B.E. Sanderson's Blog, page 61

Jury Duty

If you're reading this, I am at jury duty today.  I had to call last night and find out if it was still on.

I got a call yesterday afternoon telling me that jury duty had been cancelled.  One of the perks of living in the back of beyond is that they call you, I guess.  Works for me.  Anyway, here's the post I wrote in the event I did have jury duty...

In MO, you get a notice that you're in the jury pool from x-month to y-month, and as trials come up, they pull from that pool.  I was in the pool from July 18th to November 20th this time, and sure enough, I got pulled for November 16th.  Four more days and I would've been home free.  Dang it.

Oh, I'm not that cheesed off about it.  I look forward to doing my part in the judicial process.  I don't look forward to the hilly drive up to the county seat first thing in the morning during Deer Hunting Season.  Fingers crossed that all the deer stay off the road for my trips there and back.

I'm also not looking forward to be jammed into a space with however many people until they get us all down to the final 12.  I have visions of being crammed between a redneck and a socialite.  Nightmares, really.

:shrug:  We'll see how it goes.

I know there were two murders in the area last year.  One of them was pleaded out a couple weeks go, so I could be on the jury for the other one (if the timing is the same for those things).  Most likely, it'll be a meth bust or some domestic thing.

Anyway, if I do sit a jury, I'll do as much of a write up on it as I can once I'm allowed to do so. (And I would've.  Seriously.)

Have you ever been on a jury?  How'd that go for you?

(Oh, and if I am sitting a jury, comments won't appear here until I get home at night.  Comment away and I'll get to them as soon as I can.)

Crime in the Media - The Long Island Serial Killer

Recently, Investigation Discovery has been airing a show called PEOPLE Magazine Investigates: The Long Island Serial Killer.  We're two episodes in (of I don't know how many installments) and I'm riveted. 

I remember hearing about this a while back when the body count had risen sufficiently for it to make national news.  There's a stretch of highway out there that someone or someones has made a perfect dumping ground.  It's horrific.  And my opinion is that there is more than one killer using that area to dump bodies.

My main point: There are two different sets with different MOs.  Yes, all of the bodies seem to have been involved in 'escort' work (with the exception of one that I'll come to in a moment).  But some of the bodies were strangled, wrapped in burlap, and buried, while others were dismembered and scattered.  The newer bodies seem to have been the ones wrapped in burlap.  There was some talk that the killer had evolved to the burlap and the burial, but that seems like a de-evolution to me.  Then they added in a third set of bodies down by Atlantic City, which seems to me to be a third killer.  Killed and lined up precisely above ground. 

Oh, it could be one killer, but that seems improbable.

Another thing they said was that the killer had broken with his MO because he killed a child.  This is where my theory gets a little unpalatable.  The mother of the toddler was an escort.  The little girl and her mother were both wearing similar jewelry.  My theory is that the mother took the kid with her on her appointment... gross, but not outside the realm of possibility. 

They also said the killer had broken with his MO because one of the victims was a male who had been beaten to death.  BUT, said male was a young Asian man whose body was found dressed in women's clothing.  My theory is that the killer picked up his escort thinking that he had a date with a woman, and when he discovered the truth, he beat the young man to death in a a rage.

Of course, the authorities probably already thought of all this, but they didn't put it into the series.  (They tend to leave a lot out of these shows.)  Still, my mind gets whirring and things start falling into place for me. 

They still haven't caught any of the perpetrators.  I suspect they've moved on.  If it is only one killer, perhaps he died some other way - a car accident, a heart attack, a stroke, etc.  Or perhaps he's incarcerated for some other crime. 

What do you think?  Have you watched that show? 

Oh Well.

I had this great idea to put my political suspense, Blood Flow, for sale on Election Day.  I mean, it seemed like a natural thing.  The problem was that, in this particular election cycle, a lot of people were avoiding social media yesterday - including myself.

Oh, I had an ad go out yesterday.  It did okay, but not great. 

Unfortunately, all I really had to prop me up on my big sale day was that ad.  I wasn't around to really push the sale.  I went fishing.  I avoided FB and Twitter. 

It's still on sale for about 8 hours.  I'm trying to pick sales up on the back end of this. 

