When is a coroner like a writing desk?

Sometimes I’m surprised at the things I thought I knew and didn't. 

Like the difference between coroner and medical examiner.  

Growing up, I knew that Quincy was a medical examiner and Idaho had coroners.  I knew that fact about Idaho because at Girl’s State (a program designed for high school juniors – the leaders of tomorrow, I had to run for an office.  Knowing I wouldn't be successful in a popularity vote (think shy bookworm) I chose the one office I didn't think anyone else would want.  Creepy coroner. 

And just to set the record straight – the girl who won, cheated.  She used a ventriloquist dummy in her campaign speeches.  Totally against the rules, but maybe even creepier than the girl who haunted the library most of her academic 

career. 

So when I penned my first cozy – set on the central California coast, I chose a mortician in a nearby town to be my coroner character. 

Today, reading an interview with a Colorado retired coroner made me question the use of the role. So back to Google I went, and found a chart here (Thanks NPR) that breaks down by state who handles the states dead. 

Coroners are elected.  And in some states, a popular vote and a ventriloquist dummy, (yes, I do hold a grudge, why?) will get you the position.  Medical examiners are professionals, trained and hired. 

I can see how authors get lost in research, trying to make their books accurate.  Whether it’s a contemporary setting, or historical, there are always going to be things you thought you knew.

And that’s the fun of writing.  Learning more than you’ll ever say about a subject.  Like coroners. Now, luckily, California uses both, so my small town coroner, Doc Ames, can rest comfortably in the pages of the book without being revised. 

So, MMM readers and authors, what did your favorite author get wrong? Or right? No names please, we’ll protect the innocent. J

Lynn

Someone Is Always to Blame

I caught a cold over the weekend. I don't know how I got it. That aspect bugs me in a way. I'm usually careful and keep away from germy people, but this time I don't know who passed on the germ to me. Already the DH is saying things like, "I  hope I don't catch your cold." If he does, at least he'll know where to assign blame.

Why do we read mysteries? I think one reason is to solve the same type of mind puzzle. A fictional character gets killed or threatened bodily harm. The reader is sent on a search with the object being where to assign blame. It's a great guessing game to see if speculations are correct.

In the case of thrillers, readers sometimes even know the bad guy, but still are on pins and needles wondering if the hero or heroine will figure it out in time before more dire happenings occur.

Someone is Always to Blame.

In most mysteries, we learn the answer. In others, such as my cold case, we'll never know.

Morgan Mandel
http://www.morganmandel.com
Find Excepts & Buy Links to my
mysteries, thrillers & romances at
http://morgansbooklinks.blogspot.com
Twitter: @MorganMandel

Quotes for Writers (and others)

My friend, Jan Christensen, recently did a blog on helpful quotes she’s collected. Hers are on writing advice and I loved the post!

It got me thinking about the mishmash of quotes I’ve collected over the years. On the chance that some of them may interest you, I’ll throw a bunch out here. These aren’t all writing advice. Many are inspiration (I seem to need that often). Some are just funny (I need that, too.)

“Write like a shark. Keep moving or you die.” My paraphrase from a Neil Gaiman article. This one is currently taped to my monitor.

Others are gathered into files with various names because I forget I already have a file for quotes.

This one resurfaced on the Short Mystery Fiction list recently:

"Writing is a lot like prostitution. First you do it for love. Then you do it for money. Then you recruit others." --Moliere

This one also came from a discussion on the Short Mystery Fiction List.

I'm thinking literary focuses on the moment when the character changes, and the genre focuses on what the character does with that change. --Stephen D. Rogers

"Inspiration exists, but it has to find you working." --Pablo Picasso

"It does not matter how slowly you go so long as you do not stop." – Confucius

"You have seen, but you have not observed." --Sherlock Holmes

"I have lost all sense of home, having moved about so much. It means to me now -- only the place where the books are kept." That's my favorite Steinbeck quote. --Elaine Viets

“Whatever course you decide upon, there is always someone to tell you that you are wrong. There are always difficulties arising which tempt you to believe that your critics are right. To map out a course of action and follow it to an end requires courage.” ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

“Courage does not always roar. Sometimes, it is the quiet voice at the end of the day saying I will try again tomorrow.” --Old Irish Saying

"Change is a dragon. You can ignore it, which is futile. You can fight it, in which case you will lose. Or you can ride it.” -- Arianne Wing on the closing of the world-famous Imperial Dynasty restaurant in Hanford, CA; quoted in The Hanford Sentinel, Dec. 17, 2005.

