Infidelity Investigations: E-Catching the Cheater

by Colleen Collins & Shaun Kaufman

We are private investigators who specialize in legal investigations, and we also take the occasional infidelity case. Because one of the Stiletto Gang writers asked us to write about tracking down cheating spouses, we’ll discuss some facets of this work, starting with how private investigators are part therapists and finishing with electronic investigative means, or “e-catching” the cheater.

PIs As Therapists

When somebody calls and says he/she suspects the spouse is cheating, we don’t immediately take the case. Instead we listen. After all, it takes guts to call a complete stranger and reveal your innermost heartache that the person you love might be romantically involved with another.

Typically, we end the call by asking the person to think it over, maybe try marriage counseling before retaining our services. We want the person to be absolutely certain they want to put out the expense to hire a private investigator. More important, we want them to be certain they’re ready to learn the truth.

Signs Someone Might Be Cheating

We’ve heard the following reasons why a potential client thinks a spouse or significant other is cheating:
1. She’s starting exercising, losing weight.
2. He suddenly has the need to work excessive amounts of overtime.
3. She’s taking more business trips, and when she’s away, the husband has trouble reaching her by phone.
4. There’s unexplained credit card charges.
5. Out of the blue, he got a new cell phone and the statements are mailed to his office instead of the home.
6. His wife is getting more cell phone calls, and she’s always leaving the room to talk to this person.
7. Her husband is suddenly texting all the time, claiming it’s a work buddy.

Cell Phones: A Cheater’s Best Friend

In the above list, notice how often cell phones are involved. No big surprise – they’re handy, portable devices that let a philandering partner easily stay in touch with a paramour. We’ve had potential clients call and ask us for the following cell phone investigations – below are common requests and our answers:

Request: I want to see who my wife’s calling. Can you get me records of incoming and outgoing calls to her cell phone?

Answer: No, obtaining others’ cell phone records is illegal. Unless your name is on the signed agreement with that cell phone carrier, it’s illegal for you too. (Note to readers: Not so long ago, there were numerous Internet services that sold others’ phone records – the feds have successfully closed down most of these services, but buyer beware. Purchasing others’ phone records is a felony with possible jail time.)

Request: I see a new cell phone number on my husband’s cell phone history. I think it’s this woman he’s seeing. I want her name and address.

Answer: We’ll check public records for whose name is associated to that cell phone number. But if we also find an address, sorry, we’re not releasing it to you. It’s our duty to protect others’ privacy and their personal safety.

Request: I think my fiancée is fooling around. I want to download spyware on her phone, listen in on her conversations.

Answer: Downloading spyware on an unsuspecting person’s cell phone is committing wiretapping, which both federal and state officials frown on. If you decide to surreptitiously download spyware, and you get caught, you’re facing felony charges and potentially time behind bars.

Computer Spyware
We’ve also had people ask if we can help them download computer spyware on their spouse’s computer. This is akin to asking us to download spyware on a cell phone – if the owner of the computer is unaware of the downloaded software, computer spyware (also called “mobile monitoring software”) can be problematic, if not illegal. Even if a spouse has filed for a divorce, and that computer is still within the home, evidence obtained by capturing snapshots of chat room conversations or email exchanges isn’t always admissible in court because it can violate privacy and eavesdropping statutes.

Chasing Cheaters in Fiction
If you’re writing a story where a sleuth is chasing a cheater, think about how to use some of the above scenarios in your story. It could be a comic subplot if a green-behind-the-ears PI helps a client download spyware onto her boyfriend’s cell phone, the boyfriend discovers the software, and the PI ends up being investigated by the feds or even the local cops! Or maybe a seemingly distraught client hires a PI to watch his spouse, but as the PI digs deeper, she discovers the cheating spouse case was only a ruse for something more ominous.

***Thank you to The Stiletto Gang for hosting us today! We’re giving away a gift Kindle version of How to Write a Dick to one of today’s readers who posts a comment/question (name will be randomly picked before midnight today – please be sure to leave your email address for notification). If you don’t have a Kindle, there are free downloadable Kindle apps for PCs and Macs (we use the downloadable app at home, and it’s great).

