Holiday Time Management Ideas for Writers

Thanksgiving has come and gone, and the December holiday season is fast approaching. It should be a time of celebration, but it's stressful when there are too many tasks and obligations. And somehow, my schedule always gets crazy in November and December.

Here are some ideas for managing to celebrate and still work on your writing and book marketing.

1. Create a bank of blog posts when you have extra time. That way, when you're in a crunch, you can use one that is already ready to go.

2. Schedule blog, Facebook, and Twitter posts in advance, especially for days you know you'll be busy.

3. Find an hour or two on your calendar and block it off as writing time. I cut TV/movie time when I need more writing or editing time.

4. Get up early (or stay up later) to write, blog, or post to social media. My house is really quiet in the morning, and I get a lot done before the family and guests are up and ready for breakfast.

5. Use your social media mobile apps. When you are standing in line, check your social media sites, respond to comments, or do a quick post or tweet. It's a great way to keep up with emails too.

6.Take pictures of the fun and festivities. They're great for sharing to Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Google+, and Pinterest.

7. Use a calendar to keep up with the "must do's." Some electronic calendars (like Google) can be shared with others. There is also a variety of software out there to help manage tasks. Trello is a fun, easy one to use. You create electronic "cards" to manage projects or large efforts.

8. I try to get the holiday shopping done and wrapped early. It just takes some of the pressure off.

9. You can say no and not feel guilty. You don't have to participate in everything. I was asked to be a part of a cookie exchange one year. The idea is to bake one dozen cookies for every participant. I ended up baking ten dozen cookies. It's a nice idea, but I really didn't need the cookies I brought home. And it was more work and stress than value.

I hope you have a wonderful holiday season. With a little organization, it can be a fun season, and you can still have time to write and do your book promotions. Happy writing!

10 Holiday Gift Ideas for the Book Lover in Your Life

Thanksgiving is next week. Fall snuck up on me this year, but I'm going to do better with Christmas. My goal is to have everything purchased and wrapped by early December. Fingers crossed.  Here are my favorite sites for holiday ideas for the book lover in your life.

1. Café Press has a great selection of literary t's for men, women, and children. They also have ones for movies, TV shows, and pop culture icons.

2. Think Geek has great gadgets and gifts for Harry Potter and Star Wars' fans. It's also home base for gifts for any geek or nerd in your life.

3. The Library of Congress' gift shop has a wide array of book and book lover gifts.

4. Etsy is a great site for fun, literary and author gifts. I've purchased wine charms, bracelets, stickers, and bookmarks from a variety of vendors. I use them for giveaways. Type in "literary gifts," and you'll have your choice of hundreds of vendors.

5. UncommonGoods had lots of stocking stuffers for the reader or writer in your life. Type "reading gifts" in the search box.

6. GoneReading has a great collection of bookworm gifts. My favorite are the book plates. I'm going to have to put them on my list.

7. Shop PBS has some fun ideas. I need to order the Great Gatsby t-shirt and these Scrabble magnets.

8. Amazon has everything. I like the collection of infinity book scarves. I've seen these on Etsy and other sites too.

9. Storiarts has infinity scarves, decorative items, and these great writing gloves from a variety of books and authors.

10. The Writers' Store has gifts for writers, movie makers, and film buffs.

Best wishes with your holiday shopping. My hope is to get the tasky stuff done early, so I can enjoy the season. Wish me luck!

25 Things about My Sleuth - Delanie Fitzgerald of Falcon Investigations

Secret Lives and Private Eyes is the first in my Delanie Fitzgerald mystery series. She is a private investigator who lives in Central Virginia. And I’m often asked about what my protagonist is really like. Here’s my top-twenty-five list about my spunky sleuth.

