The Whole Truth and Nothing But

by Sandy Cody

If you really want to get to know someone, sneak a peak into their diary. That’s where you’re most likely to find their unguarded thoughts - the things they don’t let themselves express to the world at large. Everyone has to let their hair down sometimes and a diary or a journal is one way to do that. Maybe that’s why so many famous people have kept diaries.

 I remember reading The Diary of Samuel Pepys way back in high school. He was an important figure in his day and he wrote in his diary faithfully for ten years, from 1660 until 1669, leaving us a record that is probably more insightful of the time than the official historical records. His pages detail not just the facts about big events like the Great Plague and the Great Fire of London, but also his feelings regarding these things. About the plague, he wrote “... how sad it is to see the streets empty of people.” Thumbing through an old copy of his diary, I see entries like that on almost every page. In the privacy of his diary, it was people in the street who mattered, not matters of state.

 Another book most of us read in school was The Diary of a Young Girl. The girl, of course, is Anne Frank and the book is perhaps the most poignant reminder of the

damage done by intolerance and racial hatred. In one passage, just after she describes hearing the “approaching thunder” of Nazi boots, she writes: “And yet, when I look up at the sky, I somehow feel that everything will change for the better.” We know that for her, it didn’t, but her thoughts, both the frightened and hopeful ones, have survived and have helped put a human face on an evil that, taken in totality, is almost impossible to comprehend.

 This is becoming much more serious that I intended. Let’s move on. Harry S. Truman (the only president from my home state of Missouri) kept a diary while he was in office. Here he recorded the opinions he dare not express publicly. One example, written after an appointment with an important official: “This man not only wants to run the country, but the universe and the entire Milky Way.” Of someone else, he wrote: “Baloney Peddler.” How’s that for telling it like it is.

 As for me, I don’t keep a diary in the usual sense, but I do keep a journal of the books I read. Not particularly enlightening to future historians, but I enjoy looking through it and remembering the stories and the thoughts they prompted. It serves as a reminder of what I was thinking and feeling at a certain time. Maybe that’s what diaries do, even for famous people.

 And now ...

 I hope you’ll forgive a brief commercial message. I admit it. All this talk about diaries was inspired by my recently-released book, Lethal Journal. In this story, the victim kept a journal and it is through his entries there that we get to see him as something other than a corpse. We come to understand the reason he was murdered and, ultimately, figure out who killed him.

 How about you? Any journalists or diary-keepers out there?

Snappy Answers to Writers Questons

by Gina Ardito


I understand that writing is one of those careers that piques people's interests. And I do love meeting readers (and prospective writers) who are fascinated by the process. Writers are like zoo animals in many ways, odd creatures that live a different life from "normal humans." I'm always happy to answer questions from interested parties at booksignings and social events. But, over the years, I've heard some questions I'd really like to forget. Others...? Oh, how I *wish* I could give the answer brewing behind my tongue! 

Here are some of those questions, the answer I'd like to give, and the "real answer" I usually fall back on.

Q. How much money do you make?
A. How much money do you make?

(Real answer: No, really. How much do you make?)

Q. Where do you find the time to do all that writing?
A. I have a Tardis in my kitchen.

(Real answer: Seriously? I make the time. When you're watching television, I'm writing. When you're gossiping with your coworkers at lunchtime, I'm writing. I get up early and stay up late when I'm on deadline. It's all about priorities. I make "time to write" one of my priorities.)

Q. Do you personally research all your love scenes?  
A. Yes, but I have a partner for those. What I need is someone to help me with the grisly murder scenes. You look like a healthy specimen...

(Real answer: My love scenes are more emotional than physical so the research is colored by my life experiences. But when researching THE BONDS OF MATRI-MONEY, about two people handcuffed together while competing in a "Survivor"-style game show, I *did* spend time tied to my husband to figure out what was physically possible and impossible to do.)

Q.Where do you get your ideas?
A. The Idea Fairy comes to me every night and bops me on the head with her magic wand.

(Real answer: They come from everywhere: dreams, conversations I've overheard, past experience, etc. Let me ask you: what do you do when you're stuck at DMV or in a traffic jam? I'm already plotting stories about the people around me: who they are, where they're going, etc.)

