My Winter of Discontent

There have been other times in my life when I have felt this kind of malaise. Usually, though, it hasn't lasted long. Normally it doesn't tip into the edge of discontent the way this one has.

The kind that stays my writer's hand.

Logically, I could point to lots of reasons for this particular bout of despondency.

I was physically ill for a couple of weeks - which is extremely unusual for me. My constitution is normally robust. Not only that, the cold/flu occurred over Christmas, one of my favorite times of year, and knocked me out for most of it. Couldn't even see our friends on New Year's Eve.

In our area we only had 4 days of sun in January. It was mild but damp and dark.

Recently I've either personally or through family and friendship experienced a great deal of loss, disappointment or frustration, and it doesn't seem to stop.

I hurt my knee and spent weeks in pain.

This all adds up to melancholy, right?

Yes, but my gloominess also led to being unable to write. Often, it's been the opposite. When I'm happy, I spend too much time socializing and don't write regularly enough. This year, I had the space and the time, but no will.

Maybe this is simply Writer's Block, as defined by Wikipedia.

"Writer's block is a condition, primarily associated with writing, in which an author loses the ability to produce new work, or experiences a creative slowdown."

But no, it seems deeper than that. It's somehow aligned with a general feeling of disappointment.


My male* author hero John Steinbeck said, "The writer must believe that what s/he is doing is the most important thing in the world. And s/he must hold to this illusion even when s/he knows it is not true."
*Margaret Laurence is the female version.

I no longer believe. Nor do I have the capacity for delusion.  My books are not selling and my scripts have not been optioned.

I wonder if the lack of financial success is the problem. Have I become a salesperson instead of a writer? Is my hand stayed because I am a sore loser?

I begin to realize that, at my age, the chances of  becoming a famous (and rich) author - which were already low - are even more diminished than when I was young. By now I thought I'd have written a Grapes of Wrath. 


 I remind myself over and over that I have the best family and friends in the world. My network is incredibly supportive and loving. They're smart and fun and understanding and wise.

That doesn't help, because I miss them. I could have them swirling around on a daily basis and be very happy. I've dreamed of a family/friend compound for years and now, finally, I realize that it's just a dream.

I remind myself that I live in the best country in the world. That doesn't help because the news lately has been...well, horrible. Frightening. I feel like hiding under my desk again just as we did in school in the '50's.

I remind myself that I am rich in comparison to very, very many people the world over. That doesn't help because I just feel guilty (first world whiner!) and sad (I dreamed that we'd have abolished poverty by now).

I look around and notice that a lot of people - particularly women, particularly my age give or take a couple of years - are feeling a similar discontent. 

So back I go to my Johnny Steinbeck.

"When a condition or a problem becomes too great, humans have the protection of not thinking about it. But it goes inward and minces up with a lot of other things already there and what comes out is discontent and uneasiness, guilt and a compulsion to get something--anything--before it is all gone.”

I think he's right. I have a theory that I can trace my particular malaise (and that of many around me) back to the 1960's. We who grew up in the sixties (i.e. preteen to adult years) had such high hopes.

We marched. We believed in love. We thought we could overthrow the moribund, sometimes corrupt and evil systems and replace them with a world that would be fair and even kind. A world that fed everyone, put a roof over their heads, gave them something meaningful to do every day.

We did have some measure of success. The world appeared to be moving in the right direction. A little more peaceful, a little less poverty, a recognition that we must shepherd, not abuse, the earth.

But now? In 2016-17...what now...?



I cried through The Butler because the narrative made it clear that we haven't changed enough. I felt horrible after Hidden Figures because all those accomplishments appear to be for naught.

People..."don't get knocked out, or I mean they can fight back against big things. What kills them is erosion; they get nudged into failure. They get slowly scared...It's slow. It rots out your guts,” said Johnny's character Ethan in The Winter of Our Discontent. Is that what happened to my (our) sixties dreams?

We are still marching. There appears to be more hate than love. The corrupt systems are back in place and growing. "We can shoot rockets into space but we can't cure anger or discontent," said Johnny S.

But oh, I had such hopes and expectations! 

In desperation re my writing, I peek back into a book I read and reread for twenty years but haven't touched in ten: Writing Down the Bones, by Natalie Goldberg. There on the title page, an inscription from my friend Merci, who died two years ago and for whom I pine every day. "For the occasions when 'my hands have sprung shoots, crawled away from me like a deserting mother'." Her poem hits me in the gut.

Merci and I promised each other we'd make contact after we died. I had been waiting. And here it is, a message when I most need it.