1. Delanie is a redhead like 1-2% of the human population (and me). She has determination, grit, and a spunky spirit.
2. She drives a Mustang, and she calls it “Black Beauty.”
3. My private investigator graduated from VCU (Virginia Commonwealth University) with a degree in business.
4. She lives in a Sears catalog home from 1939. Back then, people ordered kits from the catalog, and all of the pieces arrived by rail, ready to assemble. Hers is the Yates model. Many of the boards in her bungalow still have the Sears catalog number stamped on them.
5. Delanie's bungalow has an upstairs. Her bedroom and living space are on the first floor. She may have a remodeling project in her future.
6. Her partner is computer guru (and hacker), Duncan Reynolds.
7. She shares her office space with Duncan and his English bulldog Margaret.
8. One of Delanie’s guilty pleasures is her junk food habit. She also orders a lot of take-out from the nearby restaurants.
9. When she’s not sleuthing or trailing a suspect, she likes to stay home in her comfy jammies and watch reality TV.
10. Growing up, Delanie had a major crush on ‘80s rock star, Johnny Velvet from The Vibes.
11. Her middle name is Lynn.
12. Delanie has two older brothers. Steve is a Chesterfield County police lieutenant, and Robbie is a bouncer at a club in downtown Richmond.
13. She used her share of the money from her father’s estate to open Falcon Investigations.
14. Delanie chose the name for her company in honor of Dashiell Hammett’s The Maltese Falcon.
15. Her client, Chaz Wellington Smith, owns a strip club in the downtown area near where Edgar Allan Poe worked in Richmond.
16. Delanie had never seen an alpaca up close until she encountered Myrtle on John Bailey’s farm in Amelia County.
17. Delanie’s best friend from school is hair stylist, Paisley Ford.
18. Though she prefers the comfort of jeans and T-shirts, Delanie has a wardrobe full of outfits and shoes to create just the right look when she’s sleuthing.
19. Her favorite drink is iced coffee, and her go-to treat is always chocolate.
20. Delanie and Duncan usually investigate cheating spouses. She is thrilled when she lands an assignment from tell-all author, Tish Taylor, to track down leads on rocker Johnny Velvet, who purportedly died in a fiery car crash in the ‘80s.
21. While the story is fiction, many of the locales that Delanie visits are real. Some of these include: Amelia County, Belle Island, Byrd Park, Church Hill, The Diamond (Home of the Richmond Flying Squirrels), Kanawha Canal, Library of Virginia, Main Street Station, Shockoe Slip, Tredegar Iron Works, and Virginia Museum of Fine Arts. Readers who have been to Central Virginia will recognize some of the street and place names.
22. Delanie got her first name from my niece's friend, and her last name is in honor of F. Scott Fitzgerald, one of my favorite writers.
23. Delanie's home and office are in Chesterfield County, Virginia. I liked the location because it's close to the city and rural parts of the state. It's also within driving distance to the beach, mountains, and Washington, D.C.
24. She loves a variety of music, but rock 'n' roll is her favorite. A great escape is to blast the radio with the windows down.
25. While she has enough culinary skills to survive, cooking is not her forte, and she often forgets to keep the pantry and fridge stocked.

Playlist: Songs about Writing

Music is a big part of my writing journey (and life). I always have some sort of music playing while I write, edit, or work. And the organizer in me always wants to make lists, so here's my big playlist of songs about books, writers, and writing.

1. "Dancing in the Dark" Bruce Springsteen
2. "Everyday I Write the Book" Elvis Costello
3. "Eyes Without a Face" Billy Idol
4. "I Am A Rock" Simon and Garfunkel
5. "I Be Bound to Write You" Muddy Waters
6. "I Write the Songs" Barry Manilow
7. "Lady Writer" Dire Straits
8. "Losing It" Rush
9. "Mr. Writer" Stereophonics
10. "Open Book" Cake
11. "Oxford Comma" Vampire Weekend
12. "Paperback Writer" The Beatles
13. "Piano Man" Billy Joel
14. "Rewrite" Paul Simon
15. "The Book I Read" Talking Heads
16. "The Book I'm Not Reading" Patty Larkin
17. "The Book of Love" The Monotones
18. "The Book of My Life" Sting
19. "The Empty Page" Sonic Youth
20. "Unwritten" Natasha Bedingfield
21. "When I Write the Book" Nick Lowe
22. "Write Your Own Songs" Willie Nelson
23. "Writer's Block" Just Jack

Here are some about specific books and authors.

1. "1984" David Bowie
2. "Feed my Frankenstein" Alice Cooper
3. "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road" Elton John
4. "Hemingway's Whiskey" Kenny Chesney
5. "Hey, Jack Kerouac" 10,000 Maniacs
6. "Romeo and Juliet" Dire Straits
7. "Sylvia Plath" Ryan Adams
8. "The House on Pooh Corner" Kenny Loggins
9. "Walt Whitman's Niece" Billy Bragg and Wilco
10. "Tom Sawyer" Rush
11. "Virginia Woolf" Indigo Girls
12. "White Rabbit" Jefferson Airplane
13. "Wuthering Heights" Kate Bush

And don't forget about the band, American Authors.

7 Ways to Help Your Friendly Neighborhood Author

After my short stories and novel were published, I was a little surprised at how much marketing is involved in the writing journey. If you like a book, here are some quick ways you can help spread the news (and help out your friendly neighborhood writer).

1. Leave a review on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Goodreads, or other book sites. It doesn't have to be a long, detailed literary analysis. It can be a couple of sentences. Book retailers use the number of reviews for ad placement, author ranking, and marketing.

