Mollie Cox Bryan's Blog, page 7

And Scrapbook of the Dead is Launched!

Yesterday was a wonderful launch day. I couldn’t believe all the lovely posts showing up on my Facebook timeline and in my inbox. I’m a lucky, lucky writer! Thank you ALL so much!

Yesterday, along with all of the wonderful Goodreads and Amazon reviews (PLEASE keep them coming), I received two book blog reviews that were, um, pretty incredible. They both made me feel so good. They were very thoughtful and well written. So, I’m going to pull a quote from each of them with a link back to their blogs.  The blogs are worth a visit.

“The mystery was spot-on. It kept you guessing till the very end. Perfect suspects with good motives yet you couldn’t pin down even one of them but I got odd vibes from the killer from the time that person was introduced in the book. I loved the simplicity of the book. The writing style was simple and hooking. The story flew by and the mystery kept your mind working. ” from Enthrallingdimple

“Cox Bryan weaves multiple investigations through the gentle probing by each of her main characters. Motive? Means? Opportunity? The fragments they uncover, like bits of a scrapbook page, won’t make sense until the final faces are added, as the book reaches a crescendo during the week of Halloween.” Kingdom Books.

I’ll try my best to keep you informed of all the reviews. But if you are very interested in them, follow along with my blog tour–starting tomorrow and listed on my events page. Also, I’m trying to keep up with all the mentions and blog tour stuff on Pinterest. I have a special board for this. So click here, if you are Pinterest-inclined.

In the mean time, if you’ve not purchased the book yet, it’s just a click on the book cover, which will take you right over to Amazon!

 

In the mean time, have a great Wednesday!

 

Five things I thought about during my morning run:

Fall is in the air, even though the temperature is higher than I’d like. The early morning is nice and cool and I’ve seen some leaves with their edges turning colors.
There goes Jen–Hiya Jen!
My schedule is a little messed up these days. My youngest daughter wants me to take her to the high school everyday (instead of riding the bus) and usually I’m in the thick of writing about that time. It will be fine. It’s just an adjustment and it seems to make her feel better. so it’s worth it.
So, suddenly, we are planning a family getaway this weekend. It a lll started with me saying “I want to see my Mom.”
I can’t believe the SCRAPBOOK OF THE DEAD will be out THIS month. Woot!  Finally!

Five things I thought about during my morning run:

1. How fabulous the Suffolk Mystery Author’s Festival was. How I love my tribe. I can’t remember which one of my sisters from Sisters in Crime took this photo. But here I am—happy to be with my books and friends:

2. The Cars. Remember them? Heard this on my run this morning. My Best Friend’s Girl.

3. Gorgeous morning for a run–but I should have started earlier. It’s gotten just a bit too warm for me.

4. I like running under the trees–nice shady spots. More shade please!

5. No hip pain. None. My low-gluten and no dairy diet seems to be working. I’m shrugging my shoulders here. I had no idea it would affect me this way.

Scrapbook of the Dead—Chapter One Sneak Peek!

If you get my newsletter, you may have already read this. But for those of you who don’t subscribe, click on this pdf file, and  read chapter one from SCRAPBOOK OF THE DEAD—out Sept. 29!

Scrapbook_Of_Dead_Ch1-2

Five things I learned about at the ROMANCE WRITERS OF AMERICA conference

I was thrilled to attend the Romance Writers of America (RWA) Annual conference in New York City this year. I was on a panel with some fabulous mystery writers—Sheila Connolly, Linda Johnson, Maggie Sefton, and Denise Swanson. We didn’t get much of a crowd—but we were up against some very big names (Suzanne Elizabeth Phillips, anyone?).   Here’s a little something about what I learned. (Okay, some of it really is more of an affirmation of what I already knew.)

