IWSG: Blogger Friends and a Cover Reveal

 

It's the first Wednesday of the month, and that means it's time for the wonderful people of the Insecure Writer's Support Group to come together! 

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! 

Each month we have an optional question, meant to spark a post or a discussion. This month's is, Blogging is often more than just sharing stories. It’s often the start of special friendships and relationships. Have you made any friends through the blogosphere? 

Finally, don't forget to visit our wonderful co-hosts: Louise - Fundy Blue , Jennifer Lane, Mary Aalgaard, Patsy Collins at Womagwriter, and Nancy Gideon!

 

Now for my post:
I would have to say that I have made more wonderful, supportive, and helpful colleagues than friends. I consider someone a friend when I have personal conversations with her, something a great deal less common than collegiality. But before anyone feels bad, I must also say that I value these collegial relationships highly. I would not be the writer I am without the generous help and support of many writers who may hardly know me, but are still willing to reach out a hand. And in the end, perhaps those are friendships. 

 

Writing check-in:
Writing is happening! Though I'm falling a bit behind with the short story collections, that's because I'm into the final layers of edits for Death By Donut, and have set it up for preorder... and I'm revealing the cover today! I think this is the best yet :)   

 

Here it comes...

 

 

 Closer...

Closer...

Ta-da!

Nothing ruins a perfect day like a fresh corpse with your morning 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!

 

Available now for pre-order at Amazon and Smashwords! Release date is April 25. The price for pre-orders is $2.99, and will go up when the book goes live!

 

 

 

Mystery Blogger Award

The Mystery Blogger Award was given to me by Jemima Pett in mid-June. I don't usually do these things, and I'm only half doing this. That is, I won't be tagging others to receive the award, not because I don't think the blogs I follow are super (because many of them are), but because it feels too much like a chain letter. But since Jemima tagged me, I'm going to answer her questions and I'll toss out some of my own for you to answer in the comments!

 

The Rules

Rule 1: Put the award logo/image on your blog.

See above.

Rule 2: List the rules.

… here….

Rule 3: Thank whoever nominated you and provide a link to their blog.

Thank you, Jemima Pett.  I really appreciate the kind thoughts and kind words, not to mention your constant support of my blog and my books.

Rule 4: Mention the creator of the award and provide a link as well.

About the creator: Okoto Enigma’s blog The creator’s name, Enigma, means mystery, thus the title of the Mystery Blogger Award.

Rule 5: Tell your readers three things about yourself.

1. I am not a Ninja or a librarian, but I do work at the library and I love books, and turning people on to books.

2. With a nod to Jemima's 2nd factoid, I am hopelessly left-handed, and drove my grade school teachers to despair as they tried to teach me to write legibly. I was saved first by the electric typewriter and then (by the time I finished my undergraduate work) by the word processor.

3. I love to hike and backpack as much as I love books. That's why you find backpacking trip reports mixed in here among the book reviews.

Rule 6: Nominate 10 to 20 bloggers.

Here's where I break the rules. No. I won't, especially not 10 or 20. Good heavens, don't these people understand math, and exponents? Pretty soon every blogger in the blogosphere has one of these awards.

That pretty much invalidates Rule 7 & the first part of 8:

Rule 7: Notify those people.

Rule 8: Ask your nominee any five questions of your choice, plus one weird or funny question (and answer the ones you were asked).

Here are the questions, and my answers:

1. What is the most memorable trait or visual oddity of a fictional book character you’ve read?
   (Example: Harry Potter’s lightning bolt scar.)
   • This requires some thought. It would be easy to say that it's Auggie in Wonder, though we don't really know what his face looks like, only that it's deformed. But probably the best for me is Pippi Longstocking and her long red braids. A close look at my profile photo will clarify that choice.
2. What most motivates you to buy a new book to read?
   • I don't buy many, and usually it's either the fill-a-bag sale at the library fundraiser, or a visit to a museum or National Park book store, where I find the most amazing gems of obscure history and natural history, which are about the only books I buy anymore.
3. How do YOU make an educated guess as to if a book by an author you haven’t read before will be “good” BEFORE you read any of it? (Number of books sold, number of reviews, average star rating, awards it received, friend suggests it, the cover, etc)
   • The cover catches my eye first, then I read the blurbs. I don't usually go to reviews, though a review by a trusted reviewer (see Jemima Pett, above) may send me in search of a book, as have discussions on Goodreads.
4. What’s your favorite comfort food. (Pic? Recipe?)
   • Chocolate Crazy Cake. Dump all the ingredients* in the cake pan, stir, and bake. Impossible to ruin, and really tasty, especially with chocolate sauce poured over it. So maybe I should just say that when in doubt, I turn to chocolate.
5. Where do you look for blogging inspiration?
   • Anywhere I’m allowed.  And some places I’m not allowed.  <---That's Jemima's answer, but I couldn't invent a better one.

