My Holiday Story is Available for FREE Download!

Sniplits.com has chosen my holiday story, "Biscuit Connection," as their free story available for download to members for the week of December 23 - 29. I hope many of you will become members on Sniplits (for free) if you are not already, download my story and listen to it! I'd love to get some feedback on it, too. The link is:

http://www.sniplits.com/

Happy Holidays!

I want to wish all my readers and friends a very happy holiday spent with those you love and full of health and good cheer. Also, may the new year fulfill your wishes and bring you joy!

A Rolicking Good Time at Adams Mystery Playhouse!

Thursday evening, my hubby and I joined 28 other stalwart sleuths from the Rocky Mountain chapter of Mystery Writers of America for our holiday party at the Adams Mystery Playhouse, complete with dinner and a mystery play (http://www.adamsmysteryplayhouse.com/). The play was "Death for Dinner." It included a police detective who sounded like a cross between Borat and Inspector Clouseau and who had the audience in stitches with his impromptu asides. Our table was one of three who correctly identified the killer at the end of the evening, so I'm feeling pretty smug.

The whole mystery dinner theater event was a heck of a lot of fun, complete with a conga line and audience members brought up on the stage to dance with the actors. I laughed until my sides hurt, and laughter is indeed the best medicine for whatever ails you. Suspense and romance author Colleen Collins made a great strumpet suspect, mystery author Christine Goff was making sure not to get her fingerprints on the evidence, and mystery short story author R.T. Lawton's lap got a lot of use. A good time was had by all! Now I'm off to shop for some of that blood-red vodka the bartender was mixing drinks with...

Guest Blogger Jean Henry Mead!!

As I promised in my last blog entry, Jean Henry Mead is my guest all day tomorrow, and she will be ready to answer any questions you post to my blog during the day. Remember that if you post a comment or question to my blog, you are automatically entered into a drawing for three signed copies of A Village Shattered. To get you stimulated, here's an interview with Dana Logan, one of the two sleuths featured in A Village Shattered.

Dana Logan, why do you think the author made you the main character?

Probably because I’m the most like her: tall, stubborn, eccentric and impatient. Novelists deny that they pattern their characters after themselves or people they know, but even if it’s only subconscious, it’s bound to happen. Who else do they know as well as themselves? Or friends and family members?

Other characters in the novel say that you look like the actress Gina Davis and that your friend Sarah resembles Shelley Winters. How do you feel about that?

Gina Davis happens to be one of my favorite actresses. And I’m glad the author also likes her. In the unlikely event they make a film about my life, I’d like Gina to play my role. But that’s never going to happen. Sarah and I have a real knack for getting involved in murder cases. Sarah always wanted to be a private investigator because she typed reports for her late husband, who was a PI. That’s how we got into this serial murder case, and it has nothing to do with the way we look.

Couldn’t you have just said NO! when your friend asked you to help her solve the first murder of your club member?

And let Sarah wonder around in the San Joaquin Valley fog all by herself? Not on your life! The killer is watching all of us and might even be a Sew and So club member. That’s who’s getting killed. Our friends all belong to the club and we discovered that the killer stole our membership roster and is killing our members alphabetically. First it was Alice, then Betty and Candice. My first name begins with a D so I may be next on the killer’s list, although there’s a member named Carole, so she could be the next victim. That’s why we have to discover who the murderer is, before he or she strikes again.

But what about the sheriff and his deputies?

Sheriff Grayson was recently elected and his only law enforcement experience was training police dogs. Some say he’s trying to run his department like a kennel , and half his staff resigned when he took office. Now maybe you understand why Sarah and I have to put our crime solving skills to work in order to save our lives.

What crime solving skills?

Sarah understudied her husband for years and knows the private investigating business thoroughly. And I have a large library of mystery and crime novels that I read at a rate of three a week. So we’re well aware of how law enforcement operates.

But doesn’t the sheriff object that you’re trying to do his job, and risking your lives in the process?

Of course he does, but would you cringe in a corner if you knew a killer were stalking you? Sarah and I may have recently joined the ranks of senior citizens but we’re a long way from being attached to rocking chairs. We’re quite capable of defending ourselves and sifting through clues to determine the killer.

I’ve heard that Sheriff Grayson has a crush on you? Do you think that’s why he’s giving you preferential treatment?

I’m aware of his infatuation but he’s a recently divorced man so I’m not taking his attentions seriously. And I would hardly call it preferential treatment when he takes Sarah and me down to police headquarters for exhaustive questioning. He even made us go to the morgue to identify a body he thought was our neighbor Harold Samuels. Sarah’s blood pressure skyrocketed and it didn’t do mine any good.

Who do you think is killing your friends?

I’m not sure. Sarah insists that it’s Harold Samuels, a sixtyish neighbor whose eyesight rivals Mr. Magoo. He disappeared the night that we had him over for dinner. Sarah put some cloral hydrate in his drink so we both feel responsible for his disappearance. Betty Wilson’s husband Pat is a likely candidate. He got rid of all his wife’s things, except for heirloom silverware and her jewelry within hours after her body was found. And everyone knows he’s a womanizer. There are other suspects as well.


Dana sure has whetted my appetite for this novel! Here are some links if you want more information:

Jean's blog tour schedule can be found at: http://myblogtour.blogspot.com/
Her website is: http://jeanhenrymead.com/
The print copy of Jean's book just went up at Amazon.com: http://tinyurl.com/5alkkr
The multi format edition is currently number one at Fictionwise-ePress-Online: http://tinyurl.com/6rdzm5

My First Guest Visits on Saturday

I will be hosting my first guest on this blog on Saturday, December 6th, and I hope folks will stop by and read the blog and comment on it. My guest will be Jean Henry Mead, who writes senior sleuth mysteries and western historical novels. She's a former award-winning photojournalist and magazine and small press editor as well as a news reporter/editor. The book that will be featured in this blog visit is A Village Shattered, the first novel in her Logan & Cafferty series. It will be followed by Diary of Murder next spring. The third series book, Dying Laughing, Jean's fifteenth book, will be released during the fall of 2009.

Jean's visit to my blog is part of her two week blog tour promoting the release of A Village Shattered. Jean promises that everyone who leaves a comment at any of the host blog sites will be eligible for the drawing for three signed copies of A Village Shattered, a senior sleuth novel featuring Dana Logan and Sarah Cafferty, who set out to solve the serial killings of their friends. Dana's beautiful daughter is nearly killed in the process. And I will have the privilege of interviewing Dana on Saturday! This should be a lot of fun.

A Late Fall Newsletter and Website Updates

My website guru, my handsome husband, has made quite a few tweaks to my website in preparation for promoting the release of To Hell in a Handbasket next year. The covers of both A Real Basket Case and To Hell in a Handbasket now appear on the Books page and you can click on either one to go to its individual book page complete with reviews, excerpts, etc. Also, we’ve updated my Frequently Asked Questions page and made some minor updates on just about every page of the website. Click on "Beth's Web Page" under Links to see the changes. I think this update is going to cost me a bottle of single-malt scotch!

Also, we've been working on my October/November email newsletter. We've added all the new subscribers' email addresses and tested the links, so it should be sent out this evening. If you think you are on my subscriber list and don't see an email newsletter in your inbox by Monday, please sign up again on the Newsletter page of my website. My old newsletter service, Zinester, seems to have been blocked by some email providers, and those bounced addresses were deleted from my subscriber list. I'm now using Vertical Response, which seems to have much better luck getting through.

"Biscuit Connection" on Sniplits

My holiday story, "Biscuit Connection," has just been posted on Sniplits.com and is available for download at a very cheap price of 88 cents. Here's the blurb: Samuel's been dragged from one of his wife's volunteer activities to another. Now it's Christmas, he's stuck dishing up mashed potatoes at the food kitchen, and he's hungrier then he realized. Winner of the Mom Writers' Literary Magazine Short Fiction Contest in 2006. Family friendly....

