Monday Morning Musings

Heading into a busy week for me. Later today I will be visiting with some writers who want me to share my series "bible." That term is most often used for television series, and a bible for screenwriters is a reference document that is used for information on a series' characters, settings, and other elements.  I have developed my own version of the bible for my Seasons Mystery Series, using 5-subject notebooks, in which I keep track of character names and other information that is important for me to reference from book to book.

Folks much more computer savvy than I am, do remind me that there is great software available for doing the same thing, and some day I might consider trying that out. For now, however, I do like the process of picking up a pen and making notes. Maybe because I started out eons ago writing longhand in notebooks. I love notebooks and have way too many of them. (smile)

This coming weekend, I will be near Austin at the Georgetown Public Library. There is an Art and Author Fair on Saturday, May 10 from 1 to 4 in the afternoon, sponsored by the Central Texas Authors organization. If you live in or close to Austin, come on by. It would be so much fun to meet some of you in person. I love what they are calling the event, "Look in the Book." Clever, don't you think?

My daughter made this new banner for me to use for my flyers that I hand out at events. She does such a terrific job, and most of those book covers are her designs.

See the larger images on my Amazon Author Page

Yesterday I met with my troupe of Young Players at the Winnsboro Center For the Arts to plan the Nite of Comedy. This is an annual event we started a few years ago, and many of the kids who have come through the Summer Drama Camp are part of the troupe. They are a talented group of kids, and we have so much fun putting this all together. Here is a picture from a rehearsal last year,

The Nite of Comedy kicks off the year of theatrical productions at the Art Center, so I will be busy from now until December, with only a week or two in between closing a show and holding auditions for another.

Now to start your week off with a chuckle, here is a joke:

How much deeper would the ocean be, if SPONGES didn't grow in it?

Now it's your turn. How is your week shaping up?

A Bit of Humor

This first appeared here on It's Not All Gravy in June, 2006, but the very first publication of this piece was in the Plano Star Courier where I wrote a humorous column for several years. It is always so much fun to go back and revisit the past.....

As we all know, writers are by nature very insecure people, especially in the early years when perhaps the only thing we get published is a letter to the editor and that’s cut from four paragraphs to three lines. In fact, for years basic insecurity was the only thing I had to affirm my credibility as a writer.

But even in my moment of greatest anxiety, I never reached the heights (or should I say the depths) of insecurity as did Glenda Gibberish. She wrote an entire book on squares of toilet tissue and hid each page in an empty roll. When her husband, Harry, asked about all the cardboard cylinders lining the dresser, Glenda told him she was making toys for the gerbils. That worked well until he decided to take an interest in the welfare of the pets. She lost one whole chapter in a single afternoon.

Realizing that would never do, Glenda resorted to stuffing the rolls in her underwear drawer, in the empty cookie jar, and in the springs of the old sofa bed. She figured she was safe since she put her own clothes away and nobody ever bothered with the cookie jar since she never baked. But she forgot about her mother-in-law’s visit. Oddly enough, the other woman said nothing when they unfolded the bed, but Harry gave her one of those looks that we women enjoy so much. Then he surprised the gerbils with new toys.

This ruse went on for years and she couldn’t bring herself to tell a soul that she was writing. Then one day she was hit with this overwhelming urge to “out” herself. It was the same compulsion that drives a dieter to a banana split at Dairy Queen and try as she might Glenda couldn’t shake it. So she had lunch with her best friend.

“Oh, no. Is it serious?”

“Not right now, but it could be.”

“How long... I mean, have you been this way forever?”

“Since I was a little girl. But, you know. It isn’t the kind of thing you just drop into casual conversation.”

“Good. Maybe we can keep it from getting around.”

“Don’t worry. I have plenty of editors looking out for me on that count.”

“Have you told Harry yet?”

“No. But he did wonder about the sudden demise of Jake the gerbil. I think he choked on a particularly graphic sex scene.”

“Harry?”

“No. The gerbil.”

“How have you managed to keep it from Harry?”

“Right now, I tell him I’m going into the closet to straighten up a few things. But that’s not going to last long. Sooner or later he’s going to remember that I don’t like to straighten anything.”

“Don’t worry. You can trust me with your secret.”

“Actually, I wouldn’t mind if you told a few people. My book comes out next month and I need the publicity.”

Drowning Ruth - a novel

I know this is not my normal book review day, but I just finished this book today and wanted to share some things about it, both from a reader's standpoint and a writer's.

First of all, Drowning Ruth, was an amazing story. It was published in 2000 and I am sorry that I didn't read it when it first came out.

It was hard to like the central character at first, and she only became truly endearing at the very end, but there was the mystery of what happened in the past that shaped her that kept me engaged in the story.


