Homicide Hussey and the Haunted House

Happy Halloween, all. Since I'm on the road, I thought I'd share one of Homicide Hussey's previous posts -- his encounter with the paranormal. I originally ran it in two posts, so it's longer than my usual posts. Hope you enjoy. (And don't forget my first giveaway deadline is tomorrow!)

Here, Detective Hussey is training a new rookie partner, Vlad. They're finishing dinner when they get a call...

“I’ve got a suspicious incident call at the Carpenter’s Home on North. 98. Meet with the security guard who heard noises upstairs.”

Vlad responded, “Fifty-one from Florida and the Boulevard.”

In training new recruits, I always try to encourage them to formulate a plan in their minds. To visualize what they might find when they get to the call. I then caution them not to get tunnel vision. In other words, to develop several scenarios in their minds just in case.

This call, for instance, could be a burglar, a prowler, kids playing where they don’t belong, or just the wind blowing against a loose shutter. It would be our job to investigate, search and locate the source of the noise, or to determine if the security guard was a little stir crazy.

When we arrived, I might have voted for the latter. Twenty-year-old security officer Luther Parton was about 5’3” tall and weighed about a hundred pounds.

His black leather belt was cinched so tightly around his waist, with the uniform shirt and trousers two sizes too large, that he looked like a tube of toothpaste, squeezed in the middle. Luther wore those black rimmed “Buddy Holly” glasses with real thick lenses. He seemed a little breathless when he ran up to the cruiser.

“I heard someone upstairs” he panted. “Then I was going up to take a look, my flashlight just quit.”

“What did you hear?” I asked.

“It sounded like voices,” the kid said. “Third floor of A wing.”

“Any other ways into this place?” my partner asked.

“No, they’re all locked and barred, just the front door, I checked them myself.”

When we entered the lobby area of the building I could see that at one time this was a grand architectural work of art. The exposed beams and huge wooden doors gave it an almost medieval look. “When's the last time the upstairs were checked?” I asked.

"This morning by the day shift,” the guard answered. “What’re you guys carryin' there?” He pointed to the gun on my right side.

“It’s a model 64 Smith, 38 special,” I replied matter-of-factly.

“Ever shoot anybody?”

Jesus I knew that question was coming. It was always easier to say no.

“Oh.” He sounded disappointed.

I let the rookie go up the stairs first, because I didn’t think we would find any bad guys and he needed the experience of searching buildings. This one would give him plenty. The interior of the building was 180,000 square feet. We checked the first floor together, tediously looking into every room. Opening the room doors first, then looking cautiously into the bathrooms and closets. The electricity was off in the building, and thus the air conditioner was off. All the windows had been boarded up. The hot, stagnant air inside the building made it difficult to breathe. Vlad and I began to sweat profusely.

Friday Field Trip - The Pumpkin Patch

Since I'm away at the Emerald City Conference, I'm re-running last Halloween's post. Hope you enjoy! These are some of the jack o'lanternes my kids have produced over the years.
Which is your favorite?

1

2

Going Indie?

Today, I'm off to the Emerald City Conference. I'm traveling light, since I couldn't find a convenient itinerary with "my" airline, so I'm flying without any of my usual perks, including that free checked bag. Plus, I'm flying out of Denver, which creates issues with parking and schlepping to the terminal. So, it's a 'cram everything into one carryon' trip. I decided I could live without my laptop for the relatively short time I'll be gone.

I hope everyone continues to follow the blog, sign up for my newsletter, and all the other contest-entering options. I just won't be able to respond to comments. But I'll love it if when I come back, I have lots of new followers, contest entries, and comments. I've had two readers offer recipes already.

Last weekend, I attended the monthly meeting of my RWA chapter. Their program was a panel of authors who had recently decided to take the indie publishing route. They shared their approaches, which ranged from "do everything myself" to "pay a company to be my publisher."

There are pros and cons, of course. The author who paid for the service spent several thousand dollars for editing, formatting, and cover art. The company charges a separate fee for print and e-book formatting. Doing it yourself, of course, means learning how to follow all the formatting directions, and spending a lot of time. Time, as we all know, is money, so it's something everyone has to decide on an individual basis.

