Pepper Smith's Posts - CrimeSpace2024-03-29T01:58:35ZPepper Smithhttps://crimespace.ning.com/profile/Reefrunnerhttps://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/60986830?profile=RESIZE_48X48&width=48&height=48&crop=1%3A1https://crimespace.ning.com/profiles/blog/feed?user=Reefrunner&xn_auth=noMundania Press is running a Summer Saletag:crimespace.ning.com,2013-06-27:537324:BlogPost:3738422013-06-27T17:30:00.000ZPepper Smithhttps://crimespace.ning.com/profile/Reefrunner
<p>My publisher is running a 20% off sale until September 30, 2013. All print and ebooks are on sale. Just enter the code SUN in the discount box at checkout.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Mundania has a growing mystery list for you to check out. And if you've ever been curious about my Patty O'Donnell series, now's the time to pick it up at a discount!</p>
<p> </p>
<p><a href="http://www.mundania.com" target="_blank">Mundania Press (link)</a></p>
<p>My publisher is running a 20% off sale until September 30, 2013. All print and ebooks are on sale. Just enter the code SUN in the discount box at checkout.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Mundania has a growing mystery list for you to check out. And if you've ever been curious about my Patty O'Donnell series, now's the time to pick it up at a discount!</p>
<p> </p>
<p><a href="http://www.mundania.com" target="_blank">Mundania Press (link)</a></p>And then, sometimes they really get it--New Review for Blood Moneytag:crimespace.ning.com,2010-09-24:537324:BlogPost:2508692010-09-24T00:30:00.000ZPepper Smithhttps://crimespace.ning.com/profile/Reefrunner
This just popped up in my Google alerts today--<br></br><br></br>"Pepper Smith’s <i>Blood Money</i> has its eerie and haunting moments,
startling moments and even some thrills, but it is most characterized by its vastly unpredictable plot.<br></br><br></br>Ms. Smith takes a chance and
makes the offbeat work (a thief in the house for a week?) and even seem normal. Although this kicks off with a bit of a scary start, it moves into solving a puzzle; then tension mounts as it becomes a treasure hunt. A further…
This just popped up in my Google alerts today--<br/><br/>"Pepper Smith’s <i>Blood Money</i> has its eerie and haunting moments,
startling moments and even some thrills, but it is most characterized by its vastly unpredictable plot.<br/><br/>Ms. Smith takes a chance and
makes the offbeat work (a thief in the house for a week?) and even seem normal. Although this kicks off with a bit of a scary start, it moves into solving a puzzle; then tension mounts as it becomes a treasure hunt. A further danger lurks out there, with no forewarning at all. This story is beyond unpredictable and from page one, it is completely engaging.<br/><br/>From the chill in the air to the hair-raising sense of an intruder
lurking, Patty, our main character, is in the thick of it. For a work rich in characterization (the author even manages to perfectly reveal one of the stable boy’s character in a spare couple of sentences) Patty is a standout. She’s competent and clever, and we can’t help rooting for her all the way through. Secondary characters abound, but they are clearly written and completely believable. Miles, the instigator for the whole series of adventures, is also just a teenager and at moments so typical! There is more than one antagonist, the one prima donna in the mix, others more dangerous. I would say you must read <i>Blood Money</i> for its depth of characters… but then, the descriptions are believe-you-are-there quality.<br/><br/>Scent, background noise, and other descriptions always contribute to the
aura of any particular passage. The descriptions are thorough and detailed and in no rush. Some might complain that they slow the action and yet they suit the style of this particular story. There are moments of intense action, then things slow. We are able to savor the place, the view… to sense it really, far more so than in many of today’s novels."<br/><br/>The reviewer gave the novel a rating of 5 Books, which is their next to highest rating. The rest of the review is <a href="http://longandshortreviews.blogspot.com/2010/09/blood-money-by-pepper-smith.html">here</a>.<br/><br/><span style="font-style: italic;">Blood Money</span> is available at <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Blood-Money-Pepper-Smith/dp/1606592211">Amazon</a>, <a href="http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/13430">Smashwords</a>, and <a href="http://www.peppersmithbooks.com/html/buy.html">a number of other online retailers</a> around the world, in case your interest is piqued.<br/>Blood Money is now in printtag:crimespace.ning.com,2010-03-22:537324:BlogPost:2306342010-03-22T20:44:05.000ZPepper Smithhttps://crimespace.ning.com/profile/Reefrunner
