Lessons Learned Judging Contests

Right now, all my spare time goes to reading manuscripts for a contest. This isn't the first contest I've judged, nor is it likely to be the last. Although the effort is certainly time-consuming, it's also a great education. I thought I'd share some of the lessons learned, lessons that apply to any contest you enter.

1. Read the directions. I know you're probably thinking, well, duh! But I can't tell you how many people goof this up. They misread the word count or the number of layouts or the sizes or word length or whatever. They don't include everything that's requested. I suggest you print out the rules and highlight them as you check them off. Ask someone to double-check your efforts. It's easy to get confused when you are nervous, and all of us get nervous when we enter c0mpetitions.

2. Don't annoy the judges. Another, duh! However, one person in this contest sent me a testy email demanding to know why I hadn't acknowledged receipt of his manuscript. I hadn't acknowledged it because I was out of town doing booksignings, and I hadn't seen it. I gave his work a fair reading, but another judge might not have been so forgiving. The rules said not to send anything that required a signature for receipt, which is a pretty clear indication that they didn't want the judges to be bothered. (Yep, that's what that means.)

3. Do put your name on everything you send in. When I judged the Best of British Scrapbooking and Card Contest, I was shocked at how many entries were not properly labelled. When a judge is comparing a lot of entries, it's easy for your work to get separated from your cover letter. Make it clear what's yours. (Of course, if the contest is a blind contest, ignore this.)

4. Use your head when you package your entry. One of the Best of British entrants copied six of her layouts onto one sheet of paper, then folded that paper into itsy bits and stuffed it all into a tiny envelope. It came out looking like an origami project gone wrong. Two of the manuscripts I received were packaged in stuff that caused a huge mess, with stuff falling out, sticking to everything, and generally causing havoc. Another chose a box so big that I might have to add an addition to my home to store it. Another taped and bound her manuscript with such gusto that I spent twenty minutes trying to release the papers and a half an hour prepping the packing materials for the recycling bin. One person three-hole punched his manuscript and put it in a binder. Most readers prefer loose pages. That means we can slip them into a bag and haul them around with us easily. The binder was definitely overkill, although I appreciated that he was trying to make it easier on me, it wasn't.

5. Be honest but not stupid. Don't tell the judges you just whipped this project out in your spare time for a lark. Look at it from a judges' point of view. Here we are giving these entries our best, spending our time on them, ignoring our own work, and a person who didn't give this much effort is basically dissing our craft! If you don't care, don't enter. Leave the field open for people to whom the contest matters. Also, don't tell me how many contests you've entered and lost. That does not inspire confidence!

6. Tell me about yourself, but don't go overboard. One entrant in the Best of British did ten layouts all featuring photos of her. She was sprawled over a sofa with a rose in her teeth and the header was "BEAUTY." She was posed in a half shadow of a doorway with her head cocked back and her eyes closed. That one was called, "MYSTERY." By the time the other judges and I got to the fourth entry--"SEDUCTIVE"--we were rolling on the floor laughing. Needless to say, she didn't make it to the finals. By the same token, tell me your background, but twenty pages of stuff or a page that looks like it came from a publicity kit are not going to help you. They'll just make my eyes glaze over.

7. Make sure you mail your entry in plenty of time. It's really sad when an entry shows up after the deadline. Mail delivery can be unpredictable, and usually if you ask, the folks at the post office or at Fed Ex or wherever will give you the broadest range of arrival times. So do yourself a favor and mail/send your entry in early.

Then move on.

Yes, move on.

Don't fret about this contest. You learned something by getting ready for it. You completed something important. You grew. So you've already benefited, you see. And someone, somewhere saw your work and formed an opinion of you. If you don't make it to the winners' circle in this contest, you might still advance somewhere, somehow in another.

Yes, it's hard. Yes, you are nervous. And yes, we've all been through this. Remember that the judges know what this feels like. And we're rooting for you. We sincerely hope you'll do well, because we enjoy seeing good work.

How to Talk Like They Do in the Lou

Last week I took my niece Lexie, my sister Jane, and Lexie's son Skyler to lunch down in Florida. Since Skyler is only two, the nice greeter at Chili's gave him the kid's menu and a couple of crayons. I helped a little with the coloring, and then Skyler turned over the menu and there it was...the St. Louis Arch.

That's a photo I took of the Arch this summer looking straight up at it. It's an amazing piece of sculpture. In one way, it's like the pyramids in Egypt. You have no idea how big they are until you get right up next to them. The Arch is huge, the stainless steel panels are huge, and the way it soars up in the sky is breath-taking.

Of all the emblems of Mound City (a nickname for St. Louis), that's probably the most iconic.

I miss St. Louis now and again. I miss my neighbor Kathy and her husband, John, and their dog Bogey. I miss the colors of fall there. I miss knowing where everything was, and oh, a dozen small conveniences like Dierbergs and Annie Gunn's and having a Target right around the corner. For the most part, Northern Virginia feels like home now. It's funny that it only took me a year to be able to travel ANYWHERE confidently without the GPS. Today I dropped David off at the Amtrak Station in downtown DC and realized, "Hey, I know where I am!"

So if you get the chance to visit St. Louis, by all means go. Here's an article I wrote for AOL that will help you talk like a native.

Be sure to take the time to visit the Arch. It's just magnificent. You'll want to go underneath where the museum is and see the film on how the Arch was made. A friend who was living in St. Louis at the time told me that the two sides were not going to meet, but somehow they obviously worked that out.

There's a lesson there, I think. Even when stuff doesn't look like it's going to work out, don't give up too easily. I know that my husband is the most tenacious person I've ever met. A lot of times, I'll think, "This is the end of the road." But David will just keep on keeping on. And you know, he usually gets what he wants.

I hope I can emulate that quality more and more as life goes on.



This photo gives you an idea of the scale of the Arch. At night, the ambient light bounces off it, making a watery swirl of colors, a sort of metallic reflection of the water in the Mississippi River. And of course, the Arch is on the banks of the Mississippi, so that's very fitting.

A Halloween Close Call--A Kiki Lowenstein Novella

Need a Kiki fix? For less than a cup of coffee, you can read the most recent adventure of Kiki Lowenstein, “A Halloween Close Call.” Kiki Lowenstein is invited to a Halloween Party at Detective Chad Detweiler's parents' farm. But mysterious happenings around St. Louis have everyone on edge--and Kiki has a close encounter that leaves a surprising clue behind! This entertaining 10,000+ word novella is only $1.99 and available at A Close Call.

Here's a sample:

