Connie Cockrell's Blog, page 56
April 6, 2016
Author Interviews: Arlene Hittle
Author Arlene Hittle
I want to introduce one of my fav authors, Arlene Hittle. Arlene writes romance and does it very well indeed! She lives not too far from me so every once in awhile we get to actually meet in person to talk about writing and giggle. Here’s a little bit about Arlene.
Arlene Hittle is a Midwestern transplant who now makes her home in northern Arizona. She suffers from the well-documented Hittle family curse of being a Cubs fan, but will root for the Diamondbacks until they run up against the Cubs. Longtime friends are amazed she writes books with sports in them since she’s about as coordinated as a newborn giraffe and used to say marching band required more exertion than golf.
Let’s start with something fun. What’s your favorite hobby?
Lately, I’ve gotten back into crochet. On Jan. 1, I started a “temperature afghan” — one row to record each day’s temperature through 2016. (Saw the idea on Facebook.) I’ve also started quilting and have a fun quilt planned with some fabric I spotted that reminded me of Diva in the Dugout, my first book.
Arlene’s Temperature Afghan
If you had the opportunity—who would you like to spend an afternoon with and why?
Well, if Bradley Cooper and Brad Pitt are busy, I’d like to spend another day with my mother. She died in 2003 before I sold my first novel. I’d like her to know I’m finally succeeding at what I always wanted to do.
Coffee, tea, soda or something else?
I should say water. But most days, I drink a combination of coffee, tea, and Diet Dr. Pepper. More coffee on the days I write at Starbucks; more Diet Dr. Pepper to power through long hours at the day job and iced tea or diet soda when I’m relaxing at home. I’ve recently started making sun tea in a Mason jar on my front porch. Yum!
What are you working on right now?
The next book in my All’s Fair in Love & Baseball series, Ogling the Outfielder, comes out March 4. I’m still writing pitcher Luis’ story, and I have a couple other projects in various stages of completion.
How would you describe your writing style?
Breezy romantic comedy. My books are plain fun to read.
Do you have any advice for a person just beginning their writing career?
Perseverance pays. I wrote my first manuscript in the mid-1990s and joined RWA sometime in 2002-03. Beauty and the Ballplayer finaled in RWA’s Golden Heart contest in 2011, and I sold Diva in the Dugout in July 2013 … close to 20 years after I started. Success might not come easily or quickly, but it will come to those who stick with it.
Do you immerse yourself in new situations for writing ideas or do your ideas come to you through your normal, day-to-day life?
More day-to-day life. I get inspiration from weird newspaper articles, snippets of things I see on TV … although I’d love to have experiences that I can then turn into story fodder — like riding in a hot air balloon.
Where can we find you on the interwebs?
My website, arlenehittle.com, is under construction. I spend more time than I should on Twitter (@arlenehittle) and Facebook (Arlene Hittle, Author). I’m on Pinterest mainly to pin recipes that I’ll probably never get around to trying, and I’m on Instagram and Goodreads.
I’d like to thank Arlene for stopping by the blog and chatting with us. I love the idea of that temperature afghan! Good luck with your newest release.
Want to know more about Arlene? Trek on over to her Twitter, Pinterest, Facebook, Instagram and Goodreads social media pages or scope out her website. She’ll be happy to say hi!
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April 4, 2016
April Camp NaNo 2016: Monday Blog Post
Oh! Oh! Oh! It is April Camp NaNo and as of Sunday, I’m over four thousand words into my new book, Mystery at the Book Festival. Camp NaNo is a slightly different take on the November event. At Camp NaNo, we choose our desired word goal count. Some people choose just 5,000, some, like me, push for that 50,000-word goal. I’m already looking forward to digging deeper into my main character, Jean and her best friend, Karen. In Mystery at the Book Festival, Jean and Karen, both big readers, learn more about authors and book writing and publishing than they ever wanted to know. I think you’ll like the story.
Me, Begging for Reviews
Photo by Brenda Warneka
I have not received any notice of reviews yet, the new contest I started last week. Missed last week’s blog? Reviews, you say. What’s up with that? Well, in the publishing world, reviews are everything. They are a measure of my audience involvement, my ratings. My several ratings on Amazon and other book-sellers is predicated on my reviews. How many, how good are they? It’s a thing. Other places actually count the number of ratings I have. If I don’t have “enough” reviews, they don’t want to take my ads or other promotional materials. So for an author, reviews are a big deal. So here’s the contest. If you have read or read one of my books, drop a review for it on your platform of choice. It doesn’t matter to me where you put the review. It also doesn’t matter to me what kind of review it is. Don’t get me wrong, I’d love a good review but that’s not what I’m asking for. I’d like an honest review from you on how you liked my book, whichever one you read. Back to the contest. You write a review. Put it where ever you’d like. Send me a link to your review. In a couple of weeks, I’ll do a random number generator choice of the people who’ve done a review and you win! Prize? An ebook of mine of your choice. Contest ends April 10th. I’ll announce the winner here on this blog and on my newsletter on the 11th.
Author Arlene Hittle
Just so you know—my next author interview is romance author Arlene Hittle in two days on Wednesday, April 6th. She’s a wonderful author and her books are sweet. You’ll want to hear what she has to say.
Tomato Seedlings and Rosemary Cutting
On the gardening front, we had a big cold front move through and it did indeed drop some snow on us. Those tomato seedlings were safely inside. But now the forecast is for warm sunny days. It’s time for me to get the compost on the garden beds and get planting. The rosemary is a sprig I had cut to use with a chicken dish a month ago. I didn’t need that sprig, but thought I would later. I stuck it in a glass of water and not using it, the cutting rooted. So, I’ve stuck it in a pot of dirt. I think I’ll give it to a friend. She doesn’t have rosemary growing in her garden, yet! Who doesn’t need rosemary growing in their garden?