"To be alive at all is to have scars." Johnny's character Ethan is, of course, perfectly correct.

Perhaps I am simply changing. 

"A day, a livelong day, is not one thing but many. It changes not only in growing light toward zenith and decline again, but in texture and mood, in tone and meaning, warped by a thousand factors of season, of heat or cold, of still or multi winds, torqued by odors, tastes, and the fabrics of ice or grass, of bud or leaf or black-drawn naked limbs. And as a day changes so do its subjects, bugs and birds, cats, dogs, butterflies and people.”

Johnny S. is eloquent, brilliant.

"Warped by a thousand factors of season", of sixty-seven years of seasons. Saddened by disappointment, by grief and fear and tragedy. Yet buoyed by new birth, by love and joy, by growing and changing relationships.  I am perhaps not so much warped as angled, twined, into another shape. Older, lumpier, lined.

Rather than say, I am the one who helps, I am the cheerful, optimistic one, not the one who needs help - open up to the possibility of reaching out, of saying, I need to walk slowly right now, not run.
I need redefined dreams and goals.

I must learn to not expect so much of myself (or the world). I am heading toward realistic goals, perhaps. Becoming, painfully, older and wiser.

In addition, perhaps my definition of success needs to change.

The world is a better place. Despite the rhetoric of politicians and competing noise-makers, poverty and violence have changed for the better. There are creative solutions to environmental problems being devised as I type. Maybe my definition of world success has been too grandiose.

Maybe, too, my goals of success in writing have been too lofty. I have won awards. I have sold some books; around the world, as a matter of fact. No, I didn't get famous and I didn't get rich, but I have an appreciative readership. I have committed words to paper and had them published by someone who appreciated them enough to invest in them. Maybe that's all I will ever achieve and isn't that all right?

Perhaps I'm ready to just write for me. For the pure bliss of discovering the exact word or phrase. For the rush when a character veers off on an adventure I'd never even thought about. For the ecstasy when my fingers fly across the keyboard as the subconscious overtakes the editor and I am lost in creation. Don't think about deadlines, editors, competition. No expectation of any other success.

Natalie Goldberg says that writers should ask themselves often: Why do I write? Her answers include this one. "I write out of total incomprehension that even love is not enough and that finally writing might be all I have and even that is not enough. There are times when I have to step away from the writing and turn to face my own life. Then there are times when it's only coming to the writing that I truly face my own life."

Perhaps that's what I am doing. Stepping away to face my own life. 

In the meantime, I will turn down the noise of the world. Write for pleasure and see what happens. Sometimes, do nothing at all. Walk slowly.

Encourage others to do the marching.

For now, step back, slow down, see what happens. Realizing that even this decision could change, or not be enough, and that I might turn back to the writing at any moment. I might get up again and march. In the meantime, let the expectations, the noise, fade away.

Move toward peace, calm, wisdom. Give myself a break.

How it Feels to Complete a Trilogy by Jesse Giles Christiansen

Jesse is one of those people who has become a friend even though we have never met face to face. But we have shared, discussed, debated, and supported one another through our writing journeys. You'll also see why I love his lyrical, poetic style. If you haven't started Jesse's trilogy, check out Imajin Book's big Christmas sale and get them all (one way or the other: on sale or perhaps as a prize!). www.imajinbooks.com

I am born, I live, and I die.

I am born as a Sea Eagle, beautiful and bold yet shy to face a new, white, blinding world. I live in a universe that my readers and I have created, a place where memories become as real as our own, a destination we can always visit upon a wink like a dear hometown. I die as the loops loop themselves, as the t’s cross and remember, and as the dots above the i’s lighthouse a literary frontier.

I may never write another trilogy again, because my writer’s life became a beautiful prisoner to a manufactured world that has not moved the real world enough. Please don’t misconstrue me, I have the most complete faith in my work, but if I’ve learned anything as an author, it is that the retail reality of books is composed of lines of readers waiting along a blinking thoroughfare of restaurants. And all too often the dining rooms of the most innovative chefs are forlornly deserted simply because the other restaurants had lines and theirs did not.

As authors, perhaps we start at the wrong end. Trilogies, if ever written, should come of great stories chained together, and only when the starry-eyed, dog-eared writer has won a long line of bookish followers, should they come to fruition.

