Celebrating a Book Launch: WHISPERS IN THE MIST Goes Live!

By Lisa Alber

Last week my second novel, Whispers in the Mist, landed in bookstores. It launched! Yay! I love the word "launch" to describe publication day for novels. It's a word that begs for a little fanfare, doesn't it? I always picture a rocket with mega-tons of potential energy stored up inside it, ready to ignite and achieve lift off.

Well, we've got lift off! It's always exciting, if a little hectic. There's a ton to do to help prepare books to meet the world -- social media, book events, giveaways, and launch parties, just to name a few tasks.

What was funny about my launch prep was that I realized I didn't know how to describe WHISPERS in a succinct yet enticing way. Yeeks! Somehow, I'd forgotten to think about that. You'd think it would be easy, but it's not. In part, because my head is inside the next novel I'm writing, and, in part because coming up with succinct yet enticing three-sentence synopses is an art form I haven't mastered yet.

Whisper in the Mist is about the search for a mysterious man that the Garda (Irish police) call "Grey Man," who appears to be connected to a series of deaths, past and present. When a brother and his mute sister arrive in Lisfenora village to hunt down their mother's killer, Detective Sergeant Ahern finds himself helping them with tragic results. The investigation turns personal for him in ways that he could never have imagined, and Grey Man becomes more elusive the closer Danny gets to the truth.

How does that sound? Pretty good?

I always end up mentioning other aspects of the story, like the French Mastiff named Bijou who plays a small but heroic role in the outcome, like the teenage boy who dies in DS Ahern's arms, like the phantom graffiti artist who leaves cryptic messages around the village.

You can read more about Whispers in the Mist on my website.

Here are a few pictures from my launch party last Friday night. As fitting for a novel set in Ireland, I held the party at O'Connor's Pub in Portland, OR.

Moonstones, Intuition, and My Upcoming Novel

By Lisa Alber

I'm cheating this week. This post comes from my blog. I ran out of time to write an original post -- yeeks. I'm hard at work on my novel for next year. AND, Whispers in the Mist comes out in less than three weeks! Midnight Ink is hosting a Goodreads giveaway for Whispers. Cheers!

***

I recently visited my favorite local coffeeshop, Driftwood Coffee, to splurge on an iced mocha. I love walking there with my dog on a lazy Sunday afternoon. The shop is a feast for the eyes because of the way the owner has decorated it. An old ladder hanging along the ceiling festooned with lights and dangling trinkets, a colorful collection of shutters arranged on the wall like a mosaic, shelves of locally made arts and crafts.

This moonstone necklace caught my eye, and it reminded me of my second novel, Whispers in the Mist. One of my protagonists, Merrit, wears a moonstone necklace that came from her mom. In fact, the necklace is one of Merrit's most cherished possessions. In my first novel, we learned that Merrit's long-lost father gave the necklace to her mother just before their relationship ended tragically. We also learn that moonstone is said to enhance intuition.

Intuition is a funny thing. Whenever I hear someone say, "I'm intuitive," I suspect they're talking about being psychic or highly empathic, as if "intuitive" is a superpower code word. Maybe thousands of years ago, when we were closer to nature, we were kind of psychic--this was our norm as a species ... I don't know. It just gets me thinking, is all. Like, maybe our world is so full of stuff and sounds and sensory inputs and social media and JUNK, that there's no way for the still, small voice of intuition to get heard.

I picture Merrit's necklace looking something like this.

Maybe people who do hear their intuition believe it to be a superpower because it's such a rare thing. Again, I don't know.

I believe intuition is an aspect of our humanity, but we're far away from our true natures, most of the time. The closest I get to feeling intuitive (and in those moments I do feel empowered) is within my writing process. Perhaps this is one of the many reasons I'm attracted to writing fiction--I get closer to my core. Sometimes I feel a welling of knowingness about some plot point or character insight. A-HA! My body reacts in a happy way, all tingly and excitable. I like to think my body is rewarding me for paying attention to my intuition.

Intuition is a sub-theme in my novels. It's something Merrit thinks about quite often. In Whispers in the Mist, coming out August 8th, she could use more intuition when a mysterious women steals her necklace right off her neck. Merrit is about to discover that her necklace has a connection to a past murder.

