Just a Little BSP

Yesterday was the official launch party for the new International Anthology, Short and Happy (Or Not), that contains my short story To Love Again. The book was just released this week on Amazon and already has 9 reviews. One reviewer wrote: "A sampling in all the right ways. Overall one of my favorite reads in the past couple of months. I had a lot of fun stepping inside the minds of somany diverse and engaging authors."

I also want to announce that my mystery, Boxes for Beds, which was a Kindle exclusive for almost a year, is now available for Kobo, Nook, iTunes, Inktera. Of course it is still available for Kindle readers, too. I just decided to open distribution and used Draft2Digital, a terrific company that helps indie authors who don't want to take the time to create all the different formats for all of these retail outlets.

The folks at D2D will convert a Word document into an ebook, create clean chapter breaks and a functioning table of contents. It is a quick and easy process from the author end and I highly recommend the service. There is no upfront charge and D2D only takes 10% of the retail price.

And now, so this isn't just about me, here is an interview with Laura Parker on Regan Walker's blog Historical Romance Review. Laura is the best-selling author of 40 books, many of them historical romances, and her Rose Trilogy is being offered as a boxed set through Untreed Reads. I read all three books in the series that started with Rose of the Mists and they are terrific stories. The new release has a different cover, but here is the original from that first book.

Since books make great gifts, it is not too soon to think about some of the written treasures for folks on your gift list.

Book Review - Silent Prey by John Sandford

Silent Prey
John Sandford
File Size: 596 KB
Print Length: 400 pages
Publisher: Berkley; Reprint edition (March 1, 1993)
Series: A Lucas Davenport Novel (Book 4)
Sold by: Penguin Group (USA) LLC
Language: English
ASIN: B000QFCFJS


A follow-up to Eyes of Prey, the book that featured a psychotic pathologist Dr. Michael Bekker, this book takes Lucas Davenport to New York where Bekker has started killing again after escaping at the end of the previous book. NYPD Lt. Lily Rothenberg, a former lover, asks Davenport to come to Manhattan and assist with the investigation.

In addition to tracking down Bekker, Davenport is asked to work undercover to find the group called "Robin Hoods," a vigilante group believed to be comprised of cops. The rogue cops have been taking out criminals, so some people think it would be okay to just look the other way. Rothenberg and Davenport have a higher standard of ethics and don't want to look the other way.

I read this book back when it first came out, not long after reading Eyes of Prey, and in some ways it was like reading one long book with a break in between, mainly because of the central characters facing off, Bekker and Davenport. However, there were enough fresh elements added to the story to help it stand alone.

Lucas Davenport is one of the best detectives in fiction today, and I especially like his sense of humor. That is such a nice counter-point to the hardass cop side of his character. Sandford's stories always move at a rapid pace, and the plots are complicated enough to keep the reader guessing and turning pages.
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I'm doing a Kindle Countdown Deal for my mystery, Boxes For Beds. On July 31 the price dropped to just 99 cents, and later today - Sunday - the price will jump to $1.99, where it will stay until midnight, August 7th before going back to the regular price of $2.99. This is my first time to do the Countdown Deal, and if you have not already gotten a copy, this is a good time to snag one at a good price. The book currently has 98 reviews - most of them very positive - and I am thrilled that so many people have enjoyed the story. For those who subscribe to Kindle Unlimited, the book is available there for free any time.

Friday's Odds and Ends

The first bit of good news is that it has warmed up just a bit and some of the places hit the hardest with winter storms this week are getting a reprieve. It's a balmy forty degrees here, and I am so glad I did not have to haul buckets of hot water to melt ice in the horse trough this morning. 

Today I'm sharing blueberry scones with all my visitors. Grab one and enjoy.

 In last Sunday's Parade Magazine, novelist Brad Meltzer wrote an interesting article titled Do Kids Still Want to be President. He did some research and discovered that, unlike when some of us were young and aspired to grow up to be President of the United States, today's young people don't have the same aspirations. In a poll of kids between ages of 10 and 16 that was conducted by the publisher Penguin Young readers only 27% of the kids said that they would like to grow up to be president. Among the 15 to 16-year-olds there were only 13% that said they would like to be president.

Meltzer thinks that one of the problems is the fact that we are so vocal with our dissatisfaction of the president. All the young kids see is the frustration that we have with politicians and government and all the negative press about the president. So why would they want a job that is so thankless?

Another news item that caught my attention this week was a column by Steve Blow with the Dallas Morning News. He wrote a piece about the difficulty he has hearing some of the dialogue on television shows, and he actually went to get his hearing checked because he thought that was the problem. What he discovered was that his hearing is just fine.

Photo Courtesy of ActiveRain.com

 One of the reasons many people have trouble catching all the dialogue in some TV programs is that the actors mumble more in today's shows than they did in shows 20 or 30 years ago. He wrote that he caught some reruns of shows that aired in the 60s and 70s and noticed that the actors spoke clearly and distinctly. So part of the problem with hearing dialogue in current shows is the way the audio is taped with actors talking fast, actors talking over each other, and a lot of sound in the background.

