The Edge of Night

"Sometimes I feel as if the marketing is the tail wagging the dog."

Hannibal Jones is back and stirring up trouble again! This time with the Russian Mob and a beautiful woman with secrets.

My guest today is Austin Comacho, author of five books in the Hannibal Jones series.

Most authors work hard on their manuscripts so as to have them published. The focus is always on the making of the story and making it the best it can be. Once it hits the publisher it takes on a life of it's own. There are edits, revisions, line edits, deadline after deadline, Galleys, ARC copies, and...promotion. The transition from writer to published author can be overwhelming. Even authors with several books under their belt find this time nerve wracking as all the 'what if's' attack.

So, what's it like those few days before release and the insanity of promotion begins? Austin shares his thoughts:

Just three days before my big book release party I feel as if I’m poised on the edge of a knife with spectacular success on one side and abysmal failure on the other. I’m not worried, exactly, but there is a certain amount of uncertainty. Anxiety? Maybe apprehension. A lot of time and effort has gone in to getting to this day but now we’ve reached the point where it’s too late to do more, too late to make a difference. Nothing left to do for now but wait. Will the Washington Metro area turn out to cheer my successful book launch, or will I be listening to crickets chirp and my wife’s sobbing while hundreds of dollars worth of wine and h’or douvres go to waste?

My lovely wife Denise put much time, sweat and tears into setting up a fabulous event in a fabulous place, to attract the local literary leadership. This event will be a bellwether, an indictor of how well I can expect to do at the first bookstore event, at the Borders Superstore in Waldorf, Maryland. And THAT event will be an indicator of the life Russian Roulette will have.

Russian Roulette, my latest novel, was a labor of love. The Fifth in my Hannibal Jones mystery series, the book allowed me to continue the rising and advancing of my protagonist’s spirit and I want to share that experience with as many people as possible. Goodness knows I’ve done all I could think of to make the book explode onto the scene. I’ve tried old school paper marketing, internet marketing, and personal appearances.

The old school way begins with free books. After mailing out review copies to all the usual suspects I gave away another stack of books to anyone who would promise to post a review in four different places on line.

I got a bunch of blurbs from favorite mystery writers who are also pals. I bought print ads in Mystery Scene and Crimespree Magazine. I bought a list of 5,000 mystery readers so I can send each of them a postcard announcing the new novel. And I sent personal letters to each of the 47 bookstores in this country that specialize in mystery fiction informing them of the imminent release of Russian Roulette and respectfully asking (alright, begging them) to order a few copies. I also promised them a pizza party for their staff if they sell 50 or more copies of Russian Roulette. Yeah, I’m shameless.

For the on line audience I got a book trailer produced and made a promotional video for Russian Roulette myself. I launched a blog tour, appearing on several mystery and literary blogs, and I’ll be on 10 more (at least) in June. That is not my favorite kind of writing, but it is essential in the 21st Century to get the buzz mill running.

And I’ve arranged for a dozen personal appearances at writers’ clubs and book stores. That’s the easiest part for me. I love being face-to-face with readers, explaining my books and discussing their favorites to find if my work is a good fit. Writing aside, this is the best part of being an author. And every hand I shake is another potential fan for the whole series. Someday, that could even make this writing addiction evolve into a decent living.

Sometimes I feel as if the marketing is the tail wagging the dog. My wife Denise is very supportive but sometimes I think she misses the point. I don’t get discouraged if a book doesn’t sell a million copies because it’s not about the sales. It’s about the writing. It’s about that process that spins random straw thoughts and ideas into golden chapters.

I know I won’t get rich from sales of Russian Roulette, but the book deserves its fair share of attention. It isn’t simply a good story with a social conscience, putting good characters into a complex puzzle of a plot. It is the distilled embodiment of all the hours I could have spent with my lovely wife Denise but instead chose to give a keyboard my attention. It is the concentrated essence of her hopes that I will one day achieve my dream. At its core are the lunch hours I spent creating instead of relaxing, the early mornings, the late nights, the surreptitiously stolen moments when no one was looking. It deserves the eyes of an appreciative public, and I want so badly to give the book what it deserves.

But the ugly truth is that a book does not become popular in the marketplace just because the author wants it to be. No matter how good it is, you can’t force a book into buyers’ hands. You can’t will a novel onto the best seller list. You can only do your best to draw attention to your baby and hope that you stumble upon that magical combination of writing quality, buzz, distribution and timing that will raise your literary voice above the din of the thousands of worthy contestants whose fiction enters the lists every year.

