June Shaw's Blog, page 21
May 21, 2014
THE CORPSE WHO WALKED IN THE DOOR
Exciting news! My publisher has verified that my new Grace Cassidy mystery THE CORPSE WHO WALKED IN THE DOOR, will be ready to purchase online by May 30. The trade-paperback will be available later in June.
On Sale May 30, 2014This book, second in the series, moves a bit slower than the first, but the stakes are higher. Grace fears her son Brand is getting too involved with the ditzy housemaid, Sandy Walker, and she’s not ready to be a grandma.
Our heroine longs for a quiet, orderly life....
On Sale May 30, 2014This book, second in the series, moves a bit slower than the first, but the stakes are higher. Grace fears her son Brand is getting too involved with the ditzy housemaid, Sandy Walker, and she’s not ready to be a grandma.Our heroine longs for a quiet, orderly life....
Simple pleasures...
Carola
Why do flowers give us pleasure? Does it go back to prehistory, when blossom was a promise of fruit to come? Certainly it seems to be embedded deeply: Consider the lilies of the field...even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed as one of these.
Be that as it may, to most if not all people they're a source of continual enjoyment. Here are some that have delighted me in recent days.
Walking by the river-- Is this a wild viburnum? (Classification and "naming" is also a source of pl...
Why do flowers give us pleasure? Does it go back to prehistory, when blossom was a promise of fruit to come? Certainly it seems to be embedded deeply: Consider the lilies of the field...even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed as one of these.
Be that as it may, to most if not all people they're a source of continual enjoyment. Here are some that have delighted me in recent days.
Walking by the river-- Is this a wild viburnum? (Classification and "naming" is also a source of pl...
May 18, 2014
A Huge Debt of Gratitude
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May 12, 2014
The Sparrow wins again
by Bill Kirton
When my novel,
The Sparrow Conundrum
, won the Readers’ Choice Award for Humor and Satire on the website Big Al’s Books and Pals, it seemed natural to me to find out how the news might be greeted by its protagonists. They had, after all, been the ones who’d earned it, so I envisaged the scene.
Tessa was busy investigating the latest batch of agents who’d been found bloodless in graveyards with two puncture wounds in their necks. She found vampires as believable as politician...
When my novel,
The Sparrow Conundrum
, won the Readers’ Choice Award for Humor and Satire on the website Big Al’s Books and Pals, it seemed natural to me to find out how the news might be greeted by its protagonists. They had, after all, been the ones who’d earned it, so I envisaged the scene.Tessa was busy investigating the latest batch of agents who’d been found bloodless in graveyards with two puncture wounds in their necks. She found vampires as believable as politician...
May 7, 2014
My Dilemma: Which Corpse Comes Next?
by Jackie King
THE CORPSE WHO WALKED IN THE DOOR, my 2nd Grace Cassidy mystery, is with my publisher. Now my time needs to be split between promoting this book, promised to be ready for sale (at least in e-book form) by the end of this month. So far, no art work. So most of that is on hold. (Could this be payback for missing my deadline by a country mile? The publishers have long memories.)
The First Grace Cassidy Mystery
My current work-in-progress, a novella, has the working title DANGER VISIT...
THE CORPSE WHO WALKED IN THE DOOR, my 2nd Grace Cassidy mystery, is with my publisher. Now my time needs to be split between promoting this book, promised to be ready for sale (at least in e-book form) by the end of this month. So far, no art work. So most of that is on hold. (Could this be payback for missing my deadline by a country mile? The publishers have long memories.)
The First Grace Cassidy MysteryMy current work-in-progress, a novella, has the working title DANGER VISIT...
Can you name them?
Carola
Some more pics from Left Coast Crime.
Some more pics from Left Coast Crime.
May 5, 2014
Left on the Cutting Room Floor
By Chester Campbell
The familiar saying about snips of film left out of the finished movie applies to segments of a book that don't survive the final edit. Overture to Disaster , the third book in my Post Cold War Political Thriller Trilogy, ended up way too long and had to be trimmed down. Even with the revisions, it still wound up the longest novel I've published at 511 pages.
The snip I've included below was part of the background for retired Air Force Col. Warren (Roddy) Rodman, one of the...
The familiar saying about snips of film left out of the finished movie applies to segments of a book that don't survive the final edit. Overture to Disaster , the third book in my Post Cold War Political Thriller Trilogy, ended up way too long and had to be trimmed down. Even with the revisions, it still wound up the longest novel I've published at 511 pages.
The snip I've included below was part of the background for retired Air Force Col. Warren (Roddy) Rodman, one of the...
April 25, 2014
Writing a Series
by June Shaw
If you're writing a series, how do you know when to continue with it or conclude it?
Much of the answer lies with sales. If you write books that readers keep buying and wanting to read, the response is normally to write more of them. You'll probably also write more books in a series if your publisher wants more and will pay you a decent advance.
Another decision in writing more books in a series is the genre in which you write. Some mystery authors continue to pour out stories thro...
If you're writing a series, how do you know when to continue with it or conclude it?
Much of the answer lies with sales. If you write books that readers keep buying and wanting to read, the response is normally to write more of them. You'll probably also write more books in a series if your publisher wants more and will pay you a decent advance.
Another decision in writing more books in a series is the genre in which you write. Some mystery authors continue to pour out stories thro...
April 23, 2014
BREAKING RULES
by Jackie King
Rule-breaking goes against my nature. However, the older I get, the less sure I am that rules and regulations in regard to writing shouldn't sometimes be broken. I’ve seen too many dictates followed without success, and too many broken with astonishing success. It’s advisable, of course to learn the rules until you follow them without conscious thought. Then it's okay to break them.
When you do something contrary to textbook writing rules and then delete that sente...
Rule-breaking goes against my nature. However, the older I get, the less sure I am that rules and regulations in regard to writing shouldn't sometimes be broken. I’ve seen too many dictates followed without success, and too many broken with astonishing success. It’s advisable, of course to learn the rules until you follow them without conscious thought. Then it's okay to break them.
When you do something contrary to textbook writing rules and then delete that sente...
April 21, 2014
Los Angeles, earache and raunchy beans.
By Bill Kirton
Just two bits of writing-related trivia this week.
We quite often hear about novels that have been optioned by one of the big studios and then months, years go by and nothing more is heard of them. So it’s best to be forewarned about the casualty rate, just in case you strike lucky. Even then, however, when the luck does come along, you can’t help feeling that this time it’ll be different. All of which is to introduce the news that I recently got an email from a small film compan...
Just two bits of writing-related trivia this week.
We quite often hear about novels that have been optioned by one of the big studios and then months, years go by and nothing more is heard of them. So it’s best to be forewarned about the casualty rate, just in case you strike lucky. Even then, however, when the luck does come along, you can’t help feeling that this time it’ll be different. All of which is to introduce the news that I recently got an email from a small film compan...
