The Mental Getaway

By Laura Bradford

I'm not sure if it's the stress of my impending deadline (although I think this is going to be a really fun book) or life stuff, but I keep finding myself dreaming of places I want to go.

Some, are favorite spots--places I've been and absolutely adore. Others, are places I simply want to go to because of things I've heard or pictures I've seen.

Today, I want to get on a plane and go to Disney. I just want to smile and play and have ZERO stress.

Next week, I could see that becoming my aunt's place in the city...where I can write for hours and then head across the park to watch the sea lion's eat.

Where would you go today if you could?

~Laura

How Do You Decide Which Mystery or Writing Conference to Go to?

Going to mystery cons are so much fun--and I used to go to a lot more than what I do now. The main reason I've cut down is I no longer enjoy flying. I've always had to change planes at least twice and often three times. Once I had to change concourses which meant a bus ride and going through security again.

Back when it was easier, I went to Bouchercon and Left Coast Crime no matter where they were (well in the U.S. anyway.)  After a while it was like going to a reunion because of meeting old friends--some of whom I met at previous cons.

One of my favorite cons was Mayhem in the Midlands which is no longer in existence. Too bad, Omaha was a great place to visit. And that was part of the whole experience, because all these cons are held in different cities, there is the opportunity to see places you'd never get to otherwise.

I went once to Love is Murder and loved it. Being a California native, what I didn't love was flying in right in front of a snow storm--though loved the snow once we got settled in the hotel. Also loved meeting new people, and spending time with old friends too.

I've been twice to Malice Domestic--loved it, but it's just too far away.

Left Coast Crime is another favorite--and I will be going to the one in Monterey CA--that's drivable for me. Whether or not I'll go to Bouchercon (also in CA--Long Beach) hasn't been decided. Driving in L.A. traffic is another things I've given up.

One writing conference I go to every year is Public Safety Writers Association's conference. The participants are made up of men and women in many public safety field, active and retired: police, FBI, dispatchers, firefighters, the Air Force equivalent of NCIS, on police psychiatrist, most of whom write mysteries or want to write mysteries and a small contingent of mystery writers who have figured out this is a good place to make friends with people who know how it really is. A small conference, it's easy to really network.This one is always in Las Vegas in July--another I can drive to, and the month it's held makes the hotel price cheap.

Epic is a conference for e-published authors and publishers. I've been to most of them. This is small and moves around each year. Whether I go to anymore will depend upon where they are

The big question is why go? First off, it's fun. Mystery readers attend Bouchercon and Left Coast Crime. An author can meet readers with a little effort (means speaking to strangers), being friendly, and handing out business cards or bookmarks. I've met several readers this way who have since become my fans..

Because most of us are mystery fans too, it's great to see your favorite authors and tell them how much you love their books.

What Mystery or Writing Conferences do you go to, and why?

Marilyn

Coming very, very soon. #13 in the Deputy Tempe Crabtree mystery series!

Bouchercon in Albany

This is my third year attending Bouchercon, which gives me the chance to visit cities that may or may not have been on my radar. So far I’ve been to St. Louis and Cleveland and got to see their main tourist attraction, that being the Arch and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

This year, Bouchercon was in my home state and its capital, Albany. I’ve never been there and I was excited to see the governor’s mansion and the state capital building. I suspect their main attraction is the EGG, which is part of the Empire State Plaza.

Friends: As always, it is great seeing old friends and meeting new friends face-to-face. The power of social media makes this happens. I’ve also stopped saying “I’m a just reader” when asked what am I. Now I say, “I’m a blogger, reviewer and a reader” as I have been told.

Panels: There were so many panels to choose from attending several of the panels that were offered. One panel had Brad Parks turn from book author to Superman Parks. Another panel talked about big city crime. Then there was the panel where attendees had to guess what food product was featured in which author’s book. That too was fun. One panel was popular by the time I got there it was standing room only. Then there was the panel that talked about how far could you go in a cozy. Then there was panel about being a private eye and the panel about being a writer with no room service. Overall, I had a good time at the panels that I attended.

