Peg Herring's Blog - Posts Tagged "peg-herring"

People often ask authors where their ideas come from. I speak not for others, but as for me--not a clue most of the time.
THE DEAD DETECTIVE AGENCY, my January release, seems to have stemmed from a conversation I had with my son, a Merrill Lynch VP. He mentioned that he had fired one of their employees for selling away. I asked what that was, and he explained. It took root somewhere in my head, and the idea for a mystery formed.
Where the dead part came from, I could not tell you. I had no real desire to jump on the paranormal bandwagon, and to be honest, the story is not a typical paranormal: no vampires, no screaming vengeance from beyond the grave, and most certainly no ghouls or zombies. Think the Thomas part of Odd Thomas, not the fighting-other-worldly-creatures part. Kind of gentle paranormal, kind of speculating on things other-worldly without being scary or gloom-and-doom-ish. It's a mystery that just happens to involve dead people, and even though I don't know where the idea came from, I had a great time with it. And sometime in January, I hope a lot of other people do, as well.

To promote my new release, THE DEAD DETECTIVE AGENCY, (LL Publishing), I would like to create a “blog crawl”. Somewhat like a pub crawl, a blog crawl begins at one place--my blog site--and meanders through a lot of similar places, like your site. Unlike a pub crawl, however, no one requires a taxi to get back home at the end. :)
The idea is that I will do a series of posts in February, each one leading to the next and referring to the one before. The posts will be entertaining and challenging and will focus on the English language. I have chosen to call it IS PERFECT ENGLISH DEAD? It will be designed to interest both readers and writers, having fun with the eccentricities of our language. Hopefully, people will join the crawl, visiting all the sites along the way. It’s promotion for my book; it’s exposure for your blog. Symbiosis!
If you would like to join the blog crawl, simply let me know which weekday in February works for you. If you’d like to choose the topic, I have posted a list below.
THE DEAD SPEAK PERFECT ENGLISH
Weekdays in February)
1. Why Do We Say That? Part I
2. The Dreaded (Overused and Abused) Adverb
3. Eccentric Phrases
4. Losing the Spice
5. Names Into Words
6. Being Precise
7. Same Word/Different Word
8. Portmanteau Words
9. The Possessive Problem
10. Why Do We Say That? Part II
11. Inventing Words
12. He Said, She Panted
13. Read It Aloud
14. Repetition
15. The Ones Spell Check Won’t Catch
16. And What About Contractions?
17. Slowing Readers—Bad Policy
18. Dialogue and What It Reveals
19. Metaphors: Beautiful, Extended, and Stretched to Breaking
20. Why Do We Say That? Part III

You've heard of a pub crawl. Well, this is the same except it's not.
Same: You "crawl" from one place to another with a lot of other people and read my guest posts.
Different: It's virtual: no taxis, no traffic, no crowded rooms.
Same: You "travel" with like-minded people who are out for a good time.
Different: You'll never see them face-to-face.
Same: You meet new people, visit new places, and enjoy the trip.
Different: No hangover at the end.

Peg's Blog Crawl begins tomorrow, January 31, at my regular blog: http://itsamysterytomepegherring.blog.... My topic is the English language, its origins, its variety, its general craziness. I've named it "Do the Dead Speak Perfect English?" in honor of my February release, THE DEAD DETECTIVE AGENCY.

Did I mention prizes? I'm giving away a book each week, either print or e-book, as the winning commenters choose. I also have some little surprises along the way, so join in and chime in (that's how you enter the prize drawings). You can indulge every weekday in February, learning a little about the eccentricities of English, and you won't have to crawl home!

