Halloween Notes

First, I'll be out of town for the next few days, starting tomorrow afternoon. We'll be in Houston and going to Galveston to shop the Strand, watch the sunrise and sunset over the ocean, to Nasa for a Hot Air Balloon ascent etc. Should be fun. Play with grandkids also.

Second, Nano starts tomorrow so we'll see how it fares. I really want to use the deadline to get Bloody Murder almost finished or at least 3/4 of the way. The trip will cut into my word count but I'll keep working anyway.

I'll post about both things when I get back and hope to have a ocean sunset or sunrise to post as well as progress on the writing front.

Happy and safe Trick or Treating Everyone.

Coffee Time Review

Had to share my Three Cup review from Coffee Time. I'll post the full review on my website.
Excited here.

Privy to a Murder is a fun and quirky murder mystery. It seems to have a little bit of everything, murder, love, mystery, and a haunting. The main character of Tali is a very likable character that is well written. The story flows well, and you can not help but manage to smile at all the mishaps, and bad luck that Tali finds her self being plagued with. This story had just the right mix of characters that it had you guessing until the end on who was the murderer.

LeeAnn:Reviewer for Coffee Time Romance
Reviewer for Karen Find Out About New Books

Sleepy, oh so sleepy ZZZzzzz

Emergency last night, up until 5am, back up at 9:30a to pick up daughter's meds, go to work. Now a little spacey from lack of sleep. The older I get, the more sleep I need. I hear about people who can't sleep or need very little sleep. Nope. Not me. By the time I'm 80 I'll be up to needing 12 hours a day just for sleep.

My writing today will be a little spacey also, I imagine. I've been sitting in on an participating in an online discussion regarding e publishers and found myself being a little snippy. Have to watch that talking in public when I'm tired. If I'm cranky, my self-editor is less likely to chime in when he should, then I say tacky things. But, some people are so smug and self satisfied that they have been published by a "mainstream publisher" and forget that many e-publishers have guidelines for publication every bit as stringent as the brick and mortar guys, some even more so. E publishing is not a last resort, its a conscious decision that many authors make to be able to tell the story they want to tell and not be locked into a formula style of writing.

Eternal Press was a first choice for me, not a last resort. E publishing is only going to continue to grow, as will the opportunities to take advantage of this growing market.

Now, with any book, you have to get your name out there, work on publicity yourself and with your company and fellow authors. One of the great things about Eternal Press is the ability of the authors to work together with each other. So, go to http://www.eternalpress.com.au and buy books, not just mine, look at all the others too.

Fires

I have a flu bug. Not a serious one, just one that makes you want to sleep, stabs all your joints and messes with my stomach. It will be short lived. I whined a lot and then, the more I saw about Southern California, the worse I felt about my whining. I didn't lose my life, my pet, all my belongings and years of history in a place. I can't even imagine how everyone is dealing with it. The world does tend to slap me up-side the head when I get too maudlin about my life and shows me, for the 120th time, what a good life I do have.

Sure, I'm a widow and have a sick child at home. But, I have a home, food, money, job all those things so many people don't. I have a published book, a dream I've worked toward for years. Now, I want more but you have to strive for more or you don't go anywhere at all. So, when you hear me whine, ask me if I want cheese with that whine. Even better, offer me wine to go with that cheese.

Now off subject, I watched Pushing up Daisies. Now that's a little too camp, even for me but I'll try it one more time. Kind of reminds me of the Popeye movie somehow. Haven't decided if I liked it.

Contest Winner

In case you entered my contest on the website or through Author Island. We have a winner.
The winner is Reveille Patterson, so send me your snail mail address and your prize will be on it's way. Stay tuned and there will be more contests, both through author island and this blog. C

Wicked-Poetry Train

WICKED

I
shall be
horrible
when I am an
old woman who sits
and whispers wickedly,
stories into children's ears.
They must lean closer and closer
to hear me murmur tales so evil.
Careful kiddies. Too close and I will bite.

