Returning guest blogger Sunny Frazier, whose

sunny69@comcast.net

http://www.sunnyfrazier.com

While attending a recent writers conference I overheard a woman say “That author’s ego is  really out of control.” The catty remark was aimed at an author who did seem pretty full of himself. But it got me to wondering: Is there room for humbleness when it comes to writing?

The dictionary definition of “humble” is “Not proud or haughty, not arrogant or assertive; offered in the spirit of deference or submission; ranking low in a hierarchy or scale; insignificant; lacking all the signs of pride.” Does this sound like the traits of a successful writer?

The simple act of putting pen to paper or fingertips to keyboard announces to the world, “I have something to say. My thoughts are unique. My words are important!” That mindset is what drives writers, convinces them every day to sit in a chair and hope for the flow of ideas that will translate to the right words on the page. This is what deprives them of family time, TV time, sleep, and their favorite past time, reading. This is what makes them snap at people, growl at interruptions, overeat and add fat to their butt.

So, from where does this arrogance spring? I can only speak for myself: I’m inspired by the scribes before me. Shakespeare, Chaucer, Homer (not Simpson—Doh!). Their words lasted centuries—will mine do the same? In the lightening pace of today’s plugged-in world, is it possible for my words to last longer than the next tweet?

Writers have to be overly proud of what we’re doing—and yes, I’m in the non-humble crowd. We are out there trying for truth and recognizing it in our fellow authors. Ego and belief in ourselves is what shores up our confidence when family members look skeptical at our efforts. Friends encourage us with pats on the back as if we’ve just escaped from a mental institution. Authors are other people, not people they know.

We struggle alone and wait for the spark, that “Aha!” moment when our consciousness takes a giant leap onto the page. That’s the moment when the pleasure of writing is transformed to the power of writing. There’s no turning back.

The next hurdle is ignoring the censor in your head that says “Can I write what I really feel and get away with it?” Don’t look for the green light from family and friends. They’re already worried you’re going to spill the dirty laundry. You can’t wait for Granny and her church friends to die.

On my list of the most daring, soul-baring authors I’ve come across are Philip Roth, who never let me look at liver the same way again. James Joyce, whose run-on sentences go on for pages. Joan Didion slouching toward Bethlehem. Erica Jong diminished my Fear of Flying. I never understood a word of Henry Miller’s Cancers but am incensed that he was censored. Anais Nin who opened up her sexuality for public viewing. And my favorite author, Chuck Palahniuk, always makes me want to write brave, to bare my soul, not bar it.

I tell beginning writers that they must always stand by their words because critics are out there ready to tear them apart. Break new ground, break down barriers. Take old ideas and turn them around like a prism until they see light from another angle. Find their voice and use words that excite. What I don’t tell them is in the process they’re going to cut their emotional wrists and bleed all over the page. It’s messy and some aren’t going to survive.

I used the word audacity in the title of this piece. Definition: Bold. Disregard for normal restraints. Intrepidly daring. Marked by originality and verve. Exaggerating one’s own worth or importance. And yes, arrogant. Writers should be all that. We cannot afford to be humble.

Carolyn J. Rose grew up in New York’s Catskill Mountains, graduated from the University of Arizona, logged two years in Arkansas with Volunteers in Service to America and spent 25 years as a television news researcher, writer, producer, and assignment editor in Arkansas, New Mexico, Oregon, and Washington. She has published a number of mysteries and lives in Vancouver, Washington, with her husband, radio air personality Mike Phillips, and a motley collection of pets. Surf to www.deadlyduomysteries.com for more information.

Writing Hemlock Lake gave me the opportunity to construct a setting by mining my impressions of the place on this earth where I grew up. It gave me a chance to close my eyes and recall the days when life seemed to move at a slower pace, responsibilities were few, and dreams were abundant. As I turned the pages of my mental photo album, I was sometimes surprised to discover what I’d stored away, and more surprised to see that the colors were still vivid, my emotional reaction still strong and deep.

Perhaps it’s the childhood sense of newness and the thrill of discovery that makes my memories of the Catskill Mountains so powerful. Those ancient slope-shouldered mountains, the remnants of an eroded plateau, were fresh to me. Fresh, too, were my experiences especially the sensory banquet of a day in the woods—the crackle of snow crust, the sound of the wind soughing through the pines, the distant thunk of an axe striking heartwood, the rustle of brilliant leaves, the gurgle and splash of a stream, the texture of red clay, the scent of damp moss.

