The Life and Times of an Author with a Part Time Schedule

Hi, I'm Lynn and I'm an author.

Sometimes it feels like I'm a different person when I'm in my author mode. I work full time at an administrative position and when I'm there, I'm full on into the mode. I've even called my doctor on breaks and announced my name and who I work for.

Habit. You say something enough you start to believe it.

So when does that happen for being an author. I'm getting prepared for my fourth Tourist Trap release this June. I've got a stack of blogs to write, my postcards are ordered and sitting on my supply shelf, and I'm thinking about getting some different giveaways, like pens and notepads.

If you looked at what I spend on this kind of stuff, you'd agree I'm an author. If you looked at the time I spend on writing and promoting, you'd say I had a second career.

So why doesn't it feel like it yet? Covey talks about the roles we play in our life - wife, mother, employee, friend, author... (this is one of my writer groups - The lala's at San Antonio)

I've been working since I left college. Always trying to reach that next pinnacle in my career. Ready for my next promotion. I've tried different industries, working first for social service agencies, then health care, and now, I'm in corporate world. They all boil down to one thing.

Do your job well and you'll be rewarded.

Maybe being an author is the same principle. Do your job (the writing, the promotion, the scheduling) well, and you'll be rewarded. The difference is at my day job, I'm not responsible for the day to day activities or the life of the company. That's someone else's worry. As an author, no one cares about my books more than I do. Not my editor, not my reader, and not my future agent, whoever that might be. I'm the CEO of this writing gig.

As my mom would have said, "Buck up and do the work."

We're country like that.

Hi, I'm Lynn and I write the Tourist Trap series for Kensington.

(Better?)

If you're looking for Jill's next adventure in South Cove, Dressed to Kill is coming June 23rd.

Jill Gardner—owner of Coffee, Books, and More in the tucked-away town of South Cove, California—is not particularly thrilled to be portraying a twenties flapper for the dinner theater murder mystery. Though it is for charity…

Of course everyone is expecting a “dead” body at the dress rehearsal…but this one isn't acting! It turns out the main suspect is the late actor’s conniving girlfriend Sherry…who also happens to be the ex-wife of Jill’s main squeeze. Sherry is definitely a master manipulator…but is she a killer? Jill may discover the truth only when the curtain comes up on the final act…and by then, it may be far too late.

The Right Equipment

It used to be that authors wrote manuscripts by hand or by typewriters. Either way had to be tedious, not to mention time consuming. I don't know any authors who are satisfied with their first drafts.

With the dawn of computers, we can move and change words, whole chapters and almost an entire manuscript around, if we so desire.

The downside is computers need to work, which sometimes doesn't happen either through hardware or software malfunctions, age, or hackers. The last can occur at some point through an Internet virus, yet these days authors are helpless to sell books without being connected to the Internet.

Right now I'm in the process of figuring out a new laptop computer, since mine is past its prime and has a nasty habit of freezing on me when I need it. I'm vacillating between getting the cheapest adequate one or looking for more features, in case my desktop computer decides it wants to misbehave as well.

I found a decent Dell laptop for $498 at Walmart, but then to get all the Microsoft Office programs features that would be $99 per year more, $44 for accident insurance, 1 year limited warranty. To go through Dell, the same computer runs close at $902 for their 2 year service contract, plus accident insurance tacked on, and only one year on the Office programs.

Or, I can get a tablet instead of a laptop, but then which one? Also, I do want Microsoft Office capability. Microsoft Surface RT sounded like a good buy at $349, but then I found all kinds of reviews saying it's not so great.

It's all totally confusing. I'll keep investigating, and hope that inspiration will strike, or lower prices. At least I still have my desktop computer, fingers crossed, still working!

What about you? Do you own a laptop computer or tablet or both? Do you have any recommendations or warnings?

Morgan Mandel writes mysteries, thrillers and
romance.

Check out all her books at:
Website: http://www.morganmandel.com
Connect on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/morgan.mandel
Twitter: @MorganMandel

Unsolved Mysteries

We spend a lot of time constructing our mysteries, laying in the clues and red herrings, characterizing our hero/heroine and villain, plotting meticulously and creating a satisfying conclusion for our readers. But there are many, many unexplained mysteries out there. Here are a few intriguing ones:

Loch Ness Monster
Nessie has fascinated us for hundreds of years. First reported in 565 AD in the large, freshwater loch, interest renewed in the 1930s and has continued to today. This legendary water monster has had dedicated searchers hoping to find him or her, to no result – yet – despite photos, sonar and even a video.

The Great Pyramids
Who built the great pyramids? How were they constructed using the tools and knowledge available at the time? Man has spent a great deal of time since the mid-19th century exploring the pyramids, without coming up with definitive answers.

Atlantis
Plato teased us with stories of a great seafaring civilization whose island world sank into the sea, leaving no trace. There have been stories, movies and endless discussions about the mysterious world of Atlantis since.

Jimmy Hoffa
Head of the influential Teamsters union, Jimmy Hoffa disappeared one day in Detroit, Michigan, in July, 1975. No trace has ever been found of Hoffa, but there are plenty of theories and rumors about what happened to him.

Bermuda Triangle
How many aircraft, ships and people have simply vanished in the famed Bermuda Triangle? Is it a wormhole, piracy, weather phenomenon or something else entirely?

Just a few of the many mysteries that intrigue and puzzle us – do you have a different favorite mystery -- solved or unsolved?

Libby McKinmer
Romance with an edge
www.libbymckinmer.com
On GoodReads, Facebook & Twitter, too!

Writers, Authors, Scribblers--Which are You? By Christine Duncan

My blogmate, Michelle Birkby wrote on our Rule of Three, that she will "call (herself) a writer when (she) gets published and paid, and ....an author when ... published and paid on a regular basis." Michelle calls herself a scribbler.

I used to believe that way. Being a writer was something I aspired to be. I didn't call myself one for years. It sounded boastful.

I believe differently now. I am a writer and I've earned the title, not because I have two published books but because I write.

Let me explain.

There are folks who like the idea of writing. They flirt with it like a single man at a hen party. We've all met them. They may not write, but just talk about the book they will write when they have the time. Sometimes they write for a season or a period of their lives--like someone who writes about her painful divorce or crushing relationship.

Sometimes they're decent writers, sometimes not. But they don't stick. Times and lives change and they move on to another dream. My number one rule about whether you are a writer or not is simple. Do you stick?

Whether you are published or not, whether the dog is sick and it's not convenient or you don't feel like it but you made yourself or someone else a promise--writers write.

Michelle is a writer in my book, not only because she writes regularly for our blog but also because she writes fan fiction and short stories and more.

I'm not sure about her distinction between an author and a writer either. As I told her, I don't know anyone who gets a regular paycheck from this. And I know a fair amount of writers. I usually call myself a writer except in those blurbs at the end of an article or blog post.

I do like Michelle's description of herself as a scribbler. It brings to mind an image of Jo March from Louisa Mae Alcott's classic Little Women. Yet still, wasn't there a famous poet who penned her poems on grocery lists and who was never published until after she died? Would that mean she wasn't a writer? Really?


Christine Duncan is the scribbler, no make that writer, oh shucks, author of the Kaye Berreano mystery series. Safe House the second book in the series is available now.