Weird/funny question: Do you have a celebrity encounter story you can share?

• I'm sorry to say that I don't. I generally don't recognize faces, so I wouldn't know if I was standing in line for coffee behind a celebrity. 

Finally, here's...

Rule 9: Share a link to my blog’s best post.

 Tough choice. I have no idea what my best post it. But here's a short story I rather like, out of the many I have shared.
Daliah
And here are gratuitous photos of the Canadian Rockies.

So...once again, thanks to Jemima for giving me the excuse to goof off a little! And here are my questions for you to answer in the comments:

1. What is your favorite dinner food?
2. What is the most memorable trip you've taken.

  ***

 *Okay, fine, here's the recipe, for an 8X8 cake:
1 1/2 cups flour
1 cup sugar
3 Tbs baking cocoa
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt (or a bit less)
1 Tbs vinegar
2 Tbs oil
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup water.
Like I said, put it all in the pan, stir until mixed, and bake 30 minutes at 350 deg.

©Rebecca M. Douglass, 2017
As always, please ask permission to use any photos or text. Link-backs appreciated!

A to Z Reflections

Well, April is over. I survived the A to Z Challenge (and I trust you did too, Dear Reader). Time for the Reflections post, wherein we consider what and how we did.

First, I managed to do all 26 posts. Only a couple were written at the last minute, so I think I did pretty well at staying ahead, even though I was gone for the first week and had no access to my blog. So the basic requirement was fulfilled.

Theme: I enjoyed my theme, and I think readers did too. Using lots of photos was clearly a win, and also fun (but at times rather time-consuming, especially when a topic sent me to the slide archives and the scanner). This was really just a variation on last year's theme (National Parks and Wilderness areas), which was also a great excuse for a lot of pictures. My biggest concern was that it wasn't  what I usually do with my blog, which is mostly write reviews and short fiction. On the other hand, I did do some of those, and since last year I have been putting more photo days into my blog. So maybe I didn't go too far off.

Visiting: I get about a D- on this one. I was scrambling all month (not just with the blog; I had other things that ate up my time) and didn't have enough time or energy to go wandering about the blogosphere. I'll have the chance to remedy some of that during the A to Z Roadtrip, and starting with the Reflections. In a way, I like that better, as I am likely to see what the blogs are about when not doing A to Z. Sometimes I follow blogs during the event only to find that their regular subject matter is of little interest to me.

Visitors: I don't think I got as many visitors as last year. I think the reason for that is directly related to my lack of visiting. Let's be honest: A to Z is about building audience, and you do it, oddly enough, by being an audience. Tit for tat, as it were. I didn't do much tatting, so... On the other hand, the visitors I had seemed to enjoy themselves. I hope a few of them will also check out my guest from B is for Mt. Baker, because Tom Dempsey is a fantastic photographer, in addition to being my brother-in-law.

Bottom line:
Let's be honest. I blog in large part to let people know about my books. I do that in part, oddly enough, by writing about other people's books, as well as by writing short fiction. If my blog isn't making people interested in what I have to say, then there's a problem. The thing is, you also have to build an audience. A to Z is about that, and it is not a bad way to do it.

But...this year, I don't think it worked. I spent almost all my writing time on the blog, meaning my books didn't get worked on. And because I didn't have time for visits, I didn't get a lot of views. I think that, much as I enjoy the fiesta, I need to think hard next year about whether or not to do it. I might also need to ask myself if I'm doing too many other things and prioritizing them over my writing (answer: yes. Some of them need to be prioritized, some need to be ruthlessly dumped). I enjoyed creating my posts, but I need to work on my books. I committed a couple of years ago to making my writing a "real job," but it hasn't much looked like it this winter.