I am 3000 miles and half a century from that place and time, but the past often overtakes and overpowers me. Like bubbles from the mud at the bottom of a pond, images rise to the surface of my mind, clear and sharp.

It’s spring and I see the silvered edges of retreating snow, bright with melt water. The Sawkill runs high, stained the color of rust by red clay torn from its banks. Rocks tumble and rumble in the current, clashing and grating. A day of sun and the air is heavy with the scent of lilacs and wild azalea. Violets bloom among sodden leaves, a dappled fawn totters into a meadow, and a grouse explodes from a clump of ferns.

Summer lumbers in with sodden heat that builds to thunderstorms sweeping down from the ridges. Lightning rips bunched clouds and echoes retreat up the hollows. The woods yield treasure—lady slippers, Indian pipes, and spangled salamanders. Tangled grapevines weave a canopy and the air beneath smells of mildew and ozone.

Autumn paints a sky almost too blue to be believed, a kaleidoscope of leaves in crystal air. Frost silvers the dying grass with final splendor, bending Queen Anne’s lace and goldenrod to its will. The orange Hunter’s Moon swells above the skeletal limbs of trees stripped by the wind.

Winter stalks beneath an opal moon cushioned on gauzy fog. The smell of wet wool and pot roast fills the house. Ice rimes the windows and we nestle beneath flannel sheets and down comforters, listening to the furnace digesting the logs split and shoved between its gaping jaws.

Recalling how all of this had shaped me, I considered how it would shape my characters. Some found the setting to be all the world they needed; others, like my protagonist, loved the mountains, yet longed to experience other places and to escape the social constrictions of the town I built for him.

There were times when the process of writing Hemlock Lake conjured recollections that spawned raw emotions—love, loss, shame, and regret. Unlike the experience of writing my earlier novels, especially the comic cozies co-authored with my husband, this was not always a walk in the park. But it’s a walk I’m glad I took.

Suzanne Adair writes a mystery/suspense series set during the Southern theater of the Revolutionary War. Her first book, Paper Woman, won the 2007 Patrick D. Smith Literature Award from the Florida Historical Society. In 2009, Camp Follower was a finalist for both the Daphne du Maurier Excellence in Historical Mystery/Suspense Award and the Sir Walter Raleigh Award for Fiction. Visit her web site (www.suzanneadair.com) or blog (www.suzanneadair.typepad.com) for more information.

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You’re engrossed in a novel, turning pages quickly. Then you encounter a sentence like one of the following:

Although I didn’t know it yet, I wasn’t going to be able to meet Jim for lunch that day.

Mary huffed to the Porsche, started it, and screeched off, never noticing the puddle of fluid her car had left behind on the pavement.

The portent yanks you out of the novel’s world. Tension disperses. But you don’t know why.

On first impression, the use of foreshadowing statements like those above ought to enhance suspense. After all, the author is offering readers a warning: “Watch out, here it comes, something really bad is about to happen!” But in most cases, portents have the opposite effect on suspense.

If the narrative is told in the first person, as in the first example, the portent calls attention to the fact that the story is about past events. Those events are being recapped, so the point-of-view character has obviously escaped the peril that interrupted the lunch date. Even if the reader doesn’t consciously acknowledge this point, the subconscious realizes it. A chunk of emotional energy the reader has invested in the outcome dissipates.

If the author uses the third person, as in the second example, the point-of-view character may be seen as expendable, especially if he or she is a minor character. Recall the fate that usually befell security guards who wore red shirts in Star Trek. The author’s use of foreshadowing in this example turns Mary into a red shirt. Readers can already see her Porsche wrapped around a tree. Again, the emotional investment fizzles.

Why would authors use a writing technique that makes readers cease to care about characters and the outcome of stories? They probably believe that obvious portents like these ratchet up suspense. However these have a heavy-handed feeling to them, the sense that the author is giving away the end of the story or a major plot twist.

Readers don’t want to be told what’s coming. They anticipate the story unfolding at their pace. They like drawing their own conclusions. While in the midst of the book, they’re willing to tolerate a great deal of uncertainty. They don’t want to feel that the author manipulated them, withheld evidence, cut anticipation short, or was just too doggone lazy to convey suspense with finesse.

Here’s another way of looking at why most foreshadowing yanks readers from the world of the novel. Consider a truth that we’ve learned from Eastern sages who teach disciplines such as yoga and tai chi. We have control over neither the past nor the future. All we have to work with is the present. So we must focus on the present and not allow ourselves to be distracted by what has happened or what might be.

