Today's Mystery Author Guest: Maegan Beaumont

As promised yesterday, fellow Midnight Ink mystery author Maegan Beaumont is visiting my blog today. To read her bio and see her photo, please page down to yesterday's post. The cover art above is from her May release, Carved in Darkness, the first in her Sabrina Vaughn mystery series.

Fifteen years prior to the start of the book, a psychotic killer abducted seventeen-year-old Melissa Walker. For 83 days she was raped, tortured, and then left for dead in a deserted churchyard . . . but she was still alive. Melissa begins a new life as homicide inspector Sabrina Vaughn. With a new face and a new name, it’s her job to hunt down murderers—a job she does very well.

But when Michael O’Shea, a childhood acquaintance with a suspicious past, suddenly finds her, he brings to life the nightmare Sabrina has long since buried. Believing his sister was recently murdered by the same monster who attacked Sabrina, Michael is dead set on getting his revenge—using Sabrina as bait.

Sounds like a very chilling read! Below are Maegan's answers to my interview questions. Please leave a comment, and if you have a question of your own for her, ask it!

1. Who or what inspired you to start writing and when did you start?

I fell in love with books at a young age and I’ve always had a very rich imagination… for as long as I can remember my mind has been constantly moving and creating scenarios about just about everything I see and do. It gets a bit noisy in there sometimes, so I think writing is a way for me to quiet the voices and keep myself sane.

2. What tools and process do you use to “get to know” your characters before and while you’re writing the books?

I give them a full life—even if I don’t put it in my story or even write it down. I give them a childhood and adolescence… I “watch” them grow up and develop into adults. This helps me know them as real people so gauging their behavior and reactions to story development becomes second nature.

3. How do you construct your plots? Do you outline or do you write “by the seat of your pants”?

I use a 20-30 word outline that highlights my major plot points in the novel, but from there I just… write. There are times when I’m not quite sure where it’s all gonna go, but then I have that light bulb moment that gives me the piece that fits the puzzle perfectly. Those are my favorite writing moments—when your plot is working and things are coming together in amazing and unexpected ways.

4. In the age-old question of character versus plot, which one do you think is most important in a murder mystery and which one do you emphasize in your writing? Why?

In a murder mystery—plot wins, in my opinion. Characters are sooo important, because if your reader doesn’t like or care for them, then none of it really matters anyway, but for me, as a reader, nothing stinks more than a lame plot that leaks like a sieve or insults my intelligence. That tells me the writer doesn’t care or thinks I’m too stupid to know any better. I hate being treated like I’m stupid.

5. What is the biggest challenge you’ve faced as a writer and what inspires you and keeps you motivated?

Time. There is never enough time to write as much as I want, be a good mother, a wife who is present and accounted for, to be a caring friend who listens, to hit the gym and cook balanced meals and be on time when picking up my kids from school. I’m the type of person who hates to fail. When I stumble, I feel failure nipping at my heels…

As for what keeps me motivated… this will probably sound strange, but I never felt like I had much of a choice where writing is concerned. I have to write. Which usually means that I’m not as present in my life as I’d like to be. I’m late picking up the kids. I skip the gym more than I should. I bail on lunches with my girlfriends and disappear into my office for what feels like days… my middle son is currently building a time machine in his closet—I have every intention of giving it a try when it’s ready for human testing.

6. What is a typical workday for you and how many hours a day (or week) do you devote to writing?

On a typical day I’m up by 6:30am. I make lunches and get my kids to school by 8am. After that, I come home and have breakfast and am in my office by 9am. I spend about an hour or so answering and writing emails, updating blogs, Goodreads and Facebook (important stuff!) and working on stuff for my critique group. About 10-10:30am, I start writing.

I usually go over the stuff I wrote the day before and make edits and changes that occurred to me during my down time (sometimes I read something that I’ve written and it doesn’t sound right or I thought of something I like better…) and I incorporate them. I usually write until about 2-2:30pm, and then I close up shop and go get my kids from school by 3pm (if I remember to keep an eye on the clock). I don’t write when the kids are home because it turns me into a raving lunatic, so my evenings are devoted to being present and accounted for… this is what I shoot for when I’m alone at home. My husband is home a few days during the week and when he’s here, I try to spend time with him.

7. What advice do you have to offer to an aspiring author?

Don’t be afraid. To try. To fail. To dream. To learn. To grow. To let go. To move on…  life is too short to be wasted on fear.

8. Tell us more about Carved in Darkness and its protagonist, Sabrina Vaughn.

Carved in Darkness is about a young woman who is kidnapped and brutalized before being left for dead by her attacker. She survives, but her time in captivity drastically alters who she was meant to be. She learns to adapt and even thrive but suffers from PTSD and a myriad of other issues because of her ordeal. As the story unfolds, we see our protagonist struggle to come to grips with her past and by doing so, realize that the only way to truly be free is to find the man who abducted her before he can find her.