Books: What can I see, one of the things I like about attending these conferences is what books will appear in your goodie bag, what books will I buy and what books will I get as free giveaways. This is my biggest haul of books I’ve gotten autographed and standing on line was worth it. I was most happy with my copy of W for Wasted by Sue Grafton and I knew no matter how long, I will be standing in that line to get my book autographed.

Authors: Harlan Coben called me a troublemaker. It was great talking with authors that I’ve work with on my blog and those I friended on Facebook. These conferences allow a face-to-face meeting and it’s great. It also gives me the opportunity to meet other authors that I have not come across in my regular reads. There’s a couple of new authors who debuts their new books in 2014 and I look forward to reading their work.

I was lucky to get the opportunity to take a tour of the New York State Trooper facilities. It was cool. We got to see their headquarters, their gym, their dorms and when we saw a training that involved German Shepard dogs.  We also got a chance to go into the indoor firing range where I imagine myself shooting a bulls-eye in dead center mass. 

I'm an introvert but when I am in my element, that is being around authors, fellow readers and books, I’m not as shy. Thank you for letting me know that reading is good and hanging with the authors and fans is Awesome.

Am I'm going to the next Bouchercon? Yes I am and I can't wait to hit the town of Long Beach. Who else is joining me?

Some photos from Bouchercon.  What excited me most was finding a phone booth with a working phone and a seat where you can close the door.
                 

The Brooklyn Book Festival

I’m finally back in Kansas City from the Brooklyn Book Festival. More than 45,000 people attended the festival, and 200 stalls sprawled across three blocks in the heart of downtown Brooklyn, representing a cross-section of independent bookstores, independent presses and magazines. At times, the crowd was so packed it was difficult to move. New York City's largest free literary event offered a long list of lectures, conversations and presentations at fourteen different locations. Sunday afternoon presentations included famous authors with Brooklyn connections, such as Edwidge Danticat, Pete Hamill, and Colum McCann.

After a weeklong series of over 60 “Bookend” events from Sept. 16 – 22, the Brooklyn Book Festival consisted of 90-plus panels, readings and workshops spread across 14 stages. Among the venues were Brooklyn Borough Hall and Plaza, Columbus Park, Brooklyn Law School, St. Francis College, the Brooklyn Historical Society, and St. Ann & the Holy Trinity Church.

I wasn’t sure I’d make it safely to the festival from my Brooklyn hotel since my cab driver couldn’t find the address and ended up driving while wearing his reading glasses so he could decipher his cell phone’s GPS. But he managed to deliver me safe and sound to St. Francis College where my 10:00 a.m. panel was to take place.

On the panel called “Six Degrees of Separation,” Meredith Walters of the Brooklyn Public Library moderated Brooklyn poet laureate Tina Chang, novelist Ray Robertson, memoirist Leigh Newman, and me as we read from our work and discussed the similarities and differences of between the different genres of writing. The conversation ranged across the topics of voice, setting, and characters/personae and found us agreeing with and learning from each other as we examined the process of writing.

Next for me came a reading with other great Latino authors at the Las Comadres/La Casa Azul Bookstore booth in the small city of vendor booths that had sprung up on the Brooklyn Borough Hall plaza. A lovely crowd gathered and grew as the reading progressed. The crowds moving among the stalls warmed my heart—so many readers and booklovers.

All too soon in midafternoon, I had to leave the festival to make the trip down the Hudson River to the Hudson Valley Writers Center, a beautiful restored train station, to give another reading with the incredibly talented Sergio Troncoso. This center is located in Sleepy Hollow, New York, one of the loveliest towns you’ll ever see.

All this whirlwind of activity was bookended by a grueling road trip from Kansas City to New York City and back. Now, all I want to do is sleep. I wouldn’t have missed it for the world, though. 

Do you like to attend book festivals or writers conferences? Do you return energized or drained?

