The Ebook Arena

Sharing my stories and artwork in paper format has been an interesting and fun experience. When a friend mentioned she has put her books up on Smashwords and Amazon in ebook form, I got to thinking. I am an artist and a mystery author with books in both genres, so maybe I should go ahead and give it a try....putting my books up there in the ebook world.

While my publisher, Lachesis Publishing, has the Vinnie Esposito mystery series in ebook form, I will put Murder on Spyglass Lane out by tomorrow on both Smashwords and Amazon's Kindle site for a minuscule amount of money. This story takes place in present day west coast Florida, has a sexy hero and a psychic heroine who finds her abiltiy annoying. Then there is always the who-done-it factor and a way too cute Bassett hound. So stay tuned for that.

Next week I plan to try my hand at placing a Zentangle art book in ebook form on Smashwords. Let's hope I don't crash and burn before Christmas gets here.

Wish me luck!! LOL

An Update on Publishing

Life takes unexpected turns now and then. I never know what to expect since I always step off the cliff with the knowledge that I won't crash and burn. The image that comes to mind when I do step off is from the Indiana Jones film where he steps off the cliff and finds his feet are really on a stone path across the ravine. My life is sort of like that scene.

Anyway....I sent Murder on Spyglass Lane to Midnight Magic Press (on a whim, mind you). A member of my writer's group mentioned MMP was seeking submissions. I thought, "What the heck? I have nothing to lose!" So I went to their website, downloaded their submission guidelines and sent the little darling on its way. Within several hours, (yes, HOURS, not days, months, years or NEVER) I had a response. I'd found a home for the novel and I'm on my way. They even assigned an editor to me immediately! I like that! No waiting or messing around. WOW!

The moral of this story is...just when you think your life has become mundane, think again. Step off that ledge, see where your life will take you. Let the adventure begin!!!! Wait, wait, Indy, I'm right behind you! LOL

Murder On Spyglass Lane

It took three years to finish my psychic novel Murder on Spyglass Lane, but it's done and edited to within an mm of its life. I even got brave enough to send it out to an agent and a publisher. It's a precious thing, a finished book. Like a newborn nestling in the crook of your arm. Even if you don't write, but do some other craft, you know what I'm talking about. Saying The End is just the beginning. The work takes on a life of its own and you are pushing, nudging, and encouraging it on its way to popularity and success.

I have put the first chapter on my website for reading. If the people I have approached aren't interested...I will publish this work on Amazon using their Create Space and Kindle programs. Either way, it will step into reality.

I've been called a lot of things, some good, some not, tenacious, stubborn, obstinate, daring, and such are terms that make me smile. Why? Because it means I rarely accept failure. I keep trying, working, and sometimes...I even win the day.

You can read the first chapter of Spyglass Lane at www.JMGriffin.net The first person who emails me about the book will get a free gift for doing so. Now...the race is on. Go for it!

Rewards of Reading & Writing

As a writer, I don't get to read as much as I used to. I do, however, enjoy a good story just like everyone else does, so when a good book comes along, I drink it up as though I was parched in the dessert sun.

I belong to a writers group in RI. We meet on the first Saturday of every month, except in the summer when we have time off for two months. This month I had the chance to meet a new member, Jayne Omerod. Her new book comes out on the 10th of this month. I read the brief blurb on the back of the book mark she gave me and now I can't wait to read this book as well as the next one she has coming out. Gosh! I really can't wait, but will have to cool my jets, I guess.

Anyway...if you are a writer, an aspiring writer or are just curious about what writing groups do, find a group in your area, visit as a guest, and maybe you'll take the next step in your "I want to write" process. That's what got my engine running and I haven't been able to stop. (By the way...there is no finish line in writing, you just keep going.)

Jayne Omerod's book is "the Blond Leading the Blond", published by Avalon Books and her website is www.JayneOmerod.com

The rewards for reading and writing are great, especially when you get to hang out with like minded folks who are so talented. You also get to know about their books before anyone else does. What a treat!!!

