J.P. Choquette's Blog, page 3

January 2019 News

I'm sharing news from my writing studio (including a new book coming out soon!), a special giveaway for newsletter subscribers only, and a glimpse of our newest family member in this month's newsletter. You can read all about the January 2019 News here. Not a subscriber yet? Sign up here and join in the fun...you also receive a #free short story when you sign up. 

December 2018 News

It's December (but feels more like February here in frosty-cold Vermont) and you know what that means...time for a  monthly newsletter! 

Here's the latest news and updates from my office. Read: My Reflections on 2018 and why it was a somewhat scary year for meNew book(s) coming from me in 2019
November's book recommendationsUpcoming events I'll be attending and/or hosting
Feel free to share this newsletter with any other suspense-loving bookworms. And as always, thanks for reading along and being part of my inner bookworm circle. I hope you have a WONDERFUL holiday season! 

Holidays Got You Down? Get Your Fiction Fix

view outside the coffee shop window I was talking last night with a good friend in a steamy coffee shop. As we looked out the windows overlooking the nearby park, we admired the trees dotted with tiny white lights. The bare branches swayed in the cold wind and blew little, snowy tornadoes around pedestrians feet.

We'd been talking about the press of the holiday season, the acrid scent of espresso mixing with wet boots and newspaper in the cozy space. 

“I wasn’t going to start it until January,” my friend A., admitted, referring to a new novel she’d recently purchased. “But I started reading and it was so good I had to keep going.”

Maybe you are a little like me and A. You want to feel holly and jolly every second of the holiday season, but instead you feel tired and frazzled by all there is to do/buy/see/wrap/bake/plan/store...and are secretly looking forward to the dead-boring days of January.

I love Christmas. But it’s completely possible to love something in theory and feel overwhelmed by it in reality.

Something that really helps me, especially during this hectic time of the year, is continuing my “fiction fixes”. These are short segments of time where you can just sit down and lose yourself in a good book. Five minutes? 10 or more? It really doesn’t matter. Just being able to let go of all the other stuff and dive into a story is refreshing.

Like meditation, fiction fixes help you to calm an overly-busy mind. It’s amazing how quickly your outlook can change with just a few minutes between the pages of a good book. This study by PubMed points to real health benefits.  

I enjoy my fiction fix most days of the week after lunch. I curl up in the corner of the couch, sometimes with a hot beverage and delve into my current novel.
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Want to try a fiction fix yourself but aren’t sure what to read? Check out all of my Reading Recommendation vlogs over on YouTube. I’m looking forward to reading these books (below) in the next couple of months. Maybe one will pique your interest:  If you watched my recent vlog, November Reading Recommendations, you know that I fell in love with the book, Ruler of the Night, by David Morrell. While I inadvertently purchased this, the third in the Thomas and Emily De Quincey series, I'm now going to backtrack and read books 1 and 2. Murder as a Fine Art is the first in this Victorian-thriller series.  I recently learned the (very exciting!) news that Jennifer McMahon has a new book coming out this spring. Which got me thinking--I still haven't gotten around to her newest book, Burn Town . I loved the first of her books I read, The Winter People, and have gone on to read several others which were all page turners. Definitely adding Burn Town to my #TBR list.  Listening to a good outdoor adventure podcast today, S'more Outdoors--sadly, now on hiatus but lots of good listening in the archives--I heard an interview of Kate Dyer-Seeley. Kate writes a lot of cozy mysteries. While I'm not a huge fan of cozies, I am intrigued by her Pacific Northwest Mystery series. In it, a bumbling 20-something poses as an adventurer in order to score a lucrative gig with an outdoor magazine...when things head south.

​I love reading about protagonists who are writers and adore books set in nature. Definitely want to grab a copy of the first in series, Scene of the Climb, soon.  Every so often, I need a good palate cleanser. You know how you feel after eating too much chocolate (it happens--rarely, but it does happen) and want pretzels or something else salty to get rid of the too-sweet taste in your mouth? 

Sometimes I get this way with books. While I adore mystery/suspense novels, once in awhile I need a little break. When it's time to veer outside that genre next, I'm going to reach for Michele Deppe's, These Blue Remembered Hills. I've read and enjoyed all of her other novels. Think Rosamund Pilcher combined with a little Agatha Christie and some Sophia Kinsella to round things out.  How about you? One of the reasons I love this blog is that it puts me in touch with other readers. So tell me: what's on your to-be-read list? Or which of the New York Times bestsellers (or better yet, never-heard-of authors) are you most looking forward to reading this holiday season? 

November 2018 Book REcommendation

Happy early Thanksgiving to all my USA readers. This is one of my favorite holidays because it's so, well, un-holiday'ish. The lack of commercialism makes it more special (though Black Friday sits like a gloomy cloud on the horizon). Wherever you are, I hope you'll take a moment today to express your gratitude in some small way. 

I'm thankful for BOOKS, especially great books like the one I talk about in today's vlog. What do you think? 