I've listened to the story myself and I'm very pleased with the job the male voice actor did with the character's voices and their emotions. Sniplits also has another story of mine on their website, "Covered Dish Casseroles," available for the same low price and read by a very skillful female voice actress. If you click on "Authors" at the website, then on my name, you'll see both stories listed.

The website includes a wide variety of high-quality short fiction in many genres read by trained voice talent. I've listened to quite a few myself and have really enjoyed them. I hope you enjoy the site!

http://www.sniplits.com

Making a Splash Down Under

Every now and then I check the Worldcat inter-library loan system to see if any more library systems have bought copies of A Real Basket Case and registered them into the system. A couple of days ago, I found out that seven library systems in Australia listed the book. Crikey! Now the book is not only available in libraries in all fifty states of the United States, but it's also available in Canada, New Zealand and Australia. I'm hoping for India next...

A Writer's Week

Little did I know when I embarked on this new career as a writer how much of my time would be spent on tasks OTHER than writing. This past week I did the following:

- Contacted a bookstore to determine the status of my payment for consignment books, then deposited the check when it arrived,
- Mailed a copy of A Real Basket Case to a Japanese publisher interested evaluating it for publication in Japan,
- Participated in a 20-author library signing event,
- Attended a meeting of the local MWA chapter,
- Wrote the minutes for the local Sisters in Crime board meeting, mailed them out, and sent out an invitation to the members for our December tea,
- Went to my own book club meeting and discussed The Yiddish Policeman's Union,
- Had coffee with a new writer starting on his first novel-length manuscript to offer advice and encouragement and gave advice to another writer on novella markets,
- Made plans to host a fellow author on my blog next month and to host a discussion in a Facebook group next week,
- Started a list of revisions to my author website for my hubby to implement next week,
- Reviewed a second edit of my science fiction novella, The Epsilon Eridani Alternative, and returned my comments and revisions to the editor at Virtual Tales,
- Kept up with my email loops, social networks, and this, my blog, and
- Prepared a talk I will give tomorrow to the local chapter of Pen Women about "Networking Your Way to Success in the Creative Arts."

The only new fiction I wrote this week was one paragraph of new text for the novella. Gotta do better next week!

Story sale to Sniplits.com

I am very pleased to announce that I recently sold audio rights to Sniplits.com for my holiday-themed short story "Biscuit Connection." This is the second story of mine that Sniplits has picked up. The first was "Covered Dish Casseroles." I was very happy with the female voice actor who read my story and the emotion she put into the dialogue.

Sniplits publishes audio short stories as DRM-free MP3 files - and offers a paying market for new and established authors. Stories range from under a minute to about an hour in most genres, and they're very affordable, in the price range of music downloads, which are much shorter. My "Covered Dish Casseroles" story is available for only 88 cents. A Sniplits membership is free, and members receive a free story each week. Check it out at http://www.sniplits.com !

Two Signings Coming Up

I'll be participating in two signings this week, one as a greeter and organizer and one as a participating author. The first is Friday, November 7th, 5:30 – 8:30 p.m. at Cottonwood Artists School, 25 Cimino Drive, Colorado Springs, CO. Cottonwood will hold an Opening Reception for their November Exhibit: the Cottonwood Instructors All-Media Show. Over 30 artist studios will be open to the public in addition to the main exhibit in the gallery. In conjunction with this event, Pikes Peak Writers (PPW) will host six of its published authors and their books for a fundraiser booksigning in Classroom B at the school. As the organizer for the event, I'll be greeting folks as they come in the door. The following authors will be participating: Margaret Brettschneider, Carol Hightshoe, Gil Porat, Robert Spiller, and Rod Summit. I hope to see some of my local friends and fellow writers there!

For details, go to:
http://pikespeakwriters.com/

The second event is on Sunday, November 9th, from 2 - 4 PM at the Koelbel Library, Arapahoe Library District, 5955 S. Holly, Centennial, CO. For their Author Open House in conjunction with their "Inside the Book: Where Readers and Writers Meet" event, twenty Colorado authors will gather to discuss and sign their books for library patrons. Attending authors will include me, Christine Goff, Joanne Greenburg, Clinton McKinzie, Sybil Downing, and Robert Greer and many others I'm looking forward to seeing. Please stop by and chat with the authors and join the fun! I'd love to see some of my Colorado readers and friends.

For details, go to:
http://www.arapahoelibraries.org/go2.cfm?pid=11943&p1=11871&p2=1

Cover Art for TO HELL IN A HANDBASKET

Yesterday I received the cover art for my May, 2009 release, TO HELL IN A HANDBASKET. It's gorgeous and just what I envisioned when I sent directions to the art department. In the first scene of the book, there's an accident on a Breckenridge, CO ski slope, and Claire has to position her skis in an X on the slope to show the ski patrol where the victim is. The colors are breathtaking and give you a chill. I love how the artist "tied" it in with the gift bow theme of the first book, A REAL BASKET CASE. I'm pleased as punch with this beautiful cover and would love to receive comments on it. What do you think?

Comment, you ask? Didn't I used to have comments turned off on this blog? Yes, I did, because I didn't want to have spam or porn appear and I wasn't sure I wanted to check all comments. I've finally decided to turn on comments, with checking, for awhile and we'll see how it goes!

Author of the Week

This week, I am the Author of the Week in the Book Lovers Cafe group at the EONS social networking site. I will be checking in there all week to answer questions from readers. Also, I'm posting periodic discussion questions for those who have read my debut mystery, A REAL BASKET CASE. If you belong to EONS, stop by and join the fun!

I'm in Wikipedia!

In early October, I looked up the Wikipedia article about the Agatha Awards (A REAL BASKET CASE was nominated for the 2007 Best First Novel Agatha Award) and noticed that I was the only author in my category who did not have my own Wikipedia page. So, I read up on how to create Wikipedia pages, thinking I would make one for myself, and was thoroughly flummoxed by the complicated directions. I did figure out how to submit a request asking that a page be written about me, however. Then, I sent an email to the author representative at my publisher suggesting that someone in their promotion department create Wikipedia pages for all their authors. The reply was that no one could take on that daunting task yet. So, I put the idea on a back burner.

Then today, I Googled my name and book title to check which online vendors were still offering it for sale, and voila, a couple of Wikipedia references were listed! I went to both pages and read them and was very impressed by the professional job the Wikipedia editor did in creating them. They were both created on October 18, so they're brand-spanking new, and must have been created in response to my request. I want to offer my deep appreciation to that Wikipedia editor and encourage my blog readers to check out the links below:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Real_Basket_Case
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beth_Groundwater

More Novella Work

Last week I was up in Breckenridge, CO for a relaxing get-away with my hubby. I also was working on my science fiction novella, The Epsilon Eridani Alternative. My editor had given me her comments on it right before we left town, so I spent 2-4 hours/day going through those comments and responding to them with acceptances, fixes, rewrites, etc. Now that I'm back home, I'll make one more pass through it, then send the edited manuscript back to her.

I'm also busy this week making final preparations for a joint Pikes Peak Writers and Pikes Peak Romance Writers workshop this Saturday. Debra Dixon is flying in to teach us all about "Goal, Motivation, and Colflict" from her book of the same name. This should be a good one!

Book Promotion Ideas

During my chat stint in the EONS Book Gallery Meet The Authors event, a fellow author asked for book promotion suggestions other than signings. I realized that my reply might help other authors, so I decided to copy it here:

There are lots of ways to use the Internet to promote books, as evidenced by this EONS Meet the Authors event! You can choose a few social networks that are likely to contain your reader population and join them and join the relevant groups in them, start making comments in those groups, and start inviting people to be your friends. I joined Eons, because people who read cozy mysteries also tend, by and large, to be older and to be female. I also joined the ning group "Crimespace" since I write mysteries, and Facebook (tends to have older members than MySpace) and Goodreads (a book discussion network).

