BOOK LAUNCH MONDAY: Double the Fun with Shannon Baker and Jess Lourey

Web mistress Lisa here. We have a fun guest post for you today! Jess Lourey and Shannon Baker are touring the blogosphere on their monster Lourey/Baker Double Booked Tour. I'm so glad they joined us here on InkSpot. Check out the bottom of the post for their giveaways. Welcome, Shannon and Jess! ~Lisa

Shannon and Jess Talk Character Arcs

Shannon here. Thanks Inkspot, for giving us a place to stop on our month-long road trip. We concocted the Lourey/Baker Double Booked Tour when we found out both of us (Jess Lourey and Shannon Baker had books releasing on September 6, Jess’s thriller with Midnight Ink, Salem’s Cipher, and my debut in a new series, Stripped Bare.

Today it’s my turn to pick the topic, and I want to chat about character arcs. Specifically, I want to talk about how, over the course of your writing life, your protagonists and antagonists have changed? That’s probably confusing, so I’ll go first.

While I never set out to write autobiographical characters, bits of my attitude or the tone of my life seems to soak into my books. I can almost chart my personal life from my main characters. Annie was the protagonist in my first published book. When I wrote that, I was trying to keep a million balls in the air with kids and jobs and dealing with a cheating husband in a town of 300 people. I got more than a few comments on how cold and bristly Annie was. I thought she was stoic and strong.

Jess: You’re really onto something here, Shannon. When I wrote May Day, the first in my Murder-by-Month mysteries, I was reeling from the unexpected death of my husband. It’s an uneven book, and my protagonist is all about trying to solve the unexpected death of her lover. There’s humor in it, but so much darkness in Mira, the main character, so much holding people at arm’s length for fear of getting hurt. That question, “how much of your main character is you?” is so complex, isn’t it? Shannon, did you find that true in your Nora Abbott books that you published with Midnight Ink?

Shannon: When I started the Nora Abbott books, I’d left my Sandhills home and struck out on my own. I was in a new and wonderful relationship, but was unemployed, in a new town, and full of angst. While, again, I thought Nora was capable and smart, I wanted to show that inside, she maybe wasn’t as put-together as everyone thought. At least one reviewer thought she was whiney. Whiney?  Really?

But over the course of that series, as Nora came into her own, she gathered confidence and fortitude, becoming more of the woman on the inside that she projected on the outside. Coincidentally, my life finally started to settle down and though I’m still a mess of insecurities on the inside (I’m a writer, after all) I wasn’t nearly as rattled about life when I wrote the last in the series, Tattered Legacy, as I was when I wrote the first, Tainted Mountain.

Another thread running through my characters is mother issues and cheating husbands. I can see myself working these things out in my books.

Jess: That is one of the many reasons we get along so well, Shannon. Both of us (through our characters) work out cheating issues, though my characters land firmly in the camp of father rather than mother issues. It’s interesting because I just finished my first nonfiction book, tentatively titled Better than Gin: Rewrite Your Life, and it’s about exactly this process of writers working issues through their characters, and how the process is not only healing but creates great fiction. I also sometimes wonder if we make friends when we write. Specifically, that we create characters that we’re either like to be or to be with. Do you find that?

Shannon: Kate Fox, the star of Stripped Bare, is someone I’d really like to hang out with. While she’s got some problems to deal with, a cheating husband for one (I don’t know where I get my ideas) she’s got a healthy sense of herself. She’s confident, even though she’s not sure about her future, and she’s not afraid to take action. She’s a combination of a team player—she’s in the middle of eight brothers and sisters—but craves her independence. And she’s got a sense of humor, which saves her.

It took me nearly a decade since I left the Nebraska Sandhills to be able to laugh about it all. If I’d written Kate any earlier, she’d be laced with bitterness. I’m not a big country music fan, but I always think about the Rascal Flatts song Bless the Broken Road. I thought it was a love song but now I think it’s a faith song. Anyway, I like the chorus and the idea that our experiences, good and bad, bring us to the people we are now. And when the time is ripe, bring us the characters that tell us their stories.

Jess: Beautifully said, Shannon Baker.

Giveaway: Jess and I are each giving away copies of our new books Salem’s Cipher and Stripped Bare. For a chance to win, leave a comment.

But wait, that's not all!

If you order Salem's Cipher before September 6, 2016, you are invited to forward your receipt to salemscipher@gmail.com to receive a short story and to be automatically entered in a drawing to win a 50-book gift basket mailed to the winner's home!

If you order Stripped Bare before September 6, 2016, you are invited to forward your receipt to katefoxstrippedbare@gmail.com to receive a Kate Fox short story and be entered for a book gift basket mailed to your home.

