Lottie's Legacy by Gloria Getman
As Marilyn knows, the seeds of Lottie’s Legacy sprouted when I was attending her class/critique
sessions at her home in Springville some years back. If it hadn’t been for
Marilyn’s encouragement the idea might have dried on the vine. I stumbled
around in the weeds for a long time.
The book would have progressed faster if I hadn’t
been distracted by life. During a gap of close to seven years, I worked on the manuscript
by fits and starts. Yes, that’s a cliché, but it’s true. I put my house and
orange orchard up for sale, sold it, moved twice in one year and built a new
house. At times, I gave up on Lottie's Legacy altogether.
It wasn’t until July 7,
2007 that Lottie got a new lease on life. Pat Smiley was the speaker at Sisters
in Crime in Fresno. She told of her trail to the publication of her first book.
It took eight years. She was in Elizabeth George's critique group in Southern
California. She said that of the five people in that group, she was the only
one to finish a book (and subsequently published).
I thought, ‘By golly, I’m going to finish Lottie’s Legacy
even if it never gets published.’ I hauled the entire manuscript out of my
file cabinet, spread it out on the dining room table and took a scissors to it.
I had 22 chapters that needed pruning. I spent an hour cutting and pasting. It
was hard to toss out scenes that I liked but didn’t fit.
I got involved with
Visalia Writers and the polishing began. Changes were made, then when I thought
it was ready, I sent out e-queries. But while I’d been busy working over the
manuscript, the economy fell off a cliff. My e-rejections came back so fast it
was breathtaking.
I’d used CreateSpace to
publish Leaves from the Valley Oak,
an anthology of work from the Visalia-Exeter Writers’ critique groups. The
product turned out to be beautiful, and we were all very pleased. I kept
hearing and reading about e-publishing and self-publishing. I decided I wasn’t
going to wait for the economy to recover. With the help of my good friend,
Sylvia Ross, I developed the cover and self-published the book in June this
year. It’s now available at www.amazon.com and www.amazon.com/kindle, at the Book Garden in Exeter and from the author.
About Lottie’s
Legacy:
Deena
Powers’ life has come apart at the seams. Her father has been killed in an auto
accident, and her aunt is under suspicion for a murder. Convinced her aunt is
innocent, Deena intends to prove it. And who better to ferret out the truth?
After all, Deena’s a private investigator.
When
she arrives in Four Creeks in California’s San Joaquin Valley where her aunt
lives, she’s in for a number of surprises, the first being that her former high
school sweetheart, Avis “Buzz” Walker, is the officer investigating the
crime. Past feelings stir and sparks
fly when Deena starts asking questions and sticking her nose into his
investigation.
Although a burglary of her
office in Southern California is an unwanted distraction, Deena continues doing
what she does best, and soon learns that the eccentric dead woman was about as
popular around town as a summer dust storm.
Deena is sure she knows who
the killer is, but proof is elusive and she is forced to enlist the help of
Buzz Walker in order to delve into the dead woman’s colorful past. The trail
leads back fifty years where a secret is uncovered, one that involves her aunt.
When seemingly unrelated events converge, Deena is brought face-to-face with a
ruthless killer.
About Gloria:
Gloria Getman was born
in Wisconsin, grew up in Ojai, California, graduated from Nordhoff High, and Ventura College. Marriage and children
followed. Later, when the family moved to Exeter, CA, she went on to graduate
from CSU, Bakersfield with a BSN in nursing. After 25 years as an RN, she
retired and began writing.
Her nostalgic piece “Hair
to Hate” was published in Yesterday’s
Magazette and Reminisce Extra. Her
poetry has appeared in South Valley Arts,
the Sun-Gazette, and the SGS
Newsletter. She won third place in the Central Valley Writers Workshop
competition in 2007 and third place in the 2010 Lillian Dean First Page
Competition for a novel at the Central Coast Writer’s Conference. Three of her short
stories are in the Visalia-Exeter Writers’ anthology, Leaves from the Valley Oak. She’s
a member of both Central Coast and San Joaquin Sisters in Crime, plus SLO
NightWriters.
Her first novel,
Lottie’s Legacy, a cozy mystery, is available at www.amazon.com
and www.amazon.com/kindle.
Visit her blog: http://gloriagetman.blogspot.com/
(And a P.S. from me. I loved this story from the first time I heard it. I'm so glad it's finally a reality!)
Marilyn
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