Marilyn's Musings

We always leave at 9 a.m. so we can arrive in Oakhurst around 11:30 or so in order to eat lunch with Sunny/Donna Baker and her hubby. Sunny and I go way, way back when we used to attend a chapter of RWA in Fresno. I don't really like to eat much before I speak, but the place we met, called The Grinder, let's us hang around and visit until it's time to go to the book store. I always arrive 1/2 hour ahead of time so the owner, Monica McClanahan won't be nervous about me showing up. This time, when I walked in, people were already sitting in the chairs arranged at the back of the room. I brought 20 handouts, because usually the crowd has been fairly small when I've come to talk. This time I ran out and there weren't enough seats, even though tables were cleared to become make-shift benches. One lady sat on the floor, and 3 for just stood in the back. What a great bunch of folks--so attentive, listened to everything I had to say about the big changes in publishing a...

Last Saturday, hubby and I headed to Oakhurst which is about a three hour drive from out house. We have to drive down from the foothills, get out on the 99 freeway (always exciting, especially when a big truck decides to tailgate you going over 70 miles an hour), through Fresno and up 41 into the mountains on a good but winding road. Oakhurst is really a thriving city and has everything anyone could want--unlike Springville where we live--including a movie theater, all sorts of restaurants, medical care, two big grocery stores with shopping centers, and best of all, a book store. (I might add that Oakhurst is the gateway to Yosemite National Park which brings in many tourists.) Willow Bridge Bookstore is now in its second location, on Hwy 49 in the Von's Shopping Center. It's everything you hope for in a small, independent bookstore, starting with a pleasant owner who loves having book events. When we first arrived in Oakhurst, we met good friend and fellow author, Sunny, and h...

This juggling business seems to get harder and harder. Though I know exactly how the book I'm writing know is going to go, I can't seem to find big enough blocks of time to really get much written--it's been two or three pages at a time. What's interfering? This month, the blog tour I'm on is one biggie. Because when you're jumping from blog to blog, if you want your tour to be successful, you need to visit each blog the day you're there, add a comment, check comments to see if anyone has asked a question your should answer, and because I'm running a contest on how many people comment on every blog, I need to keep track of names. Also, I have some physical events that I need to publicize to at least try, if not ensure, that people will come. Next will be the physical launch for Lingering Spirit on Saturday, July 17 from 1-4 at Books Off Main (the store is on Oak Street, right off of Main St.)in Porterville CA. I've put it on Facebook and will be sen...

If you’d like to watch a video taken when I was at the Hanford Library talking about my books, here it is: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aYf11ShLhKo . I had an extremely runny nose that evening. Despite that, the talk went well and the people were receptive. Saturday, we drove to Oakhurst where I gave a talk on Self-Editing to a writer's group in the Willow Bridge Bookstore. Again, the group was extremely receptive, listened attentively, and asked lots of good questions and made valid comments. I enjoyed myself and I hope they did too. Though most of the people were new to me, there were two familiar faces which also makes it nice. I thoroughly enjoy giving talks about my books and the craft of writing. Right now I'm busily preparing for the launching of my next Deputy Tempe Crabtree mystery, Kindred Spirits , which will be coming in September from Mundania Press. Marilyn http://fictionforyou.com

The graduation was lovely, the kids with marital problems got back together, and life got sort of back to normal. I say sort of because the bathroom still isn't done, and somehow, rats (yes, rats) managed to take up residence in a closet near the bathroom. One of our cats discovered them, husband and grandson got rid of lots, the cat has managed to round up a couple of more. Ugh! I hope they're all gone. In the meantime I finished the ghost writing project I'd been working on and I'm only a few pages from finishing my own work in progress. And because my latest Tempe is coming out in September, I've been busy setting up the promotion for it. Of course I'm still promoting the books I've got on hand. I had a booth at a flea market in Temecula where we have two grown grandkids with families--we stayed with one and then the other and had fun visiting the great-grands. I'm also reading books for a prestigious contest--one I help judge every year. So I've ...