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Showing posts from April, 2014

My Blog Tour is Winding Down and I've Learned a Few Things

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My blog tour for Murder in the Worst Degree is nearly over--and I'm sure some of you are happy to hear that I won't be urging folks to follow along to the next blog. As usual, I've learned some things along the way with this blog tour. Next time, if there is a next time, I may skip the weekends. There are some blog hosts who only post guest blogs on the weekend, so that's something I'll have to weigh. Some blogs are far more popular than others and I've been fortunate to be on several of those. Some bloggers promote their blogs when a guest is there, many others don't bother. Next time I'll avoid those bloggers who moderate comments--it makes it far too difficult to respond to people's comments.  I won't avoid those who use captcha codes, though that is a pain, but too many use them these days. I do know that there are some people who just can't decipher them and won't bother to leave a comment. I had fun put

This and That in the Life of This Author

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This has been a busy, busy month. Besides the blog tour, which had a few more glitches than usual and I'll be giving some tips about what I will do differently next time, if there is a next time, I've done a lot of traveling. At least for me. The first weekend of the month, hubby and I headed over to Morro Bay--one of our most favorite places so I could join with my sisters and misters in the Central Coast chapter of Sisters in Crime. I wrote about it earlier, but the best part is always seeing my friends who live in the area. I didn't have to travel far to do a presentation in our local library, only 17 miles. I love the Porterville Library and their staff. Traveling with my daughter this time, we headed back to the coastal area and Santa Maria where I joined up with the CC chapter of Sisters in Crime again at the Santa Maria Library. This was a fast trip--but as usual, we both had a great time. It was fun to stay in the Santa Maria Inn once aga

Central Coast Sisters in Crime at Santa Maria Library

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Once again I traipsed across the valley to the coast to join with the Central Coast Sisters in Crime at an event. This time it was at the most wonderful Santa Maria Library. We had a group discussion on how to plot a mystery. Lots of fun, because we all do it differently. The whole group. Me and Barbara Hodges This time daughter Lisa drove me over and we had a great time the day before, visited Morro Bay, had a great lunch, did some sight seeing along the way, checked into the Santa Maria Inn. This was the first time that we stayed in the newer part of the hotel. At the desk, I told the clerk, "Darn, no ghosts." Another guest heard me and laughed, and told me that I'd made his day. Our room was huge compared to the ones in the older part of the hotel where the movie stars of old always stayed. Lisa and I explored a bit so she could see how gorgeous the old hotel is, then we had dinner in the dining room. Next morning we opted for something a b

Bleeding Through by Sandra Parshall

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This is one of the books I received in my book bag at Left Coast Crime in Monterey. I do not know Sandra Parshall personally, but I feel like I know her from her postings on the Sisters in Crime listserve. I was tickled to receive this book, among many, and read it first. Believe me, I was not disappointed. Bleeding Through is an excellent mystery with all the needed ingredients, but a a heightened sense of suspense. Not only is there the discovery of the dead body of a woman who has been missing for along time, but a stalker with plans for mayhem and murder. The main character, Rachel Goddard, is a veterinarian, and along with Deputy Tom Bridger, takes teenagers on an outing to clean up trash in rural Mason County, Virginia. One of the teens makes a grisly discovery, the body of her missing sister. As the cliche says, the plot thickens immediately. If you like your mystery with plenty of chills, you'll love Bleeding Through . Marilyn aka F. M. Meredith

Murder on Bamboo Lane by Naomi Hirahara

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I met Naomi Hirahara several years ago at a Sister in Crime meeting in Pasadena. At that time she hadn't been published. I was a speaker at the meeting talking about e-books--long before many people had a clue what they were. Since that time, Naomi has become the award winning writer of the Mas Arai mysteries. Now, she heading in another direction with her new Officer Ellie Rush mystery series. Officer Ellie Rush is an L.A. bicycle police officer and comes across a dead boy while working--a former college class mate. Of course the story covers Ellie's part in discovering the identity of the murderer, but there is so much more. For me, I loved the family drama and a peek into a culture I know little about. Best of all was following Ellie along as she traveled the streets of Los Angeles, Eagle Rock and Pasadena--places I knew well as a girl. I loved Murder on Bamboo Lane and if you like mysteries, you will too. And as a side-note, over the years I've run into