9. Where did this story idea come from?

It’s sort of a strange story… I was in my early 20s, stopped at a red light next to a beat-up old station wagon. Behind the wheel was probably the most beautiful girl I’d ever seen. She was young, maybe seventeen or eighteen and with her were two kids—maybe five or six—and they were obviously twins. They all looked so… sad and maybe a bit scared. I stared for a few seconds before the light turned green and she puttered off, the kids' faces still visible behind the grimy glass of that station wagon. I couldn’t stop thinking about any of them. Who were they? Where were they going? Where had they come from? Why did they look so sad and scared? The story kept building and changing in my head for years until I finally realized it wasn’t going to go away until I wrote it down.

10. Are there any characteristics that you share with your protagonist?

I’d like to believe that I’m not as damaged as Sabrina but we both sport a pretty tough exterior in order to protect a super soft underbelly.We’re both willing to do whatever it takes to protect and take care of the ones we love, we respect our elders and we’re both smartasses.

11. What are you working on now and what are your future writing plans?

I’ve got quite a bit going on right now… My debut novel, Carved in Darkness, is set for release next month through Midnight Ink (May, 8th) and I’m currently working on its sequel. I’m also working on a related novel based on secondary characters from this series as well as an unrelated crime thriller set in south Boston.

12. Now here’s a zinger. Tell us something about yourself that you have not revealed in another interview yet. Something as simple as your favorite TV show or food will do.

I have a thing for cheesy television shows. Xena: Warrior Princess was a personal favorite and if it was still on, I’d probably still watch it. There—I said it.

13. Is there anything else you would like to tell my blog readers?

Sure. I have a write a weekly blog dedicated to helping fellow writers with plot problems (plotting is kinda my thing) and other writing questions. I also have a website that offers a list of my author events and appearances… and of course I’m always happy to speak with book clubs about my book as well as critique groups and conferences about the writing process. A few months ago I did a Skype appearance for a writing class held by The New York Writers’ Workshop. That was a first for me and I found it both fun and exciting. I’d also like to say, thanks for reading!


Thanks, Maegan! Now, who has a comment or question for Maegan?

Tomorrow's Guest: Maegan Beaumont

Tomorrow, fellow Midnight Ink mystery author Maegan Beaumont will guest on my blog. She is the author of Carved In Darkness, the first book in the Sabrina Vaughn thriller series (available from Midnight Ink, your local bookstore, or various on-line retailers in May, 2013). A native Phoenician, Maegan’s stories are meant to make you wonder what the guy standing in front of you in the Starbucks line has locked in his basement, and feel a strong desire to sleep with the light on. When she isn’t busy fulfilling her duties as Domestic Goddess for her high school sweetheart turned husband, Joe, and their four children, she is locked in her office with her computer, her coffee pot and her Rhodesian Ridgeback, and one true love, Jade.

In her guest post tomorrow, Maegan answers my interview questions, and I'm sure you'll be intrigued by the answers. Then, please make a comment or ask a question of your own in the comments!

Colorado River is America's Most Endangered River

American Rivers recently designated the Colorado River as America's Most Endangered River of 2013. Please help protect it by taking action at their website! Also, watch the beautiful and disturbing video about the river on their home page. The Colorado River is so over subscribed with water rights that its waters have not reached the sea for many years (and Mexico has not received its fair share of the river's water for even longer!).

I've been an American Rivers supporter for many, many years, long before I started writing the RM Outdoor Adventure series featuring whitewater river ranger Mandy Tanner. I highly recommend supporting this conservation organization and their fight to preserve the Colorado River. The photo below of a rapid in Cataract Canyon in Utah was taken by my husband when we were on our research trip on the Colorado River for my upcoming mystery release, Fatal Descent.

Today's Mystery Author Guest: Suzanne Adair

As promised yesterday, fellow mystery author Suzanne Adair is visiting my blog today. To read her bio and see her photo, please page down to yesterday's post. Also, Suzanne is running a contest for a free autographed copy of her latest release, A Hostage to Heritage, the cover art for which appears above. Suzanne will select the winner tomorrow evening from among those who leave a comment today or tomorrow.

It is Spring, 1781, in the book. The American Revolution enters its seventh grueling year. In Wilmington, North Carolina, redcoat investigator Lieutenant Michael Stoddard expects to round up two miscreants before Lord Cornwallis's army arrives for supplies. But his quarries' trail crosses with that of a criminal who has abducted a high-profile English heir. Michael's efforts to track down the boy plunge him into a twilight of terror from radical insurrectionists, whiskey smugglers, and snarled secrets out of his own past in Yorkshire.

 
Sounds like a gripping read to me! Below are Suzanne's answers to my interview questions. Please leave a comment, and if you have a question of your own for Suzanne, ask it!

