August Is and Always Has Been My Favorite Month

Even more so this year, as it started with our family reunion, a most special reunion. My grandson whom I hadn't seen since he was three and now 42, came all the way to join us from Nebraska and brought his wife Jeff is the child of our eldest son who died from cancer. And no, he never got to see his son again. You can't imagine how wonderful it was to hug Jeff, and hear all about him. Emotions ran high all weekend. We also had a lot of fun. All my daughters were there with some of their family members, plus cousins galore.

This is also my birthday month, and at the reunion my eldest daughter did a This is Your Life presentation, with comments from people from my past, like the superintendent of schools (I was PTA president four times and knew him as a friend), several of my Camp Fire Girls,and  three of my cousins. That was fun.

My daughter celebrated her birthday and she and her daughter both celebrate anniversaries, we have other family birthdays this month too.

But enough about family, onto writing business. Usually I have a new Deputy Tempe Crabtree mystery coming out this month, but I haven't quite finished writing it. Had too many re-edits to do of both the earlier books in that series and the ones in the Rocky Bluff P.D. series.

Because I don't have any new books at the moment, I haven't done much promotion. However, I still have plenty of copies of my older books and have presentations and other venues lined up in the coming months to hopefully sell some.

I went to Nightwriters in San Luis Obispo to tell about where I got the ideas for my books.This is always fun, and a great group of people.

Next I went to Visalia to the Tulare/Kings Writers group to talk about writing description of  people, places and things. This is a small group and so enjoyable as we can easily share back and forth.

I'm always ready and willing to give talks about different aspects of writing, and I love going to book and craft fairs.

Hopefully, in the next month or so, I can finish my Deputy Tempe Crabtree mystery. I think you'll like this one, it's set in Tehachapi where all the wind machines are, and of course Tempe will be dealing with ghosts and spirits as well as a murder.

Marilyn

Why Should I Care?

The other day I saw a kid on a skateboard dart in front of a car near our local food store. Though I didn't know him or the driver, I got mad, thinking he should have known better than to jeopardize his life. Also, what about the driver? Imagine what hell the driver would go through if he'd hit the kid.

I often seen people on bikes with child carriers attached to the back, and I wonder why those parents think so much of their own exercise at the expense of what could happen to the child. Again, I don't know these individuals, but they still aggravate me. I can't figure out why children must be buckled up in special car carriers, yet can be so out in the open in the flimsy ones in back of bikes. It doesn't make sense.

Those are actual examples, and there are so many more, where my emotions are affected by people I don't even know.

Why am I mentioning this?

It leads me to one responsibility of authors. Yes, books should be technically correct in grammar and formatting, correct wording, sparse adjectives and adverbs, and all those other items that spell a quality read. However, a book can look correct, but still not engage the reader.

It's the author's duty to make the reader care what happens to the characters, or the reader will feel cheated and bored. Not only must we get into the characters' heads and think the same, but it's also important to share what we feel with the readers.

There are many ways to do this. Some are:

Dialogue, internal or external - What's said or omitted
Mannerisms - Biting a lip, tightening jaws, frown, smile
Another character's observations about the appearance or mannerisms of one of the characters.

These are some techniques. You may know others. If so, please share.

The main thing is to engage the readers. Make them care!

Morgan Mandel

Morgan Mandel is a past president of Chicago-North RWA,
was Library Liaison for Midwest MWA, belongs to Sisters in Crime and EPIC.

Her most recent releases are: Her Handyman, a romantic comedy,
and the thriller, Forever Young: Blessing or Curse.

See all her books at
http://amazon.com/author/morganmandel
Excerpts & Buy Links:
http://morgansbooklinks.blogspot.com
Twitter: @MorganMandel