The Spring Into Reading giveaway has started. I have links to it on my facebook, twitter, and website pages. I offer a free ebook or for second prize, a $5 Amazon card. There are other prizes as well. Over a hundred prizes plus a grand prize. It’s not hard to enter and there are multiple times to enter. You could easily win a prize. Enter today and every day.
Speaking of the Spring Into Reading giveaway, I want to give a shout out to my winners of the Luck o’the Authors giveaway. My first prize winner was Petr Kristek and he won a free ebook. My second prize winner was Belinda Clemons who won a necklace and earring set. I want to thank both of them so much for participating in the giveaway. I’m glad these great fans won these prizes. Don’t forget to enter the Spring Into Reading giveaway.
Bookmark and Charms Swag
The owl charms and the book marks I ordered have come in. I plan on attaching the charms to the book marks to give away to book purchasers at the events I attend. Aren’t they cool!? The April 16th event at the Tempe Library is free but the June MysteryCon is a 2-day event with just a $35 entry fee for BOTH days. Sign up for that now. Mention my name on the registration. I may have a special gift for people who’ve registered in advance and visit me at the event. I am making special prizes for a drawing for those who have registered in advance and noted my name on the registration. I need to know in advance, though, so register today. Look below or at my website, Where Will I Be tab for specifics.
Speaking of appearing, if you get my newsletter you may have clicked on my link to my newest YouTube video. (The video is something only newsletter people receive.) I know! I have a YouTube channel. I didn’t even realize I was setting one up! Anyway, you can see my hair is getting a little shaggy. Sometime this week I’ll be getting it trimmed so I don’t look like a sheepdog at the Tempe Book Festival.
Where will I be? Here’s the scoop.
April 11th at 3pm Arizona time I’ll be on the January Jones Sharing Success Stories web talk radio show. Have you heard me there? Don’t miss out.
April 16th I’ll be at the Tempe Public Library book festival where I’m on a panel talking about Science Fiction and World Building. I’m looking forward to meeting you there.
June 2nd and 3rd I’m at the Scottsdale MysteryCon, Death and Deception in the Desert. I’m giving a presentation there as well on writing a mystery. Tickets for both days are only $35. I do hope you can make it to that one. Here’s a flyer telling all about it.
July 23rd is the Payson Book Festival. I’ll be at my table all day, ready to talk to YOU! I hope you can make it as we will have over 70 authors attending as well as music, food, author presentations and workshops. It will be stupendous! www.paysonbookfestival.org and click on the Meet the Authors tab.
Want more details about these events? Click here for more information.
Click here to sign up for my newsletter. If you are a Brown Rain series fan, I’ve created a list just for you! If you join my regular newsletter, that’s all right too as I’ve put sign-up prizes on both. That’s right. If you sign up for my newsletter you get a free story from me. My next newsletter is being drafted so sign up today. The YouTube video I just made about Kindred Spirits will be in the newsletter. Just a note. I’m going to be sending out newsletters more frequently. Be prepared for fun and contests!
Kindred Spirits released on March 14th! I’m pretty excited about it. You can buy it and my other books at: Apple, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Kobo, Smashwords, Gumroads or Chatebooks today! You can also see all of my books on www.ConniesRandomThoughts.com. If you’ve read any of my books, please drop a review on the site where you bought it or on Goodreads. It’s a big help to me in the book rankings each vendor uses to promote the books on their sites. Thanks in advance.
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April 1, 2016
Magic in the Wind: Flash Fiction Friday Post
Energy Ball 001 by ISO Stock via www.deviantart.com
Yarami sniffed. It was closer. Too close to suit her. Someone thought no guardian lived in this backwater little village. She sighed as she studied the sky. That’s exactly why the Council of Mages put her here.
“The magic drifts to those places it thinks will not have a guardian,” her mentor told her. “It wants to take root, grow wild, and cause trouble.”
“But magic isn’t bad, Master Arako.” She’d been confused. Magic was everywhere and was a great source of help and healing.
“It can be if not controlled. So we put a guardian in every tiny hamlet, village, and town to catch the magic before it becomes a problem.”
So she was sent to Dan’os to provide healing, ward off evil spirits, and even bring rain or sun, when needed for the crops. Today, though, was the primary purpose. This wasn’t wild magic. Someone was behind it, pushing it this way. Yarami went into her house, the best one in the village, and put the kettle on to boil. She may need a tea to help her. While she waited for the water, she looked over her stock of herbs and potions.
The magic was getting stronger. She could smell it even from inside the house. A young mother, crying infant in her arms, knocked at the open door. She bowed when Yarami turned to her.
“I beg your parden Mistress Yarami. But Phara won’t stop crying. I’ve tried everything. I don’t know what to do.”
Yarami could see the woman was near tears. She stepped over to the baby. The infant was shrieking, little hands waving, tears spilling from it’s chocolate brown eyes into the swaddling. As soon as Yarami stroked it’s cheek, it stopped squalling and stared up at her. The shock of the child’s power shot up Yarami’s arm like lightning. She gasped.
“What’s wrong? Is Phara all right?”
Yarami took the child in her arms. The baby hiccupped. “She’s fine, now.” She looked into the woman’s worried eyes. “Do you mind if I keep her with me for a few hours. Until dinner time.”
