First, a few reminders: Thanks to LaVerne for her post. She's giving away a book, so scroll down, read her post, and leave a comment. Winner announced on Saturday.FREE STUFF. Leave a comment over at my post at the Guide to Literary Agents blog, and you're entered to win a free book. Enter my "Grab Bag" contest, and win a whole bunch of stuff, from books to bookmarks to cover flats. Click the Contest tab above.CHEAP STUFF. 20% OFF What's in a Name and When Danger Calls at Smashwords and All Romance eBooks. This one expires April 17th, so take advantage of the reduced prices while they last. Of course, the books are also available at Amazon's Kindle store, and even without the discount, they're only $2.99. Click the Deals and Steals tab above.
One of the points I made in my blog at the Guide to Literary Agents, which was about characters, was that you should kick them out of their comfort zone. I wonder how my characters might have dealt with what should have been a very simple problem, easily fixed.I've had issues with the cell phone I bought when we moved here. Given our remote location, there's only one provider, so choices were limited (not to mention the cell reception up here is terrible anyway), so even with this provider, there's no point in using a cell phone at home. But it's something I like to have when I'm away.So, about two weeks ago, I noticed that the external button that's supposed to control the volume wasn't working. And, if I wanted to text someone and turned the phone sideways to get the larger touch screen keyboard, it wouldn't display what I'd typed. I stopped in at the closest store, and the clerk agreed the phone (actually this was phone #4 in less than a year) needed to be replaced. But, of course, they can't do that at the store, so I could either drive an hour down to the Springs and hang around there (speaking from experience—first and last trip took over 3 hours), or call customer service. She documented the problem in my file, and told me to request a different phone entirely.
Today my guest is author LaVerne Clark who's come all the way from New Zealand to Terry's Place. Welcome.Thanks so much for having me on your blog Terry! I’m thrilled to be here.I’ve read Romantic Suspense novels for years. Throughout those years, I’ve traveled all around America, discovering hidden pockets of the country through the adventures I’ve read and loved every minute of it. 
Now I’m writing for the American market, with my debut novella, Guardian of the Jewel released by The Wild Rose Press late last year, and a whole new world has opened up to me. Seeing Guardian take its place on the virtual shelves alongside more well-known authors was a bit like sending my child off to its first day of school. I was proud and terrified at the same time. Would it be okay? Would it make friends or would it be bullied? How would it get on out there in the big, wide world? And how would people react to an Alien writer on their shelves?Selling in America was the Holy Grail to me, but I admit to a case of killer nerves wondering how my Kiwi flavor and voice would be received. I desperately hoped the American public would ‘get’ what I had to say and how my characters said it, with the minimum of confusion along the way. I needn’t have worried – you are a smart lot : )
What I'm reading: The Sex Club by L.J. Sellers (and despite the title, it's a mystery, not erotica, or even a romance); Detachment Fault, by Susan Cummins Miller.Another reminder – please check the Contest and Deals & Steals tabs above. There are some great bargains (and on a lot more than just my books).
This Just In: An article I wrote about characters is featured at the Guide To Literary Agents Blog. Please pop over. Please? And spread the word. 
I've been dealing with edits for several projects lately, and they've all been different. I've got edits from a publisher, edits I'm doing myself, and edits from a professional editor I've hired. I thought I'd share.First are the long-awaited edits for one of my mystery short stories which will be part of an anthology. This is one of two connected stories, but I've only received edits on the first of them.These edits come from the publisher. I get a marked up document (using the dreaded "Track Changes"). Her instructions say to accept any changes I agree with, and leave Track Changes on for anything I add or change myself.Upon opening the document, I discovered that most of her edits are changes in speaker tags. I figure it's easy enough to accept them, because if she can follow who's speaking without those particular tags, other readers shouldn't have any trouble. (Hint, if you're not familiar with Track Changes: every time someone touches the document, it'll show up in the margin as an insertion or deletion. This means if someone changes "the" to "a", you have to approve the deletion of "the" AND the insertion of "a". This can be a royal pain.
However, if you highlight the section with the changes, and look at the "reviewing" toolbar, there's an icon that allows you to accept all the changes (both insertions and deletions) for the highlighted section. There's one that lets you accept them for the entire document, but I wouldn't want to do that at this stage of editing.
The editor also has comments in the margins, and a few "vague" suggestions, such as, "if you want to expand this section, we're OK on word count." Those are up to me to deal with as I see fit.