<p style="text-align: left;"><img alt="" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/70749926?profile=original"></img></p>
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<p style="text-align: left;"><font size="3"><span style="font-style: italic;">Blood Money</span>, the first novel in the Patty O'Donnell Mystery series, is <a href="http://www.mundania.com/book.php?title=Blood+Money">now available from Mundania Press</a>.</font></p>
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<p style="text-align: left;"><font size="3">The back cover reads:…<br></br></font></p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/70749926?profile=original" alt=""/></p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><br/></p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><font size="3"><span style="font-style: italic;">Blood Money</span>, the first novel in the Patty O'Donnell Mystery series, is <a href="http://www.mundania.com/book.php?title=Blood+Money">now available from Mundania Press</a>.</font></p>
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<p style="text-align: left;"><font size="3">The back cover reads:<br/></font></p>
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</p>
<p style="font-style: italic;" class="MsoNormal"><font size="3">"When Patty O’Donnell married her Irish sweetheart and moved from America to her husband’s small home town on the Irish seacoast, the most dangerous things she had to deal with were the half-ton racehorses in her father-in-law’s stables. But when she and her husband return from a late night out to find their house being searched, she discovers there are far worse things lurking in her bucolic surroundings than temperamental Thoroughbreds.</font></p>
<font size="3"><br/></font> <font size="3"><span style="font-style: italic;">"The teenage son of a late family friend brings proof of a<br/>
long forgotten debt owed by the O’Donnells, part of a cargo lost in a shipwreck over a century and a half ago. He wants the cargo salvaged, and quickly, so he can help his mother free herself from her abusive second husband. The O’Donnells are willing, but the search and salvage mission puts them square in the sights of modern-day pirates, who want the salvage for themselves.<br/>
</span> <br/></font>
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<font size="3"><span style="font-style: italic;">"Suddenly, Patty finds herself hunted and in a fight for her life, where yielding to panic means a swift and ugly death."</span></font><p class="MsoNormal"><font size="3"><br/></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font size="3">The April 2010 issue of <a href="http://www.romantictimes.com/books_review.php?book=41371">RT Book Reviews</a> had this to say about Blood Money:</font></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><font size="3"><span style="font-style: italic;">"Smith's suspenseful novel has likable characters and interesting locations. Readers will find themselves settling in for a good time."</span> ~~ Cindy Himler, 4 Stars.)</font></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><font size="3">Futures Mystery Anthology Magazine said:</font></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><font size="3"><span style="font-style: italic;">"Welcome to author Pepper Smith and her heroine Patty O'Donnell. Hang on; you're in for a<br/>
world-win ride."</span>~~Christine I. Speakman<br/><br/></font>
<br />
</p>
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<font size="3"><br/></font><p class="MsoNormal"><font size="3">The book is available as a <a href="http://www.mundania.com/book.php?title=Blood+Money">trade paperback for $11.95</a>, and as a <a href="http://www.mundania.com/book.php?title=Blood+Money">$4.99 ebook</a>, at present in PDF, HTML, MobiPocket, MS Reader, and Epub formats.</font></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><font size="3">To read the first chapter, <a href="http://www.peppersmithbooks.com/Blood-Money-Chapter-1.pdf">click here</a>. (pdf download)<br/></font></p>
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<p></p>Story up at Mysterical-Etag:crimespace.ning.com,2009-09-30:537324:BlogPost:2152212009-09-30T01:32:26.000ZPepper Smithhttps://crimespace.ning.com/profile/Reefrunner
The Fall 2009 issue of <a href="http://www.mystericale.com" target="_blank">Mysterical-E</a> is now up, and among the stories on offer is <a href="http://www.mystericale.com/index.php?issue=current_issue&body=file&file=picture.htm" target="_blank"><b>"Picture Imperfect"</b></a>, by yours truly. It weighs in at 20,000 words (about), so make sure you've got a moment if you head over to read it.