Colleen Collins co-owns Highlands Investigations in Denver, Colorado. Her articles on private investigations have appeared in PI Magazine, Pursuit Magazine, PInow.com and other publications. She's written 20 novels for Harlequin and Dorchester and has spoken at regional and national conferences about writing private eyes in fiction.

Shaun Kaufman co-owns Highlands Investigations, and has worked in and around the criminal justice field for over 30 years as a former trial attorney and a current investigator. He's published articles in PI Magazine, the Denver Law Review and other publications, and has presented workshops on a wide variety of investigative topics, including crime scenes, how PIs effectively testify in trials and gang evidence.
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How to Write a Dick: A Guide for Writing Fictional Sleuths from a Couple of Real-Life Sleuths is available on:   Kindle    Nook

The private eye genre has come a long way, baby, with new subgenres – from teenage PIs to vampire gumshoes to geriatric sleuths – attracting new readers every year. Although it can be safely said that all fictional sleuths, or dicks, such as Edgar Allan Poe’s C. Auguste Dupin and Sara Paretsky’s V.I. Warshawski, are thinking machines, depending on their powers of observation, analysis and curiosity, the 21st century has opened up a brave new world of investigative technology, tools and Internet resources that would have made Sherlock Holmes weep with joy.

Unfortunately, most writers are not aware of these state-of-the-art developments that shape today’s professional private dick, which sometimes leave writers floundering with impossible and antiquated devices, characters and methods in stories. Which is why we wrote How to Write a Dick: A Guide for Writing Fictional Sleuths from a Couple of Real-Life Sleuths, whose material we culled from our working a combined 14 years as private investigators (and for one of us, a lawyer, several decades hiring and managing private investigators). As a team, we have taught online classes and presented workshops at writers’ conferences about writing private investigators, and we write the blog Guns, Gams, and Gumshoes on a wide variety of investigative topics. How to Write a Dick isn’t about how to write a novel, but what you need to know to write an authentic, compelling 21st-century sleuth character or story.

Can I be my own Life Coach?

by Maria Geraci

I can't remember the first time I heard the term "life coach." I just know that like lots of other trendy, new wave sort of 21st century adages (like Twitter, Skype, etc...)  the term just sort of crept up on me. And then I began to see it everywhere, most notably in the biographies of lots of writers.

Example:  Susie Smith grew up on the tropical island of Pango Pango, spending the first thirteen years of her life in  a Swiss Family Robinson type tree house, with just two monkeys as her only companions. With graduate degrees from both Harvard and Yale, she has traveled extensively and speaks over fourteen languages. Her non-fiction debut, Check your Baggage at the Front Door, has become a world wide phenomena. Susie runs eight marathons a year and is a life coach, helping other, less adventurous souls achieve their wildest dreams.

Okay, so I made this up, but you get my drift. Life Coaches are "in" right now. Everyone is using them. Take Ron Howard's daughter, Bryce Dallas Howard. She credits her life coach for her ability to balance her busy life. Below is her quote from a New York Times article:

"...decades after her father made it in Hollywood, Ms. Howard, 25, is making her own way in acting, and she's therapist-free. She sees a life coach instead. Ms. Howard, who is on location filming "Spider-Man 3," said her coach helps her navigate the demands of show business on her own terms, including making time for writing and protecting a degree of privacy during press interviews without losing her cool. 

"It's not about rehashing the past," said Ms. Howard, who said she's "really into self-improvement." She called Sherri Ziff Lester, her coach, after a manager friend passed on her name last year. 

"With Sherri," she said, "it's, 'Let's talk about this week.' She asks me a series of questions so that I see my priorities and decide what I need to do."

Life Coaches don't provide therapy. Their job is to motivate you and to help you achieve your goals (both personal and professional). Life Coaches help you overcome negative behaviors that stand in the way of your success. They can help you get "unstuck" from the ruts that slow down your life.

I don't know about you, but all this sounds pretty cool to me. Recently, I wrote down a list of all my goals (personal, professional and financial) and while the list is way too long to share on this blog, I realized there were certain behaviors (2 mostly) that if worked on, would enhance my life considerably. Those were:

1. Daily exercise

2. Finding ways to write more productively.

Unfortunately, with 2 kids in college, a mortgage, car payments, etc... I just can't swing the $50-100 an hour fee that a life coach charges. So, I thought, "Why can't I be my own life coach?" 