You can also search for topics related to your book in yahoogroups and join groups containing folks you think might be interested in your book. I'm a member of three or four mystery-reading yahoogroups and try to contribute to the discussions every now and then, so when I have an announcement to make about a book release or some such, the members already know who I am. Also, find online ezines in your genre and contribute stories or articles and ask to be interviewed. And, if they have book reviewers, ask if you can send a copy of your book to them to be reviewed. You can also ask to be a guest on blogs written by authors in your genre.

For in-person event possibilities, I suggest contacting local libraries to arrange talks with their book clubs or writer groups or to participate in their local author days, if they have them. And, find nearby fan conferences for your genre and talk to the program chair about getting on one of their author panels. For instance, in the mystery genre, there's Bouchercon, Left Coast Crime, Malice Domestic, and the Mayhem in the Midlands conferences, to name a few. The science fiction/fantasy genre has World-Con, Mile-Hi Con, and lots of others, the romance genre has the Romantic Times convention, etc. You can often save costs by finding a conference within driving distance then carpool with another attendee, and share a hotel room with another attendee.

Meme: I've been tagged!

Apparently there's a new blog-tagging game called Meme going around, where each taggee has to write six book-related things about him/herself, then pass the word by tagging six other bloggers. I was tagged by Christine Duncan and her Rule of Three blog at http://globalwrite.wordpress.com/ and you can read her answers in her September 29th entry titled "Meme?". Here's my six book-related facts:

1. My TBR pile includes lots of mysteries, but also some literary, women's fiction, romance, and short story anthology books.

2. I'm in a book club that meets monthly to drink wine, eat dessert, gossip, and discuss that month's book.

3. I took a speed-reading class in elementary school, so I can read pretty fast.

4. My favorite children's picture book is Possum Come A Knockin'. My kids tired of it long before I did. It's hilarious!

5. I suck at writing book reviews, so I don't do them, and having to write a back cover blurb for someone else makes me break out in a sweat.

6. I did indeed read Nancy Drew when I was young, but my favorite mystery writer in my teenage years was Edgar Allan Poe.

Here's my six taggees:
Mike Befeler http://mikebefeler.blogspot.com/
Judy Clemens at The Little Blog of Murder http://www.thelittleblogofmurder.com/
Elizabeth Zelvin, Sandra Parshall, and Lonnie Cruse, all at Poe's Deadly Daughters http://www.poesdeadlydaughters.blogspot.com/
Ann Parker at The Lady Killers http://theladykillers.typepad.com/the_lady_killers/

Here's the rules of the game:

1. Link to the person who tagged you.
2. Post the rules on the blog.
3. Write six random bookish things about yourself.
4. Tag sixish people at the end of your post.
5. Let each person know he or she has been tagged.
6. Let the tagger know when your entry is up.

Novella Work

Working with an e-publisher is much quicker than with a traditional publisher. I turned in cover art guidelines yesterday and my editor says she should have the edited manuscript of The Epsilon Eridani Alternative ready for me to review sometime next week. I can't wait to see what the artist comes up with and to get a pub date! Now, to find some SF authors who might be willing to read the darn thing and blurb it...

An Author Event at EONS

EONS is a social networking site I belong to that is aimed at the baby boomer population. You can find out more about it by going to: http://www.eons.com . They will be hosting a get-to-know-EONS-authors event at the EONS BOOK GALLERY group this weekend, October 4-5 (See http://www.eons.com/groups/group/eons-book-gallery ). I've already posted a couple of excerpts of A REAL BASKET CASE there and plan to participate in the event. My time slot for responding to questions is 3-6 pm EST, but you can ask questions before then (so I have time to prepare answers by Sunday afternoon). For those of you who are EONS members or decide to join, I hope you'll stop by the gallery this weekend for an interactive chat with me.

Two Events and a Trip

I have a book signing in Monument, CO this evening, and tomorrow afternoon, I will be at the Mountains and Plains Independent Booksellers Association Trade Show in Colorado Springs. For details, go to the Appearances page of my website.

Then, on Saturday, I'll be traveling to Orlando, FL with my husband for a week to celebrate our 25th wedding anniversary. Needless to say, I won't be responding to emails next week! When I return, I expect to find an edited manuscript of my The Epsilon Eridani Alternative novella waiting for me, so I'll be plunging right back into work.

An Interview on "Murder by 4"

Marta Stephens recently interviewed me and posted the result on her blog, "Murder by 4", yesterday. Here's the link: http://murderby4.blogspot.com/

She got me talking about my new book, TO HELL IN A HANDBASKET, that will be released in May, 2009, so stop by for a sneak preview!

A New Publishing Contract!

I'm very pleased to announce that I have signed a contract with Virtual Tales to publish my science fiction novella, The Epsilon Eridani Alternative, in ebook, eserial, and paperback formats. This novella won an Honorable Mention in 2003 from the prestigious science fiction novella contest run by Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC) in Barcelona, Spain, with prizes of up to 6,000 Euros for SF novellas written in one of three languages, English, Spanish, or Catalan. My novella was one of two written in English that made it to the top ten entries that year and the only one from the USA.

After basking in the glow of that contest placement, I began the very, very long process of trying to find a publisher for it. Novellas are a very difficult size of manuscript to get published, I soon discovered. 25,000 words was too long for most science fiction magazines, and it's too short to interest a traditional book publisher. After considerable research, though, I found a variety of print magazine, ezine, anthology, and traditional and electronic book publishers whose submittal guidelines matched the novella's genre and length. Almost all of them forbade simultaneous submissions, so that meant submitting to one publisher at a time and waiting months to hear from each one.

The rejections started piling up, then in 2006 an electronic publisher accepted the manuscript and said a contract would be on the way. I waited, and waited, and the contract never came. I sent emails and got no response. I called the editor, who said they'd get back to me, twice. Nothing. Finally I had to give up on that publisher and start submitting again. That publisher is still in business, so I don't know what happened to my manuscript. Maybe they changed their minds and decided not to publish The Epsilon Eridani Alternative, but I wish they'd come right out and told me. Anyway, after finally amassing nineteen rejections (yes, that acceptance became a rejection in my list), Virtual Tales accepted the manuscript and sent a contract, which I signed at the end of August.

After five long years, I will finally see The Epsilon Eridani Alternative published. I'm very excited and looking forward to working with the editor and other staff at Virtual Tales. Here's their website: http://virtualtales.com/

A New Review for A REAL BASKET CASE

I'm a member of the Goodreads social network, where you can keep track of books you read, discuss and review them and share recommendations. Courtney Clift just posted a nice review of A REAL BASKET CASE there, to join some other nice reviews from amateur reviewers who are just plain mystery readers like you and me. Here's the link to see all the reviews at Goodreads, including Courtney's:

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/923993.A_Real_Basket_Case

A Storm and Two Interviews

First, I want to send hugs and prayers to all my friends and acquaintances who are experiencing the effects of Gustav. I hope you are all safe and, if you are not at home, that you will be back in your homes soon.

Next, I wanted to let everyone know about two interviews with me that have been posted online in the last few weeks. The first was conducted by Lorie Ham for her "No Name Cafe" over a year ago, and she finally posted it a month ago. I think Lorie had quite a backlog of interviews and was stringing out the posting of them, which was fine with me. She did post the review of A REAL BASKET CASE done by her reviewer, Cindy Chow, right away (look at the bottom of the page listing the reviews). Lorie got me talking about other genres I've tried to write besides mysteries, my favorite acceptance stories, themes in my writing, and advice to aspiring authors, among other topics. Reading over the interview, just about everything there is still timely and right on, except my children are a year older. Here's the link:

http://www.lorieham.com/groundwater.html

The second interview was posted last week on Suspense Magazine's website and was conducted by John Raab with me in July. He got me talking about my biggest inspiration, what kind of music I enjoy, and what I like to do for fun, among other topics. You'll probably be surprised by my answer to the question, "If you could solve any mystery for yourself, what would it be?" ;) Here's the link:

http://www.suspensemagazine.com/bethgroundwater.html

I hope you enjoy both interviews with me and will take a look at the other author interviews available at both websites.

