Look at this! Okay, it’s not in the top 100, but Wedding at the Happy Valley Motor Inn and Resort just came in at #253 in Women’s Detective Fiction. That’s because of you, dear readers. Thank you!
Peace, people!
Wedding is on a Roll
Tag: writing
Weekend Reads
What are you reading this weekend? Hopefully something other than the directions for putting up the artificial Christmas tree you bought last year on sale and then forgot all about until you opened up the attic to get the Yuletide decorations down.
“Mabel, did you buy this 16’ pre-lit fake balsam?”
“No, Arnie, you bought that on account of little Barry’s allergies. Remember?”
Arnie doesn’t really remember, but he’s learned, after 50 years of marriage, that Mabel is always right about such things.
But that’s because Mabel keeps her mind sharp by reading. And what might she read this weekend?
Maybe a cozy mystery series by Lori Roberts Herbst. http://Suitable for Framing (Callie Cassidy Mysteries Book 1) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08R7XR3LG/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glt_QQY7W946Y7BTBWBNBDEK
Or maybe a science fiction thriller by Gareth Powell. http://Embers of War https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0719VDGLD/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glt_E64T4VAXQHEC3SAQZNEX
How about a steamy romance by the other Leslie Noyes? Willing: A Contemporary Romance https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08YMQQ583/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glt_R1K434B2Q4CZ9GJYMW38
Or perhaps one of my books…http://Mayhem at the Happy Valley Motor Inn and Resort (The Happy Valley Series Book 1) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08PDRH2Q9/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glt_8N4QRFBM0YSCVXV4Y9F4
Be like Mabel. Read.
Peace, people!
Predictive Text Goofiness
Even though I have a perfectly good laptop, I do all of my blogging and social media entries on my iPhone. Using one finger. You see, I never learned to do all that fancy schmancy two-flying-thumbs stuff. So as one might expect I’m something of a predictive text fan. Not because it’s of any real use to me, but because of the often humorous ways it would seek to twist my sentences. Sometimes great adventures await if I just follow the suggested path.
For example every time I type one of the rather lengthy titles to one of my books, predictive text is helpful up to a point. Now, I’ve typed “Mayhem at the Happy Valley Motor Inn and Resort” hundreds, perhaps thousands of times since publishing it a year ago. One would think that predictive text could just reel it off by now. But no.
Mayhem said? No. That makes no sense. Let’s keep going. Mayhem said it was okay but I didn’t want to know what if I was wrong.
Then Happy Valley pops up. And logically, because I’ve typed the next phrase so often the words Motor Inn should be predicted next. But no…
Sometimes it offers church. Sometimes lunch. Once it suggested stream. But not once has Motor Inn magically appeared.
The final word pops up as a last option. All I can say is it’s a good thing I don’t write my books on an iPhone. Otherwise, “Nude juggling a book with a friend of mine” might’ve been a thing.
Peace people.
My Three (Novel) Children
When I checked Amazon today to see how my books were faring, I felt a little tingle of motherly pride as my darlings were gathered together in a neat little line.
Wedding at the Happy Valley Motor Inn and Resort has quite a challenge ahead of her if she’s going to catch up with her siblings, but she’s only been in the world for a few days now. Barely even has her little eyes open.
Peace, people!
Oh, Happy Day!
Wedding at the Happy Valley Motor Inn and Resort is now available on Amazon for Kindle, Kindle Unlimited, and in paperback form. Yippee!
I’m going to celebrate the launch of this, my third book, by staying in bed with a cold. I’ll toast with hot tea instead of champagne while enjoying eucalyptus cough drops instead of canapés. But by golly, I’m celebrating.
Peace, people.
Any Day Now
GUESS WHAT?! The sequel to Mayhem at the Happy Valley Motor Inn and Resort should be out on Amazon one day this coming week. Yay!
I apologize for being so vague, but once the book is uploaded to Kindle Direct Publishing it might not go live for a few days. My editor, Rachel Carrera, and I plan to upload the book, Wedding at the Happy Valley Motor Inn and Resort, sometime tomorrow (11/22/21) if we can get our schedules synced.
How am I feeling, you might ask? Excited and anxious. The first novel has done so well, and so many readers have asked about a sequel, that I feel the pressure. It’s a great feeling. I just hope readers will enjoy Wedding as much as they did Mayhem. I know I had a blast writing it.
If you haven’t yet read book one in the series, here’s the link: http://Mayhem at the Happy Valley Motor Inn and Resort https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08PDRH2Q9/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glt_4RXBPAX4BJN8GYY1ABRW
Peace, people!
Careless
No one has ever accused me of being a perfectionist. My mother had perfectionist tendencies and I try so hard to be like her. But even when I believe I’ve dotted every i and crossed every t, a few will rear their undotted and uncrossed heads and I’ll realize I’ve fallen short again.