Do you consider yourself an intuitive person? What does "intuition" mean to you? 

10 Signs That Writing Stress Is Getting to Me

By Lisa Alber

Writing novels is a job like any other. There are deadlines, and to make those deadlines we often have to work when we're feeling cruddy or low or uninspired or crabby. And in the midst of hustling to make a major deadline called Hand Off Manuscript to Editor (and pray she likes it!), there are all kinds of other writerly tasks that come into play.

I'm on a yearly deadline. This means that while I'm writing the novel for next year (2017), I'm also gearing up for the release of this year's novel, Whispers in the Mist.

August is my month. Whispers arrives at bookstores near you AND I hand off the next book to my editor. Whew! That's a lot. I have a huge list of things to do in the next few months. In other words, just like with any other job, we may get totally stressed out and overwhelmed. I can tell I've reached that point because:

1. The only thing that sounds good for dinner is pasta.

2. I go outside for some fresh air, and suddenly it's an hour later and I've dug up three bushes.

3. I don't see the pet hair on the rug, or the dust on the nightstands, or the spiders taking up residence in random places. House cleaning--what's that?

4. I forget appointments, like the crown-placement dentist appointment I almost missed this morning. In fact, I've forgotten so many dentist appointments that last year she instituted a missed appointment penalty fee. Yes, I can take credit for that.

5. My social life goes down the tubes--and I already have a, shall we say, "curtailed" social life as it is. I'm more likely to be watching a movie on Friday night with the dog and the cat snoozing nearby than socializing.

6. My idea of a good time is going to bed early.

7. I don't care about ice cream -- I mean, it's okay, whatever -- but I find myself buying a pint of the local Alpenrose brand strawberry cheesecake ice cream that I promise myself I won't eat all at once because that would be gross.

8. The nice folks at my local bistro know me by name because I come in so often to drink red wine write. Budget, be damned.

9. I get up in the morning already yearning for an afternoon nap.

10. Last but not least, the novel I'm writing? Yeah, it's the worst dreck in the world, everyone will hate it, and why am I doing this to myself?

Stress is like anything else--it comes, it goes, and then when it goes we forget about it like it never happened. Or, we look back on it and think, Wow, I was totally nuts; so glad to be back to normal now.

The habit that works in a pinch to ease stress? Breathing. Really. Unclenching your core and feeling your lungs move in and out as you breath.

How does stress and busy-ness and feeling overwhelmed affect you? Do you have a go-to food or habit?

Lisa Alber is the author of the County Clare mysteries. Her debut novel, Kilmoon, has been called "utterly poetic" and "a stirring debut." Her second in the County Clare mysteries, WHISPERS IN THE MIST will be available in August 2016 from Midnight Ink Books. Ever distractible, you may find her staring out windows, fooling around online, or drinking red wine with her friends. Ireland, books, animals, photography, and blogging round out her distractions. Facebook | Twitter

This Writing Life: Springing a Leak, Author-Style

Happy one year in the house!

By Lisa Alber

A year ago, exactly, to this day, May 19th, 2015, I closed on my very first house, my own little sanctuary away from the world. Cheers! To one year!

Alas, this little house of mine, it had a dry rot problem, which is common in the Pacific Northwest, so I shelled out major moulah to get it fixed. Fine. Fixed. Yay!

A year later, my house sprang a leak. I hoped and prayed that the contractor's guy had fixed the problem last month, but, no, he had not <insert your expletive here>.

The funny thing is that I think my house channeled my inner writing demons, because I've been having the worst problem with the ending of my work-in-progress. I know the ending--I've always known whodunit and whydunit, so why can't I get to "The End"? I keep writing scenes that aren't getting me there.

Over the weekend, as the rain poured down, and as raindrops tap-tap-tap-ed into a bucket, I had an epiphany: My plot had sprung a leak somewhere. That's why I couldn't finish--

and, to continue this awkward leakage metaphor, I couldn't help but think of a garden hose, and how you don't get no water pressure out the end of the thing if it's leaking somewhere along the way to the end.