You see, I didn't think.  I mean, I did think of this great idea.  I didn't think of the repercussions surrounding the most divisive political cycle in my lifetime.  (Okay, I vaguely remember the whole Reagan/Carter thing in '79 and from what I remember, there was a lot of hand-waving there, too. "OMG, an actor? in the white hours? :panic:" I mean, there had to be if I remember it from being a 9-yr old girl.  But then again, my memory of back then is iffy, so...) 

Anyway, what I'm saying is maybe the sale right now wasn't the best idea.  People are freaking out all over the place and it all has to do with politics.  Perhaps not the best time to pimp a book the has politics at its center - especially one that might be scary for some people.  :shrug: 

Picking the right spot for a sale is a big part of the battle. 

Then again, maybe this isn't the right book for a lot of people.  I know I've had some feedback from people who've read my other books that they won't read this one - because it is kind of scary in a way.  Hard to tell what will click with readers and what won't. 

Oh well.  Onward.

WIP Reveal

Okay, so I said yesterday over on The Writing Spectacle that I would finally talk about what I'm working on.  I wasn't trying to tease, really I wasn't.  It was just such a depressing past couple of months and the only thing that finally shook me out of it was NOT talking about what I was working on.

So, without further ado, I'm back to working on writing Natural Causes (Dennis Haggarty 2), which takes place about a year and a half after Accidental Death.  Dennis has a new job as the chief of police in the mountain town of Last Ditch, CO.  He is enjoying his more laid-back existence when some hikers discover what appear to be the aftermath of a cougar attack.  Or is it? 

I had started this ages ago, but then I got distracted, and then I got depressed.  I'm over all that now.  I'm committed to finishing this first draft by the end of the month.  Not sure when it'll be ready for public consumption.  Fingers crossed that I can have it ready sometime next year.  I'm not giving a firm date because I learned that pressure strangles my creativity.  I know... I'm such a prima donna.  Who knew? 

Anyway, you definitely won't have to wait George R.R. Martin time-frames on this.  I'll get it done by the end of the month, let it simmer a bit while I work on something else, then edit it, then set up something with my editor so she can edit it.

By the way, appropos of something complete different, Blood Flow is on sale today thru Wednesday.  It's a Kindle Countdown Deal and it'll be 99c for the duration - both here and in the UK.  There'll be an ad in Bargain Booksy for this. 

That's it in the exciting news category today.  I hope you were excited.  Any questions?

Writing to 'Expec'.

You know, I really admire people who can write to spec.  (i.e. Writing to a publisher's specifications.)  They sign a contract and then write what they've promised to write.  I couldn't do it.  I can't even write when I think the readers are expecting certain things from me.  Or, rather, I can write, but it turns out crap and then I hate myself. 

I've known this 'can't write to spec' thing for years, but I didn't really think about it because I didn't have anyone expecting anything of me.  I learned it when I tried to write my second book keeping everyone else's writing advice in mind.  OMG, that was a horrible experience.  I mean, I fixed it for the most part when I stopped writing to expectations and started writing how I write again.  It ended up being a much better book and the crappy parts got fixed during editing.  (Still not ready to rework that one so it'll be publishable, though.) 

Problem is, I forgot.  Here I was, happily zooming along publishing books I'd written while I was still sans expectations.  Then I needed to write more books and everything I was writing turned into big piles of stinking manure.  Which made me hate myself.  And my writing. 

So I stopped.

I stopped writing, that is.  I didn't stop worrying about what other people were expecting.  In fact, the more I didn't write, the worse it got.  I made promises and I was breaking them all.  I had an editor who was expecting to edit another book this year.  I had a cover artist who was expecting to design another cover this year.  I had readers who were expecting more books... 

Arrggh.  Just typing that gave me the sweats.

Anyway, I stopped.  But this time I stopped worrying about writing to what I perceive are the expectations of others - writing to expec, so to speak.  Part of doing that meant I needed to stop talking about what I was writing, so no one would have an expectations and then I wouldn't have to live up to them. 

And I started.

I started writing again.  Right now, only one person knows what I'm writing and I told her last night.  Even Hubs doesn't know because I don't want to disappoint him if this all turns to crap again. He just knows I'm writing again and he's happy for me.

So, the plan for now is to just write.  Write this book.  Write the next book.  And the next.  Edit and publish them as I find the funds to do so.  I'm hoping next year will be a good 3-4 book year, but we'll see.

Meanwhile, I hope you readers stick around.  I know in this business you're only as memorable as your last book and the time between books makes readers forgetful.  I can't help that right now.  I can only do what I do, and hope it all works out. 

