Mysteries for Your Beach Reads by Christine Duncan

I am nowhere near any beach that I could loll around. Nor am I expecting to be. But I am still reading in my sparse time off and I thought I'd share some of that with you.

The first book I want to share with you is from Jenny Bentley's Do-It-Yourself Mystery series. Number three in the line-up is named Plaster and Poison and it has just come out. I'm a big fan of the series as I have spent more time than I want to think about doing home repairs and I like the series heroine, Avery Baker.

In this book, Avery and her live-in love decide to help out their friend by renovating an old carriage house for her. Avery has her doubts as she has never done anything more than cosmetic repairs before but the renovation seems to be going along fine and on schedule until she finds a body in the house. Which of course, is when all the fun begins.

Bentley writes cozy so you don't have to worry about graphic violence or language. I definitely recommend this book.

Another book I just read this summer is JD Robb's Fantasy in Death JD Robb is, of course, noted romance author, Nora Roberts and I've found some mystery fanatics who are down on this series, but frankly I love it. It is rare that I've been able to guess the ending unless of course, the author made it plain and the character of Eve with her jaundiced view of the world is interesting. I have more than once wanted to say some of the things that come out of that character's mouth, but my mama raised me better, (or I'm chicken--take your pick.) But a word of warning to those who dislike graphic language. This book may not be for you.

Anyway, it's a fun series. This book deals with the death of a computer gaming manufacturer and although I guessed this particular ending well in advance, I didn't put the book down because I was still enjoying it so much.

So what are you reading this summer? Come on, share!

Christine Duncan is the author of the Kaye Berreano mystery series. Book two of the series, Safe House is now available.

ISBN by Christine Duncan

It all started last fall when my book, Safe House, was published actually, although I didn't know it at the time. My family and friends told me they were not able to order the book. I thought it was just the usual problem that someone who is published by a small press goes through all the time. I told them to insist in (Borders, Barnes and Noble, other national chain, pick one) that they knew the book was available through Baker and Taylor and could be ordered.

Still no one was able to order it.

Then my local paper did an interview and the CRM at my local Barnes and Noble promised to order the book in exchange for me mentioning that it would be available there in the interview. All was good--or so I thought.

The local paper even put me, holding the book on the cover of paper. And sure enough they mentioned that the book was available at the local Barnes and Noble. But when I emailed the CRM a few days later, she was upset with me. She had ordered, she said, twenty copies of the book. And she got someone else's book.

Huh?

The local library ordered the book because of the newspaper interview and had the same problem. They got in copies of a Western book that my publisher had released at the same time.

Of course, I immediately notified my publisher of the problem. But it took months to fix. Before it was finished, Safe House had appeared on major websites with the other author's name, the other author's cover, and sometimes with no cover. At one point, Amazon said it had only one copy for sale and it cost $250.00. My publisher, I and the other author involved sent emails to Baker and Taylor, Bowkers, the printer, Barnes and Noble, Borders, Amazon. People didn't want to do reviews because it appeared the book was unavailable. I could go on and on.

At first, I thought it looks bad for me and the publisher if this kind of thing gets out. But when I started talking to other writers, each had a story of some kind like this. Oh, not exactly like this. There were tales of the last page of mysteries being left out of the published book, upside down covers and yes, other ISBN problems. And as one friend remarked, if you don't tell people what happened, they'll think the book just sank out of sight because it was no good.

Hmm.

Yet now Safe House's ISBN's problems are fixed, I'm left wondering what to do. I've got a book that looks as though it's been out for months but in reality has only been made available on the major bookseller's websites... well, this week, actually. There is still a bit of a problem on Barnes and Noble unless you know the ISBN.

So I'm asking you authors, what would you do? When the book was originally scheduled to come out, I had a story about it on holidays mysteries in a mystery magazine. I did radio and podcasts and blog tours. And now that the book is supposedly 6 months old some of this stuff is too late.

If you don't have a suggestion for me, can I ask, will you please go request that your local library buy Safe House? I need a jump start somehow.

Christine Duncan is the author of the Kaye Berreano mystery series. Book two, Safe House is now available.

Lessons I've Learned From Running by Christine Duncan

I've been a runner for a while now and I've found it taught me some lessons that I can apply to just about anything--but especially writing.
Lesson 1. I really can run one more step (or one more mile) no matter how tired I am. I can write when I'm tired too. It's a choice.
Lesson 2. No one will care if I don't run (or write) but me. The world is not out there watching.
Lesson 3. Whining does not change lesson one or two.

Sometimes, I meet writers who seem to believe that they can only write under ideal conditions. I've met runners like that too. The problem is, I don't think there are any ideal conditions in this world. Or maybe I just missed the line where they passed them out, who knows?

This post may seem like I'm being cranky. Maybe so. But tonight, after a long day of work, bill paying, a five mile run, and a very late supper, the crankiness is directed inward. I need to remember why I write. Because I choose to. And I am the one who will miss it the most if I don't write.


Christine Duncan is the author of the Kaye Berreano mystery series. Safe House, book two of the series, was released in September.

