C. Lee McKenzie's Blog, page 40

IWSG, AtoZ Road Trip, Win Some Books--What A Wednesday!

Alex J. Cavanaugh
I used to think that insecurity would vanish as I grew older and improved my craft. That is not the case. 

If anything, I think it has increased in size and duration--like, it's no longer gorilla big; it's gorilla ginormous, and it's there all the time. 




Photo CreditSo why? 

My theory is that the more you come to understand what you're up against in the publishing world, the more you anticipate those hurdles and know just what it takes to get over them. There's something positive about having that knowledge, but I think that knowledge also is anxiety producing, which leads to insecurity, and which leads me to write posts like this every first Wednesday of the month.


****** Hosts The Madlab Post & Write Game
I'm also posting on The Road Trip this summer while I take a road trip or two with Mario the Muse. He and I needed a break and new scenery. If you have time I'm featuring a few bloggers on my latest post. It could be YOU, so come take a peek.


On the road with Mario
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And now for a major DRUMROLL kind of announcement. 12 UncommonYA authors have banded together and are offering. . .SURPRISE!!!! Books. Yes, indeed. Winning them is a snap. Enter here. Rafflecopter Giveaway
Do you have a theory about this thing we label as insecurity? Taking any road trips this summer? Want more books to wrap up your summer reading? 

Beware the White Rabbit (Anthology: They Call Me Alice), Leap Books, Summer '15
Sliding on the Edge, C. Lee McKenzie, WestSide Books, Spring '09
The Princess of Las Pulgas, WestSide Books, Fall '10
The First Time, Fall '11 (Anthology story: Premeditated Cat)
Alligators Overhead, Outskirts Press, Fall '12
Two and Twenty Dark Tales (Anthology story: Into the Sea of Dew

Leap Castle's Elemental Spirit

Stand Aside. I'm Out of Here

Now that I'm home and safe from the evil spirits of Leap Castle, I think I was darned brave to have ventured up those winding stone stairs and to have stood where there's the Oubliette (the opening into which hundreds of people were tossed to their deaths--see my FIRST POST about this horror). 

Come on. Say I was. And take a look at my selfie in the Chapel. Does it look a bit misty? The rest of my pictures don't. 


Is That A Ghostly Light Around Me?

If the stories about the Elemental Spirit are true, I could have been gobbled up, never to have blogged again. 


Elementals Lurk in a lot of places.
Photo Credit

Now remember in that earlier post, I remarked that Sean Ryan, the owner, didn't tell me about the spirits he's seen, even when I asked him to tell me about things of interest in the castle. I knew the stories he wasn't sharing, but I kept wondering why. Maybe he thought I wouldn't climb to the Bloody Chapel. Maybe he thought I'd run out the door without leaving my euros because I had to go up without him (he was having a bad knee day). Who knows, but here's a link to a TRAVEL PROGRAM and listen to what he tells the interviewer. 

Come on, Sean, a little warning might have been a good thing. And next visit, I'm bringing my camera crew.

Next Week: More about Ireland, but nothing spooky.


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Did everyone sign the PETITION to stop Amazon from playing Big Brother more than usual? Hope so. They are one hostile company and this is another of their decisions that points up the dangers of having only ONE choice in the marketplace. Support those Indie Bookstores and anyplace else that sells books. 
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Quote of the Week: "A free society is a society where it is safe to be unpopular." Adlai Stevenson
Are you ready for a tour of Leap Castle? Did you sign the petition? Love that quote?


Beware the White Rabbit (Anthology: They Call Me Alice), Leap Books, Summer '15
Sliding on the Edge, C. Lee McKenzie, WestSide Books, Spring '09
The Princess of Las Pulgas, WestSide Books, Fall '10
The First Time, Fall '11 (Anthology story: Premeditated Cat)
Alligators Overhead, Outskirts Press, Fall '12
Two and Twenty Dark Tales (Anthology story: Into the Sea of Dew

Treasure at Leap Castle and Hats Off Corner Welcomes Desiree Holt

There's Treasure Someplace. I just know it.


