It's a treasure hunt for writers

All toons are from my Facebook page

cj Sez: Have you ever been on a treasure hunt?  I was once and had a lot of fun. So, today, I want to send you, dear readers, on a treasure hunt. Follow the urls and you’ll find insights into how to help a fellow author, how to build your author brand, and then a special note that might require a tissue.

These writers have said what I could not have said as well.

10 Ways to Help an Author:

I keep harping on helping fellow authors, and it really doesn’t take much to do that. It’s a Golden Rule thing: “Do unto others as you would have done unto you.”

Christopher Schmitz recently listed 10 ways to help an author. He addresses the post to family and friends of indie authors, but  his 10 ways apply to all …read them here:  

 https://authorchristopherdschmitz.wordpress.com/2017/03/22/10-ways-to-help-an-author/

Building your brand

Jamie Gold gives advice on how to keep your sanity while building your author brand here:

http://jamigold.com/2017/03/branding-101-keeping-our-sanity-while-building-a-brand/?utm_campaign=shareaholic&utm_medium=facebook&utm_source=socialnetwork

Jamie references a post by Jennie Henson on the Writers in the Storm blog. Jennie starts off with “Simply put, your brand is the picture that pops into people’s mind when they hear your name. Your author brand is how your fans identify you.” Read more here:

http://writersinthestormblog.com/2017/03/build-a-strong-online-brand/

You might need to break out the tissues when you read this journalist’s piece on the fairy tale that all children need and deserve:

http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2017/03/24/special-needs-fairy-tale.html

Okay, that’s it for this post. You-all guys keep on keeping on, and I’ll try to do the same.

cj

PS:  A reader correctly pointed out that the blurb for my short story Bad Day at Round Rock in THE POSSE as being “torn from the pages of West Texas history” is not exactly correct. Being a native-born Texan, I know that. The city of Round Rock is in south-central Texas. Because Sam Bass was one of the state’s most famous outlaws, and his reputation spread throughout Texas, I thought "West Texas history" sounded more exciting than “South-Central Texas history.” (The anthology is available on Amazon for 99 cents. … buy it here:  http://amzn.to/2mGUh2L )

The Posse is off and running . . .

cj Sez:  The ebook version of THE POSSE anthology had its Facebook launch on March 15 amidst a lot of fun and fanfare. One guest won a $50 gift certificate, and quite a few other visitors to the launch won either an eBook or an Amazon gift certificate. It was a blast, and I never shut up for the whole hour I was scheduled. Whew. My partner—excuse me, pardner—Charles Whipple who writes brilliantly as Chuck Tyrell was trying to post from Japan, but I kept filling the time and space. He didn’t have a chance. Let’s face it, it was Wednesday, at 9 p.m. where I live, and it was Thursday at 10 a.m. where he lives. Poor guy, he was trying to post past-tense. (Figure that one out.)

Here’s the opening excerpt from Charles/Chuck’s short story, “To Set a Thief” 

There I stood, leaning on the bar, enjoying a cool beer in the Monarch saloon when the Apache County Sheriff, J.B. Hubbell, stormed through the swinging doors. He held a 10-gauge Greener, its hammers cocked. The dark sheen of the double-barrels matched Hubbell’s dark scowl.

   “A little bird told me I’d find Mort Eggertson drinkin’ in the Monarch, and, sure enough, I did. I’d purely appreciate if you shed that there Remington Army. Step away from the Winchester ya got leaning against the wall.”

With stories by Lyn Horner, Frank Kelso, cj petterson, Charlene Raddon, Chimp Robertson , JS Stroud, Chuck Tyrell, THE POSSE is available now on Amazon and you can order it here:  http://amzn.to/2mGUh2L  or touch the cover link. 

That’s it for today, folks. 

