Happy St. Patrick’s Day

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One of my fondest memories is the one and only time I was in New York and while searching for a place to eat, came upon four rather inebriated Irishmen singing outside an Irish pub. Of course that’s where we chose to eat–great food and all the wait staff was Irish with wonderful Irish accents. On that same trip, an Irish conductor rescued me when I dumped my luggage when I was trying to get on the train. He scooped everything up and settled me in my seat. When I arrived at the D.C. train station, he had a cart waiting to deliver me and my friend to the taxi he’d called ahead for us. He also had a wonderful accent.

I’ve been really busy the last few days–gave a talk at a library. Fun and great crowd. While there, the librarian downloaded one of by books on his Kindle, took about 20 seconds. This weekend, we went to Camarillo and Oxnard (CA) to visit my youngest daughter and family, then the eldest and her husband. On Sunday, we had a booth at the Celebration of the Whales (I was the only author–that seems to work well), sold a lot of books, talked to many folks, and handed out lots of cards.) Great weekend–but tiring.

Marilyn
a.k.a. F. M. Meredith
http://valleygirlmusings.blogspot.com/ today’s stop on my blog tour–much easier than the physical stuff I do.

How Frugal Are You?

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The economy is in the pits, the publishing business has gone south, and it doesn’t take long to balance my checkbook since there’s not much in there …yadda, yadda, yadda.

I know I’m preaching to the choir.

Like most people, I’m thinking long and hard about every purchase and eliminating many of the extras in our daily lives. My husband is packing his lunch most days. I brew my own rather than indulging in an over-priced cup of coffee from the local Starbucks. We’re borrowing DVDs from the library rather than renting from Blockbuster. In a two-fer, I do most of my errands on foot which saves gas and is actually a healthy move for a sedentary writer. We eat enough chicken that cluck is our second language. I’m still buying books – but there’s a certain self-interest in contributing to the publishing industry.

I’ve also spent way too much time searching the Internet for web sites that will tell me how to be more frugal. To be honest, it’s just a cheap procrastination technique, but I have learned a thing or two. Many sites offer great coupons for discounts on everything from groceries to clothing to auto repairs. I won’t go to a store without checking to see if there is a coupon available.

Most of these sites also have tips on how to cut your living expenses to the bone. Brand loyalty? Pffft – a thing of the past. To be honest, I’m willing to use generics for most products – heck even on pharmaceuticals. But I like Tide Laundry Detergent and Bounty Paper Towels. I feel ashamed to even admit that I’m spending $$$ on these hyper-advertised products. I know I could be making my own laundry detergent with a little washing soda, Borax and Fels Naptha soap. But that’s not going to happen. I know I shouldn’t use paper towels regardless of the brand in order to save the environment. Sigh. It’s hard to be cheap, environmentally conscious, and lazy.

What’s the biggest change you’ve made to save $$$ since the economy imploded? Is there anything you just can’t give up, even if there is a cheaper alternative?

Evelyn David

Secret Messages & Mysterious Codes

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Mr. Stratton straightened. His smile faded. “Now, who is to be spokesman?”

“I am,” said Trixie. Jim was co-president of the Bob-Whites, but Trixie usually did the talking.

“Trixie, the School Board doesn’t want secret societies to exist in Sleepyside schools, when clubs – really gangs – can be the source of so much trouble. The board feels…that your club will have to disband.”

“We couldn’t!” Trixie almost shouted…

Most people can think of a book that impacted them. In my case, Trixie Belden forever changed my fiction reading, and especially #7, The Mysterious Code. The section above is from the back cover. The series, first from the 60’s and 70’s, featured spunky Trixie, her brothers, their wealthy friends, lots of horseback riding and the crimes they solved in their Sleepyside town. Trixie had a crush on Jim, and in #7, he gets her a corsage for a Valentine’s Day event. Here began my love of a few things including romantic suspense and codes.