Anyone who has meditated knows the magnitude of that challenge. Imagine yourself meditating, and someone interrupts you by asking you a question. How easily do you regain the state of meditation?

The finest suspense propels readers into a kind of meditative state and holds them there, focusing tightly on what the point-of-view character experiences in the moment. These narratives don’t pause to tell readers, “Something really bad is about to happen!” because the authors have already laid groundwork for suspense earlier. Foreshadowing then becomes implied, rather than explicit.

How does an author generate implied vs. explicit foreshadowing? In my book, Camp Follower, I show early the questionable scruples of a supporting character. Much later in the story, the main character is forced to depend upon that supporting character at a crucial juncture. All along, the reader has had to tolerate the uncertainty of not knowing how far the supporting character can be trusted.

Authors use a variety of techniques for achieving subtle foreshadowing and making readers squirm with escalating suspense and unresolved anticipation. These authors write books that readers cannot put down, books that keep fans awake past 3 a.m.

What was the last novel you read that held you in the moment with implied foreshadowing?

Robert W. Walker is a graduate of Chicago’s Wells High School, Northwestern University, and the NU’s Graduate Masters in English Education program.  Rob has taught writing in all its permutations (“All writing is creative writing but not all writing sings,” he says.) from composition and developmental to a study of the literary masters to creative and advanced creative writing.  His first novel was one only an arrogant youth could have conceived — a sequel to Huckleberry Finn (now published as Daniel & The Wrongway Railway, Royal Fireworks Press, NY), but his first suspense-techno-thriller-sf-mystery came in 1979, after college, a novel that won no awards entitled SUB-ZERO.

In any non-traditional publishing as in ebook publication, there is no such thing as “an advance against royalties”.  In Traditional Publishing as we know, now often termed DTB’s by our younger generations, ie. Dead Tree Books the “advance” has always been there. This is a significant difference. For the older generation, my generation, the first phrase that comes to mind for the author is “an advance against royalties” and what this means is the author gets a lump sum “loan payment” to start work on the process of crafting a book or novel. However, in ebook non-traditional publishing wherein everything is lower case, there are NO advances. In fact, in “non-publishing” as some like to call it, there are a lot of “NO’s” to the traditional model.

However, before we get too far afield, an advance against a royalty of a $100, 000 is a thing of beauty on the surface. No doubt about that. A writer can rejoice. However if it is for four books to be written over four years, that’s pretty much slave wages or $25,000 a year, which if one is independently wealthy makes for nice pen money. Not so with most people who are attempting to make a living (no joke) at writing.

To the midlist author who wins this arrangement or spin of the publishing wheel, 25,000 a year does not go far. It’s about minimum wage if that. Whereas in ebook publishing, there are NO advances and no paying back of that 25,000 a year either. On the one hand, your publisher grants you a “loan” to be paid back via your royalties (if royalties even occur); on the other hand, every cent of an advance must be paid back to the publisher via your royalties, and until that hundred thousand is worked off by your royalties (if at all) you see no additional funds from royalties. Should your sales be too low to return that advance to your publisher, you are both left with a bad business loan, and your name or reputation as a writer is mud thereafter.

The above is one area where traditional and non-traditional publishing go in very different directions. But there are far more differences for the writer as businessman as well. Below are some of the glaring differences other than no advances.

(* This means an author makes more on each 2.99 ebook than each 25 traditional book)

Allow me to add some other hard-won lessons regarding the above points. Publisher determines design matters such as single or multiple volumes or a series, and in ebook publishing, the author has control over such issues as series, stand-alone, or three volumes in one.

These differences are due in large part to the medium.  The medium is the message. What I can add is that with traditional publishing comes “traditional” notions of prestige, as in “real book publication” grants a writer a certain prestige among readers, critics, and other writers. However, a new attitude is being seen, an attitude among readers and writers that says the text is of tantamount importance, not the way a book is delivered. While this notion and ebook publishing have been around now for approximately thirty to forty years, young people, new generations, are embracing it completely. The idea that a book delivered in sixty seconds on a Kindle reader is as viable a piece of writing as if it is delivered between the covers of a hardbound book—or can be. This is something of a radical shift not in publishing but in readers.