Q. When's the movie coming out?
A. Just as soon as the studio comes up with the million dollar advance I'm demanding. I hear they have a bake sale planned for next week. You might wanna stop by and purchase a dozen cupcakes or a Bundt to push them along.

(Real answer: I wish!)

Q. If you've got so many books published, why are you still working at a day job?
A. To support my habit.


(Real answer: To support my habit. In all honesty, most authors don't get those million-dollar-contracts you read about. Those big deals go to celebrities and authors with a bestselling track record. The rest of us don't earn enough to quit our day jobs. Ink, paper, marketing, cover art, editing, etc., all costs money. We work to pay those expenses and invest our earnings right back into our writing.)

Q. If you don't make a lot of money, why do you write?
A. To get the stories out of my head and because I love it.

(Real answer: To get the stories out of my head and because I love it. And for my readers who love what I write.)

If you're a reader, I hope these answers help. Got a different question, ask me! I'll be happy to answer. If you're a writer, feel free to share your odd questions and the answer you'd love to give!

KILLING CLUTTER by Kay Finch

I don't know about you, but clutter makes me crazy. Not only do I have trouble concentrating if I'm surrounded by clutter, I really enjoy straightening up clutter. A fellow Pennsylvania native recently commented when I used the term "straightening up" and said it was good to hear since everyone here in Texas where we both now live says "picking up." I had never noticed this until she pointed it out. But I digress.

Scan a magazine rack on any given day, and you'll notice many articles on organizational topics. Genius Organizing, De-Clutter Your Life, Clutter Diet, Meaning Behind the Mess – a few titles chosen from my current magazines. I trust magazine editors have a handle on popular topics to pull in readers, so I guess the public – at least those who read magazines – is obsessed with getting organized and killing their clutter.

My obsession with clutter began at a very young age. I didn't have nearly as much stuff (a technical term in the organizing world) back then, but you can bet that everything in my small bedroom was regularly purged, straightened, stacked, and alphabetized. In my adult life, people often comment that I am so organized. Which means I'm more organized than they are – not nearly as organized as I would love to be. As I sit here writing this blog I'm thinking about how the dresser drawers sure could use cleaning out and the bathroom cabinet absolutely must be reorganized this weekend.

When a friend mentioned her professional organizer years ago in casual conversation, I began thinking about becoming one myself. I attended a couple of local professional organizer meetings and soon realized that my day job as a family law paralegal paid a lot better and had better benefits than those of a self-employed organizer. Not to mention I wasn't all that crazy about tackling someone else's mess. Take one look at the TV show Hoarders, and you'll see what I mean.

Then the brainstorm hit – don't become a professional organizer, write a cozy mystery novel about one. And she can uncover a dead body under a mess in the bathroom or in the walk-in closet. Wait – this book is going to be set where I live. It's way too hot in the Houston area to hide a body for any length of time in a house. Okay – make it February, and the body's in the garage. That'll work. And so my character – professional organizer Poppy Cartwright – and her business, Klutter Killer, came into being.

How about you? Are you blind to clutter, do you hire someone to take care of your clutter, or are you obsessed like me?

Cozy mystery author Kay Finch is currently writing her new Bad Luck Cat Mystery series set in the Texas Hill Country to be published by Berkley beginning in 2015. Kay lives in a Houston, Texas suburb with her husband, two rescue dogs and a cat. Visit her web site at www.kayfinch.com.

The Coziest Things--A Sing Long

     In preparing for this blog post I went out and conducted a Man on the street interview, asking people to define “Cozy.” Not surprisingly, I found it’s defined differently by different people. Anything from a cup of tea on a rainy day to a favorite moth-eaten sweater passed down from a grandma to granddaughter.  All shared one common thread...cozy is anything that makes one feel warm and fuzzy inside.