We’re picking up our bags and traveling on so please join us as the Lourey/Baker Double Booked Tour heads to Hey, There’s a Dead Guy in the Livingroom on Wednesday.

Jessica (Jess) Lourey is best known for her critically-acclaimed Murder-by-Month mysteries, which have earned multiple starred reviews from Library Journal and Booklist, the latter calling her writing "a splendid mix of humor and suspense." She is a tenured professor of creative writing and sociology, a recipient of The Loft's 2014 Excellence in Teaching fellowship, and leads interactive writing workshops all over the world. Salem's Cipher, the first in her thrilling Witch Hunt Series, hits stores September 2016. You can find out more at www.jessicalourey.com, or find her on Facebook or Twitter.

Shannon Baker writes the Kate Fox mystery series (September 2016 from Tor/Forge). Stripped Bare, the first in the series, features a sheriff in rural Nebraska and has been called Longmire meets The Good Wife. Baker also writes the Nora Abbott Mystery Series, a fast-paced mix of murder, environmental issues and Hopi Indians published by Midnight Ink. Baker was voted Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers’ 2104 Writer of the Year. She writes from the Colorado Rockies to the Nebraska Sandhills, the peaks of Flagstaff and the deserts of Tucson. www.shannon-baker.com

FEBRUARY RELEASES!

By: Maegan Beaumont

Take a look at the fantastic Midnight Ink has to offer this month!

 Death & the Redheaded Woman
By: Loretta Ross 
An Auction Block Mystery #1
“Ross’ thoroughly entertaining debut combines smart details about the auction business with two engaging mysteries and a uniformly appealing cast. Fans of small-town cozies, especially those by Denise Swanson, will love this, as will mystery readers who double as thrift-store aficionados and followers of auction reality shows.”—BOOKLIST (STARRED REVIEW)

Drawing Conclusions
By: Deirdre Verne 
A Sketch in Crime Mystery #1
"Verne's mystery is a winner, with plenty of twists and turns, an intriguing heroine and an ending that shocks in more ways than one."—KIRKUS REVIEWS

February Fever

By: Jess Lourey 
The Murder-By-Month Mysteries #10

“Lourey skillfully mixes humor and suspense . . . the characters are wonderful and wacky, and the mile-a-minute pace never falters.”

—BOOKLIST (STARRED REVIEW)

INKSPOT NEWS - January 4, 2014

Here are the new releases from Midnight Ink for January, 2014. They're all fantastic reads!

Dying to Know by TJ O'Connor

“O’Connor’s debut . . . provides plenty of suspects and an eclectic mix of motives among the living.” —KIRKUS REVIEWS

January Thaw by Jess Lourey

"Who can resist a mystery that includes a daredevil octogenarian sidekick; a flashy, plant-whispering mayor; some really bad villains; and a little girl ghost?"—BOOKLIST

 Murder Strikes a Pose by Tracy Weber

“Weber’s debut, which launches the Downward Dog series, should appeal to anyone who likes canines, yoga, and a determined sleuth. ... Cozy fans will eagerly await the next installment.” —PUBLISHERS WEEKLY

The Company You Keep

What a great week to be a Midnight Ink writer. Actually, it’s way more than just a week but there has been an avalanche of good news crashing down recently.

Left Coast Crime conference, a gathering to celebrate mysteries that takes place in a different western city each year, announced finalists in their contest. What fun to see Midnight Ink writers on that illustrious list. Darrell James and Beth Groundwater are nominees in The Rocky category, which is a book set in the geographic area covered by Left Coast Crime. Jess Lourey is nominated for an award in the humorous category, The Lefty. And Catriona McPherson has a book in the Bruce Alexander Memorial Mystery, for historical novels.

                  .

Can you say, “Wow!”

And then it gets better.

Kathleen Earnst recently won the LOVEY in the historical category at Love Is Murder in Chicago.

And drum roll, please…

G.M. Malliet (three times now) and Catriona McPherson are up for Agatha Awards given by Malice Domestic.

Alan Orloff had an Agatha nomination in 2010. And last year, Darrell James won a Left Coast Crime award, The Eureka, for a first novel.

Now it’s going to get dicey because I’m going to forget a whole ton of other good news. But let me mention that Vicki Doudera got a great review from the world’s snarkiest review site. I know Alice Loweecey and Lois Winston have posted some terrific reviews, as well.

I’m tickled for all the recipients. I imagine their glow and it makes me plum happy for them. I’ve met most of the writers I just mentioned and to a person, they are warm, funny, smart, generous and all around amazing specimens. I can only imagine the others are equally superior humans.