BSP: I’ll be visiting Lois Winston’s Killer Crafts blog site on Friday, March 24….look for me at http://anastasiapollack.blogspot.com/   

You-all guys keep on keeping on, and I’ll try to do the same.

cj

cjpetterson@gmail.com

Facebook

Simon&Schuster Author Page

Amazon Central Author Page 

Choosing Carter  -- Kindle  /  Nook  /  Kobo   /  iTunes/iBook

Deadly Star --  Kindle  / Nook  / Kobo

California Kisses 10-book publishers bundle on Amazon 99 cents 

2017 is rolling right along . . .

cj Sez:  I was privileged to participate in a Young Authors Conference on Saturday at the Mobile Regional Library and had some wonderful conversations with young readers and authors-waiting-to-be-published. The thing I emphasized is the thing I work hardest on: Opening lines, opening paragraphs, opening pages.

Stephen King is quoted as saying when he works on a first draft, he doesn’t “get scientific about it,” he just writes. But…”there’s one thing I’m sure about. An opening line should invite the reader to begin the story. It should say: Listen. Come in here. You want to know about this.” He sometimes works months on his opening. 

The need for an inviting opening is true for all authors and all genres. My handout for these aspiring authors included the following examples:

Middle School, the Worst Years of My Life - James Patterson and Chris Tebbetts

Chapter One: I’m Rafe Khatchadorian, Tragic Hero  It feels as honest as the day is crummy that I begin this tale of total desperation and woe with me, my pukey sister, Georgia, and Leonardo the Silent sitting like rotting sardines in the back of a Hills Village Police Department cruiser.  

Secret Agent 6th Grader - Marcus Emerson  My head was spinning, and I had no idea where I was. All I knew for sure was that I was sitting on a chair in a dark room. It was cold, and I could hear water dripping from somewhere behind me. Plus my socks were wet.  

Wonderstruck - Brian Selznick  Something hit Ben Wilson and he opened his eyes. The wolves had been chasing him again and his heart was pounding. He sat up in the dark room and rubbed his arm. He picked up the shoe his cousin had thrown at him and dropped it on the floor. 

Dolbin School for the Extraordinary - Martin Tiller It was a Tuesday in late March, and it was the last day Jake Cooper was considered a normal person. He was skinny, had jet black hair and was a little tall for a fourth-grader.  

The idea is to start your story where the action begins. Hook your reader with an action-oriented opening that invites the reader to wonder what’s next. It doesn’t have to be a murder. Sassy dialogue, an intriguing scene description, even a phone call can work, but it must be something that gets your story off and running.

In her award-winning novel, A Good Man is Hard to Find, Flannery O’Connor puts her story into motion with eight innocuous words: “The grandmother didn’t want to go to Florida.” If you’ve read the story, you know how meaningful that line turns out to be.

The first line of a story tells the reader what kind of book it is and what your author voice sounds like. It may or may not get you an agent or publisher, but you can be pretty sure your submission won’t instantly end up in the slush pile.

**

Mark your calendars to stop by the ebook launch of The Posse on Facebook, Wednesday, March 15, from 6 p.m. to 11 p.m. CST.

Follow this link to come by: https://www.facebook.com/events/218447238560116/  

I’m scheduled to be on tap from 9 to 10 p.m., but I’ll be popping in and out during the whole session.

Drop in, and leave a comment to be eligible for a prize. There will be wonderful prizes.

And if you sign up for my newsletter during my scheduled time on Facebook, I’ll gift you one of my ebooks.

If you have an urge to "like" something right now, like our FB page at  http://www.facebook.com/thepossebook.1

The WEB page is: http://thepossebook.com 

And, and . . . The Posse ebook is available now for an introductory price of 99 cents at http://amzn.to/2lQRvcD

Is tax season giving you the shivers?