I know this sounds shockingly too twentieth century, but isn't that what most of us have been doing since the beginning of time? So I Googled the term "goal setting" and "how to make your goal into a reality." This produced a whole lot of articles and links to more people who will help guide me on my path to perfect nirvana. Argh.

My husband has a saying that I've heard many times (he credits this bit of knowledge from his army days) and I've always taken it as a collective human wisdom. If you do something over and over it will eventually become a reinforced habit. In other words, if when I get up every morning and I force myself to exercise, eventually, this will become a habit for me (hopefully, an enjoyable one.) I used to run when I was younger, and I loved it, but like everything else, the opposite of the "over and over" rule is that if you stop doing something, you will eventually stop doing it all together and it will be harder than ever to pick it back up again.

So: Life Coach Goal number one: For the next two weeks, I will get up every morning and walk for 30 minutes. No matter what. I have written this down on an index card and taped it to my refrigerator where I will see it first thing in the morning when I reach inside to get the half-n-half for my coffee. Consider this my own "coaching tip." Let's see if it works.

In Defense of Paranoia and Over-Protectiveness

My kids say I’m paranoid.

They also say that I’m overprotective.

Yes, and definitely yes.

Being a parent is to know fear as you have never known it before.  Maybe I’m a little overly dramatic (ok, I am), but to wait for your teenaged daughter to come back from a run that inexplicably goes past dusk brings anxiety.  Or to have your twelve-year-old walk through the door ten minutes later than he is supposed to from his trek home from school is panic inducing.  I’ve tried to explain to the kids what goes on in my mind, but they still think I’m crazy, and I guess that’s ok.  To me, it’s a dangerous world out there, something I try to communicate to them without scaring the dickens out of them and making them paranoid like me but they still think I’m crazy and I understand that. I thought my parents were crazy, too, when I was both a tween and a teen. 

Now, however, I “get” it.

Last week, here in New York, an eight-year-old boy went missing on the first day he was allowed to walk home alone from camp.  After begging his parents to let him walk home from camp, they had relented, telling him that they would meet him half way.  He left camp, got lost, and encountered the one person—because I am convinced that 99 out of 100 pedestrians would have led him to his parents—who saw his situation as an opportunity to do harm.  The man, Levi Aron, a citizen in the tight-knit Hasidic community where this little boy lived and worshipped with his family, took him in his car—probably telling him that he would take him to his parents—brought him home and kept him in his attic apartment for a day. The manhunt that ensued after little Leiby Kletzy’s disappearance caused Aron to panic.  So, he killed the boy by suffocating him.

My husband read the story in the paper and looked at our oldest, saying, “And this is why we’re crazy.”

We’re crazy because one chance encounter can have dire consequences.  Sure, these situations are rare, but they are not completely out of the realm of possibility and that’s what makes them all the more horrifying.  Here in the New York metropolitan area, no one can get the image captured on a security camera of that little boy, walking along a busy Brooklyn street, his backpack on his back, walking toward a stranger who had more than one screw loose.  Every time I see it, I want to scream at the boy in the video to “keep walking!”  But he keeps going, not a care in the world, toward the stranger who will do him the ultimate harm.

All parents have been in situations where they have had to make a decision like the one Lieby Kletzky’s parents made.  “Can I walk home today?”  “Can I stop at the ice cream store on the way home from school?”  “Can I take the bus to the mall?”  “Can I go to the midnight show of ‘Harry Potter’?”  His parents, who are raising their family in an insular, and up to this point, practically crime-free city neighborhood, probably felt somewhat comfortable letting him go.  After all, the streets in this neighborhood team with other families, other parents, and people who would help the little guy find his way when he got lost.  I’m sure that they never banked on the fact that a lunatic walked among them on their quiet city streets, someone who would look for the opportunity to hurt a child.

The letters to the editor in our local paper were, for the most part, sympathetic, but of course there were the few that placed blame squarely on the boy’s parents for letting an eight-year-old walk home from camp, a distance of about ten blocks.  He was too young, they claimed.  He didn’t have enough experience with the world, they wrote.  It’s too dangerous out there, they opined.  Perhaps all true.  But once the decision was made the parents fretted a bit, I’m sure, but decided that in their neighborhood, one where everyone is very similar, very family-oriented, very religious and caring of one another, nothing bad would happen.  It’s a parent’s worst nightmare, the one where you make the decision that you have fought against only to acquiesce and have it turn against you in the worst way possible.