My thoughts. With the rise in indie publishing, there are going to be a lot of people out there who will take advantage of an author looking for help. You have to do your homework and shop around, because prices vary wildly, and I fear there will be horror stories about ripoffs. I've been lucky finding a good designer with reasonable prices for my cover art—I know I don't have the skills. Likewise, for my two original projects, I also added the cost of an editor. Again, I've been fortunate with reasonable prices. And I do think if you're going to indie-publish, you need to have a professional editor go through your manuscript. It doesn't matter whether you've been published before, or your critique groups say it's great. You need fresh eyes.

Case in point:

What's Cooking Wednesday - German Apple Cake

Thanks to Susan Oleksiw for yesterday's guest post. Characters are my favorite part of reading and writing, and it's wonderful to see how others approach them.

Sorry there's no picture of the completed recipe this week. I'm trying to have everything ready for my trip to the Emerald City Writer's Conference, so I'm not cooking much. I do want to keep sharing recipes on Wednesdays, however, so here's one from my mom. She likes things simple, and this one, like the almond torte recipe which is also one of hers, is done in a food processor.

(And remember – if you share a recipe, you get an entry into my "cleaning out my bookshelf" contest.)

German Apple Cake

Preheat oven to 350.
Grease a 9" springform pan

Tips on Developing Characters

Today I welcome returning guest, Susan Oleksiw. Susan is the author of the author of two mystery series, one set in coastal South India, and the other in a small New England town. Today she draws on her experience as a writing teacher to offer some suggestions for developing characters.

The best stories are about people we can't stop thinking about. We get involved in their problems and want to find out what's going to happen to them--we fear for them, worry about them, feel joy at their escape from near death. And if it's a character in a mystery, we wait eagerly for the next installment in the series.

One of a writer's biggest challenges is developing characters the reader will care about and seek out again and again. Coming up with these riveting characters is easier said than done.

I have a few standard exercises that I hand out whenever I'm conducting a writing workshop, and one of them focuses on character development. One exercise is adapted from WHAT IF? WRITING EXERCISES FOR FICTION WRITERS by Anne Bernays and Pamela Painter. The exercise is to write a paragraph about each of three characters--first is someone you know well, perhaps a relative or close friend; second is an acquaintance, someone you know less well but encounter once in a while; third is an individual you invent entirely on your own.

Do You Need a Dead Body?

What I'm reading: Robert B. Parker's Killing the Blues, by Michael Brandman

I've hit Milestone #1 in my giveaway. You can't win unless you enter, so check the Deals & Steals tab.

Last week, on The Graveyard Shift, Lee Lofland shared some important information about property crimes, and how patrol officers work to solve them. He presented a lot of good information, including how useful fingerprints are (usually they aren't), and how people talk to cops. Take a minute to read it here.

But my takeaway from his post, and one that was followed up in the comments of the post, was that there's a lot of police work that has nothing to do with solving homicides. If you tell someone you write mysteries, odds are pretty good they automatically hear "murder mystery."

Can't you have a mystery that doesn't include a dead body? There are certainly enough other crimes out there, and they'll impact the lives of your characters even if nobody dies. And for me, it's always about the characters.

When I wrote FINDING SARAH, I thought it was going to be a mystery. But it began with a robbery (Anyone know the difference between a burglary and a robbery? The terms aren't interchangeable.) which brought a detective onto the scene. Now, maybe I got away without having the detective solve a murder because I discovered, thanks to my beta-reading daughters, that I was really writing a romance.

You Can't Win Unless You Enter

I've reached Milestone #1 by surpassing 375 followers, and am ready to start giving away books. To clarify, these are books I've picked up at conferences, etc., --not the books I've written. Here's how it all works.

The BIG CONTEST has lots of ways to win. Along the way, there will be smaller giveaways, such as the one going on now. You can enter each individual giveaway as well as the one for the BIG Prize -- an envelope crammed with books and goodies.

But you have to tell me you've entered, which means emailing my contest address. Check the Deals & Steals tab for directions, deadlines, and details, and the Sidebar for updates.