In the column, Steve also pointed out that the newer flat screen HD televisions have the speakers pointing to the back. He joked that he could hear the dialogue much better if he stuck his head behind the TV, although that did create a problem with the image. With the kind of technology we have to make what we see on screen so clear and defined, it would be wonderful if television manufacturers came up with a way to make audio match the same high standards.

Now for some fun from the comic strips. This is from Dilbert:

Pointy-Haired Boss is asking Dogbert, "What's the newest management jargon I need to pretend to understand?"

Dogbert responds, "Experts say you should engage employees and follow from the front."

Pointy-Haired Boss asks, "Does that mean anything?"

Dogbert answers, "No one knows. Just to be safe you should tell people you're doing it."

Pointy-Haired Boss asks, "Should I act as if I'm passionate, or is this more of a fake caring situation?"

Dogbert says, "Beats me try combining the two."

So, Pointy-Haired Boss walks away thinking,  "Fake passion plus fake caring." He comes up to an employee who says, "My uncle died."

Pointy-Haired Boss says, "Woot!! What was his name?!"

In closing, I just want to share a bit of a new review for my mystery, Boxes For Beds. The reader really, really enjoyed the story, and I am so grateful that she took the time to write a review. Here's what she had to say:

"Boxes For Beds" pulls on two of the most powerful strings in the human catalog of fears--the fear of losing your child, and the fear of being falsely accused. The author does a masterful job of setting up the story in the early 60's in Arkansas."

A Surprise Guest

Today's Wednesday's Guest is Leslie Richards, the central character in my mystery, Boxes For Beds. She popped into my office the other day and we had a nice little chat.

Leslie: Hey there, am I interrupting?

Me: Well, I am a bit busy. What do you want?

Leslie: Mandy is off to school and I'm a bit lonely. Plus I have a writing problem that I thought you could help with.

Me: Ah, still writing then?

Leslie: Trying to. But it was so hard to get my focus back after all that has happened.

Me: Maybe you should focus on promoting instead. Do a blog book tour.

Leslie: A what?

Me: Visiting blogs on the Internet. Telling people your story. Like you are doing here.

Leslie: People? What people? It's just the two of us, sitting here and having coffee. 

Me: Actually, it's not just us. I'm sharing our conversation on my blog. I'll share some virtual coffee, too. I always do on Wednesdays.

Leslie: You lost me. I have no idea what you are talking about. Blog? Virtual coffee? Or that other thing. What was it? The Internet?

Me: Sorry. I'm so used to all that, I forgot you wouldn't be. So much has changed since 1961. So let's see. How do I explain it?

Leslie: Maybe you shouldn't try. I don't even know what that thing is you are typing on. Why aren't you using your typewriter? It looks a lot like mine.

Me: This is a computer. What I type goes into its memory, then I can send pages to this thing. It's called a printer. I haven't used that old Royal since I got my first computer in 1975. 

Leslie: You mean you don't have to type each page of a manuscript and try to get it perfect? No more correction fluid? No more smudged pages?

Me: Yup.

Leslie: Wow.

Me: So, other than the effect on your writing, how are you coping with the aftermath of being arrested and almost going to prison?

Leslie: I'm managing. My friend Pauline has stuck with me through it all, and we talk almost every day. I've been helping her with her lending library.

Me: That's good. What about Mandy? How's she doing?

Leslie: Better than me, I think. You know how resilient kids can be sometimes. Once I was cleared and back home, she was relieved. And having Ronald there helps.

Me: Ah, so he stayed around?

Leslie: Yeah. He really has been a steadying influence. For Mandy and for me.

Me: Are you and Ronald making plans for a wedding?

Leslie: Not yet. Our relationship has had so many ups and downs, I want to make sure that we are both ready for something permanent. It's just so hard to trust my emotions right now.

Me: Waiting is probably a wise decision. But do let me know when things change. Maybe I could write about it. There are readers who are curious.

Leslie: How do you know?

Me: They've asked in comments they leave at Amazon.

Leslie: Amazon? Do you mean they are leaving messages at the river in South America?

Me: No, silly. It's on the internet. A place where books are sold.

Leslie: Okay. This is too confusing. Maybe I should just go back to my own time period, but before I go, do you have any advice about my writing problem?

Me: That's a hard one, but I think if you just try every day, eventually you will tap back into your creative well. And do something everyday to make you feel good about yourself. That positive energy helps. So does a nice chocolate mocha.

Leslie: A what?

Me: Never mind. Go. Get out of here so we can both get back to work.

Friday's Odds and Ends

Another week has flown by, and I keep wondering where the time went. I remember when my grandmother told me how the days and weeks and months seem to shrink as you get older, I didn't believe her. But then, I was just a 12-year-old girl. Days were endless to me then, and I was sure they would always be.

Now I have to often remind myself to stop. Enjoy this moment. Make this moment count. This morning there was another spectacular sunrise. As I was walking with my dog, I stopped and admired the cloud formations, some looking like wisps of cotton pulled so thin the color of the sky could be seen through the threads. Colors that ranged from a deep orange to a light yellow, blending into a pale blue.

Beautiful.

