Karin Kaufman's Blog, page 4

A Writer’s New Year’s Resolution: Write

I have plans to write two novels in 2013, the third Anna Denning mystery and a suspense novel. Even if I didn’t work full time at my "day job," that would be a tall order. Add to that all the marketing an unknown writer is supposed to do and it would be crazy-making impossible.

About six, seven months after I published The Witch Tree, several readers contacted me through my website to ask me when the second book in the series would be coming out. At the time I hadn’t even plotted the book. I didn’t have the vaguest idea what it would be about—and that bothered me. Writers write, don’t they?

But when I wasn’t working my day job, I was taking care of my house and two dogs and doing the social media thing during all the in-between times. I spent way too much time on the Internet and way, way too much time sitting in my not-too-comfy office chair. Some of the social media networking I thought was necessary, some of it I just enjoyed doing. And some of it, I have to admit, was delicious procrastination.

Some of it, too, was trying to reciprocate in a small way for the generosity of other writers I’ve "met" over the past year and a half—those who have kindly featured my books on their blogs or reviewed my books for Amazon, Goodreads, and Barnes and Noble.

But there came a point when I realized that I can’t reciprocate. I spend eight to ten hours a day working (more some weeks), then I try to write for two hours, then I spend another hour or two on social media.

That’s what I did early in 2012, anyway, because when it came time for me to start writing Sparrow House this past August, I had to cut back on social media. Something had to give. I was finding that I didn’t have the time to do simple things like vacuum my floors, get my hair cut, or drive to the cheaper grocery store a few miles away rather than the more expensive one closest to my house. Ridiculous.

And aside from the time factor, I can no longer ignore the aches and pains, and blurry eyes, that come with sitting at the computer twelve or fourteen hours a day, seven days a week. It’s not good for the body.

It’s true that if you’re an unknown like me, you’ve got to do some marketing, but if I spend time marketing at the expense of writing, what have I got to market? (And when I say "marketing," I don’t mean hard-core marketing, because I think that sort of thing works only in very tiny doses—if at all. I mean just getting onto social media and talking about things I’m interested in.) If I have two free hours in a day, do I spend it writing or marketing what I’ve already written? For me, the answer has become obvious.

I have to face the fact that I’ve still got a day job, and it’s a huge time eater. It has to be; it pays the mortgage. I know many writers out there are in the same frustrating position, longing for the day they can write full time. (Imagine adding ten productive hours to your day.)

If, for you, it’s not a full-time job taking up your time, maybe it’s young children, or being a caretaker for an older family member. Or maybe you’re not a writer but you just want to garden more or finally start painting or learning a new language. It will be 2013 in a few days. How do you want to spend your precious time in the new year?

So, with all that in mind, here are my writing resolutions for 2013:

I will tweet no more than one day a week, and even then just a tweet or two. I’m sure I’ll lose Twitter "followers," but so be it. I love the people I’ve come to know through Twitter, but I’m not convinced of the site’s usefulness as a marketing tool, and Facebook is better for keeping up with friends’ and acquaintances’ goings-on.I will cut back on Facebook and perhaps combine my personal page with my author page, which a lot of people seem to be doing these days. I don’t want to annoy Facebook friends by doing that, but something’s got to give. Maybe cutting back on both pages will solve the problem.I will cut out Google+ altogether. I’ve never really liked the site’s format, anyway.I will keep up with my blog, because writing a blog is writing and I enjoy it, but I won’t sweat it if two or even three weeks go by without a post.I will not go back to LinkedIn or join any new social media site.I will write, write, write every day I possibly can—not emails, not tweets, not Facebook posts, but stories.
Maybe this time next year I’ll discover I’ve made a mistake. Maybe I’ll have two new books to sell and no one who wants to buy them because no one knows who the heck I am. We’ll see.

But I think at the very least I’ll feel happier and less crazy-woman-with-dust-bunnies-everywhere next December than I do this December.


