Marilyn's Musings

Wishing Makes It So was written a long time ago. I was really into scary mysteries and horror at that time. This tale got lost along the way and was not available for a long time due to a publisher closing its doors. Now, like all the rest of my books, this is once again available on Amazon. Bits and pieces of this tale are based on events that really happened, though of course, fictionalized. I don't want to say what is true and what wasn't, you can read the book and see if you can figure it out. Don't let that sweet face fool you.  No, this is not based on a real little girl--though I'm sure there may be one around like this. I do know that children get jealous and do mean things sometimes. I asked my grandkids to tell me about mean things other kids did to them--and I used what they told me.  Because I worked with the regional center for years, I knew a lot about them, though none of the characters are based on anyone real--pure fiction...

I used to love horror movies--but when they became full of slash and gore, I didn't enjoy them anymore. I still like to read scary books--and I've written quite a few myself. I think the scariest is one I labeled psychological horror: Wishing Makes it So . It's about a really bad little girl.  The hair color of the girl on the cover isn't right--but the face works. I drew on some real life happenings for the story--some I"ll never reveal in a public forum. Some of the mean things the child does came from grandkids that I asked, "Tell me some mean things other kids did to you." Over the years as a residential service provider I've had lots of dealings with the regional center--and had fun including snippets about them. In real life they do a lot of good--but like any other such organization, they make a mistake now and then. So, if you want to be scared right away, check out the book on Kindle. Oh, and for a furt...

In the spirit of the season, I'm going to tell you about my three horror novels. The first is Wishing Makes It So , a psychological horror novel about a very bad little girl.“When really, really bad things happen to good people.” In an effort to make a change in a child's life, Alyse and Steven take in a four-year-old who has been thrown out of several homes prior to theirs. Because of their successful parenting of three children of their own and Steven's career as a counselor, they feel sure they can help Belinda and give her a loving home. However Belinda quickly proves to be a great challenge. She is often disobedient and trouble making, hurting the other children and vandalizing their possessions. At times she seems sweet and innocent, easily charming the unwary. Her desire to be the only child takes a deadly turn. This book is available in trade paperback and for Kindle as well as other formats. http://www.amazon.com/Wishing-Makes-So-Marilyn-Meredith/dp/07599...

On the Sisters in Crime listserve, a big discussion has been going on about whether or not to use a prologue. Most authors say, "No, just start with chapter one." Some said they never read prologues. That one I can't imagine. Sometimes a prologue sets the tone for the whole novel. Frankly, the last couple of years, I've been hearing that prologues are no longer acceptable from nearly everyone in the publishing business. On the other hand, one of the authors in the discussion said neither her agent nor her publisher had ever told her not to use a prologue. I guess this is one of those "rules" and you know what they say about writing rules, once you know them you can break them. Have I ever used a prologue? Four times that I can remember. One I did in Wishing Makes it So which is about a really evil little girl. The prologue was from the point-of-view of the girl and sets the stage for the rest of the story. All the rest comes from the POV of her f...

Yesterday on Facebook, someone mentioned they'd read Wishing Makes It So on their Kindle and truly enjoyed it. This is the thing about e-books, they don't disappear. Wishing Makes It So, a book that came out in 2006 is still being bought and read as an e-book. I won several awards with this book. It's about a very bad little girl and was inspired by something that happened in our family--fortunately without such dire results. Many of my books are available on the Kindle and in other e-book formats. This is thrilling to me. I've been writing for years, but because I've always been with small, independent publishers, I've never attained best seller status--though I've had a loyal following of readers, especially with my Deputy Tempe Crabtree mystery series. Yes, I do have a Kindle and I even bought a couple of my own books just to see what they looked like on it. The majority of my books are under my name, Marilyn Meredith, but my Rocky Bluff P.D. series is u...

Hard Shell Word Factory posts their best sellers both in e-books and trade paperbacks for the year and for the last quarter. The first in the Deputy Tempe Crabtree mystery series, Deadly Trail , was the 20th best seller in trade paperbacks for the entire year. Pretty good since this book has been out for several years. For the last quarter, Wishing Makes It So was the 6th best seller in trade paperbacks. Again, this book has been out for awhile. Amazing, and also good news! That's one of the big pluses for print-on-demand, books using this technology never got out of print--they are always available when someone wants one. Wishing Makes It So has always been one of my favorite books. It was based on something that our family went through though I can assure you I made it much darker than what actually happened, and the end results were much different. Deadly Trail is the beginning of the Tempe series, and many of the characters in it have survived though they have grown and chan...

I've just had two book trailers done. For Calling the Dead: http://www.youtube.com:80/watch?v=NOc9WQMnRWA For Wishing Makes It So: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H1YCwl8vHeg Sure is fun! Can't say that the characters look like the characters in my mind, but it does give you a good idea of what the book is about. Marilyn