I am a literary chef, standing in front of his restaurant with the few tattered tables populated by wide-eyed diners smiling eagerly at passersby, beckoning to them to leave the lines of the conformists. I am holding a platter up high that hurls the most fantastic, unique fumes at you, cuisine to which I’ve dedicated my entire life to creating. And the sign above my little restaurant reads, TIRED OF THE SAME OLD NOVELS?

Yours in literature,

J.G.C.

Beware of what the tide may bring…

Ethan Hodges is deeply unsettled when thousands of decomposed starfish inexplicably wash up along the shore of Pelican Bay. As the ominous sea epidemic spreads to other marine life, he continues to see a suspicious-looking man loitering on the beach.

To solve the mystery, Ethan seeks help from longtime friend, Sheriff Dansby, and Reagan Langsley, a beautiful marine biologist from Lighthouse Point. Spurred by curiosity and jealousy, Ethan’s estranged wife, Morgan, joins them in the investigation.

When the elusive outsider is finally arrested, an enigmatic relationship develops between Ethan and the man. With cautious prodding, Ethan learns that the fate of the world appears to rest in the hands of the tall stranger named…Mr. DM.

Amazon link: http://www.amazon.com/Revenge-Captain-Shelby-Trilogy-Book-ebook/dp/B017Y41K4Y/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8

Book Trailer: https://youtu.be/m88VaeFPmo0

All About Jesse

 

#1 bestselling author in sea adventures, Jesse Giles Christiansen is an American author whose page-turning fiction weaves the real with the surreal, while also speaking to the human condition. He was hailed by New York Times bestselling author, William R. Forstchen, as "leaving readers so tantalized by the story lines, they think the events actually happened—a demonstration of skill surely to launch this author into the big leagues."

Jesse was born in Miami, FL, playing on beaches as a boy, the sky bronzing him forever and the sea turning his heart lyrical. After spending a summer in Alaska before graduating from Florida State University with a degree in literature and philosophy, he wrote his first novel, Journey into the Mystic.

He feels he is haunted by Hemingway's ghost, not just by the poster in his writing studio that stares at him, saying, "What else you got?" but also by having a café called Hemingway's in the small European city where he writes. Finally, Hemingway became his neighbor on Amazon when his novel, Pelican Bay, outsold Old Man and the Sea.

He currently lives in Lüneburg, Germany, with his wife and their precocious White Siamese cat.

To learn more about Jesse, visit him at www.jessegileschristiansen.com.

Blog: www.jgchristiansen.wordpress.com

Twitter:  https://twitter.com/JesseGilesChris

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/jesse.gileschristiansen.7

Research: Guest Author Jill Downie on The Joys of Research

I am absolutely delighted to host author Jill Downie as she talks about the joys of research. Her Moretti and Falla detective series are enormously popular and have received a great deal of critical acclaim. You should check her out at http://www.jilldownie.com (I know you'll do that anyway once you read this post). On top of everything, Jill is a wonderful person.

The Joys of Research

Is there a writer anywhere who doesn’t like research?  Maybe, but I have yet to meet one.  Writers are like the elephant’s child in Kipling’s Just-So stories, curious by nature, and that can get them into some interesting, scary, unforgettable places in the real world and in that other real world: their imagination.

                  I have written both fiction and non-fiction in my life as a published writer, and there are more similarities than differences between researching the two.  Both are about when, what, where, why and how – and, being there.   

Except, if you are writing historical fiction, as I once did, being there only happens in the imagination.  But you still have to get it right, or you’ll get a letter or an email to point out the error of your ways.

                  Apart from my mysteries, the only contemporary fiction I have written is the short story, the first form of writing I ever had published.  The setting was the first community I lived in when I came to Canada, and I discovered afterwards there had been a mad rush to identify actual people in my characters.  Hey, everyone, it wasn’t a short-story-à-clef, I protested.  But no one believed me.

So, when I choose a name for the murderer, I tread carefully.  Which brings me back to research.

Get this book in one click.

I made a really smart move when I chose the Channel Island of Guernsey, where I once lived, as the setting for my Moretti and Falla mysteries, because it took me back to a beautiful and unique part of the world.  The first visit was after a number of years, much had changed, and I spent the time reacquainting myself with the place.  In spite of those changes, which incIuded the island’s transformation into a wealthy offshore tax haven, the scenery was still dazzling, the old island families with their unique names – Falla, Bisson, Le Cocq, de Sausmarez and so on – were still very much part of the landscape.  So, no wicked islanders – well, not identifiable ones, anyway. 

Order here!

