Going on a Road Trip

This is going to be quite an experience. I'm going to Wordstock in Portland OR with my publisher. She's driving, I'm riding along. It will be one long trip--probably too long for this old author. I don't want her going alone.

What's Wordstock? Kind of like the L.A. Times Book Festival except inside. A two day affair all about books. Oak Tree Press is going to have a booth and showcase many of the books put out by its authors, including two of mine. Not sure which two at the moment, as I know covers attract readers--and buyers of books. I will take my latest Rocky Bluff P.D. but not sure which other one.

In the meantime, I'm going to be at the beginning of my blog tour for my Deputy Tempe Crabtree mystery, Spirit Shapes. Which means I'll be trying to find Wi Fi along the way so I can promote the blog I'm on each day and respond to those who comment. I also have to keep track of each person and how many times they comment because I'm running a contest that will be won by the person who comments on the most blogs.
(And to make things more interesting, Spirit Shapes is put out by a different publisher, so I won't be promoting it at Wordstock.)

Several of Oak Tree Press's authors are going to be in attendance, so I won't have to hang around our booth all the time, we won't have enough chairs for that anyway. Maybe I can sneak off and do some writing on the book I should be working on right now.

In terms of helping my writing career, this trip probably won't. I'll have to think of it was a mini vacation, though it won't feel like one.

Will report on it when I return.

Marilyn

Phew, I'm Doing Another Blog Tour

I say phew because it's been a lot of work. For some reason, this blog tour seemed far more arduous than my others.

For those of you who have never done your own blog tour here are the steps.

1. Find people who are willing to host on their blog. Though I do use some of the same ones, I try to add new blogs and blogs that do have people following them.

2. Come up with dates that work for everyone. If possible, don't have two that fall on the same date. (I dd have on the very first date and it did work out okay.)

3. Find a good way to keep track of the dates, the blogs you're going to be on, etc.

4. Come up with a reason for people to follow your tour--contest of some kind. You can see mine near the bottom of the page. It's a good idea not to give away the  book that you are promoting because the whole reason for the tour is to get people interested enough to buy the book. Always put a link to where you'll be the next day at the bottom of the post, along with all the other links to your website, blog, and where to buy the book.

5. If the tour host give you a topic or send interview questions, that makes it easier. About 2/3 of the people how are hosting me did this. I came up with the rest of the topics. You shouldn't duplicate topics. If someone asks you to interview you main character and you already did it, interview another character.

6. Be sure to send all the information to the blog host ahead of time. (Do a spell check and red it over carefully--it's embarrassing when you find a typo after it's already posted.This includes your post, a .jpg of your cover and one of you. If you can, send different photos of yourself, and if appropriate other photos that go along with the topic. ( I think next time I do this I'll give a prize to the one who finds the most typos.)

7. When the blog tour begins, post the whole tour on your won blog with links.

8. Everyday check to make sure the post is up on the host's blog. Once in awhile you have to remind them--and it's a good idea to remind them the day before.

9. Visit the blog two or three times the day it's up and reply to people's comments. Keep a list of those who comment if you are drawing names for a prize.

10. Everyday promote the blog where you are appearing on Facebook, Twitter, listserves and any place else where you are a member.

And again, "Phew!"

P.S. And one big problem I came up with this year is the hosts giving me the wrong URL. Sometimes it was the name of their blog which was different from the correct link.


Now a bit about Dangerous Impulses:

An attractive new-hire captivates Officer Gordon Butler, Officer Felix Zachary’s wife Wendy is befuddled by her new baby, Ryan and Barbara Strickland receive unsettling news about her pregnancy, while the bloody murder of a mother and her son and an unidentified drug that sickens teenaged partiers jolts the Rocky Bluff P.D.

Contest:

The person who comments on the most blog posts on this tour may have a character named after him or her in the next Rocky Bluff P.D. crime novel or choose a book from the previous titles in the Rocky Bluff P.D. series in either paper or for Kindle.

Rocky Bluff P.D. Series:

Though each book in the Rocky Bluff P.D. series is written as a stand-alone, I know there are people who like to read a series in order. From the beginning to the end:

Final Respects

Bad Tidings

Fringe Benefits

Smell of Death

No Sanctuary

An Axe to Grind

Angel Lost

No Bells

Dangerous Impulses

F. M. Meredith’s Bio:

F.M. is also known as Marilyn Meredith, the author of the Deputy Tempe Crabtree series. She first became interested in writing about law enforcement when she lived in a neighborhood filled with police officers and their families. The interest was fanned when her daughter married a police officer and the tradition has continued with a grandson and grandson-in-law who are deputies. She’s also serves on the board of the Public Safety Writers Association, and has many friends in different law enforcement fields. For twenty plus years, she and her husband lived in a small beach community located in Southern California much like the fictional Rocky Bluff. She is a member of three chapters of Sisters in Crime, Epic, and Mystery Writers of America.

Webpage: http://fictionforyou.com/

Blog: http://marilynmeredith.blogspot.com/

And I’m on Facebook and Twitter as MarilynMeredith

 Tomorrow you can find me visiting Marilyn Levinson. http://marilynlevinson.com/blog/

What Interferes with my Writing

Those who know me also know that I have a really big family-- which I consider to be a blessing. Besides my 4 living children, I have 18 grandkids and 14 great-grands. I love them all dearly.

Fortunately, I write early in the morning before anyone can descend upon me with requests for my attention.

I no longer baby sit for the little ones--their grandparents can have that chore. I can't run fast enough to catch those little guys and even some of the young ones are too heavy for me to lift. If a school age child needs to come over after school we're quite willing to do that. We have one great-grandaughter (almost 10) who loves to come here and she's fun, she reminds me of me at that age, she likes to write stories.

With a big family, we have our share of trauma too. Anyone who is my friend on Facebook or any of my lists knows that we nearly lost our youngest son to a horrible beating when he was working as a bouncer at a popular nightclub and ended up with a concussion, brain trauma and blood clots in his leg. At first he couldn't get the treatment he needed from the workman's comp doctor, but that's all changed now. The insurance company sent him to a brain trauma recovery program and he's there now. He's been helped tremendously. When something like that is going on--writing takes a back seat.

One of the biggest things that interferes with my writing though is the promotion that has to go along with it. While I'm writing one book I'm busy promoting the last one published. That's what's happening to me right now.

The 9th in the Rocky Bluff P.D. series is now available, Dangerous Impulses. Though I've ordered copies, I don't have any yet to send out for review. However, some PDF's of the book have been sent to people willing to read it in that way. I've planned a blog tour which will start March 1 and I have everything ready for that. (Right in the middle of the tour I'm going to Epicon for 4 days which means I'll be promoting the tour when I can from Vancouver WA.)

I have yet to plan the physical launch, that's still on my to-do list.

Anyone who might be interested in reading Dangerous Impulses
http://tinyurl.com/byxomtk  
it is available now from Amazon.
Blurb:

An attractive new-hire captivates Officer Gordon Butler, Officer Felix Zachary’s wife Wendy is befuddled by her new baby, Ryan and Barbara Strickland receive unsettling news about her pregnancy, while the bloody murder of a mother and her son and an unidentified drug that sickens teenaged partiers jolts the Rocky Bluff P.D.

What interferes with you writing?

Marilyn aka F. M. Meredith