Marilyn's Musings

Yesterday I went to the Yosemite Romance Writers meeting and together we brainstormed about writing a romantic suspense. They came up with three very good ideas, complete with sleuth, side-kick or romantic interest and ideas for the crime and/or murder victim. We also talked about what had to be in a mystery to make it a mystery, as well as all the different genres. It was a lot of fun for me as well as the members. What a friendly bunch--with one male attendee who is a new member. We had a lovely lunch, what else at Marie Callendar's, complete with yummy pie for dessert, and they bought a lot of my books--always a good thing for an author. The only drawback was driving to Fresno--not my favorite thing to do, but the traffic wasn't bad, even though everyone thinks they need to drive 80 plus miles an hour. And there were the few crazies on the road mostly after I go home and was driving on a two-lane rural road--one nut who kept passing over the double line even when cars were o...

I'm always diligent about saving things I'm working on--but a couple of times within the last few months, the gremlins have been busy. First, was about 4 pages I'd written on my latest manuscript. Actually I lost the whole thing, but because I use Mozy to back-up while I'm sleeping, I was able to find the manuscript--just not the last four pages. Then, a couple of weeks ago I did a five page program plan for working with diabetic clients and thought I saved it, to wait for the check to pay for the job. Check arrived today, do you think I could find the plan? No! And yes, I did a Search on the computer, nothing. Then I went to Mozy, not there. So guess what I did tonight? Wrote the five page program plan from scratch. I've sent it off as an addendum. Part of my problem is I'm stretched far too thin, this is what I'm doing or have recently done: Reviewed 10 books for American Authors Association. Read two mysteries and reviewed them for Simon and Schuster. Hav...

Saturday I'll be going to Fresno to present a program on "How to Write a Mystery" to the Yosemite Romance Writers. I've given this program a lot and it's great fun. Once we talk about the ingredients for a mystery, we'll come up with the idea for the sleuth, the murder victim, the possible murderers, the motive, and the location. Of course for romance writers, they'll need to be the added flavor of romance. Sunday from 11 to 3, I'll be at the Veteran's Center on Irwin St., in Hanford CA's Heritage Park for a book fest. Thirty authors have signed on for this event, so if nothing else we should have a great time visiting with one another and looking over each other's books. I'm going to be taking two members of my critique group, Shirley Hickman, who also will be bringing two of her books, and Lisa Duncan who is tagging along to see what we're up to. This is all part of what authors must do to get their books out to the readers. At th...