Built Around a Puzzle
    Although it sounds like a cliché, the fundamental uncertainty at the heart of every mystery novel remains Who done it? Many successful novels raise other questions. How done it? Why done it? Will the villain be punished or get away? Will the hero survive the final denouement? Will the heroine achieve her other goals? The importance of providing a compelling puzzle prompts some mystery authors to say “plot is everything” in good mystery fiction. I won’t go that far, because successful mystery novels have introduced a galaxy of unforgettable characters—from Sherlock Holmes to Miss Marple, from Nero Wolfe to Spenser. Nonetheless, while readers savour fascinating protagonists, the chief reason they read mystery fiction is to enjoy stories that present fascinating puzzles.
2. High Stakes for the Antagonist
    For many years, mysteries were called “murder mysteries.” In time, “murder” became a redundant word, because the overwhelming majority of mystery novels involve a murder or two. The fear of being punished for committing a murder gives the villain the strongest possible motivation to oppose the hero or heroine. The determined antagonist will create significant problems for the protagonist to overcome—and often land the sleuth in deadly peril.
    3. The Need to Play Fair With the Reader
    Readers anticipate that the protagonist of a mystery novel will eventually solve the puzzle and name who done it, typically in the closing chapter. Everything must come together at the end, but in a way that makes sense given the clues (and other information) available to the protagonist and the reader. It’s not playing fair to pull the killer out of a hat, so to speak.
    4. Sparkling Dialog
    Good dialog is important in every fiction genre, but mystery novels place an especially thorny requirement on dialogue: A fictional sleuth does most of his or her investigating by talking to other characters. Consequently, dialogue often communicates the lion’s share of essential information about the crime and the clues to readers. This shines a strong spotlight on the cleverness—the sparkle—of dialog.
    I have co-written three mystery series with my wife, Janet. One of them—the “Royal Tunbridge Wells Mysteries”—was designed from the get-go to echo the classic British mysteries written by Agatha Christie and Ngiao Marsh. We worked hard to get the traditional “sound” and “feel.”

    Here is a synopsis of “Dead as a Scone,” the first novel in the series:
    Murder is afoot is the sedate English town of Royal Tunbridge Wells… and the crime may be brewing in a tea pot!
    Nigel Owen is having a rotten year. Downsized from a cushy management job at an insurance company in London, he is forced to accept a temporary post as managing director of the Royal Tunbridge Wells Tea Museum. Alas, he regrets living in a small town in Kent, he prefers drinking coffee (with a vengeance), and he roundly dislikes Flick Adams, PhD, an American scientist recently named the museum’s curator.
But then, the wildly unexpected happens. Dame Elspeth Hawker, the museum’s chief benefactor, keels over a board meeting—the apparent victim of a fatal heart attack. With the Dame’s demise, the museum’s world-famous collection is up for grabs, her cats, dog, and parrot are living at with Flick and Nigel—and the two prima donnas find themselves facing professional ruin.
    But Flick—who knows a thing or two about forensic science—is convinced that Dame Elspeth did not die a natural death. As Flick and Nigel follow the clues—including a cryptic Biblical citation—they discover that a crime perpetrated more than a century ago sowed the seeds for a contemporary murder.

Pat Browning, my MYSTERY WE WRITE guest for today

2011-12-04T00:01:00.000-08:00

Pat Browning was born and raised in Oklahoma. A longtime resident of California's San Joaquin Valley before moving back to Oklahoma in 2005, her professional writing credits go back to the 1960s, when she was a stringer for The Fresno Bee while working full time in a Hanford law office.

Her globetrotting in the 1970s led her into the travel business, first as a travel agent, then as a correspondent for TravelAge West, a trade journal published in San Francisco. In the 1990s, she signed on fulltime as a newspaper reporter and columnist, first at The Selma Enterprise and then at The Hanford Sentinel.

Her first mystery, FULL CIRCLE, was set in a fictional version of Hanford, and published through iUniverse in 2001. It was revised and reissued as ABSINTHE 0F MALICE by Krill Press in 2008. An extensive excerpt can be read at Google Books --http://tinyurl.com/23pojdm.

The second book in the series, METAPHOR FOR MURDER, is a work in progress. ABSINTHE takes place on a Labor Day weekend. METAPHOR picks up the story the week before Christmas. Log line: Reporter Penny Mackenzie tracks an offbeat Christmas story and finds herself in the middle of a murder and the mysterious desecration of an old Chinese cemetery.

Pat's articles on the writing life have appeared in The SouthWest Sage, the monthly journal of SouthWest Writers, based in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Her web site at http://patbrowning.weebly.com is under construction.

Pat's subject for today? Give your character a little status

Quoting award-winning author Marcia Preston, who writes as M.K. Preston: “Often we know something but don't know that we know it. I think that's especially true of story structure; we have story-arc ingrained in our breastbones, but often don't translate that subconcious knowledge into the stories we try to write.”

Marcia’s SONG OF THE BONES won the 2004 Mary Higgins Clark Award for suspense fiction and the 2004 Oklahoma Book Award in fiction. You can read about all her books, with excerpts, at her web site: http://www.marciapreston.com/

At a recent Pen and Keyboard meeting Marcia spoke on building characters. She covered back story, actions, dialogue, point of view, status – status? That’s not status as in social or professional standing, but status as in domination. One character gets the upper hand over another character.

To illustrate status here’s an excerpt from my mystery, ABSINTHE OF MALICE. Reporter Penny Mackenzie is at work in the newsroom when her college crush shows up after a long absence. Status of the two characters is constantly adjusted and negotiated, with Penny finally gaining a slightly upper hand.

***

Elmo dropped my calendar, which slid under my desk as it hit the floor, and hustled off toward the back room.

I leaned down to retrieve the calendar, a maneuver that made my head swim. Maxie cleared her throat loudly enough to be heard in the next block. I sat up and looked into a pair of dark blue eyes. Thirty years flipped by in a heartbeat.

“Hey, babe,” Watt Collins said. “How’s it going?”

He was as ruggedly handsome as ever. Face just a little thinner maybe, dark hair smudged with gray, same long, thick eyebrows above eyes still hot enough to melt wax. His expensive white cotton shirt was open at the throat, sleeves turned back at the wrists. Faded Levi’s hugged his hips.

“Forgive me for staring,” I said finally. “My life just passed before my eyes.”

He flashed a smile, took a business card from his back pocket, laid it on my desk. Watt Collins Investigations. A toll-free number, nothing else.

“Investigations? Sounds mysterious. What brings you to Pearl?”

“Family business. I grew up about ten miles from here, remember?”

What family? All dead, if I remembered correctly. And why would he look me up after … was it this life or the last?

I rummaged through a drawer, located a card and handed it to him. Penny Mackenzie, Lifestyle Editor. The Pearl Outrider, Central California’s Best Little Newspaper, Between the Mountains and the Sea. Local phone numbers—office, home and cell phone. There it was, in black and white, proof that I had no life of my own.

“Lifestyle Editor. I’m impressed.” He tilted his head to sneak a peek at my left hand, looking for a plain gold band, a sparkly engagement ring, a white band left by a previous ring on a tanned finger.

My lucky day, his smile said. “You look sensational.”

“Oh, please!” I couldn’t remember my last diet. Exercise? Who, me? Shaggy hair—too late now.

He looked at my card again. “So you’re still Penny Mackenzie. Does that mean I wasn’t the only one dumb enough to let you get away?”

He’d lost plenty of sleep over it. I could tell by the absence of bags and shadows under his eyes. “Married to the job,” I said. “Life couldn’t be better. I don’t cook, I don’t iron, and I sleep in the middle of the bed.”

I jerked up one hand to push hair out of my eyes, knocked a couple of phone directories to the floor, kicked them under the desk, and smiled up at him. “Home, sweet home.”

***

In her talk Marcia listed several aspects of status: an air of confidence, eye contact, stillness or saying nothing, and self-control. Re-reading my excerpt, I can see that I had some hazy understanding of status without knowing it. I do know I would like to tweak it a little to make the character of Penny a little stronger but, as Penny says about her shaggy hair, “too late now.”

Marcia also discussed her method of sketching complete life stories for her characters before she begins a book. The sketch, she said, “is for your eyes only. If you have trouble, writing your sketch in first person helps you sink into that person.” Only when her sketches are complete is she ready to write her book’s first draft.

“You learn who your characters are on the first draft,” she said. “I never feel that I know my characters until the third draft.” To illustrate both character sketches and giving characters status, she read excerpts from her work in progress.

I bummed a ride to the Pen and Keyboard meeting because I knew from past experience that Marcia Preston is well worth hearing whatever her topic. I was still living in California when I met her in March of 2001 at the now-defunct William Saroyan Writers Conference in Fresno. Marcia was then editor of Byline magazine and was publishing her first mystery, PERHAPS SHE’LL DIE.

