Another Wonderful Review for Deadly Currents!

I'm flying high with the news that the January 24, 2011 issue of Booklist Online includes a great review for Deadly Currents, the first book in my RM Outdoor Adventures mystery series that will be released March 8, 2011. Barbara Bibel, the reviewer, has this to say:


"Groundwater (A Real Basket Case, 2007) launches a new, action-packed series featuring white-water guide Mandy Tanner. Mandy, a river ranger at her uncle’s white-water rafting business, pulls a man from the river as part of her first day on the job. The man dies, but he did not drown. The victim, Tom King, was a real-estate developer with lots of nasty rivals. He also cheated on his wife and refused to support his son, an avid kayaker. He managed to make many environmentalists very unhappy, too. When Mandy’s uncle dies suddenly, she suspects something more than a heart attack and wonders whether the two deaths are related. Her independent investigation leads her through some very rough water. Readers who enjoy fast-moving stories and wilderness environments will keep turning the pages of this promising series debut."

To read the review at its source, go HERE. This review, added to those from Publishers Weekly and Kirkus Reviews, means that Deadly Currents has been mentioned in three of the big four review publications now. The fourth is Library Journal. Dare I hope? ;-)

Today's Mystery Author Guest: Karen McCullough

As promised yesterday, fellow mystery author Karen McCullough is visiting my blog today to answer my interview questions and ones asked by my blog readers. To read her bio and see her photo, please page down to yesterday's post. Above is the cover photo for her February 9th release from Five Star, A Gift For Murder.

Misplaced shipments, feuding exhibitors, and malfunctioning popcorn machines are all in a day’s work for Heather McNeil, assistant to the director of the Washington DC Market Center. She’s on a career path that should someday make her director of the center. She’s smart, competent, and trying hard not to be frazzled by the Gift and Home trade show, the biggest event of the year. Finding the body of a murdered executive on the first day of the show tips Heather into personal and professional havoc. The police suspect the victim’s wife killed him, but Heather doesn’t believe it. She’s gotten glimmers of an entirely different scenario and possible motive. Her attraction to the Market Center’s new security officer, Scott Brandon, adds to the chaos. Despite opposition from some of the exhibitors, her employers, and the police, Heather seeks to expose a murderer before the show ends and all hope of finding the killer disappears.

You know, that Gift and Home trade show is precisely the kind of show that my gift basket designer sleuth, Claire Hanover, would go to. This should be a very interesting read! See what Karen McCullough has to say in response to my questions below, and feel free to ask her additional questions in comments.

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

I wrote my first mystery story when I was about ten, inspired by Nancy Drew, but I didn’t start writing seriously until many years later. My husband had read a couple of short things I’d written and thought they were pretty good. He suggested I try writing a short story or two. So I did, but I found I had a hard time containing the plots I wanted to do in the short format, which led to my writing my first novel.

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

Actually the only tool I use for my characters is my brain. My initial idea for a story generally involves a character with a problem they have to deal with. I may not know much about that character at the outset, but I do know why the situation is a challenge for them, and as I go through the process of writing the book, I learn more and more about them, discover what makes them tick, what they fear, what they love, etc.

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

I’m a seat of the pantser, but I have learned how to do brief, general outlines for my publishers. I usually start writing a story with a basic idea of who the main characters are, how it starts and how it should end. I frequently write the first few chapters with very little idea of how the rest of the plot will go, but once I’m a few chapters into it, I have to get some direction, so I’ll sit down and make a fairly long list of possible events, encounters, and other things that might or should happen in the course of the story. With that I do a basic timeline situating those things on it and use that as a guide for writing the rest. Of course, I also frequently find the story taking unanticipated twists and turns.

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 words of an almost as age-old song: “You can’t have one without the other.” To me, the very definition of a good story is an interesting character trying to solve an interesting and compelling problem. The fact that your character is who he or she is needs to be integral to the story, but the story has to have interesting development. I try not to emphasize one or the other unduly.