The Trixie books seemed more real than Nancy Drew, as Trix made lots of mistakes and got in trouble a lot. She was terrible at household chores. I won’t say why that seemed more real. No one can say these books are multicultural or politically correct, especially the Asian brothers portrayed in #7, but it was a beloved series for me and many other. Author Denise Swanson has a Trixie Frayne (what her name would have been had she married Jim) in her series as a tribute. I even saved up the back page ads of those books when I was young for a t-shirt. I see those now on Ebay for big bucks.

My favorite Sherlock Holmes is The Adventure of the Dancing Men. I still have an old copy of the children’s book Alvin’s Secret Code by Hicks. Puzzles and codes always fascinate me, and I busily made strips of paper to wrap around sticks with my friends when I was younger (to read vertically). I set some papers on fire trying to brown lemon juice messages on them.

While my handwriting now seems like a code to lots of folks, I miss the note passing and other forms of coding I did when I was younger. Texting is not the same! I was delighted that the cover of Missing is a jigsaw puzzle, and I promptly had a puzzle made from the cover photo when it came. Puzzles are the closest I get to my secret message days.

What got you into mysteries?

-Amy Alessio

Amy Alessio is a YA librarian and author. Her most recent short story is featured in Echelon Press’s new mystery anthology, Missing. Amy has a personal blog, Vintage Cookbooks. She also blogs for the Love is Murder conference and for Echelon Press’s Teen Scene.

The First Review

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It’s an in-between moment that’s hard to describe. It’s the time after you know a review of your new book is there for all the world to see and before you actually click the link or turn to the magazine page to read it. You hold your breath, torn between wanting to know what it says and wanting to avoid it at all costs. (I mean, after all, what writer worth their salt doesn’t believe they’re a fraud and that at any moment, someone is bound to discover it?)

The first review of Murder Takes the Cake was posted on line last Friday night. You can read it here at armchairinterviews.com. I got the email about it from the editor and then braced myself to look at the review. My pulse raced and my fingers fumbled on the keyboard as I clicked on the site and searched for the title of the book.

The actual review can be exhilarating or crushing. Logically, you know that no review can give you confidence if you don’t believe in your writing. But your heart yearns for other people’s approval of the fictional world you’ve created. You want the readers – and reviewers are readers, whether we want to believe that or not – to love your characters, understand your plot, and when they get to the words, “The End,” rush out to buy your next book.

Sometimes, even with a good review, the author spends way too much time searching for subtext and parsing words. A single word, the slightest turn of phrase, anything that could be construed in a negative way, will stand out like a neon light. And no matter how many flattering descriptions surround the one little criticism, that line will be the one the author can quote verbatim years later.

The worst review is not necessarily the one from someone who didn’t like your book. It’s the one where the reviewer not only didn’t like your book and said so, but he/she didn’t get the characters’ names correct. You’re left with the suspicion that the reviewer never read your book. And there is nothing you can do about it!

Or how about the review where the careless reviewer missed several vital clues and then claimed in print, or worse on-line for everyone to see forever, that the murderer’s identity “came out of the blue.” As the author there is nothing you want more than to post a scathing rebuttal, but you can’t. It just isn’t done. You have to let it go.

If I could ask only one thing from readers, it’s to not take a single negative review too seriously, especially if it isn’t representative of the other reviews of the same book.

And for authors, I’d advise the same. Not everyone will like your book – but that doesn’t mean you haven’t written a good book. Not every review will be good – learn from them if you can, if not clean the smelly goop from your shoes and move on. And for heavens sake, when the review is positive, enjoy it without “wallowing it around” and searching out potential bad spots.

So what about the review I mentioned in the beginning of this blog? It’s fantastic! “Evelyn David” is ecstatic.

I think I’m ecstatic. Probably.

I need to read it again, just to be sure.

And yes, despite the advice I just gave everyone, I’ll reread the review over and over until the next review is posted.

But I won’t focus on individual words.

I won’t.

Probably.

