Kate Collins's Blog, page 14

Are you on the list?

Hi, Duffy Brown here...

I never seem to get enough done! Yet I feel like I’m running around with my hair on fire. My house is never as clean as I’d like (heck, it’s not clean at all), the laundry piles up for weeks (true confession time), I don’t write enough pages in one day, the oil in the car needs changing...you get the picture. 



So I’ve decided to be one of those list people. You know the type they’re the ones who have lists of things to get done every day. There are two reasons for taking up the list challenge... One is that I hope to get more done and the second is that IFI do get somethingdone I can keep track of it and not feel as if I should wear a shirt with Procrastinatorwritten on the front.This isn’t exactly a brand new idea for me. I mean I do make other lists. Sometimes I actually go to the grocery with a list of things I need. Mostly this is when company’s coming and I’m making something special or I’ve forgotten toilet paper for the seventh time and the toilet situation is dire and I need to really, really remember this time!And I make lists for leaving the house. Turn back heat, put out garbage, make sure cat is not trapped in the bathroom... Then there are lists I never use. I have a Christmas card list that I never use. I never send out cards and have five boxes of Christmas cards in the closet to prove it.I made a lists of good food to eat each day... Five servings of veggies! Really? I’m lucky I do that in a week. I thought about making a list of cookies to eat each day. That list I could follow and would feel great about checking something off a list for a change. Then there’s the list of daily exercises. I found that one buried under the TV Guide. The good things about making lists are:-you get to buy a pretty notebook to write your list in. I really like that. I’m a sucker for cute notebooks-you get to check things off when you do them. I do like putting a check in a box.-at the end of the day I know I’ve actually done something...I hope. If not I’ve got that cookie list to fall back on-and when I do the things on my list I celebrate! I really like the celebrating idea. Refer to the cookie list above. Oreos are the fav celebratory cookie. So what about you? Are you a list maker? Do you make lists every day? When you go to the grocery store? When you go on vacation? When you watch the grandkids so you don’t leave one in the car. (I had four kids and counted a lot!) Do you thing lists are a good idea or a waste of time?-

by Maggie SeftonI've had emails from readers who were cur...

by Maggie Sefton

I've had emails from readers who were curious about my mention of my suspense novel, DEADLY POLITICS, which I mentioned last week in my Cozy Chicks Blog post.  So I thought I'd fill in some details.  DEADLY POLITICS is the first in a three book series set in Washington, D.C. in 2007.  My old hometown.


I grew up right across the Potomac River in Arlington, Virginia.  All the action takes place in a six-month period from Spring into Summer of that year, 2007.


No real persons or politicians appear on the page----thank goodness.  :)

SOMETIMES IT'S BETTER TO WAIT

By Mary Kennedy                                               
   
Do you ever put off doing something because a little inner voice whispers to you, "Wait, wait!"

 I've noticed I do that and I just read a psychology article that explained that I'm not alone. If you find yourself yourself hesitating over taking a particular action, there might be a good reason. It might not be "procrastination," or "laziness," it could be that there is a valid reason not to go ahead. Your subconscious is warning you to hold off, even though your conscious mind couldn't tell you why. Eventually your subconscious will put all the pieces together and come up with a solution for you.

I was hesitating getting into the love interest in GOLDEN GIRL, part of the Hollywood Nights, a series for teens. I wanted Amber, the gorgeous main character, to fall hard for someone, but couldn't get a clear idea of who would appeal to her. (she would appeal to anyone with a pulse, that part was easy.) But trying to figure out the essential characters traits of "Nick" was eluding me. I had the name and that's all.                                                       
                                                                     

Nick Crawford had to be smart and ambitious, I was sure of that. And I wanted him to be a "temporary" resident of South Beach. Not someone whose family had been there for generations.
                                                                           

I hesitated to write the scene where Amber meets Nick and worked ahead on other scenes. And then I met a "real life" Nick and everything fell into place.  I was glad I'd waited! The real life Nick was from New York and a film student. He was smart, ambitious, talented and sophisticated. The perfect match for Amber.                                                                                                                        
Sometimes waiting isn't a bad thing. You'll be rewarded when the right idea comes along! You can check out the Hollywood Nights series right here. https://www.marykennedy.net/hollywood.html
Have a good week, everyone! mary

Are you a Goodreads Reader?

by Lorraine Bartlett / Lorna Barrett / L.L. Bartlett

The other day on my Facebook Group (Lorraine's & Lorna's Perpetual Teaparty--feel free to join!), I asked my members (besides Facebook), what social media sites do they most frequent. I was surprised to find the answer was Goodreads.

Here are the stats:

Goodreads     136
Instagram        78
Pinterest           74
Bookbub           65
Twitter               26

I can't say I'm surprised about Twitter--I don't visit it often, but I must admit I was rather shocked by the number who went to Goodreads. Several readers said they used Goodreads to keep track of the books they've read and to find new books from reviews other leave. Sounds good from a reader's perspective.