Writers are advised to make their central characters likeable so the reader can connect. Who wants to connect to someone who lies, is harsh and manipulative, and is very demanding? If we decide to go against this advice, we'd better make sure we can do it well. Christina Schwarz does it well. (Last week, Kathryn Craft wrote a two-part series on The Blood Red Pencil blog about unlikeable central characters.)

As a reader, I like books with multiple layers to the story and several strong characters who are tied together by plot elements. This novel has Ruth, Amanda, Mathilda, Carl, Clemment, and Arthur who all have a stake in each other and a connection that propels the story. They are all deeply affected by the secret that Amanda, Mandy, has kept for many years, and it is that secret that changes all their lives.

This is all beautifully written from various points of view, but all the threads are woven together in a smooth and seamless story.

Point of view (POV) is another hotly debated issue for writers. In genre and category fiction with narrow parameters, writers are told to stick to one or two points of view, and never switch POV in the middle of a scene. Mainstream and literary novels are not bound by those constraints, but if the POV changes are not handled well, they can still be jarring. Again, it takes a deft hand at the pen to write a book like Drowning Ruth and not jar the reader out of the story by awkward scene changes or POV changes.

I'm not sure my hand is quite as deft as Christina Schwarz's, but I do like to change the point of view in scenes. Because my books are categorized as mystery, sometimes my editor questions the fact that I will switch POV like that, and sometimes she is right and it is too abrupt. Other places in the story it just feels right to me so I campaign to keep them in. So far, I have not had a reader complain.

What about you? Do you like to read stores with multiple points of view and many layers to the plot? Is that what you write?

Introducing Backlist Books authors

Today was spent doing some much needed work around my little farm. Our oldest son came out for the weekend and whenever he is here he likes to help me. So we cleared brush and dead trees in the back pasture and burned two big piles of logs. Sure was nice to get it all cleared. 

Since I was busy with that, I did not do my usual post today of  a book review. But I thought I would just introduce you to some of my writer friends. We all belong to a group called Backlist Books and we have e-books for Kindle, Nook and other e-readers for much less than major publishers are charging for books. As the group name suggests, all the books are from our backlist, which means they were once published by a major house and we managed to get the rights back.

So here is a list of some of those authors in the group with links to their blogs.   There's a wide variety of genres, so take a look at them and see if there's anything to your taste. 


Doranna Durgin, http://doranna.net/wordplay

Marsha Canham, http://marshacanham.wordpress.com

Jacqueline Lichtenberg, http://aliendjinnromances.blogspot.com

Jeffrey A. Carver, http://starrigger.blogspot.com/

Jill Metcalf, http://jillmetcalf.wordpress.com

Terry Odell, http://terryodell.blogspot.com

Patricia Rice, http://patriciarice.blogspot.com

Pati Nagle, http://patinagle.livejournal.com/

Lorraine Bartlett or Lorna Barrett, http://www.LornaBarrett.blogspot.com

Karen Ranney, http://karenranney.wordpress.com

Writers and Their Pets

What is it about writers and their pets? I don't know a single author who doesn't have a dog or a cat or some other animal friend who is almost as important in their lives as their people friends. You'll note I said, "almost."

We do keep a distinct line drawn there, although that line sometimes gets a little fuzzy.

While I have not gone to the same extremes as some celebs who carry little dogs in fancy purses and bequeath millions to them in wills, I do love and enjoy my animals.

So do all the authors who are guests on a wonderful blog Pets and Their Authors. The blog is hosted by Amigo, a delightful golden retriever who owns author Mayra Calvani.

My cat, John, is the guest blogger today, so if you are interested he'd love for you to stop by.

BWL Scavenger Hunt

Just read on the Books We Love Readers group on Yahoo that the Scavenger Hunt contest has been extended and incorporates a membership drive. I was busy all weekend so I didn't see that things had changed until today.

Books We Love (BWL) is a great place to find new authors and new books to read. On the actual BWL site readers can meet the authors and read excerpts of books. On the new BWL Readers group, people can join in daily discussions about books, read more excerpts, and get to know more about the BWL authors than maybe you want to know. :-)

So, here is the info on how the Scavenger Hunt contest is going to run.


Scavenger Hunt/New Member Drive

From now through the end of April, the BWL Reader's loop is having a grand opening Scavenger Hunt and new member drive. The events promise to be fun. Twenty authors have put up prizes, many of them autographed print copies of their books. The "travel/road map" for the Hunt will be posted daily on the BWL readers list. Answers to the questions are clearly displayed in excerpts, teasers, and descriptions on the designated websites on the travel/road map. Come and play, join the loop, you might get doubly lucky!

Please fell free to pass along the information.

To join: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/BWL_Readers

Visit me at Synoptic Storm

I'm guest blogging at Synoptic Storm this morning. This is a fun blog featuring a number of authors who write about their books, writing, or just life in general. A nice place to meet new friends, so grab your coffee and come on over.