What about you?  Do expectations freak you out, or are you totally up to that challenge?

Going International

Last week, Elizabeth Spann Craig had an awesome post on Considering Our International Audience.  (Naturally.  She has many many awesome posts.  If you're a writer and not following her, you probably should.  She also writes some wonderful mysteries, so if you're a reader, you should check that out, too.) 

Anyway, her international post got me thinking about my international audience.  I know there aren't that many of you.  :waves:  But I do appreciate that you're out there.  Over the weekend, I got to watch as someone in the UK read pages in Kindle Unlimited.  They seemed to be slowly reading Wish in One Hand, and then they gobbled down In Deep Wish and Up Wish Creek.  (I assume it was one person.  Thanks! whoever you are.) 

Occasionally, I'll see sales in Australia and Canada.  Once I got some sales in Italy and in India. 

For the most part, though, I still haven't broken into the international scene.  I expect that's mostly because all of my books are in English.  I can't afford to have them translated.  I keep hoping that English-speaking folks in other countries will be looking for reading material in their native tongue and find me on those Amazon sites.  I know there are also military personnel and their families who are abroad in foreign lands who might want to read something from home.  I also hope that people out there who speak other languages but who also know English or are learning it might take an interest in books, too.

Not sure how to reach those people, though. 

Anyway, all of my books are available worldwide through whatever Amazon site you call your own.  I hope if you're out there in the world somewhere, you'll give my books a chance. 

If you're an international reader, give a shout out to your country.  If you're a writer here in the States, what do you do to try and bring your books to an international audience?

An Untrusting Sort

I grew up in a pretty safe area, out in the country where there was little traffic and no real reason for people to go there (unless the highway was closed and then they would detour past my house).  And, still, our house was broken into several times.  The first time was in 1976.  They ransacked the place.  And then the police came through and covered everything in fingerprinting dust. 

Then we got a dog and it didn't happen again until after that dog had passed away. 

I guess what I'm headed toward with that story is it's probably why I'm not exactly a trusting sort, even out here in the back of beyond. 

A couple years ago, a young man I didn't recognize in a car that had seen better days drove past the house.  It happened, at that time, that Hubs was out in the yard.  The young man stopped, and I could see them talking from my spot by the big picture window.  Something didn't seem right, so I grabbed my camera and snapped photos of the man, his car, his license plate...

Turns out he was WAY lost, but he couldn't also been scouting out locations to rob.  So, I filed it away for future reference if any of the neighbors should suddenly arrive at their weekend homes to find themselves short of their belongings.

A similar thing happened a couple days ago.  A beat up car, with two young people who I'd never seen before and who probably weren't here visiting, drove slowly past the house, then turned around in the neighbor's driveway and sped back out of the neighborhood.  Something about them tickled my sensors.  I didn't have time to grab the camera, but I did write down a complete description of them and the car and as much of the license plate as I saw.  Just in case. 

I've always done this.  Over the years, I've had probably hundreds of little scraps of paper with license plates numbers and descriptions written on them.  Most of the time my suspicions turn out to be nothing, but occasionally they turn out to be something.

When I lived in Utah, I began to notice a lot of late-night activity outside the apartment whose garage was directly beneath my bedroom.  So, I started taking down license plates and descriptions of cars.  I thought the two women who lived in that apartment were hooking.  (And I don't mean making rugs.)  I took my info to the complex office.  They followed up and took the information to the police.  Who then set up cameras.  Those women weren't prostitutes.  They were drug dealers.  Oh, yay.  The night they raided the place was scary and exciting and I sat on my bed watching the drama - because they woke me up and no way could I sleep through all that noise.

I guess this all helps with my writing.  The untrusting brain thinks of all sorts of bad things that COULD happen and weaves it into stories. 

What about you?  Trusting or untrusting?  Have you ever made note of things just in case they turned into something important later?

Where the Magic Occurs

So, I was sitting around Saturday morning looking at stuff and junk, when I realized that I didn't like my Twitter header anymore.  Which led to the bright idea to take a picture of my actual workspace.  Which led to this post. 