     But the best answer of all was sung to me, in a high, clear voice…”Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens. Bright copper kettles and warm woolen mittens.  Bright paper packages tied up with string…”

     Good enough in and of itself, but I got to thinking how it might apply to this blog post, and more importantly, to the books this blog is promoting.  Then it hit me, a bit of revamp, a little remix, and voila a cozy little song.  Feel free to sing along…

<<Sung to the tune of My Favorite Things from the Sound of Music>>

A pair of thick socks or a day at the health spa,

Warm cookies and p-js and a day with no bra on

A book filled with romance and not just one fling…

These are a few of the coziest things…

A song that stirs memories of a night with a loved one

A day on the sofa with Murder, She Wrote on

Mysteries with bodies but no gore does it bring

These are a few of the coziest things….

Horses and saddles and boots that go scritch-scratch

Hoe downs and trail rides and dinners of “fresh catch”

A simpler life style and a cowboy who sings

These are a few of the coziest things…

When the world’s mean,

Life gets crazy,

When my date’s a cad…

I simply curl up with the coziest things

And then I don’t feel soooooo bad!

So from those of us who write these classic and cozy things, we invite you, dear readers, to cozy up and Read On!  Books by our “classic and cozy” writers can be found by clicking on the Sweet Romance, Cozy Mystery or Classic Western tabs in the top menu.  

  

ABOUT JAYNE:  Jayne Ormerod writes what she knows—small towns (influenced by her childhood growing up in Chagrin Falls, Ohio) and beach settings (a result of 30 years as a navy spouse, always living within a flip-flop’s throw of the ocean.)  Thanks to a youth spent reading Nancy Drew and an adulthood devouring the words of Janet Evanovich, Mary Daheim and Lillian Jackson Braun, she can now write about amateur sleuths, exploding cars and dead bodies with a modicum of authority.  You can read more about Jayne and her cozy mysteries at www.jayneormerod.com  

Promo No-No’s for Authors

By Karen McCullough

These days every author knows that you have to play the promotion game to have any success. At least that’s what every publisher--big, small, or medium--tells us. So we struggle to find ways to get our names and books out there in front of the public. Some people can get pretty aggressive about it, too, which isn’t always bad, but there are lines that shouldn’t be crossed.

To get a feeling for what really bugged readers and authors about author promo, I asked about it on a couple of listserves.  Did I ever get an earful!

I’ve divided the comments into two categories, covering face-to-face meetings and online presence. So herewith are more than ten commandments for author promo, based on things the readers and authors told me about that annoyed or angered them.

My thanks to everyone who responded to my request for these suggestions.

Face-to-Face Meetings Such as Conventions or Book Signings

• At a convention, everyone hates it when a panel author doesn’t stick to the topic and turns every answer into self-promotion. Thou shalt not be rude, boring, and only self-promoting; it actually causes people to decide they’ll never read that person’s book again.
• I’ve seen this one myself, but others also mentioned that they hate it when a panel moderator or author hogs the panel. I’ve seen an author hog a panel to the extent that no one else on the panel was able to insert a word into the discussion. Thou shalt be courteous to your fellow authors and give them equal opportunity to speak.
• An author should always behave professionally at a conference. Thou shalt not distribute your own promo material during other authors’ panels or events. Thou shalt not behave in inappropriate ways in the bar, the elevators or anywhere else. You’re part of the show at a conference and others will notice when you behave badly.
• Thou shalt not piggy-back on another author’s book signing or event by interrupting them with your own promo or bringing your own books to sell without permission.
• This one is such a jaw-dropper that I’m using the author’s own words here: “How about the author that, when I wasn't looking at a book signing, slipped his postcards into the middle of my books?” Thou shalt not do such insanely stupid and discourteous things.

Online

• Thou shalt never, never respond to reviewers either on sites like Amazon or blogs with anything more than a simple “Thank you.”  Thou shalt not attack reviewers who don’t like your book or leave negative feedback, no matter how stupid, off-topic, idiotic or depraved the review is.
• Thou shalt not run down other authors or make negative comments about them on line.  You can review another’s book and not like it, but reviews should always be about the book and not about the author personally.
• Readers are particularly bugged by authors who show up on a social media site or listserve and join an ongoing conversation just long enough to drop some promo for their own book, then leave. Thou shalt not do this.
• And related to the above are authors who insist on talking about nothing but their own book in every post on a listserve or social media, or authors who comment on every single post, sometimes with just a word or two, and include their entire eight line signature file. Thou shalt not do this either
• And another related one: Thou shalt not have signature files that are three pages long. In fact, three to four lines should be the absolute maximum for an author signature.
• Thou shalt not add names to an email list (newsletter or whatever) without actual or implied permission and then provide no way to unsubscribe.
• If someone follows you on Twitter, thou shalt not immediately DM them with a load of promo.
• Thou shalt not jump on someone else’s good news announcement with words like, “Oh yeah, and my book just won a so-and-so prize, too.  Let the original poster have a few minutes in the limelight, then make your announcement. 