Many traditional publishers either do not get this or simply wish to fight for the old standards of ‘proper’ format and delivery of books. In the past and now, many people believe that a book showing up in hardcover is a better book, better vetted, better edited and certainly written better. However, we have all encountered hardbound books riddled with problems from grammar to concept. More and more, readers are learning about the struggle that goes on behind the writing of a novel, the research, the rewrites, the editing, vetting and more rewrites that go into the creation of an ebook by a writer, and while some ebooks display a lack of talent, nowadays more and more display genius “outside the bun” or in this case “outside the covers”. Never judge a book by its cover takes on a whole new meaning, despite the fact ebook cover graphics has spawned a whole  new ‘industry’ as has ebook digital platform and editing services.

Publishing with a major traditional publisher certainly can win one respect and sometimes critical acclaim, neither of which are automatically going to increase sales, but awards and accolades are a wonderful thing. However, the drawbacks can be many for the author, not the least being a far smaller percentage (12 vs. 70).  Notably, traditional publishers, since the state-of-the-art Kindle device has skyrocketed in sales are suddenly insisting contractually that authors turn over their electronic rights to the publisher. Some authors have been savvy to maintain their ebook rights regardless. However, traditional publishers holding your ebook rights—especially the majors—as a rule will set your ebook price far too high to the detriment of ebook sales.

E-readers are savvy and will turn away in droves if an ebook is priced too high. Several of my books are saddled with this problem as the publisher set the price, while ebooks priced by me are selling a thousand books a month nowadays. In short, the e-reading public will seldom to never purchase a e-novel or e-book priced at the same or nearly the same as the paper or hardbound book. Not to mention that an author will always make more money putting his ebook rights to work on his own rather than through a publisher.

Working directly with Amazon.com, the author is basically given—at no charge—the opportunity to become a franchise. Most midlist authors are given no advertising budget, no coop monies, nothing as any ad dollars go for the stars alone. With Amazon/Kindle and other ebook publishers, every ebook an author places on digital platform gains instant distribution (distribution with traditional publishers presents both publisher and author with stripped, returned books, a nightmare in bookkeeping, and a sure path to remainders). Reading a royalty statement from a traditional publisher is always a guessing game; reading the daily ‘ticker’ on each ebook with your name on it is as easy as reading the stock market and about as addictive. Going back to Ebook distribution. Distribution is advertising is distribution in the ebook world. It is entirely virtual and online. With Kindle ads going out on national TV and Kindles being used as props in major motion pictures, the author can only benefit more.

There are no doubt many other comparison points between traditional and non-traditional publishing but you know what?  Non-traditional modes of publication are getting to be part of the mainstream and hardly ‘non’ anymore.  Many authors are going the Indie Author/Publisher route as it makes perfect economical sense to do so. This is especially true for authors with large backlists of otherwise dead books known as out of prints. Already edited and vetted books that have seen returns, remainder days, used bookstore days—all of which pulls money from the pocket of authors. Now such lost titles are working for authors to the tune of thousands going back into the author’s pocket.

I hope this little compare/contrast blog has been of help to you personally if not professionally. Hope to see you on facebook, twitter, and elsewhere online –

Robert W. Walker

Children of Salem, Killer Instinct, Cutting Edge, and soon at a Kindle near you, Titanic 2012

www.robertwalkerbooks.com – Free first 14 chapters of Titanic 2012 available here

Andrea Campbell is the author of twelve traditionally published nonfiction books on a variety of topics but she writes mostly about forensic science and criminal law. Andrea is editor for a professional quarterly, columnist, ghostwriter and e-teacher. To subscribe to her bi-monthly author’s e-newsletter or to find out more about her online classes, write to: andreacampbell@hughes.net

I am not Medusa, but I think I remember some actual mythology. Anyway, I’ve been an e-teacher for longer than I’d like to admit. I wrote and conduct two courses: an 8-week workshop on how to write a book proposal that sells, and the other is 4-weeks of the gatekeepers—how to get an agent or editor, how to work with them, and grow as a career author.  I tried to think about what it was that I could tell potential writers, wannabe writers, or any writer hoping to become an author. I have come up with these tips:

• Read. It is totally amazing to me how many authors don’t read. I feel like I am reading 24/7 but it is not always books. Of course, when I do research for a book of my own, I am in about 20 titles all at the same time, analyzing, thinking and, well, reading. I think the reason that some writers don’t read is they don’t want to acknowledge the competition. They say things like, “I don’t want the other writer’s style to influence mine.” That’s ridiculous I think because, what? are you going to memorize their words? Your words will always be your words! And look at it this way, you are reading someone who is already published; don’t you think they might have something to say?