Blogging with the Divas

On Tuesday, this week, I will be blogging at the pop culture divas site. It's a great site with interesting news and articles. Join me tomorrow for a brief encounter. Ya gotta love those mystery writers!!!!! My website has recently been updated, sorry it took so long, but there's a new contest for this month and some other news for you. Take a peek at www.JMGriffin.net

Chapter Beginnings

Have you ever sat in front of the computer screen and wondered how to begin the first chapter of your novel? I faced that situation not long ago. I'd been to Block Island during the summer and fell in love with the island all over again. As I meandered through winding roads, I thought a story featuring my Vinnie Esposito series characters and the island would make for a perfect murder. I gathered as much free info on the island and its history that I could while there and then sat down to write. Nada! Nothing! There was just too much information (TMI) to deal with at once. Too many possibilities, too many ideas bouncing around my brain.

It took some time, some shuffling of info and thought blooms on paper before I finally managed to get an opening. I crammed words onto the pages without worrying about them. My friend and fellow author, Annette Blair, once told me that is the only way to start. "Get it down," she said. "Then worry about sorting it out later." Smart woman!!!

Writing like the devil stood over my shoulder breathing fire down my neck, I got the scene set. Then....three chapters into the story, I stalled. Tired? Maybe. Free thinking? Definitely not. I set the work aside and now, a few weeks later, my engine has started to rev like I am a Nascar driver. Today is the day! I will jump back into the story and hope I can finish a few laps around the track before my motor stalls. Whew! I was beginnning to wonder if it was going to happen. The story had been rattling around in my attic until it jelled, so I'm ready to get back to it.

Share your story with me on how you begin your first chapter. I'd like to know, really!

Check out my website for the latest give-aways/contest/and information on upcoming books. See who won the ereader contest im August. I may even have gotten that first chapter of the newly submitted Exposito novel so you can have a sneak peak. Cold Moon Dead is the wackiest of the Esposito novels and I'm sure you'll enjoy it.www.JMGriffin.net

My publisher, Lachesis Publishing, has my Vinnie Esposito series on sale at their website. Talk a look and read some excerpts. www.lachesispublishing.com

Book Signings

Every chance I get to do a book signing or public appearance somewhere...anywhere...to promote my novels is a chance I take to get out and meet/greet the public. I recently attended an art retreat where each artist introduced themselves and told a bit about what they do. I mentioned I am an author with 4 published novels. I never expected the group to be so fascinated by the fact that a novelist was among them on this adventure.

I always try to carry a bag or box of books in my car, and luckily, I had some tucked in the back seat. I scurried out to the car, brought them in and sold them. I was surprised...and pleased.

So, the moral of this story is that you never know where you'll find avid readers and/or generate fans.

Tonight I will join Annette Blair and Karen Frisch at Books on the Square in Providence, RI for a book signing/meet the authors night. The three of us are mystery writers. Annette writes about magic, I write humorous mystery and Karen writes Victorian era mysteries. It should be a great time for all, so join us if you can.

An Interview with Hannah Howell

Author Hannah Howell joins me today to answer some questions that I know you have all been asking. Author of the Historical Highlander series, Hannah has written in other genres throughout her career. So join me and welcome Hannah.

How long have you been writing and how long have you been published? I have been published since 1988, but I started trying to get published 5 years before that. Before that I'd write stories for myself as a teen and then graduated to really, really long letters.

How long did it take to publish your first book, once you started looking for an agent or publisher? I started out with trying contemporaries and had actually reached a stage where I got rejections but with hand written notes asking me to send something else. By then I had put together a historical romance and started trying to sell that. That was slow to take off since it was a medieval romance and I found out later that the publishers weren 't looking for those. I had started a historical romance with a western setting and was also sending that out. Both abruptly sold at the same time to different publishers. I had no agent but got one through a recommendation by a friend.

Do you write one book/story at a time or multiples? I always have some other story to play with while I'm working on the one that is on a deadline. It gives me something to play with when I've hit a block on the deadline story.

What genres do you write? I write historical romances only, mostly set in England and Scotland, but I have done a few with western settings in the past and even one set in Colonial New England.

Are there any genres you'd like to try but haven't? Paranormal romance or futuristic romance with a touch of paranormal. I have stories I'm playing with in both those categories but they're nowhere near ready to try to sell.

Are there any genres you'd never consider writing? I'd say erotica and mysteries. I read them both but couldn't write either. Can't write those raw loves scenes (and so many of them!) and, as for mysteries, the way one has to eke out the clues would make my brain hurt. Then again, I really don't like to say never.

