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Showing posts with the label #PismawallopsPTA

Writer's Wednesday: Pismawallops Island

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Those of you who follow the IWSG and especially the IWSG book club may have noticed some helpful posts from Toi Thomas about how to make your books more discoverable. I have long been aware that sometimes my blog barely reflects at all the fact that I write novels. The time may have come to fix that! One of her suggestions was to write articles about your books, your writing process, etc.  I have been trying to raise my profile as a writer by writing most weeks about progress and the process. But that still doesn't bring up my books, especially the ones that are out there to buy as opposed to the ones I'm working on. To address that, I am launching a new series of "Writer's Wednesday" posts specifically about my books, starting with this post about Pismawallops Island, the fictional setting of my PTA mystery series. Everything you wanted to know about Pismawallops Island but were afraid to ask Where is Pismawallops Island located? Pismawallops is an island in the

It's a Release Day Party!

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Grab some donuts and coffee and join the party... it's Release Day! Nothing ruins your day like a fresh corpse with your coffee Election day’s almost here, and the island’s new pool is on the line. JJ should be all in with the campaign, but when a prominent Island businessman drops dead at her feet in the Have-A-Bite Bakery, someone has a mystery to solve. JJ’s fiancé—police chief Ron Karlson—is out of town. Who else is there? JJ is missing her sweetheart, tired of the winter rains, and distracted by everybody’s questions about when the wedding’s happening. Even more worrying, her foster-daughter’s father has failed to show up on schedule. No wonder JJ’s struggling to wrap this one up before someone else bites into the wrong donut. There’s no time to lose, because something truly essential is on the line: saving the bakery—and JJ’s favorite espresso brownies! Death By Donut  Pismawallops PTA Book #5 Amazon Smashwords Kobo B&N Nook Apple Books   Regular and Lar

Writer's Wednesday comes on Friday this week

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 Since this was the posting week for the WEP challenge, I shifted my update to Friday. Before we get to the writer's update, how about some blog updates? Regular readers may have noticed that I'm not doing very many reviews anymore. (Actually, since I haven't all year, you may not remember I ever did). For some reason--travel, moving, writing novels, and too much social media--I haven't been reading as much this year. When I do, I often don't feel like writing reviews. So I don't, unless I've committed to do so (I have books from a number of you that I need to read and review, per my promises!). For now, I'm happy to do occasional reviews, some photo posts, keep talking about writing, and maybe get back to writing flash fiction now and again. Writer's Update: With NaNo over, the temptation to just kind of stop is great. We have to resist! I have pushed on another two or three thousand words (which also involved deleting a thousand or so) to get a mor

It's here at last!

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The exciting 4th installment in the Pismawallops PTA Mystery series is here! An earthquake… a pile of books… and a corpse. JJ McGregor and the Pismawallop PTA are back on the job, desperate to find the killer before the library takes the fall.   The library can save your life… can it kill you, too? JJ has a new job at the library, which ought to make her happy. But with all those books to shelve, the PTA to run, and a 16-year-old son to raise, there’s never enough time to spend with her sweetheart, police chief Ron Karlson. That’s especially true with Thanksgiving on the horizon and her mother coming to visit, not to mention the PTA’s Holiday Bazaar looming ahead. When things turn deadly in the library stacks, JJ needs some answers fast, before she loses her job—or her life. She’s determined to learn everything about the victim, and for once the library doesn’t hold all the answers. JJ and Kitty may have to face the ultimate peril: a visit to Mrs. Halsey, the oldest—and crankiest—perso

Writer's Wednesday: NaNo Update #1

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  I like to do a weekly update during November when I'm doing NaNoWriMo (it's another way to procrastinate, right?), to say how I'm doing and see how those of you who are swotting along with me are coming along. By the way, if you want to be buddies on NaNo, I do it under my own name :) So how's my NaNo going, after 12 days? Stats: 23,922 words as of 7 p.m. last night (really hoping as I write this, at 7 p.m. last night, that I can up that before bed). Consistency: Yup. Every day. Average output: around 2000 words, which is my minimum goal (2K/day gets me an 80K draft in 40 days...) Most words in one day: 2967 Fewest, excluding yesterday because of hopefulness: 1069 Less numerically, I'm in the mid-book doldrums. Like my sleuth, JJ MacGregor, I'm flailing around looking for clues as to where all this is going. So, you ask, what about the extensive notes and outline? Still more or less on, and still helpful, but the holes in it you could drive a train through! Ti

IWSG and Cover Reveal!

