What's in Your TBR Pile?

Disney Dog and One of My TBR Piles

My "To Be Read" (TBR) pile is huge. Actually, I have two - one in the den, and one on my nightstand. When I die, there will probably still be a stack of unread books. When we moved to this house, we didn't have a lot of furniture, but we had boxes and boxes of books. Just about every room as at least one bookshelf.

My grandparents and parents started my love for books and reading a long time ago. Someone asked me recently if I read differently as a writer. I'm not sure if it's because I'm a writer or whether it's because of a busy schedule. But I do notice differences in my reading habits lately.

I used to feel obligated to finish every book I started. Now I give myself permission to quit if the book doesn't grab me. If novels are riddled with typographical or grammatical errors, I usually put them down. Since I do a lot of writing and revising, typos and stylistic errors jump out at me and scream. I like plots that move. I get annoyed with mysteries that I can figure out in the first half of the book.

My free time is limited. I work full-time, do volunteer work, and write. I tend to be more selective in what I read. I read what I like, and I don't follow best-seller or popular book lists like I used to. My favorite genres are mysteries, histories, and biographies.

I read ebooks on my iPad. I love the convenience of downloading anywhere and taking a library with me. But I still like the feel of paper.

What's in your TBR pile? Have your reading habits changed?

Book Signings: The Weird, The Wacky, and The Wonderful

I love book signings and panel presentations. I enjoy meeting and talking to readers and other writers. Though my writer friends warmed me when I started that I'd be asked numerous times where the bathroom was. Their other sage advice was for me to bring candy - lots of chocolate candy. 

I am part of an anthology series, and we did over fifty-four events in a year and a half to promote Virginia is for Mysteries. I learned early in my writing career that book signings are always more fun with other authors. It's a party with the anthology authors get together. But we did have some wonderful and unusual experiences...

At my very first book signing, I pocketed my pen and phone and left my purse in my car. I signed one book, and the pen died. Thankfully, mom was there to rescue me with a spare. I now pack a bag with all kinds of supplies and giveaways.

I had the great pleasure to sign a book for Dr. Hal Poe (descendant of the Father of the Mystery) at the Poe Museum in Richmond, VA. I also had the opportunity to meet Dashiell Hammett's granddaughter at an event in Raleigh, NC. Two fan girl moments for me!

At one of our signings in North Carolina, a man asked the authors at my end of the table if the book had any stories about aliens in it. When we told him no, he proceeded to tell us about how he had been abducted from a farmhouse and the time he spent on a spaceship. He went into great detail about bright lights and probes.

We did a mystery panel in Charlottesville one year, and we were seated on a small stage in a large lecture hall. Afterwards during the signing, a woman told me that I needed more lipstick. I wasn't quite sure how to respond. I thought she was selling cosmetics or drumming up clients for a makeup business. After a long pause, she said, "Your lips disappear in the back of the room." I guess, she just wanted me to wear darker lipstick.

And on more than one occasion, people have asked me to read and critique their manuscript (which they happened to have in their car). My answer is always to talk about my critique group and my writing group. And how they are wonderful resources for constructive feedback.

We are in the process of scheduling events for our second anthology, and my debut novel, Secret Lives and Private Eyes comes out on June 20.  I look forward to all the fun and the great stories.  Do you have any wacky or wonderful signing experiences?

Yvonne Saxon and Me in Virginia Beach, VA

Meredith Cole, Me, and Jayne Ormerod at the Library of Virginia in Richmond, VA

Rosie Shomaker, Teresa Inge, Vivian Lawry, Me, Maggie King, and Yvonne Saxon at the Poe Museum in Richmond, VA

Cover Designs - Which do you like better?

My publisher has posted two cover designs for Secret Lives and Private Eyes. Please stop in and vote for your favorite. The book is slated to be released on June 20. Many thanks!

Click here to vote.

How Much of Your Mysteries are Based on Truth?

Recently, I was asked, "How much of your mysteries are based on real events or places?"

I do a mix of real and fiction in my short stories and novels. All of my city settings are real places. I tend to set my works in Virginia cities and counties because I write what I know.  If a crime occurs, I make up that location's name. I wouldn't put a horrific or violent event at a real restaurant or store. But if you've been to the real cities, you'll recognize landmarks and street names.

I get ideas for crimes and capers from real cases, but I usually take liberties with the details. In my short story, "Washed up," a beat up suitcase washes up on Chick's Beach, and it's filled with some mysterious contents. Back in the 80s, there was a real case where suitcases filled with body parts did wash up on beaches on the East Coast. In my story, I thought it would be interesting for beachgoers to find something old and sinister in an unexpected place.

I carry a notebook with me wherever I go, and I am always jotting down names and interesting tidbits that might one day make their way to a story.