The Last Days of my Blog Tour for Murder in the Worst Degree

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April 20 Cora Ramos http://coraramos-cora.blogspot.com   How romance plays a part in the book April 21 Pamela Mason http://thoughtsinprogress.blogspot.com/ Review April 22 Morgan Mandell http://sweetnotspicy.blogspot.com/ Several Romances April 23 Shelley Guisti   http:// shelleyreadsandreviews .blogspot.com/    Review April 24 Mary Welk http://www.marwelk.com/ Social Issues April 25 Chris Redding http://chrisreddingauthor.blogspot.com/   How I Do My Research April 26 Writers Who Kill   http://writerswhokill.blogspot.com/ Ways I’ve Murdered People April 27 Jackie Vick http://jacquelinvickauthor.blogspot.com/ April 28 Cheryl Malandrinos  http://thebookconnection.blogspot.com/   Review April29 Kathleen Kaska http://kathleenkaskawrites.blospot.com/ Choosing Names for Characters and April 29 Mike Orenduff  http://thepotthief.blogspot.com/   How My Books Have Changed April 30 T. M. Shames  http://www.theladykillers.typepa

About Rayne E. Golay, author of The Wooden Chair

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Some people are lucky to spend their whole life in the village or town or country where they were born. They’re surrounded by relatives and friends they’ve known since childhood. These people have deep roots. I believe they are very rich. My life has been made of a different cloth with hues of the rainbow. It’s been about change and adaptation. I was born in Helsinki, Finland during the Finno-Russian winter war. When I was very small, my mother used to read to me. She helped me form words. As she was done reading  “A Thousand and One Nights” my passion for literature was born. From then on, I read everything with the printed word: matchboxes, newspapers, pamphlet and books, of course. I was no more than six years old when my father obtained a library card for me. Believe me, that was one of the happiest days of my childhood. To this day, I read at least three books a week. In school, I always had high grades in composition, and wanted to be a journalist, but my parents had o

Another Library Visit and Easter

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This is National Library Week and on Friday, April 18th, I'll be heading over to Santa Maria with my daughter at the wheel. She loves to drive and she'll be my helper this time. We're going to stay at the Santa Maria Inn overnight, one of my favorite places. Daughter will love it. On Saturday, April 19th, I'll once again be joining the Central Coast Sisters in Crime for an event, this time at the Santa Maria Library, 4215 W. McClelland at 10 a.m. We authors will be having a panel discussion about plotting your mystery. Should be interesting and enlightening because I'm sure we all go about it differently. We'll all have copies of our books and I'm bringing several from both mystery series. And yes, I'm looking forward to seeing my fellow Sisters and Misters again.  We won't be hanging around though once the event is over and everyone who wants to buy a book has, because we'll be heading back home that afternoon. The reason being th

In Defense of Not Being a Work-Aholic

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Everyone always remarks about all my energy and I've been accused of being a work-aholic. Neither is true. When you get to be my age, or at least in my case, my energy only lasts so long. I rise early and get started right away. Unlike others I've read about, I always shower and dress first knowing that if I didn't, I might not get dressed all day. Besides, it's what I've done all my life.  After straightening the kitchen and making a cup of Chai latte, I sit down at my computer where I do my Bible study, Email and a quick check of Facebook come next. And because I'm on a blog tour right now, I promote whatever blog I'm visiting on Facebook, Twitter, all the Facebook groups and lists that I belong too. During the day I'll be checking to see who has commented and reply to them, keeping a list of who comments for my contest. I always have an ongoing to-do list which will include working on the three newsletters I'm responsible for: mine (mon

My Porterville Library Visit During National Library Week

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On Monday, April 14, 10 a.m., I'll be at the Porterville Public Library, 41 West Thurman Ave., Porterville CA, as part of the celebration for National Library Week. My topic will be about writing two mystery series. However, I'm always open to questions of any kind--about writing, getting published, etc. I'll have my four latest books in my two series available for sale and signing: Deputy Tempe Crabtree series: Spirit Shapes Raging Water In the Rocky Bluff P.D. series: Murder in the Worst Degree Dangerous Impulses For all the events going on this week: http://www.ci.porterville.ca.us/depts/Library/documents/nlw.pdf Hope to see some of you there, Marilyn aka F. M. Meredith

Yikes! The Electricity Went Out!