Here's the Schedule:

Feb. 1 Peg Herring-Why Do We Say That? Part I-Find it at http://itsamysterytomepegherring.blog...
Feb. 2 Chris Verstraete-Slowing Readers—Bad Policy-Find it at http://candidcanine.blogspot.com
Feb. 3 Melissa Bradley-He Said, She Panted http://melissasimaginarium.blogspot.com
Feb. 4 Marilyn Meredith-The Dreaded Adverb http://marilynmeredith.blogspot.com
Feb. 5 Weekend-Draw for Prizes from Week 1 http://itsamysterytomepegherring.blog...
Feb 6 Weekend—
Feb. 7 Rhonda Dossett-The Ones Spell Check Won’t Catch http://thestilettogang.blogspot.com
Feb 8 Nancy Cohen-Metaphors http://nancyjcohen.wordpress.com
Feb. 9 Kaye George-Names Into Words http://travelswithkaye.blogspot.com
Feb 10 Lisa Haselton-Losing the Spice http://lisahaseltonsreviewsandintervi...
Feb 11. Chris Redding-Inventing Words http://chrisreddingauthor.blogspot.com

Feb 12. Weekend-Draw for Prizes from Week 2 http://itsamysterytomepegherring.blog...
Feb.13.BONUS POST Lelia Taylor Syntax and Sentence Structure http://www.cncbooks.com/blog
Feb.14 Jenny Milchman-Why Do We Say That? Part II suspenseyourdisbelief.com
Feb.15. Pat Brown-Dialogue and What It Reveals http://themysteryworldofpabrown.blogs... and http://pabrown.livejournal.com
Feb. 16 Debbi Mack-Portmanteau Words http://midlistlife.wordpress.com
Feb. 17 Peg Brantley-The Possessive Problem http://www.suspensenovelist.blogspot
Feb 18 Bo Parker-Read It Aloud http://www.cobbledstones.com
Feb 19 Weekend-Draw for Prizes from Week 3 http://itsamysterytomepegherring.blog...
Feb. 20 Weekend
Feb. 21 Jeff Marks-And What About Contractions? http://www.thelittleblogofmurder.com
Feb 22 Geraldine Evans-Idioms http://geralineevanscom.blogspot.com
Feb. 23 Maryann Miller-Eccentric Phrases http://its-not-all-gravy.blogspot.com
Feb. 24 Peg Herring Being Precise http://crimespace.ning.com/profiles/b...
Feb. 25 –Peg Herring Bad Words http://criminalmindsatwork.blogspot.com/
Feb. 26 Weekend-Draw for Prizes from Week 4 http://itsamysterytomepegherring.blog...
Feb. 27 Weekend
Feb. 29 Stacy Juba-Why Do We Say That? Part III http://stacyjuba.com/blog
March 1-Final Drawing for Prizes from All Entries http://itsamysterytomepegherring.blog...

Today (Jan.31) starts my Blog Crawl (a pub crawl mixed with a blog tour). There are prizes to be had by commenting on the posts as I travel from blog to blog during the month of February. You can find the details at
itsamysterytomepegherring.blogspot.com

As you follow the crawl, you'll be entertained with uses and abuses of the English language. Each week some lucky reader will win a copy of my February release, THE DEAD DETECTIVE AGENCY
(either print or e-book format, your choice).

So get over there and get started!

Win free books/e-books on the Blog Crawl!

Today's stop is at Chris Verstraete's blog, and the post is "Slowing Readers-Bad Policy". Find it at http://candidcanine.blogspot.com

Here are my stops on Peg's Blog Crawl for next week. Comment and you might win a copy of THE DEAD DETECTIVE AGENCY in either print or e-book form.
Feb. 7 Rhonda Dossett-The Ones Spell Check Won’t Catch http://thestilettogang.blogspot.com
Feb 8 Nancy Cohen-Metaphors http://nancyjcohen.wordpress.com
Feb. 9 Kaye George-Names Into Words http://travelswithkaye.blogspot.com
Feb 10 Lisa Haselton-Losing the Spice http://lisahaseltonsreviewsandintervi...
Feb 11. Chris Redding-Inventing Words http://chrisreddingauthor.blogspot.com
Feb 12. Weekend-Draw for Prizes from Week 2
Feb.13. Lelia Taylor Syntax and Sentence Structure http://www.cncbooks.com/blog

On the Road Again
In my dreams, a week dances tantalizingly just over the horizon. This week is filled with nothing. No appointments, no road trips, no phone calls. In my dream, I work at one of my three computers (the sitting down at the desk one, the standing up when my back is tired one, and the go-anywhere laptop one) all day, every day, and at the end of the week book #3 of the Simon & Elizabeth series, which is in bits and pieces at this moment, melds into a seamless story with a beginning, a middle, and and end that makes perfect sense for the reader.
That's the dream. Last fall, I promised myself January through March for writing, since we decided not to travel this winter. I'm not sure where January and February went, but March is speeding by and I've got
not one, but two trips on the docket.
So what do I do about those promises to stay home and write? I will do what most authors I know do: write in short bursts, take every available moment to get the story told, work to make it come together when I can.
And plan for a new dream: that April, May, or even June will provide that empty week that dances just ahead of me, tempting but always just out of reach.