 John Nettles, former star of Midsomer Murders, who lived on Jersey while making the detective series, Bergerac, has found himself persona non grata after writing a well—researched account of the wartime occupation of the Channel IsIands.  Some secrets are best left secret, some bodies best left buried.  Or, at least, unrecognizable.

I always go on research trips with a game plan, so it doesn’t just turn into a vacation, but I remind myself to keep an open mind, and to be prepared for the unexpected to turn up.  It so often does.  Plots and plot twists, characters walking around corners into your life, unplanned encounters that take you into a whole new perspective are among the joys of research.  I got the basic idea for the fourth Moretti and Falla while researching Blood Will Out, the third in the series.

Order right here.

I used to love spending time in libraries and archives when on the hunt for a book.  With the internet, my research life has been simplified, and maybe I regret that.  But only a little. 

I have been to the Yukon in search of a nineteenth-century journalist, served coffee and port by a white-gloved valet while interviewing a duke, and these were unexpected bonuses in my writing life.  Best to be open to the unexpected, I have found. 

So when my daughter asked, “Mom, have you ever thought of a story set in Las Vegas?  I’m going on a business trip, why don’t you come?” 

“Yes,” I said.

Being there.  Nothing like it.     

Everything Jill Downie can be found right here: https://www.dundurn.com/authors/jill-downie

 

                 

Research: Guest Blogger: Author Gloria Ferris

 

Gloria Ferris is one of those naturally witty people who make you feel comfortable and happy in her presence at hello. She adds that intelligent humor to her books, along with well-researched, exciting plots and hilarious characters who  ought to be real so we could follow them around and have fun with them.

Here's Gloria's treatise on research for your enlightenment and entertainment!

 

For my first four books, I’ve researched spirit guides, guns, antiques, architecture, Honduran laws and policing, gangs, jungle plants, motorcycles, body putrefaction, WWII weapons, greenhouse construction, poisons, witchcraft, abandoned cemeteries...

The list goes on. And I loved the time I spent on every subject.

 I think the most challenging research came about because my publisher added the sub-title “A Cornwall & Redfern Mystery” to the cover of my second novel, CORPSE FLOWER. 

Bliss Cornwall was my protagonist and Neil Redfern was the Chief of Police. I hadn’t intended that Neil become a co-protagonist, but now I had to ramp up his role in the second book, SHROUD OF ROSES. I knew nada about small town policing so reached out to the police chief of the small town on Lake Huron where I lived for over 20 years and which is the inspiration for my fictional town of Lockport.

We corresponded for over a year, and he answered my most inane questions with patience and good humour. Each summer I rent a cottage for a week in my former hometown and last year I asked if we could meet. He offered to give me a personal tour of the station. Heck ya! Here was my chance to see how a real, small town police service operated. Keep in mind I was a law abiding citizen while I lived there so I had no personal experience with the police. (Okay, once I had to bail my dog out, but that wasn’t my fault. Oh, yeah, and the time I backed out of my driveway into the car parked in the suicide spot. Again, not my fault.)

I presented myself at the station on time and was asked by the teenage receptionist to have a seat in the conference room. I was a bit nervous. With my notebook and pen ready, I waited a couple of minutes. And then the door opened.

Holy mama! May I be struck dead by a Taser jolt if the guy in uniform standing in the doorway wasn’t the living embodiment of my hot fictional Chief Neil Redfern. Right down to the spiky blond hair. How could this be? Could I have channelled him into my fiction?

He showed me the cells (really clean), interrogation room, state-of-the-art fingerprinting machine, weapons room, evidence storage (eau de pot!) but I neglected to jot down a single note. I tried not to stare, but subtlety isn’t one of my several virtues. It’s all a bit of a blur.

Next month when I have my lakeside holiday, I’ll drop off a copy of SHROUD OF ROSES at the station, to thank Neil … I mean, the chief, for all his help. I believe I should also give him a copy of CORPSE FLOWER, the first Cornwall & Redfern mystery written before I met the real deal. Just to prove I didn’t use him as the model for Neil Redfern. However, I must not simper. I must not giggle…

SHROUD OF ROSES comes out TODAY, July 18, 2015! 

http://www.amazon.com/Shroud-Roses-Cornwall-Redfern-Mystery/dp/1459730607

Gloria Ferris is the award-winning author of humorous mysteries Cheat the Hangman, Corpse Flower and Shroud of Roses. Her first co-written suspense venture with author Donna Warner, Targeted, will be released in the fall of 2015. When not writing, Gloria works on character profiles, researches plot lines, reads continuously, and is often heard to mutter, “I wish I’d written that!”. She is a member of the Crime Writers of Canada, the Crime Writers’ Association (UK), and the International Thriller Writers. She lives in southwestern Ontario.