At the Saroyan conference she gave a workshop on how to write a short story. I still have the cassette tape. In fact, I roughed out a short story after listening to it a few years later. The short story, like everything else I’m writing, is still waiting in the wings … but stay tuned.

Fast forward to Oklahoma on September 10, 2011. At the Pen and Keyboard meeting, Marcia referred us to a Writer’s Digest article, “How to Raise Your Characters Above the Status Quo” by Steven James.

Things move in ever-widening circles. Pen and Keyboard is an affiliate of Oklahoma Writers Federation, Inc. (OWFI). Steven James will be keynote speaker at OWFI’S annual conference May 3-5 in Oklahoma City. Looks like I’ll be bumming another ride.

John McDaniel, MYSTERY WE WRITE blog tour guest today

2011-12-03T00:01:00.000-08:00

BOOK GIVEAWAY! John will be giving away a copy of Behind the Redwood Door and Generous Helpings to a lucky commentor during this blog tour.

john@johnmdaniel.com

http://www.johnmdaniel.com/

blog.johnmdaniel.com

amazon.johnmdaniel.com

facebook.johnmdaniel.com

John M. Daniel was born in Minnesota, raised in Texas, and educated in Massachusetts and California. He was a Wallace Stegner Fellow in Creative Writing at Stanford University and a Writer in Residence at Wilbur Hot Springs. He has taught fiction writing at UCLA Extension and Santa Barbara Adult Education and was on the faculty of the Santa Barbara Writers Conference for nearly twenty years. He now teaches creative writing for Humboldt State University Extended Education.

John’s stories have appeared in dozens of literary magazines. His thirteen published books include four mysteries: Play Melancholy Baby, The Poet’s Funeral, Vanity Fire, and Behind the Redwood Door, recently published by Oak Tree Press.

John has worked as a bookseller, a free-lance writer, an editor, an entertainer, a model, an innkeeper, and a teacher. He and his wife, Susan, live in Humboldt County, California, where they are small-press book publishers. Susan enjoys gardening, John enjoys writing, and they both enjoy living with their wondercat, Warren.

Today John confesses!

Confessions of a mild-mannered murderer

Let me tell you a secret. I have no taste for violence. I’ve never observed a fist fight between two grown men. Heck, I’ve never even watched the fights on TV. Boxing movies give me the creeps. The last time I hit somebody I was fourteen, and it was more of a nudge than a hit.

Not only that, I’ve never seen a corpse in a pool of blood. Other than skeletons in art class, the only dead person I ever saw was my brother, whom I mourned painfully, but he looked quite peaceful.

I’ll tell you something else. I’ve never had a run-in with the law. I’ve had a few moving violations, but my interchanges with the police have always been cordial.

That’s me. Your basic mild-mannered, law-abiding, semi-retired small-press book publisher who likes to write books. Some of the books are about a man named Guy Mallon, a mild-mannered, law-abiding, semi-retired small-press book publisher who likes to …

Here’s where the resemblance stops. Guy Mallon likes to get into trouble. As he puts it, publishing may sound like a gentle profession, but think again. “In the line of duty as a publisher, I’ve been threatened and chased by thugs in Las Vegas and marched through a tropical jungle at gunpoint by a cocaine smuggler, I’ve had a ton of books dropped on my body by a religious fanatic, and had my warehouse burned down by an arsonist. I’ve had loud arguments with the police, who seemed to resent my solving murders and other crimes that they didn’t want to bother with.”

This passage is from the opening chapter of Guy’s new adventure, Behind the Redwood Door, where among other things our pint-sized hero gets tossed off a pier into an ocean full of fish guts and hungry seals.

I doubt if Guy has ever hit a man with his fist, but I remember a time (in The Poet’s Funeral) where he shoved a thug face-first into a large, lethal cactus. I think you’d agree that this violence is not gratuitous, if you were to meet the thug in question.

At the beginning of Behind the Redwood Door, Guy wants no trouble. Been there, done that. Not his problem, he insists when his friend Pete Thayer is stabbed to death behind the Redwood Door saloon.

But Guy’s wife, Carol, knows better. She knows Guy will not let this go. Poor Carol, she has to put up with Guy Mallon’s spunky addiction to taking risks in the name of what’s right and wrong.

So where do I, who am such a peaceable, friendly, law-abiding, chicken-hearted fellow, find the spirit that allows me to write about thugs, coke dealers, porn-meisters, pole dancers, bullies, and weapon-packing murderers?

Who knows? There must be something dark, deep within me. I’m flat-out afraid of tough guys, and I have been ever since I was a shrimp myself, the shortest kid in my class, year after year. Back then I got along by smiling a lot. That kept the bullies at bay, at least from the second grade on.

Now, frankly, I’m still afraid of violent people, but I make up for my fears by writing a lot. That’s my way of whistling a happy tune.

And of course I let my alter-ego, Guy Mallon, do the confronting for me. Guy helps me confront my own demons. He helps me get even with that big kid who used to chase me and push me into the gravel every afternoon as I walked home from first grade.

Revenge is sweet, even for a mild-mannered pacifist like yours truly.

Behind the Redwood Door is sold by Amazon and Barnes & Noble. It can be ordered by your local independent bookseller, or bought directly from the publisher at http://www.oaktreebooks.com/. For an autographed copy, call John at 1-800-662-8351.

Alice Duncan: my MYSTERY WE WRITE guest blogger today

2011-12-02T00:01:00.000-08:00

BOOK GIVEAWAY! Alice will be giving away a copy of her one of her books (either print or Kindle version) to a lucky commenter during this blog tour.

Award-winning author Alice Duncan lives with a herd of wild dachshunds (enriched from time to time with fosterees from New Mexico Dachshund Rescue) in Roswell, New Mexico. She's not a UFO enthusiast; she's in Roswell because her mother's family settled there fifty years before the aliens crashed. Alice no longer longs to return to California, although she still misses the food, not to mention her children, one of whom is there and the other of whom is in Nevada. Alice would love to hear from you at alice@aliceduncan.net. And be sure to visit her Web site at http//www@aliceduncan.net

Thanks for hosting (hostessing?) me on your blog today, Jinx!

You asked that those of us participating in this Mystery We Write Tour to tell folks a little about ourselves, our writing styles, and our books.

The first part of that equation is really easy. My life is totally boring, I’m old, arthritic, and my back hurts. Well . . . maybe it hasn’t always been thus. I spent the first part of my adult life rearing my two lovely daughters, Anni and Robin, in Pasadena, California. I was a single parent, so all I did was deal with kids, take them to child care, go to work, do my job, pick up my kids, go home, cook dinner, help with homework and read. Oh, yeah, and sleep. We never got goodies like child support or anything, so we didn’t live large.

After my kids grew up, and after my poor body began falling apart (which put the kibosh on an interesting, if perhaps a trifle out-in-left-field folk-dancing-and-singing career) I started doing the only thing I’d ever wanted to do, which was write books. Naturally, I still had a job, so I began sneaking bits and pieces of writing in between work tasks. I wrote a whole bunch of books that way. In 1993 or thereabouts, I took a “writing for publication” class at San Marino High School on Tuesday nights, where our delightful teacher, Meredith Brucker, taught us how to put together a book proposal (you know: cover letter, synopsis, first three chapters). So I did that, also in between tasks at work. I became quite skillful at flipping on my screen saver whenever anybody walked past my desk.

Anyhow, I tried to get an agent interested in my work, failed, decided to heck with it, and sent out seven proposals to seven different publishers. Then, on a Monday in January, 1994, an editor from Harper Collins called and asked if the book (ONE BRIGHT MORNING) was finished. I said yes, and she told me to send the complete manuscript. I remember the day well, because we had a huge earthquake that morning (the Northridge Quake, if anyone’s interested). My boss was in Boston, and when he called to check in, I told him that plaster was falling from the ceiling tiles and we kept having aftershocks. Mind you, that was true, but my purpose in talking up the quake was so he’d let me go home and I could get my manuscript printed out and on its way (Fed Ex, naturally) to Harper. He did, bless him. The editor called me on Friday of that very week and told me Harper wanted to buy my book. Squeee! I was so very happy. I believed I was on my way to a real, genuine, lucrative writing career.

Huh.

But that’s okay. After Harper bought my book, I received six rejections on the same story (which, by God, won the HOLT Medallion for Best First Book) from the other publishers to which I sent it. I still enjoy writing. And I continue to write in snatches. Honestly, if I were given twenty-four hours to write something, I’d still write in a blind fury for forty-five minutes or so, and that would be it for the day. By that time the brain is drained.

