On the Road Again
In my dreams, a week dances tantalizingly just over the horizon. This week is filled with nothing. No appointments, no road trips, no phone calls. In my dream, I work at one of my three computers (the sitting down at the desk one, the standing up when my back is tired one, and the go-anywhere laptop one) all day, every day, and at the end of the…
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Added by Peg Herring on March 7, 2011 at 10:10pm —
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Yesterday marked the end of Peg's Blog Crawl, a February-long tour of 21 blog sites with 17 different hosts.
What I learned: it's a lot of work.
What it means: hopefully, that some new people know my name and are interested in THE DEAD DETECTIVE AGENCY.
Now here's the shocker: the book's release has been delayed until April 1 of this year.
I know, I know. Most of the people who read my…
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Added by Peg Herring on March 1, 2011 at 9:58pm —
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Today I welcome Guest Blogger Geraldine Evans from "across the Pond". Her new book is DEADLY REUNION, and the trailer can be seen at:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=awvRkiuwoFsDEADLY REUNION
A…
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Added by Peg Herring on February 28, 2011 at 10:00pm —
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I'm almost at the end of my February Blog Crawl. It's been fun but a little crazy. I'm not sure I could do this more than once a year!
The Post - Being Precise
I know that language changes over time. It has to. I know that clinging to the old ways is futile and might make me seem cantankerous or even silly. But it was my job, for three decades, to guard the language, to see that people under my care used it clearly rather than sloppily,…
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Added by Peg Herring on February 24, 2011 at 8:00am —
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Here are my stops on Peg's Blog Crawl for next week. Comment and you might win a copy of THE DEAD DETECTIVE AGENCY in either print or e-book form.
Feb. 7 Rhonda Dossett-The Ones Spell Check Won’t Catch
http://thestilettogang.blogspot.com Feb 8 Nancy Cohen-Metaphors…
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Added by Peg Herring on February 5, 2011 at 10:20pm —
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Win free books/e-books on the Blog Crawl!
Today's stop is at Chris Verstraete's blog, and the post is "Slowing Readers-Bad Policy". Find it at
http://candidcanine.blogspot.com
Added by Peg Herring on February 2, 2011 at 9:45pm —
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Today (Jan.31) starts my Blog Crawl (a pub crawl mixed with a blog tour). There are prizes to be had by commenting on the posts as I travel from blog to blog during the month of February. You can find the details at itsamysterytomepegherring.blogspot.com
As you follow the crawl, you'll be entertained with uses and abuses of the English language. Each week some lucky reader will win a copy of my February release, THE DEAD DETECTIVE AGENCY (either print or e-book format, your…
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Added by Peg Herring on January 31, 2011 at 11:26pm —
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You've heard of a pub crawl. Well, this is the same except it's not.
Same: You "crawl" from one place to another with a lot of other people and read my guest posts.
Different: It's virtual: no taxis, no traffic, no crowded rooms.
Same: You "travel" with like-minded people who are out for a good time.
Different: You'll never see them face-to-face.
Same: You meet new people, visit new places, and enjoy the trip.
Different: No hangover at the end.
Peg's Blog Crawl…
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Added by Peg Herring on January 31, 2011 at 6:00am —
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I belong to several on-line chat groups for authors (probably too many). The gist of what's going on is that authors are catching on to the e-book revolution, some reluctantly, some anxiously, some willingly. It's scary, because a lot of things change with e-books.
For example: you don't need an agent to publish an e-book. You don't even need a publisher, if you're willing to do some homework. There isn't that assurance that some of us need that we've got professionals behind us. Then…
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Added by Peg Herring on January 17, 2011 at 10:49pm —
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I gave up on the second of the GIRL WITH/WHO series.
Yup.
I just don't care.
It's hard for me to like a protagonist who is so weird, so amoral, so flat.
It's irritating to me that someone did not edit out the thousands of details that (I guess) are supposed to add to the story but instead draw it out. I don't care how many T-shirts, cups, chairs, and bedsheets the woman bought.
I seldom like the "I'll get that person if it's the last thing I ever do" plotline.