Research Part 2, Subsection B: Guest Authors Mel Bradshaw and Eileen Schuh

 From Mel Bradshaw, Canadian Author: On research

Check out Mel's historical crime books right here:

-->

http://booksofmelbradshaw.ca/

Looking for stuff on the Internet is so fast and easy and while, yes, there can be unreliable, irresponsible claims out there, sometimes you're sure you're getting the real goods. Example, I was able to download (for free) a facsimile of A PRACTICAL GUIDE FOR THE USE OF CORONERS HOLDING INQUESTS IN ONTARIO, published in 1911.

But, having the good fortune to live in the location where my 1920s novels are set, I can also go out and supplement Google Images with my own photographs of old buildings. Example, the chapel of Toronto's old Central Prison still stands in the middle of Liberty Village. My snapshots are helping me put this relic into my new book.

And of course good libraries still have a place. The current criminal code is available in a flash on the Internet. But how about the criminal code for 1927, when sentences still included so many lashes as well as prison time? Found what I was looking for in the stacks of Robarts Library at the University of Toronto.

From Eileen Schuh, Canadian Author: On Research

Check out Eileen's adult and YA novels here:
http://www.eileenschuh.com/

I wrote my BackTracker novels before researching anything, believing I was channeling my characters' true experiences in the biker gang world of drugs and violence and the dangerous counter-world of law enforcement. When it came time to publish the stories, beta readers and editors alike rather adamantly suggested I first ought to confirm the truth of what my likeable but not-all-that-credible characters were telling me. So...I became a volunteer for the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. How's that for dedication to my writing career (ha ha)?

The most enjoyable aspect of my volunteer work is the training provided. I've attended sessions on the illicit drug trade, gangs, juveniles, forensics, counterfeiting, firearms, accident investigation, preserving a crime scene, drones, the canine unit...and the list goes on.

Aside from hard-core learning, my volunteering has also 
helped me put faces and emotions to those in uniform, taught me the lingo and police protocol, and got my heart racing at times!

P.S. Even though it turns out my BackTracker characters dictated a pretty accurate description of their exciting lifestyles, I'd not give up my volunteering experiences for anything!

From Me:

Imajin Books is holding its summer sizzle sales & contests right now! Dive in - win - read great books for great prices (including all my books).  

www.imajinbooks.com

Look for the next research blog soon - plus more guest authors. 

A Creative Scrutiny of Research Part One: You ask, "Why?"

As the author of six books and several short stories (eight books if pre-published counts), I have indulged in a lot of research. I use the word indulge on purpose, because most of the time, it’s fun.

Wikipedia states that research (look again? look differently? – see how I get carried away?) is defined as "creative work undertaken on a systematic basis in order to increase the stock of knowledge, including knowledge of humans, culture and society, and the use of this stock of knowledge to devise new applications.”

I love that whoever wrote this Wiki page described research as creative. For an author, the inventive part comes when we synthesize the knowledge into something completely unique, a new character, a fantastical society, or an ingenious philosophy.

Why would a fiction author do research, you ask? For me personally, there are a couple of reasons (at least) and I believe most of my author colleagues would agree with them. 

First, a novel must have credibility.

Yes, even if you are writing about a completely fictional town. For my Emily Taylor Mystery series, my imaginary village of Burchill, situated in the middle of Ontario, couldn’t  sport palm trees. The setting, even in a fantasy novel, needs to have some familiarity for the reader or we’ll get completely lost. In a mystery novel, the setting must be pretty real. Burchill is based on Merrickville, Ontario, so I visited, used maps, looked up the geography and topography.

In a mystery, the plot is extremely important. The Emily Taylor Mysteries taught me, often the hard and embarrassing way, that a plot idea often leads to a myriad of investigations. My novels aren’t police procedurals, but they do have policing in them. I learned from some of my endorsers (e.g. author Vicki Delany) that I had to be more accurate.

In The Bridgeman, my main character was the operator of the lift bridge. I knew nothing about that – enter, research! Not to mention puppy mills (heartbreaking knowledge to have), policing of small towns, and First Nation territories. 

For Victim, I ended up having to learn about forests, caves, rescue operations, vegetation and First Nation philosophy.

With Legacy, I expanded into child protection services, hypnosis, oxygen deprivation, post-partum depression, fires, provincial courts and churches.

For Seventh Fire, wrongful convictions took up most of my fact-finding time. 