So here I sit, three days before the kickoff of my own big game, poised on the edge of night. But is that dusk I see approaching, or the glow of dawn?

***

Austin S. Camacho is the author of five novels in the Hannibal Jones Mystery Series (including The Troubleshooter, Blood and Bone, Collateral Damage, Damaged Goods and Russian Roulette) and two in the Stark and O’Brien adventure series. His short stories have been featured in three anthologies from Wolfmont Press, most recently Dying in a Winter Wonderland – an Independent Mystery Booksellers Association Top Ten Bestseller for 2008 - and he is featured in the Edgar nominated African American Mystery Writers: A Historical and Thematic Study by Frankie Y. Bailey.

He is also a public affairs specialist for the Department of Defense. America's military people know him because for more than a decade his radio and television news reports were transmitted to them daily on the American Forces Network.

He was born in New York City but grew up in Saratoga Springs, New York. He majored in psychology at Union College in Schenectady, New York. After three years, he enlisted in the Army as a weapons repairman but soon moved into a more appropriate field. The Army trained him to be a broadcast journalist. Disc jockey duties alternated with news writing, video camera and editing work, public affairs assignments and news anchor duties.

During his years as a soldier, Camacho lived in Missouri, California, Maryland, Georgia and Belgium. He also spent a couple of intense weeks in Israel during Desert Storm, covering the action with the Patriot missile crews and capturing scud showers on video tape. While enlisted he finished his Bachelor's Degree at night and started his Masters, and rose to the rank of Sergeant First Class. In his spare time, he began writing adventure and mystery stories set in some of the exotic places he'd visited.

After leaving the Army he continued to write military news for the Defense Department as a civilian. Today he handles media relations and writes articles for military newspapers and magazines. He also teaches writing classes at Anne Arundel Community College and is deeply involved with the writing culture. He is an active member of Mystery Writers of America, International Thriller Writers, Sisters in Crime, American Independent Writers, the Maryland Writers Association and the Virginia Writers Club.

Camacho has settled in Springfield, Virginia with his wife Denise.

The Finnish Connection With K.A. Laity

I have been fortunate to have a great many interesting authors on my blogs, writing fiction and non-fiction, memoirs, and various types of literature.

Today it is my pleasure to introduce to you K.A. Laity. Kate is a multitalented author and teaches medieval literature, film, New Media and popular culture, on a college level. She has also written a fascinating collection of Finnish short stories based on medieval myths and folklore. This folklore is unique in many ways as these myths were a type of poetry with music. There are many cultures that have used songs to recount and remember their oral histories.

Please welcome Kate and feel free to ask questions. Be sure to watch the video of Kate playing the Kantele. The link is at the end of the article.

Many thanks to Sia for hosting me today!

When I try to tell people about my new short story collection, Unikrja, the first thing I have to do is explain how to say it and then what it means. "Oo-knee-kir-ya" is how you say it and it means "Dreambook." In what language, you ask? Finnish.

Yep, as in from Finland.

I try to imagine what's going through people's heads then: Scandinavia, right? Nokia? Lordi? President Halonen looking like Conan O'Brien? (My pal Ulla Suokko was in one of his fake ads!)

It's an uphill battle, so it only gets more difficult when I try to explain the mythology that inspired the stories and the play. They come from The Kalevala and The Kanteletar, the twin tomes of Finnish myth and folklore. The stories and songs that make up these collections are very old, but were gathered together in the nineteenth century as a surging sense of national pride grew. The tiny nation straddles the dividing line between the Baltic and Scandinavia, and had been dominated alternately by its two larger neighbours, Sweden and Russia.

A doctor with a fascination for folklore, Elias Lönnrot set out to collect examples of the old tunes and stories that people told to try to capture what he saw as a vanishing way of life. In The Kalevala, he arranged these stories in runos to link together story arcs. You can read an English version online, but let me acquaint you with some of the recurring characters who show up in my stories.

Väinämöinen is the eternal sage. After Ilmatar the goddess gives birth to the world, he is the first human born. He knows all manner of magic. I've always found it fascinating that much of Finnish magic comes from know the true names of things and being able to sing them. At one point, Väinämöinen faces a young challenger who thinks he can take on the old man, but he gets sung right into a swamp. The panicky Joukahainen offers his sister's hand in marriage, which starts another theme for the old magician: he never gets the girl.