I read an editorial in yesterday’s paper by a mother in Los Angeles who allows her young child walk to and from school and who gives him freedoms that even my teenager doesn’t have.  Giving into fear, she posits, means the terrorists have won or something like that.  By not allowing our children some basic freedoms, she says, we are imprisoning them in our hysteria, creating fearful and dependent children not ready to take on the world. She’s right about one thing:  I’m not ready for my children to take on the world.  If that makes me an hysteric, so be it.  Intellectually, I know I cannot protect them from every harm or every monster that roams the landscape. I know that ultimately, I have no control over every situation.  But I have to control the things that I can in the hope that I can keep them safe.

I can’t stop thinking about the little boy in the striped shirt, walking down a safe city street, his backpack on his back.  In my mind, he turns around and goes the other way, away from the maniac who took his life and ruined his family’s.  I don’t think I ever will forget him, just like I have never forgotten six-year-old Etan Patz, a little boy who disappeared in 1979 on a New York City street on the day he walked to his bus stop, never to be found.  His disappearance changed how parents viewed freedom and independence for years to come.   So every time either one of my children asks me why I’m so overprotective, why I’m so paranoid, I’ll say a little prayer for sweet Leiby Kletzky and his family and tell my kids that some day, they’ll understand.

Maggie Barbieri

My Past Jobs and the People I Met While Doing Them

I've been around a long time and have had many jobs--none that I hated, but all that have had a tidbit or a person who I've been able to use in a book.

Of course my first paid jobs were babysitting, which I began at the age of 10. Frankly, I wasn't much good at it, but people continued to leave their children with me for several hours at night. Like many young girls, when I was in my teens I had to fight off dads' groping hands while being driven home. (Never took a second job with their kids.) Haven't put one in a book yet, but I may.

I've worked at a boring job filing for the telephone company, there I met some interesting people. One of my coworkers lived with a man she wasn't married to, my first encounter with such. (Remember, this was a long time ago.) She lived in a downtown L.A. apartment house complete with a Murphy Bed. Another co-worker was a young Mexican woman who lived in East L.A. I went to her wedding, and hubby and I had dinner with the newlyweds in their apartment in the barrio. I see reminders of that visit and neighborhood in many movies. I went to my first baseball game with the gals I worked with, ladies' night so it was free, and we spotted a couple of movie stars. I also went to a nudist camp with another of my co-workers and her family. That was an experience I've yet to write about--but ought to.

I worked as a telephone operator off and on over the years (between babies) and met a lot of interesting people whose parts and personalities I've used in various books.

When I became a teacher in a pre-school for developmentally disabled children, I not only loved the work but I loved the kids. During my ten years at this school, I also went to college (raised teens, was a Camp Fire Leader and had husband in the Seabees who finally retired). I met more intriguing people whose various parts and personalities burrowed into my memory for later use.

From that school, I taught in three different day cares in low-income neighborhoods. I not only met people who ended up in my books, but situations that were perfect fodder for plots. In my first mystery, The Astral Gift, the heroine works in a day care and I gleaned a lot of what happened to her in her childhood and on the job from many different people and gossip told me by my fellow teachers.

Hubby and I moved to where we live now and took over a licensed facility (home) for 6 developmentally disabled women. The perfect job for me. I loved it and I had time to write when the ladies who lived with us went off to work. I also was exposed to a not so wonderful state-run system with far too many leaders who have no real conception of what it takes to provide a good home for folks, and far too many regulations. A bit of this seeped into a psychological horror I wrote called Wishing Makes It So about a very bad little girl who nearly ruins a family. (I also quizzed my couple of grandkids who were young at the time about mean things kids had done to them which also appeared in the book.)

It didn't take me long to realize our new home was in a small town with its very own and unique personality. Also close by was an Indian reservation. New fodder for my books--and of course this was where Deputy Tempe Crabtree was born. Going to Pow Wows, driving the scary, narrow, winding road to the reservation, being involved in the controversy over the building of a casino on the rez, visiting the casino in its various stages of growth, watching the good and the bad that came from the casino, hearing and learning about the many Native American legends all things I borrowed from for my Deputy Tempe Crabtree mystery series.

