Marianne Jones's Blog, page 4
September 30, 2014
Launch Week!
The past week has been a full one, with a radio interview (thank you, Lisa Laco and CBC radio), a reading of “Great-Grandma’s Gifts” at the Baggage Arts Building, a poetry reading at the Spirit Circle for Culture Days, and the launch of my Thunder Bay mystery, “The Serenity Stone Murder” at Chapters. The launch was a success–thank you, Thunder Bay! Will be doing it again this Saturday, at Coles, Intercity. Here is the link to the interview http://www.cbc.ca/superiormorning/epi...
September 16, 2014
It’s Here! (Almost)
After a few of what you might call failures to launch, The Serenity Stone Murder is finally appearing! Join me at Chapters, Saturday, September 27, from noon until 4, or the following Saturday, October 4, at Coles, Intercity to find out who dunnit! Pre-orders can be made through my ever-gracious publisher, Stacey, at Split Tree Publishing.
September 7, 2014
For all you folks out in radio land
For those of you Lu radio fans, I will be interviewed tomorrow (Monday) afternoon on “Little Momma’s Kitchen Party,” airing at 4:30 p.m. I’ll be talking about “The Serenity Stone Murder,” my mystery novel set for launching at the end of this month. That’s 102.7, for those new to Lu radio.
September 2, 2014
An interview about The Serenity Stone Murder
The Serenity Stone Murder will be launched at the end of September, not the 12th, as originally planned. But that’s only a few weeks later! In the meantime, here is an interview about the upcoming mystery:http://4horsemenseriesbr.blogspot.com...
August 13, 2014
Live Chat on YouTube
I got a last-minute request to appear on a Google+ Live Chat. It was a scramble, but here is the interview on YouTubeCHANGES Episode 2 with Sally Ember, Ed.D., and special surprise guest, author/poet, Marianne Jones!
August 12, 2014
Adventures in Hotel Rooms
What’s the worst hotel you’ve ever stayed in? I remember a motel on the road home from Toronto where the bedding and towels had all the thickness and warmth of kleenex. Single-ply kleenex. The owner had to keep costs down somehow. Then, there was a time I shared a room with my sister in a small town in Turkey. The owner of the hotel had kindly offered a few of his friends to show our daughters the town, an offer which we politely declined. When we got to our room, we discovered that the door was lacking a lock. Our daughters’ room did have a functioning lock, so my sister and I pushed our suitcases and a chair against the door, and spent an uneventful, if not restful, night.
In The Serenity Stone Murder, about to be launched this September, the two protagonists, Margaret Bain and Louise Gagnon are reduced to staying in a slightly dodgy establishment in Thunder Bay called “Bubbles.” Here is an excerpt:
Once safely in their room, they collapsed against the door as though they had been chased by purse snatchers. Hooded ones, wielding machetes.
“Quick. Lock the door!” Margaret gasped.
“There’s no one out there.”
“I don’t care. I won’t be able to sleep, wondering who’s prowling around in the middle of the night.”
Louise locked the door and put the chain in place.
“Feel better?”
“No. Do you?”
“Not really.”
They both looked at the door, as though waiting for it to speak.
“I’ve got an idea,” Louise said. She dragged the wooden chair with the missing spindle from its place in the corner and propped it under the doorknob.
“There! No one will be able to get in. And if they try, we’ll be ready for them.”
“Ready for them how? Are we going to hit them with our purses?”
“I just mean that with the chair in the way, we’ll hear them coming,” Louise explained. “That way, we’ll have time to call for help, as opposed to having someone sneak in while we’re sleeping.”
“Excellent. I feel so secure now.”
Margaret squinted at the framed print of the bullfighter that hung over the bed.
“Is that supposed to have some sort of subliminal meaning?”
Louise grimaced at it.
“I doubt it. They probably got a great deal on it. Though why they’d bother I can’t imagine. Heaven knows nobody comes here for the décor.”
“Décor is one thing. Comfort is another. Why didn’t you ask for a double room? I don’t like sharing a bed.”
“Do you think I do? This is all they had available. What use would a place like this have for a double room anyway?”
Once again Margaret was impressed by her friend’s logic. What use indeed?
