Free Download - Lye in Wait by Cricket McRae

Free Download!!!

Don't miss out on your chance for a free download of Lye in Wait by Cricket McRae.  This is the first book in the home crafting series.  And after you've read her book, you will most likely be inspired by all her crafting skills - so check out her blog, Hearth Cricket, to for all kinds of great stuff.

The free download will only be available thru the end of August.  It is available on most ebook platforms.

If You Weren't What You Are, What Would You Be?

by Robin Allen



I've had lots of jobs over my several years of life.



When I was 15, I got my first job in an upscale toy store, answering phone call after phone call about the availability of Madame Alexander dolls and taking payments for games, plush toys, and other items on lay-a-way.



After high school, I started waiting tables in restaurants and did that all through college. Once, in the mid-80s, I was a cocktail waitress and then a bartender in one of the hottest nightclubs in the city, all dry ice and neon and Rock Me Amadeus.



After I graduated with a BA degree in English, I got a job doing sales support for a computer software company, working my way up to marketing and publicity, then eventually sales, which I was terrible at because "no" means no in my book.



I eventually struck out on my own as a technical writer, developing online Help and user guides for software applications, and doing QA work.



And then I wrote a book, got an agent, got a publisher, and became an Author.



I like working on things that have an answer that needs to be found, a problem that needs to be solved. I like working with my hands. I like creating something that hasn't existed before. And if I wasn't an author, I would be an architect, a crime analyst, or a knitwear designer.



What about you? If you weren't doing what you're doing, what would you do?



Robin Allen

Author of the Poppy Markham: Culinary Cop Mystery Series

If You Can't Stand the Heat

Now available on Kindle, Nook, and eBook

See my poem "A Friday Afternoon" in the 2012 Texas Poetry Calendar

Hartless Murderers, Luck, and Persistence

So I have a couple of great writer's groups I belong to. One is an online group who sees each other once a year in person, but are there always to lend a helping hand, give advice, critique, and give a swift kick in the rump as needed.



My other group is local, in-person, and has been my rock since just after I started writing in 2004. We'd all taken a class at the Loft Literary Center in Minneapolis--an intro to writing mysteries taught by Ellen Hart. A couple of the best writers in the class got ahold of me and two others and asked us if we wanted to form a writing group after class was finished. Sounded good to me and to everyone else, so we planned, plotted, met, drew up "house rules," and generally established the group. We decided we needed a name, and after some vigorous debate, settled on The Hartless Murderers... with the "Hart" part in honor of our beloved teacher.



We'd decided almost from the start that once we were published (yup, we all believed it could happen, somehow!) we would tour together like the wildly successful and looney Minnesota Crime Wave, who travels to various events around the midwest and gives talks on their books and writing, and whatever else they feel like talking about.



So the years passed. A couple members took a break, and we brought an additional body aboard. A live one, that is! We all hit one or many breaking points along the line, and the others stepped up to the plate and cajoled, forced, threatened, and dragged the person who was in trouble through the wastelands of "I am NOT a writer! I suck!" to the other side.



Then one of us landed a book contract. Then another. Then I hit a three book deal. Then our matriarch (she'd KILL me if she read that), our eldest member, scored a contract last winter. Pretty soon, out of three of us, we'd sold seven books in six years. Our dreams were becoming reality.



Ther next step was to make the group gig thing happen. So our studious members put together a postcard and started contacting different venues for appearances. I made a tablecloth emblazoned with HARTLESS MURDERERS. And we gathered this past Thursday in, of all places, the public library in Luck, Wisconsin. Yup, you read that right. Luck. Our luck came together and we debuted our entertaining chops in Luck. It helped that the librarian was one of my best childhood friends, and I have a contingent of family and friends in that area that blessed us by showing up. And we went on to give a kick a** presentation. We made folks laugh, they asked great questions, and best of all, they bought books. So we are on our way. It's exciting and somewhat daunting to actually follow your dreams. But none of us gave up, even when we so badly wanted to. We persisted, and we are gonna continue having a great time as we follow this strange, luck and sweat-filled writing path.







So who or what has been your inspiration when the going gets tough? Do you have a writing group you look to for support and guidance? Do you do it all on your own? What role has luck played in your own publishing and writing adventures?