Romance writers are passionate about writing. When they get together they talk about craft, marketing, and offer one another much support, sharing resources, names, and so on. Wow. I felt the love.
Having two pen names is hard. Yep. I know that. But I went to a panel, which was really not a panel. It was one woman being interviewed on how she made the two names work. Her answer didn’t work for me because her two writing selves are more closely aligned than mine. She cross promotes herself now. The two blogs, two Twitter/Facebook accounts, and so on? She gave it up after about a year. I’ve been doing it for about four years. Rather successfully on one, not so much the other. Am I giving up romance? No, but I will be either using my own name or able to cross promote in other ways. But it was great to see that there were several other writers like me, writing in a variety of genres. That matters.
I love having a publisher and I love my publisher. I heard the way other people were talking about Kensington–without knowing I was a writer for them–and they came off well during the conference. You’d think I’d know this right? And I did–and I do. But sometimes it’s easy to dream about making a lot more money self-publishing, for example. We hear about all the success stories, and I am happy for those folks. I’m always happy to hear about other writer’s success. But hearing Rebecca Zanetti express why she chooses to remain with a publisher was an ah-ha moment for me. I want to be writing. Self publishers write, but they spend much more time on the business than what I want to. I’m not saying I will never self-publish. what I’m saying is that for now, it’s not for me in my current life situation.
Romance readers are voracious. At a book signing sponsored by my publisher, where they were giving away books, my cozy mystery went as quickly as the romances. This was the experience of my cozy-writing friends who were there, as well. I’m not sure mystery readers read across the genres like that. I tend to think readers read across genres. But I can’t see straight-up romance writers at a mystery conference, but I may be wrong. There ARE a lot of romances within mysteries.
The layout of a conference hotel matters. I hated the Marriott Marquis and will never go back. Usually I say never say never, but in this case it took away from a lot of the conference. The elevators were freaky and sometimes very slow. And the escalators were arranged in a weird way. Like sometimes you had to cross a the span of the hotel to go up or down on the things. Not good for the foot weary conference goer. Also, the meeting  rooms were not large enough. Some of them were standing room only and some had people in the hallways spilling out of the rooms. Not cool. The conference is very expensive. If you can’t get to your session early enough for a seat (because of the escalators and elevators) that is more than too bad, it really egregious and poor planning.

So there you have it. I’d love to go back to another RWA conference. I highly recommend it—just not at the Marquis. The best part of the conference was catching up with friends that don’t live near me and seeing my editor, who I adore.  It’s always good to see your editor in person once a year or so–if not more.

Have you been to any writing conferences? Which are your favorites?

Five things I thought about during my morning run:

1. So many bunnies out and about!

2. Such a gorgeous, cool morning. Yes. You read it right. In July. In Virginia. Cool breeze.

3. New York City. Next week. I’ve never been to the city in the summer. Whole new packing experience.

4. The field of wildflowers I pass in the mornings is in full bloom–shades of green, purple, pink, white.  Lovely. It’s up for sale. Boo! Hiss!

5. Been writing. The historical. And now the second book in the Cora Crafts series. Moving right along!

Scrapbook Expo ROCKED!

I was fortunate enough to get to exhibit at the Scrapbook Expo in Chantilly, Va. again this year. Wow! It’s grown. I bet there were almost double the exhibitors from last year.

As you all know, last year, I sold out of books on the first day of the event. This year, I brought more books with me–but I only had 12 books left on Saturday morning. I sold those books within an hour. (Leaving me time to shop!) Scrapbookers and crafters love to read. and they love books that feature their favorite hobby. I am so honored to meet so many fabulous women and men this weekend who had such kind things to say about my books.

One of my long-time readers, Missy.

Part of my table.

The best helper.

 

There was plenty of excitement in the air as people learned about new techniques and found some fabulous deals. Hats off to the fabulous organizers of Scrapbook Expo! Hope to see you there next year!

 

 

 

 

 

Five things I thought about during my morning run:

1. Perfect morning for a run. The sky is bright and blue, with just a bit of a cool breeze. Ni-ice.

2. Frank Sinatra. I’m kinda stuck on him these days.

3. Watched this fascinating interview with Frankie Valli the other day. I like him, too. (Today is a Frank day. hehehe)

4. Yesterday, I wrote a little more on the Jefferson Coates book. From Rachel’s point of view. Rachel was his wife. Future wife in the timeline of my book right now.

5. This morning I tinkered a bit with DEATH AMONG THE DOILIES.  I can’t help it. After a few weeks of waiting, I am itching to get back to it. But it’s a holiday weekend and my girls have friends coming over and I’m not sure I can sneak more work in. But I can in the early morning.

