Michelle L. Levigne's Blog, page 49

Snap It All -- CLUES

 

Some things you need to know about problems we had during set-up for the event tonight.

The stray dog was a royal pain. It made the rounds of our tables, walking under the tables, trying to chew on the tablecloths, and nosing at our boxes and bags. It obviously knew Fran was scared of him and kept going back to her table every time the rest of us chased it away from ours. She jumped up on a bench twice when he got too close, and a third time he chased her nearly to the bathroom. We all cheered when Victoria called Parks and Recreation to complain and ask for help, because after all, dogs aren't allowed out without leashes. Still, we had no idea if anyone was coming in response to Victoria's phone call, since she could only leave a message.

For the last 15 to 20 minutes before the event officially started and our guests showed up, we were all scattered, checking our cars, changing our clothes, taking phone calls, and walking in circles trying to get a better wireless signal. We were checking social media for last-minute responses to our posts that the event was about to begin and the "doors" were opening. As far as any of us knew, the pavilion was never left without someone to watch our tables. Still, how could we be sure? We had so much still to do, and we were kind of behind schedule thanks to that dog. A few times we were busy anchoring things down, when the breeze picked up and blew flyers and business cards off the tables.

Then with everything else happening, I got an emergency phone call. Not something I wanted or needed right then.  Some of my writing friends have been having trouble with people posting accusations that they stole other people's stories, and trying to get them banned from Amazon and Goodreads and have their reviews taken down from review sites. I was getting threats from people who claimed some of my books were stolen, but they hadn't followed through yet.

Well, the phone call was from an agent I have been trying to get interested in representing me for about six months now. She had questions about these accusations. It turns out these "trolls" have been contacting various agents, making their accusations. She wanted to ask about several titles that were on the accusation list. No, none of those titles were stolen -- they had been published years ago under different titles. These idiots were accusing me of stealing MY OWN BOOKS, making a few cosmetic changes, and then republishing under a new title.

Yeah, problem solved. Sort of. I hope. We just won't know until she and the other agents being targeted by these trolls take some serious actions of their own. Nice to know we have some powerful people who want to shut up the trolls!

So yeah, I was kind of distracted when I was busy with that phone call.

BUT -- not so distracted that I didn't see Fran go running into the bathroom when that dang stray dog showed up again. I was about halfway through the phone call, and pacing back and forth in the parking lot by the bathroom, trying to keep the phone signal strong, when she peered out and asked me something about the dog. I wasn't sure what she was asking, but I didn't see it, so I tried to signal her it was all clear, while trying to listen to the agent.

We were all re-gathering in the pavilion when Christy's husband showed up to make a "we're ready to get started" video, to post. That was when we realized the camera was missing.

(REMEMBER: "Facts" presented during the mystery are not actual, real-life facts, but made up for the sake of the mystery.....)

WONDER WHAT'S GOING ON HERE? There's a mystery to be solved, with a PRIZE to be awarded Friday, May 6. Check this page on Facebook, and get to work!

https://www.facebook.com/groups/869333297800405

Come Join the Fun -- A Mystery Party

Snap It All -- The Camera is Gone

A Mystery Event on Facebook

Link: https://www.facebook.com/groups/869333297800405

Join us starting 5:30pm EST Thursday, meet the vendors at this event (and the suspects ...) and start gathering clues as you listen to the investigator interrogate us. A valuable camera goes missing just a short time before an event at the park -- who took it, and why?

 What else are you going to do on a chilly May evening -- especially if you're tired after Cinco de Mayo? (and we won't even mention all the fun you had on Wednesday on Star Wars Day  .... May the Fourth be With You ....)

Check back here during the party, when I'll post some confessions, details I don't tell the investigator ... until pressed. 

Oh, by the way, did I mention there was a PRIZE?

And here's the INTRO VIDEO I made for the party.

New release sample: THE LIVING PROOF GETS THE BLUES

 About three weeks before the Sunday school picnic, several boys reported to Angela that Tass had asked them to take pictures inside Divine's Emporium. He would pay them to go into every room in the shop and take pictures of the contents. One of the boys asked what he wanted the pictures for, and Tass told him, with a straight face, that he was on a mission from God to rid our town of "evil influences." If the boys took "evil goods" from the shop when he asked, they would be paid even more. When one boy said that sounded like stealing, Tass told him it wasn't stealing if it was a mission from God.