HOW LAUGHTER HELPED ME HEAL

There’s an anniversary coming up soon that I’ve been thinking a lot about lately. Actually, a day hasn’t gone by in the past 10 years that I haven’t thought about September 11, 2001. I remember every moment of that day. I was getting dressed to go into Manhattan that morning. The Duchess of York was touting her children’s book on Good Morning America when the cable went out. At least, at the time I thought it was the cable. I finished dressing, headed downstairs, and flipped on the radio. The first thing I heard was that a plane had flown into one of the towers of the World Trade Center. I turned the TV on in the den and started flipping channels until I found one that worked, The Financial News Network. Moments later, I watched in stunned disbelief as another plane flew into the other tower.

Afterwards, I considered myself lucky. Although many people who lived in my town never again came home, I lost no family, friends, or even acquaintances that day. However, I do know many people not as lucky. The guy who lives two doors down from me lost his sister when one tower fell and his nephew, her son, when the other tower fell. There are countless other heart-wrenching stories throughout our area.

The lives of every American changed that day, no matter where you live, and we’re still dealing with the aftermath. We probably always will. The world is a more dangerous place now, filled with angry people who have no regard for human life, and their numbers are growing in staggering proportions. No one is immune. When I think about how our lives have changed since that day, the changes go far beyond the inconveniences of security checks at airports, bomb sniffing dogs at Penn Station, and surveillance cameras on every street corner.

For me, though, that day had a profound effect on my writing. Prior to 9/11 I wrote dark romantic suspense. After 9/11 I couldn’t write. Terrorism was all around me. I didn’t want to create more of it on paper. I stopped reading suspense and thrillers and no longer watched murder and mayhem on television or in the movies.

A week and a half after 9/11 I was back in Manhattan. My girlfriend and I had tickets to see The Vagina Monologues. The theaters had reopened, and the mayor was imploring people to go on with our lives. We couldn’t let the city’s economy go bankrupt. We couldn’t let the terrorists see us cowering. My girlfriend was too spooked to go into the city. I refused to let the terrorists win. My husband didn’t want me going alone, so he came with me, one of two men in the audience. Had he realized what he was getting himself into, he probably would have opted to let me go by myself!

I laughed that day for the first time in 12 days. It helped. When I began to feel that I could write again, I thought about that day in the theater. I had desperately needed to laugh. The healing process was long, and the wounds of that day will never entirely heal, but that first time I laughed 12 days after 9/11 was the first step toward healing for me. And that’s when I realized, I needed to write humor.

I discovered that writing funny is a lot harder than writing scary, but for me switching genres made a huge difference in my life. I may go back to writing suspense at some point. I have a few stories parked in the corner of my brain, and someday I’d like to put them down on paper. However, I doubt I’ll ever stop writing humor. I’ve received too many fan letters from readers who have told me my funny books have helped them get through trying times in their own lives. That’s all the validation I need to keep writing funny. Laughter really is the best medicine.

Lois Winston writes humorous amateur sleuth mysteries. She recently finished up the third book in her Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mysteries series. The first book, Assault With A Deadly Glue Gun, was a January 2011 release and received starred reviews from both Publishers Weekly and Booklist. Death by Killer Mop Doll will be a January 2012 release. Visit Lois at her website and Anastasia at the Killer Crafts & Crafty Killers blog.

Bouchercon Schedules

Bouchercon, the world's largest mystery convention is just around the corner!  B'con is incredible and hard to describe.  This four day event is packed full with opportunities to meet your favorite authors, here them discuss the craft and how they work, get books signed and photos taken.  If you lucky, you might find yourself standing at the bar next to Sophie Littlefield.  Or John Connolly.  Or William Kent Krueger.  Or SJ Rozan.  Or, gasp! you could be standing next to me!  :)


Check out the Guests of Honor:


American: Robert Crais & Charlaine Harris
International: Colin Cotterill & Val McDermid
Life Time Achievement: Sara Paretsky
Fan Guests of Honor: Kate Stine and Brian Skupin
Special guests (local living legends): Robert Randisi and John Lutz
all brought together by...
Toastmaster: Ridley Pearson


And if meeting Charlaine Harris or Sara Paretsky (both of them wonderfully generous and gracious women) isn't enough for you, check out the complete author list here.  As for our Inkers, we are going to have a pretty good showing!  Thanks to our very organized Publicity Director, Steven Pomije, here is a list of our events:

In-booth AUTHOR SIGNINGS:
Friday, Sept 16
 11:00 am—12:00 pm: Alan Orloff, DEADLY CAMPAIGN (Advance Reader’s Copy)
Saturday, Sept 17
 11:00 am—12:00 pm: Lois Winston, DEATH BY KILLER MOP DOLL (Advance Reader’s Copy)


In-booth MEET THE AUTHOR events:
Friday, Sept 16
 9:30—10:30 am: Joanna Campbell Slan, Make Take Murder
 4:00—5:00 pm: Sebastian Stuart; Dead by Any Other Name
Saturday, Sept 17
 9:30—10:30 am: Darrell James; Nazareth Child
 12:00—1:00 pm: Jess Lourey; October Fest
 1:00—2:00 pm: Jessie Chandler; Bingo Barge Murder
 2:00—3:00 pm: Alan Orloff; Killer Routine
 3:00—4:00 pm: G. M. Malliet; Death at the Alma Mater
 4:00—5:00 pm: Kathleen Ernst; The Heirloom Murders
Sunday, Sept 18
 10:00—11:00 am: Lois Winston; Death by Killer Mop Doll, Assault with a Deadly Glue Gun


Author PANELS:

 Thur, Sept 15 o 8:30 am, Alan Orloff, Laughter of the Clowns: Comedy in crime fiction; Landmark 5,6,7
o 8:30 am, Jessie Chandler, Hitting the Ground: New writers talk about their first book; Landmark 4
o 2:30 pm, Jess Lourey, To Love is To Bury: Finding new ways to get rid of the body, Landmark 1,2,3
 Fri, Sept 16
o 8:30 am, G. M. Malliet, Bad Blood: Celebrating Agatha Christie; Majestic D
o 8:30 am, Darrell James, Fresh Blood: New writers talk about their first book; Majestic A, B, C
o 10 am, Kathleen Ernst, The Darkness of Light: Developing diversity in our characters; Landmark 1,2,3
o 11:30 am, Joanna Campbell Slan, Death By Good Intention: Doing away with characters; Landmark 5,6,7
 Sat, Sept 17
o 8:30 am, G. M. Malliet, Nocebo: Playing fair with your readers; Landmark 1,2,3
o 4 pm, Lois Winston, Time to Murder and Create: Listening to the voices in your head; Landmark 4
o 4 pm, Sebastian Stuart, Time to Murder and Create: Listening to the voices in your head; Landmark 4  

Charity Bowling Tourney: The Midnight Inkers
 Midnight Ink authors and staff (the Midnight Inkers) take on 12 other Bouchercon teams to raise money for the St. Louis Public Library system.
 Fri, Sept 16th at 12:30 PM at the Flamingo Bowl, 1117 Washington Ave, downtown St. Louis

So come check out our booth in the book room, or drop in on one of our author panels.  We'll be glad to meet your acquaintance.  I can't wait to see you in St. Louis!

Title Give-Aways in our booth: 
 Mind Over Monsters; Baited in Blood

In-booth Drawings:
 1st prize: The full 2011 Midnight Ink collection
 2nd prize: A limited edition Midnight Inkers Bowling Tee from the Bouchercon Charity Bowl
 3rd prize: The Agatha Award winning St. Just mystery series by G. M. Malliet

In-booth Coupon for Online Order Only:
 Get 20% off all Midnight Ink titles; Visit MidnightInkBooks.com and use promo code BOUCHERCON2011. Offer expires 12/31/11. Standard shipping fees apply.

AND BOWLING!!!

I Wish I Knew Then

By Deborah Sharp



I've been racking my brain for something new to say when I start doing events for my fourth book, the upcoming MAMA SEES STARS. By now, I'm a bit fatigued with rehashing my same ol' story of becoming an author: Former USA Today reporter, left the sad stories of the news biz behind at age 50, became a writer of funny, Southern-fried fiction . . .



Yada, yada, yada ...



Sometimes I feel like the dolphins at SeaWorld, performing the same tricks over and over and over again just to see if anyone is going to toss me a fish.



I'm thinking this time out I'll shake things up. I'm going to try some honesty, reveal what being an author is really all about. Okay, I'm always honest ... this is UNVARNISHED honesty; the real, tell-it-like-it-is scoop.