"No one in this world is useless if he lightens the burden of it for someone else." -Charles Dickens

"I started out very quiet and I beat Mr. Turgenev. Then I trained hard and I beat Mr. de Maupassant. I've fought two draws with Mr. Stendhal, and I think I had an edge in the last one. But nobody's going to get me in any ring with Mr. Tolstoy unless I'm crazy or I keep getting better." --Ernest Hemingway

"Every time you sit down to write, you should be afraid of losing the reader at any moment of any page."-- Playwright William Gibson:

What are your favorites for inspiration, guidance, amusement?

All photos public domain from morgueFile.com

D-Day -- Don't Let the Memories Die

D-Day — Don't Let the Memories Die

by Randy Rawls

Today is D-Day, June 6^th, the sixty-ninth anniversary of the allied invasion of occupied France. 156,000 troops from the United States, the United Kingdom, Free France, and Norway participated—one of the largest invasion forces in history. They hit a 50-mile stretch along the Normandy coast. The beaches we've heard the most about are Utah, Omaha, Gold, Juno and Sword. It was Omaha that claimed the most Allied casualties.

However, our troops didn't wade ashore unsupported. Five thousand ships participated, accompanied by fifty thousand vehicles and eleven thousand planes—the largest seaborne invasion in history. Casualties were horrendous—6,603 US troops wounded (1,465 killed), 2,700 UK troops wounded, 1,074 Canadian troops wounded (359 killed). Germany's losses are estimated to have been between 4,000 and 9,000.

The history of one of those ships is quite interesting. The USS Nevada was moored at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. It was the only battleship to break out, even though heavily damaged. After repairs, it supported the invasions of Iowa Jima and Okinawa. It also played a key role in naval gun support of the D Day invasion.

There have been many books written about the invasion, many movies made. Yet, I suspect numerous acts of heroism have gone untold. Many fascinating anecdotes are being lost. With the death of each of our veterans, we lose a national treasure. It won't be long before all of them are gone.

I wonder how today will be honored across the country. Based on what I see on other national holidays, I expect it to pass quietly in my neighborhood. Less than ten percent of the houses will display flags. What a shame. Please put your flag out and let the world know you remember.

If you know a WWII veteran, thank him/her for what she/he did. And, if you're fortunate enough to know one of those who survived D Day, make an extra effort to say something nice. Visit a National Cemetery and pay your respects to all the veterans buried there. Thank them for what they and their compatriots did.

The following is from the website of the Normandy American Cemetery at Colleville sur Mer (http://battlefieldsww2.50megs.com/normandy_american_cemetery.htm).

        At the conclusion of the fighting in Normandy, there were more than ten American cemeteries on the battlefield, with hundreds of small burial grounds and isolated graves. The American Battle Monuments Commission (AMBC) repatriated at least 60% of these burials back to the United States, and concentrated the remaining casualties into two main cemeteries; one here in Normandy and another in Britanny.

        To a size of 172.5 acres, the Normandy American Cemetery has 9,387 burials of US service men and women. Of this number, some 307 are unknowns, three are Medal of Honor winners, and four are women. In addition, there are 33 pairs of brothers buried side by side. It is the largest American Cemetery from WW2, but not the largest in Europe: that is the Meuse-Argonne Cemetery from WW1 with more than 14,000 burials.

        Don't let the memories die.