In my February Five Star Mystery, A Gift For Murder, my heroine, Heather, is able to identify the culprit mostly because she knows her job, because she’s intelligent and persistent as well as observant, and because she’s a good listener in an environment that encourages talking rather than listening.

On the other hand, plot is equally important in a mystery. I’ve read—and I’m sure you have too—so-called mysteries where the solution to the crime simply falls into the detective’s lap. That doesn’t work for me. I want my detective character to get the payoff through his or her own efforts. I want them to face challenges in the course of solving the mystery and have to work through those. And ultimately I want them to win because they’re smart, persistent, and effective, not just because they’re lucky.

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

Finding the time to write is the biggest challenge. I have a family who want to see me occasionally and a day job that pays for the electricity to run my computer. Add to that, I’m not the type of writer who can pick it up and write a paragraph here or there. I have to be able to sink into the world I’m creating in order to get it out.

On the other hand, if I go too long without writing, it feels like my head is going to explode. There are characters and stories swirling around out there and they all want to see daylight. There’s no real question of motivation. I just HAVE to write.

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

To support my writing habit, I have a day job that involves running my own web design/development business. Because that work pays the mortgage and puts food on the table, it gets the biggest chunk of my time.

And because I need blocks of time to get into my world, I tend to be a binge writer, sometimes writing all weekend long or using days off or even long evenings. If business is slow, I’ll sometimes give myself a day off to do nothing but write.

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

Persistence, persistence, persistence. You’ll need to grow a thick skin and learn how to deal with rejection and then keep going if you’re serious about getting published.

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.

Hmmm… Well, here’s a shocking truth about me: I’m not a food person. On the “Eat to Live – Live to Eat” scale, I’m way over on the Eat to Live side. In fact, I may have fallen off it. I’ve been known to forget to eat when I get involved in a project, and when the rumbles from my stomach finally get loud enough to remind me I need fuel, I’m most likely to grab a few crackers and a hunk of cheese or a carton of yogurt. Whatever’s handy. One obvious side effect is I’m a terrible cook.

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

I’m currently working on the sequel to A Gift For Murder. My title is Wired For Murder, but I have no idea whether that title will stick. I also have a novella in the same world in progress, but no title for it as yet. I hope to write a few more books in the “Market Center Mysteries” series. I also have a couple of urban fantasy mysteries making the rounds at the moment.

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

Please visit me my website for more information about my books. More information on A Gift For Murder and the coming additional Market Center Mysteries can be found at my Market Center Mysteries website. Of course, I’m available to talk to book clubs or other writing groups, either in person if they’re in the NC, SC, VA area, or by phone elsewhere.

Thanks, Karen! Fire away, folks, and remember that you're entering a contest for an ARC when you leave a comment.

Tomorrow's Guest: Karen McCullough!

Tomorrow fellow mystery author Karen McCullough will be a guest on my blog. Karen is the author of ten published novels in the mystery, romantic suspense, and fantasy genres and has won numerous awards, including an Eppie Award for fantasy. She’s also been a four-time Eppie finalist, and a finalist in the Prism, Dream Realm, Rising Star, Lories, Scarlett Letter, and Vixen Awards contests. Her short fiction has appeared in several anthologies and numerous small press publications in the fantasy, science fiction, and romance genres. Her upcoming release is A Gift For Murder, published in hardcover by Five Star/Gale Group Mysteries.

Karen answered my interview questions, and I'm sure you'll be intrigued by what she has to say. Then, feel free to ask her some questions of your own. Also, anyone who leaves a comment on tomorrow's post will be entered into a contest to win an Advanced Review Copy (ARC) of A Gift For Murder, which is a collector's item!

The Colorado Springs Winter Book Group Roundup

Last Thursday evening, I attended the Colorado Springs Winter Book Group Roundup held at the East Library of the Pikes Peak Library District. The Roundup was a free event that included wine and snacks and conversation about books for the members of eighty-two invited book groups in the Colorado Springs area. I went as a representative of my personal book club of thirteen neighborhood women who meet monthly to discuss books.

