Marilyn's Musings

Yep, that actually happened. I was one of the first authors to embrace e-publishing. My first Rocky Bluff P.D. mystery was published by a pioneer e-publisher. Unfortunately, at the time the only way to read an e-book was on a computer. Also, there was no easy way to purchase much of anything from the Internet. The Rocket E-Rader became available and was a great way to read e-books. It was back-lit and shut off when you fell asleep. They were bought out by a company that created another e-reader that was slicker looking but not nearly as good. During this time I was promoting e-books at all sorts of writers' conferences. At a large conference I mentioned that e-books were coming and was booed. The main speaker made fun of me. He said people would never read e-book, they loved the small of paper books. At another conference, a writer poo-pooed the whole idea of e-books. Guess what, her books are all available on Kindle now. There were many such instances, but I ke...

 This Sunday, April 6 from 1-3, several members of the Central Coast chapter of Sister is Crime will gather at the Coalesce Bookstore and Wedding Chapel, 845 Main St., Morro Bay. Not only will it be a book signing, but each participant will give a 5 minute reading or talk about their book(s). And (I know this is important) there will be refreshments! Those who will be presenting are: Tony Piazza (the president of CCSinC), Sue McGinty, Paul Fahey, Barbara Hodges, Anne R. Allen, Natalie Jarboe, and me. The event will be held in the chapel and the beautiful garden patio. My hubby and I love to go over to these events, it's like a mini-vacation. We're good friends with so many of the members because we've been joining the chapter for events for a long, long time. I do hope some of you who are in the area will come join us. I'll have copies of Murder in the Worst Degree, Dangerous Impulses, Spirit Shapes and Raging Water.             ...

Barbara Hodges and co-author at Nipomo And Me at Nipomo If you've never heard of Nipomo, California, it's a small town just north of Santa Maria. Once a year the Friends of the Nipomo Library put on a small craft and book fair on the front lawn and the porch of the library--and today is the day. These photos were taken about three years ago, but we are in the same place today from 9 to 2 p.m. We arrived in Santa Maria yesterday, checked in to the Santa Maria Inn and then headed down to Nipomo to have dinner with Barbara Hodges and her husband, Jeff. This has become a yearly ritual for us. I met Barbara several years ago at a Win.Win Conference when she came to a workshop I did on ebooks, long before anyone knew much about them. It used to be Barbara and I only saw each other once or twice a year, but now she comes to PSWA's conference too, so we have more opportunities to schmooze. This is one of the pluses of being an author--the great friends you make al...

This is the first photo (that came out half way decent) taken with my new iPhone. On our way we stopped at Jack Ranch for lunch in Cholame--famous for the fact that's where James Dean died on the highway. There are photos of James Dean on the walls of the little cafe--which has wonderful fish and chips, by the way. We had a great time in Nipomo. Actually we stayed Friday night in Arroyo Grande and had dinner in Pismo at Steamers with Barbara and Jeff Hodges. I've known Barbara since Win Win Writers Conference Days--and thought we've done a couple of booksignings together in the pasts it's been awhile seen we've seen one another. Food was excellent and we had an ocean view window and we sat and gabbed for a couple of hours. The next day we drove to the Nipomo Library, once again thanks goodness for Mrs. Magellan because she took us right there. It was a smallish event with mostly craft booths. Barbara and I were on the porch and good friend and mystery writer Sue McG...