All posts by Jane

Who do you call?

Guest blogger, ,

The marvelously talented Alicia Rasley and I’ve been friends since before she and Lynn Kerstan won the RITA.  When I went to RWA conferences, I always attended her workshops because they were so much fun and I learned an incredible amount.

Then I discovered “On-line Alicia.”   She has the most wonderful web site of articles to help writers and answers questions.  Really, when I was stuck, I’d head over there for inspiration and help.   I don’t know if this is still available, but she had a worksheet which helped outline an entire novel in thirty minutes.   I used that over and over when I got lost and had no idea what happened next.   I don’t know if I would have published without all the information and help and answers I received from Alicia, but I know her tips really helped and smoothed the path.  She’s taught writing and been an editor.  She really knows what she’s talking about.

NOW her wonderful Regencies are available as ebooks.

I cannot tell you how excited I am both that she’ll be blogging at Notes from Butternut Creek and that her wonderful books will be available again.  Please stop by tomorrow for her blog Five Bad Habits of Good Writers. 

You can find Alicia at  http://www.aliciarasley.com/ and http://edittorrent.blogspot.com/

 

How did a nice girl like you end up writing gritty mysteries?

Guest blogger, , , , ,

I first met Laura Griffin at her first book signing and was impressed with what a lovely person she is.   I then read her book and was surprised that this lovey woman could write such tough, gritty novels.   Over and over, Laura has proved that she’s one of the best writers of romantic suspense around.  Her latest novel TWISTED released Tuesday.  Laura, I’m delighted to have you here today.  The blog is yours.

Hi, Jane, and thanks for having me today! I get this question a lot, actually. And I’m not sure how I ended up writing chilling suspense books, but it probably has to do with my newspaper background.  I started my career as a reporter, and I was always drawn to the hard news stories. I liked the excitement of going to a crime scene and interviewing cops and hearing eyewitness accounts.

Newspaper reporting turned out to be a great entrée into fiction. I learned to overcome my shyness about interviewing people, which helps me all the time while I’m writing books. Whenever I have a question about something–maybe a police procedure or something about forensic science, I try to track down an expert who can help me get the answer.    I also love to interview people when I’m starting a new story. No matter what my protagonist’s job is–whether it’s a police detective, or a forensic anthropologist, or a hair stylist–I want to meet someone who does that job and get a first-hand account of what it’s like. I want to hear about the sights, the smells, the challenges of their daily life.

My new book TWISTED features rookie police detective Allison Doyle, who is working her first big murder case when she meets FBI profiler Mark Wolfe. To learn about Allison’s job, I interviewed female cops and did a police ride-along in my community. Touring the FBI Academy at Quantico and talking to veteran agents helped me better understand my FBI hero.

I hope readers will enjoy TWISTED! I had so much fun writing this story. This is the fifth book in the Tracers series, and people often ask me if it’s necessary to read the books in order. It isn’t. Each book focuses on a different romantic couple and has a stand-alone mystery plot. So feel free to plunge right in!

* * *New York Times bestselling author Laura Griffin started her career in journalism before venturing into the world of romantic suspense. She is the author of ten novels and has won numerous awards, including a RITA Award for Whisper of Warning. Laura lives in Austin, where she is working on the next book in her popular Tracers series. Find Laura on Facebook at www.facebook.com/LauraGriffinAuthor or visit www.lauragriffin.com.

 

 

 

Inspiration from the Great Gretzky

Coming up, Writing, ,

Wayne Gretzky (hockey player) said, “You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.”  That’s always been my philosophy of writing as well.  If you don’t write and submit, you’ll never publish.  That isn’t easy.    No matter how much you submit, that doesn’t guarantee a publishing contract, but you’ll never sell if you stop writing.

Come by Seekerville http://seekerville.blogspot.com/ today where I’ll be blogging on the low points of my writing career–believe me, there were a lot of them!  Exactly like Wayne, I just kept taking the shots–although we do differ in some other significant ways. 

