CRIME ON MY MIND

Practice makes perfect!

I don't know how many times I heard that phrase growing up. Practice makes perfect. Half-an-hour of music each day, practice your cursive writing, arithmetic tables, reading skills, table manners, ice skating...it's what we're told to do in order to get ahead. Some of it paid off. And for that, I thank my parents. Although I still grumble that I didn't get to take ballet at an earlier age. Or piano. Or join the basketball team. Grumble, grumble.

These days, the same tenet still holds. Practice makes perfect (a state still being sought and slightly out of reach in most, okay, all instances.) But I try to get a half hour of practicing my choir music in every day; I practice tidying the house as I go along rather than leaving it all to one day; ditto for doing the filing.

It's also important with writing. Now that I'm starting book #4 in the Ashton Corners Book Club Mysteries, I'll start out with that rule as a very minimum for each work day. Because, in spite of all my good intentions, I never did write the book last fall. I kept waiting to see if it was wanted and then, I'd find other things that needed doing. All very legit at the time. So, now it's time once again to get back to the series. And I know that if I practice writing each day -- at least 15 minutes -- it helps.

I know the end product will be more disjointed than I'd like. But that's what second drafts are for. I enjoy the process of reading through and adding the details, fleshing out the southern Alabama town and the lives of the book club members. Of being 30-something Lizzie Turner and seeing the world through her eyes. There is hope. I know I'll get back into the groove. She's waiting there for me in that first draft.

I'd heard about the 15-minute rule before but it had to be a thousand words or nothing for me. And that demand one makes on oneself can be debilitating. My advice to self is, back off, visit with Lizzie and friends for at least 15 minutes a day (it can be done even with a busy schedule), make time for friends.

What advice do you give yourself when writing?

Linda Wiken/Erika Chase

READ AND BURIED
Berkley Prime Crime, now available
A KILLER READ, also available at your favourite bookstores and online.
COVER STORY available for pre-order; coming Aug. 2013.

WICKED WEDNESDAYS

Things noted!

My life is a series of notes. These would be the ones I've written to myself. They say such things as "Dig up irises". I need that reminder because by this time of year, the iris plants out front are hidden by numerous flowering bushes. And, I really do need to move them so that next year they'll bloom out in the open.

I also have notes such as "oil change" and "change Brita". I post these in my agenda for a date three months from when they've been done. My "To Do" list also has post-it notes attached at odd angles, add-ons and the like.

Birthdays are written on the wall calendar in CAPITAL LETTERS. Highlighter points out the days bill payments are due. Some notes get posted in duplicate in two different locations, making it more difficult to ignore. Others are punctuated by lots of exclamation marks!!!

My latest note written just an hour ago reads, "Midge". That's the name of a new character in my new book. It just came to me while I was reading the morning paper. I didn't see the name in print, although I was scanning the Obits. It just came to me and I liked it. These things do happen and frequently when plotting a new book. I have a collection of bits of paper with jottings, quotations, references, list of possible titles, etc. that I've shoved into a brand new file folder marked, #4. As I transfer these to a computer file by the same name, I trash the paper trail. The act of writing these items a second time, when transferring to computer, helps to ingrain the thoughts in my consciousness and usually leads to a longer writing session as the ideas start flowing.

With this book, having the extra time, I'm also looking at different ways of plotting. This entire process is exciting as anything is possible and after all, what doesn't work or what seems silly when re-visiting, can easily be deleted. Then it's just a matter of locating all those new notes and being thankful for post-its.

Linda Wiken/Erika Chase

A KILLER READ
Berkley Prime Crime, now available
READ & BURIED, coming Dec., 2012
www.erikachase.com

MAYHEM ON MONDAY

Meet the new baby

It’s a bit like an early announcement of a blessed event: another new book on the way. As the book’s creator, like an expectant mom, you feel a bit shy. Hesitant. There’s a hint of a blush in your cheek. On the other hand, what if something goes wrong? But you have to stiffen your spine. Because, really, an author does have to let people know when a new book is going to be ‘born’. And as your book family grows, people will comment about how these little volumes are being published at such a rate. Some will make remarks of the ‘Have you found out what’s causing it?’ variety. Har de har. Are they hinting at the need for literary birth control?

Shyly, you give the book’s name: I’ve decided to call it The Busy Woman’s Guide to Murder. It is the fifth in the Charlotte Adams series.

Then one day, the cover arrives. FedEx! It’s real. It’s not just a jumble of words on pages, second thoughts, corrections, obsessions and red ink. The book is alive. It breathes. The cover flats take a place of pride on your fridge. The digital version will replace your photo on Facebook (or your dogs’ photo perhaps). You will be adding the title to your sig line and dropping it into conversations, blogs, chats in the grocery line and greetings to neigbours. You’ll probably sing it in the shower. Bookmarks featuring the new cover will be slipped casually onto counters at your hairdresser, bank, post office, you name it.

This baby is real! It can be preordered. Reviewed. Discussed. Put on wish lists.

You enjoy the moment and try to drag out the good feelings as long as possible. The next big deal won’t be until your author copies arrive and you head into the book launch phase. You’ll soon be busy dropping into bookstores and turning your ‘baby’ face out on the shelf, leaving bookmarks in key areas of the store and shaking the manager’s hand, while grinning like a maniac.

And then the reviews will start. In the book world, this is the equivalent of ‘Will everyone realize that my baby is beautiful?’ Hint: some will; some won’t.
In the meantime, it’s good to get some sleep while you can. Soon enough you’ll be lying awake worrying about those reviews as well as early sales and ‘numbers’ on certain online book vendors. All to say, I am enjoying this phase when I have all the promise of the cover and the sky’s the limit.

That reminds me, there’s a cover for The Busy Woman’s Guide to Murder in this very blog. So, tell me, friends, do you think the new baby’s beautiful?



Mary Jane Maffini rides herd on three, soon to be three and a half, mystery series. You can check them out at www.maryjanemaffini.com