Chapter 1
“If it’s spooky or scary, count me out.”
Detective Chad Detweiler grinned at me. “Even if I’m there to hold your hand?”
“Sorry. I don’t do scary. I love Halloween but I draw the line at being frightened out of my mind. I get enough crummy surprises in my daily life, thank you,” and to underscore how adamant I was, I crossed my arms over my chest. But I couldn’t look stern for long. Not when I was around my friends, so I spoiled the impact by smiling. I know I did.
See, my name is Kiki Lowenstein, and I’m the original Mrs. Nice Guy. I like butterflies and rainbows, puppies and kittens, sugar and spice, and brightly colored flowers. I always make sure to get my daily quota of cute. You can never have too much cute in your life. That’s my story, and I’m sticking to it.
“So the woman who stared down her husband’s murderer is a big ‘fraidy cat.” Johnny Chambers winked at me. Johnny has Bad Boy written all over him, whereas anyone can see that Detweiler is a Knight in Shining Armor.
I shrugged and stared off into the metal shelves where we kept excess merchandise for the scrapbook store where I work, Time in a Bottle. My friends and I were holding an impromptu get-together here, in the stockroom of the store, to discuss our plans for celebrating Halloween. But walking through a “haunted house,” one of those converted warehouses complete with “zombies” and “ghosts” and “monsters” did not appeal to me one bit. “I did what I had to do to survive. This is different. You all are talking about getting your wits scared out of you as a form of recreation. If that’s your idea of a good time, have at it, go ahead, love you to bits, but I’m taking a pass.”
I know I sounded a bit whiny. I couldn’t help it. Years ago, I learned the hard way that I have a very poor tolerance for spooky stuff. I’d gone with my late husband to a screening of Carrie, the movie made of the Stephen King book by the same name. That last scene where Carrie’s hand shoots up out of the grave had me so terrified I almost went into shock. My teeth chattered and I shook like the leaves on a maple sapling before a tornado hits. It took me weeks to calm down.
I was not interested in submitting myself to being jumped at, touched, or grabbed in the dark by people I didn’t know. Especially if they’re dressed like Frankenstein or the Mummy or even Count Dracula. Ugh.
No sirree. I’m not interest in paying to be shocked and surprised.
Detweiler laughed and pulled me close. “Come here, you.” He hugged me. I relaxed into his arms, a place where I always felt safe. Listening to the soft lub-lub-lub of his big heart reminded me that I wasn’t alone in this world. “If you don’t want to visit a haunted house, we’ll find another way to have fun on Halloween. No problem.”
I stayed in Detweiler’s arms, but rotated slightly so I could see my friends. Clancy and Johnny were joined by Laurel Wilkins and her fiancé Pastor Joe Riley. What a cute couple those two are. Joe and Laurel both are in their late twenties. When they walk by, people turn and stare because they are two exceptionally good-looking people. I mean, you feel like you’re in the company of Hollywood stars when you’re with the two of them. And nice? Shoot. You couldn’t find two sweeter people.
Clancy and Johnny aren’t really a couple, but they are pals, so they occasionally accompany each other rather than sit home alone. It’s an arrangement that suits both of them very well. Clancy could easily be mistaken for Jacqueline Kennedy, she’s got those dramatic, classy looks. And Johnny, well, Johnny is a scamp. There’s a roguish side to his personality that comes through with every move he makes.
I hated disappointing all of them. They had their hearts set on celebrating this Halloween by all of us doing something special.
The question was, what?
Now that I’d put the kibosh on going through one of the many “haunted houses” that regularly sprang up this time of year all over the metro-St. Louis area, what would we do for fun?
“Look, I don’t want to be a party pooper. You all should go without me. I’ll be fine passing out candy at my house.” Of course, I didn’t mean a word of that. I would hate to be left out, but it did seem like giving everyone else permission to carry on was the gracious thing to do.
“Mo-om,” moaned Anya, my thirteen-year-old daughter, who had just joined us. “I’m too big to trick or treat. Sitting home on Halloween will be, like, totally boring. Geez.”
“I didn’t quit trick or treating until I was sixteen,” said Laurel. “But I understand what you mean, Anya. Don’t worry. We’ll think of something fun to do.”
. “Kiki, we wouldn’t enjoy ourselves if you don’t come,” Clancy Whitehead patted me on the back as I pulled free from the big detective’s embrace. “And Anya’s right. Sitting at home would be a drag. So, we’ll make another plan. I’ve never been overly fond of haunted houses either. Some of them are okay, but I was in one where this hand reached out and--”
“La-la-la-la-la,” I stuck both fingers in my ears and sang. “Don’t want to hear it!”
“Geez, Mom,” said Anya. “You are being such a baby about all this.”
“Anya-Banana, it’s okay. Your mom is just being honest with us. We’re all friends here. That’s the way good friends operate. They take each others’ wishes into account,” said Detweiler. He was the only adult officially authorized to call my darling daughter by her old nickname. The hunky detective and my daughter had a wonderful relationship. He was very careful to be totally respectful and clear about boundaries with her, and he was teaching her that sticking up for her rights and feelings was important. He’d seen too many teens talked into stupid stunts by their peers. And worse, he’d handled a grisly abuse case where the stepfather was molesting his stepdaughter. Detweiler, Anya and I had even discussed the situation over the dinner table one night, with him emphasizing that she should never hesitate to tell the authorities if someone acted inappropriately toward her or her friends. No matter how powerful the perpetrator seemed to be.
I could see that he was supporting me in nixing the haunted house to help Anya realize that friends don’t push friends into uncomfortable situations.
I have to admit, my heart was overflowing with love for my daughter and my new beau. I’d heard a lot of horror stories about women with kids getting involved and bad outcomes. But so far, the three of us had been able to discuss frankly any hiccups along the way to becoming a family.
One of those hiccups was melding with Detweiler’s parents, Louis and Thelma, as well as his sisters, Ginny and Patty. Since Detweiler and his wife Brenda were only officially separated, and not yet divorced, I wasn’t sure how the Detweiler family would feel about me. I thought I remembered hearing that Patty and Brenda were good friends. But I was afraid to ask.
Maybe Johnny was right. I can be a ‘fraidy cat. I know I sure do stick my head in the sand sometimes, so maybe I’m more like an ostrich.
“Don’t worry, Kiki. I’ll come up with something fun for us all to do on Halloween,” said Detweiler, giving my hand a gentle squeeze. “That includes you, Anya. My niece Emily has been asking about you. She wants to hear how your kitten is doing.”
Anya’s face broke into a huge smile. “Seymour is getting big. Wait ‘til I tell her about how Gracie picks him up and carries him around.”
Hearing her name, my wonderful harlequin Great Dane started to thump her tail happily. Gracie is totally besotted with Detweiler. She had managed to lean her entire body weight against his leg while we were all talking. Now she was looking up at him with moony brown eyes.
Yeah, no doubt about it. My life was full of love and happiness. This wonderful support system of friends gave me all sorts of self-confidence. In fact, I think it’s safe to say that I’ve never been more happy or secure.
But I still wasn’t willing to visit a haunted house.
Huh uh.
No way.

**

Hungry for more? Upload the whole novella in seconds at A Close Call.

**

Copyright 2010, Joanna Campbell Slan

I'm a Researchaholic: An Interview with Joe Finder

Joe Finder will be appearing at the Love Is Murder Conference in Chicago, Feb. 4-6, 2011. For more information go to www.loveismurder.net

1.Unlike most action oriented books, your settings are not exotic. Often the scariest scenes occur in office buildings. Many authors rely on dramatic settings. How do you manage to make such commonplace settings still seem frightening?

The familiar is what we identify with most, and we need to identify with a situation before we can be frightened. Alfred Hitchock understood this. He was the master of taking the ordinary man in the commonplace setting, and turning it into something tense and unexpected. That tension, that fear happens when something disrupts the familiar: the thing under the bed, the noise on the stairs. That’s what I’m interested in.

2.Your hero/ine is often a sort of “every man” or “every woman” who is discounted by others. Why does this type of character appeal to you? It would seem that the pitfall would be a character who is too bland or boring to hold the reader’s attention, and yet your characters are compelling…even if they are slackers. Please comment. Also, you seem to include male characters who are amazed that they’re loved by smart and attractive women. This goes contrary to many male fantasies of being irresistible. Tell us about that.

I think the “everyman” is the ideal protagonist for a thriller, again because of this question of identifying with the hero. I also love the idea of the underdog, the person the reader wants to root for because everyone else seems to underestimate them. Nick Heller can be beaten, and because we know that, the stakes are higher. It’s much more exciting for the reader when he overcomes those obstacles.

Men might pretend to think they’re irresistible, but I’ll let you in on a secret: most of us know that’s a fantasy. Most men have no idea why any woman would find us attractive. Life’s not an Axe commercial. I think both men and women appreciate a more realistic approach.

