Stacy Verdick Case's Blog, page 14

Happy Anniversary, Operation Gratitude!

Reblogged from Operation Gratitude Blog:

On March 19, 2003, Operation Gratitude got its start in the living room of its founder, Carolyn Blashek. Four care packages were shipped that day. Nine years and more than 760,000 care packages later, we thought we would take a trip down Memory Lane to reminisce and appreciate all that has been accomplished thanks to the help, generosity and dedication of countless friends, donors and supporters…

Read more… 233 more words

More Hop Hop!

What can I say – I really get around. Today I'm hoping over to  Haunted Orchid! Even if you don't drop by to read the review of A Grand Murder, you have to pop over to Haunted Orchid just to see one of the coolest blog headers on the internet. Seriously, check it out.

Thank you, Haunted Orchid for letting me be a part of your blog!

Filed under: Authors, Blog Tour!, books Tagged: Blog Tour, books, Haunted Orchid, Review

Hip, hip, hippity hop!

Another blog hop stop today! Today there's a review and giveaway of  A Grand Murder over on Bless Their Hearts Mom! I am eternally grateful to Bless Their Hearts Mom for being my host today.

Muchas Gracias!

I hope you can stop by and join us by clicking HERE.

Filed under: Blog Tour!, books, Contest, fiction, give away, Mysteries, reading Tagged: A Grand Murder, Bless Their Hearts Mom, Blog Hop, Book Review, Giveaway

Another Blog Hop Stop!

Today I'm hopping all the way over to Words By Webb for a review of A Grand Murder and an interview! I am so grateful to Jodi Webb for being my host!

If you have a chance then Hop, Hop, Hop your way over to Words By Webb and check it out!

Filed under: Blog Tour!, books, fiction, reading, Writers Tagged: A Grand Murder, Blog Hop, Interview, Review, Words By Webb

Why Write? A Guest Post by Gemma Wilford

After seizing the opportunity and volunteering to write a guest blog, I was then faced with the task of What To Write.

It dawned on me simply as I was doing the washing up; Why Do I Write?

Ever since I can remember, I have loved books; curling up with the likes of Enid Blyton's Famous Five, soaking up every word, vividly imagining every description, feeling myself become part of the adventure – The Story.

As I read, I developed the strong urge to write; after each book I felt compelled to write a story of my own. It was a craving that was never fully satisfied until pen met paper. Nowadays it is when my fingers meet laptop keys (the wonders of technology, a godsend for writers.)

I continued with this love throughout school; however once I left and Real Life got in the way, writing became filling forms in at work and reading became something I sometimes did before bed to help me sleep.

Then, I had an experience that changed my thinking.

I went and had my tarot cards read. Now before you roll your eyes and dismiss what I am about to say, let me explain first of all.

I had gone with my friend purely out of interest to see what it was all about.

The medium was spot on about a lot of things that he had no way of knowing; however, time and time again randomly during the conversation, he said 'You love to write. You should write."

A light bulb clicked in my head; I do love to write, I really should write.

If I took anything away with me, it was guidance. By this small event in my life, it changed the way I thought. I had forgotten my passion for writing, the flame dulled by the mundane tasks of everyday life. This medium had suddenly provided the match for me to strike and re-ignite this passion, and provide a spark he did.

Since that day, I have never looked back.

I wrote my first Children's Story; The Ruby of Egypt, which I decided to self-publish after sending this to a few Literary Agents who advised that, although they enjoyed the story, there wasn't really a big enough market for it.

I found out about Lulu.com through attendance at a Creative Writing Class (again something I decided to join following my encounter with the medium) after one of the students advised her friends daughter (who was only 10) had self-published a story through Lulu.

Another light bulb came on and I decided this was the route to take The Ruby of Egypt down. To have my work in print was a dream come true and if others wanted to read it, I considered that as a lovely bonus.

I have since just finished writing my first ever novel, Miss Pooshoe, a chick-lit that is based on a woman who loses her job and the title is designed to intrigue. It is not too dissimilar to what I experienced and I set myself the challenge of writing it from 1st Jan 2012 to 29th Feb 2012. It was a New Year's Resolution as well as a bid to motivate myself during the low, depressing, dark months that follow the climax of Christmas. I accomplished my mission and the first draft is now complete.