What's your writing process? I'm a pantser with a touch of the puzzler thrown in because I'm apt to bounce around chapters when writing. As I believe most pantsers do, I have a core plot, some scene ideas, and a good grasp on my characters before I even think of starting to write. It's in my head, and I think everyone gets at least that much or there'd be no urge to sit down and write. I write the story out longhand and then type it into the computer editing as i go. The number of passes depends on how much I had to struggle to get the story out. The more the struggle, the more times I might have to go over it to smooth it out. Although, after so many years, I've stopped doing a lot of what beginners do that causes a lot of editing. However, being mildly dyslexic, I have to go over the manuscript several times just to make sure of my spelling and word usage, as well as the order the words are in. Spellchecker doesn't catch everything.

What authors would you like to meet, past or present? What would you ask them? Christopher Marlowe and Shakespeare. I'd ask Christopher to give me the scoop on who really killed him and Shakespeare to tell me where there's proof that he actually wrote those plays and sonnets as I"m tired of the never-dying claim by some that he couldn't have done it. Mostly because he wasn't of the right class as far as I can see.

What's the strangest/worst job you've held? I worked in a meat department at an A&P when I was still in school and often got the job of packing the livers and kidneys. Not surprisingly, I will not eat anything with either of those things in them.

Your favorite vacation spot is? England and Scotland. I'd love to have the time and money to go for a good long time, staying in some nice places, and just wandering around both countries.

Have you ever included someone who irritated you in the book? As what, and what comeuppance did he/she get? Oh, yes. Don't all writers do that? And mine usually meet a brutal death. Writing historicals as I do, I can make it very brutal indeed.

Now that I am done laughing over that last comment, let's move on.

When and where do you do the bulk of your writing? In my office at a big old roll top desk that I got from my father. It's a late 1860s Insurance Company desk with lots of drawers and cubbyholes. My second favorite place is the dining room table.

Where do you get your character names? I have a great book called Names Through the Ages by Teresa Norman that gives you first and last names from England, Scotland, Ireland, Wales, France, and the US, plus it does it by time periods. Also, I have the Oxford Dictionary of English Christian Names, a book on surnames, and a bunch of Scottish and Celtic names. I will also make a note of a name in the credits of movies and read phonebooks.

Do you have animal companions while you write? How do they help or hinder the process? I have five cats that often feel compelled to sprawl on top of my paper or smack my pen while I'm trying to write.

What advice would you give a new writer? If you have a book you want to write, get started. Just dive in and, as you write, find other writers' groups, for support and information.

Give us your backlist with all publishers. My backlist is long, 40 or more books, so best check it out on my website. At the moment, my only publisher is Kensington/Zebra.

Tell us about releases you expect within the next year. I have only one book and a novella coming out this year. The rest that Kensington is putting out are reissues of my backlist.

Tell us about the awards you have won. I'm a RITA finalist, multi-time Golden Leaf winner, I've gotten several awards from Romantic Times, received the Book Buyers Best Award 2010, the CRW Award of Excellence, and the Goldrick Service Award from the New England Chapter of RWA.

Tell us about you next release. IF HE'S DANGEROUS went on sale June 7th. It's available on Amazon, at bookstores, and on http://www.kensingtonnooks.com/ Here is a blurb for you:

When Lorelei Sundun first finds Sir Argus Wherlocke in her garden, she'd never heard of the mysterious Wherlocke clan - or their otherworldly abilities. That changes the moment she watches Argus - the most tantalizing man she's ever seen - disappear before her very eyes. What she's witnessed should be impossible. But so should falling in love with a man she's only just met...

Pursued by madmen intent on harnessing the Wherlocke's talent as weapons, Argus meant to seek help from his family, not to involve a duke's lovely daughter in the struggle. But now, the enchanting Lorelei is his only hope for salvation - and the greatest temptation he's ever faced...

The entire first chapter is up on my website:

http://www.hannahhowell.com/

http://hhowellauthor.blogspot.com/

I am also on Facebook.

Thanks Hannah for a lively and entertaining conversation. I know everyone wishes you well with your latest book. I know I plan to buy it right away.

An Interview with Coralie Hughes Jensen

Today my guest is Coralie Hughes Jensen. Author of Winter Harvest. Thank you for joining us Coralie. I appreciate spending this time with you and I know readers will as well. So let's get started, shall we?

What genres do you write?

I started by writing suspense. My first two novels were about terrorism on the European continent. Unfortunately, neither was published. My first published novel was mainstream, my second, women's fiction. Both Passup Point and Lety's Gift took place in Newfoundland/Labrador. My third novel L'Oro Verde, under the name L. E. Chamberlain, is a mystery set in a Tuscan hill town. My latest Winter Harvest is a historical novel in Massachusetts in 1838. I have three manuscripts yet to find a home: a mystery that takes place in New Zealand, a historical novel in Tudor England, and a suspense set in the Arctic.