Heading to the mountains--with manuscripts

Today I drove up to Breckenridge with my husband and son for an extended five-day Labor Day weekend. Unfortunately, it won't be all fun. I brought two manuscripts with me. One is a mystery short story anthology that I promised to blurb. The second is the copy edited manuscript for TO HELL IN A HANDBASKET. Finally! I'm excited to read about Claire's Breckenridge adventure again--in Breckenridge. I've almost forgotten how the story goes. :)

I will have some fun up here, though, in between reading. There's hiking, shopping, eating out, and a rubber ducky race. Can't miss that!

Living up to my Bio

I recently posted about my poem, "Ride the Wind," appearing in RUBBER SIDE DOWN, The Biker Poetry Anthology, edited by Jose Gouveia ("JoeGo"). I received my author copies of the anthology a few days ago, and apparently JoeGo thought the bio I sent him for the anthology was too tame, so he made up one of his own for me:

"Beth Groundwater is SCUBA certified, learning tai chi, and has visited Machu Picchu, Angkor Wat, and the Galapagos Islands. visit Beth's website at www.bethgroundwater.com."

Not a single thing in this bio is true, except for my website address. It looks like I'll have to get cracking to live up to my bio! Now where's that tai chi video my husband ordered years ago...?

Here's what I sent:

"Beth Groundwater is not currently a biker, but learning to ride a motorcycle is on her "Things to Do Before I Die" list along with getting a SCUBA certificate, learning tai chi, and visiting Machu Picchu, Angkor Wat, and the Galapagos Islands. She has accomplished at least two things on her list, publish a poem (this one) and publish a novel. Her debut mystery, A REAL BASKET CASE, was released in March, 2007 to good reviews and was nominated for a 2007 Best First Novel Agatha Award. The large-print edition was released in January, 2008, and the sequel, TO HELL IN A HANDBASKET, will be released in May, 2009. Please visit Beth's website at www.bethgroundwater.com."

After looking at the photos of some of the other poets in the anthology and reading their bios, I think Joe didn't want to admit that one of the poems was written by a non-biker! My local writing friends have been offering rides and the use of leather jackets and other accesories for any signings I do in the area. I'm thinking I'll have to straddle a cycle one day soon, too. :)

My First TV Interview as an Author

On Friday, I had my first taped TV interview as an author. The interview will appear at various times in September on a Denver Cable Channel 8 television show called "Off the Page" hosted by an Aurora librarian. The show airs in nine markets around the metro area. The hostess interviews two Colorado authors per half-hour show to promote authors, libraries and literacy across the metro area. I shared the program with fellow Colorado mystery author, Mike Befeler, who looked cool as a cucumber through his taping.

I, however, was feeling a little frazzled after arriving late, because I spent 2.5 hours on the road to make what was supposed to be a 1.5 hour drive, due to rain, construction, and rush hour traffic. I made it through the interview with a minimum of sweat, though, and I'm anxious to get my DVD copy so I can analyze my performance. The interviewer emailed us our questions ahead of time, and I wrote out and rehearsed some answers. I didn't memorize them because I didn't want to sound wooden, but I ended up forgetting a few points I wanted to make.

The taping was interesting. There were two cameras, one looking over the interviewer's shoulder at me and one "long shot" camera that took in the whole view of the two of us sitting in our chairs. This camera was moved continuously back and forth along a track by the cameraman. After the interview was taped, they moved one of the cameras behind me to tape the interviewer asking the questions again, without me answering. The three types of shots will all be edited magically together afterward.

And now for something completely different...

The one poem that I've written as an adult, "Ride the Wind," has recently been published for a second time. The reprint appears in RUBBER SIDE DOWN, The Biker Poetry Anthology, edited by Jose Gouveia ("JoeGo"). The anthology was released August 4th (Opening Day of the Sturgis 2008 Motorcycle Rally). All the poetry, including mine, is about motorcycle riding even though I've never ridden a motorcycle!

Like cowboy poetry, biker poetry seems to be a genre on the rise. The book traces the beginnings of biker poetry to a poetry throwdown of sorts on a farm in Colorado in 1975, attended by an assortment of bikers and hippies and a young Hunter S. Thompson. The contributors include the late Allen Ginsberg and Thom Gunn, Diane Wakoski, and a host of writers from the motorcycle press, including Dr. Martin Jack Rosenblum (Harley-Davidson Historian Emeritus), Susan Buck, and K. Peddlar Bridges. The book features photos by noted motorcycle photographer, Michael Lichter ("Choppers, Heavy Metal Art").

Working with JoeGo has been a hoot, and I can't wait to get my hands on my own author copies. The anthology is available at the website of the publisher, Archer Books: http://www.archer-books.com/ and on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Rubber-Side-Down-Biker-Anthology/dp/1931122199.

And A REAL BASKET CASE is back on sale!

Amazon has my novel back on 20% off sale today, but who knows how long it will last? I can't keep track of the moves anymore, so if you're interested in buying a copy from Amazon and it's listed as full price, I suggest you keep checking back and look for a sale price.

Now, on to other news. This afternoon I'm driving up to Denver to be interviewed by a librarian for her Denver Cable Channel 8 television show called "Off the Page". The show airs in nine markets around the metro area. She interviews Colorado authors to promote authors, libraries and literacy around Denver and surrounding communities. We're taping the show this afternoon, and it will air at different times in September. Figuring out what to wear is a challenge! I'm going to try to get an airing schedule and ask a Denver friend to tape it for me.

That was quick ;(

Well, today when I checked Amazon, my book was back to selling at full-price. Their 20% sale on it didn't last very long, that's for sure! I've long given up trying to figure out Amazon's pricing strategies, and this is just one more example of how weird they are.

A REAL BASKET CASE on sale!

I just checked the Amazon page for my book, A REAL BASKET CASE, and they've discounted it 20% so its price matches the Barnes & Noble member price of $20.76. So, if you've been waiting for it to go on sale before getting your own copy, here's your chance! The link is:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1594145474

A Lovely Writers Retreat

This past Saturday, August 9th, was the annual retreat for Pikes Peak Writers volunteers to thank us for our service to the organization. The retreat was held at the lovely Monument home of Chris Mandeville, the outgoing PPW President. Workshops were offered, as well as massages and yoga and nature strolls, quiet places to write, and more. Everyone brought offerings for a pot luck lunch, and beverages and breakfast and snack items were provided. Also, Chris solicited prizes from local businesses for drawings, and free books were available for the taking.

I want to pass on my kudos to Chris Mandeville and all the volunteers who contributed to make the volunteer retreat a special experience. I had a great day playing with words with Sue Mitchell, turning my log line into a "high concept" pitch with Karen Lin, walking around Chris's peaceful neighborhood and getting a massage from the magic fingers of Barbara Spiller, dry-running a Character Toolbox workshop with co-presenter Chris (we hope to do it at PPW spring conference), and listening to some outstanding readings at the American Icon practice in "The Wretched Pun" pub. I left relaxed, renewed, and revved up (a motorcycle pun for those of you who were there) to write and write some more.

Article in The Writer magazine

I just received my two free copies of the September, 2008 issue of The Writer magazine that features an article by me on page 14. The article, titled "Networking, and more networking, did the trick", is my paid contribution to their monthly Breakthrough column. This column features advice from successful writers on what "breakthrough" made the big difference to them in their career. In my case, it was networking with other members of the writing community. If you're a subscriber, or can obtain a copy of the magazine at your local library or bookstore, I hope you'll read my column and that it helps you make a breakthrough in your own writing career. And how did I get the assignment to write that column? By networking at the 2007 Pikes Peak Writers conference and talking to the Senior Editor of The Writer magazine, who also attended!

An Interview with Lorie Ham

Quite some time ago, in fact almost a year ago, I answered some interview questions from Lorie Ham, who runs the No Name Cafe website. She just posted the interview on her website at: http://www.lorieham.com/groundwater.html
Feel free to take a gander and find out why I love to write, my rejection and first sale experiences, and who my favorite bookstore signing greeter is.