Birds and whatever

I sat outside to watch the birds this morning, wrote a poem for the poetry train, in honor of spooky things, was almost too cold even with Colorado sweater on. Put out birdseed, smelled leaves burning, love this season.
Getting plotting done so I can try the Nanowrimo thing. Working on OWFI stuff. Have a video for Privy in the works and will post it wherever I can, here, my website and My Space and You Tube. Should be a fun thing.
I have a Privy add in a couple of newsletters and you can now buy it on Coffeetime Romance. Look on the sidebar for Eternal Press and find all our books. http://www.coffeetimeromance.com/BookStore/

It's pretty cool. Now, I have to go watch Rachel Ray because I never get to do that.

Favorite Scary Things

I love the season. Said that already. But first-the PSA for today:
Get A Flu Shot, for the sake of everyone else. Than you won't pass the bug to other important people, like ME!

Other scary things, books-"IT", "Salem's Lot" "Pet Cemetary" a King theme here.

Movies: "Sleeping with the Enemy", "Fatal Attraction" "House of Wax" (the original with Vincent Price, not the one with Paris Hilton.) "Them" "Nosferatu", "The Spiral Staircase"

TV-not too many on TV manage to scare me. Won't go to haunted houses because the creatures chase you. I'd fall and kill myself. I don't mind the haunted hay-ride where you ride and watch the spooks.

Have a wonderful season. If you haven't entered the contest on my website, the deadline is Saturday. Hurry up now.

Spooky Season

It's the spooky season and I love it. But then I read and write spooky, love creepy music, watch blood curdling movies and like haunted hay rides, stories about banshees and all things witchy. On the way to work this morning I passed a field with rows of newly planted, short evergreens. Mist had crept in and tangled itself in the branches of the trees like hair threaded among brush bristles. It looked so cool.

Spooky stories don't scare me nearly as much as reality does with the real creeps out there filming themselves abusing children. There's where the real deamons live. But a nice story about witches, ghosts, goblins, and a vampire or two can be fun. I've discovered Sookie Stackhouse by Charlaine Harris and love those books and soon I have to find the "Undead and Unwed" group of books because I here they're good also. So many books, so little time.

Plus, "Fairy Dust" is done and coming soon. I have to get the plotting done on "Bloody Murder" so I can get as much written in November as possible, before the Christmas season tries to bury me.

News Flash: "Privy to Murder" is on special for Halloween. visit http://www.eternalpress.com.au Check out all the Halloween specials.

Poetry Train

An exercise in free verse called an etheree. 10 lines, first line one syllable, second line 2, and so on up to ten syllables. You can do a reverse, 10 syllables down to one, or a double, start with one, go up to ten, back down two one. A reverse double=one to ten, ten to one and so on.
Here's mine, not good but fun to play with.

Dying

Rain
Thunder
Lightening
Wind gust blowing
Dark clouds flying low
Autumn storm comes marching
Trumpets herald season's change
Leaves dance, floating on the air
Flowers bow to winter's coming cold
Now we die to live again in Spring time.

Hack the Hackers

What is it with Hackers? Is it a power trip? Look and see what I can do and you can't do anything about it? Do they do it just because they can or is it personal or all of the above? Don't get it. One writer I know had her guestbook hacked by someone called MadKing. He's mad all right. Why would you hack into the guest book of a romance writer? What are you going to get out of it?

Maybe it's because I'm old but I think you should not deface other people's property. It wouldn't make any sense to hack the hackers but it would be so tempting to do unto others. But, one hack would lead to retaliation and on and on adfinitum. You just wouldn't think on a private site you would need to have to worry. It's not as if she has hidden corporate secrets for someone to use and make their fortune. OK my rant for today.

Blog to visit

Be sure to visit http://mizging.blogspot.com. She has posts about all kinds of new, wonderful books, including "Privy to Murder." It will make you want to buy all kinds of books. So much fun to be had there just looking at covers, reading excerpts and etc. Don't miss the fun. Her style is so close to mine. We're on the same wave length I think.
Lori isn't doing well today, long story but a worry.