The woman looked confused. “I don’t want to bother you, Mistress.”
Yarami smiled. “No bother at all. Phara and I are going to get along just fine.”
“If you think it for the best.” The young mother backed to the door. “I can come back in an hour.”
“No need. We’ll be good company for each other this afternoon.”
The mother nodded. “Very well. I live at the end of the street, Mistress, should you want to bring her back early.”
“Thank you. I don’t think that will be necessary.” Yarami smiled at her again and the woman drifted out of the door.
Yarami focused on the baby. “You’re going to help me, little one, get rid of that bad magic that’s making you upset.” She coo’d and tickled the baby’s cheek and received a cheerful gurgle in response. “Let’s get to work.”
Yarami devised a sling to carry the infant on her back, then prepared her tea. It would help her focus her power. She could feel the baby’s raw power soaking into her back and lending itself to her own. The oncoming magic was making the hair on the back of her neck stand up. Phara began to fuss.
“It won’t be long, little one. Patience.” Yarami drank down the tea and could immediately feel her fingertips tingle. She picked up her staff and left her house, then climbed the nearby hill that the village kept bare for its signal fire. The magic was now so strong she could taste it, a bitter, angry flavor like a beer gone wrong. Phara began to cry in earnest. “I know, little one. It makes me want to scream, too.
Yarami braced her feet apart and raised her arms. To the villagers it was a bright, calm, warm spring day. To Yarami and Phara, it seemed like a hurricane was ripping through their home. Her staff began to crackle, ice-blue sparks shooting from the top. The power of the magic beat against her, and Phara began to scream. Yarami doubled her effort. “Be gone, sorcerer! Dan’os is not for you!”
She could hear the magic screaming. Was that a language? She listened closely, drawing on Phara’s raw power to help her. Who was sending the magic here? It wanted a foot-hold! It was an invasion. Yarami pulled as much power from the baby as she dared. This had to be destroyed. She centered her power and closed her eyes. She visualized a sorcerer, it didn’t matter if it was the real one or not. Gathering the power she formed her power into a fireball and shot it from the staff into the center of the magic raging over the village.
The fireball exploded high in the sky. Yarami shielded her eyes from the blast of light and was knocked to her knees by the force of the evil magic disintegrating above her. In a flash, Yarami could see the scorcerer, a man dressed in Ucheni robes. Phara hiccupped twice and began to babble. “Me, too, little one.” Yarami rose to her feet with the help of her staff. Her legs felt like gelatin. “I’m going to have to report this. The Council will have to alert the Emperor.”
She went home and put Phara on a blanket on the floor. “I’ll have to tell them about you, too. But don’t worry. You won’t have to leave home for many years yet.” Yarami pulled her scrying ball from the cupboard. News of an invasion and a strong candidate warranted a face-to-face chat. Especially an invasion from Uchen. Even a guardian could appreciate a reward for such news.
Thank You!
956 Words
Find more of the Forward Motion Flash Friday Group here: http://www.fmwriters.com/flash.html
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March 28, 2016
Spring has Sprung: Monday Blog Post
Unknown Desert Flower
Last week has been a crazy week for me. So much work on writing and my volunteer efforts with the Northern Gila County Fair and the Payson book festival has just left me reeling. Author applications are flooding in for the book festival. On the fair side, a great deal of coordination is taking place for advertising, promotion, and multiple events coordination. Plus for both efforts, volunteers are needed in multiple capacities. Do you live in the Rim Country? I could use your help! Call me.
I’m starting a new contest. One focused on reviews. Reviews, you say. What’s up with that? Well, in the publishing world, reviews are everything. They are a measure of my audience involvement. My several ratings on Amazon and other book sellers is predicated on my ratings. How many, how good are they? It’s a thing. Other places actually count the number of ratings I have. If I don’t have “enough” reviews, they don’t want to take my ads or other promotional materials. So for an author, reviews are a big deal. So here’s the contest. If you have read or read one of my books, drop a review for it on your platform of choice. It doesn’t matter to me where you put the review. It also doesn’t matter to me what kind of review it is. Don’t get me wrong, I’d love a good review but that’s not what I’m asking for. I’d like an honest review from you on how you liked my book, whichever one you read. Back to the contest. You write a review. Put it where ever you’d like. Send me a link to your review. In a couple of weeks I’ll do a random number generator choice of the people who’ve done a review and you win! Prise? An ebook of mine of your choice. Contest ends April 10th. I’ll announce the winner here on this blog and on my newsletter on the 11th.
Just so you know—my next author interview is romance author Arlene Hittle on April 6th. She’s a wonderful author and her books are sweet. You’ll want to hear what she has to say.
On the gardening front, the tomato seedlings are still doing well. A front is moving in and Tuesday is forecast as turbulent. What do I mean? I mean I have no idea what will happen in my town. It could be rain. It could be snow. It could be nothing at all. Tuesday is hiking day for us. Our group, the Payson Packers, C Group, is planning to drive down to Roosevelt Lake for a hike there. Forecast for that area is dry. I shrug. I’ll have to see what the morning brings both for my garden and for the hike.
The Spring Into Reading giveaway has started. I have links to it on my facebook, twitter, and website pages. I offer a free ebook or for second prize, a $5 Amazon card. There are other prizes as well. Over a hundred prizes plus a grand prize. It’s not hard to enter and there are multiple times to enter. You could easily win a prize. Enter today and every day here.