1. Who or what inspired you to start writing and when did you start?

In second grade, I experienced my first hurricane. The fury of nature made quite an impression on me. About a month later, I contracted the mumps and was quarantined at home for a week or so. I didn’t feel sick, and I quickly ran out of books to read and things to do. Then I got my hands on a pencil and some paper. The combination of being extremely bored and having something to write about was all the permission my imagination needed to launch my writing career.

2. What tools and process do you use to “get to know” your characters before and while you’re writing the books?

A Hostage to Heritage is the fifth book I’ve set in the Southern theater of the Revolutionary War. There’s a core group of characters involved in this series, and I’ve known some of them for almost fifteen years. When I start a new book, I forge ahead, write the characters, and let them surprise me.

I trust my characters to guide me. If they refuse to move the story along, I talk to them. Snags most often occur because I’ve tried to force the character do something out-of-character to serve the plot. So I go back and rewrite.

3. How do you construct your plots? Do you outline or do you write “by the seat of your pants”?

I do a combination of outlining and writing by the seat of my pants. Before I begin a first draft, I know how and where the book should end as well as several plot milestones in the middle that I must reach. After I turn my characters loose to develop, I depend upon them to help me hit those milestones, but the manner in which the milestones are hit is often unpredictable at the beginning of the first draft. That’s why I’m glad I can trust my characters.

4. In the age-old question of character versus plot, which one do you think is most important in a murder mystery and which one do you emphasize in your writing? Why?

In the Michael Stoddard thriller series, I emphasize character growth across the story arc of each book as well as in the arc of the series. If Michael didn’t grow, there would be no arc. His growth influences the direction the plot takes. 

5. What is the biggest challenge you’ve faced as a writer and what inspires you and keeps you motivated?

My biggest challenge is that I don’t write fiction that has a contemporary setting. In 21st-century America, we're out of touch with the hardships our ancestors endured to stay alive. To write effective fiction, I must bridge that gap.

The wrong way to write characters for stories set during the Revolutionary War would be to dress 21st-century people in 18th-century clothing. Georgian-era people lived in a different culture, and that gave rise to different priorities, logical processes, values, and so forth.

What gave me a leg up into understanding an 18th-century America that didn’t have electricity, antibiotics, or overly prudish attitudes was becoming a Revolutionary War reenactor. Especially since my family and I reenact on the Crown forces side. The lessons I've learned from reenacting inform the crafting of my fictional world.

My sons have been a great source of motivation for me. Also readers, they have contacted me to tell me how much they’ve learned by reading my books. Sometimes they thank me for helping them escape into a historical world for a few hours.

I haven’t quite figured out how to modify this experience for my upcoming science fiction, set in the 24th century. :-)

6. What advice do you have to offer to an aspiring author?

Read across fiction genres as well as non-fiction. Don’t let anything stop you from writing or learning. Build a team that will give you writing support when you’re down. Persevere. Strive to improve your craft. Do the research. And whenever possible, visit places that you write about to acquaint your senses with the settings.

7. Now here’s a zinger. Tell us something about yourself that you have not revealed in another interview yet. Something as simple as your favorite TV show or food will do.

The arch-villain of the Michael Stoddard series, Dunstan Fairfax, got his surname because I kept seeing the name “Fairfax” used in 19th-century English literature like Brontë novels, and Fairfax had the ring of a quintessential English name. However the surname is more common than I first realized, and it gives me a second’s pause whenever I’m introduced to a perfectly nice, non-psychopathic person with the last name of “Fairfax.” I also wonder whether I’ve irked everyone in a certain county in Virginia.

 8. What are you working on now and what are your future writing plans?

The second Michael Stoddard thriller, A Hostage to Heritage, was just released. After that, more Michael Stoddard, of course. And I’m hoping to release the first book of my science fiction series this fall or next spring. Yes, I experience some time-travel whiplash when I switch series.

9. Is there anything else you would like to tell my blog readers?

I love talking with book club members! In fact, tonight I’m Skyping in on the monthly book club meeting of the Stamp Defiance chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution. They’ve been reading Regulated for Murder, the first Michael Stoddard thriller, and they’re delighted that the next book in the series will be available soon.

Please visit me at my blog, my quarterly electronic newsletter, my website, my Facebook page, or my Twitter account.

Thanks for the interview, Beth!


 Thanks, Suzanne! Now, who has a comment or question for Suzanne Adair? Good luck in the contest!    

Tomorrow's Guest: Suzanne Adair

Tomorrow, fellow mystery author Suzanne Adair will guest on my blog. Also, Suzanne will run a contest for a free autographed copy of her latest release, A Hostage to Heritage.  She will choose the winner from among those who leave a comment.

Award-winning novelist Suzanne Adair is a Florida native who lives in a two hundred-year-old city at the edge of the North Carolina Piedmont, named for an English explorer who was beheaded. Her suspense and thrillers transport readers to the Southern theater of the Revolutionary War, where she brings historic towns, battles, and people to life. She fuels her creativity with Revolutionary War reenacting and visits to historic sites. When she’s not writing, she enjoys cooking, dancing, hiking, and spending time with her family. A Hostage to Heritage, her next Michael Stoddard American Revolution thriller, was released April 2013.

