Saying Goodbye and Planning for the Future

Hi Gang,
I'm turning in my Stiletto heels with this post. The amount of writing and promo and releasing and of course, the day job, has caused me to cry uncle.

If you don't know, I have two series - The Tourist Trap and the new Cat Latimer Mystery series that releases to book stores in September 2016. I have the lovely cover, but I've been sworn to secrecy until my publisher does a cover reveal. So watch for that coming up.

I hate not doing things well, and I'm struggling to get everything on my list completed. So I've been contemplating what I can juggle. I'll be focusing my blogging on my website - www.lynncahoon.com
Stop by soon. There's a gooey butter cake recipe that was the hit of the Thanksgiving table this year.

Anyway, I wanted to leave you with my favorite time management techniques since it's almost time to set new goals (or resolutions) for 2016.

#5 - List out what you HAVE to do. Set these deadlines in ink on your 2016 planner. What? You don't have a planner? Get one. Digital or paper (I still love my paper), a planner is an easy way to set reachable goals each month and adjust when emergencies happen.

#4 - Set annual goals - Want to save money? Set a yearly goal, then work at it each month. You'll be surprised how fast those dollars add up if your consistent. Same with word count. You don't write a 100K novel in a week. (Or at least I don't, but I hear rumors it's been done.) You write it by getting your daily word count done every day. 500 words a day equals  176,000 words in a year. Or a novel plus two weeks of vacation time.

#3 - Divide your goals into month's targets. It takes me just about two months to write a cozy. A little less to write a contemporary series size romance.  I know what I'm writing all of 2016 and had to move some of my want-to-write projects to 2017. A successful author early in my career told me they had a spreadsheet for the next five years on what they were writing. Now that I'm contracted, I understand the necessity of her process.

#2 - Make a weekly to do list - I have a list I write in my planner each week, filling in the days with appointments or book related activities. This week, I'm attending my critique group, so my word count for that day will be slim to none, but I can adjust to other days. Planning to reach goals during the week gives you the flexibility and accountability.

#1 - Do one thing today before 11 am that moves you toward your goal. Just one thing. Rinse and repeat tomorrow.

I hope that helps you take your dreams and turn them into reality.  I've enjoyed my time here with the Stiletto Gang and I'm sure I'll see many of you out there on the web. Thank you for being part of my virtual family.

Lynn

Hooray, it Rained and Snowed in the Mountains

For all of you who don't live in California, I'm sure you think I'm a bit nuts since the rest of the country has had their fill of rain and snow. But here in California, we're having drought conditions. No rain for about two months, and this is our rainy season. We seldom have any rain in the summer, so we count on the snow melt to keep our rivers flowing and the lakes for recreation and more importantly, irrigation, full. All of California is suffering--not good for all the crops. (Think citrus, grapes, peaches, plums etc. and strawberries, all kind of vegetables and nuts too. We also grow lots of cotton.)

Right now the river behind our house is barely moving--and people all along the way count on this water for irrigation too. Our lake that the river feeds into is not much more than a giant mud hole.

Some of the Indians have been doing rain dances and a group of Catholic Bishops have been getting together to pray for rain. We've been praying in church for snow in the mountains and rain in the valley in our church too.

So night before last when I woke up to heavy rain fall, I was thrilled. And in the morning it was still raining.
Even better, when I looked out the window, I could see snow on the mountains. It's a good start, but we need much, much more.

On email I saw a photo of snow that my grandson's wife displayed on Facebook--snow in Aspen where they live. It puts a lot of others' snowfall to shame. Too bad we can't get a small part of this.

So I'm going to keep praying for rain and snow in the mountains.

Marilyn aka F. M. Meredith

Going Fallow...

Unplanted, unseeded, unsown, bare, empty, seedless…

Uncreative, unproductive, barren, idle, inactive…

Driving out to the in-laws place for Christmas dinner, we saw a lot of fallow land. Crops harvested and the land let sit until spring plowing. I’m feeling a lot like those forgotten fields.

I wrote three books, two novellas, and a handful of shorts for 2013. And a whole lot of blogs, not just a peck but a bushel or two, keeping up the farm imagery. So this week, as I’m off for my holiday, I thought I’d tidy up the year by finishing a romance that I’d started during the spring. I’d set it and all my notes aside when the Tourist Trap mysteries were contracted in April. 

