Elizabeth Spann Craig's Blog, page 236

Cozy Mysteries

I was a huge fan of cozy mysteries long before I ever sat down to write one. What exactly are cozy mysteries and how does one go about writing one? Please pop over to DJs Krimiblog today, where I'm visiting my Danish friend, Dorte and posting "How to Cook Up a Cozy."

Plus—my July 6th release is just weeks away! Click here for my book release contest. Entering is easy. :)

Twitterific

Here are writing links that I've posted to Twitter for the past 5-6 days. 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 and the roundup with your subject will come up. To narrow your search down on the page, do a CTRL+F, type your subject, and hit enter.

Writers Conferences: The Spell Called Networking-- http://dld.bz/gyzj

Thinking Small without Guilt: Setting Your Minimum Goal Standards--

A Contest Announcement

The release of Delicious and Suspicious is getting really close, y'all. Close enough for me to run a contest. :)

First of all, if you'd like to get acquainted with my protagonist, Lulu Taylor, please pop over for a visit with her at the Killer Characters blog.

And now, the contest.

What: To kick off the July 6 release of the first of the Memphis BBQ books, Delicious and Suspicious, I'm holding a contest.

When: The contest will run from Saturday, June 11th through Monday, July...

"I've been framed!" by Margot Kinberg

Today I have the pleasure of having Margot Kinberg guest post on the blog. Margot is a mystery writer (her newest, B-Very Flat has just been released.) But Margot is also a mystery novel expert—and I don't use that word lightly. If you check out her blog, Confessions of a Mystery Novelist, you'll see what I mean.

When people find out that I write novels, one thing they ask me is, "How do you make a book come out of your ideas?" "How do you put all those chapters together?"

Well, the...

Obstacles to Writing

Sometimes we just run into some problems or conflicts when we need to write. Just like there are internal and external conflicts, there are also internal and external factors that seem bound and determined to trip us up.

So what can a writer do?

Please visit me at A Good Blog is Hard to Find today for some ideas on working through those obstacles.

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I'm at three different blogs today. Actually…I guess this is the 4th blog. Yes, when I ...

Fast-Paced Books

I think life moved a little slower a few decades ago. It seemed to, anyway.

I certainly remember having four TV channels and getting up to change to another station.

But these days with digital and satellite television, we can page up and page down rapidly through a huge selection of programs. Surfing the web with a DLS modem means we can bring up websites in a second.

Even the television shows seem faster-paced with choppier, shorter scenes. And if a show like West Wing or ER...

Character Description Dumps

'Information dump' is one of those terms that's so descriptive, I could guess its meaning right away.

We can get information dumped on us as a reader in several different ways—in backstory (what happened before the story started), research (when an author is eager to share all the work he did with the reader…even when it's not really necessary to the story), and even a descriptive dump about a character.

You know how it is…you're writing and you're probably trying to get this character c...

Unreliable Impressions

It's Sunday afternoon as I write this and I'm at the swimming pool with the children. It's 90 degrees Fahrenheit and there are about 200 people crowding the pool.

I seem to be the only one with a notebook. :)

It's so hot I can barely think so I'm making lazy observations about the other pool-goers as a writing exercise.

There's a lady in the row of chaises in front of me. She's reading Veterinary Times and occasionally taking a bite of a salad. From time to time she reaches over and...

It All Comes Back to the Story

I have a hidden talent that I've kept secret on this blog.

I can recite approximately 24 Teletubbie episodes by heart.

No, this isn't an ability that I'm particularly proud of. I know that parents are not supposed to put their toddlers in front of the magic box.

But when my now-13 year old son was 2, he took to getting up each day at 4:00 a.m….for the day. This continued for a whole year.

Now, I do get up at 5:00 every morning. But to me, 4:00 is 'morning' only by a technicality.

The ...

Writing Through the Block

A few days ago I was visiting Mason Canyon's blog, Thoughts in Progress and saw she'd posted on writer's block. Mason writes for a newspaper, and she mentioned that when you're writing articles for a periodical, you've at least got a format to follow for your story: who, what, when, where, why and how. Mason said, "By answering those questions it helps overcome any writer's block I have."

Most of the writer's I know don't have a whole lot of trouble with writer's block. Many of us...