#TBRTuesday - Steve Berry's WARSAW PROTOCOL

I enjoy Steve Berry’s Cotton Malone novels (and his stand-alones). The suspense, mixed with interesting history and worldwide adventures, make for a good read. And it doesn’t hurt that Cotton owns a bookstore, too.

WARSAW PROTOCOL, the latest in the series, is set in present day with nods to present-day politics. I enjoyed Berry’s details about Poland’s history and culture. And he does a good job of depicting the tumultuous history of the region. His descriptions are detailed, and I felt like I was walking the streets of Warsaw or Krakow. And now I have to try a Dame Blanche.

Add Steve Berry to your TBR pile.

What’s up Next

I’m going read Kathy Reichs next. I’ve heard her speak twice, and I look forward to her Bones stories.

For more book ideas, follow me on Goodreads and BookBub.

What are you reading on #TBRTuesday?

It's All About Balance

Everybody’s world has been upended with the pandemic and all the changes it has caused. I work from home four days a week, and I report into the office on Mondays. In my new routine, I’m at my home office desk most days, starting about 5:30 AM. And I’m usually there until 5:00 or 6:00 PM. I really like that I can attend readings, workshops, and other events virtually, but that means I’m at my desk later in the evening or on weekends. The new normal requires some balance. Here are some ideas to help.

• You need to stand up and move around throughout the day. I miss my stand-up desk at work. I try to stand during conference calls, so I’m not sitting all day. I tend to stay stationary too long. I also bought a desk bike. I can pedal while I’m sitting. (The mute button is my friend when I’m pedaling.)

• Routines are important. If you can stick to a routine as much as possible, it helps. What works for me is to set my normal wake-up alarm for work days. I don’t set an alarm on days that I’m off or weekends unless there is something I need to do. This helps me separate the work and non-work days. They all tend to run together sometimes.

• Try to get outside when you can. Walks, jogging, hikes, and bike riding are all good ways to change the scenery.

• Many conferences and workshops have been cancelled, but a lot were moved online. There have been so many opportunities for virtual classes, readings, workshops, and conferences. Many of the Sisters in Crime chapters have opened their meetings to guests, and I have attended some really good presentations. I was able to hear presentation by Kathy Reichs (of Bones fame) recently which was outstanding, and I was able to attend the Murder and Mayhem Conference (normally based in Chicago).

• Many dance, yoga, and exercise classes have moved online. Our neighborhood dance studio offered free lessons via Zoom.

• My critique group has moved online, and I really like it. I miss hanging out and having lunch with everyone, but I find that I’m more productive. We usually meet in area libraries, and often it’s about a 30-40 minute ride for me (both ways). Now on critique group days, I have more time to do other things because there’s no commute.

• I’ve talked to a lot of folks who have said that they snack too much when working from home. The kitchen is just too convenient. I try to limit the junk I keep in the house (though there is always a stash of dark chocolate — I need that for writing days). I also try to keep meals on a regular schedule, if possible.

• I have binge-watched or streamed more TV/movies than I ever have. I’ve found a lot of interesting shows that I wouldn’t have watched otherwise.

What ideas would you add to my list? What’s been working for you lately? And have you purchased any equipment or tools for this work-at-home, stay-at-home time?

#ThisorThatThursday Interview with C. A. Rowland

I’m so excited to have author, C. A. Rowland, as my guest today for #ThisorThatThursday.

Things you need for your writing sessions: A quiet place where I can outside or if I am writing something atmospheric, music that fits the mood. That and my computer.

Things that hamper your writing: Interruptions and paying too much attention to what is going in the world so that I am distracted.

Favorite foods: I grew up in Texas and love having a cheesy plate of enchiladas.

Things that make you want to gag: I have never liked licorice.

Favorite smell: I love the smell of the ocean – the saltiness and the spray. Between that and the motion of the waves, it is so relaxing and soothing.

Something that makes you hold your nose: The smell of oil rigs in Texas. I never got used to that smell. Something you like to do: I love sitting down to a meal with family and friends. The luxury of being able to just listen and talk is something I wish I did more often.