Of course, I did not have my camera. But I do have a picture I took last year that I can share. We do have beautiful sunrises and sunsets here in Texas.

How many of you cheered when news of the settlement between Congress and President Obama was announced? I didn't cheer. I just said, "It's about damn time." Throughout this prolonged mess, all I could think of was two junkyard dogs facing off to protect their part of the domain.

Sad, and enough said.

On Monday I said I would report today on how the book promotion went, offering Boxes For Beds free for a few days. I'm going to put that off until next Friday so I can include some information from a couple of other authors on how their promotional events have worked. I found out that Stacy Juba had a special this past week also, and she has agreed to share some of her results with us.  I first met Stacy when she invited me to write an essay for her book, 25 Years in the Rearview Mirror, a collection of stories from a number of authors looking back to 1985. Stacy is a terrific writer and a great supporter of other authors, and I am looking forward to hearing how her promotional efforts went. She is so good at marketing, too.

 It's been a while since I shared a Literary Lesson, and I thought this one appropriate considering the mess our government is in. This is the Stage Manager in Thornton Wilder's play "Our Town" speaking. The play was written in 1938, but not much has changed.

"Whenever you come near the human race, there's layers and layers of nonsense."

And lets finish with a joke. Can't end on a downer:

What did the math book say to the other math book? 
Boy do I have problems.

A Few Thoughts On Picking What Story To Tell

Please welcome David Grace as today's Wednesday's Guest. His approach to choosing what to write about sort of fits mine. In this era of "branding" it is recommended that a writer stick to one genre and one market, but I find that difficult. Story ideas just come to me, and it is hard to ignore them even if they don't fit in the genre as my last book. Do you write for the marketplace or do you listen to your muse? 

Before we go on, just a reminder that my mystery, Boxes for Beds, is free through midnight tonight for Kindle and Kindle apps.

A friend of mine who has both a Ph.D. and a law degree loves a certain popular novelist’s books. It used to drive me crazy. I think this particular author is a bad writer whose books are trite, whose characters are two-dimensional and whose plots go beyond unbelievable and into the ridiculous. I used to mutter, “Mike, you’re such a smart, educated, sophisticated guy. How can you like this junk? I’d have a hard time reading this stupid book if you paid me.” But what could he say? He just liked it.

I don’t ask that question any more because I realize that people’s pleasures are generally unrelated to their intellect. If they weren’t only morons would laugh at "The Three Stooges".

What’s my point? Every writer starts with a blank page and has to decide what story to tell. I think success as a writer and, more importantly, gaining enjoyment from writing, requires that the author pick the right kind of stories for him/her. I have learned this the hard way.

At one time it seemed that serial killer books were popular so I decided to write a serial killer novel. This was logical and it was wrong. I picked a novel type based not on a story I wanted to tell but instead based on what I thought would be popular. The book turned out OK but today I would describe it as thoroughly mediocre.

A couple of times I’ve become intrigued with the idea of writing a thriller. The books were, again, OK but, I think, just OK. Whenever someone asks which of my novels they should read, I never recommend either of them.

Now I just write stories that I find emotional and exciting. I begin every book with the hope that at some point the story will bring some of my readers to tears. I want to tell stories that I find exciting and emotional and that say something about people’s humanity and inhumanity.

I don’t know how to put that into a searchable key word. I can’t categorize or demographically predict who will like my books. I do know that I plan to never again pick a story based on what seems to be popular. Now I just try to figure out a story that I find emotional and exciting and hope that a few other people stumble across it who feel the same way.

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Visit David Grace at his author page on Amazon and his website.

Email: DavidGraceAuthor@gmail.com

His latest book is  Death Never Sleeps  –  A Police Procedural/Crime Novel

  Death Never Sleeps blurb:

                                               

            Veteran Homicide Detective James "Big Jim" Donegan and his partner, Chris Hunter, have been called to the scene of their latest case, a strangled call girl who has been put halfway through a wood chipper that was left unattended in one of the city's parks.

            Since he was eight years old Chris Hunter has looked up to Big Jim as a father-figure and a mentor. Today Big Jim intends to use this case, like every other crime that they have worked together, as an opportunity to teach the technically brilliant but socially awkward Hunter how to be a great cop. The training, like the work, is endless. Big Jim and Chris know that they have chosen a career that is never finished, that never stops, that death never sleeps.

            Hunter is doing his best to understand how people work and how to succeed on the Murder Police but the work gets harder when two more murders, one new and one old, are added to his caseload. Of course, Chris Hunter wants to solve these crimes to bring the criminals to justice but even more than that he wants to solve them to make Big Jim proud.

David Grace is the author of 14 novels; five collections of science fiction short stories; two collections of crime short stories. His short fiction has been published in Analog Magazine and Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine. He has also penned eleven screenplays and shared story credit for the "Outer Limits’ Joyride" episode. An attorney, David is licensed to practice law in courts in the State of California and before the Supreme Court of the United States.

Do Free Loss-Leaders Help Book Sales?

That is a question that has been debated a lot in recent months. With literally millions of books in the KDP Select program that may be offered free at any given time, the competition is stiff to get your book noticed and get strong results.