Photos from Spain

The first photo is of our resort in Costa Mijas, and the second is of the beach nearby. The third photo shows my husband and me on the rock of Gibraltar. The fourth is of the Salvador Dali sculptures in Marbella. The fifth shows our day-tour group in Tangier. The sixth shows the old town of Malaga as viewed from the Alcazaba, and the seventh shows me inside the cathedral pictured in the sixth photo. The eighth photo shows us in one of the Palacio Nazaries in the Alhambra, and the last photo shows the gardens and summer palace of the Alhambra.

Photos from France

The first photo shows my husband and me on the Promenade des Anglais in Nice. The second is of my friend Veronique's home, and the third is of the port of Nice. The fourth shows the Russian Orthodox cathedral in Nice, and the fifth is of Villefranche. The sixth photo is of us eating socca, etc. in Old Town Nice. The seventh photo shows the village of St. Paul de Vence, and the eighth shows the village of Eze. The last photo is of the beach in Cannes.

Photos from England

The first photo is Hever Hotel, where we stayed, and the second is Hever Castle. The third and fourth photos are outside and inside shots of the Canterbury Cathedral. The fifth photo is the Spa Valley steam train. The sixth is Chiddingstone Castle, and the seventh is me sitting on the chiding stone. The last photo is of Penshurst Place.

My 2008 Summer Europe Trip

Due to popular request, I'm posting a summary of my husband's and my three-week trip to Europe this summer. I hope to add photos soon.

Kent, England June 7 – 15

After a red-eye flight, we arrived in the early afternoon on June 8 at our studio room with a hot pot and small fridge in the Hever Hotel in Kent, England, which was constructed out of the farm stables and cottages supporting nearby Hever Castle, home of the beheaded wife of King Henry VIII, Anne Boleyn. From that base, we could walk to many nearby attractions: 2.5 miles west on our first full day to the town of Edenbridge to get tourist information and buy groceries and lug them back, 1 mile south to Hever Castle and its formal gardens, 2 miles east to the National Historic Trust village of Chiddingstone (named after the huge stone where nagging wives and doers of misdeeds were chided in public) and nearby Chiddingstone Castle, and 1 mile north to the Wheatsheaf Pub and its bus stop.

On one day we took the bus to the town of Royal Tunbridge Wells, where we rode the short Spa Valley Railroad steam train (along with a gaggle of preschoolers and parents on a field trip) to Groombridge Place and toured its gardens and enchanted forest before returning on the train to RTW and touring the Pantiles historic shopping district. Another day the bus took us to Penshurst Place, a 650 year old castle which has been owned by the Sidney family for 19 generations, one of whom founded Hampden-Sydney College in Virginia. Mid-week we shared the hire of a van and driver with three Canadian ladies to drive to Canterbury and tour its famous magnificent cathedral, the underground Roman Museum, and High Street.

Food was very expensive in England, with one British pound being worth about two American dollars, so we breakfasted in the room, packed sandwiches for lunch many days, and ate simple dinners mostly in pubs or the golf club bar behind the hotel. We were blessed with lovely weather, though. It only rained one night while we lay snug in bed and sprinkled some one day. The locals were exclaiming that this was the first week of summer weather they’d seen this year. We saw farm animals of all types on our journeys along the “footpaths”.

Nice, France June 15 – 21

After an early evening flight, we stayed with the family of Bruce Miton, the 17 year old boy we hosted for a few summer weeks two years ago when he was 15. We met Bruce’s mother, Veronique, and his younger sister, Lorraine, but not his father, who works during the week in Montpelier. Also, Bruce’s aunt, Genevieve, and her younger daughter, Mathilde, drove down from Orange, France to see us for the last three days we were there. We had hosted Mathilde’s older sister, Marion, in 2002, and Marion’s family had hosted my daughter in 2003. So, we had a big happy reunion and marveled at how the kids had grown.

After we did some laundry Monday, Veronique showed us the port of Nice and we hiked up Castle Hill to see its scenic views, parks, waterfall, church ruins, and war memorial, returning for a lovely guinea fowl dinner. Tuesday we toured the Russian Orthodox cathedral in town, drove up the coast to tour the seaside villages (and hang-outs of the rich and famous) of Villefranche, St. Jean Cap Ferrat, and Beaulieu, and walked around the cape. That evening we strolled around Old Town and ate authentic Nice dishes like socca (chick-pea crepes) at a sidewalk café and ice cream at Fenocchio’s. Wednesday, we drove inland to tour the Fondation Maeght modern art museum and walk the narrow, winding cobblestone streets of the historic hilltop villages of St. Paul de Vence and Eze.

Thursday, Veronique had to work, so Genevieve and her friend Daniella from Cannes took us on a tour of Cannes, complete with an afternoon at a lovely beach at the end of the bay and drinks at Daniella’s apartment. Neil and I took the family out to dinner that night in Villefranche. Friday, we toured the attractions on Cimiez hill: palaces built by the “white Russians” who fled when the Communists took over, a Franciscan church and garden, the ruins of a Roman amphitheater still being used for modern performances, the Matisse Museum and the Chagall Museum. After a huge late lunch including homemade goose liver pate to celebrate Genevieve’s birthday, Neil went to work on Veronique’s hot tub to get it functioning again. Then we strolled on the Promenade des Anglais and picked up some pizzas from the local pizza truck on the way home for dinner.

Malaga, Spain June 21 – 28

After a travel day of two Easy Jet flights and a rental car drive to Costa Mijas, we bought groceries and dined on pasta and mussels on the patio of our timeshare unit overlooking the outdoor restaurant and pool and polished off a bottle of tempranillo wine to celebrate our arrival. We spent a lazy Sunday by the pool and watched an evening Flamenco performance at the resort. On Monday we drove to the British colony of Gibraltar and toured the attractions in the Upper Rock Reserve: cable car to the observation deck on top, the wild Barbary Macaques (apes) troop, St. Michael’s cave, the Great Siege (1779-1783) tunnels, the lower World War II tunnels, and the 1333 Tower of Homage Islamic castle ruins, ending with a much-deserved ice cream and iced coffee break at a sidewalk café in town. On the way back, we stopped in Marbella and toured the Old Town, including the 1505 Church of Santa Maria de la Encamacion, and Avenida del Mar lined with Salvador Dali sculptures, then dined on Spanish tapas at La Teberna de Santiago.

On Tuesday we took an escorted tour to Tangier, Morocco, starting with a bus pickup at 6:30 AM. We drove to Algeciras and got on a high-speed ferry to Tangier, then took a bus tour with the requisite stops to ride a camel, see a cobra dancer, walk the Casbah and Old Town markets, get a carpet presentation (and buy a supposedly $1850 carpet for $400), and eat a couscous and lamb meatball lunch with a belly dancer for entertainment. After the ferry and bus ride back, we dined at the resort’s restaurant with an American family we met on the tour and listened to Spanish guitar music. We spent Wednesday at the nearby Cabopino beach and watched an evening parrot show from our balcony while dining on paella and wine.

Thursday we toured the sights of Malaga: the fourteenth century Castillo de Gibralfaro, the Alcazaba Muslim palace and gardens, the magnificent well-funded city cathedral begun in the sixteenth century and added onto for 200 years, and the Picasso Museum, finishing up with a tapas dinner at Gorki’s in the Old Town. In both France and Spain, they tended to eat lunch at 2 PM and dinner at 9 PM, so we followed suit while there.

Friday we drove to Grenada to spend seven hours touring the 13th/14th century Alhambra complex, including the gorgeous Moorish Palacio Nazaries, the lovely gardens with their intricate waterworks, the summer palace, the fortress, and the more modern Palacio de Carlos V, built in 1527. The temperature was over 100 degrees that day, and my feet were swollen by the time we finished. After driving back to Costa Mijas, we ate at an Italian restaurant where the rest of the clientele were all British tourists. And Saturday we flew home, falling into bed at midnight after being up for 23 hours straight. A wonderful trip overall!