Where to Dig?
According to legend, in the 1600s the ownership of Leap Castle passed on to the Darby family. Actually an O'Carroll daughter fell in love with a Darby and married him. That's a huge change in the family pattern, isn't it? Love. Marriage. Not hate and murder.

Anyway, during the English Civil War, one of the Darby's buried a considerable treasure somewhere on the grounds. Can you guess what happened to the two servants who helped him? Yep. Two more ghosts--probably grumpy ones--joined the cast of many others. 

The story is that no one has found the treasure yet. 

Next week: the story of the Elemental Spirit of Leap Castle. Brrrrr!


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Earlier this month I sent my first email with a free book offer to people who were kind enough to subscribe to my list. And I'm getting ready to do my Hot August Nights Drawing. So if you'd like to enter to win, add your email to MailChimp (top right under the spinning globe). If you do sign up, check your spam for the verification email, and if it's there, drag it to your inbox before verifying. As Charlie would say, "Good grief!"  I'll be sending out emails about the drawing in mid August! Hope you'll jump on board.
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Now let's switch gears. From mysterious murder and treasure/MailChimp details, let's go to an author who spices up our reading lives. 
Hats Off Corner Welcomes Desiree Holt
AMAZON, KENSINGTON, KOBO, iTUNES, B&N
Known the world over as The Oldest Living Erotica Author, Desiree Holt proves every day that she is more than the sum of her years and more than the grandmother who plays with Barbie and Ken dolls: She is The Hardest Working Erotica Author, producing one novel or more each month and receiving rave reviews. She is twice a finalist for an EPIC E-Book Award, a nominee for a Romantic Times Reviewers Choice Award, winner of the first 5 Heart Sweetheart of the Year Award at The Romance Studio as well as twice a CAPA Award for best BDSM book of the year, winner of the Holt Medallion, multiple winner of the Whipped Cream Book of the Week Award and is published by five different houses. She has been featured on CBS Sunday Morning and in The Village Voice, The Daily Beast, USA Today, The Wall Street Journal, The London Daily Mail and numerous other national and international publications.
“Get out the ice water and fan…Desiree Holt delivers smoking hot alpha heroes and red hot romances.” Lea Franczak, USA Today Happy Ever After blog
Learn more about her and read her novels here:www.desireeholt.com www.desiremeonly.comwww.facebook.com/desireeholtauthorwww.facebook.com/desireeholtTwitter @desireeholtPinterest: desiree02holtGoogle: www.desiree02holt
LinkedIn: www.LinkedIn.com/desiree01holt 
Quote for the Week: "Pleasure is more in contemplation than in realization." Malcolm Forbes
What do you think of these Leap Castle stories? Wonder what it's like being the oldest living erotica author? And does this quote "flesh out" today's post? If you haven't signed up for my mailing list, hope you will. Next month's drawing is coming up, and if you're on my list, you'll have a chance at winning. Happy Monday.

Beware the White Rabbit (Anthology: They Call Me Alice), Leap Books, Summer '15
Sliding on the Edge, C. Lee McKenzie, WestSide Books, Spring '09
The Princess of Las Pulgas, WestSide Books, Fall '10
The First Time, Fall '11 (Anthology story: Premeditated Cat)
Alligators Overhead, Outskirts Press, Fall '12
Two and Twenty Dark Tales (Anthology story: Into the Sea of Dew

Murder Most Foul

Murder Most Foul(I hit the wrong button last week and posted this one before it's time, so here it is again in the proper order. I think the ghosts are at work in my computer. Sorry!) Leap Castle Gate
Remember my little encounter in the Bloody Chapel of Leap Castle? Well, it looks like I got off easy. I keep finding more stories that make Edgar Allen's stories seem rather fluffy. 

While this McKenzie escaped with only a missing tab from her backpack, the clan McMahon didn't fare quite as well. 
A McKenzie Inside the Bloody Chapel
Those O'Carrolls were downright nasty devils and not above hiring, then firing their employees--permanently. After the McMahon's (about 40 of them, the story goes) provided their services, the O'Carrolls invited them to celebrate with a nice little arsenic (guessing here) laced feast. And poof. . . 40 more ghosts. That place is over-crowded with spirits not ready to forgive and forget.