• Marketing. There aren’t many students that come to me that know the difference between “audience” and “market” and they use the terms interchangeably. Because I might have a few readers here who will try to finesse us into thinking they know too but don’t: your audience is your reader. And you should be able to conjure up a picture of them. If not, who are you writing for? The market on the other hand, are ways to get to your reader. So first you should be able to describe your reader, for an example: My reader is female, in her 30’s, she works in an office and hopes for better; she isn’t rich or good looking but is nice and tries to keep up with what’s hot, what’s in, what to wear, what movies to see, etc. So where is she in the market? She might read Cosmo, or Self, or People. She only has only around $10 for books (paperbacks are her thing) because of her Chevy car payment; she went through the romance phase, then the chick-lit phase, now moving into the female-driven mystery phase—well, you get the picture. In other to attract her to your writing, your character should possess some of the same problems she has, the same concerns she might have, her economics may be similar, whatever. But this is how you begin to target an, hey, an audience. So the end result: Your reader needs to identify with your character and the best way to do that is to mirror their lives. Novel idea.

• Cliches. And this is my last little lecture here—you can only take so much glib teacher. When did writers lose the ability to think? I very seldom meet a student writer who gets it. What I mean is: this writing gig is a business and there are a lot of other people out there who think they can do it too. But are they competition? Not unless they learn how to think. Thinking is hard. No one really wants to do much of it. Five minutes at tops. Your mind starts to wander. You have to wash the car. You need to online shop at HSN, your mother/brother/husband/boyfriend drives you crazy….you get the idea. So we resort to what is comfortable, familiar and it’s called “first level thinking.” Yup. We think like everyone else does. Whether we call it a consensus, common knowledge, a groundswell of information—we are all thinking the same things at any particular moment. Sorry. The self-esteem and uniqueness thing you got drilled into your head is, well, less than you know. Anyway, my point is this. New and original ideas are hard to come up with. But, you know what? Those are the things that spring off the page. Clever ideas or twists or concepts that we are all familiar with but that we hadn’t thought of yet. Or maybe we haven’t looked at something that way. “Hey, this writer is right! I hadn’t thought of that,” you say, and continue reading because they have built a connection to what you find interesting, but they have something new to say. Need I say more?

Kathleen Delaney, author of And Murder for Dessert and other books, retired from real estate to pursue writing full time. Her long time love of small towns sent her looking through the Carolina’s for a new place to settle. Gaffney. Limestone College, a delightful historic district, and great library immediately drew her in. She lives in a wonderful 100 year old house, with a wrap around front porch, where she and her dogs can wile away a summer afternoon, and a big office, lined with bookcases, where she can spend her days writing. And, as always, reading.  Kathleen has returned today to talk about the perils of self promotion.

I don’t usually read comments on articles posted on the internet, but the other day one got my attention. It seems that a woman author of a couple of best selling chick lit books engaged in some very imaginative promotion. Her books evidently have a reputation for being funny, and as she has a new release, she decided to play on that. She hired a number of actors-I’m not sure how many-to take copies of her new book into crowded places, like the subway, Times Square, a popular New York deli, and pretend to be reading. And laughing. Extra emphasis on the laughing. Of course, while doing this, they were to hold the book in such a way that the cover was visible to one and all.

Mighty clever, I thought. A wonderful, quirky idea that just might work. But it seemed I was in a majority of one.

There were numerous comments about this article, mostly negative. Several people said they were so glad they had read the other comments because now they knew the book couldn’t be any good if she had to promote it that way. After all, if she had talent, it would automatically sell. Several others seemed to feel that they had been cheated in some way by the sheer fact that she had brought it to their attention and also vowed not to buy the book, or even check it out at the library. Others complained because she had the gall to try to promote her book at all.

The comments left me scratching my head.

Have none of these people been in a Barnes and Noble recently? Have they not seen the row after row of books offered for sale? You can get lost just browsing the stacks. When I go I carry water with me, just in case.

Have they not maneuvered around the stacks of “bargain books”? Authors cringe to think their book might end up on that shelf, but it’s better than having the book disappear into a warehouse somewhere, never to be seen again. Someone may pick it up off the bargain table and, who knows, they may even read it. And, if they like it, they may buy that author’s next book. Maybe.