After 22 years, hubby and I retired from the residential care business after helping the last remaining women in our home find new places to live, taking their desires into consideration (not our responsibility but we knew we'd do a better job than those in charge).

Now instead of going off to work, we've gone to lots of mystery conferences and book fairs in many interesting places--still meeting the most intriguing people.

Over the years I've met enough people and been enough places that I have far more material for books than I have time to write them--but that doesn't mean I've quit paying attention and taking notes.

What about you, have you gotten ideas from any of your jobs or people that you meet in various situations?

Marilyn

Some Enchanted Evening

Some enchanted evening
You may see a stranger,
you may see a stranger
Across a crowded room
And somehow you know,
You know even then
That somewhere you'll see her
Again and again.

My vacation was a roaring success. Highlights included a weekend in Napa (didn't I say that with élan?); 24-hours in Vegas where I won $30; a visit to Alcatraz and the Walt Disney Family Museum (how's that for contrast); and maybe best of all, the opportunity to see (although not formally meet) Ms. Pearl of the Soak & Spin Laundromat. You remember Ms. Pearl, the devoted owner of Leon, the adorable English bulldog? The four-legged star of our Brianna Sullivan series? Leon with his delicate digestive tract, who can clear a room when he's ingested one too many beef jerky treats?

But back to Ms. Pearl. Hubby and I had driven from Las Vegas to Bakersfield, California. It's a long, dusty, not-particularly interesting drive, but the perfect stopping point before beginning our West Coast adventure. We arrived at our hotel, located in an area that was an interesting mix of commercial and tacky. In one direction was The Tease and Please, a strip joint; in the other was The Second Amendment, a gun shop and firing range. I'm a fiction writer, but I couldn't make this stuff up.

Where to head for dinner? I scoured the Triple A Guidebook and discovered a gem – Buck Owens Crystal Palace. Buck was one of the original hosts of Hee Haw. He had lived in Bakersfield and decided to build a museum/dinner theater in his hometown. While Buck died in 2006, the Buckaroos, his back-up band, continue to play the Crystal Palace on Saturday nights. We quickly made reservations for dinner, with the assurance that we could stay to hear the Buckaroos for a $5 cover charge.

The museum, filled with Buck's memorabilia, was actually just a series of exhibit cases that lined the walls of the dining room. It took me several minutes to realize that Buck's "Nudie" suits, which looked to me like the usual TV faux-cowboy sequined numbers, were actually just a brand name, although why the name was chosen remains a mystery. The highlight of the museum is Buck's Cadillac Convertible mounted over the bar.

Dinner consisted of chicken fried steak for hubby (with a Maalox chaser), and a rib eye steak for me. The real fun began when the Buckaroos took the stage. With the first note, the dance floor was flooded with couples eager to line-dance to the country beat. That's when I spotted her. The embodiment of the character I had been writing for months. She was 70-something, dressed in a tight red sweater, denim swirl skirt, cowgirl boots, and a long grey pony tail, that bounced and flounced as she moved effortlessly from one side of the dance floor to the other. Her partner was her age, dressed in jeans and a plaid shirt, and tried valiantly to keep up as best he could, but he was no match for my vision of Ms. Pearl and her perfectly-timed taps and kicks.

As a writer, you try to create believable characters. Sometimes they're grounded in reality; sometimes made up out of whole cloth. Ms. Pearl was a figment of my imagination. And yet, there she was on the dance floor of the Crystal Palace. I looked around for Leon, but dogs aren't allowed in the museum. Didn't matter. I knew he was waiting patiently for Ms. Pearl to return, maybe with a doggy bag just for him.

Ms. Pearl and Leon are featured in the newest Brianna Sullivan e-book mystery, Lottawatah Twister, now available at Amazon, bn.com, and Smashwords. You can also catch up on the series beginning with the first book, I Try Not to Drive Past Cemeteries (although truth in advertising, Pearl and Leon make their first appearances in book 3).

I loved my vacation, hated flying (as usual), and am thrilled to be home, back at my computer creating murder and mayhem.