Sweet Karoline involved history, pow-wows, policing in the US and Canada, and even more thoroughly, psychosis.

See how one little plot points feeds the research machine? And the author simply must do it – otherwise, your readers will pounce on you and refuse to buy the next one.

“The greatest part of a writer’s time is spent in reading, in order to write: an [author] will turn over half a library to write one book,” said Samuel Johnson, an English author in the 1700’s.

Do fiction authors have to be completely accurate? Well, no. We are writing a story, after all, one that’s not true. However, we must find the balance between reality and imagination to be believable.

Mark Twain famously said, “Never let the truth get in the way of a good story.” This quote has often been translated into “the facts” rather than the truth, but I suppose it means pretty much the same thing. I somewhat adhere to this philosophy. I gather the information, then sometimes bend or twist it to fit my purposes.

As Stephen King said, “You may be entranced with what you’re learning about the flesh-eating bacteria, the sewer system of New York, or the I.Q. potential of collie pups, but your readers are probably going to care a lot more about your characters and your story.”

That’s often what I’m betting on when I brush a bit too quickly across the truth or leave out some minutiae.

The second reason for doing research is a big more esoteric. As Robert McKee, the creative writing instructor known for “Story Seminar” has said: “Do research. Feed your talent. Research…wins the war on cliché.”

 

Historical research for Sweet Karoline led me to residential schools where Canadian First Nations children were confined. Although these facts didn’t fit that book’s plot, I used the knowledge for The Three R’s, my story in the anthology Thirteen. 

 Currently, I continue to read everything I can about the schools. I live in Brantford, Ontario, where the Mohawk Institute sits – the model for all the other residences in our country. Ironically, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission has just begun to make many of my fellow Canadians aware of this shameful past. Some day, I believe a novel on this topic is destined to burst forth from my fingertips.

Celia Green, a British non-fiction author, said, “The way to do research is to attack the facts at the greatest point of astonishment.”

I like that. Including some of the most poignant, interesting or vital facts can make the story more vibrant, realistic and distinctive.

 “Research is one thing: passion,” said poet Khalid Masood. Very poetic and, I think, true.

Next Time: A Creative Scrutiny of Research Part Two Subsection A: The Author Asks How to Research?

To find all my books and short stories, visit my website: www.catherineastolfo.com

GUEST POST! Author Alison Bruce: Take Off First, Plot Course Later

If I flew an aircraft like I write a book, Transport Canada would be revoking my pilot’s license. When I sit down and start a new story, it’s strictly seat-of-the-pants. Some idea, or scene, or opening line will strike me and I take off from there.  Later, I start plotting my course. (I think they have a rule about making flight plans first.)

For me, it’s important to get that first creative surge going so I can get a sense of whether or not the story is worth the hours of research, writing and rewriting necessary to produce a novel. Some ideas just don’t fly. I have notebooks full of openings, with maybe a brief outline, and nothing else. Sometimes I go back to them, looking for an idea that might have found its time.

A Bodyguard to Remember was a little unusual in that I wrote almost the entire first draft by the seat of my pants. I don’t usually get further than the first couple of chapters before I go into planning mode. Partly this was because I had a most of the basic law enforcement research at my fingertips after working on Deadly Legacy. I also had a good background in military protocols because of personal and family experience and academic research.

Okay, let’s be honest. I had to update my military research and make some significant changes in the story details. Most of my previous research was circa WWII except my own experience which was circa 1980. Can we say a bit out of date?

A lot of the military parts ended up being jettisoned. They weighed down the story and had to go. If I had planned things earlier in the story, they might not have been there at all. One set of characters, that I was very fond of, didn’t make it into the book at all. I didn’t just dump them, though. They’ll take flight in another story.

A BODYGUARD TO REMEMBER
Book 1 Men in Uniform
By Alison Bruce
Lachesis Publishing Inc
 “Classic romantic suspense spiced with warmth and humour”

Prudence Hartley has the same problems of every other single mom: getting her kids to school on time; juggling a gazillion errands while trying to get a full day's work done; oh, don't forget about dinner. But everything is about to change for Pru when she finds a dead man in her house. Or a dead spy to be exact.

Suddenly Pru's problems become a tad more complicated and a lot more dangerous. When a federal agent named David Merrick shows up and whisks her and her kids into protective custody, Pru has so many questions running through her brain she doesn't know where to begin.

How is she going to keep her kids safe? What was the dead spy looking for in her house? Why are they after her now? Oh and there's one more question . . . just a pesky, minor thing. Why does Merrick have to be so damn sexy and protective?