And then there’s Costco. Tables piled high with best sellers and lots of not so good sellers as well. Occasionally someone will pick one up, crying, “I read the review of this one in Time. I forget what it said.” Someone else will say, “oh, this got a good review on NPR. At least, I think it was this one.” That doesn’t mean they are going to buy a copy. But at least they’re holding it in their hand, so they might.

Have none of these people logged on to Amazon lately? The amount of books offered is staggering. Some have great reviews, some don’t have any, but it really doesn’t matter. You have to somehow find the book before you read the review anyway, and unless you know what you are looking for, you can quickly become overwhelmed and buy a DVD instead.

There was a time when authors relied heavily on independent booksellers. The people who owned those wonderful stores actually read the new books that they stocked. Some of them, anyway. So, when a reader came in looking for something they could actually recommend a book, could point out a good new author, or help find that obscure research volume no one else had even heard of. Some even called up their regular customers and told them when a book came in that they thought their customer would like. But small-or large-independent bookstores are rapidly going the way of the dodo bird.

So what’s an author to do? He/she spent a couple of years, probably more if it’s a first book, writing it, a small lifetime trying to get it into print, and now it’s also up to him/her to get it sold. Publishers no longer have large budgets for promotion. Some don’t even have small ones. According to Garrison Keillor, the average author sells about 23 books in their lifetime, that’s books, not titles, mostly to close family members. My figures might not be exactly his but you get the idea. I think that means that the average author shouldn’t plan on book sales income as part of their retirement plan.

So, seriously, what’s an author to do? It’s hard to rely on those “maybe’s” for sales, and  harder still for retirement income.

Hire actors to read your book on the subway, that’s what. Those people who complained—at least they now know that book exists, and who knows, when they see it on the table at Costco they might forget they already didn’t like it. They just might buy it. Or at least pick it up.

I’m starting a new series. The first book takes place in the vicinity of Colonial Williamsburg. I’m already thinking about promotion, and I don’t even have a publisher for this one. But in today’s market, it’s up to the author to do any promotion that’s going to get done, and you can’t start too early.

So, I’m wondering, maybe I can hire people in period costume to—do something. Hummm. Six maids a milking? In Rockefeller Center? In front of the Today show window? Now, there’s an idea. Maybe I can get Matt Lauer to hold up the book. No? Oh, well.

Mary Jane Maffini is a lapsed librarian, a former mystery bookstore owner, a previous president of Crime Writers of Canada and a lifelong lover of mysteries. In addition to the four Charlotte Adams books, she is the author of the Camilla MacPhee series, the Fiona Silk adventures and nearly two dozen short stories. She has won two Arthur Ellis awards for best mystery short story as well as the Crime Writers of Canada Derrick Murdoch award.  She is having fun with the fifth Charlotte Adams adventure: The Busy Woman’s Guide to Murder (Berkley Prime Crime 2011) and

In this age of multitasking and time stress, we’re often run ragged without feeling any benefit from all that effort. But wouldn’t it be great if two things you love came together to bring happiness to other people and you got to have fun too?  Talk about bang for your buck! Finally, I’ve hit on a way to make this happen. A startling amount of my life is taken up by my twin obsessions: books and dogs. Wait! Let me begin at the beginning: At any given time I am writing or promoting one of my books or dreaming up another one, with my dogs nearby offering moral support and sometimes story ideas. Otherwise, I can be found reading other people’s books, with a pair of miniature dachshunds cuddled up to share the experience. The only problem with this blissful scenario is that sometimes I really should leave the house. And my dogs need a change of scenery too. Not that there’s anything wrong with spending your days under a blankie.

I have always loved children’s chapter books and story books too. I love also kids and shoes, but let me try to focus here. So I was thrilled to discover a program that brings dogs and young readers together in a way that helps pooch and kiddo. The R.E.A.D. program is under the auspices of Intermountain Therapy Animals www.therapyanimals.org.  R.E.A.D. stands for Reading Education Assistance Dogs ® Through this remarkable organization, dogs go into schools (and also libraries) and  children meet with the dogs for one-on-one reading sessions. Oh sure, the dog’s handler goes along too, but it’s the bond between dog and child that’s the key to this fabulous and effective program. No, the dog doesn’t read. I have been asked that hundreds of times! The dog sets the stage for a positive relaxed experience. Any child who may need a bit of extra practice, a comfortable relaxed place to gain confidence, an uncritical friend to read with, or just some special attention, can benefit from this. School staff choose the children to participate. The dog’s owner gets to have a wonderful time, but the dog and the child are the focus. This inspiring program is in hundreds of schools and is earning raves for participants and educators, cheers from children and woofs from dogs.

