Michelle L. Levigne's Blog, page 160

Off the Bookshelf: CONCEALED IN DEATH, by JD Robb

It's my birthday -- okay, it WAS my birthday -- and I bought myself a present. And as a reward for finishing a big revision project and getting my next Quarry Hall book to my publisher on time.

CONCEALED IN DEATH, the latest Eve Dallas book in paper.

Roarke is renovating an old building that was a sanctuary for runaway and troubled youth -- to create a new, better kind of shelter. Because that's just the kind of guy he is, after all the things he and Eve have gone through, learning the brutal secrets of their childhoods. Of course, he gets to take the ceremonial swing with the sledgehammer to start gutting the building. Inside the wall are two bodies, wrapped in plastic. By the time the crime scene team is through investigating, twelve bodies have been found. All young girls. Of course, Lt. Eve Dallas is called in to lead the investigation.

I love this series, and I have to admit, it's the characters, the interplay, the relationships, the inside jokes, the growth in people's personalities ... it's great fun going back and seeing what "old friends" have been up to.

Now I need to get really busy and crush down this craving for the next book in the series, which comes out in hardback soon. I'm trying to be good, and economical, and wait until it comes out in paper. Besides, I have 100+ print books waiting to be read and more than that in e-book format. There's never enough time for books! Make time for this one, though.

Spotlight Saturday: BACKWOODS BOOGIE, by Trish Jackson

Today's Spotlight is on a fellow author at Uncial Press, Trish Jackson, with Backwoods Boogie, the third book in her Redneck Series, set to be released by Uncial Press on November 14th, 2014.

Redneck P.I. Twila Taunton cannot believe she is working for that scumbag, Jimmie-Ray, the man who stood her up on her wedding day.  She may appear to be tough, but she's a lot softer on the inside than anyone would imagine, and she can't allow the gentle Brit, Pam Taylor to go to prison for a murder she clearly did not commit. 
Twila brings in the big guns to help hunt down the real killer.  Her former neighbor, and master computer hacker, Gasser Cunha, travels from Boston to see if he can figure out who set Pam up by spoofing her email. With the help of policewoman  Mad Maddy, who is a raging nymphomaniac, Gasser and Twila are able to 'borrow' the murdered woman's computer from the police evidence locker. 

During the course of the investigation, Twila discovers a 'bunch' of dogs being abused in an illegal puppy mill, and hears rumors of a dog fighting ring in the area. With her canine companion, Scratch, in mind, she gathers all her quirky friends to help rescue them, including hard-drinking, Harley-riding octogenarian Great Aunt Essie, a vigilante biker gang, and her long-distance lover, hunky Harland O'Connor.Oh… and she might be pregnant after some very passionate make-up sex in Harland's parents' barn. (You can read about that in Kick Assitude)
Find out more about Redneck detective, Twila Taunton, at  http://trishjax.tripod.com/redneckpiseries/redneck-p.i.html 
Trish Jackson writes provocative and soul-stirring romantic suspense/thrillers and romantic comedies, focusing on animals, astrology, and the passions, dreams, and tragedies in the lives of country folk in small towns.

REMINDER: Books & Brunch

In case you didn't see the first notice:

I've been invited back to the BOOKS & BRUNCH, sponsored by the Friends of the Keystone-LaGrange Library. Any chance you can come? I'd love to meet you face-to-face!!

WHERE: LaGrange Lion's Hall
240 Glendale Street
LaGrange, Ohio

WHEN: 9am to Noon
Saturday, August 9

This is going to be my third year. It's a lot of fun, the food is incredible, and I've met a lot of interesting authors with some fascinating books -- humor, history, family memoirs, adventure.

I'll have print copies of more than a dozen Tabor Heights books with me, along with lots of Commonwealth Universe novels. Now's your chance to stock up and catch up!

Hope to see you there!!

Letters to Kel: BLEAH, MEH, OR YEAH?

I just finished editing an academic research paper that the author decided he would publish in book form to elucidate and educate and inform and enlighten others who are interested in the same question that he explored.

Got lost in all that convoluted language? Yeah, and I was afraid his readers would be lost in his academic, dry, repetitive, formulaic reporting. There is a vast difference between writing to please the requirements of your doctoral committee and the style and patterns of academia, and writing for ordinary readers. I had to ask the author: who is your audience for this book? More academics, or ordinary readers from many walks of life who just want to know what you found out? More than half the book was spent on discussing the research methods he used, the philosophies behind the development of those methods, and how he went about obtaining his sources. If his audience was strictly academics who care about the HOW just as much as (or even more than) the WHAT, then he would be fine. But if he was aiming at an audience that just wanted to know WHAT he learned, and didn't care HOW, then he was in trouble.