Friday Field Trip - More Fall Colors

Jason wanted to shoot some fall colors, but he was looking for early morning light shots. He and Hubster took off before sunrise so he'd be able to capture what he was looking for. Also--although barely a week had passed since I took my pictures, the cold snap before Jason's trip meant some major changes in the scenery. And, because he's a photographer and I merely take pictures, his are definitely works of art. Enjoy! (click to enlarge)

Metaphorically Speaking – or Not

What I'm reading: Seal Team Six, by Howard E. Wasdin

First – a new contest in my Deals & Steals tab. I've got too many books, and would love to find new homes for them.

Next: I'm over at Beth Groundwater's blog today, responding to her interview questions, one of which requires I reveal something I've never posted anywhere else. 

Note: today's post is based on the kind of reading and writing I do--often referred to as "commercial fiction" to distinguish it from "literary fiction." If you're reading or writing literary fiction, feel free to ignore my observations.

I struggle with descriptions. I don't like metaphors. Or similes. At least I don't like having to come up with good ones. And they have to be good, or they're a waste of time.

Things to watch for:

1. Use the vocabulary of your character, not yours.

Here's a snip from DANGER IN DEER RIDGE. Grinch has brought Elizabeth to his private place in the woods.

“I used to sit here and look at the sky. I knew someday I’d be a pilot.”

“Just the sky?” She swept her arm in a broad circle. “What about the way the water sparkles in the sunlight. And how the aspens dance when the breeze passes through their branches. It’s like the trees are wearing sequined evening gowns.”

He smiled. “I admit, I never conjured up that evening gown image. But yeah, this whole place is … serene, I guess.”

Now, Grinch was brought up in the country, became a pilot, and works for a covert ops team. If he'd been the one describing the scene using Elizabeth's words, would it have worked? I don't think so. (Obviously, because I wrote it with Elizabeth speaking them!)

What's Cooking Wednesday - Pastel de Elote

Thanks to Mike Befeler for his post yesterday. Life certainly is a balancing act. 

Once a month a group of neighbors (the ROMEOs, which stands for "Retired Old Men Eating Out") has a pot-luck supper where the spouses of said Old Men are invited to attend. I wonder if it's because some (not all, to be fair) of these men like that the wives often do the cooking.

At any rate, there was a chili theme last month, and there were the usual side dishes, but one stood out for me. I asked the woman, Sally Parda, if she'd mind sharing, and she gladly agreed. She pointed out that she adapted a cookbook recipe, and I've included her modifications. I made it according to the directions, and it was just as yummy as the one she brought. And it's one of those, "toss everything into a bowl, mix, and bake recipes, so it goes together quickly.

Pastel de Elote (Mexican Corn Pie)

Art of Balancing Writing and Job

Today, join me in welcoming mystery writer Mike Befeler to Terry's place. Mike writes the Paul Jacobson Geezer-lit Mystery series. After a 39-year career in the computer industry he retired to write full time. In this blog post, he describes a technique to balance the demands of writing while holding down a full time day job.

(And while Mike holds down the fort at Terry's Place, I'm over at The Blood-Red Pencil talking about the pitfalls of "ing" words.)

For a number of years, like many people, I wrote while working full time. Unlike many writers who have been at it since they were eight years old, I entered this writing world at the age of fifty-six when I made the decision to pursue fiction writing as a vocation I could retire into rather than just retire away from my day job. The benefit of undertaking writing at this age—more life experience than the young whippersnappers and more outside of work time with my kids grown so no soccer games, swim meets, concerts and plays to attend.

When I began writing novel length material, I came across a technique in the book The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron. Julia describes Morning Pages as a way of getting the creative juices flowing by writing three handwritten pages first thing in the morning. These can be anything—a shopping list, a journal, anything you choose to write.

I took this concept and adapted it to my particular needs. I’m a morning person, so I enjoy writing first thing in the day. When I was working full time, I knew I would be wiped out at the end of the work day and not be able to concentrate on being creative. So my solution was to adapt the Morning Pages concept as follows: First thing every morning I reviewed where I had left off the day before in my novel. Then wrote three handwritten pages to continue the story. I went off to work, and when I returned in the evening, I entered these pages into my computer, performing an editing pass along the way. This typically produced two typed pages.

Planning a POV Workshop

Today's picture goes with last week's post about discovery drafts vs editing as you go. It' a t-shirt I saw in a catalog and couldn't resist. Maybe I'll wear it to my next RWA chapter meeting.