The Fall 2009 issue of <a href="http://www.mystericale.com" target="_blank">Mysterical-E</a> is now up, and among the stories on offer is <a href="http://www.mystericale.com/index.php?issue=current_issue&body=file&file=picture.htm" target="_blank"><b>"Picture Imperfect"</b></a>, by yours truly. It weighs in at 20,000 words (about), so make sure you've got a moment if you head over to read it.New Contractstag:crimespace.ning.com,2009-02-11:537324:BlogPost:1814102009-02-11T17:37:44.000ZPepper Smithhttps://crimespace.ning.com/profile/Reefrunner
I'm excited to announce that the three books in my Patty O'Donnell series have been acquired by Mundania Press. As currently scheduled, the first, <i>Blood Money</i>, is due out in April 2010, to be followed by <i>Rio Star</i> in October 2010, and <i>Reef Runner</i> in April 2011.<br />
<br />
Sample chapters will probably be available at my website before long, but in the meantime you can get to know Patty through the free story posted on my website. Just go to…
I'm excited to announce that the three books in my Patty O'Donnell series have been acquired by Mundania Press. As currently scheduled, the first, <i>Blood Money</i>, is due out in April 2010, to be followed by <i>Rio Star</i> in October 2010, and <i>Reef Runner</i> in April 2011.<br />
<br />
Sample chapters will probably be available at my website before long, but in the meantime you can get to know Patty through the free story posted on my website. Just go to <a href="http://www.peppersmithbooks.com">peppersmithbooks.com</a> and click on the link for "The Uncle Hunt". The download link is toward the bottom of the page.<br />
<br />
Whoohooo!Website Update, and Muse Online Writers Conferencetag:crimespace.ning.com,2008-08-20:537324:BlogPost:1567232008-08-20T00:18:57.000ZPepper Smithhttps://crimespace.ning.com/profile/Reefrunner
Finally got my <a href="http://www.peppersmithbooks.com">website</a> updated. The update includes a pdf download of the short story "The Uncle Hunt", previously published in "Hate: An Anthology of Mystery and Murder."<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.themuseonlinewritersconference.com">The Muse Online Writers Conference</a> for 2008 is coming in October. Registration is open, but it closes on September 1, 2008. The conference organizers are keeping the deadline strict this year, so if you don't register by…
Finally got my <a href="http://www.peppersmithbooks.com">website</a> updated. The update includes a pdf download of the short story "The Uncle Hunt", previously published in "Hate: An Anthology of Mystery and Murder."<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.themuseonlinewritersconference.com">The Muse Online Writers Conference</a> for 2008 is coming in October. Registration is open, but it closes on September 1, 2008. The conference organizers are keeping the deadline strict this year, so if you don't register by the cut-off date, you'll have to wait for next year's conference.<br />
<br />
The Muse conference is a free, week-long event, with instructors who believe in 'paying it forward' working on a volunteer basis. There are workshops on offer for writers at many different levels of expertise. Check out the conference website and see if there's anything on offer that interests you.Stereotypes and Writingtag:crimespace.ning.com,2008-07-10:537324:BlogPost:1507532008-07-10T17:09:10.000ZPepper Smithhttps://crimespace.ning.com/profile/Reefrunner
I’ve been pondering this one for a while, and decided to finally get my brain in gear and write it.<br />
<br />
A number of years ago, before my first novel made it to print, a reader complained about the fact that my characters of a particular nationality weren’t the way characters of that nationality were portrayed in movies. I explained to her, politely, that the characters in the movies were stereotypes, and that I don’t use them.<br />
<br />
Stereotypes are a sort of shorthand that is used to invent characters…
I’ve been pondering this one for a while, and decided to finally get my brain in gear and write it.<br />
<br />
A number of years ago, before my first novel made it to print, a reader complained about the fact that my characters of a particular nationality weren’t the way characters of that nationality were portrayed in movies. I explained to her, politely, that the characters in the movies were stereotypes, and that I don’t use them.<br />
<br />
Stereotypes are a sort of shorthand that is used to invent characters without giving much thought to it. Movies and television use them because they’ve got only so much time to tell a story, and they can’t afford to spend much of it developing their characters. Since movies and tv are such a pervasive part of our culture, their use of that particular shorthand is a trap that we can easily fall into. Got an Italian character? Throw in a love of pasta and a few ‘Mama Mia’s and you’ve got it, right?<br />