Mystery in the Woods draft is FINISHED! I am ecstatic. I do have to let it “rest” for awhile before I pick it back up and do a heavy re-write and edit. I am hoping to release it in 2016. In the meantime, I’m outlining the next cozy mystery, Mystery at the Book Festival. It’s the 28th of March and I plan to start writing on April 1st. So I guess I’d better get my outline done.
Take a look at the places I’ll be, below. I’ve ordered owl charms, associated with Kindred Spirits that I’ll attach to new bookmarks. I’ll be giving these away to purchasers of books at the below events. The April 16th event at the Tempe Library is free but the June MysteryCon is a 2-day event with just a $35 entry fee for BOTH days. Sign up for that now. Mention my name on the registration. I may have a special gift for people who’ve registered in advance and visit me at the event. I need to know in advance, though, so register today. Look at my website, Where Will I Be tab for specifics.
Where will I be? Here’s the scoop.
April 11th at 3pm Arizona time I’ll be on the January Jones Sharing Success Stories web talk radio show. Have you heard me there? Don’t miss out.
April 16th I’ll be at the Tempe Public Library book festival where I’m on a panel talking about Science Fiction and World Building. I’m looking forward to meeting you there. I have a nice giveaway for purchasers of any book.
June 2nd and 3rd I’m at the Scottsdale MysteryCon, Death and Deception in the Desert. I’m giving a presentation there as well on writing a mystery. Tickets for both days are only $35. New! I’m offering a prize or two to people who register in advance and mention my name in the registration. I do hope you can make it to that one. Here’s a flyer telling all about it.
July 23rd is the Payson Book Festival. I’ll be at my table all day, ready to talk to YOU! I hope you can make it as we will have over 70 authors attending as well as music, food, author presentations and workshops. It will be stupendous! www.paysonbookfestival.org and click on the Meet the Authors tab.
Want more details about these events? Click here for more information.
Click here to sign up for my newsletter. If you are a Brown Rain series fan, I’ve created a list just for you! If you join my regular newsletter, that’s all right too as I’ve put sign-up prizes on both. That’s right. If you sign up for my newsletter you get a free story from me. My next newsletter is being drafted so sign up today. The YouTube video I just made about Kindred Spirits will be in the newsletter. Just a note. I’m going to be sending out newsletters more frequently. Be prepared for fun and contests!
Kindred Spirits released on March 14th! I’m pretty excited about it. You can buy it and my other books at: Apple, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Kobo, Smashwords, Gumroads or Chatebooks today! You can also see all of my books on www.ConniesRandomThoughts.com. If you’ve read any of my books, please drop a review on the site where you bought it or on Goodreads. It’s a big help to me in the book rankings each vendor uses to promote the books on their sites. Thanks in advance.
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March 25, 2016
Chicken Cordon Bleu: Chicklets in the Kitchen
Finished Chicken Cordon Bleu
Once in awhile, I like to get fancy and in February, I did just that. I happened to have ham and swiss cheese on hand and boneless chicken breast in the freezer so I decided to make chicken cordon bleu.
The first time I ever had this dish was when my husband and I were stationed in West Germany in the late 70’s. We went to a local Gast Haus (pub) in the small town where we lived and I spotted it on the menu. I’d heard of it in movies and books. Here was my chance to try it. It arrived on a plate by itself and covered the entire plate. Crispy and golden brown on the outside, the inside was a delight of tender white chicken wrapped around a ham and cheese center that just oozed out onto the plate when I cut into it.
I’m still trying to perfect my dish but here’s the recipe. Click here to see the rest.
Thanks for stopping by Chicklets in the Kitchen. Have you ever had chicken cordon bleu? Please tell us about it in the comments box below if you feel so inclined.
My name is Connie Cockrell and I write SciFi, Fantasy, Mysteries, and a lot of other things and you can find links to all of my books at www.ConniesRandomThoughts.com.
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One Fast Beer: Flash Fiction Friday Post
Beautiful Blue Earth by kittenKiss www/deviantart.com/art/Beautiful-Blue-Ear...
“One fast beer and that’s it, Pete.”
“What’s the hurry, Dave? Ya got a hot date?”
Pete didn’t have a clue. Sure, I worked with him at the factory—mindless work that just needed a strong body. But after work, well, yes, I did have a hot date, so to speak. “Like I could get a woman to pay any attention to me on our pay.”
Pete laughed and smacked me on my shoulder. “You got that right.”
At the bar, Pete called out, “Two cold ones, Danny.”
Danny waved and pulled two beer glasses down from the shelf. We stopped in here every day after work. He knew our routine. While Danny pulled our drafts, Pete stopped to joke with one of the guys we worked with. I went to our stools and sat down. I checked my watch. I could spare about ten minutes, no more. That’s when Pete walked up and swung a leg over his stool.
“Checking your watch? Holy crap, Dave. This is the highlight of our day. After this I get to go home to my shrew of a wife and eat her crap cooking and watch boring TV. Enjoy yourself a little.”
Danny placed the beers in front of us. We picked up the glasses, foam still sliding down the outside, and drank. I will admit there’s nothing like the taste of a cold beer after work on a summer afternoon.
“Ahhhh,” Pete put his glass down. “That hits the spot.” He looked at me. “You doin’ anything for Easter?”
I was but I couldn’t tell him that. “Nope. My sister asked me over for ham dinner but I don’t think I’m gonna go.”
“You should go, man. Don’t sit around the apartment all day doin’ nothin’.”
He looked like he was going to say something about Brenda but changed his mind and picked up his glass and drained it. Pete waved at Danny. “Nother round.”
Danny waved and I checked my watch. I really had to go. “Not for me, Danny.” I drained my glass and stood up. “See you tomorrow, Pete.”