3. Your books are full of tension and suspense, but it comes from events most of us might imagine ourselves in, such as snooping around in an office where we don’t belong. Or getting caught in a lie. You are a master at upping the stakes and amplifying the threat. How do you do that?

All of my anxieties feed my twisted imagination, or maybe it’s the other way around. I imagine myself in a given situation and ask, “What’s the worst thing that could happen?” Then I play out the scenario in ways that will challenge the reader’s expectations. If a reader thinks, “Oh, I know where this is going,” but something completely different happens, that’s exciting, that’s thrilling.

You have to start with a character the reader cares about, and then put them through a sequence of events that escalate, with moments of real tension — cliffhangers — in between.

4.You write with great precision about technical situations, such as how cargo planes are managed, how corporate secrets are stored, how stock issues and buyouts happen. You list a lot of experts as resources. Please talk about how you do your research. Do you do it all upfront? Or in stages? Do you interview people or ask questions as you go along? Have you ever be headed down the wrong path and then discovered, because of your research, that you needed to rewrite a chunk?

Research my favorite part of the process. I love research. I’d go so far as to call myself a researchaholic. I need to keep myself from overdoing it, because the easiest thing in the world is to put off writing while I check one last fact or interview one more source. Usually I’ll start with a general idea of setting and plot, but the research will shape the setting, and also provide plot ideas; I’ll ask someone, “What could go wrong? And what would you do then? And how could that go wrong?” The big research happens at the beginning of the process, and I’ll gather enough information to get the engines going.

Once I start writing, though, questions about details inevitably come up. I’ll keep track of them as I go, and call or email my sources during breaks in the writing to get answers. So far, I haven’t had to go back to correct something because I learn it’s not feasible. I’ve usually done enough research in advance to give me a pretty good idea of what works and what doesn’t.

5.What’s your process? How do you come up with your concepts? Do you outline? You have a lot of twists and turns, and you manage to end many chapters with cliffhangers. Do you plan these in advance?

Everything starts with the “what if?” question. What if my new neighbors were actually spies? What if someone started taking those “business is war” books a little too seriously? What if the entire leadership structure of a shaky company were taken hostage?

From there, I start populating my scenario with characters. Who’s my hero? Where does he or she come from? What does he or she want? Who and what are the obstacles to this desire?

Then I brainstorm the major “beats” of the story, creating a beat sheet that lays out the major plot points of my story. I don’t get too detailed, because I need to figure a lot of it out along the way. If my outline’s too detailed, I’m bored before I even begin.

I follow the basic formula of “surprise, reverse, reveal.” We start with situation A, which suddenly becomes situation B — except it’s actually C, which turns out to be D. It’s like peeling the layers of an onion, and sometimes — actually, often — I surprise myself. I don’t always know where the cliffhangers turn up, and the ultimate resolution often doesn’t reveal itself to me until I’m writing it.

6. Your book “High Crimes” was made into a movie. You were able to make a cameo appearance and spend time on the set. Talk about the difference between a movie and a book. (You did this eloquently in the interview during the movie trailer, so if you could repeat that here, that would be great.)

My big discovery, in watching HIGH CRIMES become a movie, was how much more scope I had as an author than screenwriters or even directors do. I can develop characters and storylines in a 500-page novel that filmmakers can’t hope to convey in 120 minutes. They just don’t have the time or the space to create the kind of world I try to build in each book. Authors can form relationships not only with their fictional characters, but also with their readers, because of the time it takes to read a book. Even a fast-paced thriller is going to take at least a day to read. At the end of that time, the reader feels a connection to me that I think it’s hard to feel with the director of a film.

Beyond that, I had a new appreciation for the absolute control I have, as an author, over my plot and my characters. Filmmaking and television producing are collaborations, and those collaborations create marvelous things. I can feel the excitement and the attraction of being part of that kind of collaboration, but they’re no substitute for the thrill of being able to sit at a desk alone and create my own stories from thin air, with no one to answer to but the reader.

That said, I think authors can learn a lot from the movies: the importance of having your reader identify with the main character, the need to start as late in the action as possible, the deadly effects of over-narration. I want my books to feel like great movies, but deeper, and more nuanced.

7.Your first book at age 24 was a nonfiction account of the ties that Armand Hammer had with the Soviets. For that, he threatened to sue you. How did you cope with the stress of that? What lessons did you take away?

I loved doing the research, making those discoveries, and putting it all on paper. I didn’t love the controversy. What I learned was that I could still do the research, still make those discoveries, still put it all on paper — but I could do that and actually make the story up, rather than being constrained by the facts.

The research I did for RED CARPET became the foundation of my first novel, THE MOSCOW CLUB. I discovered that I could use even more of my research, in a way that was more creatively interesting, if I turned it into fiction. It was a revelation.

8.Talk about the time in your career when your agent suggested you might have to write under another name to “redeem” yourself. What kept you going? What did you do? What did you learn?

Almost every author I know has had times when something went wrong in the publishing process, where sometimes external issues created obstacles an author had no control over. I didn’t want to write under a different name. Instead, I took a break and did other things, and I took a broader look at the genre I was working in.

I saw what John Grisham was doing, setting his stories in law firms, and noticed that no one was setting thrillers in the everyday working world, the place most people live. I saw that the old 1970s conspiracy stories could be played out in today’s business world — in an office environment that looked ordinary to an outsider, but might have secrets buried within.

So I came up with a new “what if”: what if all those old spy techniques — the moles, the leaks, the theft of secrets, the double agents — were being used in today’s high-tech corporations? And what if an ordinary guy — the Hitchcock hero, someone the reader could identify with — got pulled into one of these operations?

The result was PARANOIA. It took me a couple of years to research and write, and when I was finished I felt that it was something truly new, and something I’d be proud to put my name on.

9.Your agent also told you that humor was incompatible with suspense, and you’ve obviously ignored that. Your humor contributes to your characters and gives the reader a nice change of pace. Tell us why you didn’t take your agent’s advice on dumping the humor.

This was another piece of advice I decided to ignore when I wrote PARANOIA. At that point, I felt I had nothing to lose by letting my own voice come through — and that voice, often as not, is the voice of a smartass.

But again, the humor is part of how my protagonist stands in for the reader. When I first started researching PARANOIA, I walked into Cisco Systems and it was like visiting a foreign country. All this jargon was flying through the air, words I’d never heard before, like “bandwidth” and “pushback” and “escalation.” Humor was a natural reaction to that kind of information overload, not only for Adam but for me, and for the reader. Especially when you’ve dropped a character into a strange and complicated situation, humor is a way to reassure the reader that the characters are taking it all in stride, and they should, too.

10.You grew up as a “third culture” kid, a child who spent several years as an expat. Research has shown that “third culture” kids are more curious, more adventuresome, and more accepting of diversity. They tend to get bored easily. Given that many Americans don’t even own a passport, what could you say to encourage Americans to travel and experience other cultures?

This is a really interesting question. What I would say to Americans is that the world is a mansion, and we live in only one room. There are many ways to open the doors to that room, and travel is only one of them.

When you move a lot, you get used to paying attention to new situations. It teaches you to be an observer, to ask questions, to figure out what you need to know. Those are essential skills for a writer.

I’d certainly encourage Americans to travel, but I realize that it’s not always possible, given time and money constraints. That’s one of the great things about books: they let you experience cultures and identify with people whose values might differ. As many places as I’ve been, one of the best trips I ever took was Eleanor Cameron’s The Wonderful Flight to the Mushroom Planet, which I read as a kid. That was the book that first made me want to be a writer, and I might have found it even if I’d never traveled anywhere.