Are you dreaming or doing?

the editing process Somewhere out there must be a writer who loves editing. 

That person is not me. 

Out of the entire book writing/outreach/administrative/publishing parts of writing, editing has to be my least favorite. I've tried everything I can think of to make the process smoother--even writing from an outline (I hate outlines and much prefer to follow the story as it unfolds), but nothing seems to make it easier. 

As you can see from the photo above, I've now resorted to sparkly gel pens and highlighters along with tea and pumpkin-scented candles to keep me going. Whatever works, right?   ;) 

As I work on the edit of the next novel I'm struck by something: there is a "next novel." I am so blessed. Despite the angst I feel about editing, despite the fact that I'm not some huge, best-selling novelist, I get to write books. What fun! And some people buy them. Amazing!

Counting My Blessings

It's easy to get caught up in the why-can't-I-be-as-popular-as-that-author type thoughts, especially when you work alone day after day. I'm making it more of a point though, to count my blessings when it comes to work (and life in general).

What a thrill to be able to write for a living!

I've dreamed of this for years and years: when I worked as a receptionist; when I toiled as a vet tech; when I helped women in the clothes store pick out that "just right" dress; when I was employed for several years in human services where I worked as everything from a DUI program assistant to a case manager. 

Keep Dreaming

When you have a creative dream, do all you can to make it reality. Even if you work on it in tiny chunks (like say, writing a book in 15-minutes a day), keep going. Even when people make snide remarks about "getting a real job," keep going. Even when you're stuck in the 9-5 treadmill life, do whatever you can to move just a little closer toward your dream. 

And hey, if you find yourself in need of a pep talk, drop me a line: jpcwrites (at) gmail (dot) com. I love talking with other creatives and may have a tip or two that will help you. 

Free Books all week!

What's more exciting than receiving a free book? Giving six away! 

This week, you can grab a copy of any of my books for FREE. That's right, dear readers, from Saturday, 10/13/18 through Thursday, 10/18/18, a copy of each one of my digital books will be available for free download on Amazon. 

Q: "Which book will be available when?" 
A: That's part of the fun.... You'll have to keep an eye on my author page on Amazon or on my Facebook or Twitter feed to find out! 

Q: "Will your newest book be part of the giveaway, or is this just for older titles?" 
A: Nope, all the books will be available for a single day, free of charge. Even Let the Dead Rest , my newest suspense novel, will be part of the giveaway.

Q: "So, how does it work exactly?" 
A: On Saturday, 10/13, the first of my six novels will be available on Amazon for a free download. On Sunday, a new book will be featured for you to grab for free. And that will last six days, giving you the option of collecting my entire library of books for free.   :) 
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Of course, if you don't want to wait, you can nab  one right now. Or perhaps try the new Green Mountain Trilogy, a collection of three of my most popular supernatural suspense titles? 

Vlog: Reading for Escape?

Why do you read? That's a question I posed over on my author's Facebook page recently. Stop by and weigh in! 

For me, reading has often been a form of escape. I discuss why and when I needed this escape most in this recent vlog post: 

Fun Mystery Resource for Readers

If you're a fan of mystery and suspense (and I'm guessing you are, cause why else would you be reading this blog?!), then you might enjoy this short, 4-minute video on a fun mystery resource for readers.  Why YouTube why? Why do you always capture me making a dumb face for the still shot? 

Louise Penny, Beth Kanell and "Reading Local"

Visiting the Rutland Free Library and found this beautiful fireplace. I'm not sure about where you live, but here in Vermont, "buying local" is a big thing. It usually refers to food (we have a lot of great farms in the state) but sometimes refers to other things such as buying from your local, small business instead of a big box store. 

Reading local is something that I'm interested in. Turns out, I'm not the only one. I'm seeing more and more libraries in the area with special displays of local authors, and small, independent book stores, too. 

Wouldn't it be fun to create a challenge and try to read more local authors? I'm still toying with ideas of how to do this...

In the meantime I learned that semi-local author, Louise Penny, has a new book coming out this year. Kay at Kay's Reading Life just posted about it . If you're a fan of Ms. Penny's then you'll definitely want to snag a copy when Kingdom of the Blind comes out. 

Another local author whose book I'm enjoying right now is Beth Kanell's. Her most recent novel is called, The Long Shadow , and is a historical YA mystery. I'd started this book, gotten bogged down with other things and just picked it up again. I'm so glad that I did! Ms. Kanell's voice is true and pure, her attention to historical detail is mind-blowing and the story is thoroughly enjoyable. 

What local books do you like? Is there a local author who you'd love to meet? Please share in the comments. 

What Goes into Writing Gothic SUSPENSE novels?

Beginning of my Gothic shade garden Have you ever wondered what goes into writing a Gothic suspense novel or short story? What are the "must haves" to include? What sets Gothic suspense novels, stories or movies apart from other suspense or horror? 

In my guest post over at The Misstery, I wrote all about this topic and answered these and several other questions. Pop over to my post on "Writing Gothic Suspense Novels," for a quick read.