Sometimes it pays to be lazy

by Maria Geraci

Yesterday, I was sitting on the couch catching up on the shows on my DVD when I decided to get something out of the freezer. Okay, I'll just get this out of the way and admit it was ice-cream. An ice-cream Snickers bar, to be exact.

So I got my ice-cream Snickers bar and put the box back in the freezer, when something horrific happened. I couldn't shut the door back again. It was stuck. Like something was in the way. Only I couldn't easily find what that something was.

Let me give you a little background on this fridge. It's old. Like 20 years old. But it still runs perfectly and with 2 kids in college I'm not replacing my fridge anytime soon unless forced.

So with my rapidly melting Snickers bar in hand and the rest of Chicago Fire to catch up on, I was faced with a dilemma: Take the time to figure out what was causing the freezer door to stick, or enjoy my ice-cream and my show.

Anyone who knows me, knows I choose Option B. Yes, I have always preferred instant gratification.
Now, I will preface this to say that I didn't have anything expensive in the freezer. No big cuts of meat or anything. As a matter of fact, probably the most valuable thing in the freezer at the time was the rest of those ice-cream Snickers bars.

So I enjoyed my ice-cream and my show and by the time I got back to the freezer some of the stuff in the bottom drawer had began to melt. I went to the garage and got the biggest trash bag I could find and began tossing stuff away, which mainly consisted of countless bags of tired looking frozen vegetables and other semi-frozen products of questionable origin. Once I had that bottom drawer cleared, a miracle happened. I was able to close my freezer drawer. Mystery solved!

But of course, I couldn't stop there. I emptied out the rest of that freezer, scrubbed it down with soap, rinsed it out and now it shines like the top of the Chrysler building. I was on a roll. So I figured why stop there?

Next, it was the oven. Yes, it's self-cleaning, but hey, someone has to push the button to start the process.

The microwave and stovetop came next.

Then my pantry.

My husband came home from work to find me in a flurry of kitchen activity. Not exactly the activity he would have preferred at that point (which would have been me cooking dinner) but hey, I now had a near spotless kitchen. With a freezer door that easily opens and shuts and lots of room for more stuff.

I'll be honest. If I had chosen Option A, I would have quickly discovered I had too much stuff in the bottom drawer, rearranged a few frozen vegetable bags, been able to close my freezer door and gone back to my cozy couch and my tv. I'd also still have a messy kitchen.

The moral of my little story? Sometimes procrastination wins the day.

How to Cut?

by Bethany Maines

On my first novel, Bulletproof Mascara, my agent strongly recommended removing a few chunks of the manuscript that she considered extraneous to just about everything. This was a complete misperception. Those chunks of writing were vitally, vitally important to the entire fabric of book. Although, to be honest, I now don’t remember what those vital chunks were, and the book is undoubtedly better off without them. At the time, however, the advice was very difficult to hear and I resisted it mightily. I also remember that as she recommended painfully amputating these important bits she would say, soothingly, sadly, sympathetically, “I know, but maybe you can use them in something else.”

I puzzled over that phrase after I hung up the phone. Something else? What could she have possibly meant? Maybe she meant that I could use that scene in a sequel? But the situations were kind of specific – they couldn’t just be transplanted. And having snipped them out and written over them, they couldn’t be flashbacks. Maybe she meant that they could be used in another story – transplant different characters into those scenes. Now, that was a completely ridiculous suggestion. Those events happened to those people. You can’t just go plopping whole new people into those events. Which, frankly, is just proof that writer’s are one step away from having diagnosable mental health disorders featuring false realities and voices of people who aren’t really there.

Eventually, I decided that what she really meant was, “However, you have to wrap your mind around this to make it ok – do it, because it’s for the greater good of the book.” Of course, the idea that someone else might have a better grasp on what my story and book should be is also a hard thing for a writer to wrap their mind around. Eventually, I did come to peace with both concepts, but I find that as I help other writers through the editing process, that I still don’t know what to tell them when I advise cutting out favorite scenes. Should I suggest that they can “use them in something else” or do I just give it to them straight – your book is better off without this scene (even though you love it and sweated over it)? For all of you writers out there, what has helped you come to terms with cutting out beloved moments?