In her guest post tomorrow, Suzanne answers my interview questions, and I'm sure you'll be intrigued by the answers. Then, please make a comment or ask a question in the comments, and good luck in the contest!

Visiting with Doug Danielson

I interviewed fellow mystery author Doug Danielson on my blog yesterday (see below). Today we're turning the tables, and he is interviewing me on his blog today. Please stop by to see what he managed to make me say about myself! And, I'd love to get some comments and questions from my readers there.

Today's Mystery Author Guest: Doug Danielson

As promised yesterday, fellow mystery author Doug Danielson is visiting my blog today. To read his bio and see his photo, please page down to yesterday's post. The cover art above is from his latest release, Sea-duction, the second in his Jake Mortensen mystery series.

In the book, Jake Mortensen's best friend is threatened by a mysterious assassin—someone who may have served with him during the Vietnam War—and now he’s scared and can’t remember who might want him dead. Next, Jake’s boss wants him to look into the disappearance of a friend’s beautiful daughter. She has been missing for over a month and may be mixed up with dangerous blackmailers posing as an entertainment group called the Hedonist Society.

To make matters worse, Jake is on the outs with his exotic Chinese-American girlfriend. Her paranoia is destroying their relationship. And at the ocean, the waves are enormous—monster surf—with an undercurrent that can kill you, if you let it. It’s almost too much for a young man to endure, and there isn’t enough Pepto-Bismol in all of San Diego to calm Jake’s queasy stomach.

Sounds like Jake's sailing into dangerous waters to me! Below are Doug's answers to my interview questions. Please leave a comment, and if you have a question of your own for Doug, ask it!

1. Who or what inspired you to start writing and when did you start?

I guess I’ve been writing all my life in one form or another—journaling, keeping a ship’s log of my travels. I was in a hurricane in 1997, bringing a boat down the outside of the Baja Peninsula; had to put the vessel on the beach in Turtle Bay to save it. Kitty James, then editor of Santana Magazine, asked me to write the story, I did, she liked it, decided to publish it, and my nautical free-lancing and writing career was launched.

2. What tools and process do you use to “get to know” your characters before and while you’re writing the books?

I interview them. Sure I have a “cheat sheet” to refer back to for a complete description of who they are, history, likes and dislikes—but interviewing them puts me in a different frame of mind. I learn what they are thinking NOW, Here is an EXAMPLE.

3. How do you construct your plots? Do you outline or do you write “by the seat of your pants”? 

I’m an outliner. I have to know where the main plot and sub plots are going—the story arc, how it all fits together, Of course the characters take on a life of their own as I’m writing. When that happens, I go back and modify the outline to be true to the story—but my original story plan stays the same. 

4. In the age-old question of character versus plot, which one do you think is most important in a murder mystery and which one do you emphasize in your writing? Why?

Both! I don’t think it is possible to tell a good story without a good plot supported by interesting characters to flesh out tension, reveal human motivation, character flaws/strengths and fears.

5. What is the biggest challenge you’ve faced as a writer and what inspires you and keeps you motivated?

Finding time to write. My life is so interesting. At 73, I want to continue to take it all in; not just be a voyeur. (It is the best materiel I can use as a resource for my writing—all the unique people and places and situations.) 

6. What is a typical workday for you and how many hours a day (or week) do you devote to writing?

Every day is devoted to some form of reading or writing. Being on the water as a yacht delivery captain, I get a lot of time to think and jot down notes to myself. The laptop doesn’t always work and I’m isolated from the Internet at times; but that is good. Sometimes the best ideas come on the late watch, with only the light of the stars and noises from the sea for inspiration.

7. What advice do you have to offer to an aspiring author?

If you really want it—keep after it. Continually try to improve your craft. For me it was writing short stories or feature articles, and getting comments back from good editors. The turn-around time was much quicker than writing a novel, and I was able to cover a lot of ground quickly. I still like to write the short stuff; it keeps my writing tight. 

8. Now here’s a zinger. Tell us something about yourself that you have not revealed in another interview yet. Something as simple as your favorite TV show or food will do.

I was a “greaser” in high school. Worked at an auto parts store and raced a ’40 Buick coupe in I-Stock on Sundays. Air-brushed hot rods on t-shirts to make extra money at the car shows and feed my racing habit.

9. What are you working on now and what are your future writing plans?

I'm trying to finish two more manuscripts in the Jake Mortensen series and some more non-fiction projects/articles about boating in Mexico and Latin America. 

10. Is there anything else you would like to tell my blog readers?

Sure. Thanks for this opportunity to visit your blog, Beth. You may not know it, but you are a great inspiration to writers like me. Thank you for the way you encourage other writers and give them the tools to become better. I encourage your blog readers to please check out my blog and website.


