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Showing posts from June, 2007

New Contest--Win Books

Here's a contest that will make you put on your thinking cap and use your imagination: Submit an idea for a murder victim or villain to be used in my next mystery novel. It will be the one I start this summer. Prizes: The first five books in the Deputy Tempe Crabtree series. The first one is trade paperback,the other four are mass market paperback. They are all mysteries. About the book series: Tempe Crabtree is a Native American female deputy in a small mountaincommunity in the Southern Sierra of California called Bear Creek. In eachbook, she learns more and more about her heritage. She’s married to a Christian minister who isn’t thrilled when she uses Indian spiritualismto help solve crimes. An Indian reservation is nearby–the closest small townabout 20 miles away. Please submit entries to editor@clarylopez.comThe winner will be selected by the author (me) and announced on the Book Den site http://booksden.wordpress.com/ on August 1, 2007 I'll be looking forward to some inno

AN INTERVIEW WITH NADENE CARTER

Marilyn: I understand that you've recently had a craft of writing workbook published. Nadene: Yes, The Sense-bile Writer was released for publication the first of June 2007 by ePress-online Inc. http://www.epress-online.com Marilyn: How long did it take you to write The Sense-ible Writer ? Nadene: I’ve edited other writers’ work since 1999. When I found an error in a manuscript, I made note of it to the author, along with what the author needed to do to correct that error. I also moved that entry to a folder I created especially for problems. As my editing work progressed, whenever I found an error, I checked that "problem folder" first. If I had already created verbiage about that error, I copied, pasted, and personalized it for this particular author. Soon, it became time-consuming to locate an entry, so I created subfolders and organized the topics within the subfolders. In 2005 I recognized that the information I had saved in those subfolders might be worked into a C

Interview with Kim Robinson

Kim Robinson is stopping by my blog on her virtual book tour. I almost participated in a booksigning with her in Los Angeles, but couldn’t find the restaurant where it was being held. On the Internet, I’ve known Kim for a long while. Here’s the questions I asked Kim. Marilyn: First, I feel like I already know you though we never actually connected. Kim: We have connected you were one of the first ebook authors who participated in my virtual cookbooks, Sweet Satisfaction and Food for the Soul. Someday I hope to actually meet you. I know we will one day, and I am looking forward to it. Marilyn: Your book, Roux in the Gumbo , is so rich with history and color of the time and place--and I know you wrote it with love. Did you have special feelings while writing it? Like were you were in touch with those you were writing about? Kim: My Grandmother mostly but I do feel that people came to me in my dreams and showed me their lives. I feel like I am helping people know how hard it wa

Vicki Taylor, author of "Trust in the Wind"

Author Vicki Taylor is visiting my blog today as one of the stops on her virtual book tour. She kindly agreed to let me interview her so I could get to know more about her and her latest book. Marilyn : When did you start writing? Vicki: I've always written in some format or other. As a career, I wrote technical computer user manuals for fifteen years. Through a set of unforeseen circumstances, I was able to fulfill my dream of writing fiction full time. That started around 1999. Marilyn: Do you have a particular schedule for writing? Vicki: I sort of do have a schedule. I like to write in the afternoons. I feel more alert and inspired at that time. I try to write for a couple of hours straight, then work on other things like editing, critiques - things like that. I also have to squeeze in some promotion every day as well. So that gets added to the schedule. Marilyn:What do you think is special about this particular book? Or you might tell us what you enjoyed most about writing thi

Authors' Virtual Book Tours and In Person Book Signing

Starting next Wednesday, I'll be hosting a couple of authors on their virtual book tours. The next one will be for Vicki Taylor. I do hope you'll stop by and learn about her and her books. I'll be having a virtual book tour myself in August to promote Judgment Fire , the next book in the Deputy Tempe Crabtree series. I'll post the schedule as soon as I have it. On Saturday, June 23 from 1 to 2:30, I'll be Ventura CA at the Barnes and Noble Bookstore with a few other authors to sign books--I'll be signing Calling the Dead . Anyone who is in the area, please come and see me. I've been really busy. Spent last weekend in Reno with the Public Safety Writers Association Board--and yes, we did work. I didn't put one nickle in a slot machine--it isn't my thing. Besides getting a lot done, we did laugh a lot. There's nothing like hanging out with a trio of retired cops and listening to their wild tales. To learn more about PSWA, visit http://www.policewr

Home Again

What a vacation! We are usually only gone for a weekend with a day or two on either side. This time we were gone for about ten days. We had a great time. The down side was coming home to a stack of phone messages to return and a foot high stack of mail. Mayhem as usual was great fun! We had Thursday a.m. to visit the Heritage Museum. Chose that over the zoo because it was pouring rain. For lunch, we went to our favorite Ahmad’s Persian Restaurant and we weren’t disappointed. Ahmad remembered us and called us California as soon as spotted us. Speaking of restaurants we found another good in the Old Marketplace, M’s Pub. When we returned to our hotel, Pat Lang, our Omaha friend, came to visit us in our room. The opening buffet was that night. Mayhem is a bit like a family reunion because so many of the same people, writers and readers, attend year after year. So much fun to see and visit with everyone. I won’t name all the authors and fans that I’m particularly fond of–suffice it to say