The interesting thing is that whenever I asked the present-day owner what he could tell me about the castle that would be of interest, the word ghost never passed his lips. 

Next week: The Treasure of Leap Castle


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Who is this actor? I can't remember his name.





Hats Off Corner will return next week with Desiree Holt. I still want to feature authors here, so if you're interested in a bit of promo for your next or last book, let me know.

Quote of the Week: "The end is simply the beginning of an even longer story." Zadie Smith, Novelist


Any particularly horrible Leap Castle stories you know about? Interested in being featured in my Hats Off Corner? The quote was all about this series I'm doing on the haunted castle. There are more tales than I'll ever be able to tell. 



Sliding on the Edge, C. Lee McKenzie, WestSide Books, Spring '09
The Princess of Las Pulgas, WestSide Books, Fall '10
The First Time, Fall '11 (Anthology story: Premeditated Cat)
Alligators Overhead, Outskirts Press, Fall '12
Two and Twenty Dark Tales (Anthology story: Into the Sea of Dew

My Ghostly Leap Castle Tour

The Front of the Castle
Leap Castle is purportedly the most haunted castle in Ireland. 

Here's some of why. 

In the mid 1500's, the O'Carroll's squabbled non-stop about succession to the leadership of the clan. Squabbled is a bit light, considering they murdered each other and others with some regularity. The first ghost is said to be that of Thaddeus, Teige's brother. Teige didn't care much for the way Thaddeus held his mass in the Chapel, so he did him in with a knife in the back. People reported sudden flashes of light from those top windows, even when the castle was vacant and in ruin.

Thaddeus' death was just a drop in the bloody bucket. During renovation in the 1920's, workmen discovered truck loads of bones. The bodies had been dropped through what's called the oubliette (the forgetting) onto spikes positioned to puncture the lungs. These deaths were not swift. There's more, but you get the idea. 

If any castle has ghosts, Leap Castle does. And these ghosts deserve to be ticked off. I just didn't want them to be ticked off at me. I'm only half Irish.


Greeting at the door. When I climbed the narrow winding stairs into the Bloody Chapel, nothing unusual happened. Once in the Chapel, I took pictures and sat at the dusty table to have a good look into the shadowy corners. Sunlight filtered through gothic windows without panes but with swags of spidery filaments. Beauty outside. Ghosts inside? 


Inside Death. Outside Freedom
It wasn't until I'd returned to the lower rooms of the castle that I noticed my backpack was missing its metal pull. I found that pull in the bottom of my bag (kind of mysterious, since the bag was still zipped closed) and reattached it. It was hard to do, and I needed to pry open the clasp with knife edge to slip it back into place. That pull never came off again. It's still on my bag, but in the Bloody Tower it came off. Ghosts? Poppycock?


With Sean Ryan, the latest owner, 
after my "ghostly" experience.Next week: More of Leap's Ghostly Tales


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Add Your Email and I'll send you Special Offers: Free Books, Gift Certificates, Help for Writers and an occasional Hug.
My first Campaign using MailChimp made me sweat as much as a submission does. Why is that? And why did it take me twenty minutes to figure out how to do it? I think it's because my head's not wired like a programmer's. I need some re-wiring if I'm to tackle this social media seriously. I am not a savvy social media person. My bad. Beam me up, Scottie.

However, I did send my email with my first Special Offer to my subscribers, and several have already taken advantage of it. That's very exciting to me because I had no idea what to expect. 
******Quote for the week:"People who are trying to make this world worse are not taking the day off--why should I?" Bob Marley

Are you ready to tour a haunted castle? Want to be a part of my new mailing list? Did you like Bob Marley's humor? I thought it fit the mood of today's post.Sliding on the Edge, C. Lee McKenzie, WestSide Books, Spring '09
The Princess of Las Pulgas, WestSide Books, Fall '10
The First Time, Fall '11 (Anthology story: Premeditated Cat)
Alligators Overhead, Outskirts Press, Fall '12
Two and Twenty Dark Tales (Anthology story: Into the Sea of Dew

Everyone Must Be Irish

The Emerald Isle My Last Day to Drive in Ireland_2015
I've been off enjoying another time in Ireland and no matter who I tell about my trip, they come back with, "My roots are in Ireland." It seems the Irish poured into the states and had a few children.