Unfortunately, I’m being uncreative, unproductive, and barren, at least for my word count. I've read my previous chapters trying to get back into the story. I've pulled out my vision board for the story, placing it next to my computer so I can see the images. Four days, 1062 words. Not my best showing.

So, instead I’m switching gears and working on page proofs for Guidebook to Murder, Book 1 of the Tourist Trap Mysteries. I moved my books to a new place. I've kind of cleaned my desk. And, to prove I’m utterly blocked, I've not only kept up my exercise plan, I set up a budget for 2014.

Instead of fighting the lack of progress, I’m taking the time to recharge by reading, watching movies, and spending time with my loved one. I’ll try for words again tomorrow. Today, I have a book calling my name.

What are you doing this long winter’s night?

Lynn

Lights, Camera, Action

By Evelyn David

Rhonda and I have been taking Hollywood meetings since we wrote the first Sullivan Investigations mystery, Murder Off the Books. Of course, those meetings have been imaginary, but we prefer to think of them as practice sessions for when we really do get "the call." Or another way to look at it, we create fictional characters and settings for our books, what's to stop us from creating fictional casting sessions? In a perfect example of the mind meld of the collective Evelyn David (as well as reflective of our ages), we both have always envisioned James Garner, from the Rockford Files era, as Mac Sullivan.

But these fantasy casting sessions have taken on new meaning over the last week because Evelyn David has gone Hollywood, minus the sunglasses, plastic surgery, and actually, you know, going to California. We've decided to release the three Mac Sullivan mysteries, as well as the first Brianna Sullivan novella, as individual audio books. We're looking for a reader who can handle both male and female voices and capture the tone, pacing, and humor we've written.

Not a job for the faint-hearted. Think about it. When Julia Roberts played Vivan Ward, the prostitute with a heart of gold in Pretty Woman, she didn't also have to play Edward Lewis, handsome, tough businessman (Richard Gere's role), not to mention the sleazy business associate that Jason Alexander captured perfectly. We're asking one person to play detective, love interest, and dog – and for the listener to instantly grasp who's talking to whom, where, and why.

And we love it. We've received several audition tapes of a few pages of each book. Some actors nail it – and some have been instant rejections. We think we've found the perfect reader for the Brianna book – still struggling with finding the right one for the Mac/Whiskey mysteries (dogs are so hard to cast).

Stay tuned.

 

All right Mr. DeMille, we're ready for our close-up.

(Can you name the movie?)

Evelyn David

 

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Click the link below to find out how to get 10 free ebooks
(including Murder Off the Books by Evelyn David)
Note: limited time offer

http://tinyurl.com/BeachReadFree10

 

 

 

 

Sullivan Investigations Mystery
Murder Off the Books Kindle - Nook - Smashwords - Trade Paperback
Murder Takes the Cake Kindle - Nook - Smashwords - Trade Paperback 
Murder Doubles Back Kindle - Nook - Smashwords - Trade Paperback
Riley Come Home (short story)- Kindle - Nook - Smashwords
Moonlighting at the Mall (short story) - Kindle - Nook - Smashwords

 

Zoned for Murder
Kindle
Nook
Smashwords
Trade Paperback

Brianna Sullivan Mysteries - e-book series
I Try Not to Drive Past Cemeteries- Kindle - Nook - Smashwords
The Dog Days of Summer in Lottawatah- Kindle - Nook - Smashwords
The Holiday Spirit(s) of Lottawatah- Kindle - Nook - Smashwords
Undying Love in Lottawatah- Kindle - Nook - Smashwords
A Haunting in Lottawatah - Kindle - Nook - Smashwords
Lottawatah Twister - Kindle - Nook - Smashwords
Missing in Lottawatah - Kindle - Nook - Smashwords
Good Grief in Lottawatah - Kindle - Nook - Smashwords
Summer Lightning in Lottawatah - Kindle - Nook - Smashwords

The Ghosts of Lottawatah - trade paperback collection of the Brianna e-books
Book 1 - I Try Not to Drive Past Cemeteries (includes the first four Brianna e-books)
Book 2 - A Haunting in Lottawatah (includes the 5th, 6th, and 7th Brianna e-books)

Romances
Love Lessons - Kindle - Nook - Smashwords