<br />
Well, only if you’re writing a five minute children’s cartoon.<br />
<br />
Writing characters according to stereotypes is somewhat undesirable because a) people are not all alike, inside or outside arbitrary national lines, and b) stereotypes often originated as uncomplimentary characterizations based on national prejudices.<br />
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Writing to stereotypes also suggests that the author didn’t do his/her homework.<br />
<br />
If you have a character of a nationality other than your own, take some time to do some research into the history of the country your character comes from. If you can find books that tell you about the culture of that particular nation, it will help you to understand your character better, and you can write a more fleshed-out person rather than a one-size-fits-all, flat stereotype.<br />
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A word of caution, though—if you intend to use that nation’s slang and idioms in your character’s conversations, try to get someone from that nation to help you get it right.<br />
<br />
Some time ago, I decided, for reasons I won’t go into, to learn Irish gaelic. I quite enjoyed the studying, learning new words and sentence structures, but discovered something that stayed with me a lot longer than the language did. Slang and idiomatic sayings are intimately tied into the culture and history of the people who made them up. If you have no understanding of the culture and history, and have no one to help you correct your mistakes, it’s better not to use them. There is nothing that screams ignorance louder than the improper use of them.<br />
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Don’t worry that not throwing in the stuff you hear in the movies is going to keep your readers from knowing who your characters are. I usually just have mine speaking good old plain English, and I can’t tell you the number of times people have told me, “Oh, such and such sounded so (fill in nationality).” Once your reader knows a character is a certain nationality, they’ll fill in the accent, among other things.What makes a writer a writer?tag:crimespace.ning.com,2008-03-11:537324:BlogPost:1299822008-03-11T21:00:00.000ZPepper Smithhttps://crimespace.ning.com/profile/Reefrunner
Crossposted from my other blog...<br />
<br />
I tend not to say an awful lot while I'm online. Mostly, I 'listen' to the conversations going on on message boards and lists, learning and picking up interesting tips and tidbits as I go along. I'm still too new at this, and a bit too unknown as a published author to have much of importance to add.<br />
<br />
I have to admit that there are times when some of my fellow authors do and say things that leave me scratching my head. There are writers who seem to feel all…
Crossposted from my other blog...<br />
<br />
I tend not to say an awful lot while I'm online. Mostly, I 'listen' to the conversations going on on message boards and lists, learning and picking up interesting tips and tidbits as I go along. I'm still too new at this, and a bit too unknown as a published author to have much of importance to add.<br />
<br />
I have to admit that there are times when some of my fellow authors do and say things that leave me scratching my head. There are writers who seem to feel all authors are involved in some sort of vicious competition for readers, and that it behooves them to do everything in their power to sabotage those around them. In their opinion, anyone who hasn't jumped through all the same hoops they did isn't worthy of the name 'writer' and should be slapped down with utmost speed. Those who haven't been published yet are beneath their notice. I believe the term that often crops up in these cases is 'wannabe'.<br />
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Frankly, it's a form of 'me-ism' that turns me off. Thank you for revealing your attitudes, folks. I have quite enough stuff in my TBR pile as it is. I'm thankful that you stepped right up and took your books out of the stack.<br />
<br />
I'm not going to point at specific individuals or organizations. That's not what this is about. It's about what makes a writer a writer.<br />
<br />
We all, or at least most of us, learned to write in school. We learned to put words on a page in an order that made sense. Under that definition of the word, we are all writers. We all use those basic skills in some form or another in everyday life, even if it's just in making out the grocery list. That's not, however, what most people think of as being a writer. But they are the basic skills that all writers begin with.<br />
