Marilyn's Musings

  Promotion has always been difficult: figuring out what to do, where and when: what on-line, and what in-person: what conferences to go to; book signings and other appearances: using paid promotion--what and how much. The in-person stuff has become iffy because of Covid. Boucheron, the biggest mystery convention of all expected this month, was cancelled because of the uptick of Covid. Fortunately for me and others, the much smaller PSWA went on as planned even though several of those who registered cancelled. The conference was wonderful. And I've not heard of anyone getting sick and it's been more than 10 days since it ended. Right now I'm planning two in-person events. A small book signing at our church, I've done them there before, and a talk and signing at the Porterville Art Gallery. We'll see how they go. As for online stuff, I'm in the middle of a blog tour--and a few copies of The Trash Harem  have been purchased.  I've been promoting the tour on Fa...

Don't miss out, today and tomorrow are the only time Deadly Omen will be free for Kindle. https://www.amazon.com/Deadly-Omen-Tempe-Crabtree-Mysteries-ebook/dp/B07RGCVSYK/ref=sr_1_3?keywords=Deadly+Omen+by+Marilyn+Meredith&qid=1560431452&s=digital-text&sr=1-3 This is a good way to start the series. If you like a solid mystery with a strong heroine, you should enjoy Deadly Omen. Tempe Crabtree, who is a Native American, is the resident deputy for the mountain community of Bear Creek and its surroundings. Nearby is the Bear Creek Indian Reservation, though she didn't grow up there.  Every book in the series has some Indian mysticism or legend. I do hope you'll try them.  Marilyn

Deadly Omen was the first in the Deputy Tempe Crabtree series to be published. It's listed as #1. I've always loved this story because of the connection with a Pow Wow. I attended a Pow Wow with the official photographer, a good friend, and learned so much. It was an amazing and beautiful experience. One of the local Indians called me and told me I'd gotten all the Pow Wow parts rights--a most wonderful affirmation. Of course the rest is fiction, as are all the characters. This is now the third edition of this book, and it's seeing new life because of Lorna and Larry Collins.  If you've not read it before, I hope you'll give it a try. https://www.amazon.com/s?k=Deadly+Omen+by+Marilyn+Meredith&i=digital-text&ref=nb_sb_noss_2

This has been a most busy time--though in earlier years, what's been going on would have been a breeze. The older I get, the longer it takes me to do things. I forgot all about writing a new post. I finished editing the two first books in the Deputy Tempe Crabtree series--have two more to go. I'm working on a new Tempe mystery and it's going great--so I hate to have to do other things. But so far this week hubby and I had a doc appointment--all is well, just regular 3 month check.  I am home today, but need to do a project for someone--one that has priority over my writing. Because I'm going to the coast on Friday because I'm going to be on a panel Saturday at the Central Coast Chapter of Sisters in Crime--I need to think about packing. Hoping to squeeze in a haircut, but my gal is on vacation, need to see where else I can go. Tomorrow is our grocery shopping day--always a busy day. Plus it's my writing group which means I'll have ...

The old is Deadly Trail which first came out from Hard Shell Word Factory years ago. It actually should have been first before Deadly Omen.  When I approached the publisher for the series, she only wanted Deadly Omen, Unequally Yoked, Wing Beat, and Intervention. Mundania Press has done a bit of republishing, and soon they will all be republished and available. I've actually signed five new contracts with them. I re-edited Deadly Omen and sent it off. Now I'm working on Deadly Trail . And yes, it does need re-editing. I'm not bringing it up to date with cell phones, etc., but taking care of my excessive us of ellipses and exclamation points. And because it is so old--I had to take care of double spaces after periods. Both those books were written and saved in Word Perfect, so there have been other issues especially with the formatting--all of this is time consuming. In the meantime, I'm also working on a new Deputy Tempe Crabtree mystery--and I have to at le...

Recently, one of my friends called and said she'd just read Deadly Feast . She said it read like a Deputy Tempe Crabtree mystery. She was right. When I wrote it, I intended it to be a Tempe mystery, but when I was finished I realized it didn't quite fit the criteria. There was nothing in it about the heroine being Native American or any references to anything Indian. So, I changed the names of the two main characters and the town. Of course that meant there was still a lot of resemblance to the all my Tempe Crabtree mysteries. The story revolves around a huge storm and people being stranded on the wrong side of the river when a bridge goes out. Of course there's a murder, a murder that revolves around food, and the heroine is put into great danger when someone pushes her into the rushing river. I liked what I'd written and decided with a few changes, the book would still work. When I first wrote it, I called it Guilt by Association. Under that ...

Though this was supposed to be free, Amazon changed their requirements and it can only have the price lowered, so-- Yes, Spirit Shapes , will only be .99 cents on Kindle from October 16 through October 22. This would be a great way to introduce yourself to the Deputy Tempe Crabtree mystery series. https://www.amazon.com/Spirit-Shapes-Tempe-Crabtree-Mystery-ebook/dp/B00FEJDA04/ref=sr_1_1_twi_kin_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1473949324&sr=1-1&keywords=Spirit+Shapes+by+Marilyn+Meredith#nav-subnav ASIN:  B00FEJDA04 Ghost hunters stumble upon a murdered teen in a haunted house. Deputy Tempe Crabtree's investigation pulls her into a whirlwind of restless spirits, good and evil, intertwined with the past and the present, and demons and angels at war. Try it, it's a perfect mystery for the season.