The first time I offered a book, One Small Victory, free via the KDP program, I had 30,000 downloads and the following 3 months I sold an average of 1,000 books a month. I was thrilled. I thought I was on the way to riches and fame.

That was in March of 2010, and within a few months, sales dropped, although they did hold steady at a few hundred a month, until this year. Since January, sales have dwindled to just a handful of sales a month. If I reach 30, I'm thrilled. I thought perhaps it was just because One Small Victory has been out so long and perhaps it had run its course. However, other authors on some loops I belong to started reporting dwindling sales, too.

Are there just too many books out there?

Is it time to move away from offering a book free for a short period of time?

Responses to those questions vary, and it is still up to each author to decide for herself or himself whether it is worth it to offer the free book as a promotion.

Because of the increased numbers of books published and books being offered for free as compared to 2010, promoting your free days is the most important thing to do. Several authors that I know have used BookBub for promoting. A listing with them is costly, but reported results were good.

On his blog, Nick Stephenson reported about a free event he held earlier this year that he listed with BookBub and said that the BookBub listing had great results. He had 60,000 downloads, or "shifts" as he terms it, of his thriller Panic. In his follow up report a few months later, he had this to say:

While I’ve had some solid numbers, the results are hardly “blow me away” spectacular. This is hardly surprising, considering the sheer volume of free books out there, but it does mean one thing for authors – if you’re going to use free books to help you gain exposure, you’re going to need to shift A LOT of copies. I mean, you’re going to have to hit the top 20 in the overall charts if you hope to have any chance of a noticeable boost in sales afterwards. I know this because I also ran a free campaign for Departed last month, and only shifted around 6,000 copies – netting me around 10 extra sales the following week. That’s right: 10.

The whole point of even trying the free promo is to get your book noticed. Once people do begin downloading your book the Amazon, search engine algorithms and ranking system will respond and the title will move higher in the ranking. After the promo event, if the book manages to stay in the top 1,000 books on Amazon, that will lead to more sales. And of course, getting more reviews is always an added bonus.

In March of this year I released my mystery, Boxes For Beds, and offered it free for several days to build some buzz. I did some promoting via my online contacts and a few small paid ads, but I didn't spring for the BookBub listing. My results were okay, but still not numbers that kept the book high in the ranking for very long. So I am trying it again.

Boxes for Beds is currently free through Wednesday. The sale started Saturday, and I did some promoting that got it off to a good start of over 500 downloads. Then Sunday I did very little promoting, and the downloads for that day were just under 500. Still it was ranked number two in historical mystery, number 16 in suspense, and 564 overall. Not bad numbers at all.

I also paid for a listing in BookBub that went live today. It will take a while for any results of that to show up, so I will report back on Friday on whether that was a good investment.

In the meantime, I hope you will download a copy of the book, if you have not already. And when you read it I would love for you to leave a short review on Amazon. The numbers of reviews a book has does help other readers decide whether the story is something they wand to read.

Do you like to read e-books? Do you take advantage of the free offers?

Monday Morning Musings

Since it is almost noon here in Texas, maybe I should title this, Monday Afternoon Musings. Sorry I'm late. Life keeps interfering.

One nice thing to interfere has been ongoing enthusiasm for the Winnsboro history book that I wrote with our local historian. Here I am with Bill Jones at a recent signing event. I was so thrilled to get this book done for Bill. Everybody in town kept saying we needed to get a book published with all the historical facts that he has stored in his memory banks, and then Arcadia Publishing contacted me wanting an Images of America - Winnsboro book. Talk about something that was meant to be.

Today I am a guest on Yolanda Renee's blog, Defending the Pen. If you have a moment to hop over, you can find out which of my kids I love the most. :-) This is a terrific blog and Yolanda is generous in supporting her fellow authors.

On another note, deliberations for sentencing Nidal Hasan began today, and yesterday a Dallas morning news columnist posed an interesting question on the issue, "What's worse than death?" The columnist suggests that maybe life in solitary confinement  in prison would be a worse punishment for a man who welcomes death because he would be a martyr and a hero to fellow jihadists overseas. Not to mention depriving him of the 70 virgins that are supposed to be part of his eternal reward.  

Proponents of the death penalty say Hasan deserves to die for his crimes, but I agree with the columnist.  Hasan, who was wounded in the shoot-out at Fort Hood, is paralyzed from the chest down, and a greater punishment would be for him to spend many more long years suffering.

In an article in The Dallas Morning News, Dave Lieberman reported about a Texas resident who recently noted a Medicare over-payment that was double what the actual bill was. When she reported that she was told by a medicate representative that it is now standard payment for some services, and the system automatically pays that amount, no matter what the billing amount is. When the woman asked why each bill is not paid according to the billing amount, she was told that this is the system that is in place and it all balances out in the long run. Some submitted bills are higher than the standard payment amount, so that cancels the over-payments.

Oh, really? And we wonder why Medicare is in trouble.A charter school in Houston is a little more than red-faced after it was revealed that administrators misused $5.3 million in federal funds for trips to Las Vegas and New York and cruises. The two top administrators also received salaries of $440,000 while enjoying all those trips and the perks that came with the trips.