Something you wish you’d never done: My cousins and I have a competition where when we visit we try to outdo each other for extravagance. The last one was a huge plate of ten scoops ice cream, toppings and whipped cream, where you received a t-shirt and your picture on the wall if you could eat it all. It took several days to recover from that, but I got my t-shirt.

Things you always put in your books: I love cats. They all have their own personality and they can really show not only their character but their owner’s.

Things you never put in your books: I don’t know that I could ever write a really gruesome death scene. I think the reason I gravitate to amateur sleuth and cozy mysteries is that I just don’t like all the gore and what it takes for someone to commit such a crime.

Favorite places you’ve been: This has to be Easter Island. It is the most wonderful place. So unique with the Moai statutes. The people are wonderful. And the food was excellent. I had fish that had been caught in the morning, the boat brought it to the dock and they walked it across the street to the restaurant for the noon meal.

Places you never want to go to again: I love Mexico and the Mayan ruins but there is so much turmoil that I don’t know I will ever go back. I met so many wonderful people when I was there but now I would think twice.

Favorite books (or genre): I love books that manage to pull me into a new world and let me experience it. It can be mysteries, fantasy and science fiction.

Books you wouldn’t buy: I don’t buy a lot of non-fiction. If I am interested, I’ll usually borrow it from the library rather than own it. Except for books that I use as reference for my writing.

People you’d like to invite to dinner (living): Ruth Bader Ginsberg. She’s had such an amazing life. I’d love to just sit and talk.

People you’d cancel dinner on: A serial killer. I can’t imagine ever wanting to spend any time with someone who values other people so little.

Favorite things to do: I love to scuba dive. There is something about being under the water and seeing the fish as the swim by or being in a lava tube or seeing a tiny seahorse holding onto an undersea plant. The quiet is amazing and having to concentrate on breathing makes you leave all the other stress behind.

Things you’d run through a fire or eat bugs to get out of doing: I hate dusting. That was my chore growing up and now I’d rather eat bugs than have to do it.

Things that make you happy: Watching my cat chase her tail. Knowing the rescue kitty has a good home now.

Things that drive you crazy: Traffic on I-95 heading into the District of Columbia.

Most daring thing you’ve ever done: I am afraid of heights to the most daring thing was jumping out of a plane. I didn’t manage to do it the first time, so I chickened out on this as well. It took me a week to get my anxiety under control, but then I went back and jumped. It was one of the most amazing and scariest things I’ve ever done.

Something you chickened out from doing: Parachuting the first time after my class.

About C.A.:

C.A. Rowland’s novel, The Meter’s Always Running, is the first in the Haunted City Mystery series. She has always loved traveling and exploring new places, from neighborhood empty houses to foreign lands with rich histories that draw her. She comes by her interest in ghosts, myths and legends and the paranormal naturally, having spent hours in cemeteries with her grandmother. Her work can also be seen in several upcoming volumes of Fiction River, Pulphouse Magazine and other short story anthologies.

Let’s Be Social:

website:  www.carowland.com

FB Author Page: https://bit.ly/carowlandFB

Twitter:  @carowlandauthor

Amazon page: https://bit.ly/themeter

#WriterWednesday Interview with Kathrin Hutson

I’d like to welcome author Kathrin Hutson to the blog for #WriterWednesday.

Things you need for your writing sessions: My 48-ounce water bottle, headphones playing genre-appropriate music without lyrics, a snack (usually a protein bar), and complete isolation in a room with a closed door.

Things that hamper your writing: Outside noise I can hear over my headphones, an empty water bottle, my kid knocking on my door (my husband’s a stay-at-home-dad, so she at least has supervision LOL), and the internet in general.

Things you love about writing: It comes so easily and naturally to me. Building characters. Getting into the flow. Supporting my family full-time on writing. The literal act of writing.

Things you hate about writing: Research. Something you wish you could do: Take care of more than one plant without somehow letting everything die.