My maternal grandfather and grandmother were definitely Irish. Riley and Murray to be exact. And I've tracked the line back to the 1800's where I found my great-great+? grandfather who was a doctor and a horse breeder in Tennessee.

As I sat sipping my Guinness in a local pub with some distant, but ever so wonderful, relatives it became very clear that I was sharing time with people from the same gene pool, and I was quite at home. I wanted to call my gram and gramps and tell them all about the experience, but that's no longer possible. I'll have to enjoy it without their knowing that after a few generations, a Riley-Murray enjoys returning to say hi.

One of my best excursions was to Leap Castle (often pronounced /lep/ by the locals). J.H. Moncrieff posted about this haunted castle in her AtoZ Challenge this year, and I discovered I was staying a short walk away. It was being redone, but from what I saw, there would be many years before you could say that process was complete. The "Tour" was interesting and a bit spooky as it should have been. I'll tell you about that next week. 



Leap Castle, The Most Haunted Castle in Ireland


Special Offers Mailing List
I'm working on revamping my life--a lot, and one of my revamps is to create a mailing list for Special Offers I hope to make in the near future. I've added Mail Chimp to the top right of my webpage margin, and if you'd like to receive those special offers, please add your email. I'm not going to send a monthly newsletter or hound you regularly, but I will pop in once in a while with treats for those on my list. 


Quote of the Week"The trouble with history is that there are too many people involved." Novelist Nick Hornby

So...are you Irish? Ever been there? Do you love haunted castles? 



Sliding on the Edge, C. Lee McKenzie, WestSide Books, Spring '09
The Princess of Las Pulgas, WestSide Books, Fall '10
The First Time, Fall '11 (Anthology story: Premeditated Cat)
Alligators Overhead, Outskirts Press, Fall '12
Two and Twenty Dark Tales (Anthology story: Into the Sea of Dew

Bye-Bye June and July Insecure Writer's Group

This is my first post since I took my June break. I'm shocked at how slow I am in putting it together and how fast June vanished into the past. Ireland was an adventure with so many exciting and wonderful experiences. I've been there twice before, but each time I find more to explore and more to enjoy.

Driving in Ireland is always one experience that sharpens my senses and makes me pay attention to those otherwise automatic responses. When you're on the "wrong" side of the road, shifting with your left, not your right hand and mostly lost, it's kind of like having to take over all your usually unconscious functions like breathing. Such a big job.  
Anyway I made it. Now I have to see if I remember how to make a right hand turn American style!



ALEX CAVANAUGH
I'm back in time to consider the topic of insecurity and how it affects our lives as writers.

Mine creeps in on tiptoes when I'm trying to pay attention to a work in progress, then grabs me by the throat with questions. Will I be able to tell the story I want? Will it be as good on the page as it is in my head? Will anyone besides me "get" what I'm trying to say?

Since Ms. Insecurity is repetitive in her questions and I respond pretty much the same way every time, I should be able to deal with her very efficiently. But even with the sameness factor, I have to cope with her each time as if it were the first.

So what's your Insecurity today? Be sure to visit others who share the fun with you! And here are the Co-Hosts! Check out their sites along the way.  Charity Bradford, S.A. Larsen, AJ, Tamara Narayan, Allison Gammons, and Tanya Miranda! 

Sliding on the Edge, C. Lee McKenzie, WestSide Books, Spring '09
The Princess of Las Pulgas, WestSide Books, Fall '10
The First Time, Fall '11 (Anthology story: Premeditated Cat)
Alligators Overhead, Outskirts Press, Fall '12
Two and Twenty Dark Tales (Anthology story: Into the Sea of Dew

Summer Hop and Farewell for a While

I joined Lexa Cain's Summer Hop because I'm ready for a vacation, and it gave me a great way to say goodbye to everyone for June. I'll be around to your blogs, but probably as I make my way to Oregon. I'll wave to M. Pax on my way through her beautiful state and keep an eye out for those Gangsta Cows she's alerted me to. Then I'm off Ireland for a family wedding and a revisit to a few Leprechauns.