But, as Ayn Rand was ever-so-fond of saying, “There is no altruism.”

While I’m truly happy for these M’Inkers, I’m downright giddy for me.

My father always told me, “You’re known by the company you keep.” Yes, he was a wise man, but I don’t think he made that up.

I would be surprised if I ever win a prestigious award and Kirkus may always hate me. But someone, somewhere, at one time,(Terri) thought I wrote a book good enough to be included on the roster with these stellar writers.

That thought swells my chest more than the Miraculous Uplift bra I got from Victoria’s Secret.

By the time of my next Ink Spot post, my first book in the Nora Abbott Mystery series will have launched. Readers may love it or hate it. But for right now, for this brief moment, I get to revel in the success of my publisher and the fine writers they’ve accumulated and believe I am one of them.  

 

I am just so darned proud of Midnight Ink and all these folks. (And sorta proud of me, too.)

Newsletters: Wondrous or Waste of Time?

By Deborah Sharp

I'm wrestling with one of my extremely infrequent urges to send out an author newsletter. I think I have something to say: After coming out with a Mace Bauer Mystery for the last four years in a row, right around this time of year, 2012 will come and go without a new ''Mama'' title.

Two questions are nagging at me:  Does the lack of something new fall under the category of news? And, are author newsletters over anyway?

Friends and readers accustomed to these regular fall releases have been asking, What's up with the Mama? One pal even took to Facebook to speculate whether Mama's author (me) had been eaten by one of the infamous iguanas slinking around southern Florida.  When I was a reporter, I occasionally wrote a  ''Where Are They Now?'' feature -- basically revisiting someone who used to be in the news to see what happened after they fell off the media map. I figured I'd do the same for my fictional family from Himmarshee, Fla. Whatever happened to Mace, her sisters, and their wacky mama . . . ?

But newsletters are a lot of work, and I'm basically lazy (see paragraph above, about how I didn't get around to having a book to release this year). So I've been wondering whether sending out my e-news is worth the trouble. On one hand, I do want folks to know what's cooking with my crew. (Book 5, MAMA GETS TRASHED, will be out in September 2013.) On the other hand, see references to laziness, above.

I'm hardly the first writer to ponder author newsletters. My fellow Midnight Ink'er, Jess Lourey, addressed the issue briefly here at Inkspot way back in 2010. (Her post was a funny one, about worst promotional ideas ever. )

''Unless I only get them once a year and they are for an author whom I love, I don't read them,'' she wrote then.


So, Jess, you have read all my previous Mama missives from Himmarshee, right?


Karin Bilich at Smart Author Sites offers some do's and don'ts in this article about author newsletters . Turns out I already violated the top rule, since I never thought about building a mailing list during the first year or two of book signings and appearances. Dang! I could have had tens of possible recipients, too. I've also never included an excerpt or run a contest, which are another couple of newsletter ''do's.''

Maybe I'll get around to that in this year's newsletter (BTW, sending only one letter a year is a don't.)


If you want to see whether I do or don't, go to my website  to sign up for my newsletter. Scroll down to find the sign-up box on left of page, under my amazingly youthful author picture. Hey, you can always unsubscribe, right? (Including an unsubscribe option is another newsletter do.)

How about you? For or against author newsletters? What do you like about them? What do you hate?

The 10 Things I Learned at Left Coast Crime

A guest post by Jess Lourey

1. It's okay to be a humorous mystery writer. Really, it is. Left Coast Crime is the only conference that celebrates the art of combining murder with mirth. They offer the Lefty Award for best humorous mystery, which I'm proud to say I was nominated for. And lost. I'm considering putting that on future book covers: "Lefty-losing author Jess Lourey…"

2. Self-publishing ebooks can be profitable, and as of right now, Kindle (Amazon) is where most of that money is being made.

3. If you are considering self-publishing, there is an awesome site called CrowdSpring where authors can post a description of their book for thousands of graphic designers to read. The designers, usually a couple dozen per book, will each create a book cover based on the description. If the author sees one she likes, she can buy it, usually for a couple hundred dollars. If she doesn't like any of them, she doesn't pay.

4. Book trailers are a waste of time and money *unless* they help the reader to connect with the writer, either by answering interview questions or talking about places/people/events that inspired the book and maybe filming at associated locations. Laura Lippmann and William Kent Krueger both do this well.

5. Harley Jane Kozak, the conference’s toastmaster, wears size 9 shoes. She also starred in Arachnaphobia! How cool is that?