I base some of my characters on combinations of real people. I blend characteristics of several real people to make an interesting fictional person. And phrases that family and friends say frequently appear in my stories. I have two co-workers who keep asking me to make them villains. I haven't done that yet, but I do hint from time to time that unruly team members will end up in a dumpster in a future story.

I use friends and family member's names for minor characters. In Secret Lives and Private Eyes (out May 2016), my sleuth, Delanie Fitzgerald, gives herself all kinds of aliases in her investigations. These are usually names of friends and family. And every once in a while, you'll find police, EMTs, or FBI agents named after my favorite authors, rock stars, or actors.  

One of my oddest writing moments happened when a woman with the same name as one of my main characters followed me on Twitter. What a fun surprise!

One of my favorite mugs...

What I Learned from Dan Roam's Blah, Blah, Blah...

Dan Roam's Blah, Blah, Blah: What to Do When Words Don't Work is a great book on communication. He has wonderful suggestions for how to get your message across in communication, work sessions, and brainstorming events. 

This is my favorite quote from Roam, "Words are magnificent. When used well, words help us think, make us feel, let us remember, tell us the truth, show us the way, help us understand, unravel the complex, gather us together, and give our lives meaning" (p. 27). All writers need to remember that. What you put on paper can be powerful.

Here's what else I learned...

• We either share too much information or not enough. Don't cause "Death by Detail." This is key for writers. Don't overdo the details.
• We are often surrounded by words, especially in business communications, that contain no real meaning.
• If pictures matter so much in children's stories, why do we stop including them when kids start reading. Pictures are important for communication and brainstorming.
• Using words and using words well are two different things. Great advice!

Check out Roam's book. It's worth it.

Ways Writers Can Use Pinterest

I love Pinterest. It's my big electronic scrapbook for thousands of great pictures. I didn't get interested in the site until I ruptured my Achilles tendon, and I was stuck on the couch for months.

I have boards (the containers you create to group pictures) for crafts, DIY projects, funny memes, recipes, and places I've been or dreamt about.

Writers can use this social media platform to highlight their books.

1. Build a board for your book. Post pictures of what characters would look like, what actors you want to play them in the movie, locations where they visit, and things they like. I have a board for the anthology series that I'm a part of. It's Virginia is for Mysteries, and I have pictures of all the sites mentioned in the stories.

My author friend, Mary Miley, has a board for her 1920s mysteries with all the items from that era.

2. Build boards of your favorite books and authors.

3. Make boards for themes in your book (e.g. pets, historic sites, locales, fashion, foods, knitting, etc.) My writer friend, Mollie Cox Bryan, writes a scrapbooking-themed series. Her Pinterest boards are loaded with ideas and templates.

4. Create boards for your author events and upload photos of signings, panels, and workshops. Make sure to include links in the descriptions when you upload photos.

Let's connect on Pinterest. I can be found at: https://www.pinterest.com/crazyforwords13/

I Have News...

I have a signed contract for the publication of my debut mystery novel, Secret Lives and Private Eyes. It's slated to be published in May 2016. I'm also have a story, "Spring Cleaning," in Virginia is for Mysteries Volume II that comes out in February.

The novel has been years in the making. I stared this about three years ago after burying two other manuscripts in the bottom of my desk drawer.

And now the fun really begins...

Location, Location, Location...The Importance of Setting in Your Work

I attended two panels at Bouchercon 2015 on the importance of setting to your novel, especially your mystery. Donna Andrews moderated "Crime Beyond the White Picket Fence" with her panel, Tom Franklin (who tells the funniest stories about armadillos), Maya Corrigan, LynDee Walker, and Judy Penz Sheluck. Katrina N. Holm's moderated, "Danger and Death in Suburbia,' with Greg Hemen, Mary Sutton, and Lori Roy. Both groups emphasized the importance of where you locate your story. They also focused on smaller communities, rather than large urban areas.

Crime set in small towns are more personal than those committed in the bigger cities. And here's why...

1. In small towns, everyone knows everyone else.

2. Small towns are surrounded by swamps, forests, and farms, all great places to hide a body.

3. Small police forces often don't have quick turn-arounds on forensic investigations. The body often has to be sent to a larger city, and that gives the amateur sleuth some time to figure out the crime before the expert.

4. Murder in a small community is more frightening. Crime destroys the trust of a close-knit group.

5. Suburbia used to be the ultimate goal of the American dream. This changed with the economic downturn, and it's led to the rise of crime outside of the urban areas.

6. The suburbs are often the femme fatal that lure people with the promise of the perfect life.

7. Small towns and suburbs are where the families and the secrets live.

And secrets are always key to a good mystery.