Thanks, Doug! Now, who has a comment or question for Doug Danielson?And please make a note of Doug's blog location. We'll turn the tables and he'll interview me there tomorrow!

Tomorrow's Guest: Doug Danielson

Tomorrow, fellow mystery author and friend Doug Danielson will be a guest on my blog. I've know Doug for awhile on-line, but we had the opportunity to cement our friendship when I stayed with him and his wife Karen while conducting workshops at the Puerto Vallarta Writers Conference in February.

Doug Danielson has been writing articles for West Coast boating magazines since 1997. His mystery and horror short stories have appeared in anthologies in the United States and Britain. He is presently busy writing a nautical mystery/adventure series about Jake Mortensen, a young San Diego yacht captain who can't seem to stay away from trouble and beautiful women. His first in the series, Shore Loser, was published by Oak Tree Press in February 2012. The second in the series, Sea-duction, was published by Oak Tree Press in February 2013.

Eight years ago, Doug started the Puerto Vallarta Writers Conference, held every February in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. He and his wife Karen split their time between Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, and Ventura, California.

In his guest post tomorrow, Doug answers my interview questions, and I'm sure you'll be intrigued by the answers. Then, please make a comment or ask a question of your own in the comments.

The Coolest Librarians Alive

With National Library Week being celebrated this week, April 14-20, 2013, I had to share with my blog readers this article about "10 of the Coolest Librarians Alive" and the follow-up, "10 More of the Coolest Librarians Alive." Who is YOUR nomination for Coolest Librarian Alive? Mine is Doris Ann Norris, the self-proclaimed 2000-year-old librarian, who was the guest fan of honor at last year's Bouchercon conference. Here's an interview and blog guest post by Doris Ann, if you'd like to get to know her better.

Publishers Weekly Reviews FATAL DESCENT

I am so, so thrilled with the great review that Publishers Weekly just published of Fatal Descent, the third book in my RM Outdoor Adventures series that will be released on June 8th (though you can order copies now).

"The tension runs high in Groundwater’s absorbing third RM Outdoor Adventures mystery … Scenic descriptions and folklore add atmosphere to a suspenseful tale." -- Publishers Weekly (for full review, go HERE)

Today's Mystery Author Guest: Dorothy H. Hayes

As promised yesterday, fellow mystery author Dorothy H. Hayes is visiting my blog today. To read her bio and see her photo, please page down to yesterday's post. Also, Dorothy is running a contest for a free autographed copy of her latest release Murder at the P&Z, the cover art for which appears above. Dorothy will select the winner tomorrow evening from among those who leave a comment today or tomorrow.

In the book, a local reporter, Carol Rossi, turns amateur sleuth when the secretary to the town planner is murdered. The police suspect that it is a random crime. Rossi, however, suspects that the murder is connected to a real estate project that was approved by the Wilton Planning and Zoning Department. She launches her own investigation and is soon in over her head. She's being stalked and her life is threatened, but she doesn't know why.

"Dorothy Hayes has seduced her readers with a splendidly fast-paced and immensely readable thriller containing a cast of well-drawn characters, particularly her protagonist, Ms. Rossi."     —Norm Goldman, Publisher & Editor of Bookpleasures.com


Sounds like a suspenseful read! Below are Dorothy's answers to my interview questions. Please leave a comment, and if you have a question of your own for Dorothy, ask it!

1. Who or what inspired you to start writing and when did you start?

I’ve been writing all my life. When I was a kid, if something important happened, such as our cat had kittens, I had to write it down. But since I didn’t write stories, I didn’t think I was a writer. I professionally started writing as a newspaper reporter. I wanted to learn my craft. I had two unpublished books in my closet by then. I was 47.

2. What tools and process do you use to “get to know” your characters before and while you’re writing the books?

Characters are inspired by real people. My protagonist, however, is usually courageous, smart, sometimes foolhardy, and strong willed. Others are bits and pieces of different personalities. I place them in situations and then I play out their emotional life. I spend my whole book learning about them, what they’ll do or won’t do. I am often as surprised as the reader.

3. How do you construct your plots? Do you outline or do you write “by the seat of your pants”?

“By the seat of the pants.”  I have a vision and work from there. In this case, it was a giant black spruce tree in my backyard, which I thought someone could hide a body under. A dead woman’s body is found under a black spruce in the second chapter.

The plot is organic. In Murder at the P&Z, I never expected the plot to go in the direction that it did. When the book is finished, I do an outline that encompasses every scene, so I can actually get the whole picture of my own book.

4. In the age-old question of character versus plot, which one do you think is most important in a murder mystery and which one do you emphasize in your writing? Why?

I like the character-driven mystery. Viewing the book through the eyes of the protagonist weaves a web that insulates the reader and the story. The reader is interested in the protagonist’s backstory and his or her inner dialogue. An intriguing plot to be unraveled by the protagonist is the best of all possible worlds.