Tell us what your favorite leisure activity or vacation spot is.

I like to travel. I travel to find settings for books and also to do research on the book I'm writing.

I traveled to Newfoundland/Labrador for my novels set there. While living in the Netherlands, I went to Italy and came up with the idea for L'Oro Verde.

I don't normally travel first class. My husband and I drive and try to stay with people along the way to see how they live. Stories about mishaps - losing our passports to a traffic cop in the Czech Republic so we couldn't leave the country, having to report to a police station in Germany when we passed a counterfeit DM100 bill at a restaurant, sharing fast food with East Germans in Lubec the week after the border opened - are all fodder for upcoming books.

Have you ever included a real experience of your own in a book? Did anyone who knows you notice?

I use my own experiences or those of my friends all the time. The scenes in Montriano's police station are based on the station and detectives in Germany. Most of my sites are derived from real places I have visited. I give them new names and locations, but most of the churches in my books are based on other churches in similar areas. Sophie's fascinating childhood experiences in Lety's Gift are similar to those of a friend in seminary in Newfoundland.

No one has mentioned they recognized a specific experience, but many have written about my knowledge of certain cultures when I use personal experiences in my stories.

Where do you get your inspirations for a book? How do you get your ideas?

I get my ideas from a variety of sources. Events in the newspaper can give me ideas. When I travel, I am always looking for sites, especially for mysteries where I can develop the character of a detective or find a body or hide a suspect. Places where cultures clash are fascinating - both sides are rational and true to their own beliefs, and getting along means both sides understand each other.

What is the best reader or reviewer comment you've ever received?

Recently I received wonderful comments from a couple of agents who have read my manuscripts, including that my novel is "superbly written" and that my work is very literary.

What does your family think about your writing? How, if they do, do they support you in your writing endeavors?

My husband helps me edit my books. He's a tough editor because he seems to sense when a word or phrase doesn't work. My daughter and son always buy my books as gifts for their friends. My sister in California writes reviews for me and also buys books as gifts.

When and where do you do the bulk of your writing?

I write on the computer in my office, a bedroom on the second floor of my house. I can look out the window beside me and see a dogwood tree now in full bloom.

I also have a TV beside my desk where I can glance over and watch the Red Sox while I'm writing. I have moved a lot because I used to work in high tech and the company would move us. I found that being knowledgeable about sports was a way to break the ice with new neighbors and workmates. In each place I've lived, I have been able to enjoy a championship - a Super Bowl, a World Series, or a European Cup.

What's your favorite part of being a writer?

Sleeping in when I need to. I hated getting up at 5:30 a.m. in order to get ready to face the commute. I don't mind getting up early now because I have an idea about how to fix a problem in my novel. It must be the commute I hate!

What advice would you give a new writer?

Having been a copy editor for a small publisher, it is my opinion that writers should know their craft well enough to make the story clear. Many new writers comment that grammar and punctuation will be cleaned up by the editor. I know very few editors who want to spend their time correcting manuscripts. I once got a manuscript that was so bad it needed to be cleaned up just to know who said what. If editors have trouble reading it, they'll reject it. If grammar isn't the author's forte, the new writer should get help from a friend or family member who is able to fix it first.

What book is your favorite and why?

I like Winter Harvest because the main character is much like me. She watches everyone else and falls into her role by accident. Lucy is not as pretty as Sarah or as evil as Ezekiel. She tries to be good, but finds it difficult.

Give us your backlist...with all publishers...

My books include:

Winter Harvest (2010) published by Five Star Gale/Cengage

L'Oro Verde (under the name of L. E. Chamberlain) (2008) published by Lightening Rider Press

Lety's Gift (2006) published by Lightening Rider Press

Passup Point (2006) published by Lightening Rider Press

Give us your URLS...

Website: http://www.coraliejensen.com/

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000493215204

Twitter: corkyyhj

Thanks Coralie for a wonderful interview. I wish you the best of luck on your next publication. come back and visit us again!

The Road to Publishing

Writing is fun, challenging and at times a real pain in the neck. Am I whining? No! Not at all. Just stating the facts. Here's how it goes (for me anyway)....
An idea niggles until it becomes full-blown (like a cold). It settles in for the long haul, working its way into my consciousness. From there, it becomes a nagging itch that insists it be scratched.