6. Along that same line, did you know that Parnell Hall, panelist moderator at Left Coast Crime, wrote the screenplay for C.H.U.D.? I cornered him by the ATM and made him admit to it. I think he thought I was making fun of him, but I'm a sucker for campy horror movies. Give me a glimpse of a zipper in the monster's back, and I'm yours for life.

7. It is incorrect to refer to a Scottish accent vs. a British accent, as Scots are also Brits. Thanks for this, Simon Wood. I blame the American education system for my ignorance.

8. Volunteer at any conference you attend. It's the best way to make connections, particularly for us introverts, and you can feel good at the same time.

9. The television and film industries are going the way of the music and book industries in that they are becoming democratized. Some of the best TV shorts and films are coming from independent people with no connections to the industry, no formal training, and little money.

10. Bring your own books to a conference, if you can. The on-site bookstores can only bring in so much, but they're often happy to sell on consignment.

11. I know, I know, the title says ten, but I didn’t really learn this one; I already knew it: Keith Raffel, Vicki Doudera, Shannon Baker, William Kent Krueger, GM Malliet, and Catriona McPherson are all fabulous people to hang out with!

Jess Lourey is the Lefty-losing author of the humorous Murder-by-Month mysteries. November Hunt was released March 2012, and in a starred review, Booklist says of it, "It's not easy to make people laugh while they're on the edge of their seats, but Lourey pulls it off!"

INKSPOT NEWS - FEBRUARY 4, 2012

The nominees have been announced for the Left Coast Crime 2012 awards. Congratulations to:

• Jess Lourey on her nomination for The Lefty (best humorous mystery novel) for her Murder-by-the-Month mystery Octoberfest.

• Darrell James on his nomination for the Eureka! (best first mystery novel) for his first Del Shannon mystery Nazareth Child. 

Inkspot News - July 23, 2011

Lots of press this week for several Midnight Ink authors.



Two items for ROBIN ALLEN's clean, humorous amateur sleuth mystery, If You Can't Stand the Heat.

1. Virginia Wood, long-time food editor of the Austin Chronicle, wrote a wonderful review in the current issue.

"My most enjoyable reading diversion so far this summer has been a new culinary mystery..."

2. For one week (7/20/11-7/27/11), Amazon.com is selling the Kindle version of the book for $2.99.

* * *

DEBORAH SHARP's Mama Sees Stars (September 2011) received a starred review in Library Journal.

"This zany fourth entry in Sharp’s series is a feature worthy of the big screen...The mystery aisles can always use more humor, and Sharp delivers..."

* * *

JESSIE CHANDLER's Bingo Barge Murder was featured on local Minnesota station KARE11 as a great summer read.

"If you like funny, fast-paced Minnesota flavor..."

* * *

For one week (7/20/11-7/27/11), Amazon.com is selling the Kindle version of JESS LOUREY's Knee High by the Fourth of July for $1.99.

Dangerous: Writing while Reading, by Jess Lourey

What, if anything, do you read while writing? For me, usually nothing. I’m a full-time teacher and a mother of a 12 and a 9 year-old. I also have a wonderful boyfriend, serve on the national board of the Mystery Writers of America, am active in Tae Kwon Do, and volunteer in my community. When I add writing a novel on top of that, reading is usually the first thing that has to go. However, the young adult novel I’m working on at the moment requires a great deal of research. I find myself writing in fits and spurts, broken up by necessary reading, and it’s driving me crazy!!! I can’t meet my 2000-word-a-day minimum, and I feel like a humongous slacker.

So maybe this post is more about asking how you all make time for writing. I get asked that question regularly, of course. Every writer does. One time, a couple years ago, I half-jokingly (which=embarrassingly true) told a reporter that I have time to write novels because I don’t watch TV, have a social life, or shower on the weekends. That become the two-page, full-color headline for the article, over a photo of me with my 19-year-old cat in my arms: “I Don’t Have a Social Life and I Don’t Shower on Weekends.” This is how cat ladies are born, people. Shame combined with the realization that personal hygiene is negotiable.

Nowadays, when I teach creative writing for MWA-U and am asked how I make time for my writing, I gently correct my students. We all make time for what is important, I say, so the question is not how to make time for writing but how to make writing important to you.

That answer works great as long as you’re not under deadline, right? I need to get this YA novel done by September 1, the December book in my Murder-by-Month series by December 1, and I hope to have a magical realism novel completed by May 1, 2012. I had it all within my grasp, right up until I realized I had far more research to do for the YA novel than I had allotted time for. So I repeat: how do you make time for writing, especially when it requires researching?