This type of misappropriation is too common in school districts across our country, and the trickle-down effect is always a direct negative impact on students and teachers. We can't pay teachers a decent wage for the work they do. Parents are having to purchase more and more supplies for their children, as schools can no longer provide them. Just the other day I was asked at the grocery store if I would like to buy a box of tissues to be donated to the local school.

Now to end on a lighter note, here are a couple of jokes I found on Jokes and Humor for Kids. I thought they would tickle the childish funny bone in all of us.

Question: Why are ghosts bad liars?
Answer: Because you can see right through them

Question: What dog can jump higher than a building?

Answer: Any dog, buildings can't jump!

How Much is Your Lemonade?

Before I turn the page over to my guest today, I do need to announce the winners of last week's contest. I held it over until today as there were so few comments on the blog last week it hardly made a contest. The winners of an ARC for Stalking Season, the second book in the Seasons Series, or an e-book of their choice are: Patricia Stolty, Yolanda Renee, and LD Masterson. Congrats to all.  

Today I am posting at The Blood Red Pencil blog where there is a good discussion going on about the awkward word usage that can pull you out of a story. I am also a guest at Heidi Thomas's blog   sharing some of the fun I had researching Boxes For Beds. 

And now here's humorist Slim Randles and his friend Herb with a business lesson for entrepreneurs of all ages.

We heard about the lemonade stand later, of course, as it was several blocks from where the rest of us lived, but it was only a couple of houses from Herb Collins. He had to go there. He couldn't resist.

The stand was set up by Heather and Tim Naismith, a brother/sister team whose ages added together wouldn't hit 18. Herb watched them set it up on that hot afternoon and finally couldn't stand it. He had to have some fun.

The lemonade was fifty cents, a bargain in anyone's book, as canned soda pop is running about a buck these days. And anyone can see that a lemonade stand set up by two youngsters is something to be encouraged. The free enterprise system at its very best. Ingenuity. American spirit. Besides, those Naismith kids are kinda cute, having worked so hard to get the lemonade made and the card table set up out under the tree in front.

Herb explained later that what he was really setting out to do, besides giving the kids some business, was to teach them a few harmless lessons in how to succeed in retail. Years ago, before he got into the trucking business, Herb ran a pawn shop in the city. He was known to be a sharp trader, and he delighted in telling us how little he paid for things and how much he sold them for.

"Hi kids," he told them. "Pretty good lemonade?"

"The best, Mr. Collins," Heather said.

"So ... fifty cents a glass? Well, all right, I'll have a glass."

He put down fifty cents and they filled a tall paper cup nearly to the brim for him. It was good lemonade.

"So how much for four glasses of lemonade?"

Tim did some silent figuring. "Two dollars, sir."

 "Well, that's the retail price, of course," Herb said, "but now we're buying in bulk. What you do when someone wants to buy in bulk is you adjust the price. I think I should be able to buy four glasses of lemonade at, say, forty cents a glass. What do you think?"

The kids whispered in each other's ears.

"Mr. Collins," said Heather, "if you buy four glasses for forty cents each, how much would you expect to pay for a dozen glasses?"

Heartened by their interest in business, Herb said, "Oh, probably about thirty cents a glass, I guess. You have to make allowances for volume, you see."

"Good," said Heather. "We'll sell you a dozen glasses of lemonade, then, because we want to sell a lot of it, and we'll only charge you $3.60 for them."

Herb pulled out the money.

"But you'll have to drink them all here," Heather said. "We don't have a license for carry-out."
 
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Brought to you by the dogs and cats at your local shelter. Visit them and bring home a new best friend. You’ll never be sorry.

If you enjoy these posts from Slim, you would enjoy his book, Home Country, a compilation of the many columns he has done over the years. Some of them are humorous and a some of them are a bit more serious, but all are delightful. 

Monday Morning Musings

So, Governor Good-Hair as we sometimes refer to our esteemed Texas governor, has done it again. Rick Perry recently vetoed two bipartisan ethics bills and rescinded state funding for the prosecutors unit that is investigating his cancer research fund. 

In an article in The Dallas Morning News written by Christy Hoppe and Robert T Garrett of the Austin Bureau, Craig McDonald of Texans for Public Justice was quoted as saying, "Perry's office is an ethical black hole. Ethics reform goes in. Nothing comes out."

That is one black hole that needs to be closed up.
 

Perry also vetoed a bill that dealt with equal pay for women, saying that women have enough recourse in the Federal government for equal pay issues.

Umm, right. Like that is really working.

I think Perry's hair interfered with his brain when he vetored those bills, as well as one that dealt with truancy. A bill to put the responsibility on school districts to find ways to improve attendance among truant students before pursuing criminal charges was passed by the House, but Perry shot it down. Under the current program school districts can refer a student to court after three unexcused absences, and Texas is one of only two states in the country that prosecute truancy cases in adult court.

Really? What about family court? As any teacher and he or she can tell you that the number one problem with truancy starts on the home front. 

