Marilyn's Musings

Even though I do not have a new book to promote--events that I had no control over have slowed down both the writing and production of the latest Rocky Bluff P.D. crime novel--I have plenty of books to promote and sell. When this post appears I'll be at the Madera Library with a many of my RBPD novels and my Deputy Tempe Crabtree mysteries.  I'll be heading to Ventura on the 23rd of this month for the Public Safety Writers Association. This is not promotion, but it's our planning session for the year and ultimately the big conference in July. I know that those who come will have an opportunity to learn about promotion as well as promote their own books. March 11 I'll be at the Sierra Vista Mall in Clovis from 10 - 8.  On April 1, I'll be speaking at the San Joaquin chapter of Sisters in Crime with our president, Cora Ramos about all things writing. You can find me in Hanford on April 15th in the library at 3 p.m. Will have 30 minutes to delight t...

(In way of introductions, JoAnne Lucas is a friend and a fellow Sister in Crime in both the San Joaquin and Central Coast chapters.)      . . . and I’m cackling with glee. My 2013 entry, “An Object Lesson,” will be published in Darkhouse Books’ new anthology, DESTINATION: MYSTERY, coming out this summer.      “Object Lesson” has had an interesting journey. In 2013 Bird Boss Mary Redmond decreed the theme to be Water Rights and Wrongs. Water had to figure into the tale and of course it had to be set in the San Joaquin Valley. I wrote out a story that’d been buzzing in my brain a while, a tale interspersed with lines from the Preposition Poem I had to learn in 8 th grade. Going back to junior high memories, I finally offed my old nemesis, but I had to move the story here to a nearby lake. Voila! Bass Lake. The entry didn’t win but it took honors in a new category made up just for my story – The Bricolage Award for construction or creation from...

Penny Warner writes cozies for adults and a great series for children. She came to visit the San Joaquin Chapter of Sisters in Crime and talked about her books and also gave us some promotion  tips. She's always a fun speaker.  Her children's books are all about codes and decoding, and she said sometimes the kids write to her in code and she has a tough time deciphering them. This is the latest in the code buster series. I bought all three of the books for one of my great-granddaughters who likes to read. This is her latest mystery series which she is writing under the name of Penny Pike. I've started reading this one and it's delightful. What Penny said about marketing: An author in the audience complained about the time taken from his writing to promote. Her answer, everyone has to do it. She does something special to give out for every book--made toe tags for one book, sign language cookies for her books with the deaf newspa...

This are photos I planned to post with my blog about Simon Wood at the San Joaquin Sisters in Crime. The darling young girl has been a part of the San Joaquin Chapter of Sisters in Crime since she was teenie. As soon as she was old enough, she took on the job of passing out the raffle tickets for the raffle that takes place at each meeting. She's always been a cutie and a sweet girl. I'm proud to have her as a friend. Simon was given several awards by our chapter, meaningful but also funny and that's what's happening in the photo of him and Kate Anderson with the chapter president in the background, JoAnn Lucas. That was the "this". The "that" is I have a new computer and it's driving me crazy. I'm having a hard time finding things. I don't know how to put my information into my Quicken program. Neither of my word processing programs are working right. I lost Firefox and can't seem to get it to load right. The Outlook program is a new...

Simon Wood came all the way from the Bay Area to speak with the San Joaquin chapter of Sisters in Crime. He's a great guy, friendly, and I love his books! He shared some of his wisdom and told the aspiring authors that if you want advances and to have your books in the bookstores you need to go the traditional way to be published: 1. Have the best possible book, already edited. 2. Find an agent so you can be picked up by a big publisher. If you ever want to compete of the big prizes then you have to be with a big press. (Not always true but mostly.--my comment.) Never, never pay an agent or a publisher or pay for a review. (I definitely agree.) He added, there's plenty of other stuff you have to pay for yourself such as writers' conferences and mystery cons even if you're a big name writer. Never disappoint your reader. By the time the book hits the bookstore and has gone through the hands of the editor, the copy editor, etc. it is no longer your book. (Not so much with...