June Shaw's Blog, page 7
December 11, 2015
VIOLENCE IN BOOKS
By June Shaw
With so much violence in the world now, are people looking for even more in their books?
More and more, individuals are voicing their opinions about that, and many of them are saying no, they are not.
For most of my life, I've felt that way. I imagine that's why I normally look for things that make me laugh--or at least grin a lot.
That's probably the case for the reason I've written a humorous mystery series. Readers often tell me they enjoy hanging around with my main charact...
With so much violence in the world now, are people looking for even more in their books?
More and more, individuals are voicing their opinions about that, and many of them are saying no, they are not.
For most of my life, I've felt that way. I imagine that's why I normally look for things that make me laugh--or at least grin a lot.
That's probably the case for the reason I've written a humorous mystery series. Readers often tell me they enjoy hanging around with my main charact...
December 9, 2015
Bestselling Author Lois Winston Speaks on Promotion
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Thinking Outside the Promo Box
By Lois Winston
Lois Winston
I belong to quite a few author loops. Every day authors on these loops beseech their fellow members to “like,” “follow,” “retweet,” “pin,” “vote for,” or “Thunderclap” for one of their books. I don’t believe this really helps authors sell books. An announcement about a new release is fine, but to me, most other social media postings about our books are like preaching to the choir.
For exampl...
Thinking Outside the Promo Box
By Lois Winston
Lois WinstonI belong to quite a few author loops. Every day authors on these loops beseech their fellow members to “like,” “follow,” “retweet,” “pin,” “vote for,” or “Thunderclap” for one of their books. I don’t believe this really helps authors sell books. An announcement about a new release is fine, but to me, most other social media postings about our books are like preaching to the choir.
For exampl...
November 27, 2015
Books for Christmas
by Jean Henry Mead
I’ll admit it. I’m a bibliophile.
I love books. Old books, new books, signed books and rare books. They're my most prized possessions. I literally have thousands of books and they’re in every room. We’ve run out of bookcases and many of the books that have already been read are stored in boxes, and I can’t bring myself to part with them. I’ve had some of them since I was a young child and can't toss the dog-eared copies of Little Women and The Jungle Books.
Another bib...
November 25, 2015
A Thanksgiving Story and a Pecan Pie Recipe
In honor of Thanksgiving Day, I'm bypassing Murder and Mayhem and presenting a gentle story and sharing a pumpkin pie recipe.
May everyone have a wonderful Thanksgiving with someone they love!
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Thanksgiving is the perfect time for reminiscing, and for telling family stories around the table. These generational memories are often centered around cooking and good food, and these special tales of family history should be treasured and never...
May everyone have a wonderful Thanksgiving with someone they love!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Thanksgiving is the perfect time for reminiscing, and for telling family stories around the table. These generational memories are often centered around cooking and good food, and these special tales of family history should be treasured and never...
November 23, 2015
Stuck in the genre with you
I know this blog’s called Murderous Musings and I’m also aware that sometimes my own musings here aren’t very murderous. But that’s because (like many of my colleagues, I suspect), the genre thing sometimes feels restrictive. At the same time, I know full well that publishers (and probably readers) prefer us to stay within the genre they associate with us.
When my historical novel, The Figurehead, was published, it was well received but, as well as being crime-based, it flirted with the romanc...
When my historical novel, The Figurehead, was published, it was well received but, as well as being crime-based, it flirted with the romanc...
November 11, 2015
HOW COZY SHOULD COZIES BE?
by Jackie King
“Should cozy mysteries deal with serious themes?”
This question recently appeared on a LISTSERV for writers and readers. The answers received were of great interest to me, because my character Grace Cassidy, often finds herself dealing with this sort of dilemma.
Most of those who responded to this query advocated that with the rapid changes happening in our world, problems faced by cozy characters will naturally turn grittier.
For years we've dealt with murder, and that's pre...
“Should cozy mysteries deal with serious themes?”
This question recently appeared on a LISTSERV for writers and readers. The answers received were of great interest to me, because my character Grace Cassidy, often finds herself dealing with this sort of dilemma.
Most of those who responded to this query advocated that with the rapid changes happening in our world, problems faced by cozy characters will naturally turn grittier.
For years we've dealt with murder, and that's pre...
November 9, 2015
Thin slicing our characters
by Bill Kirton
Your first glimpse conditions
your opinion of her...I’ve just read an article about ‘thin-slicing’. Apparently that’s what we do nearly all the time. We base our judgements and decisions on split second observations of thin slices of behaviour. And, surprisingly perhaps, we’re usually right. The easy examples are of sportspeople behaving almost instinctively as they pass the ball, shoot for the hoop or whatever. But the most interesting for writers is that we apparently form an i...
Your first glimpse conditionsyour opinion of her...I’ve just read an article about ‘thin-slicing’. Apparently that’s what we do nearly all the time. We base our judgements and decisions on split second observations of thin slices of behaviour. And, surprisingly perhaps, we’re usually right. The easy examples are of sportspeople behaving almost instinctively as they pass the ball, shoot for the hoop or whatever. But the most interesting for writers is that we apparently form an i...
October 29, 2015
Halloween Customs Around the World
by Jean Henry Mead
Halloween isn't just an American holiday. It originated in Ireland, where it was originally known as Oiche Shamhna or Samhain Night. The end of summer's Agricultural Fire Festival was held for the deceased who were said to revisit the earth on that night. So the practice of building large community bonfires was enacted to ward off evil spirits. The name Hallowe’en evolved from All Hallow’s Eve, and the holiday was imported from Ireland during the 19th century. Halloween spre...
October 26, 2015
My own Bermuda Triangle
The scene inside my blogThis particular blog is about a mystery – which I’ll share with you. A while back, I added a tracker to my own blog. It puts little red dots over the world map and shows how I’m progressively colonising North America, the UK, bits of Europe and tiny pockets of land in Asia and Australasia. But it also has a real-time option, which tells me more about my visitors, what drew them to me and how long they spent in my company. As most writers will tell you, they welcome any...
October 21, 2015
THE BIRTH OF A MYSTERY SERIES CHARACTER
And The Creation of a Mystery Series
by Jackie King
Grace Cassidy was born fully clothed and in a peck of trouble. Hot and tired from a long walk, she was thoroughly ticked off with her philandering husband Charlie’s antics. But alas and alack, as soon as Grace walked into my head, things grew much worse for her.
Jackie King looking deviously sweet
Like Grace, I was staying in a B&B on the northern coast of California and had exhausted myself walking from the charming old mansion,...
by Jackie King
Grace Cassidy was born fully clothed and in a peck of trouble. Hot and tired from a long walk, she was thoroughly ticked off with her philandering husband Charlie’s antics. But alas and alack, as soon as Grace walked into my head, things grew much worse for her.
Jackie King looking deviously sweetLike Grace, I was staying in a B&B on the northern coast of California and had exhausted myself walking from the charming old mansion,...