Author Kaye George has once again posted tax info to inform all you writers that you CAN deduct expenses—and for many, many years. Below is a link to her post which also includes a link to changes for this year.

http://travelswithkaye.blogspot.com/2017/03/taxes-for-writers-2017.html

Okay, that’s it for today. You-all guys keep on keeping on, and I’ll try to do the same.

cj

cjpetterson@gmail.com

Facebook

Simon&Schuster Author Page

Amazon Central Author Page 

Choosing Carter  -- Kindle  /  Nook  /  Kobo   /  iTunes/iBook

Deadly Star --  Kindle  / Nook  / Kobo

California Kisses 10-book publishers bundle on Amazon 99 cents

“Bad Day at Round Rock” a short story in  The Posse, a Western anthology of tales of action, romance, myth and truth.   

Introducing author ELLEN BEHRENS

cj Sez:  Lyrical Pens is pleased to present author Ellen Behrens. If you don't know her work, Ellen has a unique mystery series…the protagonists are a couple of retirees living full time in their RV, chasing the sun, and encountering mysteries along the way.

Lyrical Pens: Tell us about your latest book, Yuma Baby… where you got the idea, how long it took from concept to publication, and how you came up with the title. (The title is usually a real challenge for me.)

Ellen Behrens: I’m lousy at titles, so I actually try to come up with the titles before I actually write the books now. Yuma Baby was the first Rollin RV Mystery idea to occur to me—even though it’s the second book in the series. Driving along an interstate, I saw a little girl in the back of a car just as Betty does. In my case, the writer’s “What If?” brain took over—what if we followed those people? What would it be like to try to chase them down in the big truck with the huge RV hooked to it (plus two bikes on a rack on the back)? What would we find? Why is the little girl with them? How can I flip the obvious on its head and do something different? And so it went.

Pea Body got its title pretty easily: Pea Island National Wildlife Refuge plus body found there equals Pea Body. I tried out a lot of ideas for Yuma Baby and have some in backup for the Rollins’ return to Yuma (they will be back), but stuck with this one because of the idea of children being involved.

LP:  Where can readers find out about you and your events online? 

EB: I have two blogs – one tracks (belatedly) our travels on the road:

            http://bobandellen.wordpress.com

The other tracks my writing adventures with information on my books:

            http://ellenbooks.com

Ellen Behrens described herself as “seasonally confused” because chasing 70-degree weather year-round means she thinks it’s July in February or September in July, depending on where she happens to be on the continent. Her short stories, articles, essays, and reviews have been widely published. Her books include the novel None But the Dead and Dying and the short story collection Road Tales: Short Stories About Full-Time RVing. She is former fiction editor of Mid-American Review and the recipient of an Ohio Arts Council Individual Artist Fellowship. She and her husband have been living the “full-timer” RV lifestyle since 2009, which has inspired Pea Body and Yuma Baby, novels in her Rollin RV Mystery series. Contact her at ellenbehr[at]aol[dot]com for more information about her writing—or to swap RV experiences. 

YUMA BABY blurb

A little girl in the back of a car, a lost stuffed toy in the desert, a frantic mother missing a child.... They all seem related, but can Walt and Betty Rollin stay out of trouble long enough to make the connections—before someone ends up dead?

Retired, living and traveling full-time in their RV, Walt and Betty are hoping to relax under the winter sun in Yuma, Arizona, until word of their third grandchild's birth summons them to snowy Ohio. But a chance encounter with a troubled young couple changes everything—and forces them to re-evaluate what "family" really means.

cj Sez: Yuma Baby and Pea Body are certainly not travelogues. They're about retired RVers solving mysteries. Who’d a thunk it? Well, duh, obviously Ellen Behrens. The books are available on Amazon and Barnes&Noble. Congratulations on the series, Ellen, and best wishes for great sales and wonderful reviews.

If you ever travelled in an RV; if you’ve ever wanted to travel in an RV; or if you like mysteries, this is the series for you. And if you’ve got a question about the books or RVing, please don’t hesitate to leave a comment. Ellen would love to hear from you.

That’s it for today, folks. You-all guys keep on keeping on, and I’ll try to do the same.