So the point of all this is: KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE. Who are you writing for? What do they want to read? What are their tastes? What are they expecting when they open up your book? And that means knowing the proper labels to put on your book. Sure, romances sell big, but you can't write vampire-hunters-in-the-Old-West-meet-time-travelers-who-fall-through-to-the-time-of-dinosaurs, label it as a romance (when there is nary a longing look or kiss), and then expect readers to just devour it. The ones who like romances are going to be disgusted, and the ones who want vampires, time travel, and dinosaurs aren't going to be looking for it in the romance aisle.

What reaction are you going for?
Bleah = you didn't give me what I wanted, you didn't follow through on your promise, I'm going to avoid your writing from now on.
Meh = okay, you kinda gave me what you promised, but it wasn't what I was looking for, not what I enjoy, I might give you another chance, but don't disappoint me again.
Yeah = you followed through on your promises, it was what I was looking for, it was a lot of fun, I am definitely putting you on my "must read more" list.

An apocryphal story from a writing conference has an editor for a major romance publisher telling about a query letter she got. Essentially the author said, "Romance is garbage, nobody wants to read it, I have a book full of blood and destruction and a tough guy who doesn't have time for stupid women. Buy my book and you'll make a million." That author didn't know the publisher, didn't know the market, and definitely didn't know how to write a query that would make the editor say, "Yeah!"

So what am I saying? Essentially, just because YOU think a topic or story line is fascinating, that does not necessarily mean others will. You may be a great story teller, but it won't do you any good if the book isn't labeled properly and it is brought to the attention of people who want to read that particular type of story. Know your market, know your readers. Give them what they want. Make them say YEAH!

BOOKS & BRUNCH -- Saturday, August 9, in LaGrange, Ohio

I've been invited back to the BOOKS & BRUNCH, sponsored by the Friends of the Keystone-LaGrange Library. Any chance you can come? I'd love to meet you face-to-face!!

WHERE: LaGrange Lion's Hall
240 Glendale Street
LaGrange, Ohio

WHEN: 9am to Noon
Saturday, August 9

This is going to be my third year. It's a lot of fun, the food is incredible, and I've met a lot of interesting authors with some fascinating books -- humor, history, family memoirs, adventure.

I'll have print copies of more than a dozen Tabor Heights books with me, plus Commonwealth Universe books. Now's your chance to stock up and catch up!

Hope to see you there!!

Off the Bookshelf: MAGNIFICENT DEVICES by Shelley Adina

Today we're exploring the 3rd book in Shelley Adina's Magnificent Devices series .... appropriately titled MAGNIFICENT DEVICES.

Lady Claire and her ragamuffin charges have fled to America with friends to escape quite a few debacles that ended book two -- starting with breaking her engagement to Lord James. Claire has to get out of there, to escape a man who is a misogynist, thief, liar, cheat, and all around egotistical, self-righteous bully.

Escaping to the wild west of America isn't exactly the escape she wants. The adventurers in their magnificent airship run into pirates -- also in an airship. Claire escapes death, and is presumed dead more than once. Just when she's escaped the frying pan of enemies and thieves and desperados who will stop at nothing for their own profit, she finds she's landed in the fire -- and clutches -- of some old enemies.

Non-stop action, Claire's common sense approach to solving problems, and sometimes being a little too noble for her own good ... major fun. I wish I didn't have books on deadlines and a day job. Otherwise I'd just sit and read until I've devoured the whole series!

Do start at the beginning. You don't want to miss a moment -- especially since the author builds on what happened in previous books to bring about the latest quandary for our intrepid heroine and her no-nonsense, unsinkable, daring companions.

Spotlight Saturday: THE LADY AND THE OFFICER by Mary Ellis

 Today's Spotlight is on a new Civil War novel by friend and fellow ACFW Ohio member, Mary Ellis.
The Lady and the Officer
Love, loyalty, and espionage…how does a lady live with all three? As a nurse after the devastating battle of Gettysburg, Madeline Howard saves the life of Elliot Haywood, a colonel in the Confederacy. But even though she must soon make her home in the South, her heart and political sympathies belong to General James Downing, a Union Army corps commander. 
Colonel Haywood has not forgotten the beautiful nurse who saved his life, and when he unexpectedly meets her again in Richmond, he is determined to win her. While spending time with officers and war department officials in her uncle’s palatial home, Madeline overhears plans for Confederate attacks against the Union soldiers. She knows passing along this information may save the life of her beloved James, but at what cost? Can she really betray the trust of her family and friends? Two men are in love with Madeline. Will her faith in God show her the way to a bright future, or will her choices bring devastation on those she loves?
Mary Ellis has written twelve bestselling novels set in the Amish community. Before "retiring" to write full-time, Mary taught middle school and worked as a sales rep for Hershey Chocolate. She has enjoyed a lifelong passion for American history and is currently working on several romances set during the Civil War. The Lady and the Officer is her current release.Media links:http://http://www.maryellis.net// http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Mary-Ellis/126995058236And the purchase link: The Lady and the Officer (Civil War Heroines Series)

Letters to Kel: EVEN WHEN IT STOPS BEING FUN?

