Snow in Central California and the Whirlwind Begins

Okay, I know snow is no big deal to the rest of you, but here in the foothills of the Central Valley to wake up to snow on the ground was pretty exciting. It's gone from the surround hills now, but plenty in the higher country.

The whirlwind I'm referring to is the promotion for Angel Lost the next in the Rocky Bluff P.D. series, which I wrote as F. M. Meredith.

The trade paperback form is up on Amazon, not sure when the Kindle version will appear. On Friday, the 100 copies I ordered arrived and I must say they look terrific. I offered 3 copies to the first persons on DorothyL who contacted me and heard from more than three right away.

Beginning this week I'll be on a blog tour. These are the first stops:

Tuesday, March 1

Book reviewed and giveaway at The Book Connection

Wednesday, March 2

Guest blogging at The Hot Author Report

Thursday, March 3

Guest blogging at Lori’s Reading Corner

Friday, March 4

Guest blogging at Ginger Simpson’s “Dishin’ It Out”

On Wednesday, hubby and I are heading to Ridgecrest, which means driving through the Tehachapi mountains and taking a turn right before Mojave and heading across the high desert to the town of Ridgecrest that's big claim to fame is the China Lake Naval Air Station. Most of the people who live there are support for the NAS or engineers or Navy personnel and their families and retirees--and of course some folks who just love the desert.

My reason for going is to speak to the Ridgewriters, a branch of California Writers Club. I've been making a pilgrimage to this group for several years--but this time I'm going to take the place of a good friend of mine who was scheduled to speak that same night--Wednesday, March 2 and 7 p.m.--but there was a mix-up of dates, so I'm filling in. My topic is going to be Blogging and Blog Tours. I gave this same talk to Writers of Kern, another branch of the California Writers Club, last weekend.

Except for visiting all the blogs on my tour, the next in-person event isn't until the last Saturday of the month from 1 to 4 which I"m having my official book launch for Angel Lost at Books Off Main, on Oak St. in Porterville. This is a great little used bookstore where I've held my last three book launches.

So--perhaps I might have a bit of time to write, do you think?

Marilyn
http://fictionforyou.com

About to Launch a New Book

In a couple of weeks I should have copies of the latest in my Rocky Bluff P.D. crime series, An Axe to Grind.

As yet, I haven't planned the exact dates for my book launches, but have talked to the two places where they'll be held--a fairly new deli/bakery in my little town and in a used bookstore in the nearest city. I don't like to set actual dates until I know the books are really going to arrive on time.

I've been busily writing blogs for my blog tour that will go on during the month of March. I've written on topics like why I write about a fictional town, Rocky Bluff is on the Southern California coast between Santa Barbara and Ventura. I've interviewed one of my characters, told where my ideas come from, espcially for the Axe to Grind, among other subjects.

Of course I'll be posting to Facebook and Twitter and all the lists that I'm on.

I'm going to several conferences: Epic, Mayhem in the Midlands, PSWA and Bouchercon. I've been asked to speak at a couple of libraries and I'm doing several craft shows including a Jane Austen Festival. Though my books have nothing to do with Jane Austen, the organizers thought it would be fun to have a local author and I'm happy to oblige. I'm going to speak to a couple of writers groups too.

As the year progresses, I'm sure I'll find other places to promote An Axe to Grind.

I must admit I had fun writing the book and I suspect I'll have even more fun promoting it.

Anyone who is interested can pre-order it from my website: http://fictionforyou.com

The book that came before this one No Sanctuary is a finalist for best e-book from Epic in the mystery/suspense category. Unfortunately, it's up against three other very excellent books--but I'm thrilled to be a finalist.

Marilyn, who wrote the Rocky Bluff P.D. series as F.M. Meredith

My Book Launch Pics

This was so much fun. We put black tablecloths on the table, decorated with crime scene tape, you can see we used it to block off the door into the church from the fellowship hall we used for the launch.

The "we" is my daughter-in-law and granddaughter. Granddaughter was in her p.j.'s and went home before we started. Daughter-in-law stayed and helped.

What was nice people came in and visited and then left before a new group arrived. Had plenty of time to talk with each set of folks.

Wonder what I'll come up with next time, love planning book launches.

Marilyn
a.k.a. F. M. Meredith
http://fictionforyou.com