Mystery Muse

After taking more than a month off from my writing work to travel in Europe with my hubby for 3 weeks and spend the 4th of July weekend in Breckenridge, I'm slowly chipping away at the work that accumulated while I was gone. So, here's my first blog entry in over a month. Ouch! I'll blog about the Europe trip very soon, I promise.

Mystery Muse is the blog section of the website for the Rocky Mountain chapter of the Mystery Writers of America, of which I am a member. Shortly before I left on my trip, I emailed a contribution to that blog to the website master. My contribution, titled "Answer to "How do I get published?"" was posted on July 5th. You can find it at:

http://www.rockymountainmysterywriters.com/blog/

I recommend the other member posts, too, especially "Plotting the Novel".

Off to Europe

I've been neglecting my blog lately and its going to be neglected for the rest of the month. My husband and I are leaving on June 7th for a 3-week trip to Europe, just the two of us. This is our first long trip without the kids (now 18 and almost-21) since they were born! I'm really looking forward to the break, and I'm NOT taking a computer or any writing work with me. Just a stack of books to read. I'll be back and posting in July. Here's wishes for lots of summer fun and relaxation to everyone.

A Graduation Celebration

My writing life has been pushed to the back burner this past week with all the activities surrounding my son's high school graduation last Thursday. I've lost count of how many graduation parties he's attended over the past week! My daughter flew home from college (and goes back tomorrow to finish the spring term and take some summer classes), and my parents drove out from Virginia for the ceremony. After watching 352 (!) kids cross the stage, we went out to dinner at our favorite French/Continental restaurant nearby, Marigold. When the owner (who we know) stopped by to chat, my husband asked if she had any openings in the kitchen for my son, who wants to be a pastry chef. She said they just happened to be short one person because someone hadn't worked out, so my son is now one of their pastry prep cooks. It's an ideal summer job for him, and he couldn't be happier. Nor could we! My folks left this morning, so after we put my daughter on the plane tomorrow, life will resume some sense of normality.

A Big Birthday for a Big Boy

Today is my son's eighteenth birthday, and we're celebrating with a big barbecue bash for thirty or so of his closest friends tonight. My "baby" is six feet tall and itching to be on his own in college this fall. It will be strange to have an empty nest when he leaves, but for now, I'm enjoying the milestones--birthday today and high school graduation next Thursday. He made it safely through prom night last weekend, crawling in the door at 7 am, so that was a relief!

Sniplits -- An audio market for short fiction

Many months ago, I submitted a short story to Anne Stuessy, editor and publisher for a new website called Sniplits. Her plan was to present short stories for sale in an audio format, for download onto MP3 devices. The website is now up and running and includes a wide variety of short fiction in many genres read by trained voice talent for only $.88 each. My story is "Covered Dish Casseroles", found under "C" under the "Stories" heading. I hope you enjoy the site!

http://www.sniplits.com

Malice Domestic XX Report--Part Two

The New Author's Breakfast was at 7:15 am Saturday morning, and I was there to support my fellow new Guppies and Five Star authors and listen to their pitches. It was nice not to have a give my own speech, since I'd done it last year--just as it was nice not to have to go through the unnerving Malice-Go-Round pitch session the day before. I sat in on the "Simply the Best" panel of nominees for the Best Novel category of the Agatha Award, then came my own panel of Best First Novel nominees, "New Kids on the Block." (See the first photo above.) Our moderator, Margaret Maron, obviously took a great deal of care to prepare for the panel. She made us all look so good! Then came my signing and the chance to talk to fans and sign their books What fun! I'm still new enough at this that I LOVE talking to people who have read and enjoyed my book.

Next was lunch with thirty-some Guppies at the Sbarro's restaurant in the Crystal City Underground. Lots of photos were snapped and stories were swapped. The afternoon was spent listening to the Ink in their Blood panel about reporter protagonists, chatting in the hallways, and listening to Robert Barnard's delightful interview with Lindsey Davis. I hadn't read any of her books before, but I'm definitely checking out the Falco series now! Fellow Five Star author Maria Hudgins let me change into my party dress in her room, then it was off to the banquet.

A crowd of paparazzi mobbed the four Guppies nominees and must have taken dozens of photos (see the second photo above). ;-) Poor Deb Baker. She gave all of us sitting at her table small dolls as favors, reminding us of her doll collecting series. One poor dolly ended up dangling by a ribbon noose from the table number sign. Demises of the others via water-glass-drowning, candle-burning and other nefarious means were discussed, but not executed. ;-) The anniversary speeches were all entertaining, but there were so many of them that by the time the Agatha Awards were announced, I was stifling yawns, not from boredom, but from sleep deprivation kicking in. I was glad to head back to my friends' home right afterward, pack up, and roll into bed.

Sunday kicked off with the Sisters in Crime breakfast at 7:30 am, followed by the Agatha Christie's Legacy panel where Denise Swanson kept the audience in stitches, some hallway chatting time, the Women Who Sleuth Too Much panel, and Robert Barnard's interview with Peter Lovesey. All too soon, it was time for the final tea. I had to quickly gobble down some food--making sure I got my chocolate covered strawberry and chocolate mousse in a teacup-shaped dark chocolate shell. Yum! Then I had to dash off to the airport, but I did get to see Liz Zelvin's lovely hat featuring a bobblehead figure of Edgar Allan Poe, a bat, and a red rose, that won the "Most Creative Hat" award in the hat contest. And, on the two plane rides and long layover in Chicago, I polished off Hank's PRIME TIME. A lovely way to end a lovely weekend!

Malice Domestic XX Report

The 2008 Malice Domestic conference was a special one for me, not just because it was the twentieth anniversary, but also because I was an Agatha Award nominee for Best First Novel. So, I basked in the glow of congratulations and praise until the end of the Saturday banquet. Then, when Hank Phillippi Ryan won, I could celebrate that a fellow Sisters in Crime Guppies chapter member had won--and I didn't have to give a speech. :-) I came home with some Guppies books: Hank's PRIME TIME and FACE TIME, both autographed, Liz Zelvin's DEATH WILL GET YOU SOBER, signed of course (Liz was my Malice-Go-Round pitch mate last year), and the MURDER NEW YORK STYLE anthology with signatures from five Guppies whose stories were included in the volume, including Liz's and Nan Higginson's Agatha Award-nominated stories. I'm looking forward to reading them all, and I expect that anthology to become a collector's item as the authors become big-name mystery authors!

To save money on this trip, I used frequent flyer miles, which meant connecting through Chicago's O'Hare airport versus flying direct, and I stayed at the home of friends in Arlington, VA. They received many of my conference bag books as a hostess gift. All four of my flights were delayed, resulting in me arriving at my friends' home at midnight on Friday and arriving at my home in Colorado Springs at midnight on Sunday. Thank goodness I didn't turn into a pumpkin either time! But, my butt was sure dragging yesterday.

I did get up in time on Friday to breakfast with some Mystery Babes at 8:30 am, and finally got to meet Pari Noskin Taichert in person after corresponding via email for years. I'd missed her at LCC the month before because she'd been sick and in her room a lot of the time. Then came the chores of registering, dropping off my silent auction gift basket, checking in consignment books with Tom & Enid Schantz of Rue Morgue (good thing, too, because they sold ten of them!), signing myself and my two escorts (fellow Five Star authors Mike Befeler and Michael Allen Mallory) up to sit at Deb Baker's banquet table, etc. After a quick granola bar and cup of tea lunch, I went off to the Sisters in Crime chapter training session from 1-3 pm. Being the only board member (I'm secretary) from the Rocky Mountain chapter in attendance, I was directed to take good notes. The session was very informative and lively, and I found it to be immensely useful. Plus, I got to meet chapter board members from all over the USA!