I poured all my frustrations and anger that I experienced in my job situation last year into this book, tainting it with a comical edge by sprinkling some ridiculous things that I have said or done over my past twenty eight years.

Once I had completed the first draft, not only did I feel proud, I also felt a huge weight had been lifted off my shoulders. That book was my therapy and, by writing it, I also managed to put a few things in life into perspective and come to terms with my situation.

The immense pleasure I got out of writing this novel and the overwhelming sense of pride and achievement that I feel at completing it, is Why I Write.

Now to see if anyone wants to actually publish it….

Filed under: Authors, books, Guest Post, Writers Tagged: Gemma Wilford, Guest Post, Why Write, writing

Blog Hop! Day 7

Today's stop on the blog, hop, hop, hop is Genre Wench (another great blog name)! Genre Wench has a giveaway and a review so hop over there and find out who you can win your copy of A Grand Murder. Just CLICK HERE!

Filed under: Authors, Blog Tour!, books, Contest, fiction, free book, give away, Mysteries Tagged: A Grand Murder, Blog Hop, Genre Wench, Giveaway

Hop, Hop, Blog Hop! Day 6

Day 6 of our awesome blog hop continues with a review and a giveaway over at Must Read Faster (awesome name for a blog)! Boogie on over to Must Reader Faster to find out who you can win by CLICKING HERE!

Filed under: Blog Tour!, books, fiction, free book, give away, Mysteries Tagged: A Grand Murder, Blog Hop, Giveaway, Must Read Faster

Day 5 Blog Hop!

We are hop, hop, hippity, hopping over to Minding Spot today for a review of A Grand Murder.

Here's hoping you'll slip on you saddle shoes and join us by clicking HERE!

Filed under: Authors, Blog Tour!, books, fiction, Mysteries Tagged: A Grand Murder, Blog Hop, Minding Spot, Review

Step Outside In The Name of Research

When a friend of mine approached me with an opportunity to participate in a six-week citizens police academy, it wasn't something I jumped at

That's me during my police training. I don't think real officer laugh that much. I am wicked with a plastic gun people!

right away. Writers by nature tend to be introverted, so this experience would be outside my comfort zone.

My friend, also a writer, convinced me this experience would give me access to areas in the police department I wouldn't normally see, including the evidence locker and the 911 dispatch center. More importantly, I would be able to cultivate valuable contacts who know I'm a writer and are happy to answer creepy mystery writer questions. So after much cajoling, I agreed.

Now, I believe there is no substitute for meeting people in the jobs you're writing about. You pick up character traits you wouldn't expect that can give your characters depth, and insights, you could never get anywhere else.

At the end of the six-week training, each person was able to participate in a ride along. The whole night was pretty uneventful, but I was able to ask the officer a lot of questions, so it wasn't a total loss. Then fifteen minutes before the end of our shift we got a call. A woman had been raped at gun point, and the man who did it was threatening to shoot anyone who came to the door.  We were one of the first two cars on the scene.  After a few minutes of discussion, the officers decided they were going in to get the guy.

This wasn't unexpected. After all, this is what these officers do for a living. It's their job to put themselves between us, and the people who would harm us. What was unexpected was that in the middle of this intense situation both of these big, strong men took a few minutes before going in to call home. I can't speak to what the officer in the other car said, but the officer I was with called his wife. The conversation was mundane. He asked if she'd remembered to give the dog its pills, if the kids had a good day at school, and he ended the conversation by saying he would be late tonight and said, "I love you," to his wife.

I realized he was saying good-bye, just in case, without saying the words. I'm betting that, on some level, she knew what the call meant too.

When he left the car, I cried. Not just because I was afraid that these two officers were going to be shot, but because of the call. It was the first time I thought about being the spouse of a police officer and what everyday must be like. That made me intensify the conflict between my lead character Catherine and her husband Gavin, who initially had a very small part in the book.

