Chloe Stowe's Blog: The Words and Madness of Chloe Stowe, page 12

Dirty Hands

Time to get the old hands dirty. The 17-chapter scene-by-scene outline for my first Cozy Mystery is finally done… i.e. the blueprint is all there just waiting to be realized. Characters are poised, hard-hatted and ready to get to work. The rural Southern scene is primed and set for action. Everybody and everything, it seems, is just waiting on me. No pressure. None. I’m sure a little projectile vomit is normal, right? Until tomorrow… Chloe #anxiety #blueprint #cozy #outline #pressure #dirtyhands #author #writer #writingprocess

The Cozy Caboose

How does one end a Cozy? After all the reveals and red herrings have been dealt with, the guilty identified, the innocent freed, what the does the Cozy caboose look like? Does it just end with a cute remark from sleuth to sidekick? Do you set up a possible book #2 in the series? Epilogue? Afterward? Or will I just know it when I feel it? Once all the words are written will the end just come? Well, I guess it’s time to find out. Until tomorrow… Chloe #author #writer #writingprocess #cozy #ending #caboose #afterward #epilogue

Climactic Heat

The heat is on! Or at least in my funny head it is. I’ve reached the grand whodunnit reveal of my first Cozy and the pressure is on to make it tremendous. True, this is still the scene-by-scene plotting stage. True, Cozy readers don’t expect, nor do they want, a big shootout at the O.K. Corral kind of finale. True, this is my brain we’re dealing with, and I wouldn’t trust the old noodle as far as I could fling it. But… Not only has my OCD latched on to the climax, it’s humping it quite obscenely. Yeah, I’d look away, too. Until tomorrow… Chloe #author #writer #writingprocess #cozy #reveal #mentalhealth #OCD #climax #heat #whodunnit #plot #scene

The Weasel Inside

I tried not to work yesterday. I tried really hard. I worked at it, I did… Yeah, see the problem? On the plus side, my Cozy got a Chapter 13 outline and my website got a hookup with Tumblr and Pinterest. On the negative side, I couldn’t not work. The little anxiety-ridden weasel in my mind wouldn’t allow it. The fact that I need animal control for what’s in my skull is not an encouraging start to a Monday. Until tomorrow… Chloe #author #writer #writingprocess #cozy #mentalhealth #anxiety #panic #work #hookup #outline #problem

Wiggle Room

Leave your readers wiggle room. Don’t knit your Cozy Mystery so tightly together that you choke out the audience’s own imagination. Tie up the big loose ends, absolutely… but be brave and leave a few stragglers free. It takes guts but give your readers room to take the story to a place you never imagined, a place perhaps even better than you plotted. Bottom line: Envelop the audience in your story, don’t entomb them. Until tomorrow… Chloe P.S. Self-publishing update… I’m down to a raw, throbbing nub of sanity. Thanks for asking. #author #writer #writingprocess #cozy #mystery #sanity #mentalhealth #selfpublishing #trust #readers #looseends #stragglers #imagination #envelop #entomb #bottomline

As the Moon Pops

How do the sane self-publish… and remain sane? Talking from the other side of the crazy coin, even I’m feeling a bit wrongfooted in the absurdities of the process. Cozy plotting in the morning. Social media seeding at noon. Website tweaking by 3pm. ‘Writing Prompt’ gathering over Spaghetti-O’s. Re-release bettering as the sun drops. Doubt mongering as the moon pops. By the time I crawl into my straitjacket at night, I’m all twitchy and jerky with the self-publishing DT’s. How does a sane person do this? Maybe they don’t. Until tomorrow… Chloe #author #writer #cozy #mystery #selfpublishing #mentalhealth #anxiety #writingprompt

The Hard Truths

Hard truth #1: To sell your fiction, you must ‘sell’ yourself. I hate that. Yesterday, I spent countless, self-despising hours marketing the ‘Chloe Stowe’ name. Why did I put my hermit-self through such torture? To sell a Cozy Mystery that’s not even written yet and hawk a bunch of Romances that have already been sold once. Hard truth #2: The publishing world is nuts. Be prepared to hawk your sanity right alongside your book. Until tomorrow… Chloe #author #writer #writingprocess #cozy #mystery #cozymystery #publishing #romance #truth #hermit #torture #website #selling #sanity #ChloeStowe

Release the Revelations!

I’m to the “Release the revelations!” bit of my Cozy. Plotting out the last 3 chapters of The Shallcross Burden has left me frankly stunned at how many “A-ha!” moments will be packed in those final pages. I’m not talking big, climactic reveal fare (i.e. the whodunnit, the evil twin twist, the back-from-the-dead game). I’m talking the goodies found on the tails of ‘loose ends’ (i.e. calling out the red herrings, bringing the tangents back home, tying up the subplots). That’s a lot of finagling. Think I could call a stunt-double in for this part? Until tomorrow… Chloe #author #writer #cozy #writingprocess #mystery #cozymystery #revelations #whodunnit #release #reveal #redherring #subplots

SPECIAL EDITION: Quiver

Today I celebrate the release of my 17th novel! Now available at all the usual suspects (Amazon, All Romance Ebooks, Barnes & Noble, Ravenous, etc...), I hope you will enjoy a little quiver of romance.

My "normal" daily blog will be posted later today (without any of this self-promotion), so please join me then for the expected madness.

Thank you for giving Quiver and me a glance.

Chloe StoweChloe Stowe



Blackmailed to return home to England, Brevyn Steed, with Samuel Lyon at his side, must confront Brevyn’s troubling past and a brother who openly despises him.A brilliant theft, a surprising death, the hidden agendas of all are confronted in Quiver, the romantic conclusion to “The Lion and the Steed” series.What started as a brief, though intense love affair between two startling different men has grown into an epic tale of writhing drama, heart-pounding sex and now quivering, beautiful completion.Love conquers all, but at what cost?

SPECIAL EDITION: Pound

SPECIAL EDITION!!
The Release of Pound (Book 2 of “The Lion & the Steed” series)

So, here we are… Another release day with Chloe Stowe!

Before I begin popping the champagne chilling next to the left-over pizza in the fridge, I would like to thank you for stopping by and giving this Special Edition Blog a look-see. It is very much appreciated.

Now, let’s get down to business.

First up is the back-cover blurb, the tease, the hook, the “Come hither and read” flirtation…

True love is a marathon begun with a breathless sprint. After a wild, heart-pounding start to their relationship, Dr. Samuel Lyon and Brevyn Steed settle into their new lives together expecting the sweet calm of sameness and security to settle down around them. Fate, however, has different plans. When a silent film thought lost to a fire 90 years ago is stolen from a private collection, Brevyn and Sam are hired to recover it. The thief’s trail quickly forces the couple to abandon their New York City environs for the sunbaked coast of Sicily. It is there that they learn their long journey to happiness has just begun.

I wrote that.

Not bad, huh?

*smirks goofily*

*dog smacks furry paw upside my head*

*smirk disappears*

Alright, before I get into more trouble with my four-legged taskmaster, here is a list of where you will be able to find Pound today. I will keep updating this list throughout the day as the book makes its debut at each of these fine sites…

As of 11am, it is available through my publishing house, Ravenous Romance

All Romance (available right now!)

Amazon (available later today)

Barnes & Noble (its release here might slip until tomorrow; I’ll keep you updated)

There, I’m done. Special Edition Blog is now closing.

Thank you again for stopping by. I really hope you enjoy Pound.

Have a terrific Friday!

Until tomorrow…

ChloeChloe Stowe