Pete spun around on the stool. “You’re really leaving?”
“Yep. Gotta go. See you at work.” I hurried out the door and turned left. Three building’s down I turned into the alley and hurried to the end, turning right, then left again. I was at a warehouse. I put my palm to the hidden lock and the door opened.
“Bout time.” Sheila was using her tentacle with the ultra-fine fingers, to work a lock. “If we don’t finish this in time the whole planet is going to blow.”
“Yeah, yeah.” I slipped work gloves on and tapped the device in front of me. A pleasant chime sounded and the whole thing opened up. The interior glowed green from the power source. I’d been working on this thing since Brenda died. Sheila had felt bad. It was her ship that had killed my wife. She decided to pay me back by offering to teach me some new tech. Something I could sell, later, making me rich and helping Earth at the same time. It didn’t make up for Brenda, but it had been an accident so I took the offer.
Problem was her people didn’t think she should have done that. They had issued an ultimatum. Wipe my brain or they’d wipe out the Earth. Seemed a little drastic to me but they had their own form of the Prime Directive. We were finishing the gadget in front of me—a power generator that could power a house, a car, a ship, anything. No more reliance on fossil fuels or radioactive elements.
Sheila finished working the lock and handed it to me. “Your turn. Once it’s done, you can plug the generator into the shield and the Earth will be saved.”
I put the lock on the power coupler and closed it up. It only took a moment to walk it over the car-sized shield generator and plug it in. Sheila came up beside me on her walking tentacles. “You ready?”
I nodded, my finger over the start button. “What if it blows up? You said you’d never built one of these with this particular power source.”
She moved her other four tentacles in her form of a shrug. “Well, then they won’t have to do it for us then, will they?” Shiela had a wicked sense of humor.
I punched the button. The shield generator began to hum. The indicator lights flashed red, yellow, then green. The hum hit a higher pitch and that was it. No explosion, no whump. “Is it working?”
“Give it a second.”
We waited. A minute later Shiela’s communicator buzzed. “Cvr, Zhlh.”
In English, the voice I recognized as her Captain said, “What have you done!?”
Shiela grinned. “I made them a shield so you couldn’t blast them to rubble.”
“You did what?”
“Yeppers. This is a sovereign planet. You can’t go around blasting them because you feel like it.”
“You gave them tech! The Prime Directive clearly states…”
“Nonsense,” she interrupted. “They had all of the materials already on the planet. I just showed one person how to assemble it.”
The next transmission was garbled. Then the Captain said, “You have to surrender yourself.”
“Have you seen their oceans? I’m starting a bed and breakfast somewhere around their island of Fiji.”
“The oceans here are full of trash.”
“Not for long. That’s what they’ll be using as a power source.”
“Zhlh, come home.”
“Good bye, Captain.” She turned off the communicator.
“A bed and breakfast?”
“Sure, I’ll get word out. We love visiting other planets. You all might as well get in on the travel rush.”
I pulled off my gloves. Things were going to get interesting on Earth.
Thank You!
966 Words
Find more of the Forward Motion Flash Friday Group here: http://www.fmwriters.com/flash.html
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March 23, 2016
Author Interviews: Lazette Gifford
Lazette’s cat, Zaphod!
Have you been enjoying these author interviews as much as I have? I’m excited to introduce the owner of the author website and watering hole, Forward Motion, Lazette Gifford. I consider Lazette a mentor of mine so I’m very honored to have her on my author interviews post. Let’s get started.
Lazette Gifford is a prolific author, photographer, and sometimes cover artist who lives in the wilds of Nebraska with her husband, several cats and a small but entirely useless dog. She writes every day and has done so for decades, and soon will be working on her 100th novel.
After several years in the small press publishing world, Zette has moved to the exciting life of an Indie published author, with several novels and short stories released and often well-reviewed. You can find links to her work on her personal website at: http://lazette.net
Lazette’s Newest Book: Raventower
Let’s start with something fun. What’s your favorite hobby?
I assume we are talking about outside of writing, because, no matter how hard I work at it, I refuse to let writing become just another job. Jobs get to be dull, life-sucking ‘I must do this’ stuff, and even though I write every day and have (seriously) for decades, I do so because I love writing.
My main hobbies, though, are photography and dabbling in digital art. Photography draws a person to look at the world around them and to take notice of things both big and small. This is a good exercise for writers. It’s amazing how many things you miss in a glance or a quick snapshot and then notice later. I once took a great picture of some geese on an icy pond, and it wasn’t until I looked at the picture, later, on my computer, that I noticed the two bald eagles sitting a few feet away from them. We focus on one part of the picture and sometimes don’t see the whole, and that’s and important aspect for writers to consider.
If you had the opportunity—who would you like to spend an afternoon with and why?
I am not so much a people-person to be honest. I like going to conventions now and then, but I like my time alone. So — not so much who, but where and when would work for me. I love history and there are several ancient societies I would love to see for an afternoon, knowing I wasn’t going to be trapped there. The Assyrians, Minoans, Etruscans . . . many of the ones we only get little glimpses of and cannot really see the whole. That would fascinate me. So maybe I should say spending a few hours with someone from those times, who would show me what it was like.
Coffee, tea, soda or something else?
I am a tea person. One wall of my office has shelves with over 100 types of tea and lots of cups and teapots. I love the variety of teas — and tisanes, which are steeped drinks made with other than actual tea leaves. Peppermint tea, which is usually just peppermint leaves is a tisane. So are the rooibos teas, flower-based teas, etc. The ability to have some many different flavors is fun. The idea of drinking the same thing all the time sounds boring!