Luckily, the standoff ended anticlimactically, and neither the  officers, nor the suspect were injured. He simply answered the door, acknowledge what he'd done, and surrendered.

This man who had caused so much pain was brought to sit the back of a squad car in hand cuffs. I sat in a car across from him. I expected to see pure evil, because that what we want to see in our villains. Instead, there was a man in his seventies, who had never had a run in with the law in his whole life, not even a speeding ticket. He was somebody's father, and grandfather. His eyes were sad and scared.

This unsettled me.

I don't want to share the full details of what had happened, because this is someone's life I am writing about, and if his victim reads this I don't want there to be any identifying markers. It is sufficient to say that, in this man's mind, he had developed a belief that the woman he raped had feelings for him, and he believed it.

That's when I realized I had to rewrite my story. I was writing killers who were just evil for the sake of my story.

I've heard it said many times, that everyone is the hero of their own story, but I never took it to heart before that night. I went home, and rewrote A Grand Murder, so that the killer believes they are doing what is best by committing murder. The character is now more believable than in the first draft, and I believe more sympathetic.

There are many valuable facts that mystery writers can learn from research books, but an education like the one I had that night, is priceless and can't be found in a book. For all authors, I implore you to step outside your comfort zone in the name of research, and touch the people you are writing about. You might find the unexpected that gives your writing greater depth.

This post was originally a guest post for another blogger, but I like it and I wanted it here on my blog too. – Stacy

Filed under: Authors, books, fiction, Mysteries, Writers Tagged: fiction writing, Research, writing

Guest Post from Tim Miller the Author of The Hand of God

I wrote my first book almost ten years ago. I had gone through the whole publishing mess that many of you have experienced already.  Even back then the publishing world was beginning to change.  Print on demand technology was just coming into its own, and authors were finally able to put their  own books in print for minimal cost.  So I went ahead and did it, and came out with a nice little product.  Internet marketing was just beginning at that time as well.  There wasn't Twitter or Facebook.  We had to make our own websites, sign up on Yahoo groups and message boards.  I did book signings at any place that would have me.  I would go to Barnes and Noble, Borders and local coffee shops.

The coffee shops were the best.  They were better than Indie bookstores.  The Indie bookstores looked down their noses at indie authors.  The coffee shops were always looking for events and entertainment.  So I'd be driving all over Northern Indiana, Michigan, Ohio and Illinois with a box full of books in my car.  After publishing two books, I'd sold around 700-800 total.  Not much by today's ebook numbers, but for toting around hardcopies from location to location, and selling them for 15.00 each, it wasn't too bad.

Well after a couple years of that, life got in the way.  Family issues, health problems, going back to school and then running a business all took the place of writing for the better part of a decade.  So here I am today, just finished my third novel and published it as an ebook for the first time.  I have to see it feels like I'm starting all over again. I have to find all new readers, figure out Twitter and blogging and even guest blogging.  But just like back in the day, it's a lot of work.  It's probably even more work now, since it's even easier to get a book up on Amazon.  With KDP anyone and everyone can put a book out regardless of the quality.  While that is another topic for another day, I'm now faced with finding away to get my work out there and into the reader's hands.  I'm not sure how helpful this will be for many of you reading this, but it's my way of thinking out the process.  It's both scary and exciting at the same time.

I find it highly exciting because I remember ten years ago, people from Indie bookstores being rude to me for merely asking about having a signing at their store.  One even asked for a copy of my book.  So I sent her one, and when I called her a few weeks later, she said she sold it, never read it and figures there is no point in having an Indie author there since no one knows who I am anyway.  I was just a bit irritated at that one.  Then there were literary agents, that was another fun bunch to try and deal with.  I won't even get started on some of the small presses I had signed with and later had problems with.  So as things are now, for the first time since anyone can remember, we the authors finally have more control and clout than ever before.  Granted, its a scramble to try and stand out, but in the end it will all be worth it.

 Buy The Hand of God Here!

Filed under: Authors, books, publishing, Writers Tagged: Guest Post, The Hand of God, Tim Miller