<br />
The major difference between most people and 'writers' is that writers take those basic skills and try to convey something with them. Not all writing fields are fiction, though that's the one I'm the most familiar with. Writing is like any other skill--you start out with the basic understanding of how it works, and you work upward from there. You wouldn't spend two hours learning how to toss a set of juggling balls back and forth between your hands, and then expect to get on stage and juggle fire. The flashy tricks come after perhaps years of practice. But it's interesting to note that jugglers who are at the beginning of learning, who have mastered the basic skills and are working their way upward a bit at a time toward that goal of juggling fire, are not called 'wannabes,' except perhaps by those with a high opinion of themselves. They're simply less skilled jugglers.<br />
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If you're at the beginning, you feel the drive, you have stories to tell, and you're working on your skills, you're a writer. Publishing is a wonderful goal, a validation of your hard work, but like juggling fire, unless you're that extremely rare, extraordinary person, you're not going to get there overnight, and certainly not without the hard work. In fact, most of what is called 'overnight success' is actually the result of years of hard work.<br />
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The only time 'wannabe' should apply to any 'writer' is when that 'writer' makes big claims about the books he's going to write and how he's going to be the biggest thing since sliced bread, but never makes an effort to see it through. That's a 'wannabe', he wannabe a writer, but doesn't want to put the effort into actually being one. 'Wannabe' should never be applied to writers who are making the effort to learn and practice their skills. It's a put-down meant to squash, a knee-jerk reaction that expresses more about the one saying it than the one it's being applied to.<br />
<br />
I know I've used the W-word quite a lot in this post. And by that, I mean 'work'. Writing is a skill that requires an apprenticeship of sorts, though nobody ever tells us that. We're taught the basic skills and then tossed out into the world to flounder around until we either figure out what we're doing or give up. If you're at the beginning and you're wise, you'll seek out a group, or maybe several groups, where you can get your work critiqued. Expect that you'll be doing your fair share of critiquing. You learn by reading what works and what doesn't in other people's work, as well as having your own strengths and mistakes pointed out to you. Don't think you're not going to make mistakes. It's how you respond to them that will make a difference in whether you'll get to your goal or not. And just because your name isn't in Books In Print, don't let anyone ever tell you you're not a writer. You may not be a published writer, but you are a writer.Hark! What's that falling on the roof?tag:crimespace.ning.com,2007-08-20:537324:BlogPost:649212007-08-20T00:46:20.000ZPepper Smithhttps://crimespace.ning.com/profile/Reefrunner
I do believe it's raining, courtesy of what used to be tropical storm Erin. At the moment the temperature is comfortable. It's amazing how difficult it is to write when you feel like someone's slowly sauteing your brain in hot oil. Things are supposed to get back into the lower 90s by the end of the week, but maybe they won't get back up around 100. With all this rain, that extra humidity would make things utterly miserable.<br></br><br></br>The writing continues on the new novel. It's not the fastest…
I do believe it's raining, courtesy of what used to be tropical storm Erin. At the moment the temperature is comfortable. It's amazing how difficult it is to write when you feel like someone's slowly sauteing your brain in hot oil. Things are supposed to get back into the lower 90s by the end of the week, but maybe they won't get back up around 100. With all this rain, that extra humidity would make things utterly miserable.<br/><br/>The writing continues on the new novel. It's not the fastest I've ever written something, but I think I'm finally past the bump and it's moving a bit more quickly. At least now, my heroine realizes she's in a great deal of danger, and that the odd things happening before were connected.<br/><br/>The new black cat is looking much livelier and healthier, although she needs to put on some weight. She still believes next door is home, because she goes back over there to sleep under their cars during the heat of the day, but she and our other outside cat have managed so far to work out their differences without getting into an actual fight. Our inside cat has apparently gotten used to seeing me go outside to feed the new one. At first he would follow me around from room to room but didn't want me to touch him. Now he's gotten friendly again. He seems to think that the best place to be is curled up right behind my laptop computer while I'm using it. Don't ask me why. I'd think, as hot as it's been, he wouldn't want to be that close to something that's producing heat.