How to Make a Book Safe and More from Angela

Angela Daniels wrote a neat post about her visit to Bouchercon. You can read it here. http://www.fiskateers.com/blog/2010/10/24/mysteries-car-deaths-and-safe-cracking/ And that's a picture Angela took of one of the book safes she made in her second session.

You can go directly to this LINK, and see her how to info. Isn't this just the cutest thing?

A Blast at Bouchercon

I had such a great time at Bouchercon and visiting San Francisco in general. My dear friend Camille Minichino was in charge of the craft rooms at Bouchercon, and she just did a bang up job.

For those of you who aren't familiar with Bouchercon, it's the conference named for Anthony Boucher, and it's the largest mystery conference in the world. The setting rotates from town to town, and since I'd never been to San Francisco, I was happy to have a great excuse to visit.

Another friend, the adorable Angela Daniels from Fiskars, presented two crafts at the conference. Gosh, Fiskars was so incredibly generous! They sent along scissors, tape runners, supplies and bright orange bags.

Angela's first project was covering a composition notebook. I took photos of the results. I'm always amazed at how given the same materials, people put their own creative spin on projects. Aren' t these wonderful?

Her second craft was to make a "secret safe" out of a paperback book. I wasn't able to hang around for all of that because the date coincided with my 28th wedding anniversary, and I wanted to have dinner with my husband.

But I must admit, I'm eager to try that project now. Everyone can use a good safe!

Bouchercon by the Bay

I'll be appearing at the Midnight Ink Booth from 12:30 to 1:30 on Saturday, and in the craft rooms with my friend Angela Daniels from Fiskars at 11:30 and 4:30. On Friday night, I'll be doing a signing at the crop at Scrapbook Territories in Berkeley, CA.

If you've never been to a large conference before, or even if you have, these are great tips from Sunny Frazier.

**

Wear comfortable shoes, clothes that travel, and layer clothes.

Be ready to exchange business cards and have plenty handy.

Ask people to attend your panel as you chat them up. They will love the fact you've asked them to come! You get to sign books afterward.

Plant a few copies of your book in the give-away section. This assures you of a few people in your signing line.

Bring a camera, take lots of photos for your website. Pose with the big names. When people ask to pose with you for their website, comply.

Don't try to hit a panel every hour. You will exhaust yourself and you'll hurt from sitting so much.

Get to the humor panel early. It fills up fast. Same with the bar.

Don't spend all your time bonding with the guys. Women are the ones who buy books.

Always be on your best behavior--especially in the elevator.

Stare at people's chest and read their nametags. It's the only time this practice is acceptable.

Rest. It will seem like the longest long weekend of your life. Slip upstairs and crash for a bit during the day. Stay hydrated.

Bring something "nice" to wear to the banquet. Most of the time dress is casual. This is California, but it IS San Francisco.

Find the hospitality room immediately. See what they have up there to munch on. Sometimes this is the only time you get to eat.

Scope out the entire conference set up ahead of time. Study the conference book and try to memorize faces in the book and a bit about each author. I start weeks ahead using the names listed online.

Smile until your cheeks hurt. You'll feel like you're running for Miss America.

Most of all, enjoy the experience. It's the BIG one!

See you there,
Sunny Frazier
http://www.sunnyfrazier.com/

Fall Wall Hanging

The colors of fall inspire me! I love my photos of fall scenes, and I didn't want to hide them away in an album. So I started collecting twigs, and then I came up with this idea.

Here's how I made my fall wall hanging:

1. Tear a piece of cream muslin 6 1/2 x 15 inches.
2. Using a cross-stitch and embroidery floss, stitch on the three twigs.
3. Add a colorful ribbon tied in a bow. Attach the ends of the ribbon to the hanging with buttons.
4. Matt two photos. Glue these to the fabric.
5. Punch lots of leaves in a variety of shapes and colors. Glue the leaves along the sides of the hanging, taking care to overlap the leave shapes. See the detail photo (below) for ideas.


6. Add buttons.
ENJOY!

Whazzup? Thoughts about Words and a Link

At first I resisted text-ese and slang, but I started thinking about Shakespeare and how he created so many words we use daily, and I changed my mind. I think some of the new words floating about--LOL, Whazzup?, whodunit, chillaxing--are pretty cool.

How inventive was Shakespeare? One site lists 1,700 words that Shakespeare first used in his works. These include:

* accommodation
* amazement
* courtship
* countless
* frugal
* fitful
* lonely
* majestic
* suspicious

He also coined many phrases that we use today, including:

* dog will have its day
* eat out of house and home
* all that gilters
* break the ice
* kill with kindness
* it's Greek to me

The English language grows every year. One reason is technology. We add new words to accommodate (thanks, Will!) new ideas. I was working with a computer tech the other day, a man young enough to be my son, and we discussed how computers of old took up entire floors. How they had to be shut down to cool off. How all the programming was on punch cards. Think of all the changes! It's now commonplace to talk about:

* Mac
* PC
* Microsoft
* Windows (with a capital "W")
* hard drive
* laptop
* Internet
*Wi-Fi
* thumbdrive

And of course, words that once had meanings have changed, so that when we talk about "wireless" we're not discussing a radio.

Another way that words are added is by adopting foreign words, such as jihad, shirah and anime. Since the world is a smaller place (theoretically), we have more contact with other cultures, so we're adopting more words than ever.

Then, we have the zeitgeist words, the words that come out of our culture. These wouldn't make sense to someone who lived in another time, but they are au courant and useful now.

*Obamacare
* "tea party"
* mortgage backed securities
* Madoff
* September 11

And words from the world of science, commerce and medicine, such as:

* Viagra
* supernova
* blood diamonds
* botox

It's interesting how the newest words seem to come with the most baggage. That makes sense when you realize that words spring from political situations or cultural icons/changes.

Some words are only regional. Yesterday I was working on Ink, Red, Dead, which is the tentative title for Book #5 in the Kiki Lowenstein series. I described one of the new characters as having grown up in the "boot heel." Now, if you are from St. Louis, you would understand that this is the southwestern corner of the state of Missouri, and that anyone coming from the "boot heel" is probaby considered a hillbilly by the swanky folks in Ladue.

It's weird how a word can be so loaded. Kiki would never think twice about someone coming from the boot heel, but other people in the book definitely look down upon this woman's background.

Another word I'm using is "scrubby Dutch." Okay, really that's two words. It describes the houseproud German immigrants to St. Louis. "Dutch" is a mispronunciation of "deustch." At first I felt pretty squeamish about this phrase, because I didn't want to be offensive. But a lovely group of my fans met me at a Barnes and Noble in Fenton. They actually asked me to create a "scrubby Dutch" character.

So I did.

Which leads us to another word: EASY.

Yeah, that's what I am. I'm sort of a pushover where my fans are involved.

LINK

Here's a link to a new review of Photo, Snap, Shot. I was delighted that P.J. liked the book, because she's a real expert on mysteries. I was hoping I could grow enough as an author to please her!

Interview with Joan Johnston

Note: Joan Johnston is one of the authors who will be appearing at Love Is Murder, Feb. 4-6, 2011, in Chicago.

1. Joan, you are an incredibly prolific writer as well as a successful one. Tell us about your habits as an author. Can you share any tips for staying focused and productive? You’ve said you write one book at a time. Do you work on other ideas, but only write one at a time? It seems like you must have a lot in the hopper, as well as what you are working on.

I'm currently working on a five-book series called the Benedict Brothers for Mira. The first book of the series, Invincible, will be in stores October 26. The next book in the series, Unforgettable is due October 1. I also just signed a three-book contract with Ballantine Bantam Dell to write a series of historical westerns call the Mail Order Brides. I've been thinking about the western historicals while I work on this contemporary series with a suspense element, but I only write one book at a time. I'm always writing in my head.