5. What is the biggest challenge you’ve faced as a writer and what inspires you and keeps you motivated?

I spent 12 years on my first book, Animal Instinct, in living the story and then writing it, but couldn’t get a publisher. So I self-published. It was an incredibly satisfying experience. It was so well received. But I had a crisis of faith. I questioned whether I should write another book if I couldn’t get a publisher.

I then realized that I needed to write. Whether anyone was going to read it or not didn’t matter. This time, however, I wrote a mystery because of the genre’s popularity. I thought the chances of getting published would be higher. 

6. What is a typical workday for you and how many hours a day (or week) do you devote to writing?

When I’m writing a novel, I write as soon as I wake up. It’s the most creative time of the day. I’ll write from four to six hours a day. I realize that it’s best not to wear yourself out because the next day you’ll be exhausted. I fill the rest of the day with reading or writing, the other business of producing a novel, and I always workout. I don’t write on the weekend for balance, and I find I’m inspired come Monday morning. But, there are exceptions, deadlines and desire.

7. What advice do you have to offer to an aspiring author?

Join a group like Sisters In Crime nationally and on a local level. You’ll learn your way around the whole writing and book publishing biz. It will make all the difference. Also join a local writers’ group. Have people read your work. Find a good editor.

8. Now here’s a zinger. Tell us something about yourself that you have not revealed in another interview yet. Something as simple as your favorite TV show or food will do.

We, my husband and I, are fans of PBS. Sunday nights and Tuesday nights are spent watching shows such as Downton Abbey or a mystery series, like Inspector Lewis or Morse.

9. What are you working on now and what are your future writing plans?

I’m very attached to the characters in Murder at the P&Z; newspaper reporter Carol Rossi, turned amateur sleuth, and her sweetheart, Det. Jerry Stevenson. I’ve begun another book where a Wilton teen goes missing. They are determined to find her.

10. Is there anything else you would like to tell my blog readers?

It’s been a pleasure, Beth. I’d love to hear from your fans. I can be reached at hayes@dorothyhayes.com. They can find out more about me at my website. For those in the area, I will be speaking at the Wilton Library, in Wilton, CT, in the evening, from 6 to 7, on April 29. I certainly am available for book clubs. More speaking dates will be published on my website.


 Thanks, Dorothy! Now, who has a comment or question for Dorothy H. Hayes? Good luck in the contest!   

Tomorrow's Guest: Dorothy H. Hayes

Tomorrow, fellow mystery author Dorothy H. Hayes will guest on my blog. Also, Dorothy will run a contest for a free autographed copy of her latest release Murder at the P&Z.  She will choose the winner from among those who leave a comment.

Dorothy H. Hayes, a graduate of Western Connecticut State University, taught Language Arts, was a staff writer for the Wilton Bulletin, and The Hour and received an honorary award for her in-depth series on Vietnam Veterans from the Society of Professional Journalists. She also worked as a staff writer for a national animal protection corporation and wrote Animal Instinct published by iUniverse in 2006. She writes for Women of Mystery and Criminal Element and is a member of Sisters in Crime.

In her guest post tomorrow, Dorothy answers my interview questions, and I'm sure you'll be intrigued by the answers. Then, please make a comment or ask a question in the comments, and good luck in the contest!

Celebrating Libraries

I'm blogging today about National Library Week at Inkspot, the blog for Midnight Ink authors. I hope you will read the blog, then share in a comment how YOU intend to celebrate National Library Week at your local library!

The Squeaky Bean

I don't normally review restaurants on my blog, preferring to focus on my writing life and mystery author guests, but I recently had an exceptional experience at a Denver restaurant and just HAVE to share! Last Saturday, my husband and I drove our daughter down to Denver to spend the night at her brother's apartment, so he could take her to the airport early in the morning for her return flight to Portland. We wanted to celebrate having the whole family together before she left, so we asked our son to recommend a special restaurant. Being Head Baker at Grateful Bread, a wholesale bakery that supplies artisan breads to upscale restaurants and hotels in the area, our son knows which restaurants are the up-and-comers.

He recommended The Squeaky Bean and made a reservation for the four of us to sit at bar seats overlooking the food preparation area, so we could watch the fascinating show all night long as chefs hand-decorated works of art on a plate or in a bowl. Grateful Bread supplies some of the breads to The Squeaky Bean, and our son knew one of the two prep chefs who entertained us all night. The beet salads in particular took a lot of work (shown below). On to the food!

The Squeaky Bean is known for its use of super-fresh seasonal produce and application of ultra-modern culinary techniques (we saw lots of uses of the liquid nitrogen tank!). The restaurant has its own organic farm, the Bean Acre, in Lakewood, Colorado. One of the many appetizers/first courses we consumed shows this attention to freshness and detail (items were individually placed on the dish with long tweezers), the "Roots and Leaves" of green garlic custard, charred root vegetables, and spring greens (see below).

