Marilyn's Musings

The body of a popular teacher is found under the condemned pier in Rocky Bluff, a pile of heavy rocks on his chest.  The teacher, suspended because of an accusation by a student, had been reported missing by his wife.  Rumors of a religious cult are circulating. Detective Doug Milligan and his partner, Felix Zachary are busy with the investigation of the murder while Stacey Milligan tries to find out the truth about the accusation by questioning students in the teacher's cladd. Police Chief Chandra Taylor, is threatened by a man she sent to prison while on the San Francisco Police Force. The Milligan family shelters her to keep her safe. Beth Milligan loses a friend because of her parents being police officers. I had a good time writing this tale. It began by someone telling me about an ancient practice of piling stones on a guilty person's chest in order to make them tell the truth.  This tale has two villains, and they were great fun for me to writ...

The next Rocky Bluff P.D. mystery is slow in coming because the publisher has had health issues. Fortunately, another publisher has stepped in and offered to publish my next book in the series. I've had it edited and sent it off. I've been contacted by the cover artist--so it shouldn't be too long now. I was a bit concerned that this one might not get published at all. This made me sad because two friends had won the privilege (?) to have characters named for them. Both wanted to be villains--and they are. The title is Unresolved because some things are left hanging--though of course the culprits are discovered, but I don't go into trials or how they they turn out. Recently, I learned that the latest RBPD mystery out, A Crushing Death  has some glaring typos. I'm disappointed, and there isn't anything I can do about it now with the publisher's problem. The only thing I can think of is that when I sent back the corrections, they didn't all...

Of course I'm in the middle of a blog tour for A Crushing Death so my mind is on blogging. Anyone who follows my blog also know that I host many authors right here. What I can't understand is why, after either paying someone to set up a blog tour, or just asking someone to host you on a blog, why so many don't bother to promote the blog. I promote everyone who is on my blog on Facebook and Twitter--but there are many more place to do this. How can I tell when someone doesn't promote? No, I'm not just checking the comment section, but I also can go behind the scenes and look at the stats and see how many people visited. Speaking of comments, when someone does comment on a post, the featured person needs to respond. I'm shocked at how seldom that happens, especially when I know the person paid money for the blog tour they are on. I probably drive people nuts when I'm on a blog tour because I promote everywhere I possibly can, Facebook, Twitter, Face...

My book launch for A Crushing Death was fun. The little shop, Fair Finds, where it was held, despite being in the middle of town, isn't well-known. However my Facebook and the posters I put up around town worked.  People came in dribbles which was good, giving me time to chat with each one. And yes, I sold some books.  The bump in the road came on Sunday when hubby felt bad enough to make another trip to the ER. We arrived at 7 a.m. and didn't leave until 5 p.m. They took many tests and they all came out negative--meaning they didn't keep him, but they also didn't even guess at what his problem might be. We learned later his heart doc was out of the country. He'll see his GP on Thursday. In the meantime, I've been to Redwood High School in Visalia to talk to students. I'm in the white sweater. I talked about writing and gave every student an autographed copy of one of my early Deputy Tempe Crabtree mysteries. I spoke with two classes--...

If you follow me on Facebook or this blog, you probably know that my husband had a Pacemaker installed. Our lives have revolved around that lately, doc appointments etc. I'm happy to report he's doing very well--and for some odd reason even his most painful knees are much, much better. When possible, between the chores that have to be done no matter what, I've been making plans for a Kindle freebie--which means doing a lot of pre-promotion to the sites that promote freebies. More about that later. I'm also looking forward to the debut of A Crushing Death . I've gone through the text block and found errors, then when checking the galley proof, more errors popped out. Why, oh, why didn't I catch them the first time? I've since checked the information on the back of the book, and I'm assuming it will soon be sent off to the printer. Once that happens, my copies will be ordered. I'm anxious to get them because I will be speaking to the Ce...

On the calendar this last week looked like it was nearly wide open to work on my latest w-i-p, which happens to be a Tempe Crabtree mystery. Instead, life intervened as most of my readers knows. Like I wrote about earlier, my husband got very ill and we had to go to the ER, spent 3 days at the hospital, and once home had a lot of adjusting to do. The fact that he had a horrible cold, as did my daughter and I, didn't help matters any. I don't think I could have done it without daughter. She did all the driving and various other things here at home, including spending 3 nights with us. I had two newsletters that needed finishing--fortunately both were nearly done. One just had to be sent off to the fellow who actually posts it--the other had to wait until I attended a meeting and got the latest information, but it was all done except for the last page. For anyone who wonders why I do so much ahead of time it's because I know that emergencies tend to crop u...

We had a great time. The trips there and back were uneventful. I'd hoped to see some wild flowers, but we didn't see any until we got back to Springville where they are out in full bloom. The weather was interesting while we were there--mostly unseasonably warm except for one day when the fog rolled in and cooled everything off. Unfortunately our accommodations weren't as great as usual--no handicapped rooms were available and our assigned room only had a king-size bed. Since there were three of us, this wasn't acceptable. Ended up, we got a rollaway and daughter Lisa put the mattress on the floor--better than feeling the springs through the mattress. Our first evening we spent at youngest daughter Lori's house where we had a great dinner. Also got to see grandson Chris and granddaughter Alyssa. Eldest daughter Dana and her hubby were with us. After a great breakfast at the hotel, I headed upstairs to the room where the PSWA board held their meet...

Yes, I've been busy--but I always am. In the writing part of my life, I've been working on my blog tour for A Crushing Death . The schedule is set, the posts are all written and I've sent off most of them. Before I send each one, I carefully go over it, trying to eliminate all typos and other errors. From much experience, I know that I'll miss some that I won't see until the day they're printed. I've also been working on my next Deputy Tempe Crabtree mystery. I'm at an exciting part, but haven't really had much time to write. I read a chapter each week to my writing group, which means I do have to be at least on chapter ahead. Those who are my real life or Facebook friends know there are many other things that take my time: Number one is family--and I wouldn't have it any other way. I love my family and spending time with them. Number two is my church. I teach a Sunday School class of 3rd through 5th graders, most boys...

Hasn't this been great? An opportunity to meet so many authors and read about their great books? What's that great saying: "So Many Books, So Little Time", it truly fits in this situation. While all this has been going on, I've been working on my next Deputy Tempe Crabtree mystery and gearing up for the launch of my next Rocky Bluff P.D. mystery, A Crushing Death, which will appear in March--not sure exactly when. I can't believe it's #12 in this series. I'd found a great photo for the cover, but didn't know where I got it, so we had to go for another--but this one fits. There is a condemned pier in the story, and this pretty much gives the impression of having seen better days. And yes, I've been planning another blog tour--more about that later. I've also been slowly, but surely getting some in-person events lined up. The first one will be in March--fingers crossed that I'll actually have books by then--when I...