So: What bugs you about author promo?  What are your 'Thou shalt Nots'?

FREE

by Lois Lamanna

Occasionally an author will announce they are promoting one of their e-books by pricing it for free. The news is greeted by me like fingernails scraping a chalkboard. I understand the argument for temporarily lowering the price. Supposedly, the promoted book draws in new readers and once they sample the work, they buy other books by the author.

Personally, I’m against giving away the product of my imagination. I spend hours writing, editing, and marketing my work. I expect to be compensated for my effort. I prefer to use means other than price to promote my book.

As adults, we have experienced negative connotations associated with the word free. We look for the strings attached. We know the free kitten carries the lifelong responsibility of the animal’s care and the requisite financial burden. Food, litter box, toys, veterinarian visits, and the occasional scratching post are the strings.

Not only do we look for the strings attached, we are skeptical of anything free. We measure something’s worth by the price tag. When the price is too low, we expect shoddy workmanship or poor quality materials. How many times has a homeowner rejected the lowest bid for a remodeling project in favor of someone offering to do the job at a higher price?

I’m not an art connoisseur. I go into an art gallery and make my purchase based on the reputation of the gallery, the reputation of the artist, and what I like. Price plays a big part in my decision. I naively buy at the top of what I can afford, thinking the piece must be superior simply because it is priced higher. A certain portion of readers do the same thing when searching for a book.

Authors are artists. We don’t use paint and brushes. Words are our medium. I don’t want someone to judge my work using free as the barometer for its worth (or lack of). When I check the e-book prices of more popular authors, the prices are the same or only slightly lower than the price for the physical versions. Which came first? Did the author sell his work at a higher price and the readers emotionally evaluate it as being superior or did the readers judge it to be better and the price commanded for the book follow? I suspect it is a little of both.

Maybe I have been caught in a web of strings too many times, lured by the word free, or maybe I am greedy, thinking I should be paid for my labor, but I will continue to argue that authors should not give away their books.

Lois Lamanna

Matrimony and Murder

Murder on a Park Bench

A Seminar on Murder

Facets of Murder

Clarity of Murder

What if You Gave a Party and No One Came

                                                                                                        Zelda Benjamin

Explain the location
Online parties such as fb parties and events are a great way to bring together people with similar interests. It's important to explain that it's a come as you are party and no one has to leave the comfort of their home or their computer screen. So many of my co-workers  apologized the next day for not being able to attend because they were unsure of the location. It's a hard concept for some people to grasp. However, once you get the concept you'll become a real party girl.

Set a time limit
My party ran from 7PM to 10PM EST. The time is set when you create your event. Don't forget the different time zones.




Make it fun
My first party was to launch, Chocolate Couture. To engage my guests I asked them to bring their favorite chocolate recipe. I started the event with a recipe mentioned in the story. It didn't take long for everyone to add a link or picture of their signature or heirloom  chocolate recipe.

Party favors
Everyone loves a prize. Announce at the start of your party what you're going to give away and how often. Make sure the details are clear- US only or International. Remember people will come from all over. At my last event, I had a guest from the Netherlands. 
For the first hour, I gave away a DD gift card so a lucky winner could enjoy their favorite beverage with one of the recipes. The second hour, I offered a recipe box with all the recipes mentioned in my Love by Chocolate series. I announced the winners at the end of each hour. 



Invite people you know will come
My critique partners as usual came through for me. They not only came with chocolate recipes, they came bearing gifts. Each of them offered a copy of their books to randomly selected guest who posted on the event.

Thanks for stopping by. Wishing you peace, love and chocolate.
Zelda