I sold my house and moved in August, so staying focused on writing has been a challenge. But I love writing books in a series and want to be sure my novels (both contemporary and historical) are the best they can be. So the secret to being focused and productive is . . . keeping the seat of the pants to the seat of the chair. Being prolific (I'm on a three-book-a-year schedule right now) really is about putting in the time to do the work.

2. You describe your latest books as “romantic suspense.” Could you define that term? How are these books different from your earlier romances?

In a romantic suspense, as opposed to a romance, the suspense is more than just a device to keep the characters together in the same place. I write suspense rather than mystery because I'm not good at keeping secrets. Usually the reader knows who the villain is in my books. The literary question is: Can the hero and heroine, through their combined efforts (that's the romance part), keep the villain from prevailing?


3. Your fans clamored for you to continue the saga of the Bitter Creek characters. The cast is staggering. How do you keep all that straight? Please share any suggestions for plotting and character development. How do you keep all the names straight?

Characters become real people when you write about them, so they're easy to tell apart. But the truth is, I do make mistakes. Readers are quick to point them out.

One of my favorite reader "catches" was the fact that in The Cowboy (first book in the Bitter Creek series) Trace and Callie had a three year age difference, even though Ren was supposedly pregnant with Callie at the same time as Eve was pregnant with Trace. That led to some serious finagling on my part--and a fabulous storyline that resulted in a lot of powerful scenes in later books in the Bitter Creek series (especially The Texan and The Loner).


4. You are obviously good at branding yourself. How did you nail down your brand? What has helped you clarify who you are? How does it help you promote your books?

I've written a lot of the same kinds of books--powerful family dramas--even though they may be historical, contemporary or contain suspense elements. The logo "Escape with Joan" came about when I was looking for a specific brand that I could use to describe the experience I wanted readers to have with my books. I began reading to escape from the stresses in my life, and in this challenging world we live in, that's the escape into adventure and romance that I hope to provide for my readers.
In purely practical terms, it also helps to use the same size and font for your name on the cover, and to have some continuity in the look of your covers. I've been lucky to have long-standing relationships with publishers (Ballantine Bantam Dell, Harlequin, Pocket Books and Avon) who've maintained a Joan Johnston "look."

5. Your publication story is unusual. You went straight to two editors and asked to meet them in New York. Do you think that could happen today? And you are very clear about reading the genre and taking classes before trying your hand at a book. What advice would you give unpublished authors based on your journey?

I still think it's possible to meet an editor at a conference, make a connection and then submit your work directly to that editor without going through an agent. However, for this route to work, you need to have written a book that's publishable without a lot of editing. In other words, the onus is on the writer to know the genre (hence, the rigorous reading I recommend) and have some idea where his or her work fits into the needs of the publishing house to which he or she is submitting.

Which means, if you want to write for a particular house, you need to be reading everything that house is publishing in the genre in which you want to write, so you'll know what they're currently buying. Remember, whatever is being published was bought at least a year ago. This doesn't mean you have to write exactly what's being published; it does mean you have to be in the same ball park. Right now, publishers aren't taking risks. I always remind myself I'm not writing the great American literary novel, I'm writing commerical fiction, which means that it needs to appeal to a broad audience, so the publisher can sell a lot of copies (which is why they're in business).

A note about choosing a genre in which to write: Remember that publishers are going to want another book in the same genre as the first one. They've spent a lot of money (hopefully) getting your book out to an audience, and now that you've established an audience, they want another book along similar lines. So don't write a vampire novel (popular right now) unless you love writing vampire novels. Having said that, I've made a point of watching which way the market is trending and changing what I'm writing to fit the market. So I started in historicals, changed to contemporaries and will be writing historicals again (along with contemporaries). The market moves. You can't stand still.


6. I love your line “go for the choke.” Please explain what that means. Your characters do, indeed, tug at the heartstrings. Please share how you accomplish that.

If a scene doesn't bring me to tears, it isn't going to do the same for readers. I'm looking for ways to provoke powerful emotions, which is what I call "going for the choke." It's always amazing to me that just changing one word--or removing or adding a single line--can "ruin" the choke. So be careful when you write. If you write a great scene and have "found" the choke, don't lose it by editing it out.

Okay, so how do I do it? I'm not quite sure. The "choke" arises out of the scene, the characters and the emotions they evoke. It's a sort of "payoff" the reader has been waiting for--which suggests there are also elements of conflict and pacing. It's sort of like mental instability. You can't define it, but you know it when you see it.


7. Your characters get into some highly unusual situations, but you manage to make the reader BELIEVE these situations could happen. You are a whiz at making the reader suspend his/her disbelief. How do you do your magic?

I wish I knew. I'd write a "how-to" book and make a fortune. The magic probably comes from me believing it, and writing that belief into the book.


8. You read a lot of books by men, but you write for a general audience, and I assume that your fan base is more female than male. What do you, as a reader and author, get from male authors that you don’t get from women?


I love books about war; I love cowboys; I love strong men who sacrifice themselves for the greater good. Women aren't (usually) allowed to write about war, presumably because we don't have credibility on the subject, and more men than women are interested in the subject and men prefer to read a book about war written by men. I'd love to write a book about war (especially WWII). It would be an interesting challenge to try and get it published with my name on it.

I grew up in a family of six sisters and one (much younger) brother and my military father was absent most of the time. Reading books written by men gives me a great deal of insight into how men think and how they attack an issue (although not so much about how they feel). One of the reasons I enjoy W.E.B. Griffin's books so much is that not only does he write about war, but he writes about soldier's feelings about the war and about the women in their lives.

A former attorney, Joan Johnston is the best-selling, award-winning author of 50 novels. Invincible will be available in stores on October 26, 2010. Visit her at http://www.joanjohnston.com

Now Available on Kindle!

I know you've been waiting, and so have I! So I'm pleased to announce that Photo, Snap, Shot is now available on Kindle.

Yes, now you can read Photo, Snap, Shot in whatever size font suits you. You can carry it in your purse along with all my other books, and you won't even have to struggle under the weight of three books...because you can upload Photo, Snap, Shot in your Kindle.

Enjoy! I'm doing my own little happy dance here in my office!

You know, I'd sent emails to Amazon trying to track the progress of this, but to no avail. You see, after my publisher sends out the file, there's a waiting period, and it's up to Amazon to load the file and offer it.

So how did I learn that the book was available on Kindle? One of you told me! I was attending a super class at ScrapbooksPlus! in Chantilly (VA) called "Domestic Goddess" and taught by Sue B. There I was working away on my album when one of the other students mentioned she'd just uploaded Photo, Snap, Shot.

Wow. Have I mentioned lately that my fans mean the world to me? You sure do!

Cork Stamps and a Contest

Lately I've had fun experimenting with cork stamps. I carve them myself from corks leftover from wine and champagne bottles.

Here's what one looks like:

Here's how to make your own:

1. Sand your cork so that the face of it is as flat as possible.
2. Choose a simple shape. If you don't trust your art ability, find a small clip art image. Either glue it to your cork or draw it on the flat edge of the cork with a felt tip marker.
3. Carve out the image. I find that I do best if I use my craft knife and slice straight down into the cork, then I chip away the excess. Your goal is to leave a slightly raised image.

To stamp your image, use a thick piece of styrofoam under your paper. This compensates for the fact that your cork probably won't be as flat as you'd like.

Now, press the raised image against your ink pad and then onto your paper. Don't worry if the entire image does NOT transfer. That's part of the beauty of this art form.

Finally, add dimension to your image with watercolor paint.