The boys were smart enough to know there wasn't enough money in the world to convince them to steal from Angela. Taking something without paying for it was stealing, no matter how much the slick-suited, big-voiced, crazy-eyed man twisted words around. The boys went straight to Angela and told her. She called Gordon, who confronted Tass.

I was so proud of Gordon. Tass got all self-righteous and snarly. He spit when he got really wound up, and declared that his mission from God overruled everything that mere mortals might say. Gordon snapped out one of my favorite lines from Ladyhawke. "Sir, I talk to God all the time, and He's never mentioned you."

Tass threatened the destruction of his soul. Gordon just smiled at him and told him his soul had already been given to Jesus, and Tass had no say in what happened to it. Then he took the body camera recording and gave it to Chief Tanner, putting the whole encounter on record. 

From that day, Tass went on the offensive -- as if he wasn't offensive already? -- against Divine's Emporium and the Neighborlee Police.

NEW RELEASE!

 New release TODAY.

The 13th and FINAL book in the Neighborlee, Ohio contemporary fantasy series.

Available in paper, ebook, and audiobook.

The Living Proof Gets the Blues

 

 

The guardians face their greatest dilemma, when a New Age cult threatens to drive the Grandstones out of Neighborlee -- and take their place. Better the devil they know than the one they don't?

 

Saving Neighborlee Children's Home from foreclosure, and stopping an invasion from otherworldly forces could all depend on Pastor Rocky "getting the band back together." Problem: everyone else died in a fiery crash.

 

Or did they?

 

Multiple enemy forces unite to attack the town of Neighborlee, attempting to turn Pastor Rocky into their newest weapon.

 

Big mistake.

 

New release sample: THE UNWELCOME WAGON

 Mrs. Tinderbeck shook her head and sighed loudly when Saundra stepped into her office. She said nothing about Twila, and that was both irritating and comforting. Saundra itched to know what compelling reason kept Twila working and stopped the library from firing her. Maybe she was only this way toward people she didn't know? At the same time, Saundra didn't want to know. She sensed Mrs. Tinderbeck wasn't the kind of person to talk about others behind their backs. Even when they deserved it. While Saundra's mother had been oblivious about far too many things, she did have moments of deep wisdom. Long ago, after hearing Saundra and her playmates chatter about a school nemesis, she had pointed out that people who said nasty things to Saundra about other people most likely said equally nasty things about her to those same people.

After that, Saundra's first day of work sped by with fewer new-kid-on-the-team awkward moments and mistakes than she had anticipated. She was ready and eager to get to work when the daycare story group trooped through the doors at 10am. The school year started on Wednesday, and once everyone had settled in, Saundra would be handling story times and book discussions throughout the day for each grade in the elementary and middle school. The high school had access to the library during the day, but the students had to have passes to come over during study hall. All three school buildings sat on the far side of the municipal parking lot that separated the Cadburn Schools property from the library. Someone, years ago, had decided it was more efficient to have the children trot the hundred yards to the library, rather than maintain libraries in all three buildings. 

Everything about Cadburn pleased Saundra. The layout of the town was logical. She supposed when she got more acclimated to her new surroundings, she would find inconvenient things that irritated her. Right now, she felt as if someone had sat down decades ago and designed everything for maximum efficiency. She looked forward to being able to walk everywhere, until the weather turned nasty. Then she would drive from her apartment and park in the municipal lot, with access to all the shops and businesses of downtown Cadburn. 

Interested in an ONLINE Writing Conference?

 There's still time to sign up for the Mt. Zion Ridge Press online writing conference -- with 4 tracks: fiction, non-fiction, career/marketing, and audiobooks.

With keynote speakers Thomas Umstattd and Sharon Hinck .
And just to tempt you, here's a link to our conference booklet, with information on our speakers, the classes offered and our schedule.
Check it out!
https://indd.adobe.com/view/5a4c6a5d-ab18-4abf-ae9c-c2504e861748

New release sample: THE UNWELCOME WAGON

 

Twenty minutes later, Mrs. Tinderbeck completed the last official tasks of the hiring process. That meant signing Saundra into the computerized time clock, logging her into the library computer system and settling her at her desk in the children's corner of the library. Saundra deposited her lunch bag in the refrigerator in the kitchen/break room, refilled her cup from the pot on the counter, and headed back to Mrs. Tinderbeck's office for what she termed the Monday morning circle-the-wagons meeting. Twila got to the door first, stomping up from the other direction, crossed her arms, and nodded twice with a loud snort.

"It's five minutes after 9. Where is this wunderkind you were so excited about? Late, and on her first day of work. Didn't I say you should have given me the job?"