The reason I don't visit Goodreads often, though, is because I've heard isn't not such a friendly place from an author's perspective. (That it's a little too easy to get trolled.) But, I'm there (under all three of my names) and I even got asked a question the other day. I knew they had that provision, but not many people have asked me a question from Goodreads before. (Anything anybody wants to know? Feel free to leave a comment below.)

I've been learning more about Instagram. Just yesterday, I learned how to do a "story." I am all thumbs when it comes to doing stuff on my phone, so I use my PC to upload photos to this platform. I looked up the dimensions for a "story" graphic, but when I posted it, it was too big. Grump. (That's it to the left.) I guess I'll just play around with it until I figure it out.

How about Pinterest? I must admit I avoid it because it's addictive. Once I start scrolling all those wonderful pins, I can't stop. I need more. And to make it worse, they send me emails with links to the latest dog- and cat-shaming pictures, pictures of broken china jewelry, and Star Trek pix. (Which is a terrible tease, because I don't get CBS All Access and can't watch Picard!) As Gayle and I have a book coming out in May (Victoria Square #7, A Murderous Misconception), I started a new Pinterest board for it. Gayle is so funny. Because one of our characters is behaving badly, she thought we should add a Pizza Rat picture. Go take a look!)

So, what's your favorite social media site and why?

Won't You Be Gayle's Neighbor?

by Gayle Leeson

Who is your favorite neighbor? Mine are our human neighbors' pets. Over the years, they've included Jake, a chocolate lab who used to come bark at my door for treats and hugs. (Jake was the inspiration for my character Myrtle Crumb 's dog, Matlock - Between A Clutch and A Hard Place ); Vader, a Rottweiler who once jumped into my car and wedged his butt into one of our children's car seats; and Charlie and Annabelle, brother and sister cats who would run inside our house for cuddles whenever they caught our door open long enough.

Okay, I love our people neighbors too... or I at least like them...but those sweet pets melt my heart. I've known some of them since they were babies.

My son 's friend Logan once brought his German Shepherd puppy Roxy to our house. Naturally, the boys wanted to play instead of taking care of a puppy. So after a few minutes, Logan enlisted me to babysit. Holding the puppy while my husband and I watched TV,  I laughed at something silly on the screen. My laughter set Roxie off, and she began to howl. The more I laughed, the more she howled. Finally, unable to breathe, I had to hand the sweet pup to my husband so I could leave the room and regain my composure before I actually died laughing.

Another neighbor I've known all his life is Chubbs. Chubbs is a mixed breed dog who I believe has a bit of Great Pyrenees in his lineage. He was one of a litter fostered by the neighbors to our left, and he was the cutest fluffball. This was about a year before we adopted Cooper, and I would go borrow Chubbs. Much like children, puppies remember those who play with them and give them treats. To this day, he will come to our door and cry or bark to be let inside. I open the door, and Chubbs goes straight to the kitchen to stand by the shelf where the treats are kept.

One last funny story about Charlie the cat: he came inside one evening right after I'd gotten out of the shower. My husband had been mowing the lawn, so Charlie came into the garage through the pet door, and upstairs to find me. As I stepped out of the shower, the phone rang. Wrapping myself in a towel, I sat on the edge of the bed and answered the phone. Charlie came and hopped onto the bed. He was purring contentedly at my side when my husband came in and said, "There you are, Charlie ... you little idiot." I said, "You're calling him an idiot? Which one of you just came in from doing manual labor and which one is lying on the bed with a naked woman?" He couldn't argue with that.

P.S. Above are Cooper, our Great Pyrenees, and Pepper (Pepper Louise, in fact). Pepper was at least eighteen years old when she crossed over the Rainbow Bridge in December. She was a character, and I'll write more about her in a future post.

City girl or not so much

In Geared for the Grave Evie Bloomfield wants to boost her chances for a promotion so she agrees to leave Chicago and head off to Mackinac Island to help her boss’ dad with his cycle shop.




Mackinac is a real island, an eight-mile chunk of land where Lake Michigan meets Lake Huron. It’s truly beautiful, no cars with horses and bikes a twenty-minute ferry ride from the mainland. When the lakes freeze...or as the islanders call it “the ice makes...there is no ferry, very limited plane service and if the ice is think enough snowmobiles are the way off the place.
So want do you think, could you live here year-round?
Without cars it’s so quiet and the whole island is a throwback to the 1800s with vintage baseball, parades for every occasion like the Lilac Festival, Horse Festival, Fudge Festival etc. There’s the town gazebo for live music, dressing for dinner at the Grand Hotel, high tea, horse drawn carriages with men in top hats and formal attire and did I mention the no cars thing?
Mackinac is waking up to the clip clop of horses’ hooves on cobblestone and often the whole island cocooned in dense fog with the foghorns moaning out in the harbor. You’ll be in the best shape of you life with having to walk everywhere and the sunset over the Mackinaw Bridge will always take your breath away.
This sound amazing to many of us like and like a death sentence to others. There is no mall! There is no Walmart, big box store of any sort, no free wifi except at Horn’s bar and the library. Often your cell phone won’t work and you’ll be hanging over the end of the pier to get reception for the so important phone call. There are only 500 permanent residents so things get a bit confining in the winter when the way to get around is your snowmobile. Your kids go to a school with sixty other kids...just sixty...and there is no Dollar Store. And it’s reeeeeally cold.  So what do you think? Are you a island person or a big city guy or gal? Personally I think I’d fit in perfectly on Mackinac Island. It’s a writer’s heaven and I’ve always wanted my own a snowmobile.
Hugs,Duffy Brown
Geared for the Grave First book in Cycle Path Mysteries