Available at:
Amazon US 
Lachesis Publishing Inc
Chapters/Indigo Online

Author Bio:
Alison Bruce has had many careers and writing has always been one of them. Copywriter, editor and graphic designer since 1992, Alison has also been a comic book store manager, small press publisher, webmaster and arithmetically challenged bookkeeper. She is the author of mystery, suspense and historical western romance novels. 

How To Be An Author

So you want to write a book. Not simply write it, though. You want to get it published for all the world to read.

Here's how to do that.

1. Sit down in your desk chair and open your laptop.

2. Write.

3. Do this every day for several hours for several months or even a year or two.

4. Write "The End" when you finish the book.

5. Take back everything you just wrote and boil it down to a one-pager, a paragraph, and a one-liner.

6. Write a clever, witty, unique query letter relating your skills and the strengths of your book, but make it SHORT.

7. Spend hours searching for someone who wants your book (e.g. your genre/your subject) or you (self-starter, enthusiastic promoter, great writer).

8. Read in detail the requirements for sending the query letter and email or mail your clever, witty, unique one to the agent/publisher.

9. Repeat #'s 5-8 as many times as it takes to get an agent/publisher.

10. Self publish.

Not everything I just wrote is a lie or an exaggeration. Tinged with sarcasm, perhaps, but that's only because I am currently struggling with a multitude of projects, a dearth of promo budget, a touch of writer's block, and a sagging Amazon rank. For now, the joy has gone out of Mudville.

Sometimes I think John Steinbeck was correct when he wrote, "The profession of book writing makes horse racing seem like a solid, stable business." Mind you, my uncle made quite a lot of money on horses. But he had to have money in order to make it - he bought a horse, paid for its training and upkeep, and hired a jockey. Same with book selling, it seems. In order to sell a lot, you need to buy a lot of market space. 

There are definitely those who get lucky. I don't happen to be one of those. Yet. 

There it is...that little word...yet. The lure of the slot machine. The sound of winning. 

What would winning look like for me? A top Amazon rank. Huge sales for me and my publisher. Fan recognition. Invitations to read, sign and speak. And yet...

The true joy lies in #1 and 2 above. Sitting down. Writing. The flow of the letters and words and ideas straight from the sub-conscious through the fingers, onto the page. The thrill of a plot twist that seems to arrive from space. The companionship of characters you've grown to love. Spending time in a location that's idyllic in some way.

Maybe that's how to be an author. Allow the writing to be front and center. Don't forget about the promotional aspects, but put them in perspective. You can always self publish. 

Top Amazon ranks and huge sales might not follow, but who said fan recognition and invitations to read, sign or speak had to be quantified? Even a dozen fans and a couple of book club appearances can make you feel like a somebody. Or like an author.

Catherine Astolfo has five published novels from Imajin books (www.imajinbooks.com) and several short stories published in anthologies. Check them out here: www.catherineastolfo.com.

Atychiphobia or Jonah Complex? Me?

 Part One - Atychiphobia

During my publisher's latest promotion, I began to realize that I was clenching my teeth, picking at my nails and pulling my hair even as I cheerfully followed instructions re the fabulous marketing ideas. I suddenly acknowledged that I was not having fun. That I had a deep-seated aversion to bragging about myself to the world.  

Although I love my own books, am proud as a peacock that I wrote them, adore my publisher - I wasn't enjoying the promos. Why not?

I decided to look up inspirational talks about success and discovered not one, but two, syndromes from which I may be suffering. I just have to decide which one. As they say, acceptance is the first step to recovery.

First, I investigate the most popular ailment. Perhaps I have acquired Atychiphobia, commonly known as the fear of failure. According to Mind Tools, there are four main signs of atychiphobia.

1. "A reluctance to try new things or get involved in challenging projects." I don't think I have this symptom. I'm usually very excited about new marketing ideas. It's the actual work of the project that gets me nervous. As I'm tweeting and facebooking, I am convinced no one is really listening. I am talking to myself. Despite the lovely retweets, follows, Likes, purchases, and direct messages, I still feel completely alone. Probably because I am. Alone, that is, here is my office, unable to see the audience or hear any applause.
Strike symptom 1.

2.  "Self-sabotage   – for example, procrastination, excessive anxiety, or a failure to follow through with goals." Hmmm. I like things done way ahead of schedule where possible. So, no procrastination signs. Excessive anxiety - well, my nervousness doesn't stop me from carrying through with the assignment or goals or tasks - so, scratch excessive. Failure to follow through - nope, I follow through. I get it done. I just don't enjoy it. I feel frustrated and depressed, not before, but during and after the promo.
Scratch symptom 2.  