Back to writing, keeping real life and life worries from interfering with writing productivity. How do you do it? I'm struggling right now to not let other things keep me from getting the writing done I need to do and enjoy doing. More difficult some days than others.

Nanowrimo

National Novel Writing Month is November. During that month you write 50,000 words of a novel, submit it to the Nanowrimo site and get placed on the winners page along with all the other writers from around the world who completed theirs. That would be a simple 1666 words every day, or 7 pages. We can all do that, rain or shine, in sickness or health and all those other things. Well, I'm going to try, I think and see how far I get. Am I counting on winning, for me, get a lot written makes me a winner, especially if I can do a large amount before December. If I can end up on the winner's page, even better.

To get questions answered, go to http://www.nanowrimo.org/ and check it out, or even sign up.

But before then, onward and upward with "Museums are Murder." Can Tali Cates survive another close encounter of the MURDER kind?

My First Review

Shameless Promotion-My first book review.

Privy to Murder

Carol Shenold
ISBN: 978-0-9804133-7-3

Eternal Press
October 2007
Mystery
Ebook

Rating: 4 Klovers

Tali Cates was starting life over. Not that she had much choice. Her husband, disturbed by her admission of possessing a special gift of being able to see the dead, dropped her and their two children by the side of the road. Now she was back in her home town, living with her mother, starting a new business, wanting nothing more than a fresh start.

But murder gets in the way of her fresh start, making it more of a challenge then anyone deserves. Every where she turns, she’s making more enemies then friends and the trail of murder keeps following her. Until she learns to embrace her gifts and use them to find the killer, life in Love, Texas will continue to be Privy to Murder.

This was a very enjoyable, cozy mystery. I was immediately drawn in to the little town of Love. There’s nothing like a small town where everyone knows everyone else as a background for murder. Everyone is a suspect and no one is completely innocent.

Carol Shenold does a lovely job of giving us familiarity with the characters from the get-go. Tali Cates is full of spunk and doesn’t let life get her down, no matter how many curve balls are thrown her way. She was fun to spend the weekend with, and I am looking forward to her next foray in Bloody Murder, releasing in 2008. This was a wonderful start to a great new mystery series combining a little bit of humor, small town charm, realistic characters and a solid plot that will keep you guessing.

Reviewed by Terri Dukes

irisheyes@acsalaska.net or terri.dukes@gmail.com

COURTESY OF CK2S KWIPS AND KRITIQUES

Monday Poetry

An old poem, Texas Rodeo, in honor of the launch today of my Texas murder mystery, Privy to Murder.

Riding Thunder

Serpentine horses tie a knot
Every ride is new
Lights and bugs fight dust
hot air clings to skin
tight jeans, boots and boys
every hat is new
Popcorn, peanuts, cotton candy
Teens parade in front
Cowboys fight, eight second side
They ride the thunderstorms
Dive off horse, handful of dust
roping only air
girls race barrels and themselves
Singers stop the show
Flags wave to the crowd
Denim clowns fight the bulls
Hot babies, tired kids
cowfoys with a limp
Fun and games on a summer night
Once upon a Texas rodeo.

Retire or not.

I'm thinking about retiring. Not from writing, from the day job. I'm thinking about it every time I have to get up at 6am, whenever I have to leave work because of family problems or I get sick. I am 65 after all.
But then I look at the power people who are still working well into their 70's. Barry Switzer just turned 70 and still works. Granted he makes more money than I do, but still. If I stayed home, I might not get any more writing done than I do now because I would sleep to 8am, make coffee, sit on the deck, journal, drink two cups of coffee, read the paper. Now it's 11am and I've wasted half the day.
I'm a procrastinator. If I have unlimited time, I don't fill it with work. I need the people contact and the impetus to get up and do things. So, I might not retire, at least not for a while . . . . or until I win that lottery. Then all bets are off.

Don't forget, Launch party on Sunday at EternalPressReaders group at Yahoo Groups. Use the ICON on the left to join. There will be prizes, free books, a "Privy to Murder" tee shirt. Come one, come all.