On a profoundly unrelated note, last month, my publisher kindly put forth June Bug as a free ebook download. Tens of thousands of copies were downloaded, and even more exciting, the sales of the other five books skyrocketed. You know what else? The entire six-book e-series is still in the top 10,000 ranking for Amazon.com’s Kindle downloads, weeks after June Bug has returned to full price. Thank you to Midnight Ink for their brilliant support and inventiveness, and for allowing me this opportunity to reach a new group of readers.

And finally, this is my last post for Inkspot. I’m going to toot my own horn and say that starting this group blog was my idea a few years back, and it’s morphed into this amazing thing through the efforts of some of the best writers in the business. Thank you for your time and friendship, Inkspotters, and I’ll continue to follow your stories with great anticipation.

p.s. Breaking news!!! Thanks to an Amazon.com promotion and some more forward-thinking from my publisher, Knee High by the Fourth of July is a $1.99 Kindle download for this week only. Read on!

Creating Vivid Settings in Fiction, by Jess Lourey

This past weekend, I attended the Southeast Wisconsin Festival of Books, a two-day (free!) event featuring authors, cooks, readers, critical thinkers, and general lovers of the arts. Besides learning how to make a great Thai curry, I also heard William Kent Krueger deliver one of the most inspiring and humbling keynote speeches I've ever heard.

I also had the great honor to teach the "After the Idea" class for MWA-U. MWA-U is a low-cost, all-day, college-level, fiction-writing seminar sponsored by the Mystery Writers of America. It consists of six classes, each taught by a different instructor and each building on the course before it. My presentation explained in seven manageable steps how to turn your idea into a full manuscript, Hallie Ephron then brilliantly outlined the secrets of suspenseful plotting within that manuscript, and so on.

John Galligan, a Wisconsin creative writing professor, was a new instructor in the line-up. He taught the "Setting and Description" class, and it's his method for crafting vivid details that I'd like to share with you now. According to John, effective detail explains time, place, character, and theme. This isn't always possible, of course, but it's what writers should aim for.

Here's an example. When describing where she grew up using as few words as possible, Hallie said, "before it was 90210." Does that evoke time? Absolutely. Place? Of course. Character? Yes--you have a sense that the speaker has a sense of ownership with the pre-zip code Beverly Hills, which tells you a lot about the person, which can lead naturally into the theme or mood of the book, depending on the context.

Contrast that neat, sweet package with the "cataloguing" that can be found in a lot of fiction nowadays (and I've been guilty of this myself):

I grew up in southern California, a hot, windswept land of palm trees, ocean, and blonde hair. You have to know somebody to be somebody here, and I remember when I first arrived, I tried to look the part. I dyed my hair platinum, wore blue contact lenses, and affected a Valley Girl accent. If you're still reading, you've got a lot more patience than I do. It was here that I made my fortune and left, well before Yankees knew where Beverly Hills was.

Not terrible, but not memorable, either.

So that's my lesson for today: when you write, use detail mindfully, and never information dump. Be concrete, and try to hit all four goals (time, place, character, mood/theme) with a single detail at least once a chapter.

Your assignment: either leave a writing tip in trade for this one, or describe where you grew up in ten words or less, using only concrete detail. Cheers!

E-xcited? by Jess Lourey

I never owned a security blanket as a child, but a book serves the same purpose for me as an adult. I love the feel, smell, and potential of a book in my hands. Would holding an ebook give me that same sense of comfort and safety? Maybe. It’s possible I’ll never know, though, because I am an o-reader: old-fashioned.

I no longer use paper to pay my bills, do most of my clothes shopping over a computer, and as a college professor, I teach 80% of my classes online. However, I prefer my eating, sleeping, and my reading to be tangible.

But as an author, I’m not blind to the future. On May 19, Amazon.com announced that their ebooks are now outselling print. According to this article, ebooks may not be ecologically sound, but they are convenient and appeal to the tool-loving monkey in most of us. Soon, photos with and personal messages from your favorite author will become part and parcel with your e-version of their book—consider it Author Signature 2.0. This writer even sees a future for professional editors to make the jump to ebook publishing with little or no start-up costs. Writing organizations are paying attention as well. On June 1, the Mystery Writers of America approved ebooks as valid for active status membership and is now examining the possibility of incorporating ebooks into the prestigious Edgar awards.

Anyone who tells you what the future of books looks like is guessing and hoping, but we know it’s changing. That is why I’m grateful to have a publisher who continues to position themselves in the future. I recently found out that June Bug is going to be a free Nook download and free Kindle download for the month of June! To those of you who have taken the technological leap to ebooks, cheers. If you have not yet checked out the series, now is a safe time to start. Please spread the word, and have a happy June.

