Mike Befeler's Blog, page 5

Presentation and Book Signings at Mystery Ink and Book Carnival

I’ll be presenting and signing my middle grade mystery, TheAdventures of Sure Luck Holmes, at Mystery Ink at The Coffee Tale 7561 Center Ave. Suite 39,Huntington Beach, CA, Sat. Nov. 30 at 10 AM and BookCarnival 348 S. Tustin, Orange, CA, on Sun. Dec. 8 at 2 PM

Fifth-grader ShermanHolmes and his sidekick Johanna Watson solve mysteries surrounding the BakerStreet Elementary School in Londonberry, California. Nicknamed Sure Luck,Sherman always cracks the case, but invariably for the wrong reason that onlyJohanna catches, particularly when it involves Sherman’s nemesis, the schoolbully Jim Moriarty. Johanna also assists Sure Luck as he prepares for hissecond level private detective’s exam, involving both a written section and asurprise practical test that will require all of Sure Luck’s skill.

Publication of The Adventures of Sure Luck Holmes

Print and electronic editions of mymiddle grade mystery, The Adventures of Sure Luck Holmes, are now available:

Print edition: Amazon.com: The Adventures of SureLuck Holmes: 9781941271711: Befeler, Mike: Books

Electronic edition: The Adventures of SureLuck Holmes - Kindle edition by Befeler, Mike. Children Kindle eBooks @ Amazon.com.

Fifth-grader ShermanHolmes and his sidekick Johanna Watson solve mysteries surrounding the BakerStreet Elementary School in Londonberry, California. Nicknamed Sure Luck,Sherman always cracks the case, but invariably for the wrong reason that onlyJohanna catches, particularly when it involves Sherman’s nemesis, the schoolbully Jim Moriarty. Johanna also assists Sure Luck as he prepares for hissecond level private detective’s exam, involving both a written section and asurprise practical test that will require all of Sure Luck’s skill.

This is my twenty-third publishedbook following the most recent Murder in the Museo Kircheriano and A MysteryYarn.

www.mikebefeler.com

Standalone or Series?

As readers, do youprefer standalone or series? As a writer, I have written both. My first publicationwas the six book Paul Jacobson Geezer-lit Mystery Series. I also have severalbooks with sequels: The Back Wing and The Front Wing; Court Trouble andParadise Court. I also have the Omnipodge Trilogy of Old Detectives Home, LastGasp Motel, and A Mystery Yarn. My other nine published books are standalones.The reason for standalones are that I get an idea and want to pursue it eventhough it might not lead to a series. Some examples: Unstuff Your Stuff is a mysterythat came about because I got interested in what professional organizers do.Murder in the Museo Kircheriano is a historical mystery based on the fascinatingcharacter Athanasius Kircher who was know as the last man to know everything.The Tesla Legacy is a thriller based upon inventions of the brilliant inventorNikola Tesla. Mystery of the Dinner Playhouse came about because of familymembers who have been in the theater world. Murder on the Switzerland Trail isa historical mystery set in the mountains of Colorado where I hiked on all thepublicly available sections of what had once been a narrow-gauge railroad bed.The Best Chicken Thief is a biography of a World War II veteran I met who wasin the infantry in Europe, captured by the Germans and liberated by theRussians. The VV Agency is a paranormal private investigator novel and happenedbecause my then agent suggested that I should explore a paranormal mystery. Theidea for Death of a Scam Artist came about when I became intrigued with elder abuseand people who preyed on seniors. My upcoming middle grade mystery, TheAdventures of Sure Luck Holmes, which will be released in November can become aseries.

Speaking Opportunities

I always appreciatebeing invited to give a presentation to non-profit and service organizations.Earlier this week I spoke to a church group who liked my sense of humorand asked terrific questions.

Critique Groups

I’m in a onlinecritique group with four other writers. We submit up to twenty pages to eachother every two weeks and then meet on Zoom to discuss our comments. This is an excellent way to get feedback on a manuscript from fellowwriters who are also discerning readers. When I started writing in 2001, I metwith a fellow employee to discuss our manuscripts. Then I joined an in-personcritique group of mystery writers and another critique group that met in mytown. Along the way I also joined an online critique group. Then for a numberof years I was not in any critique group. I’m glad to be back in a critiquegroup because this is a way to improve my manuscripts and help others improvetheirs.

Taking Care of Grand-cats

I’m currently feedingour daughter’s two cats. They come running when I get there, because theyassociate me with food. After they gobble their food, I give them a goodscritch before leaving.

 

Men of Mystery

Last Saturday Iparticipated in the Men of Mystery one-day mystery conference in Long Beach,CA. Along with the other authors, I gave a brief pitch about my two most recentmystery novels A Mystery Yarn and Murder in the Museo Kircheriano. Ienjoyed seeing old friends and making new ones.

Fighter Pilot or Bomber Pilot

One over-simplifiedclassification of how people act is to determine if they are like fighter pilotsor bomber pilots. Bomber pilots are very single focused on their target.Fighter pilots are scanning the skies around them for threats and targets. Areyou a fighter pilot or a bomber pilot?

The Adventures of Sure Luck Holmes

The electronic edition of my middle grade mystery, TheAdventures of Sure Luck Holmes, can now be pre-ordered:

The Adventures of Sure Luck Holmes - Kindle edition byBefeler, Mike. Children Kindle eBooks @ Amazon.com.

Fifth-grader ShermanHolmes and his sidekick Johanna Watson solve mysteries surrounding the BakerStreet Elementary School in Londonberry, California. Nicknamed Sure Luck,Sherman always cracks the case, but invariably for the wrong reason that onlyJohanna catches, particularly when it involves Sherman’s nemesis, the schoolbully Jim Moriarty. Johanna also assists Sure Luck as he prepares for hissecond level private detective’s exam, involving both a written section and asurprise practical test that will require all of Sure Luck’s skill.

Different Writing Approaches During My Writing Career

I began writing in 2001 when I was 56 yearsold. At the time I was still working, so I adapted a technique from JuliaCameron’s book, The Artist Way, called morning pages. I would reviewwhere I had left off the day before and write three handwritten pages firstthing every morning. When I got home from work, I’d transcribe these pages intomy computer. This is how I wrote my first four published novels. Then when Iretired in 2007, I wrote directly into the computer every morning that I wasn’tdoing a family activity or book event. This resulted in completed manuscriptsfor approximately thirty books. Then in 2015 when we moved back to SouthernCalifornia from Colorado, I shifted into another phase. Since then, I havewritten a few new manuscripts but have mainly focused on editing my portfolioof completed manuscripts and getting a number of them published.