This can take some time, but eventually, the whole thing must be addressed, put into the computer or scribbled in a notebook somewhere, and then allowed to stew until it forms a story line. From there, it takes shape.

During its journey, the novel twists and turns like a snake weaving its way through tall grass. The story, and its characters, may take a few unexpected turns, make some stops, become mired and tangled, but sooner or later, it all works out.

These are the first steps, not the place where I get to write THE END. The story gets worked, reworked, reworked again, and again and....well, you get the idea. Just when you think this masterpiece is ready for debut, you find that the publishers don't want it, or it will be put into a slush pile somewhere, or that you'll be 100 years old before the novel becomes a reality for the public to read.

There are alternatives for those of us who refuse to sit around and wait for the magic wand of the publishing houses to grace us by publishing our story. There's often more money to be made by going to places like Create Space (paper portion of Amazon) or to Amazon's Kindle publishing. I know this is true since I have recently published my novel, Faerie Cake Dead, in Create Space and made sales. The first sales alone made more money than I ever made from the publisher who put the book out in ebook form. That isn't to say the book didn't sell well in ebook form, it's more like the sales were there, but when the money got divided up, what was left was a mere pittance by comparison.

If you're thinking of putting your novel up on Amazon's kindle or into Create Space for the paper book market, my advice is to go for it. You'll make more money, have total control (very important), and be happier with your experience.

Book is Up!!

I checked www.Amazon.com for Faerie Cake Dead today and low and behold, there it was listed next to the ebook version. Let me explain why the covers are different. When I signed my contract with Lyrical Press, it was for ebook only. I had so many requests for paper, that I asked if LP would publish it in paper. Since they do very little paper publishing, I was given permission rights to do so on my own. They own the cover rights, so I had to come up with my own cover. There is a preview of the first chapter on CreateSpace as well.

I'm so excited about this, and the preview ratings have been 4-5 stars. Who could ask for more!! (maybe some sales....)

New Cover For Faerie Cake Dead

It took some time to get this done, but I finally finished the cover for the paper version of Faerie Cake Dead. Now I'm trying top figure out how much time it will take to publicize it through the Creat Space program at Amazon.com

The book should be available by next week, but Amazon has a que, so.....need I say more. This is my first sojourn using creat space and it has been a challenge. I think it's a great idea and sure as heck saves money when it comes time to market. I enjoy a print-on-demand program, too. Been there, done that and my publisher, Lachesis Publishing, still uses it. It's much better than having thousands of books hanging around.

The novel name has been added, but blogger won't upload that picture, so here it is, in almost all its glory for your comments and thoughts.

Learning New Things

Did anyone ever tell you "it's easy to learn this, no problem"? In today's world of electronics and techie stuff, there's one sure thing...you need to learn as much as you can about using apps, linking, blogging, and above all 'cutting and pasting'. Those are the major issues that plague artists and writer's who want all the bells and whistles, but haven't a clue how to manage working them. Recently, I researched the ways in which to maximize my blogs and websites (yes, I have more than one of these little darlings). It wasn't as difficult as I thought it would be since the instructions are kindergarten clear, as in Step 1, Step 2 and so on. Thank goodness for that.

I went as far as setting up a newsletter through www.constantcontact.com What is nice about the company is that after you have set up the initial letter, they do the rest and send it out for you to everyone on the email list you presented to them. The trial is free for 60 days so you have a chance to ride the horse before you buy it. So far, so good.

If you've gotten a fever and chills whenever you think of techie stuff, rest assured you needn't worry. There are real techies behind the scenes to help you (for free, even). So get moving, try your hand at offering your friends and fans your news or latest book, product, artwork, etc. We want to know what you are doing and how you did it!! Honest!

Books on Sale at Amazon

My publisher emailed me with news that Amazon has my Vinnie Esposito humorous mystery novel series on sale. I'm so excited about this. I really want to share these stories and increase my reader numbers. I'm prepping the 4th book in the series for submission to the editor-in-chief this week. I know...it's Friday, but there's still time.



In this new book, Cold Moon Dead, Vinnie is robbed at gunpoint by a harridan whose identity will surprise everyone. Vinnie has a no-tolerance, yet inquisitive, relationship with a mobster, and her favorite buddy, Lanky Larry, makes a return visit in the story. It's a fun-filled, hilarious, adventure that you are sure to want to read....so stay tuned!