Aino is the sister offered to Väinämöinen. Her parents think it's an advantageous marriage, but the beautiful young maiden finds little appeal in being joined to the ancient sage and finally drowns herself to escape. She comes back, however, as a salmon to taunt Väinämöinen, so she lives again. Väinämöinen's mother suggests he should go north to find a bride instead.

Louhi is the witch of the northern lands. There's a great split in the Kalevala between the people of the south in Kaleva and those in the north, so they're always portrayed as adversaries. Louhi, while seemingly as powerful as Väinämöinen, inevitably the stories depict her as "evil" which just sat wrong with me. As you might guess from our name, Louhi's Daughters, my friends Minna and Kasha shared the opinion that we were getting a rather one-sided view of Louhi and in our performances we tried to give a more balanced picture of this amazing woman. Our very first performance together was a retelling of the Aino story, which also proved a resonant touchstone for Unikirja.

While The Kalevala has a series of narrative threads, The Kanteletar is a looser collection of songs grouped by who sings them, i.e. men, women or children. There are also a number of ballads that would be sung by everyone. Not surprisingly, one of the songs is all about the kantele, the national musical instrument of Finland. The name of the collection is kantele plus the feminine ending, so you might think of "Kanteletar" meaning the spirit of the kantele, the source of all the songs.

What's a kantele? Here's a video of me playing my five-string kantele, Little My.

***

K. A. Laity (http://www.kalaity.com/) is the author of Unikirja (Aino Press 2009), a collection of short stories based on the Kalevala, Kanteletar, and other Finnish myths and legends, for which she won the 2005 Eureka Short Story Fellowship and a 2006 Finlandia Foundation grant.She also wrote Pelzmantel: A Medieval Tale (Spileld Candy 2003) as well as other stories, plays and essays. She teaches medieval literature, film, New Media and popular culture at the College of Saint Rose. Her news blog title comes from her first student film, Un Amor Peligroso or the Wombat's World; it was also the title of a zine she used to publish.

Figuring Out The Bones of Your Story With Tess Mallory

"I always fall back on the basics--Who, what, where when and why."

My guest today has worn several hats in her career. She is a former journalist and currently she is a full time writer who has written nine books and counting. Tess also teaches Writing Workshops.

Today she shares some great writing tips to help develop the bones of your story and help in organizing yourself when writing.

Hi Sia and Coffee Readers!

It’s great to be here today * Tess takes a sip of her latte* and I’ve been thinking about what I could share Over Coffee, and what came to mind was all the people over the last few years who have written me and said, “I’ve always wanted to write” and “I have an idea for a story”.

A lot of these folks want me to write their idea into a book. But you know, I could never write their book the way they could, and that’s what I tell them! It always makes me a little sad, because I know most of these people will never even try to write their amazing stories, because the thought of it is too overwhelming.

So, while thinking of this, I decided, hey, I could share some of the ways that I get myself started on a new idea, just on the off chance that some aspiring writers are sitting here with me and Sia around the table sipping lattes. (BTW mine is delicious, and will someone please pass the chocolate chip cookies?)

Writing on the computer can be daunting, even to seasoned writers, so a great idea when getting started is to buy a notebook. Not just any notebook, but a special notebook. I credit my friend the amazing Luann Long with reminding me about this great motivating idea. She buys a special journal or notebook for each book she works on, and uses it to make notes and keep track of the story she’s developing.

I just bought a new notebook, and soon I will start the process! First, I’ll just think about my idea or story for a while, and then I’ll make some decisions. As a former journalist, I always fall back on the basics--Who, what, where when and why. Broken down, that translates into these questions, among others: Who are my characters? What kind of story is this? Where does the story take place? When does the story take place? And most important, Why oh why should my reader care about any of it?

I generally start by writing out an overview of the kind of book or story this is going to be, and what I want to see happen from start to finish. Nothing too detailed. Later I can write a detailed synopsis, or outline, but right now, I get to just ramble on as much as I’d like. It helps to jumpstart my excitement about the story!

Next I think about the characters. I jot down ideas in my handy dandy notebook about them. Who are they? What do they look like? What are their names? Where do they live? When are they alive? Why are they interesting? How do they know each other? When do they meet up? What do they have in common and what do they NOT have in common? What are potential conflicts between them?

I daydream about the setting—where does this story take place? Why is this the best place? I write down possible places, then go on the Internet and look at maps, pictures, place names, countries, etc. Man, has the Internet changed everything about research! I’ve never been to Scotland, but I’ve written six books set there! . (Be aware that in romance, publishers are very fixated on certain countries, and very against others! Go figure.)