Something you wish you’d never learned to do: Procrastinate.

Things you’d walk a mile for: A library, live music, the best sushi in the world.

Things that make you want to run screaming from the room: Loud chewing and being interrupted when I’m talking (I always forget what I was saying…).

Things you always put in your books: Darkness LOL. And death, humor, romantic streaks, violence, some kind of magic/ability, not-quite-happy-any-way-you-put-it endings.

Things you never put in your books: HEA. Characters losing themselves to love triangles. Romantic love being literally more important than everything else. Hate.

Things to say to an author: “I can’t wait to read your next book.” “I read [insert series name] last week and loved it!” “I’ve been listening to all your interviews.” “Found my new favorite author. It’s you!”

Things to say to an author if you want to be fictionally killed off in their next book: “I don’t really read.” “I just hope you care about spending as much time with your family as you do writing books.” (Yeah… << That one was a doozey.)

Favorite places you’ve been: Mexico. San Francisco. Nevada City, CA. Any aspen grove in the spring and summer.

Places you never want to go to again: Las Vegas, New Mexico (I know, not Nevada). Kanorado, KA.

Favorite things to do: Reading. Sit around outside during the summer and chat with friends. Dancing. Eating sushi. Discovering amazing whiskey. Date night at gourmet restaurants.

Things you’d run through a fire or eat bugs to get out of doing: Pull weeds LOL. Lie about my beliefs. Scrub shower tiles. Drive during rush-hour (haven’t done that in years).

Things that make you happy: Sunshine and breeze. The perfect cup of tea. Snuggling my kid. The smell of rain. A clean house. Playing music with other people. Anyone who laughs at my awful jokes.

Things that drive you crazy: People not using a turn signal. Online deliveries that don’t arrive when they’re scheduled LOL. My two 80-pound dogs literally barking at leaves blowing down the street. Folding laundry and finding everyone else’s clothes scattered all over the place the next morning.

Best thing you’ve ever done: Make the decision to forgive myself and move forward.

Biggest mistake: Taking as long as I did to forgive myself and not writing anything for four years. Then again, I wouldn’t really change anything, because it’s all brought me to where I am right now. So that might not even be a mistake.

Most daring thing you’ve ever done: Move across the country with my husband (not yet married, then) after we’d known each other for four months—no plan, no jobs, everything we owned packed into a Nissan Altima.

Something you chickened out from doing: I’m more the kind of person who knows my limits and says “absolutely not” the first time around… so I’m never really in a chickening-out position in the first place. I did one time agree to go skydiving with a friend. That definitely never happened.

The nicest thing a reader said to you: “Thank you for writing what you write. The world needs to hear it the exact way you’re saying it.”

The craziest thing a reader said to you: “I’m so disgusted, and I’ve lost all the escape I read fiction to find in the first place.”

About Kathrin:

International Bestselling Author Kathrin Hutson has been writing Dark Fantasy, Sci-Fi, and LGBTQ Speculative Fiction since 2000. With her wildly messed-up heroes, excruciating circumstances, impossible decisions, and Happily Never Afters, she’s a firm believer in piling on the intense action, showing a little character skin, and never skimping on violent means to bloody ends. In addition to writing her own dark and enchanting fiction, Kathrin spends the other half of her time as a fiction ghostwriter of almost every genre, as Fiction Co-Editor for Burlington’s Mud Season Review, and as Director of TopShelf Interviews for TopShelf Magazine.

She is a member of both the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America and the Horror Writers Association. Kathrin lives in Colorado with her husband, their young daughter, and their two dogs, Sadie and Brucewillis. For updates on new releases, exclusive deals, and dark surprises you won’t find anywhere else, sign up to Kathrin’s newsletter at kathrinhutsonfiction.com/subscribe.