DEADLY POLITICS

by  Maggie Sefton




Those of you who are newcomers to the Cozy Chicks Blog audience may not know about my first suspense novels which I wrote several years ago.  Although completely fictional the three books are set in the time period of 2012-----DEADLY POLITICS, POISONED POLITICS, and BLOODY POLITICS  (That's a slight exaggeration in the last title, folks. There's a murder in the last book but nothing graphic). Here's a brief glimpse of the first book---

DEADLYPOLITICS
   Once the wife of an idealistic Colorado Congressman, Molly Malone was driven from Washington, D.C. by political backstabbing, scandals, and personal heartbreak. But now she's forced to start a new life and   do what she swore she never  would---return to the city that broke  her heart and  face the ghosts and the  enemies from her past.

HOW NOT TO WRITE YOUR NOVEL

By Mary Kennedy                                           

Am I expert at writing novels? Heck no! Is there any reason to heed my advice?  Maybe not. But on the plus side, I've written (and sold) 47 novels to major NY publishers. Here are a few tips I've picked up along the way. 
1. Don't get paralyzed by the feeling that maybe your novel will never see the light of day. If you give up now, it definitely won't. I can guarantee it. The only thing now is to persevere. If you hit a snag put a double XX or some marker in the ms and keep going You can go back and fix it later.
2. Don't get hung up by the small stuff. If you can't find a description of a Victorian parlour, don't let the writing grind to a halt. You're probably only talking about a paragraph in the finished novel. Keep going!
3. Stick to a schedule. Yes, everyone needs a break, but are you taking a break or an escape? Hint: a nap is an escape.                                                                                                                  
4. Don't get distracted by other online activities. If necessary, use a separate computer for writing. Some of my friends do this and recommend it.     
                       
                                                                   5. Stop talking about your "work in progress" to your friends. Newsflash: they may not find your WIP as fascinating as you do. Not saying this is the case, but consider the possibility. And think how silly you're going to feel when six months pass, or a year passes and there is no book! Luckily, they will probably have forgotten but why take a chance?

6. Set a deadline. You know the difference between a dream and a goal? It's a DEADLINE. Get out the calendar and mark off how many pages you are going to write a day. 5 or 6 is a good estimate. Now work backwards. Pick a date about six months from now. Check off how many writing days it will take to complete your book by that date. Set a page goal. Write down how many pages you wrote on Monday, for example. If you didn't write any,and your goal is six pages a day then you have to write 12 pages on Tuesday. Trust me, you will not feel like it.
Finally, it's easy to talk about writing. A lot of people do and they never follow through. If you're serious about writing as a career, then make it a priority, even if you have to burn the midnight oil or get up at the crack of dawn to get your "pages' done for the day.
No excuses, and good luck!
Mary Kennedy

Saturday Spotlight: Designs on Murder by Gayle Leeson

What if you discovered your lively new friend wasn't really...alive?

When Amanda decides to lease a space in historic Abingdon, Virginia's Shops On Main, she's surprised to learn that she has a resident ghost. But soon Maxine "Max", a young woman who died in 1930, isn't the only dead person at the retail complex. Mark, a web designer who rented space at Shops On Main, is shot in his office.

 Amanda is afraid that one of her new "friends" is a killer, and Max is encouraging her to solve Mark's murder a la Nancy Drew. Easy for Max to want to investigate--she can't end up the killer's next victim!

Read an excerpt at ghostlyfashionista.com!

A good deal & a givaway

by Lorraine Bartlett / Lorna Barrett / L.L. Bartlett

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY
Mr. L and I always celebrate with a Valentine's Day tea. I make cucumber, egg salad and (ick) salmon sandwiches, we have scones with jam, and some kind of goody. (This year it's cocoa-dusted truffles and homemade pumpkin bread.) Yum-yum!

But this year I also have a Valentine for my readers.



Today and tomorrow only (Feb 14 & 15), LOVE & MURDER , my collection of seven short stories is only $1 at Smashwords. That's 75% off the regular price. Click the link below and use coupon code TL48P at check-out time.  http://tinyurl.com/kfcbkmx

And as if that wasn't enough, I'm also holding a giveaway for a Victoria Square/Tealicious mug (enter before Feb. 20th!).


Check out the giveaway page on my website to enter. And while you're there, check out the rest of the site!  https://lorrainebartlett.com/my-current-giveaway/

You could be the lucky winner.

Now, what are you up to this Valentine's Day?