Despite my anxiety about finishing by deadline (at one point I started to whimper, which I sometimes do under extreme stress), I decided to slow down for a day or two. It was no use trying to force a bad end to the story. It just wasn't feeling right. Instead, I called the contractor, waited around for him (isn't that always the way?), and realized that I felt relief along with the anxiety.

When it comes to the writing, I've learned to trust my gut, and my gut said, Oh yeah, baby, now you're thinking about it the right way--which is to say, thinking outside my own box, the box I'd written myself into by the end that wouldn't end itself.

I was still freaking out--deadlines will do that--but as I watched my cute contractor walk up the stairs ahead of me and do his thing with plastic and hammer and nails and a long piece of wood (now, now, no double entendre meant by that!), I decided it was no use freaking out. My contractor wasn't. He was doing the next logical task. He didn't appear phased by the leak, and as he said, Yes, leaks happen, but they're fixable. Sometimes you just gotta dig a little deeper than the first obvious, easy fix.

So it goes with my novel. I talked myself off the ledge of total hysteria that my story required a complete tear down. No, no, no-ditty no no. Was the contractor going to have to tear down the house? Of course not.

And wouldn't you know it, as soon as I let it be okay to think about revisions before officially finishing the first draft, some new and interesting plot ideas came to me -- changes that I can already tell will allow me to get to the end.

How well do you trust your gut in life? Has it ever failed you?

Lisa Alber is the author of the County Clare mysteries. Her debut novel, Kilmoon, has been called "utterly poetic" and "a stirring debut." Her second in the County Clare mysteries, WHISPERS IN THE MIST will be available in August 2016 from Midnight Ink Books. Ever distractible, you may find her staring out windows, fooling around online, or drinking red wine with her friends. Ireland, books, animals, photography, and blogging round out her distractions. You can find Lisa on Facebook, Twitter, and her website.

Views from the Irish Writing Desk

My writing spot waiting for me every morning.

By Lisa Alber

Between last month's post and today's, I spent nearly three weeks in beautiful Ireland--my fourth trip, in fact, and the best one yet. I had a list of research topics for the third County Clare mystery (2017) that I'm calling "Touch of Death." As an example of my research, I hit four hospitals in search of information about care for coma patients, psychiatric nursing, and end-of-life care.

(Aren't you curious about #3? But you've gotta read #2, Whispers in the Mist first. Coming August!)

If you thought our health care system was nuts--try Ireland's! In the end, I got what I needed and decided on what I could fictionalize for the sake of storytelling.

You know what I was mostly about in Ireland? Being. Just being. The joys of slowing down, of going deep into my writing rather than struggling to fit it in, fast fast fast, so fast that I often don't get a chance to savor the creative process.

Snow!

In my exalted state of being, I got over a massive "block" (in quotes because I don't actually believe in blocks--call it denial) that had lasted for about three months. I was stuck at about 50K words on my first draft. I wasn't feeling it--at all. Now I understand that my well had dried up. The bloody Sahara. Desiccated. Arid. Powdered. Mummified.

OH man. The trip saved me. It really did. And I fell into the most luscious, perfect kind of busy, which is to say, occupied but not swamped, making progress but not overwhelmed. You know what I mean?

I fell into a routine that went something like this:

Every morning little Aidan sat on my lap
for a bit to point at things outside.

Morning-->Noonish: I parked myself in the B&B's light and airy sunroom munching on breakfast (veggie omelet most days) and sipping coffee. Letting myself stare out the window. Over the course of my trip I noticed many things. The arrival of robins and loads of songbirds. Blooming lesser celandine. The farmer who drove by like clockwork. Rainbows and hail and sun and wind and rain and mist and even snow!

In the midst of all this gazing, writing happened. And pretty soon, I was over my "block." I'd spend my mornings writing, travel journaling, curating my photos, doing some online research (in the Irish .ie domain--much better results than I'd been getting in the States), collating research notes. The writing work part of my trip--but it didn't feel like work. Heaven!

Noonsh-->Late afternoonish: Most days I had research tasks. I did a lot of driving, which I didn't mind. I'd stop and grab shots. I'd talk to the Voice Memo app. I met up with two detectives who'd helped me with my debut novel, Kilmoon, and that was a blast! They loved receiving signed copies of the book. I'd wander off the beaten track, driving down bumpy little roads. I'd also visit tourist spots.