So on with the Hop. 
Lexa Cain
I've been to a lot of summer vacation places: Costa Rica, Venezuela, Nicaragua, Mexico, Hawaii (Maui, Kawaii, Lanai, Molokai--still my favorite island), Greece, Spain, Italy, Ireland, France, Wales, Scotland (where the word isn't in the dictionary because they don't have summer) England, Turkey, Yugoslavia--interesting summer there--New York, Kansas (don't ask), Alaska and someplace else I can't remember. So what's my favorite summer vacation spot? Here it is!


Welcome to my SECRET GARDEN.
My favorite summer vacation spot is this tiny dot on the map where all things are possible as long as I want them to be. Where I'm the mistress and the servant, and where peace settles inside me with a friendly purr.
This is where I kick back and think and wonder at my good fortune to have a place on this planet to just be. This is where I plan my stories and plant my seeds and watch my peaches ripen.
 This is where I read and consider philosophy and magic. This is where I wait for the new birds who find my umbrella a safe nesting place. This is where I pull weeds, turn the dirt, pick fresh produce and savor the smells of summer.
This is where the fish live in the ponds, and Albert the Cat used to contemplate their world of water. He's missed.And, of course, this is where I come when everything around me crumbles and I need help.



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Hope you'll visit all the others who are sharing their favorite summer vacation spots, and be sure to visit Lexa and her Co-Hosts: Melanie Karsak  T.F. Walsh 
Vanessa Morgan Jolie Du Pre  Stuart R. West



Bye until July!
Sliding on the Edge, C. Lee McKenzie, WestSide Books, Spring '09
The Princess of Las Pulgas, WestSide Books, Fall '10
The First Time, Fall '11 (Anthology story: Premeditated Cat)
Alligators Overhead, Outskirts Press, Fall '12
Two and Twenty Dark Tales (Anthology story: Into the Sea of Dew

Hats Off Corner Welcomes Erin Fanning

Good News
Baltimore had a bad start in the month of May, but then something good happened. A community torn apart came together. Over 2,500 people worked to clean up the littered streets and help local businesses reopen. 






Something in the Middle


I'm revving my motor for the AtoZ Road Trip. Hope you'll come along. I've found my dashboard buddy, so I thought today I'd introduce him. Meet Mario the Muse. He'll be on the trip with me, so you'll get to know him quite well. 



Say Hi to Mario. He loves to travel, so he'll be hitting the road a lot the rest of this year to bring you Road Side Rest Stops, Best Books for the Road, On the Road Games to keep you and the kids sane--along with other bits for us as we roll across those miles.






Hats Off Corner Welcomes Erin Fanning

First let's get to know just a tad more about this author. No matter what interview questions authors are asked, there are always essential basics. Let’s start with those: You'll notice that this author actually played the lightning round right! She answered with a single word. For that she gets a prize. 
A) Coffee or Tea? CoffeeB) Vanilla or Chocolate? ChocolateC) Paper or ebook? PaperD) Morning or night? MorningE) Cake or pie?  Pie
Now that we know what’s important to know about an author, I’m going to ask one more thing. Ready? If you could change one thing about your writing career, what would that be?

I wrote all the time when I was young, everything from poetry in elementary school to news stories for my college newspaper, but for some reason I quit writing when I graduated and didn’t pick it up again until I was in my early 30s. So I wish I could get that time back. I would say to all want-to-be authors: never give up. Hard work, patience, and perseverance are rewarded in the world of writing, even more so than raw talent.
Now take a look at what Erin writes.

Blood Stitches
By Erin FanningAvailable now from Kensington Publishing/Lyrical PressLove and danger intertwine…
It’s called El Toque de la Luna—The Touch of the Moon. At least that’s how nineteen-year-old Gabby’s older sister, Esperanza, refers to the magical powers she inherited from their Mayan ancestors. Esperanza says women with El Toque weave magic into their knitting, creating tapestries capable of saving—or devastating—the world. Gabby thinks Esperanza is more like touched in the head—until a man dressed like a candy corn arrives at their Seattle home on Halloween. But “Mr. C” is far from sweet…
Soon, Gabby and her almost-more-than-friend, Frank, find themselves spirited away to a demon ball, complete with shape shifters—and on a mission to destroy Esperanza’s tapestries before they cause an apocalyptic disaster… And before it’s too late to confess their true feelings for each other.
Here's her super book trailer. Take a look. 