As for my writing style, people tell me I write like I talk. Since we’re not chatting at the moment, I can’t exactly prove that, but I do currently three first-person historical cozy mystery series ongoing, so if you’re interested in how I talk, please feel free to read any of my books! By the way, I hadn’t planned to have three first-person historical cozy mystery series being published at the same time, but things in publishing have a way of working out oddly. Trust me on this.

Oh, and did I mention that I rescue dachshunds? Well, I do. There’s something rather like a wiener-magnet within me that attracts dachshunds. It’s a curse, and I can’t help it. I swear to heaven, I can be standing still, doing absolutely nothing, and somebody will thrust an orphaned dachshund into my arms. Fortunately for me, these days I’m associated with New Mexico Dachshund Rescue, so I don’t have to keep all of those dachshunds forever. We find lovely forever homes for the dogs who come into our foster care. Thank God, I might add.

Please check out my books! Here’s a short biography and links to the books published this year (one in each series. Sigh):

· PECOS VALLEY REVIVAL (featuring Annabelle Blue, and set in Roswell, NM, in 1923): http://tinyurl.com/3uafvqg

· FALLEN ANGELS (featuring Mercedes Louise Allcutt, and set in Los Angeles, CA, in 1926): http://tinyurl.com/3wh2a6t

· GENTEEL SPIRITS (featuring Daisy Gumm Majesty, and set in Pasadena, CA, in 1922): http://tinyurl.com/3ndzcff

Wendy Gager: MYSTERY WE WRITE guest blogger of the day

2011-12-01T00:01:00.000-08:00

W.S. Gager has lived in Michigan for most of her life except when she was interviewing race car drivers or professional woman's golfers. She enjoyed the fast-paced life of a newspaper reporter until deciding to settle down and realized babies didn't adapt well to running down story details on deadline. Since then she honed her skills on other forms of writing before deciding to do what she always wanted with her life and that was to write mystery novels. Her main character is Mitch Malone who is an edgy crime-beat reporter always on the hunt for the next Pulitzer and won't let anyone stop him, supposedly.

Book giveaway! Wendy will be giving away a copy of A Case of Hometown Blues to a commentor on her blogsite for the Mystery We Write blog tour. To leave a comment go to

http://wsgager.blogspot.com

http://www.facebook.com/wsgager

http://twitter.com/wsgager

Today Wendy is discussing her Mitch Malone Series.

Noir is defined by the Merriam-Webster Dictionary as crime fiction featuring hard-boiled cynical characters and bleak sleazy settings.

According to this definition, my Mitch Malone Mystery Series books could be described as noir but when I think of noir I picture trench coats, the light interrupted from a revolving ceiling fan and being called “doll” by a Humphrey Bogart lookalike.

I’ve asked my beta readers if noir fits and they say both yes and no. Not a definitive answer. Mitch is very cynical and questions everything as a reporter should.

Mitch is a bit gruff like the old hard-nosed detective. He’s the kind of guy that opens doors for a woman but never asks them out for a date. He would never wear a trench coat but has his own style in jeans and a leather bomber jacket. Think Humphrey Bogart with sandy hair and 30s look about him.

He doesn’t have many friends and doesn’t take time for chitchat or getting to know his coworkers. He’s not rude, just focused and intent on his job. He wants to win a Pulitzer Price for his reporting to prove to the world he is the best. Following the clues leads Mitch into some seedy places. In A CASE OF ACCIDENTAL INTERSECTION he uses a hooker to help him get some information and spends several nights at a seedy bar watching a suspect so that fits the definition.

In the newest book, A CASE OF HOMETOWN BLUES, the opening few pages finds Mitch drowning his sorrows in a beer at a bar in his hometown that he never wanted to return to.

Hmmm. Maybe the Mitch Malone Mysteries are more noir than I thought. What do you think? Noir or not? Leave a comment and you will be entered to win a copy of a Mitch Malone Mysteries from comments on my blog and at my guest blogs.

Buylinks: http://www.amazon.com/Case-Hometown-Blues-W-Gager/dp/1610090179/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1311040194&sr=1-1

http://oaktreebooks.com/Shop%20OTP.htm

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/s?keyword=A+Case+of+Hometown+Blues&store=allproducts&page=%2Findex.asp&prod=univ&pos=&box=

M.M Gornell: my MYSTERY WE WRITE blog tour guest of the day

2011-11-30T00:01:00.000-08:00

BOOK GIVEAWAY! Madeline will be giving away three copies of Reticence of Ravens to selected commenters at the conclusion of this blog tour (December 9.) The winners will be selected by her pooch, Buster.

Madeline (M.M.) Gornell has three published mystery novels—PSWA awarding winning Uncle Si’s Secret (2008), Death of a Perfect Man (2009), and her latest release, Reticence of Ravens (2010)—her first Route 66 mystery. Reticence of Ravens is a 2011 Eric Hoffer Fiction finalist and Honorary Mention winner, the da Vinci Eye finalist, and a Montaigne Medalist finalist.

Thank you, Jinx, for hosting me on your blog. And since you’ve given me free rein, I thought I’d talk about a question that came up in a recent interview. This particular one intrigued me—I think because it was about an aspect of my writing I’d never really thought about. It was interesting figuring out my answer!

Interviewer Colleen Walsh Fong noted she saw some themes connecting my books, and asked how much in my stories came from real life. I believe I’m writing fiction, yep, making it all up!

But as I answered then (and have subsequently thought more about), there is more from my life in my novels than I might want to admit. To start, my dedications are to loved ones—now moved on—but who left their marks on my psyche, and bits and pieces of our shared experiences are in my writing. On a happier note, dogs have to be in my story. Not as key characters, but dogs are so much a part of my life I can’t imagine a novel without them. And all my canine characters are ones I know, or have known.

Then there’s gardening. I love healthy, growing, plants—trees, flowers, fruit, roses… you name it. Unfortunately, the Mojave Desert is challenging when it comes to growing anything, and I’m lazy when it come to gardening work. Fortunately, I can have successful gardening characters like Hubert Champion (Reticence of Ravens), Marie Shipley (Death of a Perfect Man), and Martha Milton (Uncle Si’s Secret). Characters with “green thumbs” have been my gardening panacea.

I’m also a potter, and have managed to put together a small studio, and when I can, love doing pottery. The primeval feel of throwing a pot is a wonderful tactile experience. I do what’s called high-fire reduction firing, and have a propane kiln for that. I never know what the fire-gods are going to deliver up, but sometimes I get a piece that touches me in the same way a perfect phrase of prose does. It’s a marvelous experience, akin to holding that first copy of your latest book! The protagonist and first murder victim in Death of a Perfect Man, are potters. I wonder why?

Thanks so much, Jinx, for letting me ramble-on about myself. It’s been a fun visit with you today, and a fun Blog Tour!

Madeline’s books are available at Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble.com, and Smashwords, in paper and e-book formats. You can visit her online at her website http://www.mmgornell.com/, or her BLOG http://www.mmgornell.wordpress.com/, or email her directly at mmgornell@earthlink.net

Buy link for Reticence of Ravens:
http://www.amazon.com/Reticence-Ravens-M-Gornell/dp/1608300390/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1314747098&sr=8-1

Timothy Hallinan: my MYSTERY WE WRITE blog tour guest of the day

2011-11-29T00:01:00.000-08:00

Book Giveaway! Tim will be giving away a complete set, all four!, Poke Rafferty series hard cover books, plus one of hisJunnior Bender books.

In order to win, leave a comment and he will draw from the pool at the end of the MYSTERY WE WRITE blog blitz (December 9).

Timothy Hallinan is the Edgar-and Macavity-nominated author of the traditionally-published Poke Rafferty Bangkok thrillers (most recently THE QUEEN OF PATPONG), and the Junior Bender mysteries, which are ebook originals. The newest Junior book is LITTLE ELVISES. Earlier this year, Hallinan conceived and edited a volume of original short stories by twenty first-rate mystery writers, SHAKEN: STORIES FOR JAPAN, which is available for the Kindle at $3.99, with every penny of the price going to the 2011 Japan Relief Fund. (Please buy it.) He lives in Santa Monica and Southeast Asia, and he is lucky enough to be married to Munyin Choy. His website is http://www.timothyhallinan.com/.

Tim is going to tell us today about Books Unwritten, a subject near and dear to any reader's heart.

The world is full of books I want to read, but some of the ones I most want to read don't actually exist. They're books that haven't been written yet, by authors who seem to be taking very long sabbaticals.

The nonexistent book I most want to get my hands on in the whole world is Banana Yoshimoto's next. It's been seven years since the English translation of Asleep was released, and even Asleep, as amazingly delicate and note-perfect as it was, was a collection of three long stories, some of which had been written earlier. (It's about three women who can't sleep or who can't not sleep, and it's as delicate as dusk.) Her last novel, as far as I can tell, is the endlessly mysterious and beautiful love story The Lake, which was published in Japan in 2005 and released here in 2010. (If you haven't read her, get Kitchen, her first, and clear the decks.)