I will…
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Added by Peg Herring on January 11, 2011 at 10:46pm —
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To promote my new release, THE DEAD DETECTIVE AGENCY, (LL Publishing), I would like to create a “blog crawl”. Somewhat like a pub crawl, a blog crawl begins at one place--my blog site--and meanders through a lot of similar places, like your site. Unlike a pub crawl, however, no one requires a taxi to get back home at the end. :)
The idea is that I will do a series of posts in February, each one leading to the next and referring to the one before. The posts will be entertaining and…
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Added by Peg Herring on January 3, 2011 at 10:20pm —
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People often ask authors where their ideas come from. I speak not for others, but as for me--not a clue most of the time.
THE DEAD DETECTIVE AGENCY, my January release, seems to have stemmed from a conversation I had with my son, a Merrill Lynch VP. He mentioned that he had fired one of their employees for selling away. I asked what that was, and he explained. It took root somewhere in my head, and the idea for a mystery formed.
Where the dead part came from, I could not tell…
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Added by Peg Herring on December 20, 2010 at 11:03pm —
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It's Wrong, So Make It Right--Rewrite
A writer who is paying attention knows when something's wrong with a project. That knowledge does not come early on, and often not easily. For me, when the writing is ongoing, it is important to get the main story down, and details almost have to be left fuzzy. I am an insistent advocate of "rest time" for a first-draft manuscript, time (like a month) in a drawer or on a CD so I see it with fresh eyes. Any MS needs multiple rereadings by the author…
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Added by Peg Herring on December 6, 2010 at 11:31am —
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The joke here is that the first day of deer season is a holiday, and in truth it's pretty close. Schools are closed. Businesses that are sole proprietorships are liable to be locked up, at least until noon. And vacation time is hoarded all year long so that hunters can have The First Day off and as many afterward as they can afford.
Those who don't hunt don't get it. The chance to be cold sitting still for hours. The chance to be dirty in a camp with other dirty men and no plumbing. The…
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Added by Peg Herring on November 15, 2010 at 9:53pm —
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Good to go; good to come home. Magna was fun, well-organized, and good for networking with both authors and fans. I've put some pictures up at Criminal Minds:
http://criminalmindsatwork.blogspot.com. Enjoy!
Added by Peg Herring on November 1, 2010 at 10:36pm —
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I've tried being organized, laying out things a week in advance in order to not be last minute about what I will take to a con. It never works.
Whatever I've laid out, a week, a day, or even half a day before will become my most hated items of apparel when the time comes to actually put them into a suitcase. "What was I thinking? Those pants make me look a mile wide!" "And that necklace never hangs right." "Those shoes are sure to hurt after an hour."
Better to wait until an hour…
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Added by Peg Herring on October 28, 2010 at 11:39pm —
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I've only had the thing a month, and already I'm irritated if I want a book and it has not been "Kindlized". I just found my friends Laura Alden and Hannah Reed on Kindle (MURDER AT THE PTA and BUZZ OFFF, respectively), which is cool.
Living in a very small town, I used to have to make a list and then when I got to a town big enough to have a bookstore, look for books I wanted to read. Often, authors I meet at conferences are with small publishers, so the bookstores would have to order the…
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Added by Peg Herring on October 11, 2010 at 10:00am —
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I'm about to give up on an author I know is good, at least on the piece of her work that I'm currently reading. It's pretty obvious that this one was done in a rush, and it suffers. I'm about done suffering along with her.
Someone told me once that a writer's first book is a luxury. She has her whole life to write it, if need be. She doesn't have to send it off until she feels it is ready, and even then, it might take years for someone to notice it. During those years, she can tinker with…
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Added by Peg Herring on October 6, 2010 at 10:00am —
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Your computer says it does, but it just isn't the same. I love my Kindle, but I sometimes want to go to a bookstore and just wander through the aisles, especially the mystery section. I look at the covers, read the back, the inside front, and often the author info. I don't know if the photo influences me to buy the book, but it's fun to know what the writer looks like. I put some back, take some home. Anticipation.
Amazon tries to give me the same experience, but it is not the same. Amazon…
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Added by Peg Herring on October 4, 2010 at 9:53pm —
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I always edit my work many times before I show it to anyone else, knowing myself too well to assume I did it right the first time. Then I send it off and VOILA! someone wants to publish it. Yay!
Then come the edits.
As I read the editor's comments, I think, "Yeah, she's right. I should develop that character more," and later, "Wow. It's true, I left that chapter hanging." Farther on I think, "I really do need to clarify that plot point. She got me there."
What all this means, of…
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Added by Peg Herring on September 28, 2010 at 10:39pm —
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