If you decide to try this idea, take your notebook with you wherever you go. You never know when inspiration is going to strike!! I get ideas everywhere I go. Maybe I’ll see someone who looks just like I picture my heroine looking! Maybe I hear a voice that sends a chill down my spine. Inspiration is truly everywhere!

Once I’ve gotten some of the “bones” of my story figured out, it’s time to start writing. For aspiring writers, set aside a certain time of day, every day, even if it’s just an hour, or even just thirty minutes. Overwhelmed at the thought? Here are a few more tips:

• It isn’t necessary to start at the beginning of your book. What is the part of your special story that always comes into your mind? Do you see the guy and girl walking by the ocean? Sitting and having coffee? *Tess remembers her latte and takes another drink. * (Yum!) Whatever that scene is, start there. Write what you “see”.






• Still having trouble getting started? Start with some dialogue between two of your characters. Some people have an easier time with dialogue than description. Let your characters “talk” to each other for a while. You’ll be amazed at what you’ll learn about them!






• Is description your strength? Start with the setting. Describe where some part of the story takes place. The most important thing is to get started!
  
  

One big mistake beginning writers make is assuming that the first thing they put down on paper has to be perfect. I promise you, nothing I ever write the first time is perfect! I rewrite much more than I write. Give yourself the freedom to just write and learn as you go, because something really amazing happens during the writing of a first novel.

By the time the end of the book is reached, you have learned so much about what to do or not to do. Enjoy your story, and have fun with it, and it will turn out so much more than you ever believed that it could!

Writing a story or a book is like building a fence, or so Western writer Elmer Kelton once told my father. You dig the holes. You plant the fence posts. You string one wire at a time. Then you test the strength of your work. Sometimes you may have to tear down a few wires and put them up again. Maybe you’ll have to go back and dig out a rotten post. But in the end, ya’ll will have a mighty fine fence, podnur!

Gee, I suddenly morphed into a cowpoke. * smile * What I mean is, eventually the book of your dreams will start piling up, page after page, on your desk beside you, and one day you’ll write those awesome words “The End” and know you’ve done a great job!

* Tess looks down into her coffee cup and sees that her latte is gone *

Okay, it’s time for me to go and jot some things down in my own bright lime green notebook about some unruly characters that need to tell me more about who they are.

Have a great day and no matter what – Keep Reading! Keep Writing! Love is Timeless!

***
Tess Mallory is the published author of nine novels, the most recent, Highland Rebel, released March 2009 from Penguin-Putnam. Tess lives in the Texas Hill Country, where she writes full-time, teaches writing workshops, and takes care of assorted pets and children. Tess has written several plays, two musicals, and also many stories for children, published by Highlights for Children magazine. She is a singer/songwriter and wants to be a starship captain when she grows up. Visit her websites at www.sff.net/people/tessmallory and www.TessMalloryBooks.com, which both need work, or at www.myspace.com/tessmallory where you can become her MySpace friend. Check her out on facebook, and follow her on twitter!

The Paperback Writer And Settling In

My guest Over Coffee is Paranomal Romance author, Kendra Leigh Castle. She has a dual career as a working mom and Naval Officer's wife--which I can assure, comes with social obligations and work; plus she is the author of The MacInnes Werewolf triology, nominated for RT Reviewer Choice awards. She is also busy writing a new series for Harlequin Nocturne. As you can see, Kendra leads a busy life.

So how does she juggle it all? How is she adjusting to being a busy working mom?





The other day, another mother said something to me, in passing conversation about being impressed that I was a working mom. My first thought was “Huh? Me?” Probably because I’ve been doing my own thing and raising my kids for so long now that it’s just not a term I have ever associated with myself. I mean, yeah, we all work, right? At least, this is what it feels like when I’m slipping in dog puke on the kitchen floor on my way to wipe my preschooler’s nose; all while my two older kids are rapidly progressing towards a fistfight over my daughter’s refusal to share looseleaf paper.

But despite the circa 1980s vision of a “working mother” that pops into my head every time the phrase comes up (big perm, briefcase, power suit with big shoulder pads, and I know, I watched too much TV growing up), I suppose it’s true. Writing is, after all, a hell of a lot of work. But with three young kids, I guess everything sort of flows together…I don’t look at one thing as more work than the other. The moving parts are just different. My day is work, with fleeting moments of relaxation and/or the eating of something from my candy stash that gives me that ahhh feeling. My writing is just a part of the routine now, scrounged out of my three-year-old’s quiet times and pushed into tired nights when I might rather slink off to watch Ghost Hunters (thank God for DVR). But my surprise at the label, I’ve come to realize, is simply emblematic of me finally settling into my life as a published writer. The process is still as frustrating and fascinating as it ever was, but it’s not novel anymore. I go in my office. Small people follow me into my office and demand things like food and dispute mediation (which they often ignore, leading me to chase them away and in the direction of their other, louder parent). The pets snooze in here while I work. My husband gives the computer dirty looks when I’ve spent too much time with it on any given day. It’s all so…normal.