CONTEST

If you would like for me to send you a bookmark featuring some of my cork stamping, just comment on this blog. On Tuesday, I'll choose one lucky commenter to win a custom-made bookmark.

Decorating Composition Notebooks

This is a perfect time of year to buy composition notebooks at a great price. Big box chains like Walmart and Target, as well as drugstores like Rite Aid and CVS, all have these notebooks at reduced prices.

I suggest you grab a handful and have a notebook decorating party.

Above are a few of my faves. (Starting upper left, going clockwise)

1. Nana--I started with a red background color on the front and back. Tip: Lightly sand your notebook cover to make the paper grip. Add bits of scrap paper in red tones. I painted a piece of chipboard and used rub-on letters to write "Nana." Then I punched a hole in the upper right corner and tied on some ribbon. Last, I glued a piece of velvet along the spine and added sequins.

2. Shop 'til You Drop--The inspiration for this notebook was a marketing flyer I found. It had all the little shops on it. Since notebooks don't need to be acid-free, think outside of the box and use magazine photos or promotional materials. (Yeah, rah, recycling!) I added my initial from a QuickKutz font and a penny.

3. Gryffindor--I think this Harry Potter sticker came with a Happy Meal or some other sticker pack. I wrapped ribbon around a slide mount and "framed" the sticker.

4. DS--I had some embellishments left over after I did a golfing page for my husband. Again, I used my Quick Kutz lettering tool for the DS. On the very center page (with the stitching) I added a silky thread and a metal tag. I stamped the word "Dad" and colored the tag with chalk.

Think of all the ways you could use these notebooks: party favors, stocking stuffers, thank you gifts, teachers' gifts, and again, why not plan a party around making up a bunch of them? They're easy, cheap, and useful.

My kind of scrapping!

It's My Story, Damn It! -- An Interview with F. Paul Wilson

F. Paul Wilson will be appearing at the Love Is Murder Conference, Feb. 4-6, in Chicago.

1. Paul, you’ve said you don’t believe in gore on the page. You prefer to make the gross/horrific stuff happen in the reader’s head. Would you tell us more about that and why it works so well?

I tend to go by the maxim that less, if done properly, is more. I’ve been through med school and a rotating internship that included surgery. I’ve dissected a human body and I’ve been up to my wrists in blood in someone’s open abdomen. Blood and gore don’t get to me. I’m more disturbed by what I don’t see.

Remember the little girl in The Leopard Man banging on the door to her house to be let in because something was following her? Remember how you thought she’d get safely inside, but she didn’t? Remember how she screamed and went silent? Remember the blood flowing under the door?

I do. And in my mind I saw worse things happening than Jacques Tourneur could ever have shown on the screen. I first saw that scene in the 1950s and I still haven’t forgotten it.

Consider this scene from FATAL ERROR, the most recent Repairman Jack novel: I’ve got a bad guy tied up in a van. He has info he’s not giving up. It’s an improvised situation. The person who’s going to get that info arrives with a paper bag labeled “Ace Hardware,” gets in the van, and closes the door. I don’t need to take you into the van for the details. The Ace Hardware bag is unsettling, but what’s really chilling about the scene is that the person with the bag is an ordinary housewife whose little boy was seriously hurt by this man. Nor hell a fury like a woman scorned … but a scorned woman’s fury can’t hold a candle to that of the mother of a brutalized child. No, you do not want to be in that van.


2. You often write lean. How does one go about learning to write lean? What are the advantages of it? Is it simply your voice or is it a style you prefer?

I let the story choose the style. Lean and mean is good for the Repairman Jack novels—they’re dark and fast-paced—and that’s the style that’s defined my work over the past decade. But if you read The Keep, it’s quite a different style; it’s set in Europe in the early 40s and requires a more elaborate style. Black Wind spans nearly twenty years from the 1920s to the 1940s and involves a clash of cultures; that book demanded still another style.

Lean (but maybe not so mean) works well in the YA Repairman Jack novels. Because I use short, staccato prose, and short paragraphs, the Flesch-Kincaid level for my adult books is around fourth grade. So I didn’t have to change much except the language for YA.


3. Story comes first, you’ve said. How do you meld story and character? Please describe how you move from a story, a narrative thread, to a fleshed out book. How do the characters occur to you?

I rarely start with well-drawn characters because I don’t want the story hindered by what might or might not be consistent with a character. It’s my story, damn it, and you’ll do as you’re told.

In my first draft, the characters tend to serve the plot – but they take on flesh as they react to events or make them happen. Then I go back and further flesh them out into distinct individuals who would be capable (even if the don’t know it) of doing the things they do in the story. I determine what in their past, in their makeup, has made them into this person. And then they become real people.

Repairman Jack was an exception. He and The Tomb served each other. I needed a character who could survive the rooftop battle (even though I didn’t know what he’d be battling), but I wanted Jack to be mine. I took every cliché about the loner hero and turned it on its head. I made him blue-collar, self-taught, and fallible – a reaction to the super-competent, super-trained, always one-step-ahead-of-the-bad-guy Jason Bournes of the times. In fact, I decided on an anti-Jason Bourne – with no black-ops, SEAL, or Special Forces training, no CIA or police background, no connection to officialdom. In other words, no safety net. No one in the system he could call on because he’s under the system’s radar. He has to rely on his own wits and his own network.

Turned out people loved that. They could never be Jason Bourne; they have a better chance at being Jack. He’s a regular guy; people can see themselves having a beer with him.


4. You mentioned your editing process in one interview. Tell us more about it. Any suggestions for how we could all improve our editing? You’ve written so many books. How have you improved your editing skills?

By teaching at the Borderlands Press Writers Boot Camp. Parsing other people’s prose is such detail led to some eye-popping revelations when I returned to my own writing and realized I was committing many of the errors I’d been flagging in others. You know better, but you simply don’t see the errors in your own writing. I became much more conscious of my own prose. I can see a definite difference between my pre- and post-2005 writing. Editing others helped me edit myself.



5. You’ve said that marketing departments got mad at you because you “genre hopped,” talk about how much authors should or should not care about the marketing department. In today’s market, we all seem to want to please our agents and editors. But you seem to have listened to a voice inside, and it has served you well. Could you encourage the rest of us to do the same?

I’m usually two books ahead in my brain, and so I’ve always written the next book that’s ready to go. I’ve felt free to do that because I’ve always had another source of income. That’s one of the reasons a day job is important – it frees you from living advance to advance and allows more elbow room in your writing. You can never ignore your editor and the sales force, but you can challenge them. A day job also keeps you in contact with real people in the real world outside publishing, and that’s very valuable.




6. You have said that no one wanted your horror, which was your first love, until Steven King’s books made it big. Talk about staying true to what you love to write.

I wish I could puff out my chest and say that I’ve stayed true to my muse no matter what, but in reality I don’t have much choice. My brain is wired for the outré. I write weird stuff because that’s how I see the world. My first sale was to John Campbell for Analog – yeah, it was an SF story, but about intelligent mutant rats on interstellar cargo ships, and at the end they ate the bad guy alive. As I said: It’s the way I’m wired.



7. You believe that villains should have a code of honor. Explain that, and why it makes a book “sing.”

Not “should.” I don’t like to “should” on people. Remember, a villain doesn’t think of himself as the bad guy. And I think some of the most interesting villains do have a code that they follow. Fu Manchu and Hannibal Lecter are examples. Kusum in The Tomb had his code. But Rasalom, my big bad guy throughout the Secret History, has no code. He wants to win – by any means necessary. He’s the compleat sociopath, who feeds on pain and misery.


