WWK--Better than ever--Look for the return of blogs by Linda Rodriguez! She's back--on 1/4. Watch for our new blogger Tammy Euliano--debuting on 1/17
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Margaret S. Hamilton's short story, "Killer Weeds," appears in the January 20 edition of Texas Gardener's Seeds: From Our Garden to Yours. Congratulations, Margaret, who, if you follow Facebook know, is a superb gardener herself!
Congratulations to Jennifer J. Chow for garnering a 2021 Lefty Nomination for Best Humorous Mystery Novel. We're crossing our fingers for Jennifer!
Congratulations to Paula Gail Benson whose "Reputation or Soul" has been chosen for Malice Domestic 16: Mystery Most Diabolical anthology to be released this spring.
KM Rockwood's "Stay Safe--Very Safe" appears in this year's 2020 BOULD anthology. Congratulations, KM!
Margaret S. Hamilton's "Dealing at the Dump" appears in Cozy Villages of Death Fall 2020.
Margaret S. Hamilton's "Black Market Baby" and Debra H. Goldstein's "Forensic Magic" appear in Masthead: Best New England Crime Stories Fall 2020.
Jennifer J. Chow's Mimi Lee Reads Between the Lines (interview on WWK on 11/11) released on November 10.
Annette Dashofy signed with agent Dawn Dowdle of the Blue Ridge Literary Agency. Congratulations, Annette!
KM Rockwood's "Secrets To The Grave" has been published in the SinC Chesapeake Chapter's new anthology Invitation To Murder, released by Wildside Press on 10/6.
Susan Van Kirk's Three May Keep A Secret has been republished by Harlequin's Worldwide Mystery. The WWK interview about the book can be accessed here. We're so glad another publisher picked up this series.
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Thursday, January 31, 2013
IMPORTANT LIFE EVENTS
Wednesday, January 30, 2013
An Interview with Casey Daniels
Tuesday, January 29, 2013
Make Your Bed!
Monday, January 28, 2013
Filler
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Can you spot what is wrong is this cabinet design? |
Sunday, January 27, 2013
Wrapping it up: the final proof
Saturday, January 26, 2013
Wake up and smell the coffee:
Friday, January 25, 2013
Writing And Music
Thursday, January 24, 2013
THE ROAD TO SELF-PUBLISHING
Wednesday, January 23, 2013
The Dreaded Rewrite
I got married back in July and had been planning for the occasion for over a year. Somewhere about six months before the wedding, I decided that my creative juices were primarily focused on the big "party," and the thought of being creative elsewhere seemed too taxing to my brain.
To be perfectly honest, that's also about the time that a particularly nasty bit of rewriting needed doing. Some feedback I'd gotten suggested that I didn't have enough red herrings in my mystery, which I agreed with. Unfortunately, this meant revising several scenes throughout the book and finding ways to throw my future readers off the scent of the true culprit. I had started on the necessary changes, but soon discovered that it would take much more planning and thought than I'd originally hoped. The hiatus for the wedding planning was a handy excuse.
Then after the wedding I had to plan out the honeymoon, which wasn't until the end of October. And then, of course, came the holidays. But fear not, I began revisions on the book at Chapter 1 shortly after we returned from Greece, so I didn't procrastinate too much longer, but I still dreaded that murky middle where the Red Herrings and the True Culprit threads wove closer together. Several doubts plagued me at that time: How would I have my protagonist hunt down and eliminate the Red Herrings? When was it okay to let the audience see the True Culprit?
I'm a huge fan of the movie "Murder By Death," so, in deference, I didn't want to wait until the last minute to "introduce" the villain, but I also didn't want to make it so obvious that my readers would grow bored with the story after page 50; hence the need for the Red Herring. Each chapter I got to led me closer and closer to this tangled mess I'd left behind over a year before, and with each chapter done, I felt a looming sense of dread. Would I be able to pull this off?
A couple weeks ago, I finally got to the chapter where the real and perceived villains meshed, and I froze for a good 30 minutes, trying to think my way through it. Eventually I just started typing and was successful in moving the story forward, but I now have to go back and polish it, not to mention the remaining chapters that still need to be rewritten. There's still a lot of trepidation inside of me; especially since it's been so long since I'd been involved in this story. I have to reconnect with my characters again, and remember how each one reacts to the situations they're in.
I'm sure every author had these same issues with their first full-length novel. At least I hope so. Because believing that Sue Grafton had to work through this gives me hope that I'll eventually figure it out, too.