What are you working on right now?
I always start writing a new novel on the first day of January. This year the manuscript is Raventower, my first steampunk/clockwork novel. The book is going very well and I should have the first draft done by mid-February. Having a really good outline has helped this story flow and allowed me to concentrate on the finer points and explore some of the side issues without losing track of the story.
This is also my 99th novel. It is wonderful to have something so exciting to work on for this one and to realize that inspiration really doesn’t run out if you are open to it. I also have the outline for my 100th novel which I intend to start in early March and that one is a novel I’ve been considering for several years. I’m looking forward to getting to work on it!
How would you describe your writing style?
Persistent. Eclectic. Still evolving. I don’t believe writers should ever assume that they’ve learned all they need to learn, so I’m constantly looking at material about writing and that affects how and what I create. I like to try new genres and subgenres. I still love writing my stories as much as I did when I wrote my first novel.
Do you have any advice for a person just beginning their writing career?
Other than the usual sit down and write? Stop expecting the first things you write to be perfect. Writing is an art like any other and it takes practice, and that means you have to write a great deal before you get good at your craft. You have to complete the stories you have begun and work all the way to the end. A few false starts are expected, but if you continually stop as soon as you hit a problem, you’ll never learn how to get past difficulties and finish your work. I have a rule that I must finish everything I start. I’m very careful about what I begin and if I hit a problem, I work my way through it. We all have limited writing time. Don’t continue to waste it on pretty new ideas that you’re just going to toss aside.
The good news is that those first, flawed stories are not ruined. You can always rewrite them and create better stories as you improve your style. Hold on to them. Even if you don’t rewrite them, they become good, solid markers against which you can compare your later writing. Anyone who makes a true effort at improvement will be surprised if they compare work from a year in the past.
Also, remember that you are not in any kind of contest with other writers. You are unique and you work at your own pace and write your own stories. Does your idea sound like work by another person? That happens to everyone. Don’t worry about it. The idea is not the story and how you write it will be something completely different from another writer’s take on the same basic pieces.
Do you immerse yourself in new situations for writing ideas or do your ideas come to you through your normal, day-to-day life?
I read a great deal of history and that is where most of my ideas come from, though I do not write historical fiction. A seven volume history of World War I was the basis for my science fiction novel Vita’s Vengeance. A wonderful little biography about Disraeli inspired the Silky Trilogy, a fantasy series. I can trace many of my pieces back to some specific little bit of history.
Sometimes going away from the house and seeing things will spark an idea. For instance, there is a wonderful little town in southeastern Nebraska that became the basis for my humorous mystery, Muse. Mostly I think it is better if writers seek inspiration in mundane things like books and not be tied to the idea that they can’t write if they can’t experience something new. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t go someplace for research if you are able, but don’t make that the only way you can get the work done.
Where can we find you on the interwebs?
Web Site: http://lazette.net
Twitter (rarely): http://twitter.com/lazetteg
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/lazette.gifford
Joyously Prolific Blog: http://zette.blogspot.com/
Thank you so much, Lazette, for stopping by and sharing your new story and a little bit about yourself. We all appreciate it!
If you are interested in Lazette’s work, please stop by her website where she has her books for sale. I think you’ll like them!
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March 21, 2016
Fast Ride: Monday Blog Post
Did you read that last week I released Kindred Spirits? I’ve created a video of all of the meme cards and quotes I’ve made and put it on YouTube. Here’s the link. Please share it with all of your friends, family, and significant others. Note that the cards have links on them. Not clickable, unfortunately, an issue with jpeg files, but I encourage you to check out the links. Every link discusses something in the book. I hope you find the information both informative and fun. The book is up on all of my ebook and paperback sales sites, see the last paragraph below for links.
I started a giveaway on Amazon that ended yesterday, March 20th. I had 10 First Encounter ebooks to give away. Did you get one? I hope so. If not, I have a couple of free books up for grabs if you sign up for my newsletter. See below for more on how to do that.
This is Author Interview week and Lazette Gifford (http://lazette.net) will be my guest. Lazette writes SciFi and Fantasy among other things. Have you found a new to you author that you’re checking out? Lazette may be one! The post pops up on Wednesday.
Peach Blossoms
The tomato seedlings I talked about last week are still all doing well. I notice the plum tomatoes are growing faster than the cherries. Not a bad thing at all but just interesting to note. The mid-season daffodils are up as the miniatures are fading out. My pear trees are in full bloom as the nectarine and peach are dying out. The apple trees are just starting to blossom. I’m crossing my fingers that we do not get a hard frost or snow any more this year. If we do, I’ll lose all of the fruit. The parsley I transplanted to a different bed has died. I feel a little bad, it would have been nice to harvest it sooner than I could get from seed but it’s not a disaster. I have lots of seed I collected from last year’s second-year parsley and failing that, I can get plants at the nursery.
The Luck O’ The Authors giveaway is closed. We’re compiling all of the winners and should be contacting them along about Wednesday or Thursday. Hundreds of people participated, it’s a lot to sort out. Thank you so much for participating. If you missed out, don’t worry, we have a Spring giveaway coming up. I’ll keep you posted.
Did you pop over to Cover Wars on http://authorshout.com to vote for my cover? The contest ended Saturday. I did not win but many thanks to those who stopped by that website to vote.
