Posted by Lorraine

I have a lot of books. I'm talking a REAL LOT of books. Many, many, many books. Fiction and non-fiction. Mysteries, cookbooks, how-to books, travel books, women's fiction, and even a few romances. I love books. I have books in just about every room in my house. (Okay, not the bathrooms. We're just not bathroom readers.) When we moved in 14 years ago, our movers cursed all our book boxes (and us), and we've accumulated at least triple what we had since then.

I…

Posted by Sheila Connolly

Last week I went to jail.

No, I wasn't arrested. Me? Law-biding, virtuous, upright citizen me? I went because the local chapter of Mystery Writers of America arranged for a tour of a county correctional facility, and I thought I needed to know what a jail was really like.

Not that I write about jails, or even violent crimes. As I've said before, in cozies the violence happens off-stage somewhere. And–funny thing–so does the aftermath, once the…

Guest Blogger Jim C. Hines

Hello, all! My name is Jim, and I'll be your guest blogger for today. Huge thanks to Lorraine for the invitation.

I asked Lorraine a bit about her readers, and if there were any guidelines for what I wrote about. She told me to avoid religion and politics, and no blatant commercials.

No commercials. But . . . but my second book just came out three days ago! I've spent the past week doing nothing but book promo and networking and…

Posted by Leann Sweeney

Funny thing for a writer to say, but this happens often. In fact, aside from my first book, which came bursting out like that baby alien in the Sigourney Weaver flick, words fail me all the time. But after having written eight novels--some of those manuscripts packed away in a box where they should be--I have come to understand this is part of the writing process, at least for me. Not to say I like this little phenomenon. Not to say this is as comfortable as…

Interesting how mystery fiction fans are so often critical of true crime books. Some say they're sickened by the gore. Others are put off by the twisted criminals in the stories. More than a few just think the true crime genre is, well, tacky.

I read true crime all the time, and I don't buy these excuses. Those who protest the most could well be carrying titles by Lee Child (gore, anyone?), Minette Walters (talk about twisted) or Janet Evanovich (for lovers of literary classics,…

posted by Doranna Durgin



Oy. These characters sometimes...



Okay, that should give you an idea right there how I use off-color language. I mean, "Oy?" How risque can you get? Not that I won't let slip a few scorchers under inspiring circumstances (oh yes), but my repertoire is, how shall we say...limited.



Alas, not so all of my characters.



This wasn't a huge deal when I was primarily writing fantasy. I could make up phrases that…

Posted by Lorraine Bartlett

Of course everyone here at Writers Plot wants you to buy OUR books. (They are quite wonderful, after all.) But today we're asking you to support one of our fellow authors.

Several weeks ago, author Elaine Viets (a friend of Leann's) had a devastating stroke. Emergency surgery has given Elaine a good shot at recovery, but not in time to promote her newest book, which…

Posted by Sheila Connolly

Frank Bidart likes cake.…

Guest Blogger Lonnie Cruse

Posted by Leann Sweeney

I have always loved animals, but was only allowed to have one cat during my childhood, but she conveniently disappeared, just like Harvey, our rabbit. Only later did I learn that lost meant sent away. My mother was a dog person and my father liked birds because they could whistle back at him or enjoyed the mirror as much as I'm guessing he did. The first thing my husband and I did when we moved into our first place was to adopt two kittens. Fanny…

Posted by Jeanne Munn Bracken

Can you have a "claim to fame" if nobody remembers? I don't know if Al Gore invented the internet or not, but I myself coined the phrase "blatant self-promotion", commonly shortened to BSP. I can't prove it, but I defy anyone to disprove it.

Here's what happened. I've been a member of the online mystery community DorothyL (www.dorothyl.com) for at least a dozen years. Some…

posted by Doranna

I was startled the other day when a friend defined me as competitive. I've always considered myself to be anything but. Indeed, the very antithesis of a competitive soul! I'll even opt out of activity rather than mess with a competitive feel...no board games, no gift exchange games, and no pretty much anything else where the only goal of the experience is to win something. I've been that way since I was a wee one.

On the other hand...I…

Posted by Lorraine Bartlett

Is it only me or don’t all authors aspire to have a fan club of rabid readers? (Come on, guys, admit it, you know you want it/them.)

Well, that hasn’t yet happened to me. Will it ever happen? Good question. Too bad I’m not clairvoyant. So in the meantime, I’ll just have to (say it along with me) write a good book! Yup, that’s apparently the way to snag a cadre of life-long readers.

But wait! How can you snag readers if your book doesn’t have…

Posted by Sheila Connolly

Last week I spent several days visiting my daughter, who is a college senior and who will be graduating in a few weeks. I always enjoy hanging out at her college campus, because of the incredible richness of opportunities for entertainment, intellectual stimulation, and sheer diversion. It did not disappoint this time, and I’m pretty sure you’ll be hearing about various lectures I…