When I first moved to Springville, I wrote personality pieces for the local newspaper--The Tule River Times. (This folksy weekly changed hands a couple of times while I worked for them.) Sometimes, I was told who to interview, but most of the time I had to find someone interesting on my own. I liked to write about an old-timer one week and someone new to the area the next. This was a great way for me to become acquainted with a number of people. Some of them lived in most intriguing places, way up in the mountains, or off on a winding road that didn't seem to lead anywhere. One of the most fascinating was a woman who lived in the mountains, down a mile long rutted road that had to be driven on by a car with a high undercarriage. She lived in a house her husband had built by hand, crafting the lumber from the trees on the property. Water and electricity were supplied by the nearby river. I didn't use her in a book, but I did use the location--made for a great hidden mari...

Since my next Tempe Crabtree mystery is off to the publisher for editing, it's time I got serious about the promotion. I've always done some sort of launch party--but my last one wasn't as great as I'd hoped for. Of course I had a few loyal folks who turned up, served some delicious snacks, but I'd like to do something different for my next one.  Because this one revisits the Hairy Man--what do you think about having homemade Hairy Man cookies? Maybe the Gingerbread variety? If you came to such a party, what would you like to hear about? Another thing I've always done in the past is a Blog Tour. I'm wondering whether or not to do another one. I do enjoy doing them and I have had an upturn of sales during and after--but it is really a lot of work. And if I do decide to do one, should I give a prize to the person who comments on the most blogs? In the past, I've given the winner the opportunity to be a character in the next book. Should I do ...

With what, you ask? No, not money or health. Maybe it's my age catching up with me, I'm not sure. The problem is writing the next Deputy Tempe Crabtree mystery. Part of the problem could be because I don't even have copies in hand of #13 in the series-- Spirit Shapes . Oh, I know it's getting close, if I haven't heard by the time this post is being read, I will be able to order copies soon. When I get them, I'll be offering some free for people to read and offer reviews. And maybe that's my problem because I found a not so wonderful review of #12 in the series, Raging Water . It was the first 2 star review I ever received. I shouldn't even pay any attention to it was there are nine 5 star reviews and one 4. What happens I think, even if it is only one, it has rattled my confidence a bit. What I need to do is forget it. After all, we don't all like the same books. Some of the things the reviewer criticized me for are elements that are in a...

I don't want to slight my Deputy Tempe Crabtree series for those of you with Kindles. For some reason that I do not know, not all of them are on there, but these are the ones that are: Deadly Trail is the very first book in the series introducing Tempe, her son, Blair, and her new love interest, Pastor Hutch. Nick Two John plays a prominent role in this book as he's suspected of murder. http://www.amazon.com/Deadly-Prequel-Crabtree-Mystery-ebook/dp/B004SRFLYG/ref=sr_1_8?ie=UTF8&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2&s=digital-text&qid=1303920715&sr=1-8 Deadly Omen is next, but for some reason isn't available on Kindle. Unequally Yoked is the third in the series and it's only available on Kindle. Tempe looks for a missing child, participates in a Native American ceremonial, and learns that she and Hutch have a large problem in their marriage. http://www.amazon.com/Unequally-Yoked-Crabtree-Mystery-ebook/dp/B004SRFN0S/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2&s=digital...

Thank you for stopping by my Blog! Please explore all this Blog has to offer, then jog on over to http://riseabovereason.blogspot.com . If you would like to visit a different Blog in the jog, go to http://blogjogday.blogspot.com . Recently on another blog, the blogger told about how difficult it was for her to write. She procrastinated with one thing or another before finally sitting down at her computer. Writing to her was painful. For me it is just the opposite, not writing is painful. I've been that way all my life. Before I could actually write, I told a story by drawing pictures. I wrote stories, plays and full-length books all through high school. I took a break when I got married and started a family--a big family, five children in all. Then I began writing again, some stories, but mostly things like PTA newsletters and plays for my Camp Fire Girls to perform. I didn't begin college until my youngest was in kindergarten. I began with one night class and then two, and mo...

A questions was asked of me if there were any templates or guides for marketing on the web. There may be, but I don't know of any, but there are sorts of hints from authors about what they are doing and you can adapt that for your own promotion. Kindred Spirits is the latest book in my Deputy Tempe Crabtree mystery series. It is due out in September and that's the book I'm pushing right now. Joe Konrath (check him out on Google) probably has done the most aggressive and successful promotion possible for his first book--and he continues to do some great promotion. He even went so far as to put the cover of his book on his car--all over his car. My husband wasn't enthusiastic about such an idea. However, on both my cars I've got my website on the back--magnetic signs I purchased from the Internet. Have they helped sell books? I have no idea. Every author needs a website and a blog that they change often. There are many, many places to do that, just like right here on ...

We've always had animals. We raised three kids and lots of animals: cats, dogs, chickens, ducks, snakes, guinea pigs, and that was when we lived in the city. We have plenty of animals in our life these days. Three inside cats, Sundance (looks Siamese), Butch (gray and white tuxedo), and Shirley, multi-colored and mother of the boys. Outside are a bunch of feral cats, where they come from we don't have a clue. Hubby feeds them along with a gangling mixed breed dog named Beau who loves the cats. In my Deputy Tempe Crabtree series I have yet to include an animal. Why, I don't know. Perhaps it's because I haven't taken much from my own life experiences for these books. It's a different story in my Rocky Bluff P.D. series. The idea for that series came directly from my friendships and acquaintances with the police officers who lived in our neighborhood though not at the time we were living there. When my daughter married a police officer, his story telling added to w...

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...