8. You write part-time. Talk about how you use your time, and how you make sure you stay on track with your writing. It’s pretty easy to let other stuff get in the way, and since you are a doctor, it sure seems like you would get some pretty important distractions.

Technically part-time, I guess, but it’s a much bigger part of my time than when I started out. In 1994, after twenty years of writing and practicing medicine each full-time, I cut my practice (I’m in a group) to Mondays and Tuesdays. Those are two long days that leave no time for writing. So, I write Wednesday through Sunday. I try to do a minimum of a thousand words a day on those 5 days. That allows me to accrue 100k words (usually more) in 20 weeks.

As for part-time writing, here's what worked for me: I found a minimum of 3 first-draft double-spaced pages per day did the trick. That's 21/week. At that rate you've got over 540 pages in 6 months. That's a decent-sized novel.

In writing those 3 pages pre day, avoid tinkering with them. This stalls you by fooling you into thinking you're still writing. You're not. And you're losing momentum. Get them down and then leave them alone and go on to the next 3. The time to fix and hone them is after you've finished that all-important first draft. You'll know your characters better then and can go back and make meaningful edits and additions.

When I was practicing full time I'd use commuting time to mentally compose my next pages so that I'd be primed when I sat down at the keyboard. That’s a key point: TURN OFF THE DAMN RADIO AND TAKE OFF THE DAMN HEADPHONES. Stop wasting valuable time listening to other people's words. You're a writer. When you're driving or walking around you should be working on YOUR words -- the words you want to tell other people.




9. You teach writing. If there was one lesson that every student could learn, what might that be? What mistakes do you see people making over and over?

Matters what you want from writing. If being a dilettante suffices, then write when the mood hits you. But if you want to have a career in writing, I think you’ve got to write every day. Even when you don’t have a story, reconstruct conversations, describe settings in new ways, and save it all for later cannibalization. If writing is a career, then it’s got to be part of your everyday life.




10. The scene that sparked Repairman Jack came to you in a dream. How did you happen upon his character? You make a big deal of one of the character’s (Kusum’s sister’s) physical beauty, but you also emphasize that beauty and sexual competency are not ultimately as fulfilling as the union of two souls. Pretty romantic for an action hero. Comments?

As I’ve said, I deliberately designed him as the antipode of the typical thriller hero. I wanted to do the same with his relationships. No new-book / new-girlfriend scenario. That allows for more sex, brings more hormones into play, and that’s exciting, but I decided to go for a stable relationship. I did, however, choose a woman who’s very unlike him – a single mother and a functioning member of society – and, even though they share core values, there’s a lot of conflict. But we can’t always choose who we fall for, and conflict is the heart of drama. The relationship has mellowed Jack, something I didn’t see coming.




11. I find the concept of Repairman Jack fascinating. There’s a Hebrew phrase “tikkun olem” which refers to “repair of the world.” Are you familiar with it? I know your political leanings factor into what you write. Do you see writing as a way each of us can repair the world?

People write for many reasons. For some it’s self expression. For others it’s the words themselves, for others it’s the sheer joy or telling a story. For some it’s an o-c disorder. And for still others it’s because they’re pathological liars and fiction allows them a socially acceptable outlet for their affliction. Too often it’s to achieve a sort of immortality—the hope that something of theirs will go on living after they’re dead. Woody Allen once addressed this in a typically pragmatic way. “I don’t want to achieve immortality through my work—I want to achieve it through not dying.”

I believe the “repair the world” approach causes far more problems than it solves – rife with unintended consequences. All politics are local, all repairs are local. Jack shuns the world. He repairs only his world, and that’s a big difference. I’ll repair things right around me, and you repair things around you, and that guy over there will repair things around him, and so on and so on. And eventually, by default, maybe we’ll fix the world. Maybe not.





12. You’ve created such a tight-knit community among your fans. You even play get-togethers with them. What’s the secret to developing and maintaining such a loyal following? How do you balance your personal privacy with being so available to your fans?

It’s not so hard, really. A littler interaction goes a long way. I answer email, participate in the Forum, go to conventions, do signings where I hang out with readers afterward. I happen to like my readers. On the whole I’ve found them to be very bright and fun to be with. But it’s probably the Secret History that glues us. All the interlocking stories challenge them to come up with more connections binds them to each other as well as me. We’ve become this large, polymorphous organism.

F. Paul Wilson is an award-winning, best-selling author of more than 40 books in genres including science fiction, horror thrillers, contemporary thrillers, and novels that defy categorization. The Keep, one of the novels in his Repairman Jack series, was made into a major motion picture. Visit his website at http://www.repairmanjack.com/

What a Burglar Won't Tell You--But You Will Wish You Knew!

Here are some safety tips from reformed burglars shared by Dr. Sarah Layton, Corporate Strategy Institute.

These are useful tips — from former burglars!

1. Of course I look familiar. I was here just last week cleaning your (or your neighbors’) carpets, painting your shutters, or delivering your new refrigerator.


2. Thanks for letting me use the bathroom when I was working in your yard last week. While I was in there, I unlatched the back window to make my (or my friend’s) return a little easier.

3. Love those flowers. That tells me you have taste... and taste means there are nice things inside.

4. Those yard toys your kids leave out always make me wonder what type of gaming system they own.

5. I really do look for newspapers piled up in the driveway. And I might leave a pizza flyer in your front door to see how long it takes you to remove it.

6. If decorative glass is part of your front entrance, don’t let your alarm company install the control pad where I can see if it’s set. That makes it too easy.

7. A good security company alarms the window over the sink. And the windows on the second floor, which often access the master bedroom — and your jewelry. It’s not a bad idea to put motion detectors up there, too.

8. It’s raining, you’re fumbling with your umbrella, and you forget to lock your door. Know that I don’t take a day off because of bad weather.

9. I always knock first. If you answer, I’ll ask for directions somewhere or offer to clean your gutters. (Don’t take me up on it).

10. Do you really think I won’t look in your sock drawer? I always check dresser drawers, the bedside table, and the medicine cabinet. Helpful hint: I almost never go into kids’ rooms.

11. I won’t have enough time to break into that safe where you keep your valuables. But if it’s not bolted down, I’ll take it with me!

12. A loud TV or radio can be a better deterrent than the best alarm system. If you’re reluctant to leave your TV on while you’re out of town, you can buy a $35 device that works on a timer and simulates the flickering glow of a real television. Find it at faketv.com.

13. If it snows while you’re out of town, get a neighbor to create car and foot tracks into the house. Virgin drifts in the driveway are a dead giveaway.

Source: Orange County (Florida) Sheriff's Department

Winner of the Kiki Lowenstein Fan Club Tee Shirt

Jane Jeffers Thomas won the Kiki Lowenstein Fan Club Tee Shirt.

I put all the commenters into a random number generator, and Jane won.

Meanwhile, I'd like to introduce all of you to my talented and beautiful cousin, Andrea Hazel Hamilton, the watercolorist.



You can read about our family reunion at the Killer Hobbies blog.

Lois Hirt Looks for the Smiles

Lois Hirt writes a column called "Dental Scraps." She's interested in dental references we include in our mystery books. After she read Photo, Snap, Shot, she donated it to the National Museum of Dentistry in Baltimore!

I was happy to meet Lois, and to share the fact that I've had GREAT experiences with my dentists. In fact, I think so much of my dentist in St. Louis that I even named a character after him: Dr. Mike Wallace.

Lois posted on DorothyL that she "loved the lines where Kiki remembers how she and each family member could take a day to worry." She quotes from Photo, Snap, Shot were Kiki says, "That way we'll worry more efficiently. If something happens to any of us on your day, it's that person's fault--and we can blame her."

Actually, that's an idea I came up with for my own family.