What a way to greet the day!

Depending on how quick the research and exploring went, I'd often drop by my favorite coffeehouse, Ginger Lou's, for more writing and a chat with the owner. By early evening, I was often at the Roadside Tavern or Cooley's House pub drinking a pint (or two) and chatting with the locals (local color!). That could last for hours.

Evening: After a full and pleasant day, I was content to hole up in the B&B, reading, doing little research/writing tasks, relaxing.

So now I'm back to reality (I still have a day job, alas, as so many of us novelists do), and I'm doing my best to ride the writing high. So far, so good!

Every day like clockwork.

The trick, I think, is learning how to keep the well filled in the midst of an overly busy life with two jobs, family stuff, life stuff, everything stuff.

I've been telling everyone who will listen that I'd prefer to live a slower deep life than a faster skimming-the-surface life. Have you noticed that modern life tilts us toward the latter? So I've been thinking a lot about how I can get some of that slower, deeper in ...

My writing spot

What do you do to keep your well filled? Any tips and tricks welcome!

Traveling to Ireland -- Woohoo! (And Happy St. Patrick's Day!)

By Lisa Alber

Oh! I got confused this month. It feels like the second week of the month, not the third. Too bad, too, because, I was supposed to post yesterday, St. Patrick's Day, and my novels are set in Ireland ... So let's pretend it's still yesterday, OK?

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

I've been thinking a lot about Ireland lately, and not just because my novels are set there. I'm counting the days until I leave for a novel research trip next week. Woohoo! I'll be heading here:

I inserted the picture extra large so you can see -- see right up there, that little "Kilmoon"? That's where I'm going! It'll be my hub out of which I'll venture for novel research and sightseeing expeditions.

In case you didn't know this, my debut novel, aptly titled KILMOON, was inspired by this lovely early Christian church ruin. I loved this site. It spoke to me, and so a fictionalized version of Kilmoon Church appears in Kilmoon. It's a place where bad things have happened and where secrets fester. It's central to the plot, for sure.

It strikes me funny that Kilmoon appears on the maps because there's nothing there. Literally: nothing. Except Kilmoon Church and rock walls and sheep and cows and houses here and there -- and also the B&B I like to stay at.

Kilmoon is a couple of miles outside of Lisdoonvarna, which was my destination when I first traveled to Ireland. To be honest, when I chose the B&B for that first trip, I didn't know it was two miles outside of Lisdoon (as the locals call it). I thought it was in Lisdoon. But that turned out OK because I discovered Kilmoon Church, which is located just down the lane from the B&B. I probably wouldn't have otherwise. Serendipity at work!

Lisdoon's claim to fame is its annual matchmaking festival. This festival was also an inspiration for Kilmoon, and my protagonist Merrit's adventures as matchmaker-in-training continue in WHISPERS IN THE MIST (August!). At the moment she's a reluctant trainee. She's not sure what she got herself into when she arrived from California in the first novel.

Gotta say, it's fun writing a series. Reeeeally fun to get to know my characters and help them evolve and change and work through conflicts.

When I travel for novel research, odd things grab my attention. Like these silage bundles. They seemed like hibernating alien creatures or something. You never know when some oddball thing like silage bundles will insert their way into a story. Silage bundles like these appear in Whispers in the Mist, in fact, and play an important role.

My number one priority is to remain open. Explore and experience and hang out in pubs (hehe) talking to locals. I can. not. wait. to incite a heated pub debate about our presidential nominee race. Oooh boy, that should be a riot! On my last trip, I noticed that the Irish were 1) vocal in their opinions, 2) apt to think we're a bit nutty in this side of the pond when it comes to politics, and 3) canny in their ability to see through rhetoric and BS.

OK, enough of that. As I was saying, I need to experience Ireland, but I also have particular research topics that will hopefully include me visiting a police station, a hospital ICU, and an elder care facility. This is for Book #3, after Whispers. I'll also be unfurling research tentacles for Book #4. I have a glimmer of an idea that I hope to solidify.

I'll have so much to write about for next month's post! Slainte!

So, what comes to your mind when someone mentions Ireland? Have you been?