<br/><br/>The <a href="http://www.freewebs.com/themuseonlinewritersconference/index.htm">Muse Online Writers Conference</a> is coming in October, but registration ends August 31 for this year. All chats and workshops are free. I'll be presenting a paper as part of a workshop on adding suspense to your story. Feel free to check out the website and see what's on offer this year!<br/><br/>~~~<br/>Website update, and pet responsibilitytag:crimespace.ning.com,2007-07-31:537324:BlogPost:594722007-07-31T18:42:46.000ZPepper Smithhttps://crimespace.ning.com/profile/Reefrunner
Got to playing with the website builder and revamped my site. In doing so, I got to wondering, who sort of information do readers want to find on an author's website? Feel free to check it out, and let me know what else you might have wanted to see. The link's on the left in my profile. Updating again is no biggie.<br></br><br></br>On the other matter, we've just adopted a new cat, our third, and our second stray. The first one we adopted a year ago. She'd been hanging out in our yard for a while, and…
Got to playing with the website builder and revamped my site. In doing so, I got to wondering, who sort of information do readers want to find on an author's website? Feel free to check it out, and let me know what else you might have wanted to see. The link's on the left in my profile. Updating again is no biggie.<br/><br/>On the other matter, we've just adopted a new cat, our third, and our second stray. The first one we adopted a year ago. She'd been hanging out in our yard for a while, and I figured she was a neighbor's cat taking advantage of the fact that our first cat was a house pet and hadn't staked a claim to the yard. She was skittish and would run before we could get close enough to check her out, so I didn't start worrying about her until she got real skinny and got bold enough to come right up onto the front porch and meow at me through the kitchen window, looking for food.<br/><br/>The new cat, which we adopted about a week ago, wasn't originally a stray. In fact, I know exactly where her family was. They lived in the house next door, and moved out maybe half a year ago, I'm assuming due to the breakup of the family, leaving their critters behind for a local family member to care for while they tried to sell their house. The two dogs gradually disappeared--one was an escape artist, and got the gate open, which allowed the other to get out on the road and get hit. The family member was aware of this, but it was the city that came by to dispose of the body. The escape artist eventually disappeared, though I don't know exactly what happened to it.<br/><br/>They also had the cat, which the family member faithfully came by and fed every day until the day the house sold. The cat hung around the house, and the new neighbors never seemed bothered that it was there, so I'd assumed they'd agreed to take the cat along with the house. The cat had always been skittish and wouldn't let me get close, so it wasn't until about a week ago, when I noticed she was terribly skinny and that her black fur was turning brown in patches, that I realized she had been abandoned and was staying alive by eating whatever she could scavenge. Once I started offering her food, she let me get close enough to pet her. She was almost literally skin and bones. I'm not sure how much longer she would have lasted if things had gone on as they were.<br/><br/>Which brings me to my point--when one adopts an animal, one accepts responsibility for its care. This is something at a lot of people don't really seem to understand. They'll get a puppy or a kitten, raise and care for it until it becomes inconvenient, and then dump it somewhere on the assumption that either someone will take it in, or it will hunt and feed itself. They ignore the fact that an animal raised in the wild by its mother knows how to hunt, but an animal raised by humans often will starve to death because it doesn't know how or where to find food. The casual cruelty in the act of abandoning an animal because it's become 'inconvenient' to continue owning it is appalling. I don't understand how people can leave something they once loved to die such a horrible death.<br/><br/>Enough for now~~<br/>Fun with linkstag:crimespace.ning.com,2007-07-02:537324:BlogPost:519692007-07-02T16:37:13.000ZPepper Smithhttps://crimespace.ning.com/profile/Reefrunner