Six years is a long, long time between books, especially for a writer as young as Yoshimoto is. If it would have any effect, I'd find out where in Tokyo she lives and stand under her window, like Brando did in "Streetcar" when he shouted, "Stellaaaaa." I'm not sure shouting "Bananaaaaaa" would have the same effect, but I don't know what else to do, and I don't just want another Banana Yoshimoto novel. I need one.

And then there's the new Sheila Bosworth novel that doesn't exist, the follow-up to two of my favorite books of the last century (doesn't that sound Victorian?), Almost Innocent (copyright 1984) and Slow Poison, which came out in 1992. One was published by Knopf and the other by Simon and Schuster, so Bosworth was taken seriously by the right people, as she should have been, since the books are Southern fiction at its most florid and idiosyncratic: compelling, tropically lush, richly colored, and on occasion feverishly funny, with a truly skewed perspective. Sheilaaaaaaaa!!! Where's the new one?

Keith Snyder wrote six terrifically funny mystery novels set in, of all places, Pasadena, primarily in a leaky, decaying mansion that has become a boarding house for a collection of indolently brainy, intermittently crazy young people, centered (for the purposes of the books, at least) on a musician and conversational polymath named Jason Keltner. The mysteries themselves are fine -- nicely structured, with lots of forward momentum to keep your page-turning finger moistened, but they're primarily devices to get these people talking, which they do brilliantly. And then they talk some more. I could listen to them for days, and have.

Ruth Ozecki was responsible for My Year of Meats in 1998, which promptly earned a central position on my personal altar of phenomenal novels, books that managed to break my heart, turn my stomach, make me laugh, and make me cry, sometimes simultaneously. She followed it up in 2002 (I think) with All Over Creation, American magical realism—of which there isn't much—at its absolute best. (Ozecki would probably hate hearing the book described as magical realism.) So here we are, nine years later, and where's the new one? There's permanent negative space on my bookshelves, waiting for it.

Once in a while, though, a writer who seems to have hung up his pen for good suddenly re-emerges with a vengeance. The case in point that makes me happiest right now is Martin Limon, who in 1992 wrote Jade Lady Burning, a sensational mystery about two American military investigators stationed in Korea just after the war. He got pretty much everything right, although one of his two cops, Ernie Bascom, is something of a Neanderthal and takes some serious putting up with. In 1997 and 1998, Limon put out Slicky Boys and Buddha's Money, both terrific books -- and then he went away forever. I asked everyone -- agents, booksellers, publishers -- what happened, and nobody knew. And then, in 2005, he returned on the scene with The Door to Bitterness, and last year (he's really in a spurt now) Soho Crime released The Wandering Ghost. So welcome back.

Any nonexistent books you'd like to read? I limited this post to living writers, but you don't need to. What nonexistent book would you most like to have appear under your pillow some long winter's night?

Jackie King: MYSTERY WE WRITE guest of the day

2011-11-28T00:01:00.000-08:00

Book giveaway! Leave a comment and Jackie King will put your name into a drawing for a signed copy of THE INCONVENIENT CORPSE and a signed copy of THE FOXY HENS AND MURDER MOST FOWL! http://www.jacqking.com/

jackie@jacqking.com

Today Jackie is going to tell us why: Killing People on Paper Is My Therapy.

Thanks, Jinx, for hosting me.

It’s the 4th day of our Holiday Mystery Blog Tour and Thanksgiving is behind us. (The literal truth of those words hit me just as I keyed them into my computer. Alas, I did over-indulge and have to sit on what I ate, transformed by nature into soft padding, of course.)

Christmas is just ahead with all of its fun and challenges and I’m excited. I suggest giving books to each person on your list! Be sure and add yourself, I always do.

Or you might win a mystery on our GIANT MYSTERY TOUR GIVEAWAY! Be sure and leave comments on each blog site to give yourself the best chance. (Don’t you just love free stuff?) We’re giving away 44 books during this two-week period.*

My latest book THE INCONVENIENT CORPSE is a cozy mystery set in Northern California. Grace Cassidy, the protagonist (heroine to plain folk like me) starts in hot water up to her neck. Imagine opening the door to your Bed and Breakfast bedroom and finding a dead guy in your bed. Buck naked, no less. Next she learns that all of her considerable assets have been siphoned off by her rotten husband, Charlie. Add a 19-year-old son, a stray cat and some quirky old ladies to the mix, and this poor woman has her hands full.
No money, no credit cards, and an empty bank account. Will Grace have to live in a cardboard box or under a bridge? Or perhaps jail since a hard-nosed police sergeant thinks she’s the murderer?

Not Grace Cassidy, she’s made of tougher stuff. After a brief sinking-spell she pulls herself together, finds herself a job in the Bed and Breakfast, and eventually solves the murder. Well, sort of, after a little hand-to-hand combat with the murderer.

My character’s background and reactions are based on my own experiences. (Except for the rich stuff, that’s all pure fiction.) You see, I found myself unexpectedly single after almost 30 years of marriage, and I was ready to murder someone. Then I considered the face that I don’t look good in black and white stripes, so I called to mind my grandparents' courage. The two of them homesteaded in what was once called “No Man’s Land” and now is the Panhandle of Oklahoma.

It also came to me that I could get paid for murdering people on paper. That seemed a better solution for my life than moping over a man struggling with his midlife crisis. (I didn’t have time for a midlife crisis; I had to finish raising our three close-to-grown children.) That’s why when my fingers hit the keyboard I’m all set to murder some odious person on paper.

Jean Henry Mead: MYSTERY WE WRITE Blog tour guest today.

2011-11-27T00:01:00.001-08:00

Jean will be giving away one of her mystery ebooks at the end of each of her 14 blog appearances, as well as three print novels at the conclusion of the tour. Be sure to leave a comment and email address to be eligible for the drawings, and visit her blog at http://jeansblogtour.blogspot.com/ and
http://theviewfrommymountaintop.blogspot.com/

Jean Henry Mead is the author of 15 books, half of them novels. She’s also an award-winning photojournalist and children’s author. She previously served as a news, magazine and small press editor, with articles published nationally as well as abroad. Jean's latest Logan & Cafferty mystery/suspense novel, Murder on the Interstate, is available at: Amazon.com: http://tinyurl.com/6znjvsa (print and Kindle) and Barnes and Noble: http://tinyurl.com/3vxzppy (Nook)

Jean is writing today about one of my favorite topics: The research required to write a book, and how we learn from it.

All That Research!

I love research. In fact, it’s my favorite part of writing. When I was young and foolish, I spent two years at a microfilm machine to research a centennial history. Needless to say, I’ve since done my research online, in person or on the phone. The best part was having a stack of typewritten notes leftover that I used for my first historical novels, with enough notes remaining to write several more.

When I began writing mysteries, I had my own police procedural information at hand because my husband is a former highway patrolman, and I was a police reporter. However, because I had written about so many disturbing and heartbreaking events, I decided to write about amateur sleuths and a lovesick sheriff. Humor is an integral part of my work and I include it in all my books, both fiction and nonfiction, with a little romance sprinkled in.

I brought my two 60-year-old feisty women sleuths along when we moved from my native California to my husband’s native Wyoming. So Dana and Sarah also sell their homes in the San Joaquin Valley— where a serial killer has murdered their friends in A Village Shattered— and they buy a motorhome. They’re traveling in Colorado in Diary of Murder when Dana Logan gets word that her sister Georgi has taken her own life. Dana knows that would never happen so they drive through a Rocky Mountain blizzard to reach Wyoming.

The research for that scene happened several years earlier when I had to drive our motorhome through an unexpected snowstorm. I couldn’t let the terrifying experience go to waste so I began my second mystery novel with it. Then, in Murder on the Interstate, I used my experience driving the RV along a Northern Arizona highway in a rainstorm while listening to truckers on my CB radio. So, when Dana and Sarah discover a Mercedes convertible with a murdered woman inside, “Big Ruby” McCurdy, a woman trucker, comes to their rescue.

The humorous CB chatter that follows is authentic because I had listened to it for weeks. I later interviewed a woman trucker who hauled produce, so I knew that drivers have to pay for their loads if the lettuce wilts before it gets to market. Later, when Dana and Sarah conduct research to find the killer, I send them to the newspaper morgue and library, and have them interview witnesses, along with Dana’s journalist daughter. My own news reporting came in handy but I also used online sources such as the Wikipedia for information on sulfuric acid spills. I then interviewed a chemical engineer to write about homegrown terrorism. Map Quest refreshed my memory of the Arizona terrain as well as an Indian Reservation south of Scottsdale, where the chemical spills occur.