When representatives from the book clubs sent in their RSVPs, they also sent in the title and author of their group's favorite book that they would recommend to other book clubs. The library staff whittled those suggestions down into the top ten that are listed below. I've read some of them, and the others are going on my to-read list.

After some eating and socializing, the hundred and seventy or so of us took our seats. Library staff talked about the book club program at the library and how to reserve book club sets of popular books for your group to read. Then the guest speaker was introduced, English Professor Susan B. Taylor from the University of Colorado, Colorado Springs. Her talk was "Hunger, Rebellion, and Rage: Charlotte Bronte and Jane Eyre". In actuality, it covered the lives and literature of all three Bronte sisters, including Emily and Anne. It was a fascinating presentation!

The library plans to host two of these events every year, one in August and one in January, and I'm looking forward to attending future ones. Here's the list of recommended books:

The Room by Emma Donoghue
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks
Cutting for Snow by Abraham Verghese
The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein
The Gift of Rain by Tan Twan Eng
My Antonia by Willa Cather
The Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jaime Ford
Major Pettigrew's Last Stand by Helen Simonson
The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton

Smells for Thought over at Inkspot

Today I am blogging at Inkspot, the blog for Midnight Ink authors, about how authors use the descriptions of smells in their writing to enhance story-telling by evoking scent memories and emotions in readers. I hope you'll read the post and let me know what you think of it!

I'm Interviewed on Writers Who Kill, Part 2

Last Wednesday, the 12th, and today, the blog Writers Who Kill is posting a two-part interview that E. B. Davis (Elaine Douts) conducted with me recently. She got into the nitty gritty details of my three publishers and why I chose each one and asked me about my upcoming Deadly Currents release. It should be interesting reading for anyone who is trying to get a book published these days or who wants to learn more about what authors go through to do so. I hope you'll read today's interview as well as last week's. I'll be checking for and responding to comments there, so if you have a question, ask it!

Responding to a Revision Letter

Remember when you used to get a school essay returned with the teacher's red writing and correction marks all over it, pointing out all the spelling, grammar, punctuation, and even larger mistakes you made? What really hurt and brought your grade down were those larger mistakes, such as misunderstanding what the content of the essay was supposed to be or what structure the report format was to follow.

In the fiction publishing world, the editor is the one who wields the figurative red pencil. Usually there are two--the acquisition editor, who looks for those big content and structural errors, and the copy editor, who looks for smaller errors in formatting and fact-checking. When you have a contract with a publishing house, the acquisition editor must be happy with the manuscript before he or she "accepts" it and the book is put on a publication schedule. Without acceptance, there won't be a book and the author doesn't get paid.

As a result, we authors tend to bite our nails after turning in a manuscript, waiting nervously to see what the acquisition editor will say in his or her "revision letter." The revision letter lists changes that must be made before a manuscript will be accepted. I recently received my revision letter from my acquisition editor at Midnight Ink for book two of the RM Outdoor Adventures mystery series, that I'm calling Wicked Eddies. I was greatly relieved to see that it didn't include any huge changes, like "get rid of this chapter/scene," "fix this plot hole," or "I hate this character's personality."

Phew!

Instead, I needed to whittle down the narrative in one chapter, define the distance from point A to point B in a scene setting, make it clear that one character is not asking another character the same question in two places but is asking different questions, and make a plot timeline issue clearer in the reader's mind. These were all eminently doable fixes that required work, but not a huge amount of work. So, I set my fingers to typing.

A few days ago, I sent the revised manuscript off to my acquisition editor. I'm now waiting to hear if my changes are acceptable or not. If not, I'll revise some more. If so, we have a GO! on this book, and the publication countdown begins.

Do I ever quibble with my editor about revisions? No. Not with any of my three publishers. They all have good editors on staff who work hard to meet their goal--to make your book the best it can be. If the acquisition editor says there's a problem, there's a problem. I may propose a different solution to the problem than the solution the editor suggests, but I never argue to ignore it and leave it be. This is all part of the process of being a professional author, working as a team member to produce the best possible product.