A long time ago, when I was just getting my feet when in terms of publishing -- and getting lots, and lots, and I mean LOTS of rejection letters, I made myself a promise.

"I'll stop writing when it stops being fun."

I had heard enough stories and warnings and read enough industry articles and books on writing, I knew my chances of getting published at all were kind of thin, and then the odds of making decent money were even thinner, and being able to make a living off my writing ... well, the odds were so thin, I could see through them.

So why keep tormenting myself -- why should YOU keep slogging through, sacrificing a social life and family time and money and enduring headaches and frustration for the sake of something that might never turn out according to your dreams? Yeah, be smart and stop when it stops being fun!

Warning: If you're really dedicated, if you're passionate about your writing -- let me emphasize, passionate about WRITING, about fleshing out the stories in your head and giving faces and life to the voices in your head, writing as opposed to selling -- it gets under your skin. You can't NOT write. Even if nobody ever reads what you wrote, you have to write. It's your private therapy as well as your escape hatch and emergency pressure valve. It's your mental and emotional balance.

Lately, I've been reminded of my promise to myself that I would stop when I wasn't having fun anymore. I've been battling this wretched book, something I wrote years ago, that I've taken out of storage and made major renovations on it. The monster wasn't cooperating. I kept hitting roadblocks in the revision process, coming up with more and more problems that needed resolving. Plus the frustration of seeing what I wrote nearly thirty years ago and realizing ... well, it's not half bad, but then it's not really that good, either. Ever have one of those days? Try it on for about five, six months. If I hadn't pitched this book to an editor I met at a conference, and she wants to see it, I would have abandoned it. Because on top of this self-imposed deadline and the promise I made to the editor, I have another book due at the same time -- and this book is under contract.

Pressure, pressure, pressure! Self-imposed ulcers!
Did you hear the shriek of exhilaration last week, and the sounds of chains falling to the ground? I finished my latest revision on the horrid thing, which gave me permission to get to work on the book that's due at the end of the month -- and since this blog is scheduled for Thursday the 31st, that means the book is due TOMORROW. Ahhhh, the joy and wonder and anticipation of getting back to the book that I really want to work on. It's going to be so fun, creating the last few new scenes to flesh it out, and I know the rest of the revisions are going to be so easy, so fun. Yeah, FUN!

Even when I'm in agony, smacking my head against the wall and wondering why I keep doing this to myself, making promises and committing myself to horrid stories I don't wanna work on anymore ... I know that it will soon be over and I can go back to having FUN.

So stick to it. Keep working. Focus on the drudgery and get it out of the way. The fun is waiting again, right around the corner.

Off the Bookshelf: HER OWN DEVICES, by Shelley Adina

Book Two of the Magnificent Devices series, Steampunk by Shelley Adina.

Lady Claire just keeps going, meeting problems and solving them. She has a job, she is settling in quite nicely with her brood of alley mice and civilizing them, and if she could just evade her mother's plans to marry her off, everything would be peachy.

If only!

Admittedly, she does get herself into a few situations, makes promises and commitments where the reader just sits back and shouts, "No. You'll regret it. Don't do it!" And it doesn't help when Claire knows she's heading for a hard time and resolves that she'll just get out of it when the time is right. (I can't tell you any more details to clear up your confusion, because that would give away the story!)

Suffice to say that I've bought several more books about Lady Claire and can't stop reading. Thank goodness there ARE more books. What a fun addiction. Especially when at the end of this book, it looks like we're heading for a dirigible ride across the ocean, with pirates and tycoons and the Wild West waiting on the other side. Can't wait!

In the Spotlight: THIS REDEEMER, by Jerusha Agen

Today's Spotlight is on fellow ACFW member, Jerusha Agen, with her newest book:

THIS REDEEMER

Not all prisons have bars.
Charlotte Davis should know—she’s lived in one for years. She can handle getting slapped around by her boyfriend, Tommy, and even being forced to do things she would never choose, but when Tommy turns on her ten-year-old daughter, Charlotte must try to escape. With nowhere else to turn, Charlotte runs to the stranger her dying mother believed would help her.

Looking only for shelter or cash, Charlotte finds a family she longs to call her own and a gentle man she could learn to love. But if Tommy catches up with Charlotte, these strangers could learn the truth about her. Will they send her back to Tommy? Or can a Father’s love set her free?
Jerusha Agen is an author, screenwriter, and film critic. Check out her other titles: THIS DANCE and THIS SHADOW, Available Now!

Find THIS REDEEMER online: http://www.amazon.com/This-Redeemer-Jerusha-Agen/dp/1938092562/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1404751823&sr=1-1&keywords=this+redeemer
Or check out: www.SDGwords.com,  www.RedeemerReviews.com