And tomorrow best-selling RS writer Laura Grinffin will be visiting  Notes from Butternut Creek.  Hope you’ll stop by.

Is the cat comfortable?

A question, Musings,

I have to disagree with the old saying, “There are no stupid questions.”   There are some things that are so obvious that they should be understood, no explanation necessary   For example, the answer to this question seems fairly obvious:  Is the cat comfortable?

Here are a couple more.

I was watching a basketball game a few weeks ago.  One of the teams struggled through several minutes during which none of the players could hit free throws and were ten points behind.   One of the announcers said, “If the Cardinals want to win this game, they should make their free throws.”

What?  Didn’t the players know they should make them?  Had the coach never told them the importance of hitting free throws or had he said, “Hey, free throws aren’t a big thing.  Toss the ball up and get back to scoring real baskets.”

One of our favorite shows is Top Shot.  The contestants compete using a huge variety of weapons.  On one of the challenges, a shooter was tied to a large wheel, like a Ferris wheel.  As the wheel turned, the shooter had to attempt to hit targets.  In another, the shooters rode in the shotgun side of a stage coach and tried to  hit exploding barrels.   Before the show, there is a disclaimer:  “Top Gun challenges are extremely dangerous.  Contestants are experienced marksmen operating on a closed course.  Do not attempt this at home.”   Doggone!  I’d just found a stagecoach and looked forward to setting this stunt up in the parking lot. 

What are some of the “duh” questions you’ve heard—or asked?

What’s coming up this week?

Writing

Now that I’m attempting to get back into my normal schedule, Tuesday I’ll write my usual blog.  Normal and usual sound so good after all the running around I’ve been doing!

Then back to running around again.  One Thursday, I’ll be guest on the Seekerville blog and am really delighted.  The bloggers are a group of  authors for  Love Inspired which I used to write for.   Many are writing friends.

On Friday, the talented Laura Griffin will be visiting.  She’s a lovely woman with a handsome husband and darling daughters–who writes some really tough romantic suspense stories.  She’ll try to explain that to us.

Just for fun, I’ve inserted a cute picture because it livens up the blog and because. . . well, I love cute kittens.

Hope you’ll come back and visit often.  I love hearing from you.

Where was I?

Musings, Writing, ,

I haven’t been around much recently.  Because my first book in the Tales of Butternut Creek came out April 3, I’ve spent a lot of time on promo.  Friends were lovely enough to invite me to their blogs to promote the book.  The publicist at FaithWords set up a blog tours for me and I’ve been tweeting and facebooking.

One of my firsts blogs was about my fear of using social media.  During the last few weeks, I’ve learned a lot and am much braver about using it. 

TWITTER;  Can be fun.  Can also be a waste of time.   While I’m working on a particularly difficult scene or I have a bunch of line edits to do, my brain says, “Hey, let’s run over to Twitter and see if anyone retweeted you,”  Takes great discipline not to take a break.  PROS:  Twitter is a great way to do promo;   I’ve meet interesting people; people post articles I enjoy; it’s a good break when the brain is overloaded.  CONS:  Because lots of other people use Twitter for promo, many tweets are boring and the sheer numbers is overwhelming.  No one can read them all because they just keep coming.   The worst part is that there are a great number of retweets.  At one time, a man I’m following retweeted SEVENTY messages in a row–I counted.     Fortunately, there is a button that blocks retweets from individuals and I used it!  LESSON:  Write content people will  enjoy instead of constant self promotion.

FACEBOOK: Can also be fun.  I’ve found this to be less overwhelming than Twitter.  I love keeping up with friends and seeing photos,  but it can take up a great deal of time.  LESSON:  Don’t save every cute animal picture that’s posted.

BLOGGING:   There are many wonderful blogs out there.  The publicist had me blog at  http://dimplesandtangles.blogspot.com/ and http://www.delightingintoday.com/   Both were gorgeous and had links to other sites I didn’t know existed.

I survived.  I’m back home, a grizzled veteran of social media.    I’d love to know how you feel about Twitter, Facebook, and blogs.  Do you have any blogs you’d recommend?