If I had any doubts about the accuracy of the Wikipedia, I was reassured by bestselling author Lucia St. Clair Robson, a former librarian, who told me that the Wiki is as accurate, if not more, that the Encyclopedia Britannica. I use the online source extensively, but also check the facts in other ways as well.

The only research problem I have is spending too much time reading instead of writing. There are so many fascinating subjects that I have a difficult time putting the research aside to begin spooning it into my novels.

Marilyn Meredith: MYSTERY WE WRITE guest today

2011-11-26T00:01:00.001-08:00

Marilyn Meredith is the author of over thirty published novels, including the award winning Deputy Tempe Crabtree mystery series, the latest Bears With Us from Mundania Press. Writing as F. M. Meredith, her latest Rocky Bluff P.D. crime novel is Angel Lost, the third from Oak Tree Press. Marilyn is a member of EPIC, Four chapters of Sisters in Crime, including the Central Coast chapter, Mystery Writers of America, and on the board of the Public Safety Writers of America. Visit her at http://fictionforyou.com/ and her blog at http://marilymeredith.blogspot.com/

BOOK GIVEAWAY: Marilyn will be giving away a copy of Bears With Us to a lucky commenter on the MYSTERY WE WRITE blog tour ending December 9. Leave a comment on this blog and maybe you will be the lucky winner!

So, heeeers Marilyn!

First, to tell you a bit about myself, I’m probably the old lady of the group, but I certainly don’t let age stop me. Well…to tell the truth, I don’t last as long as I used to, and partying no longer interests me because I usually go to bed pretty early, but I love to hang out with my friends and family, writing is a passion, and it’s fun to promote. I’ve made so many good friends as I’ve traveled the road of publishing and promotion and I consider it a major benefit of being an author.

She also mentioned that we could tell what our writing style it so I’ll talk about what I consider it to be for my Deputy Tempe Crabtree mystery series. In most cases, the stories contain a mystery, often times a murder, but because Tempe is a deputy of a small town and its surrounding area, she always has many things that come along to challenge her. In Bears With Us, bears take top priority, but she also is dealing with a teen suicide and parents who aren’t reacting as she’d expect, a complaint against her and her preacher husband by a prominent Bear Creek woman, a woman with dementia who keeps wandering away from home, and a secret long-ago romance that is causing a big problem.

With each new book I like to think about problems that may crop up in a mountain community like Bear Creek. Most books are told completely from Tempe’s point-of-view as this one is. I also like to let people read about Tempe’s and her husband, Hutch’s relationship. He is always supportive until she becomes too involved in the mystic side of being an Indian. Because she’s Indian, she has friends on the reservation, and often gets involved in helping out with crimes that occur there.

My writing style isn’t complicated. I’ve always considered myself more of a story-teller—one who likes to weave a mysterious web that includes a Native American female resident deputy, her preacher husband, her Indian friend, Nick Two John, whom she often consults, and a small community that includes the mountains and old-timers and people who have moved from the city. And though I am writing a series, each book is complete so they do not have to be read in any order.

Where you can purchase Bears With Us:
As an eBook or trade paperback from the publisher: http://mundania.com/
For Kindle or trade paperback from http://Amazon.com/
As a trade paperback from http://barnesandnoble.com/

Review of Bears With Us:
Marilyn Meredith's latest Deputy Tempe Crabtree offering, "Bears With Us," is full of the well-crafted twists and turns we've come to expect from her. It also has a lot of bear action, as we might expect from the title. For those readers who may not live in bear-y areas, it accurately depicts what life with those creatures can be like. (Just check out some of our National Park's pages like Yellowstone and Yosemite and see the real damage bears can do!) Far from the cuddle teddy bear image we've grown accustomed to, we are treated not only to a well-crafted tale, but also it's topped off with the unpredictability of 'nature.' And isn't that what really happens in our lives? Unpredictability. --Victoria Heckman, author of Hawaii Mysteries and "Burn Out." Sisters in Crime-Central Coast Chapter President

Mike Orenduff: My MYSTERY WE WRITE blog tour guest of the Day

2011-11-25T00:01:00.000-08:00

Mike will be giving away a copy of The Pot Thief Who Studied Ptolomey to a lucky commenter to this blog when our Mystery We Write Blog Tour is completed on December 9.

Mike Orenduff grew up in a house so close to the Rio Grande that he could Frisbee a tortilla into Mexico. He came by his love of pueblo pottery during weekends, buying small pots from the pueblos his family visited and – in one case – acquiring one when his sister traded chocolate chip cookies for it. His love of pottery expanded to a general interest in archaeology which he studied as an undergraduate.

While in graduate school at the University of New Mexico, Mike worked during the summer as a volunteer teacher at one of the nearby pueblos. He went on to serve as President of New Mexico State University and as a visiting faculty member at West Point and President of Bermuda College. After retiring from higher education, he rekindled his love of the Southwest by writing his award-winning Pot Thief murder mysteries which combine archaeology and philosophy with humor and mystery. Among his many awards are the New Mexico Book of the Year, the “Lefty” national award for best humorous mystery and two “Eppies” for the best eBook mysteries.

His first book, The Pot Thief Who Studied Pythagoras, was described by The Baltimore Sun as, “funny at a very high intellectual level and deliciously delightful,” and his latest, The Pot Thief Who Studied Escoffier, was called "the perfect fusion of murder, mayhem and margaritas” by The El Paso Times.

Welcome, Mike. Tell us about your writing career.

During my four college presidencies (University of Maine at Farmington, The American University in Bulgaria, New Mexico State University and Bermuda College), I did a great deal of writing. I penned budget requests for legislatures, reports to alumni about how their alma mater was doing, and letters to high school students urging them to enroll at my university. In short, I was a fiction writer.

So when I retired, I decided to put my writing to work for nobler causes than seeking unneeded tax dollars, cajoling gifts from alumni and trying to increase enrollments. I decided I’d try to make people laugh.
What keeps me writing is knowing someone will spend a pleasant afternoon reading one of my books. I love to imagine a reader getting a laugh from a line I wrote. I know they do because they tell me so. And my books must be funny because the third one, The Pot Thief Who Studied Einstein, won the “Lefty” as the Best Humorous Mystery Novel of the Year. The award is based on votes, so it is at least as legitimate as Congress.
When I receive an email from a new fan telling me she loved my latest book and kept reading lines to her husband, it sends me running to the computer to write the next book. I admit it; I’m a reclusive ham. I’m not on stage now like I was as a president, but I still have an audience. And they aren’t complaining about high tuition and uncaring faculty. They are laughing. If I had known being a writer of humorous murder mysteries was so much fun, I would have retired early to get started. Just think of all the legislators, alumni and high school students who would have been spared from reading mail from me.

Website: http://www.orenduff.org/

Blog: http://www.thepotthief.blogspot.com/
Buy link: http://tiny.cc/hkps0

ABOUT MIKE'S POT THIEF BOOKS:
“Hubert Shuze, pot thief extraordinaire, operates an ancient pottery resale shop, not entirely legally, in the middle of Albuquerque's town square. His activities, both in the selling and creating of ancient pots and their knock-offs, tend to get him mixed up in an assortment of marginally ethical activities, murder generally being the most profound. Shuze operates by a complex set of ethics that allows him to sell questionably legal pots, burglarize, and launder money -- but never to lie, cheat or steal. Along the way, Shuze, a perpetual student of life, educates us on his philosopher du jour. His previous novels featured the philosophies of Pythagoras, Ptolemy and Einstein. "The Pot Thief Who Studied Escoffier" is a quirky repast of piñon-infused chimeneas, New Mexican sunsets, and a delightful band of foodie misfits. It is best enjoyed in the fading glow of a Southwestern sunset, a fire crackling beside you, a faithful dog at your feet.” The El Paso Times

Information about the books:

The Pot Thief Who Studied Pythagoras, The Pot Thief Who Studied Ptolemy, The Pot Thief Who Studied Einstein, and The Pot Thief Who Studied Escoffier are published by Oak Tress Press and are available as paperbacks in many Barnes & Nobles, Hastings, and Independent bookstores and as ebooks on Kindle and Nook readers.

BIG BOOK GIVEAWAY! MYSTERY WE WRITE BLOG TOUR

2011-11-20T12:08:00.000-08:00

BIG BOOK GIVEAWAY STARTS NOVEMBER 25, WITH FIFTEEN AUTHORS GIVING AWAY 60 BOOKS!

CHECK MY BLOG DAILY AND SIGN UP TO WIN.
Nov. 25 – Mike Orenduff
Nov. 26 – Marilyn Meredith
Nov. 27 – Jean Henry Mead
Nov. 28 – Jackie King
Nov. 29 – Timothy Hallinan
Nov. 30 – M. M. Gornell
Dec. 1 – Wendy Gager
Dec. 2 – Alice Duncan
Dec. 3 – John M. Daniel
Dec. 4 – Pat Browning
Dec. 5 – Ron Benrey
Dec. 6 – Beth Anderson
Dec. 7 – Anne K. Albert
Dec. 8 – Earl Staggs

I will be a guest blogger on the following blogs, and will gift fourteen books, (e-book only) to those who make comments on these blogs. I will put all the commenters names in a bowl and let Mad Dog (that's my husband) choose fourteen of them on December 9.