Daisy and Lily are both Therapy Dogs, having behaved just long enough to pass the tests, and Lily has now qualified for R.E.A.D as well. They look quite dashing in their jaunty red scarves. My local group, Ottawa Therapy Dogs www.ottawatherapydogs.ca operates this program in my area and they’ve been wonderful to deal with.

While Daisy is a huge hit visiting people with mild dementia, Lily prefers the company of children. She is looking forward to going to an elementary school in the fall, curling up on a fluffy blanket and meeting some new friends. We are waiting for our school assignment to be confirmed and we believe we’ll get the school we asked for. I’ll be along to lug that blanket as well as supply of books, stickers, bookmarks, hand sanitizer and other paraphenalia. You can tell that Lily enjoys practicing with Teagan and Connor,  the two newest family members. They’re too young for school, but they already love books with animals and Lily doesn’t want to get rusty waiting for the new school term.

There’s just one bit of suspense: I am about to take my Intermountain test. There’s lots to learn in this program and it’s important for all human participants to be well-trained and informed. I have my fingers crossed that I’ll succeed. Wish me luck!

I am grateful to Intermountain and to Ottawa Therapy Dogs for giving Lily and me a chance to do some good while doing what we love. For the first time in my life, I really can’t wait for school to start. I hope the kids will like my shoes if they pay any attention to me at all.

In order to share this experience and spread the word a bit, I have encouraged my dogs’ fictional counterparts, Truffle and Sweet Marie — the rescued miniature dachshunds in the Charlotte Adams mysteries– to take the tests. There’s plenty of suspense there as well! Truffle and Sweet Marie are very naughty little dogs. They are the first pets Charlotte has ever been owned by and they give her a run for her money. Will they pass the tests? Closet Confidential hits the shelves on July 6th, but don’t bet the farm on the results.  But there’s hope for the future, because anything worth doing, is worth doing well.  Take note, Truffle and Sweet Marie, if Daisy and Lily walked the walk, you can too. Sooner or later.

Does this sound like just the ticket for you and your amazing pooch, cat, guinea pig or rabbit to volunteer in your community? Then don’t forget to check out www.therapyanimals.org

Gerrie Ferris Finger is a winner of the Malice Domestic Best First Traditional Mystery Novel Competition. She lives on the coast of Georgia with her husband and standard poodle, Bogey.

www.gerrieferrisfinger.com

www.gerrieferrisfinger.blogspot.com

In our small community on the coast of Georgia, there are four book clubs. There used to be three. The members rotate holding the monthly meetings, and the size of the three clubs grew to the point where there wasn’t enough room for members to sit, to say nothing of the food and wine bills for the gathering.

I had my first book club appearance last week. I’ve never belonged to a book club, although I’ve always had a bookmark in at least one fiction or nonfiction book since I was old enough to read.

My mother, a great reader and club woman, never belonged to a book club. We lived in the country. There were quilting clubs (I can still feel the little needle pricks at the tips of my fingers), garden clubs, theater and symphony-going clubs, bridge clubs – you name a time and place where women gather, and there was a club for it.

It seems to me there is a proliferation of book clubs today. Is this Oprah’s doing? If so, good for her.

When my neighbor, Tina, learned that my debut mystery, The End Game, would be released on April 27, she invited me to appear at her book club, one of the four. I’ve also been invited to the other three clubs. There was talk of combining the four clubs for my appearance later in the year, but that was nixed because the event would have to be held outside where bugs in the South can get together and carry a person away. Also, hiring a venue was tossed out, but I objected to taking up a collection to pay for my appearance.

I’m delighted the clubs didn’t combine, because the intimacy of the evening was singular.  There were almost twenty members in attendance. Fifteen members are area snowbirds, now back in Massachusetts or Maine for the summer, away from the aforementioned flying creatures and sizzling atmosphere.

I had such fun getting to know these readers. I have to admit book club appearances have it all over signings. First, members have either bought, borrowed or checked the book out at the library, so there’s no selling like at a signing. Second, they’ve read it, so we can talk about the entire book.

As I said, this was my first experience at discussing the novel except with my editor, Ruth Cavin, who chose The End Game as the Best First Traditional Mystery Novel in the Malice Domestic/St. Martin’s competition.

So after introductions, Tina, my friend, asked me, “Is your heroine, Moriah Dru, you?”