So, here it is:

The Top 5 Things I Wish I'd Known Back Then About Being an Author



1. When authors say they're going on a book tour, it doesn't mean their Daddy Warbucks publishers are tossing money at them so they can fly first class, sleep in fancy hotels, and eat in five-star restaurants. If they're like me, it means they're packing the pickup truck with books, driving somewhere like Okeechobee, Fla., and setting up shop in front of the cattle chute at the rodeo on a day so hot that the Hershey's kisses that were supposed to be reader giveaways melted to resemble tiny dollops of cow manure. (Pictured, the author reading to her ''cowptive'' audience)







2. An author has better odds of getting killed by fireworks (1 in 340,733) than of making enough money off royalties to quit his or her day job. Thank goodness my TV reporter husband earns enough dough that I don't have to sleep in my 1992 Miata.



3. Snagging a signing at one of the chain stores is no guarantee an author will move lots of books at said signing. I've learned that when you stand, smiling hopefully, at a table stacked with books, lots of people ask directions to the bathroom. (It's in the back, down that little hallway. Can't miss it.)



4. At every author signing, someone will ask you how many hours you write every day. Nobody wants to hear the real answer: ''I haven't written a word in weeks. I'm too busy updating my Facebook status and checking my Amazon ranking.''



5. And the Top Thing I Wish I'd Known Way Back in 2006, When I Signed A Contract For My First Book? That I'd still be plugging away today. Yep, I'm working on Book 5, buoyed every so often by a sweet review or a reader who says she loves my mysteries.



Lord knows it's not the money keeping this author afloat!



How about you? What keeps you going?

Oh, @%&^

She's done! The weeks of research, the months of writing, the weeks of typing, the month of editing, it's all done! She is ready to be read by my wonderful Beta testers who will see how splendiferous she is! Huzzah!

Three Weeks Later...

Oh, @%&^. They hated it. They thought the main character was annoying. The male lead was too perfect (meaning no real man would act like that). I kept switching between too much description and too much telling and not showing. The entire first fifty pages were dull and not needed. And the grammar! Oy! Didn't they teach you anything at the baby Ivy college you went to? (Yes, that watching Frat boys play beer pong is not how I want to spend my Friday nights, thank you very much).

Well, did you like anything? Yes. The chapter titles were funny.

Anything else? I liked the character names.

@%&^

What do you do when what you've written isn't that great? Me, there was vodka and three Real Housewives marathons involved. (Kidding about the vodka.) It's hard hearing criticism about something that you spent so much time and effort on. When they're telling me their constructive criticism, I try to put on a brave face while inside I'm considering skewering them with a fireplace poker. (Once again kidding. It was a machete.) Then I watch more Real Housewives, calm down, and think about what they've said and the suggestions they give. Like how to make the hero less of an archetype. Make the heroine have faults instead of her being little miss perfect. See how much of the beginning can be cut away without losing the characterization and world building you presented in those pages to get to the action quicker. Use a thesaurus as much as possible. When in doubt, use a comma. Really ask if you need to describe the leaves on the trees. Then put on your big girl pants and get back to work. (Unless there's a Real Housewives of Atlanta on. Love me some Kim and NeNe.) With every word on the page ask if this is the best choice. Sound like fun? About as much fun as Andy Cohen has at the Housewives reunions. (I think I have a problem.)

Writing is @%&^#*! hard work. Most of my books have gone through at least five edits before I even present it to my agent, who does one more. Right now I'm on the third of the steampunk book I wrote, cutting the first chapter entirely, working eight hours on the current first chapter, twelve on the second, and so on. My main character went from Cher Horowitz in Clueless to a pretty version of Jane Eyre. My hero now smokes, drinks, cusses, and is rude. There is more red ink on the pages than black. As it should be. Nothing comes out of the gate perfect, but if you're smart enough and trust in your skills and vision it can certainly get pretty close.

Publishers are tough. They want something that is come out of the box ready to even consider publishing it. I once got rejected because two character names were too similar and the reader got confused. So though it may hurt, and take bloody forever, editing is probably the most important part of writing. I've learned that 80% of the time my Beta testers are right. As long as you have the backbone of the story and halfway decent characters with potential then all is not lost. Most things can be fixed. And after all the hard work and tears, in the end you get this...

Gotta go! Those Housewives of Beverly Hills won't watch themselves! Oh, and I have some editing to do. :P Till next time!

Jennifer Harlow, www.jenniferharlowbooks.com