The settling in has been an eye-opening process for me. When my first book came out last year, I was an utter neophyte. As in, when it came to the world of publishing, I was about as dumb as a box of rocks. I’m a pretty smart girl, but I will admit to total failure to comprehend anything much at the beginning except “me write book/me sell book.” I’d written one (bloated, reasonably bad) manuscript, joined RWA, shopped the MS around, cried over a bunch of rejections, and finally, buried the no-go book in my closet and tried again. Wrote the Scottish werewolf book I’d been kicking around in my head, started subbing, and BOOM, suddenly I had an agent. Not long after, I had the sale. Two books, two years, start to…well, publication. Which is both very cool, and, looking back, incredibly overwhelming. My learning curve was huge from the start. A year after the release of Call of the Highland Moon, and having just finished up the trilogy with Wild Highland Magic, I’m still rushing up that curve, but there are a few ways I know I’m settling in:

• I confuse family members when I start to talk about the business aspect of writing, and so wind up fleeing to my writing friends, who actually understand what the hell I’m talking about.
  
  
• I actually have writing friends.
  

• I’ve been through both a publisher change AND an agency change (my agent recently formed her own agency with a partner, so of course I went with her), and I didn’t freak out.
  
  
• I have a blog, website, MySpace and Facebook, and I actually know how to use them. Mostly.
  
  
• Bad reviews no longer make me cry (brood or steam, maybe, but not cry).
  
  
• When I tell my family “I’m working,” they assume I’m doing something other than looking at Perez Hilton and may even let me write. Yes, sometimes I sneak over to Perez Hilton anyway, but my procrastination habits are too scary to really go into here.
  
  
• The word “deadline” now inspires more dread than excitement
  

And most importantly…

• When I talk/think/dream about what I’m doing, it always involves the word “Career.”
  

My life has always been a little crazy. I’m a Navy wife, with an often-absent husband, three young kids, two little dogs with a penchant for regurgitation and an occasionally sympathetic cat. People are constantly telling me (as I’m sure people tell every writer) “I don’t know how you do it.” But see, I’ve managed the whirlwind that is my life by having a head full of stories. Some things are always going to be rough, I think: putting out a new submission, for instance, still makes me a little sick to my stomach. But I don’t turn red when people ask me what my stories are about anymore (yep, I can say “sexy Scottish werewolves” with a totally straight face now, even to strangers), and I can even tell you a little bit about my own personal writing process, when pressed. I’d probably still pass out if Nora Roberts said hello to me, but I’m getting it. Slowly but surely, I’m getting it.

I’ve always written. But I finally feel like a writer. And no matter what comes next, that’s a pretty cool place to be.

Thanks for having me over for coffee, Sia!

***

Kendra Leigh Castle is the author of the MacInnes Werewolves trilogy, as well as the upcoming series The Fallen, coming from Harlequin Nocturne. She lives in Maryland with her husband, three kids, and menagerie of pets, and loves to be visited online at http://www.kendraleighcastle.com/ and at her blog, http://www.kendraleighcastle.blogspot.com/.

WHERE IS JUDI FENNELL?

Wednesday, Judi Fennell showed up in the Atlanta area, she was also in Northern California and I heard she was in New York too. Thursday she was in Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, and I heard rumors she was also in the LA area. I'm getting reports of Judi Fennell spottings from all over the country.

Now, how is this possible you might ask? Does she have her own Lear Jet? Perhaps she worked a deal with I Dream of Jeannie who crossed her arms and blinked Judi Fennell to all these places?

No Jet and I know for a fact, "Jeannie" is a favorite of hers but alas, no help from there either.

The truth is Judi Fennell's debut book, In Over Her Head, scheduled to be released June 1st, has been released early and is showing up in Barnes and Noble and Border's promotion towers across the country.

Have you spotted her yet? If you do, take a picture for me and post it to Facebook, Gather, MySpace, your website, or any social network and send me the link. Be sure to list the store, the state, and the date. The person with the most Judi Fennell sightings, will win a autographed copy of In Over Her Head and one lucky commenter will win a Mer cell phone charm. This Contest runs until June 16th.