 Below are our four main courses.The first two (son's and hubby's) are the Pork Loin with lardo, peas, and steel cut oat risotto and the Colorado Lamb dish of whey poached leg, braised shoulder, hand rolled couscous, pine nut, roasted cauliflower, ras el hanout, and olive.

My daughter opted to have another first course as her main, the Open Ravioli with sweetbreads, egg yolk, duck liver mousse, gremolata, and hunter’s sauce. I had the Kale Agnolotti with vegetable brodo, goat cheese gnudi, and charred baby artichokes. All of the dishes were absolutely scrumptious!

And then there were the desserts! Even though we were pleasantly full, we managed to share two desserts between the four of us. The first photo below shows the Chocolate and Caramel Torte with flourless chocolate cake, caramel budino, pine nut marshmallows, and macaroon. The second photo shows the Citrus Dessert with yuzu curd, cashew shortbread, grapefruit and blood orange slices, candied lime and lemon peel, and grapefruit snow. The photo shows mist still coming off the liquid nitrogen poured into the dish.

The Squeaky Bean received The Denver Post’s first four-star review since the paper started its current rating system in 2005. It received five-star reviews from the four of us! I highly recommend it.

Today's Mystery Author Guest: Bonnie Biafore

As promised yesterday, fellow Colorado mystery author Bonnie Biafore is visiting my blog today. To read her bio and see her photo, please page down to yesterday's post. Also, Bonnie is running a contest for a free autographed copy of her latest release co-written with James Ewing, Fresh Squeezed, the cover art for which appears above. Bonnie will select the winner tomorrow evening from among those who leave a comment today or tomorrow.

In Fresh Squeezed, Anthony “Juice” Verrone, former Mafia enforcer and guest of the Witness Security Program, is trying to hide from the Family he sent up the river. When a giant hot dog, a fiberglass bass, and a plummeting corpse put the squeeze on Juice, he thinks he’s been found out. Juice teams up with Rudy Touchous, a forensic accountant, and Police Chief Dickie Gordon, to track down the killer. Instead, they run head-on into a public utility in desperate financial straits, a local troop of NASCAR-addled, bass-fishing rednecks with odd literary aspirations, and a vegetarian commune, which, in its dedication to the well-being of plants, is tossing more than lettuce into its salad bar. And what is that secret ingredient in their all-vegetarian hotdogs? The Utility’s plans leak, so they bring in a strange parade of hired guns to make sure the people who know too much can’t say anything. When these players mix it up at the Asparagus Festival a conflagration ignites that changes everything.


Sounds like a juicy read! Below are Bonnie's answers to my interview questions. Please leave a comment, and if you have a question of your own for Bonnie, ask it!

1. Who or what inspired you to start writing and when did you start?
 
Back in 2001, my husband and I were working as contractors for a Washington State power utility that managed power generation along the mid-Columbia River. Listening to the usual water cooler chat eventually spawned (salmon on the Columbia River, get it?) the idea of having two incompetent groups both trying to blow up the same dam. While we were living in Washington State, we would talk on the phone with a very funny friend of ours, James Ewing, and riff on ideas about stupid criminals. I wisely kept notes. Fast forward to late 2008. I called James and suggested that we write the book as a tribute to my husband who passed away in 2006. We got to work. Three and a half years later the book was published.

2. What tools and process do you use to “get to know” your characters before and while you’re writing the books?
 
The characters didn’t give us a choice. They knew what they were like and told us what we needed to know. I remember the morning that Rudy Touchous, the sidekick forensic accountant, introduced himself to me. I was visiting James for two weeks to work on the novel. I woke up with a crystal clear image of Rudy and a scene in my head. It took me a couple of hours to write the chapter, and that was that. Later, as we revised the manuscript, Rudy grew and changed; he became more confident, but never lost the puppy-like enthusiasm I first saw. Closer to the end of the revision process, we would make changes because we had the characters doing things they wouldn’t do. Even with two authors, the characters are who they are. We’re just the medium for them to come into our world.

3. How do you construct your plots? Do you outline or do you write “by the seat of your pants”?
 
James and I are both Capricorn engineers, so we are VERY organized. We spent a week brainstorming the story line. We created a spreadsheet with scenes in chronological order. Scenes moved around during revisions, but that spreadsheet acted as our guide as we wrote our first, second, and third drafts.

4. In the age-old question of character versus plot, which one do you think is most important in a murder mystery and which one do you emphasize in your writing? Why?
 
Plot is a bit more important than character, but a good mystery needs both. Fresh Squeezed isn’t a classic murder mystery; it’s a wacky crime comedy. The novel is driven more by the characters and humor with the criminal hijinks underneath to hold everything together.

A crime comedy also has a balance and transitions between humor and tension. Both require a good sense of timing, so they are more similar than you might think at first. Many people turn to humor to help them through difficult times, so a tense scene can include humor. On the other hand, some tense scenes need to stand on their own and some funny scenes are too crazy to share the stage with tension. It’s like yin and yang.