Mystery writers get together, and they talk. They discuss how hard it is to keep their books "real": correct police procedures, well-drawn protagonists, and non-stereotypical antagonists. We sweat, toil, and reread a thousand times to be sure the mystery makes sense, the ending adds up, and the world is set right at the end.



Then comes reality. People who should get no attention at all are splashed all over the media as if the lives they are leading make sense. I won't say the names (because the whole process makes me sick), but you can name five "celebrities" without even trying who are fawned upon by press and fans for their disgusting behavior. Come on! If you saw certain Hollywood/sports/rich-kid types in a downtown alley, doing what they do, (taking drugs, flashing their privates, ranting incoherently, etc.) you'd hurry away with a shiver. Yet when such things are done in a mansion, by people with more money than brains, too many Americans think it's okay, even entertaining. Oh, they laugh and say, "I just like to see what he/she/they will do next." They don't seem to realize that by providing an audience, they're encouraging, even paying for, bad behavior. If they read it in a mystery, they would think, "People would never go to a concert hall and pay to see a drug-crazed person rant on stage for an hour."



Then there's the question of what is real. Current TV shows depict "reality" in such bizarre ways that no one except a kindergartener should buy it. Maybe it's my years as a drama director, but the staging in those shows seems so obvious to me that I can't get past it. Still, we haven't caught up to the Romans yet, paying for the chance to see men die. Score a half point for us.



Then there's politics, where no one even knows what real is anymore. What we know is that telling the truth in the political arena is the kiss of death. It's all about spin. Given a little time, the public forgets what their opinion was, anyway. Leaders of other nations are our enemies, then our friends, then our enemies again. A pol who for years acted with callous disregard for the good of the nation writes a memoir, making himself look heroic. And one who intends to run for President in the next election claims he committed adultery because he cares about America, even though at the time he was harshly critical of the President's sexual behavior.



Could we ever get away with that one in a novel? I wouldn't even try. Reality is way less real than fiction. In my books at least, the good guys win in the end, and the egotistical, immoral pigs get what they deserve. I guess that's why writers like me like their reality better than the "real" thing.

I've certainly done my share of carping over authors' failings, both live and online. I am impatient with characters who act in ways real people never would, with plots that don't make complete sense at the end, and especially with killers who come out of nowhere in the last chapter. However, I don't pretend to be a critic. Like so many other people, I only know--and only want to talk about--what I like.

I've heard writers and readers say that critics don't matter. "I never choose a book based on what the

critics say", or, "If people buy my book, who cares if the critics pan it?"

That all might be true, but when a critic says a book is wonderful, any author HAS to be thrilled. I'm a terrible chicken about my own reviews, but my publisher sent me one on Friday with the note, "Tell everyone."

Okay, that sounded pretty good. Still, I'd only read one sentence of the review she used as a teaser on the website, and I was reluctant to read more. I'm the type that finds that one even slightly critical part of the whole review and focuses on it. I'd promised myself I wasn't going to read any reviews, simply to protect myself from shifting my writing to what someone else said I should do rather than what I do.

A friend read the whole thing and said, "Go read it, Peg", so I did. It was wonderful. It was enough to convince me for all of five minutes that I really can write.

And then I started thinking about Book #2: How am I ever going to live up to that critic's expectations a second time?

It's a great feeling, getting a good review. But then you have to remind yourself, what matters in the next book is what you write, not what someone might say about it.

Read the review of THE DEAD DETECTIVE AGENCY at http://www.nyjournalofbooks.com/revie...

Sylvia Ramsey interviewed me for her blog, asking about SHAKESPEARE'S BLOOD, my other work, and the way I write. It was a lot of fun, so take a look!
http://wwwthouhtfulreflections.blogsp...