New cover for Dirty Trouble

My publisher sent me the finished version of the new cover for Dirty Trouble. The book will soon be re-released by Lachesis Publishing. The cover is cool and the book has some added twists.

The book will be availabe on Amazon.com and at www.lachesispublishing.com

Meet Karen Frisch, author of Murder Most Civil and Lady Delphinia's Deception is our guest today. Learn more about her stories and the way Karen works out her story lines.

Meet Karen Frisch

I'm so glad to have you join us today, Karen. Let's get started...

How long does it take you to write a book?
Early in my writing career, I would spend four or five months writing novels and more than a year revising them. Now I spend more time planning and organizing notes for the story than I do writing it. I'm not sure any book is ever truly finished. Without an editor or critique partner to demand that I hand it over, I would continually revise every manuscript. That's the beauty of deadlines. They keep us from wallowing in the bottomless pit of perfection.

What's your writing process?
I develop an outline of the whole story before I write the first chapter. Especially with mysteries, knowing the end ahead of time is helpful because it allows me to develop suspects and hide clues discreetly throughout the story. Although I compose stories at the keyboard, I always jot down notes for new stories by hand, bringing them with me to soccor games to work on when there's a lull. Ideas translate more clearly from my imagination to the page when I write by hand, developing them as I go. Being in the world of imagination is always compelling, perhaps because you never know what will happen next.

Do you have animal companions while you write? How, if they do, do they support you in your writing endeavors?
Writing is such a solitary activity that pets make ideal companions during the process. Dogs inspire me. I read once that they are the only creatures who greet every day with joy no matter what. For me, true contentment is sitting at the computer with a dog sleeping by my side (preferable more than one). They nap while I write, listen to my worries and complaints, and still wag their tails. I'm afraid over the years mine come to expect being ignored when I'm deep in thought. I have a guinea pig who also keeps me company. She's curious and affectionate and squeals for attention every so often, reminding me to take a break!

Tell us about your current release.
I call Lady Delphinia's Deception my dark and stormy night book. It's an English Regency published in March by ImaJinn Books. In the novel Lady Delphinia Marlowe is dismayed when a carriage accident turns a handsome earl into an unexpected guest forced to recuperate at her country home on the Devon coast. Captain Nicholas Hainsworth's ability to navigate his way across Exmoor's harsh and unfamiliar landscape makes him precisely the kind of man England needs in her military - and the last kind Lady Delphinia wants under her roof. Her midnight wanderings along the moors suggest to Nicholas that she is involved with smuggling, a crime that m=conflicts with his duty as a former naval captain. Knowing he could destroy her family's reputation if he learned the truth, Lady Delphinia struggles to hide the secret life forced on her by her past. But her greatest fear is that her unwelcome guest could not only be her soul mate, but an agent of the Crown who will place duty matters above matters of the heart. You can read about Lady Delphinia's Deception at: http://www.imajinnbooks/com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&StoreCode=IB&Product_Code=LDD&Category_Code=

Which of your own characters would you like to meet in real life, and what would you do?
I'd love to meet the transcendentalist Henry David Thoreau. He played a major role in my mystery Murder Most Civil, published by Mainly Murder Press in 2010. His botanical expertise helps the main character solve the mystery through a series of letters they exchange, and he makes a cameo appearance toward the end of the novel. For me it was a great way to blend imagination with history and literature. I'd like to hear him talk about his experiences living at Walden Pond. I can just imagine what he'd have to say about our modern world.

What authors would you most like to meet, past or present? What would you ask them?
I would love to meet Daphne du Maurier, author of the classic Rebecca. She and her books are so closely associated with England's Cornish coast where my husband and I spent our honeymoon. I was greatly influenced by Jamaica Inn when dreaming up Delphinia's story. I'd love to walk with her along the moors with her dogs in tow, of course. I'd ask her the same questions I wonder about, some of which I'm being asked now - what her writing process is, what sets her imagination free, how she developed the unexpected twists and turns in Rebecca, and what it's like to be part of such a creative family. Her sister Angela was also an author, her father was a writer, and her grandfather was an artist. I'd also love to meet Charles Dickens, but that's a whole novel in itself!

