I'm Ready for My Close-Up...

by Janis Patterson

In journalism school I was taught to lead off an article with the big news first, so the readers could get everything necessary in the first paragraph. Just the opposite of a novel, but okay, here goes.

I'm getting my own YouTube channel.

All right, you can stop applauding now. This wasn't my idea. After reading and liking several of my books, a friend asked why I didn't have my own YouTube channel. Now y'all know I am a complete techno-naif who can barely answer email, but at least I did know what a YouTube channel is.

Anyway, I said I'd never thought of it, to which she replied she thought my books were so good I should have one. Before I could say I'd think about it she said she had a sideline of doing them for fine artists - I knew she was a great painter, but had no idea about the channels - and she'd do mine.

Now over the last years I've indulged in an occasional bit of voice work, but it has been years (decades?) since I've done any on-camera work. It's true - once I quit shaking I discovered it really is sort of like riding a bicycle - once you've learned, you can always do it. At least, sort of.

So, not too long ago The Husband and I trotted up to her studio, bearing costumes and books, and we taped. I sat in her library, seated in a lovely old chair (so no one could see my knees knock), and talked. That I can do. We have a good idea of content; there will be just one book a show. I read an excerpt and tell a little bit about the book - why I wrote it, or maybe a funny story about writing it, or something interesting about it. Then I give a writing tip. Simple, right? Right. Even if your knees are knocking.

Actually, the whole thing is so easy for me I'm almost embarrassed. My friend is the one who does the work - shooting, balancing the sound, editing, creating the titles for the show.

So now I know you're absolutely panting to know when you can see this magnificent opus. Well, today was supposed to be the roll-out date, as we've decided to release a new show on the Third Wednesday of every month, but thanks to Circumstances Beyond Our Control (wouldn't you know!) the roll-out is probably going to be the first part of next week. Sigh.

Anyway, the name of my channel is Janis' Tips and Tales and I would appreciate it very much if you would check it out the first part of next week, and maybe subscribe to the channel. If nothing else, you can laugh at my return to the front of the camera.

2019 Has Had a Bumpy Start for Me

I'd expected to have a new Deputy Tempe Crabtree mystery out by now, but it hasn't happened as yet.  I feel confident that it will appear sooner or later.

Within a one week period I fell twice. Once at the post office, tripping over a 1/2 inch curb. Hurt my knee, head and hand and had a trip to the ER in an ambulance. Not big injuries but lots of bruises. The next day, hubby, daughter and I drove through a snow storm to go to a meeting in Ventura. We got there fine--I was the one that had to attend the 3 day meeting, hubby stayed with two daughters.

We came home on Monday, I did a big wash on Tuesday and caught up with a lot of chores, then of all things, on Wednesday I tripped over a rug in the house and hurt the same knee and the other one too, banged my head and hurt the same hand in a different place. Did not go to the ER this time. However, I am learning to use the walker in the house.

What I really want to do is work on my book in progress--so some good news about that. I needed to know some information about cadaver dogs and the conditions of dead bodies over a long period of time, and though a lot of people gave me some information, one of my friends in the Public Safety Writers Association put me in touch with a woman who has a cadaver dog and works with a sheriff's department. She's been giving me lots of help.

Looking forward, I know the road ahead won't be smooth all the time, but I'm looking forward to those, and I'm sure I can manage the bumpy ones.

So how has your 2019 been so far?

Marilyn

Self-Doubt and the Author

Make Mine Mystery

March 5, 2019

by Linda Lee Kane

Writing a novel is a huge undertaking, and self-doubt is a natural part of that process. It can happen at any time. Perhaps in the early stages you feel daunted by the task, or mid-way through your novel, you begin to lose your way. Even a big success can cause you to stumble.

No matter what phase of writing you’re in, remember to focus on your process. It will help keep you grounded and give you a sense of accomplishment with the things you can control-finishing your book, researching your book or promoting your book. 

Sometimes you’ll need your creativity for more than just writing. It can keep you motivated and confident when you’re working alone for long periods of time. Your book is not just a project, it’s a tool for sustaining courage and determination in a time of self-doubt. When ever you begin to doubt yourself, go back to the rituals you’ve created around your writing and find ways to support and respect your work.

Please look at my interview for Death on the Vine on the Author Show. The people are amazing.

Scenes and Sensibility

by Janis Patterson

I had a revelation while working on an upcoming project. I needed a snippet out of each of my books that could be narrated in five minutes.

Five minutes is not a long time.

The first excerpt I tried ran almost fifteen minutes. The second twenty. The third... well, suffice it to say it was not five minutes. None of the passages I had marked were. Oh, I tried to cut back, but what was left - though five to five and a half minutes - was nothing. A collection of words without direction or emotion.

Now for years I have been complimented on my writing, on my creation of emotion and sense of place. Apparently I just don't do it in five minute slots.

Which started me thinking. We have become a sound-bite society, where a maximum of opinion is expected to be expressed in a minimum of words or be cut off. Where entire opinions are encapsulated into thirty seconds. Apparently the long, slow, intensifying build-up that gradually takes you to a satisfying conclusion (even if just for a single scene) is out of fashion.