Evelyn David
http://www.evelyndavid.com

Can’t We All Just Get Along?

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We are approaching that time of year when we elect two new trustees and a new mayor in our little Village. And like in years past, I find again that people who I thought I knew and liked become vicious and petty, all in support of their candidates and their personal agendas. You thought national politics was bad? You ain’t seen nothing until you’ve witnessed what goes on here.

On the one side, you’ve got a mayor who is technically a Democrat but who ran, and won, on the Republican ticket. On the other, you have a former trustee, a registered Democrat, who is vying for that position. Both men—with whom I both agree and disagree on a number of different issues—are to be commended for their willingness to throw their individual hats into this mudfest we call a “campaign.” At issue is the rezoning (according to the Democrats) or development (according to the Republicans) of a part of the Village that is virtually a ghost town, most restaurants and/or businesses having fled in the past several years for greener pastures or bankruptcy—we’re actually not sure which.

Both sides have good points. On the Democratic side, are we willing to just let this part of town founder and wither? On the Republican side, where will everyone park provided that the plan goes through to attract new businesses and increase the number of rental units? I would love to see both sides debate these issues with the facts at hand and decorum in full force. But we won’t get this wish because of the inflammatory nature of each argument. So what we get are accusations, recriminations, slander and libel.

I might be wrong, but aren’t we all adults? And don’t we live in a Village of 7,500 people where it is entirely possible that the person you wrote horrible things about on the local blog might just run into you at the Post Office?

This lack of civility in local politics—and I swear it is entirely more civilized at the national level—has me feeling very sad for our Village. It also makes me feel that someone who may be interested in becoming a public servant—and a good one at that—may see what goes in our local papers, online, and at various Village meetings and decide that they just don’t have the stomach for it. I can’t say that I blame them. A recent posting by a Villager on the local blog excoriated another poster for their opinion on a political issue related to this year’s election, ending his screed with an allegation of the other poster’s “drunkenness.” We can all disagree, and we do. But do we have to bring personal attacks into the discussion?

I guess I’d like to know from our Stiletto Gang readers if this type of behavior is rampant and exists all over the country or if what I am witnessing is an anomaly. I’m hoping it’s the latter. But at this point, all I can say is that I can’t wait for this election to be over. May the thicker-skinned candidate win.

Maggie Barbieri

Home from Epicon and Video for No Sanctuary

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It was certainly a whirlwind time!

We left home early Wednesday a.m. headed for Las Vegas. It’s about a 6 hour drive through the mountains and then the desert. First stop, my sis’s. As usual, we had a great time gabbing.

Thursday afternoon hubby and I headed for Henderson NV, more or less a suburb of Vegas. Our destination, Epicon which was being held in the Montelongo Resort. What a glorious setting–like an Italian village overlooking Lake Las Vegas. Our room had a balcony–which we never used, because it was chilly most of the time.

Right as we stepped in the hotel lobby we saw two friends from the last Epicon who let us know what was happening and where. After unloading our stuff we returned to the lobby where we met lots more of our friends from earlier conferences. Lee Emory, Treble Heart Press publisher, was there and the three of us decided we should have dinner together–in an Italian restaurant of course!

The conference started with an Epic business meeting and breakfast. I did a class on writing a mystery series right at 9 a.m. From then on I was free for the day and took advantage of all the rest of the seminars. That evening hubby and I tried out an Irish pub.

Saturday morning I joined some other authors to present information to three young writers. That was great! Epic always has a New Voices contest for young people. In the afternoon there was a publisher’s panel.

That evening was the wonderful Awards banquet–always great. Dan Reitz, publisher of Mundania Press, m.c.’d. The women looked terrific in their dressy clothes and some of the men even had on tuxedos–one Scotch publisher wore his kilt. I was the presenter for the Mystery category–fun because it’s done like the Academy Awards.

Sunday morning was a great breakfast, lots of networking and of course, finally goodbye. We headed back to my sister’s for the rest of the day and to spend the night.