I wasn’t expecting that opening salvo and laughed. How could I say she wasn’t me, at least in part, since I am her creator. But the truth is, if I had to re-create me ( being my own God), I’d create myself in Dru’s image. But no, I’m not nearly as high-minded, brave and dedicated to justice as she is. I was a reporter so getting the facts in a story right is important, but I learned a long time ago that justice is elusive.

My book club readers were interested in all the things writers are queried about: Are the characters modeled after people you know? Some. Where did you get your plot idea? From the news. Did you choose your book cover? No. Did you do research? A lot. Do you write with music playing? Not usually. I’m easily distracted. Have you ever hopped a train? Long time ago, when I was young and stupid, and I didn’t stay on it very long.

We discussed the ending of The End Game, which I can’t do here because mystery readers like surprises. One woman hadn’t finished reading the book and asked us not to discuss the ending beyond where she left off – which was right at the reveal point.

All but one member declared they hadn’t guessed the villain before the person (s) was exposed. When the unfinished reader said, “I think the guilty party is so-and-so,” everyone snickered. She grabbed her book and read on while we talked of other things. She was wrong.

I never asked if they liked the book, but most volunteered liking it very much to having been unable to put it down.

I have several more book club bookings, and I’m looking forward to each and every one. Yes, you get the usual questions, but one man asked, “Do you drink when you write?”

Put off momentarily (while holding a glass of wine), I asked, “Like Hemingway or Fitzgerald?”

He said, “I read where Hemingway said, ‘Good writers are drinking writers.’”  He laughed. “I’m saying you’re a good writer.”

I’ll take that as a compliment any day, and, no, I don’t drink when I write, or play golf.  In both, focus and discipline are art forms to me.

Thank you, Lelia, for inviting me to your forum.

Gerrie

http://www.gerrieferrisfinger.com

Carola Dunn: I was born and grew up in England. Though I spent many years in California and now live in Oregon, most of my books are set in England. My Daisy Dalrymple mystery series, set in the 1920s, now has nearly 19 titles (the 19th comes out Feb/March 2011), and the second Cornish Mystery, A Colourful Death, came out June 8th, 2010. [You can find further information at http://CarolaDunn.weebly.com, and on Facebook.] I have also written 32 Regencies, all now available as ebooks at http://www.RegencyReads.com.

When not writing, I read, garden, bird-watch, play the recorder, and walk with my dog, Trillian. I have two wonderful grandchildren (aren’t all grandchildren wonderful?).

Someone asked me recently how I came up with Manna from Hades, the title of my first Cornish mystery. That was easy: my protagonist, Eleanor Trewynn, finds a mysterious gift of jewelry among the donations to her charity shop. She thinks it’s appeared like manna from heaven, but when it leads to murder, heaven is obviously not where it came from! As a title, it’s short, catchy, reasonably memorable, and easy to say and spell.

Unlike my very first title, Toblethorpe Manor. No one can remember it. No one can spell it, and people frequently say it wrong. It doesn’t even give the impression of being a Regency. Why the editor who bought it didn’t tell me to change it beats me.

I managed to do it—or not do it—again with my first mystery, Death at Wentwater Court. It’s obviously a mystery, but no one can remember it and people say it wrong more often than right.

I like to think I’ve improved with practice! Some of my titles I’m really proud of. Styx and Stones, for instance, the 7th Daisy mystery, came to me all by itself and I then had to write a book to match. Obviously it called for poison-pen letters, so that’s what the story is about. Dead in the Water was one that really pleased me when I thought it up. The book was already planned and part-written. Not only are there bodies in the water but a boat comes to a halt, dead in the water. By the time I discovered that at least 6 other people had already used the title, it was too late. Ah well, you can’t copyright titles.

Sheer Folly, the latest Daisy book, is another memorable and appropriate title. In A Mourning Wedding, Daisy, who is a journalist, and her photographer friend Lucy plan to produce a book about the follies found in the gardens of the stately homes of England. In Sheer Folly, their book is almost finished, with one type of folly left to document. When they join a house-party at the stately home in question, the follies that ensue take a deadly turn.

And so to A Colourful Death, the second Cornish mystery, just out. I’m not sure how memorable the title is, and I know 99% of American readers are going to spell it wrong, but it fits a book in which a painter is the chief suspect in the murder of a fellow-artist.

I’d love to hear what you think of it. Will you remember it when you get to the library or bookstore (call me an optimist)?

Will you spell it right?