Randomness

Is that a word. Anyway, I got inspired by Rinda's random facts post. So,here's some random facts about me.

1. I used to clog dance, still would if my knees could take it. It was so much fun. Didn't feel like real exercise.

2. As a kid I liked sandwiches made from Braunschwieger and sweet pickles and cheese. Bizarre but I loved it.

3. Happiness is a four day weekend, good book, icecream and a great DVD, preferably scary or weird.

4. If I don't have to work, I sit on the patio, with a cup of coffee my journal, whipped cream on the coffee and watch the birds.

5. My favorite day is when I don't have to go anywhere, be anywhere, do anything but what I want, like write.

6. I love gin and tonic made with lime infused gin.

7. I'm a total sucker for babies, little kids, vintage looking scrapbooking stuff.

8. I am hooked on Moonlight, Supernatural, Dresden Files, Ghost Whisperer, Medium, is there a trend here?

9. Ordering a tee shirt with the the cover of my book on it is just way too cool, and post cards, book marks, poster, business cards. Kind of over-the-top narissistic. Can we spell that?

10. Painting, playing music, watching the sunset, writing poetry, all feed the soul.

11. I like watching other artists work and learn from their works.

12. I write bad poetry and fill journals with nonsense, just like this blog.

Pissed off

Well, it's a pissy day here. Mainly due to family matters, a minor fall that I'm trying to ignore due to the stupidity involved before and soreness after.

Writing is coming along, in spite of a non-fiction bump in the road. Sometimes the most difficult part of writing is juggling the other obligations, family, work, etc. The writing part is fine. It's all the distractions. But without the distractions of life, would we have anything to write about. If you only live in your head, not real life, is there a story?

Good things, finishing a project, quiet time to get something done, can make up for all the rest.

For fun and anticipate the launch of "Privy to Murder" on Sunday, here's an excerpt.

Remember-All rights reserved, no copying etc.


Drinking champagne, bad choice. Now it was pee, or else. I raced to the outhouses. When I reached the first one in the row, a dark patch of something on its step stopped me from going in. Okay. I may not want to know what that is. I entered the second one, took care of business inside the hot box, prayed the buzzing wasp wouldn’t sting me, and came out with a gasp. It smelled worse than death in there.
I looked up the hill and then hesitated. I’d better take a look at the other outhouse, lest some guest complain. Curiosity and the cat notwithstanding, I opened the door—to my everlasting regret.
Mag was sprawled on the floor, wedged between the door and commode, her body folded, her head facing me. A bloody knife lay next to her. Her blood spread beneath her body and spilled under the door—what had first attracted my attention. I wasn’t the only one. So many flies were droning, they competed with the music. I shivered, and not just from horror. The privy was cold as ice. My stomach lurched, protesting the champagne and death. My heart stopped.
My eyes adjusted, or maybe the light changed because I suddenly saw the body with greater clarity, Mag’s horrified expression, eyes wide open. I looked up to see where the light came from, thinking fireworks, and there, next to Mag’s body, was—Mag? Her form flickered like faulty video, then disappeared. I’d have sworn she shook her fist at me. I reached out to touch the blood, fresh.
No. I can’t be mixed up in something like this. No spirits. No murders.
My heart began to beat again. I breathed in great gasps and fell backwards out of the privy into Frank.
He took in the blood on my hand and the body, opened his mouth and began yelling. "What the hell have you done? My God, she’s dead!"
I leaned close to him and spoke close through clenched teeth. "I haven’t done anything but find your wife. What do you know about this?" I pointed to the outhouse.
In the dusk, Frank’s face seemed to turn even paler. "Nothing. Are you accusing me?"
"I’m calling 911 and the sheriff." My voice shook.
"What about the guests?" Frank stage whispered.
I struggled to keep my voice steady and strong. I shoved the picture of the spirit out of my head. "Your wife’ s dead. I think her party guests are the least of your problems."
I turned away and lost the champagne.