*UPDATE: The Kindle version of June Bug should be available free within the next few hours; there seems to be a glitch in processing the update. The free Nook download of June Bug has jumped in sales rank from 360,801 to 1,571 in the last 24 hours! Turns out you can give this stuff away. :)

Blurb It Forward, by Jess Lourey

I have a question of much urgency: if you are an author, what is your policy on writing blurbs for other authors? If you are a reader, how much credibility do you give book cover blurbs? If you are an ethicist, what is your stand on being nice over being honest?

Here’s why I ask: just this week, I’ve been asked to blurb three books by first-time authors, all three published by small regional presses. I’ve been in their shoes, not knowing anyone in the business, needing that snippet of praise to put on the cover of May Day in 2005 so it didn’t look like the self-published loner in the corner. And you know what? I found out that the mystery community is incredibly supportive. Some of my favorite authors agreed to blurb me, an unknown writer, and thanks to their kindness to a stranger, I was able to break into the business with a fighting chance. I’d like to pay that forward, and as such, I’ve blurbed every booked that I’ve been asked to since then. Some were very good and some were just okay, but I could find something honestly nice to say about all of them.

But this time is different. One of the books I’ve just been asked to blurb is bad. Truly, irredeemably awful. In the off-chance that the gentleman reads this blog, I won’t use any direct quotes, but here are representative lines taken from “The Top 15 Bad Romance Novel Opening Lines”:

“Claire felt swept away by this dark stranger, a helpless dust bunny in the roaring cacophony of his gas-powered leaf blower.”

“"The heaving waves on the vast, ink-black ocean sent a salty spray over the proud bow of the three-masted ship, leaving beads of water on the exposed alabaster skin above the bodice of the tall, raven-haired woman who stood sobbing on the deck, her salty tears mixing with the storm-tossed sea."

"Gentle cascades of vermilion poured over Daphne's heaving, lily-white bosom. 'Call 911, Scooby,' she breathed."

Yup. Throw in a lot of product placement (I counted three businesses mentioned on one page alone: Wal-Mart, Applebees, and Starbucks, as in the main character had to stop at all three and tell us what he bought/ate).

Besides weak (over)writing, frequent grammar and spelling errors (it is an ARC), this one book I’ve been asked to blurb lacks any plot. Supposedly a mystery, I was on page 172 of 212 before a dead body appeared. Most everything to that point was a summary of the backstory peppered with sex scenes too bad to read but not bad enough to be funny.

So what do I do now? This gentleman worked hard on this novel, I know he did. He is also kind, polite, and intelligent. With a good editor and more practice, I don’t see any reason why he can’t improve his craft. And you know what? My first novel sucked, too. It was so bad, in fact, that I never found a publisher for it (thought it was because I was ahead of my time; in retrospect, it was just a shitty book). I want to encourage his dream and his discipline, but I don’t want to mislead an innocent shopper into dropping $15 on this sad puppy. Oh, and he needs the blurb by Friday. Help me! (WWJPD?)

Inkspot News - April 30, 2011

Today at 10:15 AM, Midnight Ink author Beth Groundwater will take part in a panel at Malice Domestic entitled Shot At, Robbed, Hypothermic and More: Travails Authors Endure to Get it Right. Other panelists include Sandi Ault, Joanna Carl, and Vicki Delany with Toni L. P. Kelner moderating.

Today at 10:15 AM, Alan Orloff will take part in the panel, New Kids on the Block: Agatha First Novel Nominees, along with Avery Aames, Laura Alden, Amanda Flower, and Sasscer Hill. Moderated by Margaret Maron.

Today at 1:45 PM, Jess Lourey is fan-girl geeked out thrilled to take part in the panel, Gumshoes with Gams: Female PIs on the Job, along with Sue Grafton, Laura DiSilverio, and Cathi Stoler. Moderated by Con Lehane. Signing to immediately follow.

Today at 4:10 PM Midnight Ink authors Lois Winston and Jess Lourey will take part in a panel at Malice Domestic entitled Funny Gals, Dark Books: An Intellectual Look at Humor in Mysteries. Other panelists include Donna Andrews and Judi McCoy with Cathy Pickens moderating.

Tomorrow at 8:45 AM, Deborah Sharp will take part in the panel, Here Comes the Corpse: Wedding-Themed Mysteries. Other panelists include Rhys Bowen, Mary Jane Clark, and Tracy Kiely, with Ilene Schneider moderating.

Tomorrow at 11:45 AM Midnight Ink author Alice Loweecey will take part in a Malice Domestic panel entitled: Grannies with Guns and Trash-Talking Nuns: Characters Who Defy Stereotypes. Other panelists include Rhys Bowen, Chris Grabenstein and Parnell Hall with Chris Roerden moderating.