I am learning, however, that worrying is a spectator sport where nobody wins. Sigh.

Lois went on to write, "I can’t wait to see what happens next in Kiki's life. I absolutely loved the last two paragraphs of the book. I could just picture it."

Thanks so much, Lois. You put a great big SMILE on my face!;)

Aloha! A Review of PHOTO, SNAP, SHOT by Cindy Chow

Note: Cindy is the first reviewer to notice that Kiki, too, is prejudiced. By the end of Photo, Snap, Shot, she must question her own assumptions about other people


I admit that I completely lack the Martha Stewart gene. My one attempt at a DIY
design project resulted in six - that's six - pieces of my furniture becoming
"'marbelized" in paint. I come by it honestly, though, as ten years of my
childhood photographs reside in shoeboxes at my parents' home, all in their
original Kodak envelopes.

So it takes a lot for me to continue to follow a "crafting" mystery series, as
there's pretty much no chance that I will ever follow the crafting hints and
tips. However, Joanna Campbell Slan's Kiki Lowenstein's Scrap-n-Craft
mysteries is a series that does have the humor, realistic characters, and
complex plots that compel me to read each engaging new entry. The third in this
series, Photo, Snap, Shot(Midnight Ink) continues this excellence and never
disappoints.

Thanks to financial support from her late husband's mother, Kiki Lowenstein's
daughter Anya attends the elitist prep school Charles and Anne Lindbergh Academy
(CALA). It's the last place one would expect violence to occur, so when Anya
discovers the body of her teacher there Kiki goes into full panic mode. The
school is eager to cover up any hint of impropriety or scandal, so it's no huge
surprise that the woman's African American boyfriend, the basketball coach, is
immediately implicated and arrested.


After being warned repeatedly from interfering in previous murders, Kiki's more
than a little surprised when Detective Chad Detweiler actually asks for her help
in clearing the coach, who happened to have been a Little Brother Detweiller
mentored and believes is a convenient scapegoat.

This places Kiki in an emotionally precarious position, as Detweiler is the
married man she dreams about while two perfectly acceptable other men, one of
whom is the man she SHOULD want to love, stand at the sideline. As they say
though, the heart wants what the heart wants. However, any rash actions she may
contemplate are definitely curtailed by her watchful mother-in-law and friends.

As Kiki ventures in the rarefied world of the CALA elite, she discovers that the
headmaster's wife and four CALA mothers all had past ties that unite them in
hiding past secrets. The murdered teacher herself also had a cloudy past
despite her recent path to redemption.


What surprised me so much in this novel was how the chip on Kiki's shoulder that
resulted from her insecurities and feelings as an outsider prejudiced her
against all of the mother's of CALA. Slowly, as Kiki questions and begins to
know more about each woman she understands that each woman is far more complex
than she realized in her initial snap judgments. The author fleshes out each
woman realistically and empathetically in a way that enables the reader to
understand the sacrifices they've made and how they've become who they are..

Rather tortuously, but realistically, Slan concludes Photo Snap Shot with a
cliffhanger that leaves some questions unanswered and definitely has the reader
wanting more. The next Kiki Lowenstein mystery can't come soon enough. I love
Kiki, a character who has grown stronger in will and character as the series has
progressed while never losing her sense of humor.


Aloha,

Cindy Chow
Kaneohe Public Library

You Say Tomato. I Say Album.

To celebrate the release of my friend Avery Aames' new book, The Long Quiche Goodbye, I decided to turn a cheese container into an album. Yeah, I'm always looking for a way to recycle!

1. Cover and backside. I used a rubber stamp of a tomato, colored it in, and adhered it to the round with green masking tape. I also used red masking tape to cover the sides of the round carton.

2. Insides. These are coasters I picked up at restaurants. I drew my images onto water color paper so I could experience with paints. I'm not very good, but I had a lot of fun with this! The paints I used are really cheap. Almost any set you buy will do better. I started by sketching different designs and then painting them. There are six inside pages, each is double-sided. The only paper I didn't paint is the green plaid.



I owned that paper, but it was too bluish, so I used a marker and colored the green a more yellowish tone. Be sure to plan which "pages" will be your front and your back (your final) pages.

Special tips for the inside pages...



1. Always start with your lightest color of paint, the one thinned with the most water.



2. Always prep more paint than you think you'll need because if you remix, the color will be different.

3. Use an archivally safe black ink pen such as the Pigma Micron by Sakura.





4. Make a mistake? Paste a new image over the goof.

5. Try wetting your paper and then adding color for a soft look.

6. Keep a tissue or paper towel nearby to blot the color if it's too intense.

7. Want a plaid? I painted the background color first. Then I made stripes with a thin brush. I added a green stripe with the Sakura pen.



8. The tomatoes making the border on the red plaid pages were created with a cork stamp that I carved. I've covered this in other posts, but stay tuned and I'll tell you how in the next blog post.

9. Not a great artist? Look up images on your computer. Print them out and copy them.

You'll note that all the "pages" are strung together with a double set of ribbon. Make sure to allow enough room for the bend of the ribbon so that your pages stack neatly. Also, the first "page" is a shaker box. The plastic overlay was discarded packaging.

Do you like it? What do you think?

What do you think?

The Art of the Cliffhanger and a Contest!

Okay, I know some of you don't like cliffhangers, but just so you know, I intend to keep writing books that sort of flow into each other. Someone once told me that the first sentence sells the current book but the last sentence sells the next one. I know that I simulaneously love and hate how my favorite television programs end with question mark. But even as I might curse the writers, I find myself eagerly tuning in each week for more.

So what cliffhangers can you expect in the upcoming Kiki Lowenstein books? More specifically in Make, Take, Murder when it comes out May 1, 2011?

First, you'll learn more about Bama Vess, Kiki's new co-worker. Bama (pronounced "Bam-ma" and named long before our president took residence in the White House) is a conflicted woman. She's spurned all Kiki's overtures for friendship. At the same time, Bama does a great job of organizing and running Time in a Bottle. Will she and Kiki make good business partners? What's stopping Bama from being nice to Kiki? Could it be that Bama is as jealous of Kiki as Kiki is of her?

Second, you'll see what happens with Sheila and Police Chief Holmes. This is an old flame, rekindled, but they have a big problem. You see, Sheila is Jewish and Police Chief Holmes is Roman Catholic. Since Sheila is so very, very inflexible...you might guess there will be problems ahead.

Third, Dodie's health problems. Yes, they'll have an impact on how the store runs, and who's involved in Time in a Bottle. That's a given.

Of course, the biggest snafu ahead concerns Brenda Detweiler. There have been hints about problems with her marriage, but what are those problems? And why is Chad Detweiler unwilling to say, "Goodbye?"

You know, I've rarely seen people up and divorce each other. There's always a back-and-forth, a questioning, a sorting out of feelings. I don't think that marriage is a commitment to take lightly, and I truly believe that most people don't. This would be Detective Detweiler's second marriage. Since he's clearly such a cool guy, you have to wonder, what's up? Is he not everything he seems? Or has he simply gotten lost along the way? (My sister keeps teasing me that everything I write seems to be about redemption. Well, I'm a big believer in redemption, the art of the second chance. Most days, I think it's all we have to live for, that hope that we'll be forgiven, that we'll learn something, and we'll do better in the future.)

CONTEST DETAILS

Meanwhile, I'm always curious. Which characters do you want to see return? And why? So here's the deal--you tell me, and I'll choose one of your comments to win a Kiki Lowenstein Fan Club tee shirt! You have until August 15 to comment. (Hey, why not get a friend to comment, too? Maybe she or he will let you share the tee!)

By the way, here's a sweet review of Paper, Scissors, Death,

Made my day!