You may send the link to me via facebook, or pop in here (this article will be archived but you can click on it anytime) on the comment section with the words: Judi Fennell sighting and the link. Be sure to leave me your name and a way to contact you. I will go to the link and copy the picture for my Where's Judi photo album. This photo album will be my gift to Judi. Let the hunt begin!

Yesterday, I was able to catch up with Judi in Barnes & Noble, in Philadelphia. While I had her ear, I asked her a few questions:

So tell me Judi, how did it feel when you saw your books up for the first time?

You know? I've imagined it for so long that it wasn't as surreal as I thought it'd be... at first. Then, as I stood there, and realized, hey, this is really happening... this isn't your imagination... then, it was verrrrrry surreal. Almost out-of-body. Especially when a woman in the aisle said, "That's your first book?" then BOUGHT ONE! Of course, I signed it for her, and THAT was awesome!

You knew they'd be part of Barnes and Noble's Promotional tower, but what was your reaction when you saw them up at Borders?

I had noooooooo idea about the Borders tower. I cried when my publisher told me about the B&N one; when I saw it there in Borders, I was just dumbstruck. I had to go outside and check the sign to make sure I was in a Borders. I'm just so honored that they liked my story enough to do that. Mind-blowing.

I have to say, seeing your books up brought tears to my eyes and it wasn't even my book, lol! You mentioned seeing it in Borders, was this the Borders you frequent when you were writing the long hours on these books?

Actually, no. This was the opposite direction from my house. There are more bookstores in that direction and since I wasn't feeling well, I wanted to maximize my time out. I have to go to "my" Borders and see it there. More photo ops! :)

Did you do any impromptu book signings while looking at the displays?

I have to say that the staff at all the stores was very helpful - before they knew I was an author. Not that I could keep it quiet once they asked, "Do you need help?" Once they found out I was the author, the "do you want to sign them" immediately followed. I brought my "Signed by Author" gold foil stickers with me, because Borders' store stickers go on the corner and would have covered either my name or Reel's chest. Couldn't have that. So, all the stock got signed and I did sign the one buyer's.

Any plans for a book signing Event?

I'll be signing 6/6 from 1-3 at the Borders in North Wales, PA, and 6/13 2-4 at the Barnes & Noble in Plymouth Meeting. And tomorrow I'll be calling the correct people for two more stores to set up more. My mom is having a very large book signing at her home, so they are happening. Plus, I'll be signing books at the Sourcebooks Publisher Signing at National on that Saturday, around 3 pm. I hope to see lots of familiar names/faces there!

Congratulations, Judi! I know how long and how hard you worked to see this day. I'm proud of you my friend!

Be sure to look for Judi's book, In Over Her Head in your local bookstore and send me the link. If you spot Judi Fennell do take her home and give her a resting place on your bookshelf or your TBR pile. Be sure to be on the lookout for the next two in this series.

***
I have been writing for as long as I can remember. I seemed to have followed writing contests around, being a finalist in such online contests as American Title III, sponsored by Romantic Times BOOKreview Magazine and Dorchester Publishing, and two First Chapters contests, sponsored by Gather.com and Simon & Schuster/Pocket Books.

I grew up watching Bewitched, I Dream of Jeannie and The Addams Family--my mom looked like Elizabeth Montgomery and I had a special Barbie outfit that looked like Morticia Addams' dress. My favorite books are Bewitching by Jill Barnett and A Knight In Shining Armor, by Jude Devereaux, so it should come as no surprise that I like to write tongue-in-cheek lighthearted paranormals.

I love pop culture and manipulating language, so you'll find lots of puns, double entrendre, plays-on-words, alliteration, clichés, and twisting of phrases, as well as several one-liners in my stories that give me a few chuckles.

Now with kids, a husband, a house, a social life (Go Survivor Girls!), and two cocker spaniels named Vixen and Raven, I get to live my dream of being a writer!

Website: http://www.judifennell.com/

Shaking Things Up With Joel Goldman

It's my pleasure to have author Joel Goldman as my guest today. Joel has written six thrillers and his latest of his Jack Davis series is The Dead Man

I'm always curious what makes a writer choose a particular genre and what makes them begin to write. Joel says, "I started writing thrillers when one of my then law partners complained to me about another partner. I told him we should write a murder mystery, kill the son-of-a-bitch off in the first chapter and spend the rest of the book figuring out who did it. So, I did and I never looked back"

Joel shares a bit about the type of characters he likes to write and why.

