March 2008 Blog Posts (176)

Things are heating up

The release of my first novel, A Reason For Dying is getting closer. Suddenly, what always seemed an eon away is right on top of me. I don't have a particular publishing date yet, but after talking with my publisher the other day, it seems we're less than 60 days away from the launch.

After 1 1/2 years of writing and rewriting and queries and rejections, came a year of waiting after signing a contract. The past couple of months have been very busy. There's getting blurbs, pulling… Continue

Added by Wilfred Bereswill on March 11, 2008 at 5:45am — No Comments

Book trailer for DAEMON on YouTube

My new novel DAEMON uses forsensics and special ops themes to tell a traditional horror story. It's definitely not for the squeamish, but loads of fun. The book trailer is now up on You Tube. Check it out here and leave a comment!

http://www.youtube.com/v/qSPS05VCIZY

Added by Harry Shannon on March 11, 2008 at 5:20am — No Comments

"Ladies of Class" Blog Tours

"Ladies of Class" will be in print Saturday March 15th. Several Authors are doing blog tours for LOC. Please hope on over check their blogs and leave a comment.

Virtual Book Tour Schedule for LADIES OF CLASS

Written by Marjorie Owen

Presented by Dee Owen

March 12th Diane Wylie

Http://dianewyle.blogspot.com

March 14th Christee Atwood

http://elasticwaistbands.blogspot.com

March 15th Delia… Continue

Added by Dee Owen on March 11, 2008 at 5:01am — No Comments

In the Spring of Things and the Whidbey Conference

I hate to point it out, but here on the West Coast, Spring is gearing up and the cherry trees are starting to bloom. It is of course raining today but yesterday I hand tilled the veggie patch and saw a big fat bumble bee on the flowering rhododendron. My condolences to those under a meter of snow back east.

I had an amazing time at the Whidbey Writers Conference (www.writeonwhidbey.org/)! It is a small conference but the caliber of presenters and agents was very high, with writers like… Continue

Added by Tina on March 11, 2008 at 4:00am — 1 Comment

A "Me" Moment

I got my first big review in for WHAT BURNS WITHIN, from Publishers Weekly:

What Burns Within Sandra Ruttan... Three Vancouver constables—son-of-a-sergeant Craig Nolan, bombshell in the boys’ club Ashlyn Hart, and stolidly antisocial cop Tain—are drawn together as the rapes, arsons and child abductions they’re working on respectively converge. The three, who have a beef over a prior case gone bad, must get over their personal differences and chase scant leads before another…

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Added by Sandra Ruttan on March 11, 2008 at 2:00am — 7 Comments

One More Metaphor, and I'll Stop

Got home from Florida yesterday, so the trip metaphors should fade away now. But this last one was inspired by unpacking.

I began with a bag for each event on the trip: one for the RenFestival, one for library talks, one for bookstore signings, etc. Then there was a bag for overnight stops, just motel needs and the next day's clothes, and other bags for "maybe" stuff. It was very neat and workable, just like a plot when it's still in your head.

Reality is that you need… Continue

Added by Peg Herring on March 10, 2008 at 10:54pm — No Comments

Writer's Life Update

Since my last newsletter I made a pleasant return visit to Waldenbooks in Manassas Mall, and had a good first time at the Borders in Frederick, Maryland. Both stores featured my mysteries and I made lots of new friends while signing books.

But the big news this week is that I was invited to join eight other authors who contribute to an exciting and varied web log. As its name implies, "Criminal Minds at Work" gives readers a chance to step into the minds of a group of talented,… Continue

Added by Austin S. Camacho on March 10, 2008 at 10:05pm — No Comments

My Run-In With the Law

I work one day a week at World Market. For those of you that don’t know, World Market is a fine purveyor of… well, you name it. They sell pillows, furniture, picture frames, jalapeno-filled olives, eggbeaters and practically everything else under the sun.

Another thing they purvey is alcohol, beer and wine to be precise.

Last week, this guy came up to my register with a bottle of champagne. I rang it up and asked for his ID (general practice, WE CARD HARD!). He handed me a… Continue

Added by John Weagly on March 10, 2008 at 10:00am — 1 Comment

Waiting for Spring by Margot Justes

Tonight we spring forward as they say and lose an hour; that typically signifies spring is here.

You wouldn’t know it by the large snowflakes that kept falling this morning, the bitter cold that hit your face as you walked outside, or the dirty snow now turned to ice still peeking from beneath the fresh dusting of the white stuff.

I am looking forward to Spring, even tough I’ll be at my computer typing, trying to finish book two by year end, get ready for promo stuff for… Continue

Added by Margot Justes on March 10, 2008 at 6:15am — No Comments

Effective Marketing

First: What do Kurt Vonnegut, Naomi Novik, Michael Chabon, John Scalzi, Neil Gaimon, Joe Hill and Terry Pratchett all have in common?