Marian aka the Northern Half of Evelyn David
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BREAKING NEWS!!!! Lottawatah Twister, the 6th volume of the Brianna Sullivan Mysteries was published on July 16, 2011!  See links below for purchase at Amazon, BN.com, and Smashwords. Lottawatah Twister is the sixth book in the Brianna Sullivan Mysteries ebook series. A novella-length story, Lottawatah Twister continues the spooky, yet funny saga of psychic Brianna Sullivan who planned to travel the country in her motor home looking for adventure, but unexpectedly ended up in a small town in Oklahoma. In Lottawatah Twister, a powerful tornado wreaks destruction on everything in its path and stirs up some unsettled ghosts. It's up to Brianna to figure out whodunnit before the killer strikes again. Leon, the adorable and digestively-challenged bulldog, is back at the center of the action and more than once saves the day – and the beef jerky. Brianna is forced to answer a question that she's avoided since the day she arrived in Lottawatah: why is she sticking around? Lottawatah Twister has more twists and turns than a funnel cloud, with humor to make you laugh out loud and a romance that will touch your heart.

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

The Sullivan Investigation Series
Murder Drops the Ball (Spring 2011)
Murder Takes the Cake- Paperback - Kindle
Murder Off the Books- Paperback - Kindle
Riley Come Home (short story)- Kindle - Nook - Smashwords

Romances

Love Lessons - Kindle - Nook - Smashwords

My Deep Thoughts as I Wait On the AC Man

by Susan McBride

We didn't have our air conditioner checked before the summer, and it's been a hot one.  So the thing has been running overtime (and, knock on wood, doing just fine). But I've been busy with deadlines so I put it off and put it off...until the Air Comfort people had called me twice to remind me that, per our contract, we get an AC exam and furnace exam annually.  And perhaps since August was fast approaching, we might want to do the AC check soon?  I finally said, "Okay, okay!  How about Wednesday?"

My favorite thing about waiting for a service call (whether it's to repair something or not) is the, "They'll be there between eight and noon" time frame.  So you can't leave the house, and you can work, but not on something that requires intense concentration because you may very well be interrupted.  If you're the spouse at home, you know how this goes.  Usually it's closer to noon than to eight, but you never know.  So you're too afraid to get deeply absorbed in anything, sure the doorbell will ring just as you're writing that all-important final graph of a very critical chapter.

I'm not sure spouses or significant others who work outside the house understand how this throws off a day.  I did make Ed stay home once when the electricians showed up to rewire our electrical box, mostly because he has frequently reminded me that his undergrad degree was in electrical engineering.  So I told him, "Then you should be here to make sure they do things right."  I think he enjoyed himself, hanging out with the guys in toolbelts, talking about wiring and amps and tripping switches.

I have to say that we have very nice plumbers, electricians, AC/furnace guys, and so on.  I've known most since 1996 when I bought my condo, and I've depended on them in this house that we purchased five years ago.  In fact, when they show up at the door, I'm tempted to hug them. I feel like they're old pals as well as heroes who can rescue us from dripping pipes, electrical boxes that are fire hazards, and so much more. 

Take the AC/Furnance Dude, for example.  The last time he was here was November of 2010 to check the furnace. I was madly working on LITTLE BLACK DRESS with the deadline fast approaching.  His wife had just had a baby, and I had found out I was pregnant.  So we talked about books and babies before, during, and after he worked.  When he showed up today, he asked how things went, and I had to tell him that we'd lost the bambino at eight weeks.  He shared some stories with me about his and his wife's road to having two kids, and then we yakked about scars and sun damage and books again.

Ed's a lot more reserved than I am, so sometimes he's surprised at my conversations with people outside the family (and online!).  I remember my grandfather saying once to my grandma, "You know people's life stories from being on an elevator with them," and Ed feels much the same way about me.  Only whomever I'm talking to probably learns a bit about me as well!  I think it's the Internet Effect.  Once you have an online presence with web site, blogs, Facebook pages, and interviews scattered across the World Wide Web, sharing pieces of your life isn't such a big deal.

Granted, I have a line I wouldn't cross.  There are portions of my life that aren't for public consumption.  But I figure that if I'm comfortable enough to talk about certain aspects of my health, for example, in a presentation to 800 women at the Susan G. Komen Survivors' Luncheon, I'd better not be shy when I get questions like, "How's the boob?"  Or, "How did that Moh's surgery go?" 

