Posts

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

Cozy Review: Tell Me No Lies

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    Title: Tell Me No Lies Author: Shelley Noble Publication Info: November 5, 2019, Forge Books. 368 pages. Source: ARC provided through Great Escapes blog tours Publisher's Blurb: Rise and shine, Countess, you're about to have a visitor. Lady Dunbridge was not about to let a little thing like the death of her husband ruin her social life. She's come to New York City, ready to take the dazzling world of Gilded Age Manhattan by storm. The social events of the summer have been amusing but Lady Phil is searching for more excitement---and she finds it, when an early morning visitor arrives, begging for her help. After all, Lady Phil has been known to be useful in a crisis. Especially when the crisis involves the untimely death of a handsome young business tycoon. His death could send another financial panic through Wall Street and beyond. With the elegant Plaza Hotel, Metropolitan Museum of Art and the opulent mansions of Long Island's Gold Coast as the backdrop,

IWSG: Writing and planning

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  The first Wednesday of every month is the Insecure Writer's Support Group posting day, where writers can express their 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! Check it out  here  and join if you want support with your writing.  Let’s rock the neurotic writing world! Our Twitter handle is @TheIWSG and hashtag is #IWSG. Every month, we announce a question that members can answer in their IWSG post. These questions may prompt you to share advice, insight, a personal experience or story. Include your answer to the question in your IWSG post or let it inspire your post if you are struggling with something to say.  Remember, the question is optional! November 6 question - What's the strangest thing you've ever googled in researching a story?    The awesome co-hosts for the November 6 posting of the IWSG are Sadira St

Cozy review: Robbery at the Roller Derby

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  Title: Robbery at the Roller Derby (Mollie McGhie #0) Author: Ellen Jacobson Publication Info: independently published Source: Give-away Publisher's Blurb: When Mollie joined a roller derby team, she thought she only needed to worry about bumps and bruises. But when something valuable is stolen from the locker room, she decides to investigate and find the culprit. In between identifying suspects, working at a mind-numbing temp job, and skating practice, she also meets a guy who just might change her view on blind dates. As Mollie pursues her investigation, not everyone is thrilled when she starts asking one too many questions. Can Mollie skate her way out of danger? Or will her nosiness be the death of her? Robbery at the Roller Derby is a prequel novella to the Mollie McGhie Cozy Sailing Mysteries, a whimsical series with a nautical twist.    
 My Review:   This is another book from an author I probably shouldn't be reviewing, as I have beta-read several of her books

Spotlight and guest post: C. Lee McKenzie’s Not Guilty

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I’m delighted today to welcome author C. Lee McKenzie to my site to talk about her latest release, NOT GUILTY , as part of her MC Book Tour Blog adventure. After you find out more about this intriguing new YA book, and read some fun tips from the author herself, be sure to enter Lee’s giveaway featured below. * Not Guilty * by C. Lee McKenzie * Publication Date: October 25, 2019 * Genre: Young Adult        A blood-smeared knife. One young man’s word against another. A lifetime dream crushed.        The evidence points to Devon Carlyle. He was there when it happened. Everyone knows he had it in for Renzo Costa. And Costa says Devon was the one. In the judge’s rap of a gavel, Devon’s found guilty of assault. The star of the Oceanside High’s basketball team loses his shot at the one thing he’s worked so hard for—the championship game where college scouts could see how good he is.        Now he makes his great shots in Juvenile Hall with kids far different from those that have always been

Writer's Wednesday--It's NaNo Time!

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Time for another writing update already! I'm happy to say that there has been some action in the last two weeks. That novella I was inspired to write has been drafted and is getting feedback. More on that below. We've gotten home from our travels, and are settled in enough now that a) I can start to see my way through the chaos to a regular schedule (including writer time) and b) I've started up all my workouts again and I am SORE! Which may actually be good for the writer stuff, because once I sit down at the computer I don't want to move. As for NaNo ( National Novel Writing Month , aka November), yes I'll be participating again this year. To see why, I think I'll refer you to last year's post on the topic . I'm ready for a boost, a deadline, and a bit of writer chatter, and maybe even a chance to connect with some local writers. I've got some work to do still on the outline (somewhere in the next day or two while getting Death By Library organized

Fiction Review: Home for Erring and Outcast Girls

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Title:  Home for Erring and Outcast Girls Author: Julie Kibler Publication Info: Crown Publishing, 2019. 400 pages Source: Library digital resources Publisher's Blurb: An emotionally raw and resonant story of love, loss, and the enduring power of friendship, following the lives of two young women connected by a home for “fallen girls,” and inspired by historical events. In turn-of-the-20th century Texas, the Berachah Home for the Redemption and Protection of Erring Girls is an unprecedented beacon of hope for young women consigned to the dangerous poverty of the streets by birth, circumstance, or personal tragedy. Built in 1903 on the dusty outskirts of Arlington, a remote dot between Dallas and Fort Worth’s red-light districts, the progressive home bucks public opinion by offering faith, training, and rehabilitation to prostitutes, addicts, unwed mothers, and “ruined” girls without forcibly separating mothers from children. When Lizzie Bates and Mattie McBride meet the