Because I'm going to be doing a workshop on Point of View at the Emerald City conference, I thought I'd share some of the things I plan to cover as I prepare my speaker notes. If you have any POV issues you think I should include in the workshop, let me know. I'll lead off with the various types of POV, but didn't think I needed to include that here. Since I write in deep POV, that's going to be the focus of my workshop.

Point of view (POV) is the vantage point from which we show a section of the story to the reader -- and it's one of the hardest things to deal with when we write.

Usually, we only tell the story through the eyes of one character -- or at least one character at a time. When we switch back and forth, the reader is jerked from one person's head to the other, and it's hard to develop empathy for either character.

Using POV
If we've chosen to use our heroine's POV, then the reader will see what the heroine sees, hear what the heroine hears, and know most of what the heroine's thinking.

The reader won't know what anyone else is thinking, or what's happening behind the heroine's back, or what's said after she leaves the room. If the heroine doesn't see it, hear it, smell it or taste it, then it can't happen for the reader -- not in that scene, at least.

So how do you show the other character's state of mind (like the hero)? We'll know his state of mind by what he says, what he does, how he acts, and what the heroine thinks about it.

Let's try an example. Sally's the heroine, and she has just confronted Joe, the hero, about a lie she thinks he's told her. Sally's the POV character. How can we make sure our readers connect with Sally and know what's going on with Joe?

Last Day to Save!

Today is the LAST day to save 50% on FINDING SARAH and HIDDEN FIRE at Smashwords.

Click the Deals & Steals tab above for links and codes.

Also, only 5 more Google Connect followers until I'll give away some books. New or gently read. I need to make room for more.

Friday Field Trip - Colorado Vistas

First: tomorrow is the last day to use the 50% off coupon at Smashwords for Finding Sarah & Hidden Fire. Click the Deals and Steals tab for links and codes. Also. as of the time of scheduling this post, I need only 5 more Google followers before there's a giveaway.

A few weeks ago, I mentioned that we'd gone up to the American Eagle Overlook, and there was lots of old mining crap equipment. There were also some vistas, which I promised to share with you. We also hiked another nearby trail, which also had lots of old mining crap equipment and more vistas. And a critter. Today it's just vistas (and the critter).

First - there's an active gold mine below the overlook. (And when you drive up there, the guard makes it very clear that you are not welcome anyplace other than the road to the overlook.) Personally, I prefer the views away from the mining operation, although the guys liked watching the big trucks. 

Mystery or Suspense..or Romance?

What I'm reading: The Sentry, by Robert Crais

I've noticed a fair number of recent blog posts offering tips about writing compelling suspense. They were all good, except I don't really like suspense. I'm a mystery fan, first and foremost.

Often we see the two genres combined—it's not unusual to see "mystery/suspense" as a category. But they're not the same. According to the dictionary, suspense is a state of uncertainty, enjoyable tension, or anxiety. A mystery is something you cannot explain, or don't know anything about. It's easy to see how they overlap. But there are distinct differences.

Let's take a look at both:

In a mystery, the reader follows a step behind the detective/protagonist as he or she solves the crime. The reader doesn't know anything until the protagonist does. Normally, the crime has already happened, and the detective has to figure out who did it. Mysteries are puzzles.

What's Cooking Wednesday - Noodle Kugel

What I'm reading: Texas! Chase, by Sandra Brown; Crunch Time, by Diane Mott Davidson (NOOK); Silk is for Seduction, by Loretta Chase (bike)

Thanks to Judy Alter for yesterday's post. Fame and Fortune are what we make of them, aren't they?

And, I'm guest blogger at Katherine Grey's blog today. Please stop by.

And now, onward with this week's recipe:

Noodle Kugel with Chocolate Chips and Dried Fruit

There were a lot of recipes for noodle kugel circulating through the social networking sites in conjunction with Yom Kippur. The holiday includes a 24 hour fast, and dairy dishes are commonly part of the fast-breaking meals. I've been making a noodle kugel for years, but I decided to try a new variation this time.