It's rather like comparing the short, often-repeating core melody of a pop song to the growing, sweeping intensity of a symphony movement. Or a lengthy master shot in a movie compared to short bursts of action like the cuts in a music video. Both styles have their advantages, both are good, and both have their supporters and their detractors.

I'll admit I'm firmly set in the sweeping grandeur of the symphony camp. Short flashes are very well, but you barely have time to know what's going on where let alone get the flavor, the emotion, the sense of place I feel is necessary for a good story. Obviously some people disagree with me, including the project coordinator who is firm in her dictum of five minutes, which means I have to dig deeper in order to find an excerpt that satisfies me at a length which satisfies everyone else.

Sigh.

Schedule C - An Author's Friend When Filing Taxes

by Linda Thorne

It’s that time of year again. I rushed to complete our tax forms and sent them off to the IRS in hopes of side-stepping another potential government shutdown. I feel good the IRS has them in hand.

The Schedule C form can be a good friend to any author. It’s my understanding that your book does not need to be published in order to claim deductions for your business-focused website and domain expenses, and maybe others. I did not feel comfortable using this deduction though until I had a publishing contract. Since it took ten long years to publish my book, I have a feeling the IRS would’ve frowned upon a decade of author expenses without a publication. With the contract in hand, I filed my first Schedule C for writing just prior to my book debut. Even if you are not making a profit on your writing, filing these expenses is a profit in its own way because of the tax savings.                   

Schedule C isn’t that complicated either. You can also claim the portion of your home that you use to write your books and keep your inventory. Of course, if your writing expenses outweigh your income, then the tax formula will always result in a zero deduction. Still, I think it’s good to set up that home space early for the IRS to see in preparation of the day you make enough on your writing to collect on the home deduction too. You can write off dues to professional organizations, gas mileage to author events, author-related conferences. You can include a portion for food and drink when you’ve traveled out of your area and stayed in a hotel.

Since I’m talking about tax preparation, I need to add a caveat. I’m not a tax professional or expert, so my purpose here is only to alert writers, especially new ones, that this is something available to you.

So, I’ve offered a little information from my tax experiences as a writer. If any of you have some experiences or advice to share, please do.

Amazon Link

http://www.lindathorne.com

When Nothing Goes as Planned by Marilyn Meredith

By this time I should have had a new Deputy Tempe Crabtree mystery published. In fact, it should have happened last August. But as the sayings go: Stuff happens or the Best laid plans of mice and men often go astray.

There was so much going on with both my publishers wanting re-edits of earlier books, I didn't have much time to write. Finally, I had the next in the Deputy Tempe Crabtree series done and heard and critiqued by my writers group, and I sent it off to the publisher in December. I knew nothing would happen quickly because of the holidays.

However I finally got the edits--and went over them accepting most--and sent them back to the editor. And wouldn't you know it somehow they got lost in the email ether.

When  I heard nothing I once again inquired--sure enough the editor didn't receive them, they were resent.

The day I wrote this blog I heard the manuscript with the edits had been sent off to be formatted. Hooray! Then of course I'll have to go over it to check for errors, typos etc. But it is moving along.

All of this means my calendar for my new books has been switched all around with the Rocky Bluff series now coming out in the summer and the Tempe Crabtree series in the early part of the year.

Despite the setbacks, I've continued to make plans for the promotion of Spirit Wind.

Marilyn

Make Mine Mystery

February 2019

Linda Lee Kane

I was looking forward to the new year and had so many exciting plans, book blogs, tours, radio shows, tv appearances, traveling, getting my floor done, horse shows, taking care of my grandchildren and then on January 2, I tripped over a mat in a horse stall, my leather boots caught on the rubber mat and I flew, hard, right onto the ground. I was holding bags of horse food so my elbow was bent when I landed and that’s what did the most damage. First, when I landed on my elbow and flew head first into a metal barn door. I shattered my right arm (humerus), had a concussion, and just ached everywhere.

The one thing I got out of this experience is how lousy hospital emergency rooms are. They are overcrowded, people that are sneezing were seen before me, and only when I began to throw-up did anyone pay any attention to me. I received no care from 9:40 am until 7:00 pm that night. At that point I did get x rays done and a shot of morphine but at that point the shot was worthless. To add to this after the long wait, I was sent home and told to contact an orthopedic surgeon and to take it easy because I had a concussion.  I could have been home this whole time trying to get into an orthopedic surgeon (well not exactly, but you get my drift), I had no food, no water, (I was told I couldn’t have anything if they operated). I sat in a waiting room on a hard chair.

I would have to say this will give me a great memory for writing in a novel. I never realized our system of health care is so broken, and the staff at the hospitals who do try and help are up against a machine at the higher levels of indifference or they are just plain overwhelmed and no one knows what to do about it.

I also discovered that no matter how painful it is to write and draw for me, I still need to do it. It keeps me grounded, it gives me a purpose that I can’t deny. I think I will become more active in writing letters to hospital administrators and maybe we can put our collective brains together and come up with a better solution for health care.