This is where I work - exactly as it is.  No retouching.  No cleaning.  Just my spot.  As is.  Kinda like me.  ;o)

So, there I am - laid out in workspace style.  You see my coffee mug.  You see my pack of smokes and my ashtray.  You see the myriad of writing utensils - one cup for pens and pencils, one for markers, and the last for highlighters.  Two calendars - the plain one on the wall for keeping track of things and my bird of the day calendar in the corner. (Today's bird is the White Tern.) There's also a photo of my mom and dad.  The remote goes to my little stereo, but I rarely listen to that. If you look closely, you'll find my headphones hanging from the drawer knob. Better to listen to tunes without disturbing the Hubs. The two books under my monitor are old Funk & Wagnalls dictionaries (A-L and M-Z).  The corner of the frame you can see in the upper right is a copy of The Declaration of Independence. 

For the record, those drapes are never opened.  And the window behind them leads to another room.  (I didn't design this place, so no clue why there's a window looking out on the sun room, but no windows looking outside.) 

Looking at this closely, you can also tell I need to dust.  Yikes, my keyboard.  Don't let the dust fool you.  If you could zoom in, you'd see there's no dust on the keys I actually use.  In fact, there are hardly any letters left on the keys I use most frequently.  Again.  I can't keep keyboard letters intact for more than a few months.

So, anyway, there I am.  Pretty much everything you need to know about me can be found in that picture.  (Okay, so you can't tell what's on the monitor.  It's a manuscript.  Naturally.)  All it needs is food and a little sculpture of a fish.

If you designed a workspace* that told your story, what would be on your desk?

*I didn't design it that way.  It just ended up being that way.

Crime in the News - Accidental Shooting?

A news story developed here in Missouri over the weekend.  An 18-yr old man was shot and killed by another 18-yr old man. 

Around here that's not usually a story worth following.  It seems to happen more and more around any city of more than x-number of people.  Even in the little outlying towns.

But...

Initial reports claimed this was an accidental shooting.  The dead man was supposedly the shooter's best friend.  And it's all so very tragic.  He says he wasn't expecting the friends he had invited over to arrive from that direction, so he was afraid and fired a weapon.

Except...

One particular witness says that when the car pulled up, he heard the shooter call the deceased by name.

It still could be an accident.  The same witness says he heard "Oh expletive" either right before or right after he heard the shot. 

But...

Why did he have a gun in his hand when walking out to greet friends?  Why would he have a gun in his hand when walking out to greet strangers for that matter?  Paranoia?

Still...

The shooter was the one to call 911, and he was standing there crying while the EMTs tried to save the other guy's life.  Could be he was genuinely sorry because he had accidentally killed his friend.

Could also be that he was fake crying to try and smooth the way for a lesser charge. 

He's been charged with 1st degree murder and armed criminal action.  Whether those charges stick or they plead it down to a lesser charge or the evidence bears out that it was actually an accident, time will tell.

What do you think?

(As always, I don't have all the details, but I've given you what I do have - minus the names and locations so this doesn't blow up all over the internet with for/against people stopping by here to bitch at me.)

Crime in the News

Okay, so here's another crime news item for your consideration...

Recently, there was a shooting and an assault in the parking lot of a major retail chain.  Man shot.  Woman injured.  Man in custody.

My first though was 'domestic issue', and I was right.  The shooter was the woman's ex-boyfriend and baby daddy.  The shootee was the woman's current boyfriend.  And the woman was severely beaten by the shooter.

They found the dude.  A little while later, they found the gun.  Easy peasy, right?  One would hope.  But...

In a later interview with the shooter's ex-wife, we learn that this particular dude has a mean streak a mile long and a penchant for putting the blame on someone else.  And getting away with it.  "She was flirting with someone else" was apparently sufficient in one instance to get charges reduced after he beat his wife.  As if, even if it were true, her behavior was worthy of a beating.  Or the idea that because he had a single scratch on his face, she was also culpable in the 4-hour beating that she endured.

Now, don't get me wrong.  There are plenty of times when both parties are culpable.  And the above is only her side of the story.  But when you add in the various restraining orders against the dude, and his subsequent behavior against this other woman, it's easier to guess who's the aggressor in this case.

The ex-wife said she knew it was only a matter of time before he tried to kill someone.  She had been afraid it would be her.  Now, she's afraid he'll get out and come after her again, but she felt like she had to say something.

I haven't seen any more follow-up news stories on this yet, but I'll be interested to find out what happens.  And whether he tries to lay blame elsewhere again. 

Oh, and coincidentally, October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month.  Remember, people who love you should NEVER hurt you.  Get out.  Get help.

Your turn.  Thoughts?  Opinions?  Would you speak up if it were you?