2. Tell your friends about the book and the author. Word of mouth is the best endorsement.

3. Share the link to the book or a book review on your social media sites.

4. Request that your local library purchase the book.

5. If you're in a book club, nominate it as a future read. Many authors will visit or Skype with book groups.

6. If you blog, post about your favorite books and authors.

7. Buy the book for yourself or for a friend. Books make great gifts. My author friend supports other authors by buying the book and then doing a give-away on her site. I love this idea.

Authors are small business owners, and they always appreciate recommendations, referrals, and social media shout outs. Happy reading!

Which Author Events Should You Do? How Do You Decide?

I love meeting readers and writers at book and writing events, and I'm fortunate to have quite a few near me. But as a writer, how do you decide which ones to participate in -- especially when your primary job is to write your next work? Traveling and marketing are an investment of your time and money.

1. ROI (Return on Investment) should be a consideration. Selling books is important. But I've done events at indie book stores where we didn't have a great turnout, but the store ended up selling a case of books during the week when there was more foot traffic. I've also made some invaluable contacts at events. Sometimes, building relationships is worth more than selling tons of books. If there is a cost for a table or an event, you need to consider whether or not it is worth the effort and value. If you've never attended the event, ask around to see what other authors have experienced.

2. I try a lot of events (at least once). We've done several over the years where the readers weren't my target audience (mystery). I attended and had fun, but I probably won't go back.

3. I believe in helping other authors, so I do a lot of writing workshops. Again, you may not sell hundreds of books, but you do make contacts, build email lists, and pick up fans and followers.  

4. I am also fortunate to be a part of several writing groups, and we plan events and signings together. There is nothing worse than sitting alone at an author's table. When we band together, our social media and fan reach grows exponentially. Plus, we often carpool, and that saves some money.

5. We've done some signings at some unconventional places for mystery authors (e.g. a Hallmark/gift store, a gas/restaurant/gift store complex on the way to North Carolina's Outer Banks, a winery, several museums, and several farmers markets). You would be surprised. We've sold more books at places like this than traditional book stores. Be creative when you book signings.

6. Be prepared -- no matter what the event. Make sure you have business cards, bookmarks, or postcards. Sometimes, folks don't buy a book at the event, but if you have something to give them, you may make a sale or referral later. I even take bookmarks on vacation. We stop at a lot of little gift shops that sell books.

7. I appreciate the events that do a lot of publicity, and I always make sure to share, tweet, and post. I want to be a part of groups that are organized and interested in building their audience. (I've attended several events, where there was little to no publicity. Surprise, surprise, the attendance wasn't that great either.) 

Best wishes for the marketing of your book. It's a lot of work. I logged over 2,000 miles this year for book events.

Growing up as a "C.K." and How It Inspired My Love of Mysteries

I'm a "C.K." (Cop's Kid). I had a great, but sometimes unusual childhood. But I wouldn't trade it for the world. I think it played a huge influence in my love for all things mystery.

As a small child, I'd go with my dad to the shooting range. One of my first jobs was to collect shell casings in a metal peanut can when he was done firing. Those suckers were hot. You had to be careful.

He was the SWAT commander in the 1970s, and they needed practice bullets. I sacrificed a ton of crayons for practice ammunition. What other elementary school kid knew how to melt crayons and fill shell casings?

In first grade, my dad was the BEST for career day. He arrived in a police car, and then he had the police helicopter fly over and land in the field next to the school. He was way cooler than the insurance salesman. I still owe him for that one. He and the helicopter pilot were a hit!

One summer evening, my sister and I learned how to use a night scope. It was fun to watch the neighbor's dog illuminated all in green.

But NEVER watch police shows with law enforcement professionals. There were very few police dramas that my dad liked because most were too "Hollywood" and not real. I loved "CHiPs," and I never heard the end of it about Ponch and Jon not even riding their own motorcycles. (I didn't care that they were towed behind a truck.) But this stuck with me, and as a mystery writer, I do a lot of research to make my stories as accurate and plausible as possible. And my dad, now a retired police captain, is my best resource on police procedures and crime scenes. (The only police shows that he liked were "Hill Street Blues," "NYPD Blue," and "Barney Miller.")

As a C.K., I learned respect for guns and law enforcement. I am still a fan. Our police, fire, and first responders are heroes. They risk everything every day. I too vividly remember when my dad was called out for emergencies, and I wondered whether or not he'd come home that evening. These men and women (and their families) give up a lot in service for us. He worked just about every holiday, and we was right in the middle of every emergency or crisis.

While it wasn't a "normal" childhood, we had some interesting dinner conversations, and it was a wonderful time that I wouldn't trade for anything. Happy Father's Day, Dad!

It's Almost Book Launch Day!