Elizabeth Spann Craig's Blog, page 235

Writing Our (Food) Region

It's the traveling version of Mystery Writing is Murder today!

First up, I'm at the Cozy Chicks blog—a great group of writers who are also friends of mine. Today I'm posting on how writing about food in our books can add local flavor to our novels.

And, if you're looking for a quick and easy hors d'oeuvre for your next summer gathering, look no further than my bacon-wrapped, cream cheese-stuffed jalapenos at the Mystery Lovers' Kitchen!

Shakespeare and Twitter?

Hi everyone! Thanks so much for the good wishes and congratulations yesterday. :)  It was an exciting day for me—and apparently also a very busy and tiring one,  since I fell asleep last night before 10:00!

Today I'm at my friend, Teresa's, blog…she's the Journaling Woman.  I have a little muse on authors from the past and social media.  Hope you'll join me. :)

Release Day—and Contest Results

First of all, I wanted to thank everyone for their encouragement and support in the comments and emails I've received. It's really appreciated!

Delicious and Suspicious releases today and I couldn't be more excited. :) I think I'm going to drag my family out to the bookstore so they can see it on the shelf.

Berkley Prime Crime ran a short Q&A with me and put it up on their website. Looking in their sidebar, I'm thrilled to see my book alongside such great July releases.

My contest ...

The Way We Market

As you can imagine, I'm in a marketing haze right now. :) I've got postcards with the Delicious and Suspicious cover on them that are on their way to libraries and bookstores.

I've sent out ARCs for my book to newspapers and book blogging reviewers.

I'm running a contest (last day to enter!) :)

I'm also setting up lots of visits on different blogs so that a variety of different readers can hear about my book.

I have a book tour set with Jennifer Stanley, Krista Davis, and Avery Aames ...

Twitterific

Happy 4th of July to all my American friends! Here are writing links that I've posted to Twitter for the past week. If you're looking for a particular topic, just plug in your keyword into the search box at the top left-hand corner of the blog (on the black header right above my blog name…next to the Blogger symbol…the small search window is next to the magnifying glass) and the roundup with your subject will come up. To narrow your search down on the page, do a CTRL+F, type your subject...

Narrowing Down Our Project

The past week, I've been at Harbor Island, South Carolina, enjoying the beach with my parents and children. Through the magic of WiFi, I've also been at my blog, Twitter, Facebook, and other places, too. Now I'm packing up to head back to North Carolina.

I've got a couple of books to write in the next 6-9 months, and sometimes my mind jumps around from favorite idea to favorite idea. At least mine are all in the same genre (well, a few aren't, but they're relegated to a Word file for...

Doing it All Wrong

I was back again at the YMCA, exercising with my children last week. This time I'd finished walking on the treadmill and decided to try out a weight machine I'd never used before.

I read the little sign on the side of the machine and hesitantly started out.

After a minute or two, I relaxed. It wasn't as hard as I thought it would be. In fact, it seemed almost easy!

I was confidently lifting the weights when a big guy, with a YMCA badge on, walked up to me, frowning. "You're doing ...

Stretching Ourselves as Writers: by Deborah Sharp

Thanks so much, Elizabeth, for inviting me to guest at ''Mystery Writing is Murder.'' A lot of truth in that blog title, honey.

If you're a writer, you should be able to write anywhere, right? I was embracing that dictum recently while barreling south on the Florida Turnpike, cruise control set somewhere north of 70 mph.

Don't get your knickers in a knot, safe driving advocates. Both hands were firmly on the wheel. My husband was in the passenger seat with his laptop, typing away...

5 Ways to Promote Your Book Using Social Media--by Louise Baker

Social media can be used to promote just about anything, from a fashion show to a big sale at a large department store. For those who don't know what social media is, the term refers to any web-based technology that promotes interaction between users. Two of the most popular social media sites are Facebook and Twitter, but there are hundreds of social media sites out there. Here are five ways to use social media to promote your book.

1) Facebook Events

Use the events feature on...

Some Thoughts on Public Speaking

Because I have events in the next couple of months that will involve speaking, I decided to pull up my tips from a year ago and review them. (I haven't done any public speaking for a couple of months and I get rusty quickly.) In case anyone else is in the same boat, I'm running the post again here:

Five years ago, public speaking was a dreaded, but necessary, horror for me. You'd have had to shoot me with a tranquilizer dart and prop me up at the lectern to prevent me from looking like I...