Bethany Maines is the author of the Carrie Mae Mystery series and Tales from the City of Destiny. You can also view the Carrie Mae youtube video or catch up with her on Twitter.

I am the world's worst blogger

by: Joelle Charbonneau

Is it Tuesday?  Which Tuesday is it?  Yikes!  I forgot that I was supposed to blog today.

Sorry!  I guess this confirms what I have always believed.  That I am the WORLD'S WORST BLOGGER.

I am.  I mean, part of that is probably to be expected.  Despite my understanding of when my deadlines are for my publishers, there are a lot of days where I am not technically certain what day I'm on.  Take yesterday for example.  Yes, I knew somewhere in the back of my brain it was Monday.  After all, I had just gotten home from Bouchercon on Sunday.  So, it would only make sense that yesterday was Monday.  And yet, all day I thought I was on Tuesday.

Why?

It was just one thing that set my brain reeling.  The lawn guys.

What lawn guys you ask?

Well, the ones that come and make sure my lawn doesn't look like a sore thumb next to my neighbors.  Every day this summer they came on Tuesday.  They're scheduled to come every Tuesday and make sure the bushes are trimmed, the grass doesn't grow tall enough to hide snakes and other small critters and the flower beds are edged.  They come on Tuesday like clockwork.  Except for this week when they came yesterday.

That's all it took.  One little thing that I knew was strange and unusual and yet made my brain fast forward to Tuesday.

Am I the only one that does that?  Do you think you are on one day while the rest of the world is marching along to another?  Or is it just me?

And let's hope next week this doesn't happen.  Tuesday is the pub date for the forth and final (for now) Rebecca Robbins novel.  So, if you remember what day it is and I don't please let me know.  I'd hate to miss it!

Pedaling As Fast As I Can

Kindle - Nook – Smashwords

This has turned into a really busy September for both halves of Evelyn David. We're all about moving households, roof repairs, new appliances, audiobooks, babies, family obligations, and when we get a spare minute – writing.

Oh, and did I mention that I can barely type with my left hand because of shoulder pain or maybe it's more like arm pain since it starts at my neck and runs around my shoulder to just below my elbow? But my fingers and wrist are fine. So probably not carpel tunnel. Another few days of wearing a heating pad and walking around smelling of Icy Hot may have me visiting my doctor. I'm sure he's going to say stop using the computer for a week and then call me. Like that's going to happen. Almost everything thing I do now is done via a computer.

I've replaced a hot water heater and a washing machine this past month. I'm not sure what else can break down but with an old house, each day is an adventure.

Did I mention that I visited the dentist two weeks ago? I have a crown that he installed a couple of months ago that is very temperature sensitive. He x-rayed it and thinks "his crown" looks perfect.  He's given me 50/50 odds on the need for a root canal. Perhaps I have a hairline crack in my tooth? Right. I'm not feeling lucky. 

Thanks for letting me vent. 

Now back to the writing. My co-author and I are writing a new Brianna Sullivan Mystery – volume 11 of the paranormal mystery series. Despite all the things that are going on in our personal lives, I think we might be writing the best Brianna yet. If you haven't read Lottawatah Fireworks (volume 10 of the series) this would be a good time. The new book, untitled at this time, brings closure to a mystery introduced in an earlier volume.

 

For the next two weeks the e-book version of our stand-alone mystery Zoned for Murder is on sale for 99 cents.  Don't miss this bargain. 

Note: On a happy note, new episodes of Foyle's War are airing on PBS. It's my light at the end of the week!  

Rhonda

aka The Southern Half of Evelyn David

---------------
 

Evelyn David's Mysteries 

Audible    iTunes

Audible    iTunes

 

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
Lottawatah Fireworks - 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)
Book 3 - Lottawatah Fireworks (includes the 8th, 9th, and 10th Brianna e-books)

Sullivan Investigations Mystery series
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

Romances
Love Lessons - Kindle - Nook - Smashwords