Apparently Bubbles had little use for linens, either. The bathroom boasted one facecloth, one hand towel and one small bath towel, all about the consistency of cheesecloth. When the ladies slid cautiously into bed they found that the blanket over them was only slightly thicker than the sheet under them. That didn’t stop Louise from falling asleep promptly. Margaret was left to listen to the drip in the shower stall and watch the water stain on the ceiling, which she was convinced was growing larger by the minute. The pink neon from the “Bubbles” sign outside their window cast an eerie glow into the room through the faded curtains. The pounding bass from the bar was counterpointed by Vince’s snores and the steady intermittent drip of the showerhead onto the drain beneath.
August 4, 2014
Guest Post by Ron Knight
JULY 3, 2014 BY RON KNIGHT
Part of your success depends on knowing what readers are doing. What time of year do readers buy books? Where are they buying books? How are they purchasing these books? I have the answers…
Statistic: Readers purchase books more in the first half of the year, compared to the second half. (Source: Adult Book Trends Update) Most authors believe that books are bought during the holidays in the fall, but according to statistics that simply isn’t true.
Lesson: Your author marketing campaign should focus Jan through June, more than July through December.
Statistic: Other than online purchases, where are readers buying books?
22% of readers purchase at chain bookstores. (Which may seem obvious, but read on…)
22% of readers purchase from book clubs.
13% of readers purchase from independent bookstores.
5% purchased from mass chain stores. (Target, Walmart.)
38% purchased from other sources such as churches, schools, vendors, author events, etc…
Lesson: If you’re having trouble getting your books into Barnes & Noble, that’s okay. Remember that 35% of readers are purchasing books from independent bookstores and book clubs. Use that to your advantage.
Statistic: Do readers prefer eBooks or printed books? (Source: Wall Street Journal)
6% of people read only eBooks.
46% of people read only printed books.
48% of people read both eBooks and printed books. (Of those, 33% read more printed books or at least as much printed as they do eBooks.)
Lesson: If you have low eBook sales, then maybe it’s because readers prefer printed books.
Statistics = Reality. You may or may not like the results of these statistics, but your success depends on adapting to the reality of what readers are actually doing.
“The disappointment in self-publishing has a direct link to authors attempting to build their careers for free.” ~ Ron Knight
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August 1, 2014
A Summer Poem
northern summer
i had forgotten this:
the conspiracy of reeds, their heavy silence,
the dappled light poking into the bays.
The way my liquid body comingles with the lake,
each making room for the other.
A silent community of rocks guards the channel against motors,
only the whispery stealth of a canoe admitted
to where the blue heron poses, God’s lawn ornament.
July 21, 2014
The Way a Dock Waits
The way a dock waits
like a memory
for you to return to it.
The way it has weathered in the waiting
The way you recognize every stain, every marking
the particular lines and scars of each board.
The way it welcomes you
without reproach for your long absence.
The way it invites you, like a friend,
to study the water’s play,
the rocks beneath.
The way you remember this
until all else drops away.
Marianne Jones
July 14, 2014
No Bad Dogs
I always loved the James Herriot series of books about his life as a veterinarian in post-World War II Yorkshire, England. One of my very favourite characters was Mrs. Pomphrey, a rich, eccentric elderly lady who doted on her spoiled Pekinese, Tricky Woo.
Mrs. Pomphrey was given to phoning the good doctor with the frantic news that “Tricky Woo has gone flop-bott again!” That was her term for the inevitable results of over-feeding the tiny dog with an array of rich delicacies not suited for a small dog’s digestive system.
After treating the dog, Dr. Herriot would scold Mrs. P for ignoring his nutritional advice, and she would reply, “Oh, I know Dr. Herriot, but Tricky does so love his treats!”
Perhaps the reason I loved this scenario was because it bore an eerie resemblance to my mother and her lhasa apso Charlie. Unlike Mrs. Pomphrey, my Mom was not wealthy, but she was equally stubborn about feeding Charlie a steady diet of white bread. When Charlie went flop-bott, Mom would call, not the vet, but yours truly to come and help her relieve Charlie’s discomfort using her own methods borrowed from her years as a nurse. My part of the operation was to hold Charlie’s head to keep him from biting her while she worked on his opposite end. My task was a dangerous one, as he could be surprisingly strong and quick as a snake in striking.
Like Dr. Herriot, I would plead with Mom to stop feeding Charlie white bread and like Mrs. P, she would ignore my advice.
Charlie and Tricky Woo, along with their owners, were the inspiration behind Louise Gagnon and her dog Vincent in The Serenity Stone Murder. Vince’s penchant for Cracker Jacks and other treats land him in digestive troubles, but overly indulgent Louise is unlikely to change her ways. There are no bad dogs, just incorrigible owners.