Whew! After this I'll need a siesta. I'll be reminding everyone of these great blogs and bloggers as we go, and good luck on winning a book or two!

Craft Fairs, love 'em

2011-10-23T14:30:00.000-07:00

As the only author at a local craft fair yesterday, I was surprised at how many books I sold, but the biggest surprise was how many people said they had Kindles, Nooks, and Sonys. And they were surprised and delighted when I told them they could buy my books for .99 for each download. I gave each a card with my website address and a note on the back reading: .99 Kindle/Sony/Nook. I gave out at least 75 cards and noticed a significant jump in Kindle sales this morning.

Having a book signing at a craft fair is, to me, far more fun and relaxing than a book fair. Okay, so people are not expecting to find me there, nestled in between hand-carved kaleidoscopes (beautiful) and doggie tutus (darling), but in a way I think they feel less threatened, more likely to feel free to chat. They did not come to buy a book, but many do.

The biggest problem with a craft fare is how to keep from spending any profits on all those goodies. Now I just have to figure out what to put that homemade Jalapeno relish on. Yum.

Big News

2011-10-09T14:24:00.000-07:00

My first big news is that Land of Mountains is a Finalist for EPIC's 2012 Award for Best YA, AND is now available on Kindle and Smashwords for .99!

My second newsflash is that I am flying solo as a writer. By mutual consent, my publisher and I are forging ahead in our own directions. I am grateful to Lee Emory of Treble Heart books for our past professional relationship, and wish her and her company all the best success.

This was not an easy decision to make, especially when so many emerging writers are begging for someone to publish their books, but I decided that it was time to take control of my writing destiny. The past month has been a very busy time for me and my computer slave, aka, my husband, Mad Dog--don't ask.

Between the two of us we have managed to Kindle-ize and e-pub most of my books and by the end of the month, all seven will be available for .99. It is personally satisfying to name my prices, especially when the economy stinks and people still want to read.

Let me know what you think of my decision, even if your think I'm totally nuts!

Seashells in the Deserts: My review

2011-09-11T14:54:00.000-07:00

Seashells in the Desert
By Susan Tornga A Crossover Novel from
WhoooDoo Mysteries and SUNDOWNERS
Divisions of Treble Heart Books

I love historical novels, and am especially fond of those that revive a way of life long gone. Susan Tonga, with Seashells in the Desert, does just that with Tessa Crane, a Harvey Girl.

Having just watched “The Harvey Girls” movie again, I find Susan’s yarn of life as a Harvey Girl to be much more in keeping with “the way it was” than the musical extravaganza pitting Angela Landsbury (wicked saloon girl) against Judy Garland (virtuous Harvey Girl).

Not only is this a Historical Western, it is also a mystery, so who could ask for more?

Tessa Crane is a waitress in the Winslow, Arizona, Harvey House restaurant, one of a chain set up by the innovative Fred Harvey to serve fine dining to passengers of the fledgling Santa Fe Railway. She gets embroiled in a murder when an elegant female passenger is found dead in an alleyway, and her roommate’s brother is suspected.

I enjoyed reading this book, finding only one flaw that I would call a touch of revisionist history. Ms. Tonga has Tess rooming with Lupe, a local Hispanic girl. Right or wrong, in the world of Fred Harvey, only “well-mannered, educated, white women, 18 to 30 years of age, of good character,” need apply. While Susan does make note that Lupe is only allowed to work in the kitchen and not as a waitress, I seriously doubt Mr. Harvey would have allowed the mixing of races in the strictly run dorms. I also wonder that two girls escaped the legendery eagle eyes of the dorm mothers in order to run loose all night, but then, girls will be girls.

Historical PC aside, this a book worth reading.

Just Deserts book launch in Bisbee, AZ.

2011-09-06T08:00:00.000-07:00

I am looking forward to launching Just Deserts, 4th in the Hetta Coffey Mystery Series, at Atalanta's Music and Books in historic Bisbee, AZ, Saturday, September 10 from 3-6 in the afternoon.

A lot of fun stuff is happening that day, and I am happy to take part.

The Tenth Annual Bisbee Bloomer's Garden Tour, a self-guided tour that features musicians in some of the gardens takes place between 10 am - 4 pm (Admission $10).
The tour of gardens will be held in the mile high historic district of Old Bisbee.
"The Big Freeze Garden Tour" will feature gardens that survived the zero degree night in February. Drought tolerant and traditional gardens in several distinct
neighborhoods will he included. More information may be obtained at
www.discoverbisee.com

Bisbee After 5 Art Walk features a unique shopping and cultural experience until 8pm. Over 30 shops and galleries, special sales and promotions, live entertainment and refreshments plus artist receptions. Call 520-432-5421 for more info.

So, check out the gardens, stop by Atalanta's for a chat, then we'll all go scarf up some culture, maybe a little free wine, and check out the latest Bisbee after 5 has to offer.

So I think I can Blog!

2011-08-31T16:14:00.000-07:00

...and I will be blogging my little heart out.
I am thrilled to be invited on my very first Blog Tour, and I will be in grand company! This is advance notice the November 25--December 9, 2011
MYSTERY WE WRITE BLOG TOUR.

I have to admit I'm a little overwhelmed at the idea of a two week blog blitz, but just look at the company I'm in: Wendy Gager, Alice Duncan, John M. Daniel, Pat Browning, Ron Benrey, Beth Anderson, Anne K. Albert (our fearless tour guide), Earl Staggs, Mike Orenduff, Marilyn Meredith, Jean Henry Mead, Jackie King, and last but by no means least, Timothy Hallinan, will all be blogging on my blog, and I on theirs.

I haven't come up with my list of questions for them yet, so if there is something you would like to know about these outstanding authors (keep it clean) let me know.

Virtually Booked: I'm innocent! Innocent, I tell you.

2011-08-20T10:16:00.000-07:00

It was a frame-up, pure and simple.

Here I was, going along with the usual business of setting up books signings in my favorite bookstores for Just Deserts, my new Hetta Coffey novel, when I was bushwacked! The seemingly sweet-natured and otherwise loveable Pat Browning did it. She dragged me, kicking and screamimg, into the world of virtual book touring.

Okay, so maybe she didn't hold a gun to my head, but by inviting me to participate in a two-week blitzkrieg of blogging, she has forced me into what I had, until now, avoided like, well, tap water in Acapulco.

I've actually been on Blogspot for over four years, but have been extremely lax about blogging, because who was gonna read it anyhow? But then, how could they, since I never told anyone I was blogging.

This is a test. Is anyone at all reading this???

Hetta's at it again!

2011-08-14T16:07:00.000-07:00

That Hetta Coffey! Once again, in number four of the Hetta Coffey mystery series, that woman with a yacht (and she's not afraid to use is) has landed in a hot spot. Forced to put her boat in dry dock for repairs, Hetta heads north for a project and ends up on the tumultuous Arizona/Mexico border.

It was fun to write about my own area of the world, weave a little local color, politics, and history into Hetta's adventures. If you think the headlines are wrong about this border, you should take a trip in Hetta's shoes; read Just Deserts.

My review of Murder to Mil-Spec

2010-10-17T10:17:00.000-07:00

With all the fine reviews I get from others, it is time to return the favor. I will be doing reviews from time to time, and what better way to start than Murder to Mil-Spec.

MURDER TO MIL-SPEC, A Crime Anthology to Benefit HOMES FOR OUR TROOPS
Wolfmont Press

When Murder to Mil-Spec arrived, my first challenge was to wrest it from the paws of my husband (U.S. Navy, Retired), because the cover and title immediately captured his attention. Luckily he is a fast reader, so I was soon engrossed in this fine anthology of military honor and courage. Oh, and a lot of justice.

If there is anything I love, it is justice, and this book delivers.

From WWII to Afghanistan, this collection of stories gets to the heart and soul of the military men and women, and their code of—yep, here is that word again—JUSTICE. As my Texas family likes to say, some folks just need killin’, sometimes to Military Specifications.

Bless every one of our men and women who serve or have served our country, and their code of honor to make the bad guys go away.

I highly recommend this book, not only as a great read, but also for the organization it supports.

Thank you, Terrie Farley Moran, Dorothy B. Francis, Big Jim Williams, Elizabeth Zelvin, Lina Zeldovich, Charles Schaeffer, Howard B. Carron, Brendan Dubois, Janis Patterson, Barb Goffman, S.M. Harding, and Diana Catt for your well-crafted stories, and publisher Tony Burton for the book.