On the topic of NSA secret-leaker Edward Snowden, Dallas Morning News columnist, Jacquielynn Floyd, says that we do need to be concerned about what Snowden is possibly doing in China and how that affects our national security. However, she also says we need a serious discussion about "...balancing personal privacy and national security. And in that discussion we should all get to participate."

All in favor, raise your hands.

Yesterday I received one of those messages that authors just love to stumble across in their e-mail inbox. A reader contacted me to say how much she loved Boxes For Beds, my new historical mystery. In fact, she said she readthe book twice, and at first I thought she was the same person who had said that in a recent review on Amazon, but turns out she is not. To get that kind of affirmation for my work is such a thrill, but it is also very humbling because I know there are few books that I like well enough to read more than once. I am always so eager to get on to the next fictional adventure, I don't often go back to previous ones. I imagine that most readers are like that, too, so it means a lot to know that at least two people have liked the story well enough to give it a second read.

That's it for me for today. Leave a comment if you are so inclined and let me know what you are musing about on this Monday.

For Mother's Day

First, I want to wish all the moms a very happy Mother's Day. I hope your day is filled with lots of love and laughter and special times with your families.

 There's no denying the bond we have with our mothers, no matter what the relationship has been like. I wrote about that in my blog for Venture Galleries that posted the other day, and my blogger friend, Susan Fleet Swiderski had a nice post about mothers on her blog, I Think, Therefore I Yam. And no matter what the relationship has been, we do owe them for our lives, even if they have disappointed us in many other ways.

That is one of the things that the author of The Woman in the Photograph comes to understand. This is a memoir from Mani Feniger, relating her quest to find out more about her mother, a German Jew who left Germany just before the Jews were rounded up and sent to death camps during the Holocaust. Mani finds a photograph of her mother taken years ago that shows a happy, carefree young woman who appears so different from the aloof, cynical mother Mani grew up with.

As Mani researches her mother's life from her beginnings in Leipzig, Germany to her life in New York, she comes to understand the hardships that molded her mother and so many other German Jews who left their home country, as well as most of their treasures.

This was an interesting story and offered a glimpse of a part of that history that many of us were not as aware of as we are the victims of the concentration camps. The story also points out the importance of looking at the issues in our relationships with a different perspective and perhaps finding some peace.

The book is written in the narrative nonfiction style that makes a memoir read like a novel and can pull one into the story. Most of the time that worked quite well, but there were a few places where the imagined scenes between her mother and others went on a bit too long and included details that just seemed to bog the story down.

Some time ago, the author offered the ebook free for Kindle and I got my copy then. Now it is priced at $8.99, which I think is too high for an ebook, but if you don't think so, you might give it a try.

 

As a special Mother's Day treat, I am offering my historical mystery, Boxes For Beds free today. The
story is set in Arkansas in 1961 when the mob still ruled Hot Springs, and a young woman who has left New York to find some peace in the quiet little town of Pine Hollow gets caught up in kidnappings and murder.

I was just reading the Sunday comics and laughed out loud when I read Mallard Fillmore. The picture is a gray-haired lady in a comfy plush chair reading a card that says, Dear Mom, Thanks for loving me, taking care of me, and for not putting our family in a reality TV show.

Amen to that.

Friday's Odds and Ends

The most talked about news story this week has been about the Cleveland kidnap victims Amanda Berry, Gina DeJesus, and Michele Knight who were allegedly subjected to years of physical and sexual abuse at the hands of suspect Ariel Castro. This happened in a populated area of the city, not in some remote rural area, and questions have been raised as to why the police were not on some kind of alert since Castro had been charged with abusing his wife in 1993 and had other run ins with police. People also wonder how the neighbors did not hear sounds of the horrible abuse the girls endured, and if they did, why didn't they call the police? If this were fiction, an editor would poke holes in the plot line. How could this have gone on for so many years and nobody heard the girls screaming or crying? Were the neighbors deaf? Did the man never leave the girls alone and give them an opportunity to escape? 

We won't know the whole story until the investigation is complete, but it is another example of "truth is stranger than fiction." (Pardon me for using the tired old cliche, but it is so appropriate.)

Residents of Mayflower, Arkansas who were victims of Exxon’s Good Friday tar sands spill that coated their neighborhood in toxic tar sands recently traveled to DC to hand-deliver a letter to Secretary Kerry asking that he reject Keystone XL. The members of the Remember Mayflower Coalition stood in front of the State Department to appeal to Secretary Kerry to consider the recent spill—and the subsequent devastation—and listen to the Vice President’s opinion on the pipeline as he makes his final analysis of Keystone XL.

Here is an excerpt from the letter they gave to Kerry: Before you issue your final evaluation of Keystone XL, we ask that you and your staff come to Mayflower to see what happens when a tar sands pipeline ruptures in your backyard. We ask that you observe the remnants of black tar, smell the toxic chemicals that are polluting our air, and ask yourselves whether you can in good conscience inflict this same devastation on families along Keystone XL’s route.

Now for some fun. This is from the strip Baby Blues. Hammie is on the couch with a notebook and pencil and Zoe climbs over the arm to check it out. "What are you writing?"