Monday, May 2nd at 4 PM Midnight Ink authors Lois Winston, Jess Lourey, Alice Loweecey, Beth Groundwater, Alan Orloff, and Vicki Doudera will appear at the Festival of Mystery in Oakmont, PA.

Then, Beth Groundwater goes on a whirlwind tour with the following signings (see the Appearances page at her website for details):

Tuesday, May 3, 6 – 7:30 PM
Barnes & Noble Booksellers, Barracks Road Shopping Center
1035A Emmet Street, Charlottesville, VA 22903

Thursday, May 5, 12:30 – 2:30 PM
Fountain Bookstore
1322 E Cary Street, Richmond, VA 23219

Friday, May 6, 2 – 6 PM
William & Mary Bookstore
345 Duke of Gloucester Street, Williamsburg, VA 23185

Inkspot News - April 23, 2011

Next Friday, April 29 - Sunday, May 1, the Malice Domestic conference will take place in Bethesda, Maryland, and many Midnight Ink authors are participating.

Friday, April 29th, at 10:30 AM, Beth Groundwater, Alan Orloff, Joanna Campbell Slan, and Deborah Sharp will participate in the Malice-Go-Round.

Saturday, April 30th, at 7:30 AM, Alice Loweecey will host a table at the New Authors Breakfast.

Saturday, April 30th, at 10:15 AM, Beth Groundwater will take part in a panel entitled Shot At, Robbed, Hypothermic and More: Travails Authors Endure to Get it Right. Other panelists include Sandi Ault, Joanna Carl, and Vicki Delany with Toni L. P. Kelner moderating.

Saturday, April 30th, at 10:15 AM, Alan Orloff will take part in the panel, New Kids on the Block: Agatha First Novel Nominees, along with Avery Aames, Laura Alden, Amanda Flower, and Sasscer Hill. Moderated by Margaret Maron.

Saturday at 1:45 PM, Jess Lourey is fan-girl, geeked-out thrilled to take part in the panel, Gumshoes with Gams: Female PIs on the Job, along with Sue Grafton, Laura DiSilverio, and Cathi Stoler. Moderated by Con Lehane. Sihttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifgning to immediately follow.

Saturday, April 30th, at 4:10 PM, Lois Winston and Jess Lourey will take part in a panel entitled Funny Gals, Dark Books: An Intellectual Look at Humor in Mysteries. Other panelists include Donna Andrews and Judi McCoy with Cathy Pickens moderating.

Sunday, May 1st, at 8:45 AM, Deborah Sharp will take part in the panel, Here Comes the Corpse: Wedding-Themed Mysteries. Other panelists include Rhys Bowen, Mary Jane Clark, and Tracy Kiely, with Ilene Schneider moderating.

Sunday, May 1st, at 10:15 AM, Kathleen Ernst will take part in a panel entitled Behind the Curtain: An Inside Look at Unusual Settings. Other panelists include Janice Hamrick, James Lavene, Joyce Lavene, and Clare O'Donohue.

Sunday, May 1st, at 11:45 AM, Alice Loweecey will take part in a panel entitled Grannies with Guns and Trash-Talking Nuns: Characters Who Defy Stereotypes. Other panelists include Rhys Bowen, Chris Grabenstein and Parnell Hall with Chris Roerden moderating.

Education and Writing, by Jess Lourey

I have two semi-related issues to discuss with you. The first is the pronunciation of the word “ribald.” Kirkus Reviews wrote of October Fest, it’s “funny, ribald, and teeming with small-town eccentrics.” (They also wrote some crap about the plot falling apart toward the end, but I can’t really remember that part—I subscribe to the ellipses method for getting the stains out of book reviews.) I was pretty happy with that little blurb and told lots of people about it, including a critically-acclaimed author out in New York I was trying to impress. Here’s how my conversation with him went:

“Getting any reviews on your latest?”

“Yeah! Kirkus Reviews said October Fest is funny and ribald.”

Pause. “RYE-bald, hunh?”

“Yep!”

It was that pause that signaled to me my pronunciation was off. Honestly, it was the first time I’d ever said the word out loud. I got off the phone and hurried to my computer. Turns out it is really pronounced “ribbled,” like how a giggling frog feels. Really. Hear it here.

I got to thinking. I consider myself pretty smart. In fact, I am an English professor, and a well-larded vocabulary and a tight-lipped stare of derision are prereqs for the job. However, my book reviews have consistently shown me how little I know. I had to look up “surfeit” when a reviewer of May Day wrote that the protagonist has a “surfeit of sass.” Another reviewer called her “insouciant” in June Bug. Now, I don’t want to embarrass you, but did you know that word is pronounced “in-soo-si-ent” and not “insooshiant?”