Came home to piles of mail and email–rather daunting to go through.

Did have this new video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_du3UtWAYXw for No Sanctuary.

Marilyn

A Rose by Any Other Name

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The good news: Murder Takes the Cake by Evelyn David will be published in May.

The bad news: Murder Takes the Cake by somebody else was published in September 2008 and Death Takes the Cake by yet another author was published in February 2009. Oy!

Book titles can’t be copyrighted.

The collective Evelyn David chose the title of our second book before it was ever written. We submitted synopses and titles for two other Sullivan Investigation mysteries back in 2006. And in case anyone is interested, we’ve got dibs (which is about as much legal protection as we can get) on An Outlet for Murder.

But I’ve been thinking about this a lot. Maybe we ought to consider some already established titles for forthcoming books. Would it increase our readership? For example:

Gone With the Wind
After a tornado touches down in Washington, DC, Mac Sullivan and Rachel Brenner investigate the case of a missing corpse. Whiskey searches for a box of missing dog biscuits. Are the two mysteries related?

A Tale of Two Cities
Mac Sullivan is from Washington, DC, but doesn’t know the birthplace of his Irish wolfhound, Whiskey. Will a cross-country tour of kennels unearth the mystery of Whiskey’s humble beginnings? And who is the corpse in the doghouse?

The Catcher in the Rye
Mac Sullivan has been hired by the Washington Nationals to find the star catcher of the team who was last spotted at a deli ordering a ham on…

Charlotte’s Web
Rachel Brenner’s best friend Charlotte has spun a web of deceit that’s already left two people dead. Mac and Whiskey race to unravel a intricately woven network of lies, while battling an infestation of black widow spiders.

Other suggestions?

Evelyn David

P.S. Sniff. Barbie shouldn’t make me cry, but this story, told by the Southern half of Evelyn David, made me reach for the box of tissues. Check it out for yourself, http://www.woofersclub.blogspot.com

Writing by the Seat of my Pants

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by Susan McBride

If you didn’t guess by the title of this post, I’m one of those writers who usually flies by the seat of my pants. I never worked with outlines while composing 10 novels that never got published; nor did I use one for my two small press books or the five Debutante Dropout Mysteries I wrote for Avon.

All that changed when I signed with Random House to do THE DEBS young adult series. My contract required I turn in an outline before each book. A detailed outline. And it had to be approved by my editor, which meant turning it in and getting her feedback before I got the thumbs-up.

You can’t even imagine how bad my first outline was. I figure my editor at RH assumed I was drunk when I wrote it (and I don’t drink). Or possibly that I let my cats’ paws do the walking on my keyboard. It stunk because I had no clue what I was doing. Creating an outline before I could sit down and write felt foreign to me, almost like I was ruining all the fun. Somehow (thank God), it all worked out, and THE DEBS came out A-OK.

Over the course of two more YA books (LOVE, LIES, AND TEXAS DIPS and GLOVES OFF), I got better at outlining. Not great, mind you, just adequate enough that my editor could make some sense of the plotlines I suggested. I’m still not entirely comfortable with the idea; but it doesn’t freak me out anymore either.

Now, after turning in GLOVES OFF and doing the revisions lickety-split after getting notes back before January ended, I’ve gone into manic writing mode as I work on THE COUGAR CLUB for Avon. My deadline is May 1. Gulp. I’ve made fairly good progress, but I find myself hyperventilating now and then, realizing “I have no frickin’ outline!”

I got so used to them that now writing by my gut again feels a wee bit scary. Don’t get me wrong, I am enjoying the freedom of letting my crazy brain take me in all sorts of directions. I fall asleep at night thinking of what I’ve just written that day, and I wake up in the morning with new ideas that get my heart pumping.

But I’m nervous all the same. A part of me misses having that crutch of truly knowing what’s coming next…and then next after that. Then I remind myself that once I get COUGAR done and sent off to my editor at Avon, I’ll have an outline to write for Random House again.