What would you like to own that would make writing faster or smoother?
I'd love to have an automated organizer - a robotic file cabinet that would work as efficiently as Lumiere and Cogsworth do in Disney's Beauty and the Beast. It would open files at the touch of a button, tuck notes in the proper place so my desk isn't such a disorganized mess, and compact files so everything would fit in the file cabinet without being so tight that I can't open the drawers.

Is there anything else you'd like readers to know?
My website http://KarenFrisch.webs.com is still a work in progress, so please bear with me while I struggle to master technology. So often writers feel as if they're writing in a vacuum. I love to hear from readers. It makes me feel the world has just as many friends as strangers, and that's a wonderful feeling.

Thanks for telling us about your work, Karen. We look forward to reading Lady Delphinia's Deception. I most certainly enjoyed Murder Most Civil.

An Interview with Author Karen Frisch

Author Karen Frish is visiting my blog today. In this interview, she'll share her thoughts and ideas on publishing, writing, inspiration for characters and how she manages to assemble her English Regency stories. Read on and enjoy Karen's views.

Dead Wrong...in paper

My latest novel in the Vinnie Esposito series has made it into the paperback realm. I know many publishers and authors have given up on the paper market, but I have staunch readers who enjoy the feel and texture of paper. They refuse to give it it up for an electronic reader. I enjoy both paper and readers, but I must say an electronic reader is oh, so much more convenient. When I want a book, I download it instantly. No running to the store (several miles, for me) or waiting in line at the register... Every time one of my books makes a debut, I hold a tea party bash with free everything, except the books. I place an ad in the local papers, online and even in the church bulletin. People come in droves and we have a great time. Since the books come out in ebook form first, I generally make pdf copies so the buyers can download the story into their ereader. What if they share it? That's a chance I take and another matter altogether. But...back to paper. Don't you just love the texture of paper? I do, I have a stack of books that I'll never discard in any way, simply because I enjoy the books and read them over now and then, but also I like the feel of a book in my hands. I don't think paper will disappear entirely, not everyone can afford an ereader, but they will become an endangered species, that's for sure.

Publicity & Budgeting

When working out a plan for publicity, the first thing I do is consider how much money I have available. The second thing is work out what goodies I will give away that will stay in the public's hands and not end up in the trash.

Give-aways are great, but how much revenue/publicity do they generate? How many new readers will I get? I have gotten emails from people who took my goody bags, so I realize they have at least looked things over and found use for many of them. Since I make much of my own goodies, the interest is usually great. I put together materials people can keep and use, but cost little. Am I crazy? Sometimes I wonder, but as a creative person, I enjoy making my give-aways, staying within my budget and trying to come up with new ideas for fans. You're not an artist/crafter, you say? You don't need to be. My computer is my best friend, I print, cut and paste lots of stuff on sticky paper from Staples. I use a paper cutter to cut them out and then stick them to whatever surface I plan to use. I shop in places like JobLot, The Dollar Tree, Oriental Trading and such. Why pay tons when you can put things together for little cost and do so while watching your favorite television program. It's easier than you think.

Advertising is another issue. When putting my budget together, I try to find what I can get for free, where I can get it and who is offering a 2 or 3 for 1 deal. CoffeeTime Romance is great, but The Romance Studio has done wonders where my advertising is concerned. They do the set-up, the scheduling and offer bargains. Who could ask for more? I take every opportunity offered for interviews, public readings, library appearances, etc. and if my publisher doesn't send out my book for review to everyone under the sun, then I pick up the slack and send it to my favorite places.

Facebook, Linked-in, blogging, websites, and a newsletter also get my name out there. The newsletter thing is in the works right now, but will be on everyone's email soon. I just have to find more time in the day.

So think about what you do, how you can use this information to increase your notoriety and then tell me how it's going. I'd love to hear from you.

Starting the New Year Off Right!

Let's face it...we all say we have attainable resolutions for the upcoming year, but do we really? I begin every January with a host of great goals that seem good at the time I make them. Most of them never work out and for that I have myself to blame. Or do I? Maybe I make those resolutions with others in mind, not myself or maybe I set my standards too high. For instance..losing weight because my suit doesn't seem to sit on my body as neatly as it did. What about gravity? Couldn't that be the reason? Yeah, right!
Anyway...this year I decided to start out with a couple simple goals. One is to write or create everyday, even if it is only for a brief period of time. The other goal is to get much needed exercise, even if that means walking the neighborhood in the cold, rain or what have you. Yep, I set those darned goals, and I feel they are attainable. We'll see!
What kind of goals did you set?