After resting with my feet up a bit and looking out for DorothyL and 4MA members, I headed for the Opening Ceremonies, where I received my suitable-for-framing nominee certificate. After a dinner of munchies from the reception, five of us Five Star authors headed to the Clarendon Barnes & Noble Booksellers store for a Malice Domestic conference kick-off signing (see photo above). We have a tale to tell about getting lost and finding every screwy and confusing street and intersection on the "short 8-minute drive" from the hotel to the store. We made it in the nick of time and quickly set up to start talking to customers. Too tired after that to stay awake for the Murder On the Air program, I returned to my friends' home to chat with them briefly then collapse on my bed. I was their "mystery guest" because I left every morning before they got up and returned late at night. I'll talk about Saturday and Sunday in my next post.

Top Ten Rules for Networking as a Writer blog

Well, I've resisted setting up my own MySpace page so far, but I did guest blog Monday on the Murder in the Grove conference blog on MySpace. My entry was about how to network at conferences such as Murder in the Grove to get the most out of them. I hope those who check it out find it to be useful:

http://www.myspace.com/murderinthegrove

Home Alone

My husband has been helping a friend move his brand-new cruiser from the boatyard in Key West, FL to it's new home in Annapolis, MD for the past two and a half weeks. And my son left yesterday for a 3-day Future Business Leaders of America state competition. That left me and the dog home alone for 3 days. I've been using the time to catch up on a number of writing tasks, such as updating my blog with this entry, awarding a prize in my email newsletter contest, making a list of website updates for when my husband/website-guru returns, preparing for the Malice Domestic conference, and jotting thoughts about scenes in my evolving outline for my next mystery.

My dog is darn bored! She just left my writing office with a snort of disgust. I did take her out in the yard yesterday while I spread mulch and we'll go for a walk tomorrow, but I'm not very good company now--mostly sitting at the computer all day and reading Agatha Award nominee books at night. My husband gets home Wednesday evening from his travels, and I leave Thursday morning for Malice. We'll be like ships passing in the night!

Beth Groundwater made me burn my dinner

This was the subject line on a recent message to the Sisters in Crime "Guppies" email loop. The message text is below:

"If you're looking for an example of a killer opening, I thought I'd share that Beth Groundwater's first chapter made me forget that I was cooking dinner tonight. True, I almost always have a book in my hand, much to my partner's chagrin, but I don't usually forget when it's my turn to cook ;)

As I begin to query agents I'm still questioning my opening scene, and always hear the advice "start at the last possible moment where your book can possibly begin." I think Beth's opening achieves this wonderfully. I haven't gotten too far in the book yet, so you better not disappoint me, Beth! "

There's nothing an author likes hearing better than "you kept me up at night" unless it's "you made me burn my dinner"! Thanks for the praise, fellow Guppy, and I hope I can return the favor when YOUR novel is published someday soon.

Article for Authors about Speaking at Libraries

The Colorado Independent Publishers Association just published an article by me in their April, 2008 Signature newsletter about "Authors, Speak at Colorado Libraries!". For those of you who are published authors, you may find it useful reading for your own promotion efforts to libraries in your state. To read the article, go to:

http://cipabooks.com/archives/2007-2008/April%20Sign.web.pdf

Upcoming "Meet the Faces Behind the Books" Program

As promised, I said I'd post a note about the second library event that I'll be participating in this weekend. The Englewood Public Library will host its 9th Annual Author Open House on Sunday, April 13 from 1 to 3 pm. The open house, dubbed "Meet the Faces Behind the Book," will feature over 50 Colorado authors this year.

Sunday, April 13 • 1-3 pm
Englewood Public Library, 1000 Englewood Parkway, Englewood, CO

Books by the featured authors will be available for purchase at the Library during the open house. Musical entertainment will be provided by harpist Susie Spangler. The event is free and open to the public. This looks like it'll be a lot of fun!

Participating authors include:

* Dave Auburn, The Adventures of Teddy the Curious Pelican
* CJ Backus, We Just Did
* Mike Befeler, Retirement Homes Are Murder
* Linda Berry, Death and the Family Tree
* Michael Booth, Guide to Best Family Films
* Ann Brandt, A Caregiver's Story
* Carolyn Brink, Class Acts
* Judy & Randy Brown, Faces in the Rocks
* Eugene Buchanan, Brothers on the Bashkaus
* Sharon Catlett, Farmlands, Forts and Country Life
* Richard Chapman, God Bless America
* Pat Covalt, What Smart Couples Know
* Michelle Dally, A Highly Placed Source
* Donna DeNomme, Turtle Wisdom
* John Dicke, Proof Evident
* Brad Edwards, Unearthing the Battle of Milk Creek
* Debra Fine, The Fine Art of the Big Talk
* Donna Gallup, Rock of Refuge
* Robert Greer, Mongoose Deception
* Beth Groundwater, A Real Basket Case
* Warren Hammond, Kop
* Lynda Hilburn, The Vampire Shrink
* Christine Jorgensen, Calling for a Funeral
* Mary Beth Lagerborg, Dwelling: Living Fully from the Space You Call Home
* Janet Lane, Tabor's Trinket
* Sharon Mann, Mother of Exiles
* Claudia McAdam, Maria's Mysterious Mission
* Carol McIntyre, Painting My Passion
* Tamra Monahan, Colorado's Best Bed and Breakfasts
* Icats Nitram, Willow May Goes to the Midnight Carnival
* Marjorie Parker, Mama’s Little Ducking
* Bruce Paton, Adventuring with Boldness
* Julie Pech, The Chocolate Therapist
* David Perry, It Happened in Rocky Mountain National Park
* Phyllis Perry, The Secrets of the Sea Chest
* Joey Porcelli, Take 30: the First Three Decades of the Denver International Film Festival
* Laura Resau, Red Glass
* Robert Root, The Non-fictionist's Guide: On Reading and Writing Creative Non-fiction
* Rebecca Rowe, Forbidden Cargo
* Sandra Sanchez, Three Novellas
* Linda Sandoval, Names I Call My Sister
* Mary Saracino, The Singing of Swans
* Adam Schrager, The Principled Politician
* Craig Sodaro, Make It Mystery An Anthology of Short Mystery Plays
* Irv Sternberg, No Laughing Matter
* Mark Stevens, Antler Dust
* Patricia Stoltey, The Prairie Grass Murders
* Jessica Swaim, The Hound from the Pound
* Carol Tombari, Power of the People
* Guillermo (Bill) Vidal, Boxing for Cuba
* Eva Watt, Papa's Girl
* Mimi Wilson, Once-a-Month Cooking
* Elizabeth & Eric Zimmer, The Turtle and the Deep Blue Sky

Upcoming Mountain of Authors Program

I'm excited about two library programs that I will be participating in this weekend. I'll talk about the first one in this posting and the second in my next posting. On Saturday, the Pikes Peak Library District will host its 2nd annual regional authors’ event, "Mountain of Authors" to showcase authors of the Pikes Peak region, and offer presentations about writing and publishing.

The free program will be held from 10 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., Saturday, April 12 at the East Library, 5550 N. Union Blvd, Colorado Springs, CO. No registration is required. This event will inspire new and established writers, and offer book fans a chance to meet and discuss their favorite titles with local authors. Panel discussions will be offered by nonfiction, fiction, children’s and teen authors. A free lunch and booksigning will also be held at the event.

Program Schedule
10 - 11 a.m. Nonfiction Author Panel (moderated by Tim Blevins)
Beth Barrett, Marcia Ford, Karen Scalf Linamen, John Stansfield

11:15 a.m. -12:15 p.m. Fiction Author Panel (moderated by Kirk Farber)
Kevin Anderson, Kacy Barnett-Gramckow, Beth Groundwater, Rebecca Moesta, Robert Spiller

12:15 -1:30 p.m. Lunch (food will be provided)

1:30 - 2:30 p.m. Children’s/Teen Author Panel (moderated by Karin Huxman)
Mary Peace Finley, Donita Paul, Katherine Pebley O’Neal

2:30 - 3:30 p.m. Author Showcase: meet authors from the Pikes Peak region, and purchase your favorite author’s books. Showcase authors include Deb Stover and Kathy Brandt.

The Pikes Peak Poet Laureate cocktail reception will follow the program. Hey, a free day with free food and lots of authors, what could be better!