What kind of world is it we live in that reviews of my own books go over my head?

And now that I’ve established my credibility as a teacher of the written word, I am asking for your input. I’m creating mystery curriculum on behalf of an MWA committee I’m on. My goal is to create six teaching modules: three on mystery-focused creative writing and three on mystery-focused literature/reading, each group divided by age lines (middle school, high school, and college). These modules will be available for any teacher to use, free, and will hopefully bring further legitimacy to the mystery genre as well as provide interested teachers a way to liven up their curriculum. What I’d like from you are suggestions as to the “best” mysteries out there. I’m looking for mostly dead authors so there is no favoritism, and as much gender variety and multiculturalism as possible. I could particularly use YA mystery suggestions. Within those guidelines, what should students be reading?

My New Website Is Live! by Jess Lourey

My last Inkspot post discussed my travails in creating a website and asked YOU for your input on a new one. Most of you agreed: author websites should be clean, uncluttered, without flashing and blinking, and easy to navigate. I took your input to heart, I hope. You can see my new site here.

Beth Tindall of Cincinnati Media did a brilliant job of making the site navigable and clean. Steve Tuytschaevers of PlanetMaker Design worked with her to craft the seasonal trees (Murder-by-MONTH mysteries, get it?) in the banner and the thriving secret garden walls of the side columns. Thank you both. I’m super happy with how it turned out!

Whee!

In honor of my new website, I’m listing some of my favorite online time-suckers below.

• Hyperbole and a Half. Sometimes crude, always funny mixture of adolescent artwork and simple stories. If you can get through her writing about moving cross country with her dogs, or her parents and tipsy aunts humoring her Christmas play without laughing tears, you’re made of concrete.
• Jezebel. A beautiful mix of politics, feminism, pop culture, and humor.
• Awkward Family Photos. Because we’ve all been there. Like literally. I think that might be me and my sister in that photo.
• The Nation. This is one of the few places I can still regularly find investigative journalism.
• The Onion. Because sometimes I need a break from investigative journalism.
• Awful Plastic Surgery. Because it’s rude to stare in person.
• Groupon. Are you kidding me? I’m stuck on this site and I haven’t even bought anything from it yet. The old grandma in me loves to vicariously save money. And shake her fist at kids.
• Preditors and Editors. Thanks to Barbara Moore, I don't need to visit this site very often anymore, but it's an excellent resource for writers searching for an agent/publisher, despite the cacophonous colors and formatting.
  

Where’s your favorite place to waste time online?

What’s in a website? Would that with which an author advertises smell as sweet in any other format?

Yes, I’m updating my website. It’s not something I like to spend money on, and the promotional part of this writing business has never fit me well, but it’s time. If you visit Wayback Machine, you will discover that my first website (2006) looked like this:

No, that’s not Dorothy Hamill, and yes, I tried to make my website mirror Carl Hiaasen’s (he’s since updated his). I figured, at the time, that it was the “funny author” prototype website. Probably you’re thinking that’s odd because it has a leafy morgue feel, overall. A leafy morgue with Dorothy Hamill as the mortician. Don’t judge me.

Looking for something brighter, I updated to this website in 2007:

I take full credit (blame) for the above layout. I wanted a strong feminist feel (note the “woman” symbol as page divider), and I also wanted to convey that I intended to write across genres (the feminist stick lady wears a different hat on every page; I know--subtle like an axe). Seven mystery novels later, I chalk up my cross-genre dreams to the same delusional tendency that has me hang on to those size 5 Levis that will fit if I ever find a time machine or am lucky enough to lick a tapeworm.

Last year, in honor of my first three novels being reissued with new covers, I had my boyfriend, who is a wonderful graphic designer (but, it turns out, allergic to Dreamweaver), create this site, my third update:

I love his design. However, because the web software ended up handing him his own ass (let the records indicate that he fought the good fight), the site is really just a bunch of photos of pages rather than a true website. That means I can’t update ANYTHING, from my author info to my books to my events page. Bring on Beth Tindall, website designer extraordinaire, mystery fan, and Most Reasonable Woman I Know. She’s going to work with Steve to make me an uber-site, completely focused on the Murder-by-Month series, and dynamic. The new site’s go live date is March 1.

Which brings me to my question for you: what IS in a website? In other words, what do you like about the websites you like? What brings you back? What’s your favorite feature on your site (include a link so we can see what you mean) or what author site is your favorite (also include a link)? Join the conversation, and help me! Please. You see what I’m capable of when left to my own devices. Without your help, this could be my future: