Marilyn's Musings

A similar question was on one of the other blogs I appear on, except it was why do WE write. I'm only going to speak for myself, but I must admit there are times that I wonder. I received a quarterly report and royalties from one of my publishers--and it was just about enough for a nice dinner out for husband and me. Not much of a reward for all the time I put in writing. On the good side, several of the books in that particular series were purchased--both paperback and e-books. That means people are interested in the series. As for my true motivation--writing is what I do. Everyone knows I'm a writer and that's how I spend a great deal of my time. (Another batch is spent in promoting--but I wouldn't even sell as many books as I do if I didn't spend time promoting.) Because I'm invested in my characters, I need to know what is going to happen to them next and the only way to do that is write the next book. I love my writer friends--and I ...

Which ones do you belong to and why? I belong to several. Mystery Writers of America. I joined long ago when my first book was published--and it wasn't even a mystery. I've maintained my membership through the years. And to be honest, I've kept it mostly because of the prestige associated with it. I've never lived close enough to either the Southern or Northern California chapters to attend any of the events. Sisters in Crime. I joined the national group year ago, before there were many chapters. I get a lot of information from being on the listserve. I went to the first get-together where a group of mystery writers gathered together in Fresno to talk about organizing a chapter--now the San Joaquin SinC. I've belonged ever since and do attend meetings whenever I can. I've gotten a lot out of these meetings, besides making many, many friends and hearing lots of interesting speakers, buying lot of author's books, I also got some ideas for books...

As I settle back into my recliner after a superlative Easter Brunch at my sister’s sister-in-law’s (talk about extended family!), I reflect on the holidays that I’ve missed.  Technically, you couldn’t really say I missed them as I was present but often not at the place of the celebration.  In the years I spent on the job, missing a holiday celebration was part of the deal. I signed up knowing that I’d miss Christmas morning with the kids opening their gifts, Thanksgiving afternoon with Mom and Dad, birthdays and anniversaries. Those days were often spent driving around alone trying to keep busy but not get into trouble or sitting in a dimly lit room staring at flickering monitors. Santa surprises a patrolman It’s kind of funny, going to work on Christmas morning when everyone you know is still in sugar-plum fairy land isn’t as doleful as it sounds. I always (even in the depths of my comatose commute) felt a little special to be awake when everyone else was aslee...

My blog tour is finished, the prize winners have been notified. The two who won books, will be receiving them in a few days. So what's next for Dangerous Impulses --and for me? I have a radio interview tomorrow with Lori Soard--I suspect it will be recorded then I can post the link. She sent me questions which I printed, though I seem to have lost the 2nd page. I'm not worried though, it will be like chatting with an old friend. Saturday is my physical book launch. (More about it on Friday. Already I've run into a glitch. My church has planned a picnic that same day--so not only will I not be going to the picnic, most of my church friends will which means they won't be showing up at my launch. I have a few other blogs I'll be appearing on. Oh, and Dangerous Impulses is now available as an e-book. http://www.amazon.com/Dangerous-Impulses-Rocky-Series-ebook/dp/B00C02EZ3E/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1365385061&sr=1-1&keywords=dangerous...

That seems to be the major topic being discussed on all the author listserves and blogs. Because these are all on the Internet, the discussion revolves around what works best on the Internet. Do I have the answers? Absolutely not. But I have the good sense to do most of the things everyone else is doing. The first thing I ever had was a website: http://fictionforyou.com . For years it opened with a flash of lightning. Most people liked it, but some did not--so I had my Web Maven remove it. I've also had her revamp the site a couple of times, and I make sure to keep it updated. That's something readers complain about some authors--that their web page hasn't been updated for years. I have all sorts of things on my webpage including my latest books, first chapters, book trailers, appearances, etc. Obviously, I also do a blog, because here it is. I try to update it once a day--not always possible, though I try to write blogs ahead of time. My blog isn't the only one I'm...

For anyone who doesn't know, Sisters in Crime is an international organization of readers and writers of mysteries. It began as a means of promoting female mystery authors. Despite the name, men are allowed to join and in the San Joaquin chapter, one I belong to and attend most often, the males are called "mister sisters." I was one of the founding members of the San Joaquin chapter and I love it. Over the years I've given presentations for them, sold a lot of my books to members, learned a lot from other speakers, bought a lot of books from other authors who've come, and gotten ideas for books from speakers like vice cops, coroners and the like. In my latest book, An Axe to Grind , the main plot was inspired by grisly slides shown to us before lunch by a coroner. A sub plot came from a female vice-cop who came to speak several years back. I've been asked by speakers from the law enforcement field to write their story, but so far haven't done that. What I ...

Top photo is of the infamous Henry Hill of GoodFellas fame. Despite his gangster pass, he's now reformed and quite a nice guy. Enjoyed listening to his stories and visiting with him over lunch. Next photo is of good friend Denny Griffin, retired New York police officer, who started rubbing elbows with the "bad guys" after he started writing the history of the Las Vegas P.D. and needed to do some research into the gangsters who invaded the city. As you can tell by the first photo, we had a huge crowd at this Sisters in Crime meeting--mostly women though we do have a few Mister Sisters. Denny actually belongs to the Las Vegas chapter of Sisters in Crime. I took these photos with my Blackberry and had a terrible time getting them from the phone to my computer so I could put them on this blog. Now back to my normal life. Marilyn http://fictionforyou.com

I belong to three Sisters in Crime chapters, San Joaquin, Central Coast and the Los Angeles chapters. The San Joaquin sisters meet in Fresno, the closest to home, though it takes about an hour and 45 minutes to get there, if there isn’t much traffic. I go whenever I can for two big reasons, I enjoy the company of mystery lovers many of whom are good friends, and there is almost always an interesting speaker. This time it was Wally Conger, a life-long Sherlock Holmes fan and collector. He shared many interesting facts about Sherlock Holmes that I had never heard before and some intriguing insights. He pointed out that the hero on House is based on Sherlock Holmes in many ways. The doctor, House, is certainly a detective, he’s anti-social, a drug addict, doesn’t do well with relationships, all traits he has in common with Holmes. Another TV detective who has Holmes' traits is Monk. The Sherlock Holmes books were published between 1887 and 1927. Conger believes the first books are the...