Welcome to the Grace Filled Christmas Blog Tour

Merry Christmas, all! I’m excited to be a part of the Grace Filled Christmas Blog Tour, which is sponsored by the Grace Awards and features twenty-two Christian authors promoting books we hope will bless you this season and beyond.

This post is about my latest release (published less than a week ago, as a matter of fact!), Sparrow House, the second book in my Anna Denning mystery series. The first book in the series, The Witch Tree, was nominated for a 2011 Grace Award.

When the owner of a mansion in the Colorado mountains hires Anna Denning to research his family tree, it’s Anna’s dream come true. A library brimming with old documents, an undiscovered family history—what more could a genealogist want?
 
Excited by the possibilities and fueled by a new love in her life, Anna, tenacious as ever, is undeterred by rumors that a ghost haunts the mansion. Until she uncovers records that suggest those rumors are more than idle talk.

So what makes Sparrow House perfect for Christmas reading and gifting? Ghosts! Christmas and ghosts go together like hot cocoa and marshmallows. There’s a long tradition of Christmas ghost stories in both America and the UK, the best-known such story being Dickens’s Christmas Carol. It’s dark out early, it’s cold and snowy, families are gathered around the fire—what better atmosphere in which to read a gently spooky story?

The Grace Filled Christmas Blog Tour runs through December 22. Don’t forget to check out all the other authors on the tour. Click on the link below to find out who all the authors on the tour are and what dates they will be on their own blog sharing their novels.

http://graceawardsdotorg.wordpress.com/grace-filled-christmas-blog-tour-2012/

The Layman vs. the Vicar

Rob BellOne of my favorite C.S. Lewis quotes is “Once the layman was anxious to hide the fact that he believed so much less than the vicar; now he tends to hide the fact that he believes so much more.”

I knew Rob Bell left his church in Grandville, Michigan, for southern California, but I didn't know his Michigan congregation essentially fired him, so I was surprised to see this article in the Christian Post.

I had assumed Bell was at Mars Hill Bible Church so long because the congregation enjoyed having a "celebrity" pastor, in spite of Bell's sad, hip search for relevance, but that's not the case. In fact, 3,000 members of the church left after the publication of Bell's book Love Wins, in which he questions the existence of hell (because it's just not nice to think about), among other things. Now Bell is in California, looking for ways, the article notes, "to move beyond old-fashioned worship."

As an aside, isn't it interesting that all you have to do is call something "old-fashioned" and in some quarters you've won the argument? C.S. Lewis had a term for that logical fallacy: "chronological snobbery."

So God bless the Mars Hill congregation—the laymen. They knew more than the pastor and told him so.
 

Sparrow House Now Out

I'm happy to announce that the second book in my Anna Denning mystery series, Sparrow House, is now available for your Kindle on Amazon and for your Nook at Barnes and Noble!

Here's the preview:

When the owner of a mansion in the Colorado mountains hires Anna Denning to research his family tree, it’s Anna’s dream come true. A library brimming with old documents, an undiscovered family history — what more could a genealogist want?

Excited by the possibilities and fueled by a new love in her life, Anna, tenacious as ever, is undeterred by rumors that a ghost haunts the mansion. Until she uncovers records that suggest those rumors are more than idle talk.

The Second Anna Denning Mystery

I haven't posted in a while, but there's a good reason for my long absence. I've been working furiously on Sparrow House, the second book in my Anna Denning mystery series.

I just got the cover for it (left), and I think the artist nailed it. I wanted spooky but fun, creepy but cozy. The kind of mystery I love to read.

If all goes well, Sparrow House will be on both Amazon and Barnes and Noble about December 10. I'm looking forward to getting back to some semblance of a regular blog-posting life at that point. See you then!

A New Book!

I’m excited to announce that fellow authors Amy K. Maddox, Cynthia Bruner, and I just published a collection of short stories called Fount: Stories of Storms and Grace.

 The book’s eight stories—inspired by the old hymn “Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing”—follow characters as they navigate their way through depression, injustice, drug addiction, regret, supernatural powers, and other storms of life to find their way to grace.