"No, you did not tell me, and no, you said nothing about wanting the position." Mrs. Tinderbeck's voice was pleasant, but with a coolness that made Saundra stop, five steps away, and vow to never have that disappointed tone directed at her. "In point of fact, Saundra was almost half an hour early this morning." 

"No, she --" Twila's head turned quickly enough to generate a loud crackle from her neck. Her nostrils pinched together, and her eyes widened as her gaze met Saundra's. She snorted, turned, and stomped back to the front desk.

Off the Bookshelf: STORY TRUMPS STRUCTURE, by Steven James

 

This is one of those writing books that you would be wise to read at least once a year.

Or maybe before you start each new writing project, if you do more than one a year.

Because there's SO MUCH stuff to keep in mind, so many wise pieces of advice, and depending on where you are in your writing journey, learning or refining your craft, different lessons will strike home more sharply than others.

This is a good book to read while struggling with a book that just isn't coming together, like it did for me -- although I can't point to the exact chapter or technique or questions that sparked that, "Oh, yeah, so THAT'S what's missing," moment. I just know that while I was reading this book, missing pieces popped into my head and I figured out what I was doing wrong and where I had to go back and delete things, move the timeline of events around, etc. 

Whew!

Invaluable for holding up different parts of the creating and revising and refining process to the light to approach the tried-and-true process from a new angle.

Big confession time -- I bought this and "Troubleshooting Your Novel" four years ago, right after attending Steven James' class at the ACFW conference, and they've been sitting on my writing books shelf ever since. I wish I had read them much, much earlier. Glad I finally read this now -- for the Great Lakes Fiction Writers book club!

Do yourself a favor, people, and read this book ASAP. You'll be glad you did.

New release sample: THE UNWELCOME WAGON

 

Saundra detoured to Book & Mug on her way to the library for her first day of work. Well, why not? The coffee drinks were incredible, and she wasn't ashamed to want to look at the used bookstore again. A true bibliophile could never have too many books. The problem wasn't the number of books but not planning ahead and getting extra bookshelves, after all.

Kai wasn't at the counter when she stepped up, but Olivia was on duty. She had sat two pews in front of her at church yesterday. Her roommate, Phoebe, had squealed when Pastor Roy introduced Saundra to the congregation and announced she was the new children's librarian. The two of them had made sure Saundra met Devona and her brother, Rufus.

"Hi, Olivia." Saundra stepped up to the counter and decided right then to make a habit of always choosing the first item on the specials board, no matter what. Live adventurously.

"Hey, Saundra. Thought I tagged you as a morning person." Olivia reached for a glass mug, then gestured at the cardboard to-go cups on the counter behind her to. "On your way to work?"

They laughed together, and Olivia confirmed the cinnamon cappuccino was a good choice. Saundra chuckled when she was a block away and realized she hadn't checked out the books. Well, there was plenty of time for that later. She did want to get to work early today.

Twila was spraying the front desk and the switchboard with disinfectant spray when Saundra came in the side door using the key Mrs. Tinderbeck gave her yesterday after the service. She muttered as she scrubbed with a neon yellow sponge. Saundra hurried past her while the woman's back was turned and headed for Mrs. Tinderbeck's office.

New release sample: THE UNWELCOME WAGON

 

Someday, he would be able to retaliate against Cadburn, and not just make it stick, but ensure Curtis was safe once and for all.

He was still thinking about that when he finished closing up the coffee shop and turned out the lights in the bookstore, lowered all the blinds, turned on the alarm system, and went upstairs. Eden had already gone to bed, and the office was dark when he peeked in. Kai went up the stairs to the third floor. Troy was at work with the door of his apartment open, meaning he wanted Kai to stop in. Something was steeping in the two-cup French press. It smelled spicy and looked purplish, with dark bits swirling around in the hot water. When Troy asked how the meeting had gone, Kai reported on Curtis' latest injury, and his need to retaliate.

"I bet Eden could dig up something strong enough to send the creep running. Get him ridden out of town on a rail." Troy tapped the glass side of the container, his gaze focused on the slowing swirl of the contents. "The problem is that he has connections, and they'll know the minute she starts digging. They're probably waiting for us to give them an excuse to strike. We ignore them, and they waste a lot of time and energy waiting for us to fight back. They do all our work for us, punishing themselves."

"Burning out a few dozen brain cells, too, hopefully," Kai offered.

That got a snort from Troy.

"Wish I could figure out why he has to pick on Curtis."

"Do jerks like him need a reason or an excuse?"