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It's the first Wednesday of the month, and that means IWSG post! But before I get to that, I have a real treat: not one, but TWO cover reveals! One is mine, one for fellow blogger and IWSG member, Jemima Pett. The 9th book of Jemima's Princelings of the East series is coming Nov. 14, and as usual, Danielle English has made a gorgeous cover: The book is currently on schedule for release on November 14th. Pre-order at  iTunes  , Kobo , and  B&N  right now. The Princelings of the East are now King Fred and Prince Engineer George. Gone are the years of innocence when they travelled for adventure and uncovered time tunnels and pirate plots. Now Fred, assisted by his queen, Kira, has the responsibility for his people, his lands, and for persuading the lords and kings of the Realms to act together for the common good. George just has to work on his inventions, always thinking of a final goal: to fulfil the promises made to Lord Mariusz so long ago. Neither has an easy ta

Friday Flash:

No, I haven't been writing enough to have a new flash for you today. But no fear--I have plenty of re-runs you probably didn't see or don't remember! As a little encouragement to myself as I get back to work (at last!) on Death By Library , I have a short story from Pismawallops Island. Unlike the books, this is from the perspective of the town's police chief, Ron Karlson. I picked it in part because it features a character who plays a larger role in the new book. In the Line of Duty When his radio disturbed him, Ron Karlson was sitting in his police cruiser staring out to sea and thinking. “Chief? You out there?” The Pismawallops Island police force, having precisely 2.5 officers, could be informal. He reached for the handset. “Karlson here.” “Homer’s lost his car again.” The dispatcher sounded like she was rolling her eyes. Homer Roller. The biggest disaster ever to grace a cop car. He had a tendency to leave the car in odd places, forget where he’d parked, and hit th

IWSG: On the Road Again

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Purpose:  To share and encourage. Writers can express doubts and concerns without fear of appearing foolish or weak. Those who have been through the fire can offer assistance and guidance. It’s a safe haven for insecure writers of all kinds!  Posting:  The first Wednesday of every month is officially  Insecure Writer’s Support Group  day. Post your thoughts on your own blog. Talk about your doubts and the fears you have conquered. Discuss your struggles and triumphs. Offer a word of encouragement for others who are struggling. Visit others in the group and connect with your fellow writer - aim for a dozen new people each time - and return comments. This group is all about connecting!  Be sure to link to the IWSG page and display the badge in your post. And please be sure your avatar links back to your blog! If it links to Google+, be sure your blog is listed there. Otherwise, when you leave a comment, people can't find you to comment back.  This month's fantastic co-hosts:    J

Flashback Friday--Pismawallops PTA Xmas Part II

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  Flashback Friday is a monthly meme that takes place on the last Friday of the month . The idea is to give a little more love to a post you’ve published on your blog before.  Maybe you just love it, maybe it’s appropriate for now, or maybe it just didn’t get the attention it deserved when you first published it. Thanks to Michael d’Agostino, who started it all, there is a solution – join Flashback Friday! And thanks to Jemima Pett , who has kept it going--visit her blog to add your name to the list ! Just join in whenever you like, repost one of your own blog posts , including any copyright notices on text or media, on the last Friday of the month.  ###### I posted the first half of this story a couple of weeks ago because I was using parts of it in the new Pismawallops PTA mystery.  You can check that out if you don't remember or didn't read it, because this is part two, and needs the first half to make sense. In a quick summary, Kitty and JJ have been setting up the PTA