Local Newspaper Coverage, Part Two

The Colorado Springs Gazette newspaper article about me and my Agatha Award nomination appeared in their Life section today as the lead feature. Even though I'm biased, I felt the writeup was very well done. Check it out at:

http://www.gazette.com/articles/achievement_35013___article.html/mystery_.html

Local Newspaper Coverage

My Agatha Award nomination for Best First Novel has garnered some attention from local newspapers after my publisher sent out press releases. Patti Thorn gave me a mention in her March 19th Books column in the Rocky Mountain News, which is quoted below:

"Kudos are in order for two local authors recently notified of prestigious honors:

* Gary Schanbacher, author of the widely praised story collection Migration Patterns, from Fulcrum, has received an honorable mention in this year's Hemingway Foundation/PEN awards. Rocky critic Joan Hinkemeyer wrote of Migration: "Schanbacher's unflinching prose is also lyrical. With the accuracy of a laser, it lays bare the deepest emotions of the human heart."

* Beth Groundwater's mystery, A Real Basket Case, has been nominated for best first novel for the Agatha Awards. If she wins, she'll be in the company of prestigious past winners including Nevada Barr and Elizabeth George. Winners will be announced April 26.

---
Also, the Colorado Springs newspaper, the Gazette, will be running a feature article on me and the Agatha nomination in their Life section on Monday, April 7th. A photographer came out to the house to take my photo and I met with feature writer Bill Reed this Monday. I gave him waaay more information than he needs for an article, so I'm curious what he decides to write about.

A Ski Vacation Reward for Compiling Tax Info

Happy Easter to those of you who celebrate it! We had our traditional colored eggs and hot cross buns for breakfast. After church, I'm off to Breckenridge, CO with the family to go skiing for a week over my son's Spring Break from school. This trip is a great reward for the grunt work I've been doing the past week compiling all my expenses and income for my writing business over the the past week. I definitely lost money again last year, and my hope is that this year, with plans to only attend one conference (so far), I'll make a small profit. I've got to show one sometime! My two and a half page mileage log may be my biggest expense last year. I put over 6,000 miles on my car going to and from various writing meetings, signings, and conferences.

Social Networking Website Contacts

This week, I had two contacts with social networking websites. The first was a meeting with the Second Life Writers Group on Athena Isle (to navigate to the location, go to: http://slurl.com/secondlife/Second%20Shores/51/50/23 ) in Second Life ( http://secondlife.com/ ), a 3-D virtual world. Cybergrrl Oh set up the event, created my avatar for me, and helped me learn the ropes—including teleporting me back to the conference table after I walked my avatar off the edge of the floor and plummeted three floors to the ground. :-) I’m glad that little maneuver happened before the participants showed up!

The meeting was a lively chat about how to get the most out of writing conferences, and boy, were my typing fingers sore by the end of the hour. The first photo is of my avatar (in the yellow skirt) chatting with Cybergrrl Oh about how to get up to the third tier of the clubhouse prior to the meeting. The second photo was taken during the meeting while my typing fingers were flying. To read a transcript of the whole meeting, go to: http://slwritersclub.blogspot.com/ .

The second contact was an telephone interview with CommunityGal from the Eons social networking website ( http://www.eons.com/ ). We discussed my Top Ten Rules for Networking as a Writer and my writing career. CommunityGal will transcribe the interview and post it on the site in the next week or two. If you’re an Eons member, my Eons name is AuthorBeth and I’m an active participant in a number of groups. Send me a friend request! I’m also a member of the Facebook, Crimespace, and GoodReads social networks, so if you’re involved with any of those, look up my name and send me a friend request there, too.

Left Coast Crime Hawaiian Costume

Here I am in my mu'umu'u for the Hawaiian costume contest at the Left Coast Crime banquet. I had crepe paper tropical fish and parrots hanging from my shawl and carried a crepe paper tropical drink. Thanks to Catherine Leonard Dilts for the photo!

Left Coast Crime Report - Part 2

Friday, after giving my spiel at the New Author Breakfast, I spent most of the morning setting up the RMSinC hospitality suite and serving my 11 AM - 1 PM shift. I did catch the "Killing with Kindness: Traditional Mysteries" panel with fellow Five Star author, Barbara Graham. After a quick, much-needed nap, I caught Mike Befeler's group in the "Endless Conversation" room, then did my stint with my "Three Men and a Babe" group, including Steve Hockensmith, Mike Sherer, and Roger Sobin. Because of Roger's THE ESSENTIAL MYSTERY LISTS book, we ended up talking a lot about the different awards and how they are determined. I said I hope the book goes into many future editions, so I'll be included for my Agatha Award nomination!

After helping to break-down the hospitality suite for the day, I joined R.T. Lawton at his table in the Tower Exhibit Area where he was fielding calls from teams of cougars in his Surveillance Workshop who had lost their rabbits and wanted to know where to find them. I could commiserate because I'd been a cougar myself during a past version of R.T.'s workshop. The debrief from the teams of cougars and the wily rabbits during the MWA cocktail party was a howl--especially rabbit Twist Phelan's story about being accused of shoplifting when she was changing clothes to escape her cougar team. After socializing at the cocktail party, a wall of fatigue smacked me in the face, so I crawled into bed with a book and fell asleep early.

Good thing, because Saturday was a full day! I met with the panel I was moderating over breakfast, set up the hospitality suite, then sprinted to my 8:30 AM panel, "What's age got to do with it?" with Mike Befeler, Parnell Hall, Patricia Stoltey, and Simon Woods. Any panel with Parnell has got to be fun, and this was no exception, but I think the rest of us held our own and threw out some of our own zingers. After my signing time slot, I chatted with Roberta Isleib and Donna Andrews from the National SinC board about the new SinC Books in Print policy and how chapters might communicate better with each other and national. I found them to be very receptive to ideas and I enjoyed the time I spent with them. Then I caught the "What's not to like?" panel with Gwen Shuster-Haynes, JoAnna Carl, Carolyn Hart, Nancy Pickard, and Elaine Viets, and found nothing to dislike about it.

Saturday lunch was a stroll down the 16th Street Mall with Pat S. and Barbara G., and a quick stop for take-out salads to take back with us. Then I sat in on the "Murder on the Rocks" panel with Louise Ure, Sandy Ault, Kathy Brandt, Mark Cohen, and Vicki Delany for a fascinating discussion about the use of setting in mysteries. I hung out in the hospitality suite for awhile, then boxed up the leftovers and a bellman carted them to my room. After a quick-change into my Hawaiian costume, I sprinted for the Grand Ballroom so I'd make it in time for the contest. I was thrilled to be selected as one of the three finalists, along with Tiffany, with whom I was having a private challenge. She ultimately won, having the figure to pull off a coconut bra and grass skirt outfit complete with a monkey pirate on her back. She also had the marketing department at Five Star helping with her costume, which I might claim is an unfair advantage. :) At the banquet, I sat with my critique buddy Bob Spiller and had a very interesting conversation with a reader on my other side, with whom I shared a number of past experiences and interests. The food was wonderful, the auction was entertaining but long, and the speeches were mercifully short. For a list of the award winners, go to www.therapsheet.blogspot.com .

Sunday morning, I enticed breakfast participants to come to my 8:30 morning panel with offers of free leftover chocolates from the hospitality suite. I moderated Ellen Crosby, Michael Allen Dymmoch, and Margaret Tessler in the "Beyond Agatha Christie: Movements in the Traditional Mystery" panel, a wonderful group of interesting women. After that was a flurry of checking out, saying goodbyes, collecting unsold books, carting stuff to the car, meeting up with Jan, and driving home to Colorado Springs. Thank goodness Jan was along to keep me awake! Now I've got enough tea and popcorn in my garage for at least two years of RMSinC chapter meetings. Anyone want to join us?

Many, many thanks and congratulations to conference chairs Christine Goff and Suzanne Proulx and their hard-working team of volunteers for putting on a really good show!