5 Sure Signs That I Can Let Go of My Manuscript (Finally!)

By Lisa Alber

Over the weekend, I read a printed copy of my manuscript for WHISPERS IN THE MIST (August 2016). I read it fast, looking out for loose ends and moot remnants still hanging around from previous versions.

At this point in the writing process, I always know that I'll feel compelled to read the manuscript just one more time before hand off, and I know I'll still find things that need fixing, and I know I'll worry about whether the newest changes have themselves caused inconsistencies (or typos!) that will require me to re-read the manuscript AGAIN ... 

It could go on forever, but there comes a point when I have to let my baby go. Given that I can always continue improving my stories, when do I feel that "yes" feeling about letting a manuscript go?

1. The latest manuscript read-through was mostly clean. Changes were only for clarity, consistency, and pruning. Nit-piks.

2. I have no more questions to myself about nitty-gritty plot points. (My stories are kind of complex.) Yes, all the bits and pieces are there.

3. I've considered every piece of beta reader feedback. I've incorporated what my gut says "yay" about, and I've ignored what my gut says "nay" about.

4. I've gone through a copyedit (as best as I can since I'm not a copyeditor) on my own. I catch a lot of weird prose quirks when I focus on the line-by-line. We all have our easy-way-outs when we're writing. For example, I love m-dashes, but they can be used in place of properly crafted sentences.

This is also when I deal with rhetorical questions, such as this example from a previous draft of WHISPERS:   

Danny still couldn’t fathom why Malcolm had offered up the alibi unless it was to humiliate Danny. But why? Because he was pissed that Danny hadn’t prioritized the graffiti vandalism? Because he didn’t like Danny prying into McIlvoy’s life?

This is just lazy writing. Really. At least for me. A bunch of rhetorical questions in a row tell me I need to go deeper and get to the heart of the matter in a more precise fashion. This might mean adding word count, but that's OK. So now it's this:

Danny still couldn’t fathom why Malcolm had offered up the alibi unless it was to humiliate Danny. He hadn’t prioritized finding the phantom graffiti artist, true, but surely Malcolm understood that vandalism didn’t rate as high as murder.

No, the alibi had to be a good-old-fashioned diversionary tactic. Most likely to distract Danny from prying into Malcolm’s relationship with McIlvoy.

 
5. Last but not least, I've word-searched words I know to be problematic, such as the "just"s and "really"s. Excess adverbs. The verb "was," which could indicate a yucky passive voice sentence or a sentence that needs rewriting with a stronger verb. I have a word list that I keep handy for this tedious, final task.

It's not that I get rid of every "just," "really," and "was" -- but I do consider them carefully. It's so easy to fall back on them -- another easy way out. (Oh, look at that, falling back on m-dashes again!)

Also, during all of this, I'll have noticed other words -- not the usual "blah" words -- that I fell in love with for some reason. For example, while writing WHISPERS, I used "flicker" a lot. Everything was flickering, from candle and sconce light, to gazes, to birds in flight. It was a positive flicker-fest, enough to cause a migraine!

All of this may be tedious, it may add to my writing time, but in end, I love the satisfaction of knowing, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that I've done all that I can do.

There's no such thing as perfection; there's only doing the best we can.

5 Things Revision Has Taught Me About Myself

By Lisa Alber

I'm having a fantastic time revising WHISPERS IN THE MIST. Aspects of the story that had been bothering me have finally achieved clarity. Yay! I got to thinking about how the revision process illuminates some aspects of my own character.

1. It's funny how sometimes our characters' lives parallel our own. Merrit Chase, one of my  protagonists, is an American living in rural Ireland. As I worked through her plot line in an attempt to get to the heart of her, I started thinking about the concept of "home." This year, for the first time, I bought a house. My very own sanctuary with no shared walls, a blank canvas that I could make all my own. It took me no time at all to feel like I was home. It's a soul thing--for me and for Merrit. As soon as I realized that Merrit was missing a little soul, I knew exactly how to revise her scenes to better bring out her story.