Buy it here:

Kensington/Lyrical  Amazon  Barnes & Noble  Kobo  Google  Itunes

Erin Fanning spends her summers on a northern Michigan lake, where her imagination explores the water and dense forest for undiscovered creatures. In the winter, she migrates to central Idaho, exchanging mountain bikes and kayaks for skis and snowshoes. She’s the author of a mountain biking guidebook, as well as numerous articles, essays, and short stories. Find Erin online: Website  Goodreads Twitter Amazon 
Rafflecopter Giveway: Enter to win a Rafflecopter giveaway for a $20 Amazon gift card.
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Quote for the Day: If everything seems under control. you're just not going fast enough." Mario Andretti (This is my muse's cousin. Our 2015 Road Trip ought be interesting and speedy!)Sliding on the Edge, C. Lee McKenzie, WestSide Books, Spring '09
The Princess of Las Pulgas, WestSide Books, Fall '10
The First Time, Fall '11 (Anthology story: Premeditated Cat)
Alligators Overhead, Outskirts Press, Fall '12
Two and Twenty Dark Tales (Anthology story: Into the Sea of Dew

Getting Ready to Switch Off

Yes. I'm getting reading to Switch Off


Photo CreditUsually I have some good news in this spot, but today I'm changing this a bit. I'm closing shop for the month of June and since we've all been in a reflective mood lately, I thought I'd use this Monday to reflect a bit about where I am and where I'm going. 

There are several fronts to reflect on: personal life, my writing, this blog.






On the personal front, all is as good as it gets. I'm very lucky to have a family, a home, my health, and friends. I can't complain about any of it.


Photo Credit
As to the writing, there's all sorts of issues with that. I'm shredding a lot of my latest WIP out of frustration. I have a story to tell, and I'm not telling it right--not yet. The good news is that my research is turning up some fascinating history about something I know little to nothing about. 





Did you know that silver miners spared rats in the mines? And that was because rats were supposed to have some kind of special sensor that signals them when there's about to be a collapse. When the rats ran, so did the miners.


And in the lower depths of a silver mine (1000-3000 feet) temperatures could rise to 140/160 degrees F.? They had special cooling rooms where miners retreated to cool off and drink water. They could only work about 40 minutes at a time before collapsing. I'd make it to about a minute.

There's more. I'll save it for another post when I regale you with my writing success. 

By now you know I'm writing about silver mining in the 1800's. This period has always fascinated me, so reading about it has been exciting. It's getting that story to cooperate that's giving me fits.



Weary Blogger Help
As to this blog, I'm weary of it. I love to blog, but I'm tired of this one. I'm hoping that after a month away, I'll come back with some enthusiasm and some new ideas about how I want this site to look. 






This next year I'll be a co-host for The AtoZ Road Trip with a great blogger at Madlab Entertainment . I won't do much before July--maybe a couple of posts, but after that I'll be there regularly once or twice a month. It should be fun, so join us. HERE'S where you sign up. 

Some Housekeeping

I've made some more changes to the sidebars. I like to keep them up to date as often as possible. New books. New hops. New ideas.

If you'd sign up to follow me by email (top left sidebar), I'd appreciate that. I don't use the emails except to respond to comments that I think might be interesting or fun to discuss. And I don't bug people who prefer not to reply to my emails. Temporarily, I've gone back to responding on the blog in hopes some will return to see my responses.

Now with a nod to my usual posts, here's my Quote for the Day:

"May your trails be crooked, winding, lonesome, dangerous, leading to the most amazing view." Edward Abbey, Naturalist


Sliding on the Edge, C. Lee McKenzie, WestSide Books, Spring '09
The Princess of Las Pulgas, WestSide Books, Fall '10
The First Time, Fall '11 (Anthology story: Premeditated Cat)
Alligators Overhead, Outskirts Press, Fall '12
Two and Twenty Dark Tales (Anthology story: Into the Sea of Dew