Who knew adding a blog to your site could be such fun?<br></br><br></br>If anyone's tried to reach my website via the link in my profile, it works now. I guess I didn't read the instructions well enough when I tried adding that Word Press blog to my site. It took over the main site address. I uninstalled it and will try reinstalling it later, once my brain's in gear.<br></br><br></br>Writing continues. My heroine is waiting impatiently for me to come back and make the man with the knife go away, so I guess I'd…
Who knew adding a blog to your site could be such fun?<br/><br/>If anyone's tried to reach my website via the link in my profile, it works now. I guess I didn't read the instructions well enough when I tried adding that Word Press blog to my site. It took over the main site address. I uninstalled it and will try reinstalling it later, once my brain's in gear.<br/><br/>Writing continues. My heroine is waiting impatiently for me to come back and make the man with the knife go away, so I guess I'd better oblige her.<br/><br/>~~~~<br/>What the--?tag:crimespace.ning.com,2007-06-22:537324:BlogPost:502122007-06-22T17:45:10.000ZPepper Smithhttps://crimespace.ning.com/profile/Reefrunner
There are things that they don't tell you about when you get your own website.<br></br><br></br>There are some things, though, that should be explained carefully to those who put up their own web pages to tell the world about themselves. Such as, hotlinking to someone else's graphics without their permission is considered stealing.<br></br><br></br>Imagine my surprise when, in going over the web stats for my site, I discovered a link to a website that I'd never heard of before. A quick hop over to that site…
There are things that they don't tell you about when you get your own website.<br/><br/>There are some things, though, that should be explained carefully to those who put up their own web pages to tell the world about themselves. Such as, hotlinking to someone else's graphics without their permission is considered stealing.<br/><br/>Imagine my surprise when, in going over the web stats for my site, I discovered a link to a website that I'd never heard of before. A quick hop over to that site showed it to be that of a twelve-year-old girl, with no active links or mentions anywhere on her page leading back to my site. Puzzling. After a bit, I noticed that my web stats also showed a particular image file name in conjunction with the link to the girl's site. And then it clicked. She'd hotlinked one of my graphic files to show up on her web page.<br/><br/>And the file she'd chosen to steal bandwidth for? Big drum roll, please....<b>A 600x3 pixel black line</b>. That's right, she stole a line. I swapped out the file for the black line with one that reads "<b>Help me! I'm a stolen graphic!</b>" in big red letters on a white background, which shows up very nicely on her site's dark blue background. I don't know how long it will take her to notice it, because she hasn't updated in a while. In the meantime, I'm trying to get my web host to block hotlinking to my files.<br/><br/>She's also got book covers on her page, of the sort that appeal to kids her age. Makes me wonder who else she's stealing bandwidth from.<br/><br/>~~~~<br/>Summer fog seasontag:crimespace.ning.com,2007-06-15:537324:BlogPost:487582007-06-15T17:35:32.000ZPepper Smithhttps://crimespace.ning.com/profile/Reefrunner
Every time I check this page, I see this poor blog sitting alone and unattended, and I think, "I gotta think of something to post..." Yeah, right. I'm not usually this neglectful when it comes to posting. I just forget what time of year it is.<br></br><br></br>And that is--summer mold season. Otherwise known as the season of brain fog. I'm terribly allergic. It's a great time for reading, and sometimes for writing, because neither of those things necessarily involves direct contact with other people.…
Every time I check this page, I see this poor blog sitting alone and unattended, and I think, "I gotta think of something to post..." Yeah, right. I'm not usually this neglectful when it comes to posting. I just forget what time of year it is.<br/><br/>And that is--summer mold season. Otherwise known as the season of brain fog. I'm terribly allergic. It's a great time for reading, and sometimes for writing, because neither of those things necessarily involves direct contact with other people. Communications, on the other hand, tend to suffer. Family often has to try more than once to get my attention, and not because I'm trying to ignore them. It would be nice if I could take antihistamines, but that's out. I have so many chemical sensitivities that I begin reacting to medications within two or three doses.