Let’s Be Social:

http://kathrinhutsonfiction.com

http://facebook.com/kathrinhutsonfiction

http://instagram.com/kathrinhutsonfiction

http://twitter.com/exquisitelydark

 http://books2read.com/sleepwaterstatic

#TBRTuesday - Ellen Byron's PLANTATION SHUDDERS

What I’ve Been Reading…

I told you I read series out of order, but I’m finally caught up on Ellen Byron’s Cajun Country Mysteries, and I’m ready for the new one that comes out later this year. You have to check out Ellen Bryon/Maria DiRico. She is one of the funniest, entertaining cozy mystery writers. Her stories have so many good twists and turns, and they’re full of great characters.

My favorites are of course, Maggie, her amateur sleuth/artist who has returned home after a string of bad luck to help her family run a B&B in a restored plantation in Pelican, LA. I love the southern charm, the quirky characters, and the way Bryon juxtaposes the history of the area with problems and concerns of the modern era. I love Gran and Gopher (the Basset Hound).

Add this (and the rest of her series) to your beach bag and summer reading list.

What’s up Next

I’m reading WARSAW PROTOCOL by Steve Berry. It’s the latest in his Cotton Malone series.

For more book ideas, follow me on Goodreads and BookBub.

What are you reading on #TBRTuesday?

Things New Writers Need to Know

I had coffee this weekend with a twenty-something who wanted to talk about writing. Here are some of the things we talked about and some of the lessons I’ve learned along my writing journey (that I wish I had known at the beginning).

1. You may be very fortunate, and your book is the next international best seller that takes the world by storm. But for every one that tops the charts, there are thousands or millions of other books that don’t. Dream big, but be realistic in your planning.

2. If you are going to go the traditional route of publishing (querying an agent, submitting to publishers,…), you will find that it is a slow process with a lot of waiting. Use your time wisely and write your next book in the down time.

3. Writing is a business. It’s work. If you want to be an author, you need to put in the time to learn/hone your craft and market your book. But don’t get too bogged down in reading “learn to write” books that you never actually start writing. I have found two books that have been really helpful, Stephen King’s ON WRITING and Janet Evanovich’s HOW I WRITE. (I donated all the other ones that I bought to the Friends of the Library.)

4. Rejection, bad reviews, and negative comments are part of the process. They stink. Nobody likes them, but you need to be able to learn from mistakes and keep trying if you believe in your work.

5. Your book needs to be the best that it can be before you start querying agents/publishers. It is rare that you get more than one shot at an idea.

6. Read everything you can get your hands on. Read books in the genre that you want to write. Make sure you know the conventions (rules/traditions) and word/page counts for your genre. Follow readers that you like on social media and watch what they do.

7. Self-publishing and book marketing (even if you are traditionally published) can be expensive. You need to set your budget and plan your strategy and spending.

8. Publishing is a business. Make sure you have a statement of work or a contract if you hire someone to do work for you (e.g. editing, formatting a book, designing a cover, planning a marketing promotion).

9. Agents/Editors/Publishers receive a lot of queries. They are looking for fresh ideas that will sell. Your manuscript needs to stand out in a pile of others. You need a unique hook that draws readers in. They are also looking or quality work. If you don’t follow submission guidelines, have something that’s riddled with typos, or doesn’t follow the conventions of the genre, you make it easy for them to move it to the reject file.

10. Make sure you read all of your contracts and royalty statements and understand them.

11. There is no other feeling like typing, “the end” on your manuscript. Celebrate. But this is really just the beginning. You need to make this work the best it can be. Editors, proofreaders, critique partners, and beta readers are invaluable. It is a rarity that anyone’s first draft is in a state ready to be published.

12. Watch out for scams on social media. You will be bombarded with offers. If they seem too good to be true, they probably are.

13. Find a writers’ group, preferably in your genre. You need a network who can help with ideas and advice and celebrate your victories. My membership in Sisters in Crime, Guppies, and James River Writers has been invaluable.

I Have News!

My agent received three offers on my new series, the Jules Keene Glamping Mysteries. And over the Independence Day weekend, I signed a three-book deal. The first one launches October 2021.