HOMES FOR OUR TROOPS WEBSITE http://www.homesforourtroops.org/site/PageServer

Land of Mountains has been released

2010-08-21T13:10:00.000-07:00

Several years ago I self-published a little "fictography" set in Haiti and loosely (and I do mean loosely) based on my childhood adventures there.
Now edited to suit ages 8-108, the book is being released as I write this. Yippee! check out the video at http://www.jinxschwartz.com

On Blogging

2008-12-23T12:21:00.000-08:00

It has occurred to me that I am not a good blogger.
Not that I don't have plenty to say in a BLOG, as those who know me can attest, it's just that I can't figure out why anyone would bother to read it.
After all, don't we have enough Internet in our lives? What with uTube, email, websites galore, shopping, banking, and on and on, who has time to read my BLOG?
Perhaps that's the reason I so seldom BLOG.
Oh, I have been told by those who know that I have to BLOG. Sort of a publish or perish kind of thing.
I also (according to those who know) need book trailer (SEE uTube), an agent, a literary lawyer, and a publicity agent. Of course, I will have to keep in touch (e-mail again) with that agent, literary lawyer, and publicity agent.
All that said, just when am I supposed to write books???? By the time I check all my e-mail, update my website, network with new readers via scads of loop groups, pay my bills, and all that, I am tired. All my creativity if gone, out into the ether.
For that reason, I have a new plan. I will BLOG once a month, just to let anyone who cares know I am alive and well.
Have a great holiday season and a greater New Year! jinx

Does size really matter?

2008-07-10T15:55:00.000-07:00

Call me neurotic, but lately I find myself looking at the end of books. No, I’m not one of those who read the ending first, I look at the number of pages.

I am happiest when I score a three-inch thick paperback with minuscule print (Pillars of Fire, anyone? According to Amazon.com it has a whopping 976 pages!) thereby insuring a novel to cozy up with in bed for, like, ever.

Okay, so I know the cost of printing, paper, shipping, etc. escalate daily, so just how far down the line is the fifty dollar paperback? Is Kindle reading inevitable? After a day of my laptop, telephone, TV, iPod, GPS, and (some days on the boat) RADAR screens, am I doomed to yet another?

But back to those pages.

Novels seem to be shrinking. Not only that, they contain suspiciously large print and lots of extra whiteness. One novel actually began numbering the pages before the copyright page, just to mess with me. Are there still approximately four hundred words per page? I am not obsessed enough to scan and count a popular novel, but I have a solution for us getting my money’s worth; instead pages, Amazon.com and others should report a book’s word count.

Of course, not all words are equal. Not that I would ever read something that contains antiestablishmentarianism, or the new longest word, pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis, but should the word, THE, carry the same weight? My computer thinks so.

Or maybe someone should just invent a new green car that runs on old books. That way, I can afford that expensive paperback, then brag at a cocktail party that my new Bookmobile gets a thousand miles to the galley.

Jinx Schwartz, who is 35,000 words into her seventh novel, but who’s counting?

On being a CLOD again

2008-03-18T10:33:00.000-07:00

After three months on the boat, I am suddenly at 5,000 feet, and sea sick. Or more likely, homesick for the sea.
My bed doesn't move. Who can sleep like that?
My house doesn't suddenly start pitching in the middle of the night. Where's the fun in that?
I can put toilet paper in the toilet, use all the water I want, someone actually picks up the trash, I have a telephone, TV, and a dishwasher. Where's the adventure?
Let's face it, I am not meant to be a Cruiser Living On Dirt.

I write better on the boat, and that is a fact. Well, maybe not better, but more.

My thought for the day? I am probably more Hetta Coffey than Jinx Schwartz. How scary is that?

It's snowing; let's play golf

2007-12-09T12:56:00.000-08:00

We are in Arizona, and as I write this, I am looking out my window at golfers--my hubby included--playing in a snow/rain/wind storm.
A non-golfer (I tell people I have way too much self-respect to take up the game) I sat here, shaking my head and passing judgement on their lack of, well, judgement, when I had a light bulb over the head moment: writing and golf have a great deal in common.
With the exception of the Tigers of the world, most golfers never get any monetary reward. With the exception of the Steven Kings of the world, neither do writers.
Golfers spend long hours chasing their dream. Writers spend long hours doing the same.
Golf is not a hobby, it is an addiction. Ditto writing.
Golfers repeatedly face disappointment and rejection. Ever seen my stack of reject letters?
Both golfers and writers strive for the elusive hole-in-one, and both remain optimistic it will happen. However, that does not preclude the occasional temper tantrum. Or, in my case, a Texas hissy fit.
We both work hard to improve our craft and we both get better with practice.
So, what is the difference between golfers and writers? Well, for one thing we do NOT write out in the snow!

Swap meet and Barry Goldwater

2007-11-03T12:58:00.000-07:00

Today we went to a cruisers' swap meet in San Carlos, Mexico, and ended up on the front porch of 1st Mate (http://blissbloggin.blogspot.com/)
Bliss and I have been trading e-mails and blogs, but had never met until today, when I ended up selling books off her front porch.
"Hold ye hardy, mate," you might say, "wasn't this a boaters' swapmeet?"
Yep, and it was my hubby who suggested I thrown out a few books, along with an inverter we no longer need, some shaft zincs for a boat that sunk, and other bilge-ish treasures. I actually sold two books, which almost offset a set of plastic glasses, flag holder, and altimeter I bought.
"Just one minute," you might ask, "what's an altimeter doing at a boaters' swap meet, and what would ever possess you to buy it? Hell, the only boat that might need an altimeter is a submarine."
I can justify my purchase, even though finding an altimeter at this type of tiangus (Spanish for swap meet) was totally unexpected. Let's face it, an altimeter on a boat is about as useful as teats on a boar. I mean, we know we are at sea level, which is at zero feet.
The seller was slightly astonished to sell this instrument. He'd brought it along for a touch of humor, and was hawking it loudly over derisive comments from his fellow swappers. When I made the purchase (and his day) the derison was turned on me.
So I explained, several times: Years ago, I saw a picture of Barry Goldwater's desk in Arizona, and tore out the page. His desk, custom made, was fashioned to look like an airplane instrument panel, complete with, you guessed it, an altimeter. I plan to do the same with mine, which will also house my ham radio--as did his.
I actually talked to him on ham radio eons ago, and when I saw that photo of where he sat while chatting with me, I kept it.
Laugh you may, but one of these days I'll post a picture of my Barry Goldwater desk, and you will all be green with envy!

Missing in Action

2007-10-24T12:24:00.000-07:00

No, not lazy, just very busy.
Moved, had open house (complete with Mariachi band), final edit of Just Add Trouble, then debut book signing for same.
But now I am on the boat in San Carlos, and getting ready to write my little heart out.
Problem is, Hetta is nagging me to do another Just Add ??? immediately, if not sooner, but my muse (or whatever lofty term writers use for inspiration) is singing a siren's song, pulling me in a different direction.
For years I have been contemplating another Texas saga; not a sequel to The Texicans, but a turn-of-century epic set in the Texas Hill Country. I swore I would never do another historical (WAY to much research) but I just re-read Larry McMurtry's Lonesome Dove. It struck me that he captured an era, and he did it all from the hip. At least I lived some of the story I have in mind and, like my Land of Mountains, I have a hankering to write it down with great embellishments.
Anyhow, as I bounce back and forth, making outlines for both books, I figure my muse has been nipping Tequila down at the cantina and is not thinking straight.
I wait, impatiently, for an epiphany.

The characters and events...

2007-09-13T07:48:00.000-07:00

Living in a small town has its advantages, but when tragedy strikes, it literally hits very close to home. Over the past few monthse, five young lives were wiped out in my town due to traffic accidents, suicide, and a flash flood. Of the five, I know the parents of two.

Then we had this weird attempted kidnapping of three teens...I know two of them.

As a writer, I create crimes, scenarios and tragedies from my own imagination, fueled by experience. When the actual events happen to people I know, some of it will eventually end up in a book I'm working on, which brings me to the point of this blog (I knew you were wondering): how much of real life worms its way into my books?

The answer is, A LOT. So, with apologies to anyone who thinks I may be writing about them...I probably am, but read this on my copyright page: The characters and events in this book are fictional, and any resemblance to person, whether living or dead, is strictly coincidental.

Men with power tools! Aarghh!

2007-08-07T11:33:00.000-07:00

Here I sit, itching to write number four in the Hetta Coffey Mystery Series. I have a vague idea of the plot, locale, and the need to pen. Cup of coffee in hand, creative juices revved, I begin...and stop. Men with power tools have invaded my space.

Okay, so I shouldn't really complain. After all, they did show, unlike the dishwasher guy, who is the reason I'm trapped at home all day, unable to write because of the tool guys. See a pattern here?