I explore life through the stories I write, starting each book with the same question in mind. What happens when things go wrong, especially when no one is looking? Character and characters are measured by the answer to that question. Crime fiction poses that question when the stakes are the highest, when the answer determines not only who lives and dies but how well we do both.

Flawed characters make the most interesting subjects because authors and readers can identify with them, recognizing our own shortcomings and wondering what we would do in their place without having to bear any of the consequences. Creating Jack Davis allowed me to take this process one step further and learn more about myself as I asked what happens when the same thing goes wrong in my life and my protagonist’s life.

I practiced law for twenty-eight years, trying lawsuits all across the United States. In March 2004, I was in trial in San Francisco. I awoke one morning and, while shaving, began to shake uncontrollably. As Perry Mason and Denny Crain proved, you can get away with a lot in the courtroom but uncontrollable shaking is not one of them.

It took over a year and a half and examinations by doctors in New York, New Orleans and Phoenix to get a definitive diagnosis of my condition. I have tics, a neurological disorder with no known cause or cure and a name so totally unimpressive that no self-respecting telethon would ask it out on a date. It occurs so rarely in mid-life adults, that little is known about it. Its closest living neurological relative is Tourette’s Syndrome.

Tics is very idiosyncratic, meaning that there is no set pattern or typical course. The more I do, the more I shake, spasm and stutter. My symptoms vary over time, familiar shaking patterns fading into the background, replaced by spasms that hyperextend my neck, arch my back and twist my torso in ways that makes Cirque du Soleil jealous. Tics is not life threatening or life shortening but it is life annoying and it forced me to give up my law practice.

Fortunately, I already had a second life – crime writer. My first series, four books featuring trial lawyer Lou Mason, allowed me to channel the legal career I’d only imagined. Tics gave me the chance to explore the life I’d won in the be-careful-what-you-ask-for sweepstakes by creating a new character, Jack Davis, an FBI Special Agent, forced to give up his career by a movement disorder that makes him shake when he should shoot.

Jack’s life shakes apart in Shakedown (2008) in the middle of an investigation into a drug ring that claims the lives of everyone in a drug house and threatens the people closest to him. In The Dead Man (2009), Jack he struggles to find purpose in a life that is forever throwing him off balance while he tracks a serial killer who specializes in making deadly nightmares come true.

For more about my books and me, visit my website, http://www.joelgoldman.com/, send me a friend request on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/home.php and click here to watch the video preview of my new book, The Dead Man - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t55cZ1ZnfV0

***

Joel became a ten-year overnight success with the publication of his first book, Motion To Kill, in 2002, introducing trial lawyer Lou Mason. Lou made his second appearance in 2003’s Edgar® nominated The Last Witness. He managed to keep getting in and out of trouble in Cold Truth (2004) and Deadlocked (2005), which was nominated for a Shamus award and has been optioned for film. Joel retired from his law practice in 2006 and still hasn’t looked back.

Joel and his wife have three kids, all out in the world happily doing what they want where they want to do it. They also have two cockapoos, Roxy and Ruby, sisters born on Valentine's Day that may never grow up. Joel is a fourth generation Kansas Citian and am named after his great grandfather who came to the United States in 1881. Legend has it that he overheard his parents arranging his marriage and decided to take his chances in the New World, leaving under cover of darkness. As Joel says, “I don't know whether the story is true but I subscribe to this quote from one of my favorite movies, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance: When legend becomes fact, print the legend.”

"Enter a drawing for a free, autographed copy of The Dead Man, by posting a comment about me and my books with a link to my website or the video preview of The Dead Man on your Facebook page, My Space page or website and sending me the link by midnight, May 21 at joelkgoldman@gmail.com. I'll write the names down, put them in a hat, close my eyes and pick a winner."

Disciplined? Or Delusional?

My guest is Superromance Author Beth Andrews. Beth’s dream was to be published and this small time girl worked hard at improving her writing skills to accomplish that. Beth is no stranger to rejected submissions—years of them.

In 2006 and 2007, she caught a break for all her hard work. She was a finalist with two manuscripts in the RWA Golden Heart in 2006. In 2007 she won the golden Heart. It was bought by Harlequin Superromance and published as Not Without Her Family.

Today she talks about lessons learned and how she juggles family life and her writing.