This is one reason why I’ll never be tempted into a life of crime. I know I’d never be able to pull off the perfect heist. I’d be the thief who’d leave a business card with my name, phone number, and address at the scene of the crime—probably with a map and bright red x to mark the spot. I’d use fingerless gloves and my prints would show up all over the place.
Is there a MasterClass in the art of perfection? if so, I’d likely screw up the instructions. Pour me a beer; I’m feeling inadequate tonight. #Revising
Peace, people.
Shrugging and Sighing and Smiling, Oh My!
I’ve only been at this writing thing for a short time. The mistakes I continue to make are still quite amateurish in nature. My first draft is peppered with way too many shrugs and sighs, smiles and frowns, laughs and nods, and it’s agony reading the manuscript aloud and crafting new ways to move the story along.
Wedding at the Happy Valley Motor Inn and Resort is in the final stretch of editing and revising, but I still have to ferret out all the overused words. It’s too bad there’s not a random word generator that would automatically substitute a more unique or seldom used word into a work in progress. (Note to self: “use ferret occasionally.”)
Action beats, such as “Paula folded a dishrag and slung it over her shoulder,“ work well in place of shrugging and sighing and smiling, etc., but the caveat there is in not crossing over into stage direction and/or telling vs. showing. I have to confess, I’m a teller. Showing is so hard.
I seem to take two steps backward for every step forward. I blame my background in teaching and training. So why do I keep writing? For the joy of screwing up, I guess.
I’m on my second read aloud pass through. The number of smiles is declining; however, I’ve noticed that grins are on the uptick. Coincidence? I really doubt it.
Peace, people!
Gaslighting
Can a computer be haunted? Malevolent or maybe only a bit mischievous? Or have I lost my mind? At this point I’m not sure which would be preferable.
Yesterday, my editor, the wonderful Rachel Carrera, sent me the computer files containing the edits for the last twenty or so chapters of Wedding at the Happy Valley Motor Inn and Resort. Immediately upon receiving the files I added them to the “read aloud” document I’d started the night before. (Reading the manuscript aloud is a good way to find clunkiness and other stuff—it also gives me a headache and a sore throat, but that’s another story.)
Knowing that Rachel was sending me the final chapters, I’d painstakingly saved all my previously revised chapters into a new document. In this new document I deleted the editing notes in order to do my read aloud more fluidly. I never deleted the original file with Rachel’s notes. Thank goodness.
As soon as I’d added the newly arrived chapters I settled into my chair with my laptop and a cup of hot tea and began reading the prologue. About halfway down the first page I stumbled onto the word reverberated—a great word, except I’d already incorporated it three paragraphs before.
Rachel had called it to my attention when we first began edits on the book. Of course I didn’t want the word used twice in such close proximity and I’d revised immediately. So, what was it doing in this read aloud version?
I scanned ahead. None of my revisions based on Rachel’s notes were in these pages. Not a single one. I panicked a little. But, hey. This was fixable. I put the read aloud document on a flash drive and took it to Staples for printing figuring it would be easiest to mark it up as I compared it to the editing notes.
Now here’s where it gets weird. I returned home with the printed copies and fired up the computer, opening the files I’d copied from the night before. The file that clearly reads EDITED AND REVISED WEDDING WITH NOTES.
I began marking my printed copy with changes based on the notes. The prologue was fairly easy and I scrolled down the page to substitute a different word for reverberated. But guess what? It had already been revised. The same document I’d copied and pasted the night before clearly had been revised, even though my printed out pages from the read aloud version more closely resembled my first rough draft.
I have wracked my brain for answers. And I know what everyone’s thinking: “Clearly she copied from an unrevised document.” But the thing is, the unrevised document didn’t have notes attached. Notes that I spent a good chunk of time deleting so I could have a clean read aloud copy.
Yes, I’m sure there’s a rational explanation for what happened, for what I did wrong. but I’ll be darned if I know what it is. I hoped that by writing it down I’d have an epiphany. Unless epiphany is spelled H-E-A-D-A-C-H-E, it didn’t work.
Peace, people.
I’m So Confused
Wedding at the Happy Valley Motor Inn and Resort, the sequel to Mayhem at the Happy Valley Motor Inn and Resort, is currently being edited and revised a few chapters at a time. And while nothing is set in stone, I’m fairly sure there will be no major changes in plot or characters as we get ready to publish.
The confusion comes as I work on writing the third book in the series—Reunion at the Happy Valley Motor Inn and Resort. I’ll be in the middle of a scene and think, “Wait! Can this happen? Didn’t they already do something that would negate this action?”
And then I’ll remember that no one but me would know and if I needed to I could change the scene in the book that’s being edited and revised. Of course my editor might want me beheaded depending on what elements changed and while I’m not terribly good looking I’m certain I look better with a head than I would without. Maybe.
One thing I do know is that I really need to come up with shorter titles for my books.
Peace, people!
Postscript: I always underline titles of books in my posts, but the underlining doesn’t appear in the finished product. Why? It’s frustrating. Carry on.
Praying for Eyebrowz 