<br/><br/>Ah well. At least I've only got one writing assignment that needs taking care of, a part for a presentation on writing suspense for the Muse Online Writers Conference, a free, five day event to be held in October. My novel's coming along slowly due to brain fog, but it's actually moving, which is encouraging after a few years of being blocked. Making it to chapter four feels like a huge accomplishment.<br/><br/>LOL! Just sat five minutes trying to think what to say next. The fog rolled in again. Must be all the lawn mowing going on in the neighborhood today, stirring up mold in the grass. That and the neighbor doing their laundry. I really hate perfumed laundry detergent. I know I'm going to get nothing useful accomplished once that smell starts invading the air.<br/><br/>Until the next time there's enough of a clear space in the fog bank~~~<br/>It's still rainy, so it must be Apriltag:crimespace.ning.com,2007-04-26:537324:BlogPost:286682007-04-26T15:50:08.000ZPepper Smithhttps://crimespace.ning.com/profile/Reefrunner
Spoke too soon about the lack of rain. We've still got a deficit, I'm sure, but it's definitely rained, and from the look of the clouds, it will again today.<br></br><br></br>As this is blog #2 for me (Pepper, what were you thinking?!), I probably won't be doing it all that frequently, but I'll be putting stuff here as it occurs to me.<br></br><br></br>I'm enjoying the writing conversations on the forums. It's nice to actually talk with other professionals who are in the same genre--my publisher primarily…
Spoke too soon about the lack of rain. We've still got a deficit, I'm sure, but it's definitely rained, and from the look of the clouds, it will again today.<br/><br/>As this is blog #2 for me (Pepper, what were you thinking?!), I probably won't be doing it all that frequently, but I'll be putting stuff here as it occurs to me.<br/><br/>I'm enjoying the writing conversations on the forums. It's nice to actually talk with other professionals who are in the same genre--my publisher primarily publishes romance, which is not what I write, and the author conversations tend to do with promotion and such in places where mystery/suspense without major romantic aspects just doesn't go over well. So finding crimespace is a bit like stumbling on a room in a large social gathering where you actually understand the language and the conversations. Many thanks to Daniel Hatadi for setting this place up.<br/><br/>Well, my heroine is hovering close around the edges of my thoughts, hoping I'll get back to her, so that's it for now. Hope your writing (or reading) day is productive!<br/><br/>Pepper<br/>Insert clever title heretag:crimespace.ning.com,2007-04-24:537324:BlogPost:279342007-04-24T14:32:41.000ZPepper Smithhttps://crimespace.ning.com/profile/Reefrunner
Ah, getting started on a cool and potentially rainy April morning. There is that old saying about April showers, but after the freeze earlier this month and the serious lack of April showers otherwise, I don't know what sort of flowers May's going to bring.<br></br><br></br>Well, a tiny bit about me. I'm 45, married, and have a teenage son. I've been writing pretty much all my life, not counting the break I took after my son was born. My first mystery story was written with a school friend when I was…
Ah, getting started on a cool and potentially rainy April morning. There is that old saying about April showers, but after the freeze earlier this month and the serious lack of April showers otherwise, I don't know what sort of flowers May's going to bring.<br/><br/>Well, a tiny bit about me. I'm 45, married, and have a teenage son. I've been writing pretty much all my life, not counting the break I took after my son was born. My first mystery story was written with a school friend when I was 9. Handwritten, it took up a lot of pages, but came out to only about 40 when I typed it up years later. We were quite proud of ourselves for finishing it, lol! At this point, though, I don't think it exists anymore.<br/><br/>I began writing with the serious intent of publication around ten or twelve years ago, and have the requisite three manuscripts that will never see publication tucked away in storage. My first published novel, <i>Blood Money</i>, was originally the fourth in a series, but serves well as the first instead. It and the novels <i>Rio Star</i> and <i>Reef Runner</i> comprise the Patty O'Donnell Suspense series, or what there is of it so far. Rio Star was one of four finalists in the 2007 Eppie Awards in the Mystery category. You can find chapter excerpts on my website.<br/><br/>My current WIP is a mystery/suspense set on Maui, featuring a new protagonist. So far, I'm about two chapters in.<br/><br/>I apologize about not having a picture to put up. Maybe someday, but for now, I don't have anything I want to show off to the world, lol!<br/><br/>Pepper~~<br/>