A mixed blessing of publishing your own book is that you are in charge of the cover art. If you're talented and have a good vision of what you want, that's a plus. If you're more of a "well, I'll know it when I see it" kind of person, it's a tough call.I'm working with a graphic artist for a potential cover in anticipation of getting the rights back to one of my books, and then publishing it myself. Since it's set in Oregon, I asked my sister in law if she had any images that she'd like to share. You've probably seen some of her work before.She sent me some pictures, and I sent some I thought would work to the graphics artist. Things we had to consider: vertical vs. horizontal, and high enough resolution, since when she took the pictures, she wasn't really thinking of book covers. This week, I'll share her pictures. On future posts, I'll share the various steps we've been going through to come up with a cover for the book.
I think it's part of human nature to want to know what's going to happen, or to go into just about any situation with a set of expectations based on either past experience, word of mouth, or our own (perhaps flawed) logic.
When the phone rings, do you wonder who it might be. (And do you wonder what people did before caller ID?) Do you go to a movie without some idea of what you're going to be seeing? Do you like to read the reviews first? Same goes for books. Or restaurants.How many times have you actually done something totally cold?Now, if something doesn't match one's expectations, does that make it bad? No, of course not.So, when I went to my first Left Coast Crime conference, I automatically expected it to be very much like SleuthFest, the only other mystery conference I'd attended. It wasn't. While there were many areas where they were different, I'll pick out only one here--the overall format, which was similar in both.
Thanks to Sherry Gloag for her great post yesterday. I'm looking for bungee cords to keep my muse in her seat.And please - don't forget my next contest, and my special Tax Relief Pricing on When Danger Calls and What's in a Name? Click the appropriate tags above for details.Other panels I attended at Left Coast Crime discussed doing research. Even though we write fiction and tend to make things up, we can't simply ignore doing our homework.
For one of the panelists, a former journalist, doing research is second nature, and he's not really aware he's doing it. The question came up as to when authors did their research. One, whose background is in geology, which plays a part in her books, said she read books, collected maps, and was familiar with the setting before she ever arrived to do the "actual" research. One author writes books based on things that actually happened. His publisher wouldn't let him use the name of a former governor because the man was still alive. The author reluctantly changed the name, but anyone familiar with the history of that state would wonder where that stranger came from. As he put it, it would be like reading a book where "After the Civil War, President Schwartz freed the slaves."
Today I'm welcoming Sherry Gloag to Terry's Place. Sherry lives in the beautiful English county of Norfolk and considers the surrounding countryside an extension to her garden. When she is not writing she enjoys reading, gardening, crystal craft work and walking. While out walking she often enjoys lengthy conversations with both, her characters and, if she has not gone ‘walk-about’, her muse.I'm sure some of you remember the novelty song, They're Coming to Take Me Away, Ha-Haaa! While this song may be about a ‘mutt’, it could just as easily be about a writers’ elusive muse. You know the one that suddenly decides to take off for the day, muse– week – month- year, when you sit down to transfer that wonderful idea into the computer the! The hardest thing for most writers to do is to write.
Sometimes, when I sit down and attempt to transfer that ‘amazing’ idea for a story into a word document, something happens. That idea shifts like smoke and evaporates before I can capture it. And I swear I hear my muse laughing at me. It is so frustrating. I’m just glad to know I’m in good company. Even writers such as Paul Valery, Gerard Manley Hopkins, Maeve Binchy and Morris West have all announced, at one time or another, their intention to quit writing then carried on. But wait! Does this mean the writer always relies of their muse to create a book? It shouldn’t.
What I'm reading: Daphne contest entries and The Next Best Thing, by Kristan First – Welcome to April. New for this month: Another contest (click the Contest tab for details). Also, in the spirit of Tax Relief, I'm offering discounts on two of my books (click the "Deals & Steals" tab to see those.)Next, I filed an overview report on Left Coast Crime which is at Barbara Vey's Publishers Weekly "Beyond Her Book" blog today. Author Rosemary Harris also gave her take.And on to the 'meat': another Left Coast Crime panel recap. 
David Morrell moderated a panel about rule breaking. (Actually, the panel was entitled "Breaking Barricades and Opening Doors" so I went in expecting something more like SWAT techniques, but more on that in another post.)Takeaways from the panel. Mysteries and Thrillers are starting to sound the same. Don't be afraid to write your own book. One author on the panel, Johnny Boggs, has twenty-three 1st person narrators in one of his books. Didn't keep it from being published.Pigeonholes for books isn't necessarily a good thing. Michael McGarrity said, "Don't write a "type" of story, write the story.Panelist Zoe Sharp spoke about two kinds of books: good books and bad books. Everything else is just a "flavor." Voice is what matters.
The winner of March's "Follow Me" contest is Shirley. She wins an ARC of WHERE DANGER HIDES. There's a new contest for April, so be sure to check the Contest Tab. Thanks to all who entered.
One of the points I made in my blog at the Guide to Literary Agents, which was about characters, was that you should kick them out of their comfort zone. I wonder how my characters might have dealt with what should have been a very simple problem, easily fixed.