That's what this morning's visit with our lovely AC/Furnance Dude made me think about.  Well, that and the fact that I hate waiting on anyone (especially when I'm given a four-hour window).  But then I'm not sure anybody likes that.  ;-)

So you’re published. Now what?

by Lorhainne Eckhart


You’re a new author. Your book’s published, your dreams been turned into a reality. It’s an exciting time… well it should be. Except, you find out the publisher doesn’t promote your book for you. You need to do all the work. Then you ask yourself, what exactly does my publisher do for me anyway? But let’s save that for another blog.

Next, you’ve discovered all these outlets of people, who’ll take your hard-earned money-- for promotion, advertising, help with social media, create your website, arrange blog tours. The list goes on.

First, let’s talk about websites. You need one…everyone knows this right? You have to have an online presence. You want your website to look professional, so you hire a website designer to create your masterpiece that shows off your book, your buy links, all about you, and your other books. They do a fantastic job, your website looks great, but then you find out you can’t make any changes. You have to pay this website designer to make all changes for you. They control it. It’s on their timeline. And you think, how could I have been that stupid. Well it’s easy… you didn’t think to ask the question. And it’s not a good thing to give up that kind of control, with the amount of changes we need to make to our websites to keep them updated. If you decide to go the route of hiring a website designer, make sure one of the first questions you ask is: Do I have access to make changes? Who owns my website? And make it a condition before you hire anyone to design your website, you have control over it. Otherwise walk away and find someone else.

Can you do it yourself? Absolutely. Website hosting companies now have basic templates that are pretty easy to use. They walk you through the set-up, so you create your own website. It won’t be anything spectacular, but it’s a start and you can save yourself some dollars. But remember, everything you choose to do on your own is time consuming, and takes away from your writing. Look at your budget. How much are you willing to spend?

Now I need to credit Amanda Hockings for this next brilliant idea. It was one of her blogs that I read, and by the way I’m one of her fans and followers. She points out all the people ready to take our hard earned money, and do all these promotions for us. We pay them, and then they don’t produce. Her suggestion, which I followed through on and then added too, hire someone to do all you’re PR, graphic design, help with social media, and pay them 10% of your royalties. It’s a win win situation. It’s in their best interest to make sure you’re a success. If you don’t make money, they don’t make money. Put it out there. I can honestly tell you that I would have leapt at an opportunity like that.

Now on a final note with websites, and blogs, you need to make it really easy for people to follow you—to get in touch with you. Make sure your Twitter,  Facebook, Goodreads, your blogs, all your social media links are easily accessible, and linked; one easy click to follow you. And yes, you need to have those online social media accounts, and you need to be an active participant. How else are your readers going to find your books.

You also want to make sure you have an email link to contact you. Make it as easy as possible for people, your fans, to find these links to contact you. Put your links everywhere. Nothing turns off fans more than having to search your website, and/or your blog for ways to follow you, or to send you an email. Now take a look at your blog, your website, your social media accounts and ask yourself. Do I have an online presence, and am I easy to find?
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From Lorhainne Eckhart, Author of The Captain’s Lady, comes a Romantic Mystical Suspense that sizzles with passion and unforgettable drama.

“A wonderful tale of courage, and real-life choices that’ll keep you riveted.” Mimi Barbour, Author of, The Vicarage Bench Series

Marcie Hollis is a Wiccan, who’s always played by the rules. That’s until she meets Dan McKenzie, a man who she believes to be the knight in shining armor she’s been searching for all her life. However, Dan’s not who he appears to be. He lures Marcie into his world of lies, greed and high-grade marijuana. But fate intervenes on Marcie's illicit trip for Dan to New Orleans, when she's robbed in a crowded airport. The thug not only makes off with her suspicious backpack, he knocks her down, her head slams on the concrete floor, and she loses her memory right in the path of DEA agent, Sam Carre.

After a six-month investigation into the activities of a big time drug dealer crumbles, the same day damming evidence is found stuffed in Sam’s locker – evidence suggesting he’s the notorious leak on the team, Sam jumps on the first plane home. Arriving in a crowded airport in New Orleans - his reputation and loyalty are in question. But even though Sam’s tired, disillusioned and haunted by a past that gives him no peace, he stops to help an attractive stranger when she falls in front of him. Then in an act of chivalry, he takes her to his home until the police can identify her. When questions arise about Marcie, and what she’s involved in, the answers lead them to the exact felons Sam investigated in the Pacific Northwest.