We moved into our beautiful new home a month ago. I have a spectacular view from my office, perfect for writing. We are in the country where it is quiet, or will be, when men with tools go off to wherever they go. For a month, they have been here, except when they don't show up. I've learned, however, to schedule my entire life around total strangers. Wash my hair? Certainly not between six a.m and five p.m. Okay, I say, I'll make the best of it. I'll clean the house, remove the construction dust. Then dirt-mover guy shows up with a huge and raucous machine guaranteed to re-coat the house, inside and out.

So, in my next book, I think I will kill off guys with tools. Blow them to smithereens, annihilate them in a fiery conflagration...or maybe even make them clean my house.

Yep, a whole new plot is emerging, goaded by the muse of revenge. Writing is a wonderful thing.

Size does matter

2007-07-18T15:29:00.000-07:00

Carlos Slim sailed into San Carlos Harbor today. At least his yacht did. Word around here is that he comes quite often, leading people to speculate what he's up to. As the world's richest man, when he does anything, there is usually money involved.

Oddly enough, his "jumboat" (as those of us with lesser boats call the big ones) isn't all that big. Maybe a hundred and twenty-five feet or so. Heck Tiger Woods has him by a good 25 feet.

I found it interesting that the richest man in Mexico isn't Hispanic, but Lebanese. His father fled persecution in Lebanon, married the daughter of another Lebanese business man, had six kids, and Mexico slim took his inheritance and built it into a telecommunications empire.

But back to that yacht. Anchored out in the harbor, she makes the other boats look like toys in a bathtub. She's too big to come into the marina, so there she sits, accessible only by a tender larger than my boat. Does that sound like yacht envy? Dang right it does. I consider our 34'er as smallish--we downsized after our 42'er sank--but I'm perfectly content with her. In fact, she's perfect for us.

As I sit at my desk on the boat, writing this blog, I'm sure that everyone down here on a boat is happy with their choice. Shoot, we are all lucky to be here, no matter what size boat we have, and don't we know it. I hope Slim is as happy as we are, but with all those billions, why wouldn't he be?

And Slim, if I may call you that, if you are reading this blog, I have these great books that would make fab movies...let's do lunch. Aboard High Jinx, in Mexico's beautiful Sea of Cortez.

Once a ham...

2007-07-16T10:55:00.000-07:00

Ah, back on the boat.

Thank the stars for air conditioning, cuz it is hottern' the hinges of hell here in Mexico right now. Wimpdom prevails.

Couldn't wait to tune up on the Chubasco Net (7294 at 7:30 am, Arizona time) to hear old friends, catch the weather, and local news worthy of reporting: Unusual bee activity in the northern sea.

Back in '90, when we cruised under the Golden Gate Bridge and turned left, ham radio was our only lifeline back home. We tuned up daily for rather sketchy weather reports and those marvelous guys and gals back home who made phone patches for us.
'Course, we had to make those calls collect, so some relatives and friends preferred to get the occasional letter.

Blissfully cruising the Pacific, ham radio was all we had. Imagine our surprise when we arrived, in January of '91, in Cabo San Lucas and learned we were at war. Happily, it was not with Mexico.

While we cruised, the ham nets' weather reports became more accurate, cellphones began to replace those dear phone patches, but we remained mostly in the dark regarding world events. For example, we were driving up the Baja after nine months in the Sea when I turned on the radio and picked up a San Diego news station.After listening a few minutes, I told my husband, "Gee, it sounds like maybe O.J. Simpson killed someone."
I was the knock-knock joke:
"Knock, knock."
"Who's there?"
"O.J."
"O.J. who?"
"You're on the jury."
Don't I wish!

Now we have wireless Internet on the boat, cell phone service, Skipe to make calls out, voice mail to forward our calls from home. We are infinitely in touch.

And what do I long for? Getting out to sea, with only ham radio to reach out and touch someone. KC6YMJ, in Mexico.

Dial S for Sloooow

2007-07-11T08:24:00.000-07:00

Ever notice how, once you've gotten something you never thought you'd never need, and then you lose it, how much you miss it?

Slow and crazed, that was me, last week.

We moved to a new area of the county and for one solid week, I was reduced to (oh, the injustice!) DIAL UP Internet access.

Taking that giant leap backward, bellyaching all the way, it finally occurred to me that it wasn't all that long ago that I was thrilled to have dial up, or any other UP. Heck, I can remember sending an entire manuscript to my publisher on FLOPPY DISC!

This little exercise in patience, of which I am way short to begin with, brought to my attention how quickly I have become dependent on machines. What would happen if, heaven forbid, I actually had to write a book with a pen? Edit with a bound dictionary and Thesaurus? Write and mail, with a SASE, queries? Receive same SASE, with rejection letter included, via snail mail? Okay, so that last one isn't all bad; being rejected instantly and electronically smarts a mite.

All this set me to thinking on the future of writing, and where it is headed.

Envision this: I get up in the morning with an (brilliant, of course) inspiration tweaking my neurons, and instead of heading for the computer, I speak my idea into some ether-based doodad.

I dictate genre, plot, character names and descriptions, geographical and historical setting, a beginning and end, et voila, faster than the speed of light, a book is written.

And if I can do this, will I then take all that saved time to clean my house, cook, exercise and all those things that seem to fall by the wayside while I toil over a hot keyboard?

For my part, I'd prefer to get up in the morning and speak the words, "Clean house, cook lunch, tone me up," et voila, it is done.

*&^%($ Deleted?

2007-06-20T08:51:00.000-07:00

As a writer, the infernal problem of whether to use the *&^(% -word is ever-looming. If you do, you lose readers. If you don't, you lose credibility. Picture this: Two members of MS-13, the notoriously vicious gang with ties to drug lords and even al-Qaeda, are discussing ...well, anything.

MS-13 #1: "Gosh, Paco, those mean guys from Zeta are cramping our style. I suggest we remove their private parts and stuff them in their darned mouths."
MS-13 #2: "Wonderfully-A!"

You get the idea. While I, like many of you, are worn to to a frazzle by a Soprano's conversation, we also have to realize that's just the way these folks talk. And that, my friends, is my solution to the entire problem: verbal cleansing.

Each and every mother in the entire world, and especially New Jersey, will be issued a large box of (organically made and pesticide free, of course) soap upon giving birth. Upon penalty of death, she will be responsible for washing out the mouths of children that utter bad stuff. Once all forms of scatological and genealogical terminology have been obliterated from the spoken word, we can then turn to the word, "like." I don't know about you, but I would, like, really love to see that word, like, erased.

Summer in the Sea

2007-06-18T10:30:00.000-07:00

Years ago a very clever sailor with a background in radio created a hilarious rundown of what to expect if you summer-over in the sea. I have long since lost that tape, but will try to remember some of it. If anyone else out there has the script, please let me know.

June 1: Mass exodus as cruisers put their boats on the hard, in slips, on moorings. Those with air conditioning secure a slip. Those without make the brave decision to summer-over. But where?

For years we've heard the summer-overs talk about heading for the relative "cool" of the northern Sea, around Bahia de los Angeles. Cooler than what? Hell?

July 1: All sex stops in the Sea of Cortez

August 1: Urine turns from brown to black, no seeum bites abound. By now everyone has lost at least ten pounds and relationships are strained to the breaking point. (See July 1)

September 1: Hurricanes threaten the Sea. Up until now they have stayed south, gone to Hawaii to screw up someone's honeymoon, or some such. Now they are setting their sights on a scraggly bunch of skinny, grouchy sailors gathered in northern Sea.

October 1: Only two more weeks of heat to go, but now the serious hurricane season is in full bloom, sending boaters scurrying hither, thither and yon for cover.

October 15: Glorious cool returns, as do the cruisers who abandoned ship and fled for cooler climes in June. The summer-overs regale their lessers with tales of a glorious summer in Sea. But where, the returnees ask, is your wife/girlfriend/mate/crew?

Novemer 1: Singlehanders abound in the Sea.

Jinx Schwartz's Blog

2007-06-17T12:56:00.001-07:00

It's summer, stupid!
Okay, call me a wimp, but I love air conditioning.
Our first two years in the Sea of Cortez, 1990 and 1991, we stayed through the summer, snookered by two uncommonly cool seasons. And, we had AC.
July 11, 1991, the total eclipse of the sun was an event of chilling proportions. No AC needed that day when, around noon, the sun went out and frissons of excitement shivered our timbers, mate.
This summer we will return to the Sea in July, lured by warm, clear water and, yep, our air conditioned boat.
After a day of writing in cooled air comfort, we will chug from the hot and muggy marina in late afternoon, snorkel, swim and enjoy a cooling ride back after sunset. Once back at the dock, on goes the AC.
What can I say, sea wench or no, I am also a sea wimp.