12 oz. pkg. medium or wide noodles, cooked and drained.
4 tsp. butter, melted
4 eggs
½ c. sugar
1 pint cottage cheese
1 ½ c. sour cream
¼ c. milk
1 tsp. vanilla
Approximately 1 ¼ c of a combination of chocolate chips and dried fruits.*
         (Vary amounts of each according to taste)

*Raisins are traditional, but I had this bag of mixed dried fruits, so I used those. And those antioxidant claims counteract all the eggs and butter and creamy stuff, right?

Instructions:

Do You Dream of Fame and Fortune

Today, my guest is author Judy Alter. Judy is the author of fiction and nonfiction for adults and young-adults. Having spent much of her career writing about women in the American West, she has turned her attention to mystery. Today, she considers what constitutes success for a writer.

When do you consider yourself an author? And how do you define success as an author? The late Dorothy Johnson (A Man Called Horse, The Hanging Tree, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance—you have to be old to remember those) used to say you were a writer until you published a book and then you became an author. I know for years, even after I’d published books, I’d look over my shoulder when someone asked “You’re an author?” I was sure they were talking to someone behind me.

And how do you define success as an author? For most of us that first book means success—you’re a published author. But as we grow and continue to write, our goals move ahead just enough to keep us always striving. There’s that first major award, the breakthrough book, always a new step to be taken. I read that Blackbird Fly, which I really enjoyed, was Lise McClendon’s first venture into suspense (she did very well!), and Rosemary Harris recently posted that she’s writing her first novel with an omniscient point of view, after having written several from first person view. Both were challenges.

When I fretted, early in the first decade of this century, that my writing was stalled, a straightspoken friend asked, “Did you ever consider you’ve had as much success as you were meant to have?” No, I’d never considered that and didn’t intend to. I thought my success pretty moderate in spite of a lot of titles in print and several awards hanging on my wall. I wasn’t rich, and I wasn’t famous—as I tell school kids all the time. But is that really the goal?

Editing and Sewing Machines

What I'm reading: Blind Faith, by CJ Lyons

There are those who write via a "discovery draft" racing to get from page one to 'the end' and then going back and revising. And revising. And revising. This is the approach of NaNoWriMo--write it all; no edits. That's a process I've never been able to embrace, so I was heartened once when I attended a workshop given by Linda Howard. She said she writes, then backs up and fixes, then moves forward, then backs up and fixes some more. She likened her process to using a zig-zag sewing machine. When she finished, she said, the manuscript was ready to send to her editor.

Her method is close to the way I write. I edit as I go. (Heck, I plot as I go, too!)  Here's an example of my process from my current WIP, another of my Pine Hills Police series.

Overall, my heroine's goal was to open her own bakery, so, of course, my goal was to keep that from happening—or at least, to delay it.

Since I prefer to escalate the conflict rather than throw the reader into a full-blown crisis on page one, I began with simple accidents and setbacks as her contractor and crew (which she refers to as the Klutz Brigade) worked to get her bakery finished so she could open on time.

But that's not really enough of a conflict to carry the entire book. Since the book is a romantic suspense, and the hero is a former homicide detective, I threw in a dead body.

And the Winner is ...

Lynn Rush's random number generator selected Diane Craver as the winner of a copy of Wasteland. Congratulations, Diane, and thanks to all for leaving comments. Diane, email Lynn at
lynnrush (at) cox (dot) net to claim your prize.

Friday Field Trip - Fall Colors

On Monday, Hubster and I drove the Victor/Cripple Creek route to take some pictures of the turning aspens. And so did a LOT of other people. Everyone was pulling off to the side of the road. Some had camera phones, other full blown gear with tripods. One man told us this is the best color he's seen up here in 10 years.

One thing I've learned. Aspens grow in clones. The different clones will have different schedules for leafing out and turning gold. Some are gold, some yellow, some red-orange. Looking out over the mountains, the different stripes of color were breathtaking. And, for the record, our deck aspens are a very "late" clone--most of them are still quite green, and just starting to turn yellow. The ones on the other side of the house are already gold.

OK, enough talk. Enjoy fall in the Colorado mountains. Clicking on an image should enlarge it.

Rooted in Danger

Don't forget to leave a comment on Lynn Rush's Tuesday post to be entered in her drawing.