Five things I thought about during my morning run:

1. It’s a Lady-Gaga run. La-La-lalala!

2. Death Among the Doilies is out with beta readers. Woot!  (The first in my new Cora Crafts Mystery Series.)

3. I’ve been getting some writing in on my historical. Fascinating stuff!

4. Summer is coming! Maybe it’s already here? Things are changing  at the Bryan household. My oldest daughter is applying for work. No camps. Of course, we’ve never been able to do the expensive fancy camps for our girls. But we did what we could.

5. Of course, they say it’s best to have nothing planned over the summer for kids. I have believed that, mostly, allowing my kids the freedom of boredom. I think it fosters creativity. But unfortunately, the kids whose parents can afford to do the nice camps–Shakespeare camps, Broadway camps, writing camps at universities, and so on, compete with my kids. My kids can’t win. Not right now. But you know what? They will learn to work harder to develop an edge–and in the long run–they will be better for it. 

Gettysburg Field Notes in Photos

Last week, I visited  Gettysburg, Pa. to get a little research in on Jefferson Coates, the main subject of the historical novel I’m writing. I visited the Seminary Ridge Museum, which was fabulous. I highly recommend a visit. The museum executive director Barbara Franco gave me a personal tour. It’s a small enough museum that it’s not overwhelming, yet it’s jam packed with interesting things and stories. Including the story of Jefferson, right on one of its walls.

 

A closer look for you.

My novel isn’t about the war, but it is about how the war changed Jefferson and how he overcame his obstacles to live a full life. But I thought I needed to start at the place where he lost his eyes and to try to understand his last day of eyesight. To see the landscape. The flowers. The trees. The fences—most of which are still there.

Part of my day was spent in the museum. It’s the original building and creaked and groaned as I walked it’s wide corridors. The way in which the rooms were set off the hall, it was easy to imagine it housing classrooms and “dorm” like rooms that the seminary students might have lived in before the war and how it served as a hospital during the war.

The other part of my day was spent in the field with Roy Frampton, writer of “Nobel Pillars: Medal of Honor and Confederate Medal of Honor Recipients of the Gettysburg Campaign, (Vol. I),” a book that I’ve found extremely  helpful in learning about the medal and about Coates. He’s an official tour guide for the battlefields, as well. The man knows his stuff.

Coates fought in the first battle at Gettysburg. It looked like the Confederates were going to beat the Union. Coates and his ilk were greatly outnumbered at at first. His orders were to hold his line and position–which he did for as long as he could—until the “skirmish” became much more than that and Jefferson’s men began to scatter.

Eventually they made their way backwards (toward the Lutheran Seminary), sort of backing up from ridge to fence to ridge. At a certain point, Jefferson’s crew (the 7th Wisconsin, part of the famous Iron Brigade) was surrounded by three sides. They suffered great losses.

Here’s some photos of where this famous battle took place.

As the men retreated, some were on the wooded side of the fence and others on the field. Jefferson’s men went up over and around the fence.

 

Straight ahead, off the picture, is where the shooting began. The first retreat was along this fence. some of the men were in the woods and some in the field.

Higher ground beyond the fence.

Beyond the first fence line, heading for the second. this is probably where Jefferson was shot. One side is field and the other is woods. If you look being the ridge, you can see the top of the Seminary.

McPherson’s Barn. This is the original barn, but the house that was there is now gone. A doctor set up a field hospital here just after the battle on July 1. This is important to jefferson Coates story because he lay blinded in the wooded area about 500 feet from here. If he could have seen, this would have been in his sight.

You can see here, a bit, how the land slopes down toward the woods. This is where Jefferson lay, undetected for at least three days, blind, with both eyes gone.

A couple of the leaders watched and strategized from the seminary’s cuppola.

The monument for the Iron Brigade.

A closer view of the text on the monument.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I really didn’t learn anything new about Jefferson, but the trip  served to deepen my understanding about this important day in his life and in the history of the U. S. Plus it helped me envision thing more clearly. I picked up some interesting details that will be useful—things about the ambulances they used and the stretchers and so on.

Civil War ambulance.

Walking through the hall of the place that held so many suffering soldiers  was so touching. Walking the field where so many men fell, including Jefferson Coates, moved me in almost indescribable ways.

Stay tuned in the next weeks and months as I move further into this  project.