I’m continuing to work on Mystery in the Woods. I know, I’ve been saying that every week but really, I am. I made a big break through this week writing over 10,000 words and getting down to my last four scene cards. What do I mean by that? I plot my story out by using scene cards. A 3X5 card that I write a sentence on with who will be in the scene, where the scene is, what the conflict is and what the twist to the story is. Anyway, I’m getting to the end of the story, and the last four cards don’t match what’s going on at this point at all. So I tossed them and wrote out six different cards which take me to the end and ties up the loose ends. Ha! Now I know who did it and what happens. I’m pretty pleased and should be able to have the draft done by this time next week. Yay!
I printed out Zoe Ohale and have it ready for me to begin my first pass through edits. I always do the first pass on paper. The difference between looking at the story on the computer screen and on paper is huge and I spot a lot of things I miss when I’m looking at it for the millionth time electronically. Zoe is a long book for me, longer than I’ve done before, over 70,000. I think you’ll like it!
Where will I be? Here’s the scoop.
April 11th at 3pm Arizona time I’ll be on the January Jones Sharing Success Stories web talk radio show. Have you heard me there? Don’t miss out.
April 16th I’ll be at the Tempe Public Library book festival where I’m on a panel talking about Science Fiction and World Building. I’m looking forward to meeting you there.
June 2nd and 3rd I’m at the Scottsdale MysteryCon, Death and Deception in the Desert. I’m giving a presentation there as well on writing a mystery. Tickets for both days are only $35. I do hope you can make it to that one. Here’s a flyer telling all about it.
July 23rd is the Payson Book Festival. I’ll be at my table all day, ready to talk to YOU! I hope you can make it as we will have over 70 authors attending as well as music, food, author presentations and workshops. It will be stupendous!
Want more details about these events? Click here for more information.
Click here to sign up for my newsletter. If you are a Brown Rain series fan, I’ve created a list just for you! If you join my regular newsletter, that’s all right too as I’ve put sign-up prizes on both. That’s right. If you sign up for my newsletter you get a free story from me. My next newsletter is being drafted so sign up today. The YouTube video I just made about Kindred Spirits will be in the newsletter. Just a note. I’m going to be sending out newsletters more frequently. Be prepared for fun and contests!
Kindred Spirits released on March 14th! I’m pretty excited about it. You can buy it and my other books at: Apple, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Kobo, Smashwords, Gumroads or Chatebooks today! You can also see all of my books on www.ConniesRandomThoughts.com. If you’ve read any of my books, please drop a review on the site where you bought it or on Goodreads. It’s a big help to me in the book rankings each vendor uses to promote the books on their sites. Thanks in advance.
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March 18, 2016
Witness: Flash Fiction Friday Post
Newspaper, pen and pencil by Connie Cockrell
“Holy crap, Liz!” Nick ran his hand through his hair. “The Winter Hill Gang?”
Liz lit a cigarette. She’d just been promoted to the City Desk and she was after the story of her life, at least so far. She blew smoke into the air and pulled her notebook from her suit coat inside pocket. “Look.” She flipped the notebook pages. “They’re fixin’ the races all over the Northeast. Howie Winter is in it up to his neck.” She tapped her finger on the page. “Saratoga Springs has been a hotbed all season. They get a cut of every win. They drug the damn horses. They buy off the jockeys. It’s a scam from start to finish.”
“You’re gonna get yourself killed.” Nick was her rival, her best friend and sometime lover. It was complicated. He worked the Financial and Market beat and wicked smart with numbers.
“I need you to follow the money.” She pointed her cigarette at him. “We’ll share the byline.”
Nick rolled his eyes. “Winter is dangerous. He probably has spies here in the office. How else does he know what’s going on before we print it?”
“Don’t care.” Liz rolled a sheet of paper into her Selectric. “I heard that in a few years we’ll be using computers to write stories on.”
“What a load of crap.”
She grinned as she adjusted the top margin. “I give it five years.”
He snorted and pulled his notebook out. “What do you want me to search?”
“The money never lies. Start with Saratoga. Track the bets, the entrance fees, vet salaries, the works. Something will pop.”
A week later, Liz and Nick were in Lou Water’s office, the Managing Editor. He had read their story. He cocked an eyebrow at the two of them. Liz knew the story was good. Nick sat in the chair beside her, fidgeting.
“You have proof?”
“Yep.” Liz leaned forward. “I have him. Nick followed the money. I followed White. Him and his book keeper, Salvatore Sperlinga, have been taking a cut of every race at every racetrack from Maine to Virginia. I have witnesses who are scared to death. I have enough for a ten part series.”
“The cops know?”
Liz shrugged. “They might.”
Lou cocked his eyebrow again. “Let me see your sources,” he held up a hand against Liz’s lurch forward in her chair. “I need to know. The cops are going to want to know where you got this information.”
“Let them.” Liz stood up. “You gonna run it?”
The editor sighed. “Yeah. Tomorrow’s paper, front page.”
She grinned. “Thanks, boss.”
“Don’t thank me. The Chief of Police is going to call me as soon as the afternoon paper hits the street.”
The next afternoon Detective Polanski of the Boston PD, Agent Randolf Bean of the FBI, and Lou Waters were in the conference room when Liz and Nick came in. Lou waved them to a seat at the table and introduced them. “They want to know your sources.”
Liz resisted the urge to light up a cigarette. She eyed Lou. “I know you told them that sources are confidential.”
“I did. They have a task force.”
“That’s nice.” She tapped her fingernails on the table top. “You have a warrant?”
Agent Bean spoke up. “We’re trying to put the Winter Gang out of commission. From the looks of today’s article, you have the information we need.”
“You know you just made yourself a target, right?” Detective Polanski leaned on the table. “Your names are on the article. You think White isn’t gonna come after you?”