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Right while I was promoting my stop for the day on my blog tour, the electricity went out. It was a little after 6 a.m. and still dark outside. I waited and it came back on again--but almost immediately went off. It was off for a long while so I got out my iPad and began working on it. I love it, but it's not as easy as working on my PC. When it finally came back on to stay, I switched back to my PC. It made me realize how much we rely on our electricity. Yes, I did make do with my iPad--but I was lucky because it was fully charged as was my phone. I thought about those who rely on electric alarm clocks--bet there were some folks around here who overslept. When we first moved to the foothills we lost our electricity a lot--often during a storm. When we had our care home, the women who lived with us just couldn't understand why we couldn't get the TV back on. And it it happened in the evening, some were scared of the dark. Fortunately we had some batter powered l

Next 10 Days in the Murder in the Worst Degree Blog Tour

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If you're following along for the contest and missed a few blogs, scroll down and you'll come across the list of the first 10. April 11 Earl Staggs http://earlwstaggs.wordpress.com/    Things I’ll Never Write April12 Cheryl Malandrinos http://thebusymomsdaily.com/   About Some of the Cops on RBPD April 13 Marja McGraw http://blog.marjamcgraw.com/   Inspiration for the Latest April 14 Lorna  http://lornaollins-author.blogspot.com    How I Get My Ideas April 15 Rebecca Buckley http://www.rebeccabuckley.blogspot.com .   Writing Friends April 16 Kaye George http://travelswithkaye.blogspot.com/    A Visit to Rocky Bluff April 17 Jackie Houchin  http://jackiehouchin2.wordpress.com/ How Rocky Bluff P.D. Became a Series April 18 Stephen Brayton http://stephenbrayton.wordpress.com How I get Titles April 19 Janet Greger http://jlgregerblog.blogspot.com/   Review

My Thoughts About My Blog Tour Thus Far

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1. It's a lot more work than I remembered from all the other blog tours I've done. 2. I decided on the day before the tour that I should check with everyone to make sure each one was ready for the day I would be visiting. It was a good thing I did because some had the wrong day and others said they never received anything from me. (Even though everyone emailed me a return saying they'd received my material when I sent it.) 3. It's probably best to send everything in .doc format rather than .docx as some end up with an empty document if they aren't able to open the docx. 4. Not as many people seem to be leaving comments though I've had the hosts tell me a lot have stopped by and read the post. That leads me to think I should change my contest to something different. Right now it is for the person who leaves comments on the most blogs to have a character in the next book named after them. 5. Though it's a challenge, I love coming up with something u

Central Coast Sisters in Crime Book Signing

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 This Sunday, April 6 from 1-3, several members of the Central Coast chapter of Sister is Crime will gather at the Coalesce Bookstore and Wedding Chapel, 845 Main St., Morro Bay. Not only will it be a book signing, but each participant will give a 5 minute reading or talk about their book(s). And (I know this is important) there will be refreshments! Those who will be presenting are: Tony Piazza (the president of CCSinC), Sue McGinty, Paul Fahey, Barbara Hodges, Anne R. Allen, Natalie Jarboe, and me. The event will be held in the chapel and the beautiful garden patio. My hubby and I love to go over to these events, it's like a mini-vacation. We're good friends with so many of the members because we've been joining the chapter for events for a long, long time. I do hope some of you who are in the area will come join us. I'll have copies of Murder in the Worst Degree, Dangerous Impulses, Spirit Shapes and Raging Water.                              

A Miracle Cure for Alzheimer’s Disease?

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I can’t help myself. I wrote about a fictitious cure for leukemia in Essentially Yours (Tall Pines Mysteries, book #2) because my cousin suffers from this dreaded disease and I wanted so badly for someone to find a cure. I can’t help but imagine the day when a real cure arrives, and somehow, I was compelled to write about it. My grandmother died from Alzheimer’s Disease at the age of ninety, in 1997. This woman was a powerhouse of personality. I based my character Maddy Coté in the LeGarde Mysteries on her flamboyant and gushing mannerisms in Gram’s honor. Gram was a real rebel for her day. Imagine a “grandmother” DYING her hair BLOND in the fifties! Whoa, now that was a shocker. She always wore colorful outfits, loud chunky jewelry, gave loud smacking kisses, and smashed me to her bosom when she saw me. And worst and most shocking of all, my grandmother drank BEER. Yes, a green bottle of Narragansett accompanied every meal. Indeed. She was one wild woman.

Why I Write What I Write by Patricia Gligor

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Some of the best advice on writing I’ve ever gotten was to “write in the genre you love to read.” Since mystery/suspense novels have always intrigued me, I knew early on that that’s what I wanted to write. Like most writers, I hope to entertain my readers and offer them escape from their everyday world. But I have another reason for writing what I write; I have a message to deliver. There’s something I feel compelled to share and I choose to do that through my books because I know that fiction can often make a point in a way that non-fiction can’t. If the writer incorporates it into their story rather than belaboring the point. Another excellent piece of advice I got was to “write what you know.” And that’s exactly what I’m doing in my Malone mystery series. You see, David, Ann Kern’s husband, is an alcoholic and his ongoing struggle with alcoholism is a sub-plot in my books. I’ve known some wonderful people who happen to be alcoholics and I believe it’s important for everyone to l