So next time I’m at a panel and someone asks, “Which of you outline?” I’ll raise my hand. And then when they inquire, “And which of you flies by the seat of her pants?” I’ll raise my hand, too.

Common Business Courtesy?

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I like people who do what they say they will, when they say they’re going to do it. I like them a lot, especially since they seem to be an endangered species.

I must have missed the email that said it’s okay now to lie about what you can and can’t do.

I know I missed the message about deadlines being mere suggestions.

And when did returning business phone calls and responding to business emails become optional? I’m not talking about returning advertisers’ emails or calls from strangers soliciting donations. I’m referring to communicating with people who are currently working for or with you. When you don’t return my phone call or email within a few days, I get angry.

I seem to be angry a lot lately.

Everyone has a horror story about waiting for the cable guy who never shows. Who claims he was there and you were not – even though you’d stayed parked in a chair near the front door for twelve straight hours waiting for him.

Everyone knows that if you pick up your order through a drive-through window, you have to check the sack before you leave, because nine times out of ten, you are missing items you’ve paid for. Ever notice how extra items never land in your sack by accident?

If you buy new tires and have them installed, be sure to check to see if all the lug nuts have been tightened. I’ve probably purchased five sets of tires in my life and twice I’ve had problems because the lug nuts weren’t tightened.

Before I found my current hairdresser, I’d show up for appointments and the hairdresser would be absent. No one would have called to let me know not to come in.

It seems that business standards have disappeared from my world. Please, thank you, showing up on time, cleaning up after yourself, doing a good job, finishing the job on time – I guess those expectations are outdated.

What is the norm now? When did we become so accepting of bad behavior and substandard service, that we’ve lowered our expectations to almost zero?

Tell me what you expect from the people you do business with. Tell me about the companies or individuals who are exceeding your expectations. Anyone have any “service awards” they’d like to bestow?

Evelyn David

It’s Time to Leave the Attic

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I don’t know if it was the lengthy winter, the snow day we had yesterday, or just a general cabin fever that made me do something I never thought I’d do: sign up to go to two conferences. I admire my intrepid Stiletto co-bloggers; it seems that they are all headed somewhere all the time, while I sit in my attic week after week, content to work from dawn until dusk. But during the snow day yesterday, surrounded by husband, children, and canine companion, I decided that it was time to get out of the house and do something related to my mystery writing. (I do plenty related to my day job and those things seem to be eating up all of my time.) So, I consulted with the Northern half of Evelyn David and signed up for Deadly Ink in Parsippany, New Jersey, and Malice Domestic in Washington, D.C.

I used to travel a lot for the job I used to have, way back in the ‘90s. And I have traveled plenty for pleasure after leaving that job. But I haven’t traveled for “work” except to go to a presentation in Tennessee back in October—and that included one of my best friends as my travel companion. I used to attend at least four or five conventions when I worked outside of the house and when I say I knew everybody who attended those conventions, that’s only a bit of an exaggeration. Between all of my colleagues from work, and friends I had made at competing companies, and the authors I worked with, I knew just about everybody at a specific convention. What scares me about signing up for the two conventions is that I’ll only know one person (the Northern half of Evelyn David) out of everyone who’s attending. And that scares the bejesus out of me.

I’m not a shrinking violet by any stretch of the imagination but when I think about attending a convention where I only know one person (who has her own books to promote and won’t have time to hold my hand for 48 hours), I imagine that everyone knows everyone else and I’ll just be by myself the whole time. Intellectually, I know this won’t be the case. And as my husband always reminds me, “you can talk a dog off a meat wagon.” I’m not sure what that means, exactly, but I think he’s telling me that I won’t lack for conversation or companionship. I also think he’s referring to my ability to find out the life story of everyone I come into contact with. That ought to help me, right?

So, dear readers: will you let me know if you’re going to be at either of these conventions? And, if so, can I charge one of you with making sure that I’m not holed up in my room with Pay-per-view and the room service menu?