Normally, I eschew promotion on this blog, but one of the perks of being the blog owner is that I can break the rules. And since I'm in marketing mode, I'm still working on garnering 500 followers and 250 likes--and check the Deals & Steals tab for how to get FINDING SARAH & HIDDEN FIRE at half off.

Today, I'm unveiling the cover for my next Blackthorne, Inc. novel, ROOTED IN DANGER. Although the release date isn't until April of 2012, seeing the artwork makes things seem real.

When I wrote WHERE DANGER HIDES, Fozzie (Foster Mayhew) had a slightly larger role than his brief appearance at the end of WHEN DANGER CALLS. I didn't know much about him in that first book, and learned a bit more in the second. I knew he was Aussie, cocky, and circling in a helo, could spot the fleas on a squirrel's balls from five hundred feet. Just as I'd needed to know more about Dalton when I wrote WHERE DANGER HIDES, Fozzie demanded I tell his story. So, I did.

Here's the blurb for the book.

What's Cooking Wednesday - Challah

Thanks to Lynn for her post yesterday. I have my own mix of writing tunes, and just hearing it start seems to calm and focus me. And don't forget; you can still leave a comment on her post (scroll down) to be entered in her drawing.

As we're in the midst of our holidays, and finding challah around here is nigh-unto-impossible, I've baked my own, and I thought I'd share the recipe. This one makes one loaf, although it's on the large size. It also requires rising time (3 of them, actually), so it's a great recipe for days when you want to sit around and read a book. (OK, so you could clean or do laundry or something else more productive. But why?)

My 'minor' variation: I use my KitchenAid with the dough hook for part of the kneading process, but there's nothing like taking out frustrations on a mass of dough to soothe the soul.

For Rosh Hashanah, the loaf should be round, which symbolizes the end of one year and the beginning of the next.

The recipe is below

We Got The Beat

Today I welcome Lynn Rush to Terry's Place. Lynn is a former Minnesotan currently living in the heat of the Arizona deserts who loves dreaming up unique, troubled characters who tug at your heart-strings as they take you on a ride through their lives. Her novels are paranormal romance adventures geared toward the twenty-something crowd sometimes called New Adult or Upper YA. She's giving away a copy of her book, Wasteland, so be sure to read through and leave a comment.

You sure see the younger crowd having earbuds stuck into their ears constantly, don’t you? Now, I’m no longer considered part of the “young crowd” but I love writing for them. So, I have to be up on their music.

At least that’s my excuse when explaining to my husband why I’m listening to some of the music I do. Or even watching some of the shows I watch.

Not everyone can read or write with music playing in the background, though. I sure can, especially when I’m reading or writing an action scene. The louder the better, too. And if there’s someone around, I’ll plug in the earbuds much like my youngster counterparts.

For some reason, it helps me dive into the scene. Fast beats, loud singing and sometimes, some serious drum and guitar solos.

Love it.

Finish What You Start--Or Not?

First, some bits and pieces. Thanks to my new followers and "likers." I'm slowly approaching my goal of 500 followers and 250 "likes."

I've decided to go more "formal" with my quarterly newsletter. Previously, I'd just emailed my small list of contacts with updates about what was going on, both with my writing and my new life up in the Colorado mountains. I confess to being lax about keeping the list up to date, and it did take time to add people manually and delete the bounced emails and those who chose to unsubscribe.

I found a company that meets my very limited budget and has excellent customer service (since I'm a newbie.) I sent my Fall newsletter out, with only one glaring error—the URL to this blog! If you want to receive my updates, there's a sign up form on my blog, which will get you added to the mailing list, which saves me some time. The next issue won't come out until January.

Next, I'm a guest over at Cassie Exline's blog today. Although she writes hot, there's nothing steamy about my answers to her interview questions, so take a moment and pop over there, and don't panic if you have to confirm you're old enough to enter her blog.


And because I'm sure you're wondering why I've got a picture of Brussels sprouts on this post--on to today's topic: Do you finish what you start?

And the Winner is ...

The winner of a copy of Lost and Fondue by Avery Aames is Jackie Griffey.

Jackie, be sure to email Avery at avery (at) averyaames (dot) com with your address so she can send you the book!

Thanks to all who entered, and especially to Avery for being my first recipe guest blogger.