3. "Low self-esteem or self-confidence   – Commonly using negative statements such as 'I'll never be good enough to get that promotion,' or 'I'm not smart enough to get on that team'." I might have to cop to this one. I do tend to suffer from shyness and a lack of confidence. But as anyone will tell you, most people don't notice. They would probably argue with me. They don't see my shaking knees or the ache of my jaw. I plunge into everything despite the lack of confidence. Although it's always with me, I employ techniques for appearing comfortable and confident: big smile, firm handshake, deep breaths, written speeches.
Symptom 3 - only half.
  
4. "Perfectionism – A willingness to try only those things that you know you'll finish perfectly and successfully." Oh, I have to admit to this one. I rarely tackle anything unless I'm pretty sure I'll be a huge success at the skill or task. Maybe this explains the post-promo depression (I'm coining it as PPD). Afterward, the results are never what I think I should have accomplished! I berate myself for not being number one. For not surpassing Sara Paretsky or Louise Penny. Aha! I have this symptom for sure!

Symptom 4 - I own this! I am perfect at it.

However, since I only have one and a half of the symptoms of a fear of failure, do I really have atychiphobia? Perhaps not. Perhaps I have Jonah Complex. On to the next set of research!

BTW: ImajinBook's Summer Sizzle promotion, sale and contest can be found right here, until July 20: http://www.imajinbooks.com/contests-events

PS Some promoters I admire who seem to thoroughly enjoy doing it (so much so, they make it their profession). Check them out when you get a chance, especially if you are an author with atychiphobia - they'll take over for you.

Rebecca Dahlke runs Dirt Cheap Mystery Reads: allmysteryenewsletter.com

Michael Gallagher runs Kindle Books and Tips: http://www.fkbooksandtips.com/

Award Winning Author Lesley Thomson all the way from the UK!

 My guest blogger today comes all the way from the UK! Tom Dale writes a review here of award-winning author Lesley Thomson's newest crime/mystery novel. Many novels, including this one, are available through Sainsbury's Ebooks. You ought to look up both Lesley and Sainsbury's - they both offer some very interesting reading.

http://www.sainsburysebooks.co.uk
http://www.lesleythomson.co.uk

Review by Tom Dale

      The 2010 People’s Book Prize winner (A Kind of Vanishing), Lesley Thomson, returns with her next crime/mystery novel, The Detective’s Daughter. The gripping and elusive style of the prize winning A Kind of Vanishing, is present again and makes for an intense, page-turning read. Ian Rankin has given his endorsement to this little known British author and from The Detective’s Daughter, you can see why.
     The Detective’s Daughter is the story of Stella Darnell, whose father was a detective assigned to an unsolved murder case when Stella was a child. Her father’s obsession with the case left her neglected and resentful of the deceased victim, Kate Rokesmith, for stealing the attention of her father.
      Years later, following the untimely death of her father, Stella is thrust into the mystery of his unsolved case after opening the veritable Pandora’s Box of the Rokesmith case files. Stella forges a strong relationship with an employee at her company, Jack, and invites him into the folds of the case. Then, when an all too coincidental murder occurs in Stella’s own life, her resolve to solve the mystery is enforced.
      This is a crime novel which bucks genre trends. It has a deep engagement with the emotions of the protagonist, Stella, and her fractured relationship with her father; feelings of loneliness and isolation are confronted and portrayed with a haunting realism. Also explored is the relationship between childhood experience and our nature as an adult, both positive and negative. Mystery fans, do not despair, though, as it does retain the classic tropes of a crime/mystery/thriller such as dramatic twists and gripping, page turning plot developments. Thomson also avoids the pitfalls of the genre; there are no loose ends, unlike so many crime novels - you do not spend time lamenting any unfinished business and plot holes.
     Overall this is a very enjoyable read and one which keeps the pages turning. It has all the suspense and plot twists we would expect but also has heart. As a reader, your relationship with Stella’s character develops well alongside the storyline and you sympathise and become endeared to her nature. The exploration of parent child relationships and the complex emotions that come with the loss of a parent are dealt with very well and this makes the read all the more engaging. The characters have a great deal to offer and, coupled with the gripping storyline, make for a real page-turner.

     The Detective’s Daughter is currently available from Sainsbury's eBooks. Just click on the title!