5. What is the biggest challenge you’ve faced as a writer and what inspires you and keeps you motivated?
 
The biggest challenge is paying the bills. I have to do that first, so I can write fiction.

Inspiration for crime comedy isn’t an issue. The world is a funny place. I remember when I found out that Costco sells coffins. I find that funny and have all sorts of ideas about how to work that into a story someday. I grew up with cantankerous elderly relatives, who inspired several characters and scenes in Fresh Squeezed. The biggest challenge writing stories about stupid criminals is beating real people to it.

6. What is a typical workday for you and how many hours a day (or week) do you devote to writing?
 
When I was writing the first draft of the novel, I would write for about two hours and produce 1500 to 2500 words. Another hour of editing and a first draft of the scene would be finished. That’s the fun and easy part.

From start to finish, completing a book requires all sorts of work that consumes a lot more time and can last for months. James and I spent a few hours each morning (for months) talking on Skype, while we revised the manuscript.

Outside of fiction, my career is primarily writing about business, finance, and technology. The books, training courses, and articles I author share many of the same work components as writing fiction. My typical work week including both fiction and non-fiction is 6 or 7 days a week, anywhere from 6 to 12 hours a day.

7. What advice do you have to offer to an aspiring author?
 
If you’re going to juggle earning a living and writing fiction, start by figuring out when you’re most productive and most creative. Try to arrange your schedule so you work on fiction at that time, even if it’s only for an hour at a time.

Learn the discipline to continue working even if you feel like quitting. At the same time, learn to recognize when you need to take a break. If you’re spinning your wheels, sitting in the chair longer doesn’t help. Get out for a walk. Usually, the answer comes to me while I’m taking that break.

If you feel overwhelmed, carve out a small task that you know you can do and then do it. The energy boost you get from finishing that one small thing helps you start the next small thing. Before you know it, you’ll have a boatload of stuff done. Think about a 90,000 word novel. All you have to do is write 500 words a day for 180 days and that first draft will be done.

8. Now here’s a zinger. Tell us something about yourself that you have not revealed in another interview yet. Something as simple as your favorite TV show or food will do.
 
My favorite guilty food pleasure is *crunchy* Cheetos (puffy Cheetos are just ridiculous). I don’t eat them very often. When I do, I don’t think about the fact that I’m addicted to a bright orange snack that has absolutely no nutritional value and is probably made from petroleum, cow hooves, and salt. (I’m too busy crunching.)

9. What are you working on now and what are your future writing plans?
 
I have ideas heading in several directions. I have some ideas for stories based on some of the characters in Fresh Squeezed. A newspaper article I read recently gave me an idea for a suspense story. And some other possibilities further off the trampled path.

10. Is there anything else you would like to tell my blog readers? 
 
Please visit my website. I don’t have a blog yet (unless you want to read the one I write about project management), but my co-author, James Ewing, writes a very entertaining one.

I live in Conifer, Colorado. James lives on Bainbridge Island near Seattle. We are both happy to talk to book clubs, if you’re nearby. We also love to hear about stupid criminal stories you’ve heard about or made up.


 Thanks, Bonnie! Now, who has a comment or question for Bonnie Biafore? Good luck in the contest!   

Tomorrow's Guest: Bonnie Biafore

Tomorrow, fellow Colorado mystery author Bonnie Biafore will guest on my blog. Also, Bonnie will run a contest for a free autographed copy of her latest release co-written with James Ewing, Fresh Squeezed. She will choose the winner from among those who leave a comment.

Bonnie Biafore is the author of more than 25 award-winning technical books including Project 2013: The Missing Manual, Successful Project Management (award-winner at the 2012 STC International Competition), QuickBooks 2013: The Missing Manual (Intuit’s Official Guide to QuickBooks), and several popular courses for Lynda.com. Her novel, Fresh Squeezed is a screwball crime comedy with corrupt officials, incompetent hit men, stupid criminals, and an alcoholic pet ferret with a penchant for women’s lingerie.

When unshackled from her computer, Bonnie hikes in the mountains with her two Bernese Mountain Dogs, cooks gourmet food, and hangs around with fiction writers. In addition to her website (link above), you can find Bonnie on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn.

In her guest post tomorrow, Bonnie answers my interview questions, and I'm sure you'll be intrigued by the answers. Then, please make a comment or ask a question in the comments, and good luck in the contest!

Cover Art for A Basket of Trouble

Drumroll!

I am very pleased to show off the cover art for A Basket of Trouble, the third book in my Claire Hanover gift basket designer mystery series. This book will be released on November 8th, just in time for holiday gift shopping. And notice the bright red and green colors on the cover! Wouldn't it make an excellent addition to a Christmas gift basket for a mystery lover? What do YOU think of the cover?