Along with many other authors, they’re all contenders in the Fantasy Bookspot 2007 tournaments. There are two tournaments, an all-time (classic) tournament and a 2007…

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Added by Sandra Ruttan on March 10, 2008 at 4:00am — 2 Comments

Meet the cast of Small Crimes

With my noir thriller Small Crimes being released in the UK yesterday and having these great drawings left over from when Jean-Pierre Jacquet and I were pitching Small Crimes as a graphic novel to a French publisher, the last week I've been posting on my Small Crime Novel Blog Jean-Pierre's drawings along with short snippets from the book. I'd like to get peoples' thoughts on this--does it make the book look interesting, or are the short… Continue

Added by Dave Zeltserman on March 9, 2008 at 1:19am — No Comments

Working the Network

At LIM 2008, I met half of the fabulous writing duo Evelyn David. Rhonda Dosset was on the Cupid's Call romance panel, which was a really fun group. I've never spoken about romance where horses came up before...

Rhonda invited me to guest blog on www.thestilettogang.blogspot.com. This was so much fun! Being a librarian, I strated thinking about books I want to write about. My husband said "You've got enough books around here." Bingo. I took pictures of my nightstand, which has about… Continue

Added by Love Is Murder Conference on March 9, 2008 at 12:29am — 2 Comments

A new print release of an old book

My second Cerridwen book (Your Saving Grace) came out in print this week -- just in time for the RT convention, in April. It's available right now at the Cerridwen web site then will be available more widely (Borders, Amazon, etc.) in early April.

This was the book I wrote when I was briefly unemployed a few years ago and it stars Hannah Paxton and Jude Brenner. Hannah was a witness at a murder trial 30 years ago, and in the present day she's a juror…

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Added by J L Wilson on March 9, 2008 at 12:05am — No Comments

What's New for March

Hi everyone. A few days ago, I posted the March WHAT'S NEW page on my website. Among other things, I talk about my flying lessons and a new edition of THE HUNDRED-YEAR CHRISTMAS. Best regards, David

http://www.davidmorrell.net

Added by David Morrell on March 8, 2008 at 2:53pm — No Comments

Changes to Books In Print

Dear Sisters in Crime members:

We’ve had a few problems with our transition to entering titles online

into Books in Print (BIP) this past year. Our apologies to those of

you who were inadvertently left out of the BIP, or whose listings were

incorrect. We are working on ironing out the bugs. If your listing was

missing or incorrect and you haven’t told us already, please email

Beth Wasson: sistersincrime at juno.com. (The deadline for checking your

entry… Continue

Added by Sisters In Crime on March 8, 2008 at 11:30am — No Comments

PHOTO TOUR CONTINUES

aa-eaxmple-of-the-facotry-jessica-was-held-in-china.jpg

RENEGADE photo-tour: A factory in rural China, one very much like the factory/warehouse Jessica was held captive and tortured after she was kidnapped from the Shanghai business… Continue

Added by Loreth Anne White on March 8, 2008 at 7:14am — No Comments

First review

My good friend Ron Adams has posted his review of my book, Avenging Angel over at another ning group.

you can find it in its entirety at :

http://www.publishedauthor.ning.com

Added by Kim Smith on March 8, 2008 at 5:29am — No Comments

The Stump Is A Chump

A bit of background here. I belong to an online community called www.goodreads.com which is a place where readers discuss books. We have some lively conversations, especially in the group called "Books I Loathed."

One of the books that came up was a children's book by Shel Silverstein called The Giving Tree. Depending on your point of view, it's a poignant parable of unconditional love, or the toxic relationship between a narcissistic male and a pathetic self-destructive… Continue

Added by Judy Nichols on March 8, 2008 at 1:47am — No Comments

Getting Your Story Straight

I don't know how it works for others, but I write in layers. In the initial draft, the main plotline consumes my attention: what happened and how did it happen, and of course, who did it and how is he/she caught. In a mystery, that's the Big Idea.

What follows that is a lot of rereading and editing. As I reread, I see how my characters think and appear to others (No, I don't always know that ahead of time). Once I "see" their personalities, I can fine tune their thoughts and… Continue

Added by Peg Herring on March 7, 2008 at 9:21pm — No Comments

Citizen Police Academy-Gun Fight at the OMG Corral

Tonight we went through a very basic training session in the use of simunitions for police training tactics. I wanted to start this post with some stats about how often the typical law enforcement officer draws their weapon in the line of duty, but that's not a statistic that is easy to put your hands on. Use of force, especially deadly force is a not tracked in a uniform manner. When a department collects this info, statistical updates don't ususally end up in the monthly community policing… Continue

Added by Karyn J. Powers on March 7, 2008 at 4:30pm — No Comments