I’ve never considered myself a particularly disciplined person but all of that changed when I decided to become a writer. Believe me, sitting at your computer each day producing pages takes what I call the Three Big Ds: Dedication, Determination and a boatload of Discipline.

Now, the first two I had covered. It’s easy for me to be dedicated to writing because honestly, I love writing. I love the entire process of writing from taking the initial idea and fleshing out into a full story, I love getting to know my characters, coming up with scene ideas and writing that first draft. I also love polishing those first pages into a final draft and using the revisions from my editor to make the story the best it can be.

Determination? Yep, I’ve got that too. From the time I decided I wanted to be a romance author I was determined to be published. I knew it wouldn’t be easy but that was okay because the end result was worth the years of honing my craft, submissions and yes, even those heart-breaking rejections.

But discipline? Ugh. Even just typing the word gives me the heebie jeebies. It goes against my very, laid-back, see-what-happens, there’s-plenty-of-time-to-get-things-done nature. Yet I knew that to be successful, to accomplish my writing goals, I’d need to suck it up and put my bordering-on-chaotic life into some sort of order. Here are a few tricks and tips I’ve learned over the years:

Smaller Is Better. This tip is from a NYT Bestselling author. When I asked her for some time management tips, she told me how she uses a regular Post-It note for her To-Do List. This works because it forces you to prioritize your goals and narrow them down into a manageable list. At the beginning of each month I write my goals for that month in a notebook. Sometimes this takes up two pages! Looking at the long list can be totally overwhelming but by taking this advice, I’ve accomplished more in the last three months then I ever thought possible. I simply look through my Master List, take the top 3-5 (depending on how small I write *g*) items and put them on a Post-It note. Then I work down the list and when the day is over, I simply toss the Post-It and start a new list tomorrow. (This can also be done on your computer. Just remember the key is to keep the list small and manageable.)

First Thing’s First. This is advice I’ve known and was reiterated to me by another NYT Bestselling author. Prioritize your To-Do List and take the first thing, the ONE thing you want to get done that day and get it done first. This advice works for full time writers and those who have full time jobs as well. If you’ve set aside an hour in the evening and the first thing on your list is to write 3 pages, do that first. An average day for me consists of getting my pages done first then my exercise and only after both of those have been accomplished do I allow myself to check e-mail and blogs (unless I’m the one blogging *g*) I’ve found that if I push back either of those items until ‘later’, I never get them done.

Chunk It. I discovered a while back that although I loved to multi-task, I wasn’t getting anything done. Oh, I was working on lots of projects and was busier than ever but nothing was ever finished. I knew I needed a change so I started Chunking. All that means is I concentrate on one thing at a time and I set aside certain times of the day or week to get them done. For example, I’ve now set aside Saturday mornings for writing blogs, updating my website and sending out mailings. Knowing I have an entire morning I can dedicate to these tasks makes it a lot easier to set them aside during the week and concentrate on my writing.

So, even though I still shudder at the word, I’m slowly learning how to become disciplined and I’m always on the lookout for more tips and tricks for making the most of my time. What about you? Anyone have any time management tips to share?

Which of the Three Big Ds is easiest for you? The hardest?

***

As a stay-at-home mother of three children, Beth Andrews decided to put pen to paper (or, in her case, fingers to keyboard) and pursue her dream of becoming a published author. After much trial and error, Beth discovered her writing process—daydreaming, mumbling to herself, playing Spider Solitaire…and writing, of course.

Beth’s stories have netted her three Golden Heart finals and in 2007—a coveted win. Her winning manuscript, Not Without Her Family, sold to Harlequin Superromance—marking the achievement of her original dream and the beginning of what she hopes is a long career writing the stories she loves.

When Beth’s not writing (or daydreaming, mumbling to herself or playing Spider Solitaire) she can be found making some of the many recipes she collects, redecorating her home or stringing beads together. She has been honored by her kids as “The Only Mom in Town Who Makes Her Children Do Chores” and “The Meanest Mom in the World”—as if there’s something wrong with counting down the remaining days of summer vacation until school starts again. To learn more about Beth, her books or to get her latest favorite recipe, check out her Web site.

Beth's website: http://www.bethandrews.net/
Blogs: Romance Bandits - http://romancebandits.blogspot.com/
Writers At Play - http://www.writersatplay.com/wordpress/

A NOT-SO-PERFECT PAST ~ April '09 Harlequin Superromance

HIS SECRET AGENDA ~ October '09 Harlequin Superromance

Beth is offering a copy of her latest book to one lucky commenter. We'll let you know who you are a bit later.