 

Randy

Publishing and Other Perils - A Rant

             In the greatly lamented and only partially mythic ‘Golden Era’ of publishing printing books was a gentlemen’s game. The publishing houses were primarily large and privately owned by individual gentlemen rather than omnivorous multi-national corporations. These companies were actually interested in books and belles lettres. They read things submitted by writers as well as by agents and when they found a writer they liked, they worked to build his career, finding them editors who understood their voice, dealing with bookstores for good placement and arranging publicity. They took care of all the mechanical necessities and even sometimes – if they really liked the writer’s work – gave him a second chance if the current release didn’t reach their projected sales. Paying an advance was standard practice. In those warmly-thought-of days, a writer’s job was writing.

     Fast forward to today. Ah, how the business has changed. There are still a lot of different publishing line names on the spines of books, but most are controlled by the Big Five publishing houses, which just a short time ago was the Big Six. During the corporate feeding frenzy of the 80s nearly all the mid-sized independent publishing houses were absorbed – willingly or not – into the current monolithic, corporation-controlled houses, most of which go about selling books with the same techniques and artistic sensitivity as they use to sell widgets or shoes or hand tools.

     It is difficult if not impossible to approach any of the large paper publishing houses without an agent. As they are now the ‘first readers’ and arguably the arbiters for what will be seen, too many agents have begun to regard themselves as the center of the industry… and placing their bottom line over the needs of the writer, the publisher and the reading public. In a devil’s bargain with agents, publishers have been making their contracts more and more friendly to their own bottom line and to further this end making them less and less comprehensible. The writer, without whom there would not be an industry at all, always seems to come at the bottom of the pile.

     There are small and electronic publishers who do read unsolicited/unagented manuscripts, but in an alarming twist many of them are refusing even to look at a manuscript unless it is formatted to their own exacting specifications. Presumably this is so if they do contract the book, they can put it straight into production without having to bother with any typesetters or formatters. Since when did formatting become a writer’s responsibility? And most especially as a prerequisite for submission?

     Also many publishing companies ask in their submission requirements “What platform do you have for publicity? What kind of a marketing plan do you intend to implement?” Apparently it’s not enough for the writer to have written the book, and formatted it, now they are expected to handle nearly all the publicity for it. This is a plan that benefits only the publisher, who does not have to spend money for publicity. Let the writer do it! 

     The logic for this is particularly flawed; not only does publicity take precious time that should be spent in writing the next book, but as most writers are not publicists, it also forces the writer to re-invent the wheel. How much more logical it would be for publishers – who take the lion’s share of the money anyway – to have a well-oiled publicity machine with contacts made and slots ready and waiting instead of having each writer individually either contact every outlet or pay big bucks for a publicist of their own.

      There is a truism in publishing that ‘money flows to the author’ but in this current world it is becoming commonplace for an author to pay to have his manuscript edited before submission, where it will then be re-edited by the publishing house (or not!) upon acceptance. I must admit this leaves me speechless. Do writers think that sending in a pre-edited manuscript guarantees acceptance? Or are they such bad writers that they know without a pre-submission professional edit they would have no chance at all? Neither prospect is particularly alluring.

     And all these responsibilities and all these expenses paid by the writer come at a time where advances are shrinking or are non-existent.

     Some houses ask for a writer’s standardized input on the cover artwork, and with that it ends there for most. No matter if the cover is ugly, inaccurate or stupid, it stays that way because the marketing department says so. This, however, is a fading practice, especially with good small and electronic publishers.

     To make things even worse, after the book is sold and the writer has waited out whatever time the publisher decrees proper, he receives a royalty statement of books sold. Most are near indecipherable, and short of an audit (for which the writer pays, of course) the writer must trust the publisher that the figures shown are accurate. May I amend that? If the writer is lucky he receives a royalty statement; there are several publishers who have to be badgered and kept after (which again steals away time which should be spent writing) to send a statement, a process which is not guaranteed to have any success.

     Kind of makes one wonder why anyone would ever want to be part of a profession that depends on one kind of skilled artist to exist at all but treats those artists so badly. Of course, no one house does all of these things, but so many do enough of them that it does give one pause.