PS:  Mark your calendars to stop by the ebook launch of The Posse on Facebook, Wednesday, March 15 from 6 p.m. to 11 p.m. CST. I’m scheduled to be on tap from 9 to 10 p.m., but I’ll be popping in and out during the whole session. Follow this link to “like” the page and to come by: https://www.facebook.com/events/218447238560116/   . . . there will be prizes.

cjpetterson@gmail.com

Facebook

Simon&Schuster Author Page

Amazon Central Author Page 

Choosing Carter  -- Kindle  /  Nook  /  Kobo   /  iTunes/iBook

Deadly Star --  Kindle  / Nook  / Kobo

“Bad Day at Round Rock” a short story in  The Posse, a Western anthology of tales of action, romance, myth and truth.   

Time to do some marketing . . .

Tom Selleck*

cj Sez: Marketing a new launch is a tough job…but all you authors know that. That’s what’s had me tied up for the last few weeks. Well that, Mystery Thriller Week, and trying to get into the nitty gritty of having another go at editing my private detective story. I did type The End on the manuscript, but of course, that just means the beginning of “once more, with feeling this time.”

Back to marketing The Posse anthology

My short story, “Bad Day at Round Rock,” is included in the anthology and here’s an excerpt:

3 dead in blazing gun fight

—Williamson County Deputy Sheriff Alijah Caige Grimes was killed Friday in a shootout with outlaws Sam Bass, Seaborn Barnes, and Frank Jackson.

The conscientious Deputy Grimes happened to see the Bass gang ride into town wearing pistols, which is against the law in Round Rock. He followed the outlaws to Kopperal’s Store whereupon Bass fired six shots, killing the lawman instantly. 

The outlaws were already on their horses when Texas Ranger Dick Ware ran out of the barbershop, still wearing shaving foam and a barber’s cape, and shot Bass and Barnes out of their saddles. Barnes was dead when he hit the ground. The resourceful Jackson laid down covering gunfire while he helped the injured Bass climb back onto his horse after which they rode out of town. Jackson was heard to yell at a negligent parent to move a small child to safety.

Texas Rangers tracked down the mortally wounded Bass on Saturday and brought him back to Round Rock where he died on Sunday, July 21, his 27th birthday. The sheriff said he believed the gang came to town intending to rob the Williamson County Bank, unaware that the Texas Rangers had been tipped off and were waiting for them.

The Rangers warned residents to be on the lookout for gang member Frank Jackson, who is still at large.

 

Fellow Posse author Charlene Raddon hosted me yesterday on her blog. I think I might have even been the first guest on her brand new website. Do drop by and tell us what you think.

                                                  

http://charleneraddonsparlor.blogspot.com/2017/03/come-meet-marilyn-johnston.html

Mark your calendars to stop by the ebook launch of The Posse on Facebook, Wednesday, March 15, from 6 p.m. to 11 p.m. CST.

I’m scheduled to be on tap from 9 to 10 p.m., but I’ll be popping in and out during the whole session...and no, I do not have 641 friends. 

Drop in, leave a post or a comment to be eligible for a prize. If you have an urge to "like" something ahead of time, like our Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/thepossebook.1

WEB: http://thepossebook.com 

There will be wonderful prizes. And if you sign up for my newsletter during the event, I’ll gift you one of my ebooks.

And, and . . . The Posse is now available for pre-order … the ebook is 99 cents at http://amzn.to/2lQRvcD

In the meantime, you-all guys keep on keeping on, and I’ll try to do the same.

cj

PS:  Stop by Wednesday, March 8, for a guest post by Ellen Behrens. Ellen writes a unique series about two retirees who live full time in an RV and go around the country solving mysteries.

PPS: *Tom Selleck’s picture is up there because I thought you might like to see what Anders Olsson, the love interest in “Bad Day at Round Rock,’ looks like…Tom is the spit ‘n image of Anders.

cjpetterson@gmail.com

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blog at: www.lyricalpens.com