Recession proofing your Writing? by Christine Duncan

Since the recession has taken its toll on our income, I have been taking temporary jobs to help out. I still do the books for my husband's business, just on my own time after my temp job. And I am taking a tax refresher course for six hours every Saturday so that I can get paid to do taxes come January. All of this has moved my writing to my off hours. Which means, I'm cutting back on any and all recreational time. I don't remember when I last had coffee with a friend, and my house could use a good cleaning--but all it gets right now is the proverbial lick and a promise.

I suspect that I'm not alone. Many of us are taking on other work or working extra hours at our regular day jobs to make ends meet. And thanking God fasting that we have those options.

I work in my writing late, after I've completed the homework for the tax course and maybe taken one of the on-line tests. My promotion work is done on the computer or by phone. I did shoe-horn in an interview recently for the local paper and was thrilled with it but I'm staying up later and getting less sleep to do the things I'm doing. Time to just goof off is a distant memory.
Let me make it clear--I'm not whining. I'm proud of myself and everyone else out there who is working harder and squeezing more out of their time and their money. But life has changed and it's worth noting.

So how are you adapting to this recession? Is it affecting your writing? What are your tips?

Christine Duncan is the author of the Kaye Berreano mystery series. Safe House, book two of the series was released last month.

Get a Head Start - Cheap & Easy Tax Tips for 2009 by Christine Duncan

Since this post will be published the day after April 15th, I thought I would write about taxes. It's too late now to give you any tips for your 2008 filing but not too late to make life easier next year. And it doesn't have to take you a lot of time, money or trouble this year. Here's the deal.

I work as a tax preparer for one of those places you see advertised way too much on T.V. and I'm a bookkeeper. So I see folks come in all tax season long with their own businesses who don't have a clue what they made or spent. And believe it or not, if you write and are published, you have your own business. All you have to do is make 400.00 from writing for the IRS to want to hear about it from you.

But hey, you say, I spent a lot of money on the writing too! I hear you. But the IRS will want you to be able to prove it. And it is easy and cheap enough. How cheap? How about under ten bucks, is that cheap enough for you?

First off, get one of those free bank accounts. It doesn't have to be a business bank account. You can get one from your credit union or some bank close to you. Run all of your income and expenses out of it. In other words, don't just deposit the royalty check from your publisher there, but also that 60.00 bucks you made from selling books in the back of the room when you spoke at the Senior Center. And use those checks (or debit card) to pay all of your writing expenses.

If you have to loan yourself money--deposit it into that account with a note in the register to remind you at year end. Then you have a record of all your expenses.

Already opened the bank account? Then go to one of your favorite office supply stores.Buy one of those vehicle expense books. They usually run around 2.00. Put it in the car on the center console. Every time you go somewhere for your writing, record your mileage. Make sure you record this trip to the office supply store and the bank. While you're in the store, buy yourself one of those nifty accordion folders with sections. You need a place to store your receipts, like the receipt you're about to get. You don't need a big filing cabinet for this. If you don't feel like using an accordion file, just use an old 10 x 12 manila envelope. (I told you this was cheap.) But label the sections: office supplies, computers & equipment, advertising (oh yes you do--you have a website don't you? How about the Romantic Times ad?) Make other sections as needed.

Put this folder in your car trunk in that box where you store your extra books in case the bookstore runs out when you do a signing. Then when you make a purchase and throw your stuff in the trunk, make sure the receipt goes straight into your accordion file. That's it. You don't need a big accounting program. You have just made sure that you have a record of income and expenses for the year.

At the year's end, total the receipts (or have the person who does your taxes do it, but that will cost you.) and total the deposits in the bank account. Voila! You are ready to file a schedule C without much effort or expense. And then filing your 2009 taxes will be easy. Yeah, right!

Christine Duncan
Safe Beginnings, A fire, a murder, a battered woman's nightmare
Safe House, Life--and death--in a battered women's shelter.
In print soon from TrebleHeartBooks.com Rule of Three--3 writers, 3 countries--3 ways of doing things

Mystery Promo

As a mystery book author, I have received a heck of a lot of advice. My mysteries need to be available at every book store in the country, I need to sign at every one of those stores, I should give talks to every library and bookstore who will have me and all of this should be done in the first two weeks after the book is published. It's all pretty interesting if impossible to achieve.
And frankly, I'm at the point where I wonder just exactly how well all of this works anyway. I personally have never bought even one book because of advertising or even because of reviews. I buy books that others who read what I do tell me about but mostly I buy books that I think will be keepers--ones that I will want to read again and again. What that means to me is that the for the most part, I've read others of that author's books and loved them all. I am occasionally disappointed with this method, but not often. Usually, this results in a very small bag of books that I want to give away.

I have seen a lot of authors give readings, most of those didn't happen in the first few weeks after a book was published. I've been to a number of signings. They aren't all that interesting, really. I've bought books in both cases, and sometimes I won't buy a book, because the author did something to turn me off. One author, whose name I won't mention, did a reading with several other authors. During her reading, the silence was palpable. While the other authors read, she chatted with folks and made so much noise, I couldn't hear the other authors. I didn't buy her book.

So all of this is the long way round to saying I think promo is necessary, and I have and will do promo, but I am giving myself permission with this book to make mistakes and take it slower. I've already sent Safe House out to slews of reviewers even though it won't be in print until late spring. And I'm already trying to line up signings and interviews and blog tour hosts. But maybe it doesn't all have to be done in the first two weeks. Just maybe. What do you think?