 The ebook is available on Amazon for your Kindle and Barnes and Noble for your Nook. From the book’s introduction: “The storms of life will come. They will shape us but they will not define us; they will test us but they will not destroy us. For we have the promise of Living Water: life-giving, sustaining, cleansing, refreshing. And grace—sometimes trickling like a stream, sometimes flowing like a fountain—will come just as surely.”  

The Next Big Thing (part 4)

It’s time for the last two questions in The Next Big Thing (TNBT) blog hop event. The event consists of 10 questions about an author’s current work in progress (WIP). Each author who is tagged answers the 10 questions listed below about his or her current WIP. Then that author tags five (or fewer) other writers and links to their blogs so we can all hop over and read their answers (see my blog entry for June 28 for more details).

Question #9: Which authors inspired you to write this book?

Going back to my teens, authors such as Dorothy L. Sayers and Ngaio Marsh inspired me, before I even knew I wanted to write mysteries. I was floored when I read Sayers’ The Nine Tailors. What a work of art. Much later, Tony Hillerman and Margaret Coel became inspirations. I discovered Hillerman only ten years ago, long after he’d written his first mystery, but when I found him, I devoured his books, one after another, until I’d caught up with his writing. I wish he were alive today, still writing about Joe Leaphorn.

Question #10: Tell us anything else that might pique our interest in your book.
I’m having a lot of fun writing it. I think readers can tell when a writer’s had fun! I try to write books I would like to read. I think of myself curling up in bed with my WIP at night—what would I want to read next? What would give me goosebumps or make me laugh?

I’ve tagged four more awesome writers whose work you want to watch. Check out their links and see what WIPs they’re crafting:
http://www.amykmaddox.com/Amy Maddox http://pennyzeller.wordpress.com/Penny Zeller
http://sandirog.blogspot.com/Sandi Rog
http://www.maureenamiller.com/Maureen A. Miller

Here is the full list of TNBT questions for you to copy and paste to your blog along with your answers. Just tag five (or fewer, if you wish) awesome writers and add their links so we can all follow along.

1. What is the title of your book/WIP? 2. Where did the idea for the book come from?
3. What genre would your book fall under?
4. Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition?
5. What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?
6. Is your book published or represented?
7. How long did it take you to write?
8. What other books within your genre would you compare it to?
9. Which authors inspired you to write this book?
10. Tell us anything else that might pique our interest in your book.

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The Next Big Thing (part 3)

It’s time for four more questions in The Next Big Thing (TNBT) blog hop event. The event consists of 10 questions about an author’s current work in progress (WIP). Each author who is tagged answers the 10 questions listed below about his or her current WIP. Then that author tags five (or fewer) other writers and links to their blogs so we can all hop over and read their answers (see my blog entry for June 28 for more details). Thanks to Gail M. Baugniet for tagging me and getting me started.

Question #4: Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition?
That’s a tough question. I really don’t know. Though I do know that I’d want an un-Hollywood type to play my protagonist, Anna Denning. Maybe an unknown. Someone who, like Anna, is somewhat pretty but far from gorgeous, and someone who, although she doesn’t lack for self-confidence, is totally lacking in finesse and glamour. Anna is the kind of person who walks out of a public restroom with toilet paper stuck to her shoe—and has no problem peeling it off and laughing about it.

Question #5: What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?

One sentence? I have a one-sentence tag line in mind, but not a one-sentence synopsis. That’s why I write novels instead of flash fiction!

Question #6: Is your book published or represented?

It will be published as an ebook before the end of 2012.

Question #7: How long did it take you to write?

I haven’t finished writing it yet. It took months to plot, but that’s because I like mysteries with multiple story threads and intricate plots.

I’ve tagged five more awesome writers whose work you should watch. Check out their links and see what WIPs they’re crafting:

http://www.tegeorge.com/T.E. Georgehttp://peteturner.webs.com/Pete Turner
http://gwendolyngage.blogspot.com/Gwendolyn Gage
http://www.aearndt.com/Angela E. Arndt
http://www.tericdarken.com / Teric Darken

Here is the full list of TNBT questions for you to copy and paste to your blog along with your answers. Just tag five awesome writers and add their links so we can all follow along.