And one last, gratuitous photo to close with, an almost-abstract from the Eureka Dunes in Death Valley National Park that has nothing to do with the discussion at hand.

It's a long and winding road...

Deja Vu Blogfest!

Thanks to Jemima Pett for tipping me off about this one! It's a brilliantly simple concept: Bloggers D L Hammons and Nicole Zoltack invite you to sign up on their linky to join the party. On December 19, instead of writing a brand new blog post, re-post a favorite from earlier in the year, maybe one that didn't get as much attention as it deserved. Then use the time you saved to hop around and see some of the best posts of the year, and maybe discover some new blogger friends. Oh, and grab the badge and spread the word! That's all there is to it.

The 19th is a Friday, so I will pick one of my stories to post again. A quick look through the year gave me a short list, so I will emulate Jemima and see if any of you have a favorite. These are all stories I liked a lot, but that didn't get many, if any, comments (so I will presume they got few readers).

• Cartographer's Potion (fantasy)
• Twisted Love (a tribute to L.M. Montgomery's gothic side)
• ...And His Dog (a tale from Skunk Corners)
• Under the Oak (a love story in 10 chapters)
• Battle Dogs (another sort of fantasy)

Leave a comment if you remember one particularly fondly!


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I like this idea, and I like the reminder that sometimes it's okay to go back and give something another chance at daylight. Maybe I should make that my A to Z theme...recycling!

T: Ten Things I Didn't Do

 

Today's topic is talk about tasks that time has taught me thorough types tackle (but I didn't, both during the A to Z and more generally about my writing).  (I thought about writing about taxes, but I've finished with that annoyance, and don't want to think about it--nor do I particularly want to risk sharing my dubious decisions).

These first five are about the blogging thing:

1.  Because you already figured this out, I didn't write a post for today.  Or even figure out what it was going to be (I don't consider a vague note of "something about Tess?" to be a plan).

2.  Housework.  Blogging is a great deal more fun than housework.  Oh, I've kept the laundry done and fed people most days, even swept the kitchen and dining room a couple of times.  But please don't look too closely at my dust bunnies.  They are getting large and savage.

3.  Talk.  I haven't made enough time this month to talk to my friends.  It's very easy for an introverted writer to crawl into a cave with the computer and not emerge.

4.  Visit.  I'm guilty of failing to visit as many blogs as I'd like, though I think I've hit everyone who's left me a comment.  Where do people find the time for this?!

5.  Prepare.  Next year (and yes, I'm already planning on doing the next A to Z!) I want to prepare more posts in advance.  Prepare, plan, and execute, so that I can spend more time reading.

Six through ten are about writing, and publishing:
6.  Plan ahead.  I wrote the book, then I started thinking about covers, formatting, etc.  The sad thing is. . . I did it again with the second book, which is why instead of it coming out in Feb. as promised, it's still not out.

7.  Invest.  Spend a little to make a little.  In other words: hire a cover artist.  Maybe an editor, but especially a cover artist, because without a decent cover you just don't sell books.

8.  Build a platform before you publish.  Everyone says to do it.  Unfortunately, for many of us, once we've published THEN we start reading about how to promote our books.  But you know what?  Since my indie-published book is not under the gun to reach a certain level of sales by the end of six months, that's okay.  I can take my time and learn the ropes and get there by and by.  Or not.

9.  Perfect my record-keeping.  After figuring out the taxes, I noted that I now knew how to keep my records (what categories to use, etc.) to make it easier next year.  I can't help noticing that I haven't changed my record keeping yet.

10.  Pick an age and genre and stick with it (in a particular book).  The Ninja Librarian  grew organically out of stories I wrote for my co-workers, and only when I had about a dozen did we start to think it was maybe a kids book, maybe YA (turns out not).  So the poor Librarian hovers between the children and the adults, and no one is quite sure where to put him.  So I'll clarify: the Ninja Librarian  books are completely suitable for kids, and adults will get even more out of them.  Some of the humor verges on slapstick, some is more subtle.  I think the story works either way.   But, from a purely marketing standpoint: don't do this at home, kids!


On the up side, there are a few things I've done and want to keep doing: I've read a lot of books this month, after a bit of a slump where I was just noodling around on line.  And I've been finishing books.  That's something to be proud of.