She’d seen what happened to people the Irish Mob didn’t like and her stomach rolled. “Maybe. He’s committing crimes across state lines, fraud, racketeering, and any number of things. Pick him up.”
“We need the proof. You have it.” Agent Bean pulled two sheets of paper out of the folder in front of him and slid them across the table to the reporters. “We’re asking that you testify. Hold off on your series, it contaminates the jury pool.”
Liz eyes bugged. “Are you crazy? That story is my career!”
“That information will get this criminal off of the streets and make the country safer.” Bean folded his hands on the table.
Liz looked at Nick who shrugged. Lou gave her a slight nod. She was furious. This was going to make her a star reporter. She thought about her mother, dead now three years and how proud she’d been when Liz landed the job at the paper. She pulled a pen from her pocket and signed the form. “There.” She slid the paper back so hard it flew off of the polished table. “But the story gets published later, right boss?”
Lou nodded. Nick signed.
It took months but eventually Liz testified. White’s troubles precipitated a take-over of the White Hill Gang by “Whitey” Bulger. Liz had to go into witness protection. Her last night in Boston she met Nick for drinks.
“I’ll miss you,” she told him over scotch.
“Me, too.” They clinked glasses and drank the shot down.
Liz waved the bartender over for another round. “Liar. I know you’ve been seeing the librarian over at Boston College.” She sipped the next glass the bartender set in front of her. “Where they sending you?”
Nick shook his head. “Can’t tell you, Liz. You know that.”
She sighed. “Yeah. I know.” Liz thought about where the Witness Protection office was sending her. Arizona. It had to be a hell hole. She couldn’t even be a reporter. They’d set her up with a background as a researcher at some podunk college. All of a sudden she turned to Nick and pulled him in close, kissing him as if her life depended on it. Maybe it did. “Thanks. It’s been fun.” She threw a fifty on the bar and left, shoulders squared and chin high. Never let the bastards see you sweat, she remembered from some old saying. Damn right.
Thank You!
997 Words
Find more of the Forward Motion Flash Friday Group here: http://www.fmwriters.com/flash.html
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Cover Art Inspirations: Merry-Go-Round Blog Tour
Mystery at the Fair, New Cover!
Cover art is such a personal thing, isn’t it? For me, cover art that screams SciFi will draw me in any time. Spaceships seeming to scream through space, exploding planets, people adrift in space in space suits. Oh yeah, that’s the stuff. But what about other genre’s. I read widely, what attracts me to those other stories?
I’m not sure I can answer that. I’d off-handedly say the covers have nothing to do with it but marketers will statistically prove me wrong. I like adventure, spy stories, mysteries, even the odd western will catch my eye. Was it the cover or the back cover blurb? Many will say I was drawn in by the cover art.
But cover art, now that’s an arcane wizardry. Last year I wrote my first cozy mystery. I mostly do my own covers so I did a search on Amazon for cozy mysteries and found a mix of cartoon characters and English cottage gardens as covers. I shrugged. Neither of those were what I wanted for a cover that evoked Arizona, serious, or murder. The book was called Mystery at the Fair.
Not surprisingly, I decided on a fair ride picture hubby had taken years ago. I cut it out of the picture, pixilated it a bit to make it “cartoonish” and placed it, stand alone, against an Arizona yellow background. This year I hear from a trusted author friend, that the cover is killing me. While I trust this friend’s judgment, she is a much better author than I am, I reached out to another author, even more powerful.
Now this second author isn’t a personal friend. I frequent her blog site. I’ve been responding to her posts for a few years now. I did not expect an answer but this author is so nice, she actually responded to my question (and with associated links so she could see what I was talking about). Yep, you guessed it. She confirmed my first friend’s assessment. My cover sucked for the genre.
Now I hate those cutsie cartoon covers for cozy mysteries. No matter it’s a cozy, it’s a mystery. A death is involved. I think the cover should be more serious but I will defer to those smarter and savvier than I am.
Here’s the best part. My first author friend, out of the kindness of her heart, found some time in her overwhelming schedule and made me not only one cover for my existing book but one for my upcoming follow-on book as well. Am I blessed or what!?!?
The new covers rock! She even sent me all of the elements so I can recreate the ebook covers she made into wrap-around covers for my print books. I have everything I need to create a branded series because I’ve already started outlining the third book in the series. I’m not even going to address how she turned what I already in the way of blurbs and log lines into a fantastic tag line for the whole series.
I’m excited to recover/rebrand my first book and the subsequent books. You can tell me covers don’t matter but I’ve been up close and personal with my covers and I’m a new convert. Yes, covers DO matter.
How about you? Do you remember a cover that just sucked you right into the book? Please share!
Kindred Spirits released March 14th! I’m so excited about it. You can buy it and my other books at: Apple, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Kobo, Smashwords, Gumroads or Chatebooks today! You can also see all of my books on http://conniesrandomthoughts.com/my-books-and-other-published-work/. If you’ve read any of my books, please drop a review on the site where you bought it. It’s a big help to me in the book rankings each vendor uses to promote the books on their sites. Thanks in advance.
The Merry-Go-Round Blog Tour is sponsored by the website Forward Motion (http://www.fmwriters.com). The tour is you, the reader, traveling the world from author’s blog to author’s blog. There are all sorts of writers at all stages in their writing career, so there’s always something new and different to enjoy. If you want to get to know the nearly twenty other writers check out the rest of the tour at http://merrygoroundtour.blogspot.com! Up next: L.C. Aisling.
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