"Nothing"

"Come on, tell me." Zoe takes the notebook from him.

"It's a list of things to avoid this summer."

Zoe is reading the list. "I see 'thinking' topped the list again this year."

Hammie leans back on the sofa pillow with his hands behind his head. "Yeah. It's kind of a tradition with me."

Literary Lesson

This one didn't come from a book written by the author of the quote, but I read it in the book, The Woman in the Photograph,  a memoir written by Mani Feniger that I am currently reading. Then I saw it on Susan Swiderski's blog, I Think, Therefore I Yam.  I thought it was a neat coincidence to read the same quote in two places on the same day. Perhaps I needed the message, so, without further interruption, here is the quote: "We all possess certain talents and gifts that are unique to only us. You already have everything that you need to start living an extraordinary life. It's up to you to turn the switch and let your light shine."   [Randa Manning-Johnson]

Everybody, all together now, lets sing, "This little light of mine, I'm gonna let it shine..." 

One last note. My historical mystery, Boxes For Beds, will be free this weekend as a Mother's Day special. 

Monday Morning Musings

First, let me join the thousands of others who HATE Daylight Saving's Time. I struggle to wake up every day at a reasonable hour so I can get my chores done outside and get to work in my office before noon.

I used to think that adjusting was just a matter of convenience, but apparently the difficulty we have in adjusting has some other risks. I came across this article by Doctor Joseph Mercola who outlined some of the specific health issues caused by our observance of Daylight Saving's Time. He noted some results of scientific research:  

• Heart Attacks: A 2012 University of Alabama study found that heart attacks increased by 10 percent on the Monday and Tuesday following the time change to DST. Heart attacks decreased by 10 percent on the first Monday and Tuesday after clocks are switched back in the fall.

• Heart Attacks: A 2008 Swedish study found your chances of having a heart attack increase in the first three weekdays after the switch to DST, and decrease after you set your clock back to standard time in the fall. Heart attacks increase by five percent the first Monday after the time change, and 10 percent on Tuesday.

• Suicides: Suicide rates for males rise in the weeks following the start of DST.

• Automobile Accidents: Traffic accidents increase by eight percent on the Monday following the changeover to DST. And fatal alcohol-related traffic accidents increase for the first week after setting the clocks ahead. Workplace accidents and injuries increase by 5.7 percent, and 67.6 percent more workdays are lost as a result of injuries following the change to DST.

• Productivity and Quality of Life: People are less productive once DST is implemented. Till Roenneberg, a Russian chronobiologist, reports that most people show “drastically decreased productivity,” decreased quality of life, increased illness, and are “just plain tired.”

When told the reason for daylight savings time the Old Indian said, “Only the government would believe that you could cut a foot off the top of a blanket, sew it to the bottom, and have a longer blanket.”

 Let's hear it for the Indian.

Last week was exciting for Read an E-Book Week, and there were lots of contests and free books offered by a number of authors. I was pleased that so many people were able to get my short story, The Visitor, and my new historical mystery, Boxes for Beds, free. I look forward to hearing from some of those readers after they finish the stories.

Friday's Odds and Ends

Here's some recent news regarding the Keystone XL Pipeline. Twenty-eight Vermont towns added their voices this week to the chorus of national and international; opposition to tar sands expansion by passing “tar sands free” and related tar sands resolutions in the past two days. This recent batch of local resolutions brings the total number to 33 in the region, and 49 when including resolutions in Québec. The U.S. resolutions state concerns about the environmental and public health hazards of tar sands or explicitly oppose sending tar sands through ExxonMobil’s Portland-Montreal Pipeline.

Tar sands oil is a particularly dirty form of oil that utilizes a carbon-intensive process to transform the tar into usable oil. The State Department just reported that the tar sands in Keystone XL will release up to 19 percent more greenhouse gases than conventional oil. Tar sands spills are particularly risky and difficult to clean-up given the oil’s unique properties that cause the oil to sink in water.

If you are interested in adding your voice to the opposition, you can sign a pledge with CREDO Action. The oil companies have their voices in Washington, we have to add ours. 

Protect the Earth

Now just for fun, some comics:

This one is from B. C. - one of Wiley's proverbs - "Give a man a fish and he can eat for a day. Teach a man to fish and he'll drink beer and pass out with a pole in his hand."

Another from Pearls Before Swine last Sunday. Pig is complaining to goat about his sister who is always borrowing something every time she comes over.  Goat tells pig to just tell her how he feels, and pig says he has tried but she doesn't listen.

So goat tells pig to draw it out for her. "Say, look sis, we're like planets, ech moving in our own ellipse, but sometimes outr orbits intersect and during that time you always want things."

Goat draws the intersecting planets and then Pig's sister walks in, asking to borrow a tack. Pig says no, and the sister pushes until Pig says, "Read my ellipse, no new tacks, sis."

In the last panel, goat goes to Stephen Pastis and says, "You ruin my entire Sunday."

This has been an exciting week, celebrating Read An E-Book Week. I have run two specials and am so happy that people were able to get my stories free for a few days. My historical mystery,  Boxes For Beds will still be free through Saturday, so grab a copy if you have not already. And if you are so inclined, leave a review on Amazon. That is always so helpful to other readers who may be considering the book for purchase later.