#ThisorThatThursday Author Interview with Libby McNamee

I’d like to welcome author Libby McNamee to the blog for #ThisorThatThursday!

A few of your favorite things: Reading, Traveling, Visiting Historic Sites, My Friends, Comfort Food, Swimming and Biking

Things you need to throw out: Clothes that no longer fit me, but I hope they will someday; sentimental chotchkies; and random papers that I plan to refer back to someday

Things you need for your writing sessions: QUIET!

Things that hamper your writing: Constant distractions

Things you love about writing: Creating a labor of love from a blank page

Things you hate about writing: It often feels pointless

Hardest thing about being a writer: Believing in yourself enough to keep going when things aren’t coming together

Easiest thing about being a writer: Flexible hours!

Favorite foods: Chocolate, Twizzlers, Sushi, Anything Asian

Things that make you want to gag: Meatloaf, Stewed Tomatoes, Cooked Carrots

Something you like to do: Finding bargains

Something you wish you’d never done: Gone to law school

Last best thing you ate: Homemade Thai Lettuce Wraps

Last thing you regret eating: The frosted cookie for breakfast Things you’d walk a mile for: A bookstore!

Things that make you want to run screaming from the room: Someone chewing with their mouth open

Things to say to an author: “Congratulations! What a wonderful accomplishment!”

Things to say to an author if you want to be fictionally killed off in their next book: “Why haven’t you finished another one by now? Shouldn’t the second one be easy?”

Favorite places you’ve been: Mount Rushmore; Sedona, Arizona; Paris; Hawaii; Everywhere in Washington State; Vail, Colorado

Places you never want to go to again: Camp Bedrock in Tuzla, Bosnia, where I lived for six months as the only female officer when serving in the US Army JAG Corps

Best thing you’ve ever done: Publishing “Susanna’s Midnight Ride”

Biggest mistake: Not publishing it sooner!

Most daring thing you’ve ever done: Joining the Army

Something you chickened out from doing: Joining the State Department

About Libby

Libby McNamee is an author, lawyer, and veteran. She loves exploring America’s many historical sites. When a descendant told her the TRUE story of Susanna Bolling from Hopewell, Virginia, and her heroism during the Revolutionary War, Libby was determined to share it with the world. “Susanna’s Midnight Ride: The Girl Who Won the Revolutionary War” is her first published novel, geared to upper middle grade readers through old age. "Susanna's Midnight Ride" was named #1 in Juvenile Fiction by the 2020 Independent Publisher Book "IPPY" Awards. In 2021, she will release "Dolley Madison & the War of 1812: America's First Lady."

Libby served as a US Army JAG Officer in Korea, Bosnia, Germany, and Washington State. A native of Boston, Libby graduated from Georgetown University cum laude and Catholic University Law School. She has lived in Richmond since 2000.

Let’s Be Social

Website

Facebook: LibbyMcNameeAuthor

Instagram: libby_mcnamee_author

Twitter: @LibbyMcNamee

Goodreads: Libby McNamee

#TBRTuesday - Brad Meltzer and Josh Mensch

I love history almost as much as I love mysteries. I enjoyed Brad Meltzer’s show “Decoded,” and I have been a fan of his books for years. He always has interesting tales and twists on things we think we know.

What I’ve Been Reading…

I enjoyed Meltzer/Mensch’s THE LINCOLN CONSPIRACY: The Secret Plot to Kill America’s 16th President - And Why It Failed. He has a knack for making stories and history interesting. I love the detail in this about Kate Warne, America’s first female detective and the Pinkerton Agency. He and Mensch researched a lot of Baltimore history ahead of Lincoln’s first inauguration. It’s a fast read, and even though we know most of the players and the story, it’s a page turner to see how a small group prevented Lincoln’s assassination in 1861.

What’s up Next

I’m reading PLANTATION SHUDDERS by Ellen Bryon. Now I’ll be caught up on her Cajun Country Mysteries and ready for her next one.

For more book ideas, follow me on Goodreads and BookBub.

What are you reading on #TBRTuesday?