1. What is the title of your book/WIP?
2. Where did the idea for the book come from?
3. What genre would your book fall under?
4. Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition?
5. What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?
6. Is your book published or represented?
7. How long did it take you to write?
8. What other books within your genre would you compare it to?
9. Which authors inspired you to write this book?
10. Tell us anything else that might pique our interest in your book.

Don’t forget my book giveaway! Five winners will receive an ebook copy of The Witch Tree. Just "like" my Facebook author page or follow this blog (see the previous blog post for a link and details). Contest ends this Sunday night.

Christmas in July: Book Giveaway

Tired of the heat? Me too. Officially summer is only a few weeks old, but already it's been way too sizzling in most parts of the country. That means it’s the perfect time to think about cold weather, snow, and . . . Christmas.

To celebrate my strange frame of mind, I’ve decided to give away five copies of The Witch Tree , my mystery ebook set in the Colorado mountain town of Elk Park in the days leading up to Christmas. Snowstorms, Christmas trees, and murder. Brrrr.

Ready? Here are the rules:
“Like” my Facebook author page or follow my blog between July 9 and July 15.If you liked my author page or followed my blog before July 9, leave me a note on my Facebook author page or blog if you want to be entered.If you follow my blog to enter, leave your email address so I can contact you if you win. If you liked my Facebook author page to enter, I’ll contact you through Facebook.Winners will be chosen and announced on July 16. The ebooks will be sent as gifts from either Amazon or Barnes and Noble, so you need a Kindle or Nook or a Kindle or Nook app on your computer or other device.
Here’s a description of the book:
Four days before Christmas in Elk Park, Colorado, genealogist Anna Denning discovers a client's body. When she starts asking questions no one wants answered, she becomes the killer's next target. Still grieving the death of her husband, Anna must draw on her wounded faith to enter a world of wicca and paganism—reminders of a past she buried long ago—and discover the secret of The Witch Tree .
Good luck!
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The Next Big Thing (part 2)

P.D. JamesIt’s time for two more questions in The Next Big Thing (TNBT) blog hop event. The event consists of 10 questions about an author’s current work in progress (WIP). Each author who is tagged answers the 10 questions listed below about his or her current WIP. Then that author tags five (or fewer) other writers and links to their blogs so we can all hop over and read their answers. (See my blog entry for June 28 for more details.)

Question #2: Where did the idea for your upcoming book come from?

KARIN: First, I knew I was going to continue with the Anna Denning mystery series. I’ve come to love Elk Park and its inhabitants (my third Anna Denning mystery is already percolating in my mind!). Second, I’ve always enjoyed ghost stories. So I put the two together.            But this is a ghost story from a Christian perspective. We know we die only once and then we’re judged (Heb. 9:27), so after death we’re hardly likely to wander the earth in ghostly form. But we also know there’s a supernatural realm. Do ghosts exist? If so, what are they really?
Question #3: What genre would your book fall under?
KARIN: Although the mystery revolves around an old Elk Park mansion and its ghostly reputation, it’s not a horror story. It’s a mystery.
I’ve tagged three more awesome writers whose work you want to watch. Check out their links and see what they’re up to:
http://mhgerberbooks.blogspot.com/M.H.  Gerber (mystery) http://brendabwallace.blogspot.com/Brenda B. Wallace (mystery/thriller) http://hopeofglory.typepad.com/ Nicole Petrino-Salter (contemporary Christian fiction)
Here is the full list of TNBT questions for you to copy and paste to your blog along with your answers. Just tag five awesome writers and add their links so we can all follow along.
1. What is the title of your book/WIP? 2. Where did the idea for the book come from?
3. What genre would your book fall under?
4. Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition?
5. What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?
6. Is your book published or represented?
7. How long did it take you to write?
8. What other books within your genre would you compare it to?
9. Which authors inspired you to write this book?
10. Tell us anything else that might pique our interest in your book.