Pardon me while I experiment with embedding a Tweet. I am trying to learn how to embed videos and other things.

Boxes For Beds now #3 in mystery/historical for #Kindle. Thanks to all who got a copy. tiny.cc/pdxktw
— Maryann Miller (@maryannwrites) March 8, 2013

 Hey! It worked. What do you know. (smile)

A Fictional Guest

Today I want to introduce a character from my latest book.  In Boxes For Beds, Deputy Gus Shumaker works with Sheriff Bates in a small town in rural Arkansas in 1960. He has been clamoring for a chance to speak, so I thought I would let a character from my latest book have the spotlight here as Wednesday's Guest.

Maryann: So, Gus, what is on your mind that you woke me up at 3 this morning wanted to talk?

Gus: Some things need to be cleared up about how I work before too many people read the book and get the wrong idea.

Maryann: Why would that happen?

Gus: Because folks don't know how it was back then with the mob all over Hot Springs. And people in power liked to stay in power.

Maryann: What do you mean?

Gus: Bates, for instance. He really likes that he is a law unto himself. He can do any dang thing he wants. And I don't want folks to think that I supported that. If you hadn't kept pulling me back I would have explained more about that.

Maryann: So that's it? You're mad because I didn't let you take over the whole story? 

Gus: Well, yeah. Sort of.

Maryann: Gus, Gus, Gus. I really hated to have to put you in your place. Honest. You are a great character, and I probably could have written a whole book with you as a central character. But this is Leslie's story.

Gus: Does that mean I might get my own story?

Maryann: I don't know. I have a lot of other stories... wait... don't pout. That doesn't become you. Maybe I can write something in the future. Would you like to be in on cleaning up Hot Springs? 

Gus: Yes, Ma'am. I'd like nothing better. Chase all those gangsters back to Chicago where they belong.

Maryann: Um, Gus, as a law enforcement officer, wouldn't you want to see them all in jail, not in Chicago?

Gus: Our jail's too small. Let the officers in Chicago lock them up.

Maryann: Okaaayyy. So, is there anything else you would like to say while you are here? Last chance.

Gus: Let me think a minute. Oh, yeah, I hope people like the book, and me. I did try my best to do the right thing. It's hard to stand up to people like Bates, and I know I should have tried harder at times. And I guess I should say I'm sorry for waking you up so early.

Maryann: Apology accepted. But please, the next time you want to talk, there are lots of daylight hours you know.

Gus: Well, back here in your creative subconscious, we don't know night from day.

Maryann: True. I'd forgotten about that. Now are you ready to go back there and let me get on with my next story. The sooner I finish that one, the sooner I might be able to get back to one about you.

Gus:  Leaving now. Don't let me hold you up.

Boxes For Beds was just released last week, and will be a free read for the next three days, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday for Kindle. Please hop over and grab a copy, and if you do, I would love for you to leave a short review when you finish reading.

Friday's Odds and Ends

This is the latest in the ongoing saga of the Keystone XL Pipeline vs the environment. The southern route of the pipline recently sprung a leak in Tyler County in Texas. The 20,000 gallon leak that contaminated the Neches River is the latest in a series of recent spills and leaks, and it was detected by a resident, not by leak-detection technology.

 The Neches River is designated as one of Texas' last remaining "wild" rivers, extending more than 415 miles. The river and its tributaries flow through  the Big Thicket National Preserve and feeds numerous water supplies for Southwest Texas.


In other news, Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer, announced this week that employees will no longer be able to work from home. She contends that productivity will increase if people have to show up at the office. to turn around the ailing company. So, employees will have to add driving time to their daily schedule, deal with interruptions and distractions at their cubicles, attend numerous meetings, and still try to get a reasonable amount of work done.

Doesn't sound like a smart move to me. Every person who has worked at home has told me that they are more productive when they are able to get up, have breakfast, walk into their home office and work for several hours. They screen calls, so they are not interrupted by family or friends, and they don't have any of the distractions that occur in a large office area.

Then, too, there is the environmental impact of forcing everybody to come to an office. Think of all those cars on the road every day, burning gas, polluting the atmosphere.

On a personal note, I have some good news. A new mystery, Boxes For Beds, has just gone live on Amazon for Kindle and Kindle Apps. This is an historical mystery set in the 60s near Hot Springs, Arkansas, at a time when the mob ruled the resort town and police corruption was rampant. When babies start disappearing in a nearby small town, a desperate sheriff wants to blame it on the lady who just moved in and may be one of those Yankee do-gooders who are trying to tell folks in the south how to treat their "nigras".

Besides the short stories I've published on Amazon, this is the first truly indie book for me, and I am happy that it is now available. It has taken almost a year to complete the manuscript, work with an editor to get a final draft, and get a cover made. I can now see why it takes traditional publishers so long to get books out. 

If you do happen to pick up a copy, I would love it if you could do a quick review at Amazon. Reviews are so important in helping to spread the word about a book you have enjoyed.