2. I may be having a fantastic time revising now, but you should have seen me a month ago. I might have written a different blog post entirely. At times, I got to wondering: WHY am I putting myself through the ringer like this? What's the point? After all, I'm not motivated by some of the usual things like money, power, and vanity. I mean, I'm a poor and lowly, not to mention disheveled, novelist. I'm joshing, but it's sorta true. So what does motivate me to work through the doldrums and frustrations? Authenticity, connection, and personal achievement. It helped to clarify these for myself. When I do my character development, I call these "core needs."

3. I'm an introvert, to be sure, but I'm less of a lone wolf than I like to think I am. Self-sufficiency is a sham game I play with myself. The truth is, when it comes to my life and also my stories, I can't figure everything out on my own. I've learned this over and over during revisions as I turn to others to provide feedback on my drafts. Sharing is a good thing, risking vulnerability is another good thing. Sometimes it's difficult to cop to my flaws or to my story's flaws, but once I do, the flaws lose their power. Come to find out that I like the communal aspect of the revision process.

4. I hang on to my little darlings for too long. This includes darling notions that I carry around with me that I don't need anymore, like outmoded emotional crutches and avoidance tactics. A writer friend recently said (related to writing), "If you're not sure you should hang on to your little darling, it probably means you should let it go." In my revision, I've been doing quite a lot of darling deletion lately. And you know what? It feels great! Time to take some of that and apply it to my life.

5. I do have pretty good instincts -- I need to trust them more. When it comes to fiction, I sometimes don't know what the exact problem is, only that something's not quite right. I can't let the manuscript be finished because in my heart it's not. The niggling feeling may be related to a plot point or character, anything really. And then, lo and behold, I engage with my community (#3) and receive feedback that gets the A-HA going. I'm vindicated! I wasn't just being a crazy perfectionist or an Eeyore. In my life, the same thing goes: listen to the niggle and trust it.

Recently, I felt the "fill the well" niggle, so next week I'm going to the Oregon coast to relax for a few days before Christmas. Will I work? Oh probably, but only after sleeping (lots of catching up to do!), reading, walking the beach, staring at the waves, and sleeping some more.

Wishing you all the best for a wondrous holiday and happy new year, cheers, Lisa

What do you do to fill the well? How can you tell when you need well-filling?

WHISPERS IN THE MIST is available for preorder here.

5 Reasons I Love the Cover for WHISPERS IN THE MIST

By Lisa Alber

Woohoo! I almost feel like not writing a post and letting the cover stand on its own. On the other hand, I'm so proud of my book baby in its finery that I can't help but gush.

In July I wrote my first Inkspot blog post as a Midnight Ink author. I didn't get into many details about my novel (coming out August 2016) because everything was new and in process. And now here I am loving the new title (my working title was Grey Man) and the cover. Let me tell you all the reasons why:

1. The title works on so many levels, and I love it when titles reflect the layers within a story. The word "whispers" implies hidden or secretive things, right? There's the past whispering at one of the characters, tormenting her. There's guilt and regret and betrayal, all which can whisper at you, eating away at your well being. There are literal whispers--manipulations and threats spoken aloud. There's the atmospheric shush, like a whisper, within literal mists.

2. And speaking of "mist" in the title. The novel is set in Ireland, where atmospherics abound. In the novel, mist has descended on my fictional village, further obscuring already murky goings on. I mean, it's moody, right? I like a moody mystery myself, which is probably why I write them that way.

3. I adore the way the path and figure draw you into the cover and thus the story. It's the pictorial version of drawing in readers with a verbal, Once upon a time ...

4. There's my name. My name! Aspiring novelists dream of having their names on the covers of their books. I'm heartily grateful to see mine on Whispers in the Mist. Thank you, Midnight Ink!

5. Last but not least, I love the color teal. The Midnight Ink art department didn't know this, of course, but I feel like they chose that color just. for. me. :-)

A short and sweet post for me this month, because in the case of my cover, a picture really is worth a thousand words.

If you're curious about who the figure could be (and who I think it is) and want to read some short excerpts from Whispers in the Mist, please check out my Facebook author page. It's open to the public, and you don't have to be signed up for Facebook to view it (I don't think). Just scroll down a little to view the posts with the word GIVEAWAY in them.

Let me know what you think!

Question for you, dear readers: What do you look for in a cover? Do you pick up books based on their covers?