Announcing the A to Z challenge

Okay,  I've done it.  Signed up for the A to Z challenge, along with a couple thousand other bloggers.  Six days a week for four weeks, more or less.  Why?  To see if I can, mostly.

What is the Challenge?  A kind of cool idea thought up by Arlee Bird--and a big thank-you to our Challenge founder!  Basically, the Challenge is a public commitment to blog every day but Sunday in April, which gives you 26 days--one for each letter of the alphabet (click here to learn more).  To make it more fun, and maybe even a little easier in some ways, you make each post somehow relate to the letter assigned that day.  Today being the First, the letter is A, thus the Annunciation.

Many bloggers choose a theme, and I wanted to do that, but still keep it to something that matches what I usually do here.  So my theme is "reading and writing."  Pretty much the theme all the time.  I'll still have the Kid Lit Blog Hop on the 1st and 3rd Wednesdays, and I'll get the Progressive Book Club out within a day or so of the target, on "P".

And at the end of the month,  I hope that I will have proven to myself that I can write a little more every day (I'm not letting myself off the hook for the 300 words new text and 5 pages of editing that I set as my minimum) and still get the meals cooked and laundry done.  And maybe I'll scare up (as opposed to scaring off) a few more followers.

I've laid out a plan, with a few things you can expect:
--Kidlit reviews on Wednesdays
--Favorite mystery authors on Mondays
--Flash Fiction Fridays (or Saturdays, depending on a few things like what posts fit what letters best).
--Progressive Book Club will be a day late again, so it lands on "P"
--utter chaos by the end of the month

And a special bonus note that Jemima Pett is doing a big give-away of children's books, including an e-copy of The Ninja Librarian (with a review to come on the 13th, L for Librarian).  Check it all out with her adorable guinea pigs, Fred and George, from her Princelings of the East series!

Why do I blog?

A number of discussions I've read recently, as well as my tossing around the idea of tackling the A to Z challenge, have led me to ask myself about this.  What am I doing?  Why am I blogging, and for whom?

In some ways, the answer is easy: I started blogging because "everyone" said you have to blog as an author, to build a "platform" and an audience.  So, since it was free (nearly--I bought my domain name for ten bucks) I wandered into the blogosphere and started bloviating--I mean, blogging.

Another answer, now that I'm doing it, is that it's kind of fun.  I like having a place to "publish" that flash fiction and other short stories that don't really have an outlet otherwise (I'm very fond of "Blackberries" and even had some interest from a couple of magazines, but the format made it take up too much space--the blog gave me a chance to get it out of my desk drawer and share it).

But perhaps the time has come to put some actual thought into what I'm doing and why.  And when it comes right down to it. . . I don't know.  The reasons listed above may be adequate, but the point is, I haven't really thought about it.  I'm just doing it.

So here, after some actual conscious, post-first-cuppa thinking, is my idea: blogging makes me feel like a writer.  It feels like I'm working, and--and this is not to be sneezed at when you are a stay-at-home parent and independent writer--it has deadlines.  Even if the deadlines are self-imposed, setting a a schedule for blog posts feels more hard-and-fast than saying "I'll finish my book by March."  People are waiting for those posts!  (Yeah, right.  But a girl can dream).

And, finally, I blog because I've been blogging.  That's right: habit.  I'm still struggling to discipline myself to work on the novels every day (especially when writing=editing), but I've managed to make a habit of blogging.

And that has to be good.

Learning to be a blogger

Oh, my, I am always the last to figure these things out!   I just discovered tags, or (as they are called in Blogger for some reason, Labels).  So, let's see. . . I've figured out how to post a blog, buy a domain name (but not how to use it for more than this blog, sigh), and about how often to post (two to three times a week seems good).  Now I figure out that there are ways to make people find you when they are looking for something else. 

I knew that.

Makes me wonder what else I'm missing, as I struggle to move from the 20th Century to the 21st.

A partial list:
Twitter
Facebook
Um. . . I'm pretty sure there's more social media out there.  The trouble is, all this social stuff is sort of contrary to what writers do: sit in a room alone and write.  Or is it?  We want an audience.  Social media is all about audience.

Social media: conversation for unsociable folks?

This is giving me a headache.