     I would sincerely like to hear a publishing house representative give a cogent and logical explanation of why the writer, who creates the product and without whom there would be no publishing industry, is treated like a red-haired stepchild and always comes at the end of the line. And the money trail.

     Perhaps the most astonishing thing is that publishing houses – especially the Big Five – profess amazement that so many writers are now beginning to self publish. If writers had received the kind of treatment – and the share of royalties – that they deserve, I wonder if self-publishing would ever have taken off.

Janis Patterson

My Big Family is Wonderful, but...

Truly, I wouldn't change a thing, I love my family, but we've had two weddings one right after the other. Beautiful weddings and the opportunity to be with lots of relatives--but I have to admit, all this traveling and celebrating has worn me out. And it has taken a toll on my writing.

I need to be busy with my Rocky Bluff P.D. crime novel--I have done some writing, I'm on Chapter 9 and I know where I'm going. Knowing where you're going is not enough though, I need to put my fanny in the chair and write, write, write.

We did have a great time though. First wedding was three days in what had once been an old growth redwood forest logging camp. New Sequoias had already grown tall, but nothing like the ones they'd cut down. What had once been a meadow was the site for the wedding. There was a lodge where we stayed and ate some meals and lots of cabins scattered around where the wedding party stayed.

Grandson Nathan and his bride, Amanda

This weekend we headed up to Montecito (where all the celebs live in Santa Barbara) to another grandson's wedding. This was held in a gorgeous backyard that was like a park.

Grandson Gregg and his bride, Caitlin

Grandson Gregg is a police officer in Aspen CO and he's the one who gave me the idea for Bears With Us telling about all the bear calls he goes on--and when he goes back on duty that will be part of what keeps him busy.

I have a couple of weeks home then we're headed to a cousin's 50th wedding anniversary. From there we'll go down to stay with eldest daughter for a few days because hubby hasn't seen her new digs yet. (Thanks goodness for daughter Lisa who is willing to drive us around when it's dark and the scary freeways of So. Cal.)

So until that next trip I will be busy writing.

Marilyn, who isn't complaining, I really had a great time at both weddings.

Taking Stock

The other evening I happened to go to my Amazon site. I don’t go there often for a variety of reasons. For one, they show some of my books with covers of old versions that no longer are for sale instead of putting up the covers of more recent editions. Another reason is my rankings aren’t what I want them to be. But I digress.

Because I rarely visit my Amazon site except to check for errors, I found myself reading reviews of one of my children’s books. No Boys Allowed deals with a young girl’s life after her parents’ sudden divorce. Though the novel first came out in 1992 or 3, the theme is still relevant. How divorce impacts on kids hasn’t changed much since then. When the book finally went out of print, I retrieved the rights and put up a new edition  myself. Reading the reviews made me take stock. Sure, I liked the compliments regarding my writing skills, but I was especially glad to know that Cassie’s situation touched the hearts of my readers. I smiled as I left my Amazon page, remembering a conversation with a teacher this past year and her telling me that she and another teacher in her school had read the book with their students. Remembering that a friend’s granddaughter’s teacher had read the book to her class. No Boys Allowed is alive and flourishing, and reaching new readers!

I do my best to bring my books to the attention of readers via social media. I blog, I guest blog, I go on Facebook, I tweet, etc. Nothing seems to raise my sales, though No Boys Allowed is #29 in the Kindle store for children’s books concerning marriage and divorce through no effort on my part. Perhaps that’s through word of mouth. Taking stock, I realize that making my novels available to readers is what’s most important to me. I love hearing a reader say she enjoyed one of my mysteries and hopes I write more books in the series. I take delight in receiving emails from children telling me they love a particular book, or that one of my books hit a particular subject spot on. This is especially heartwarming because my kids’ books deal with serious themes. In Getting Back to Normal Vannie copes with life after her mother's death. In And Don’t Bring Jeremy, Adam finds himself and a way to relate to his older brother who has
disabilities. I’ve decided not to worry about rankings and numbers and to focus on what I love: writing novels for myself and for my readers.