Riley Adams's Blog, page 233

Focusing On Our Strengths

I'd admit right away that I don't know how to dress.

I've never cared about clothes.  I wear a sort of uniform every day during the summer: a v-neck cotton tee-shirt (I have them in every color), shorts, and flip flops. They're…comfortable.

Then I have dresses. When I go to book signings or conferences (or church), I wear these very pretty dresses—because it's either the dresses or the shorts and v-necks! 

I have nothing in-between. Dinner out at a nice restaurant, but not a fancy one...

Some Basics to Remember When Writing Your Mystery

Today I'm going to be genre-specific and talk a little about writing mysteries. Mysteries aren't only my favorite genre to read, they're my favorite to write, too. Hope you'll join me on Roni Griffin's Fiction Groupie blog to learn more about writing mysteries.

Writing Our (Food) Region

It's the traveling version of Mystery Writing is Murder today!

First up, I'm at the Cozy Chicks blog—a great group of writers who are also friends of mine. Today I'm posting on how writing about food in our books can add local flavor to our novels.

And, if you're looking for a quick and easy hors d'oeuvre for your next summer gathering, look no further than my bacon-wrapped, cream cheese-stuffed jalapenos at the Mystery Lovers' Kitchen!

Shakespeare and Twitter?

Hi everyone! Thanks so much for the good wishes and congratulations yesterday. :)  It was an exciting day for me—and apparently also a very busy and tiring one,  since I fell asleep last night before 10:00!

Today I'm at my friend, Teresa's, blog…she's the Journaling Woman.  I have a little muse on authors from the past and social media.  Hope you'll join me. :)

Release Day—and Contest Results

First of all, I wanted to thank everyone for their encouragement and support in the comments and emails I've received. It's really appreciated!

Delicious and Suspicious releases today and I couldn't be more excited. :) I think I'm going to drag my family out to the bookstore so they can see it on the shelf.

Berkley Prime Crime ran a short Q&A with me and put it up on their website. Looking in their sidebar, I'm thrilled to see my book alongside such great July releases.

My contest ...

The Way We Market

As you can imagine, I'm in a marketing haze right now. :) I've got postcards with the Delicious and Suspicious cover on them that are on their way to libraries and bookstores.

I've sent out ARCs for my book to newspapers and book blogging reviewers.

I'm running a contest (last day to enter!) :)

I'm also setting up lots of visits on different blogs so that a variety of different readers can hear about my book.

I have a book tour set with Jennifer Stanley, Krista Davis, and Avery Aames ...

Twitterific

Happy 4th of July to all my American friends! Here are writing links that I've posted to Twitter for the past week. If you're looking for a particular topic, just plug in your keyword into the search box at the top left-hand corner of the blog (on the black header right above my blog name…next to the Blogger symbol…the small search window is next to the magnifying glass) and the roundup with your subject will come up. To narrow your search down on the page, do a CTRL+F, type your subject...

Narrowing Down Our Project

The past week, I've been at Harbor Island, South Carolina, enjoying the beach with my parents and children. Through the magic of WiFi, I've also been at my blog, Twitter, Facebook, and other places, too. Now I'm packing up to head back to North Carolina.

I've got a couple of books to write in the next 6-9 months, and sometimes my mind jumps around from favorite idea to favorite idea. At least mine are all in the same genre (well, a few aren't, but they're relegated to a Word file for...

Doing it All Wrong

I was back again at the YMCA, exercising with my children last week. This time I'd finished walking on the treadmill and decided to try out a weight machine I'd never used before.

I read the little sign on the side of the machine and hesitantly started out.

After a minute or two, I relaxed. It wasn't as hard as I thought it would be. In fact, it seemed almost easy!

I was confidently lifting the weights when a big guy, with a YMCA badge on, walked up to me, frowning. "You're doing ...

Stretching Ourselves as Writers: by Deborah Sharp

I'd like to thank Deb for guest hosting today. Deb is a friend of mine and fellow Mystery Ink author and I'm a huge fan of her humorous Southern mysteries. I'm honored she's at Mystery Writing is Murder today--the day her new Mace Bauer mystery, Mama Gets Hitched, is released. Welcome, Deb!

Thanks so much, Elizabeth, for inviting me to guest at ''Mystery Writing is Murder.'' A lot of truth in that blog title, honey.

If you're a writer, you should be able to write anywhere, right? I was...