When her illusive memory returns, this complex case pushes them both to explain the unexplainable, and leaves Sam with a haunting question. Was she set up, or was this a game she played? Sam’s forced to make a choice, walk away from the attraction that connects them, or risk losing everything.
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Lorhainne Eckhart began her writing career in 2008, when she published her first novel, The Captain’s Lady, a Contemporary Military Romance. Lorhainne Eckhart is a member of the RWA, Sisters in Crime and Victoria RWA. She makes her home on beautiful Vancouver Island, and lives in the country with her three children. The mother of a special needs child. And one of her greatest gifts was having to learn, organization, structure, and how to stay focused on what’s really important in life. She lives by simple rules, the same she teaches her children. Stay honest, be impeccable with your word, never take advantage of anyone, and treat everyone with respect. She’s an advocate for children with special needs. Passionate about preserving our environment, wildlife, and protecting what natural resources we have left, so there will be a future for our children.

Lorhainne loves her garden, nature and all animals. When she isn’t being a busy Mom, working on, and promoting her next novel, you’ll find her horseback riding on the trails, working in the garden, or outside enjoying nature.

Lorhainne is an avid reader and writer. She writes romantic suspense, but enjoys reading novels from all genres. Some of her favorite authors include Suzanne Brockmann, Tess Gerritsen, Nelson DeMille, James Patterson, Karen Robards, and Karin Slaughter.

Her latest novel, The Choice, Book One of Walk the Right Road Series, is a romantic, mystical suspense. And explores an issue most women have fallen victim to at one time in their life. The masterful predator who preys on vulnerable women, and clouds the invisible barrier between right and wrong. What would you do for someone you love?

LEAVE A COMMENT AND BE ENTERED INTO A DRAWING FOR A FREE EBOOK COPY OF THE CHOICE. LORHAINNE IS GIVING AWAY 3 COPIES - THERE WILL BE THREE WINNERS! (be sure to leave a contact email address in the comment section or email your contact information directly to Lorhainne.)

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Illusions – Lorhainne’s Blog
Lorhainne Eckhart’s Author Website
Email Lorhainne

The WAW System

Or
Why Novelists Make Such Terrible Employees

By Bethany Maines

I once had a job as an illustrator for a physical therapy software company and at some point my passive-aggressive boss sent me an email that said, “You sure type a lot for an artist.” A statement that is, let’s face it, entirely accurate, and also lead to the development of my stealth typing technique. I can’t blame her for being suspicious. I had a set number of illustrations I needed to create each day and after I awhile I figured I could do the minimum number in about half a day and I also figured that finishing my novel would go a lot faster if I did it while I was at work. I called it “Working” At Work or WAW. It must have been amazing how I consistently managed to hit my minimum, and no more, day after day.

I would have felt more guilty except that I strongly suspected my boss had mental health issues, and she already didn’t like me since the day I accidentally blurted out my true opinion on the names of her children. Note, dear readers, that when someone says that her children are named Rainbow and Chrysalis because she wanted names that she “could never say in anger,” you should never respond, “Well, your first mistake was thinking you’d never want to.” Actually, just in general, you should probably engage your brain before speaking – email and let me know how you manage that. I’ve never quite figured it out.

At any rate, I did not keep that job forever (just far too long), but the WAW System served me well from that day to this. Or at least it did up until this year when a friend and I opened our own graphic design business. Suddenly, writing a novel on The Man’s dime is not quite so appealing when I am The Man. Suddenly, WAW means “Whaaaawww, I don’t have enough time.” Suddenly, I’m only four chapters into my latest manuscript. Or to be more accurate, not so suddenly. It’s been months. It’s not like I don’t know what happens – unemployed actress Tish Yearly visits her ex-CIA agent grandfather and ends up investigating a murder. It’s quirky, it’s charming, it’s got a beef cake Sheriff’s deputy. I even know “who done it” even (always crucial in a mystery), and yet, I’m still stuck on chapter four because someone thought doing all the graphics for an 2500 person, black-tie, fundraising event that takes place at our local zoo THIS FRIDAY would be a good idea. Oh, right, that was me. Damn. Ok, but after Friday, it’s all writing all the time. Ok, maybe after Saturday. Some sleep would be nice.