Cam's Gardening Tips

Every Wednesday my fictional farmer, Cam Flaherty, has been posting gardening tips over at the Sisters in Crime New England blog. 

Stop by and check them out!

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year, dear readers. It's been an amazing year for me as a writer.

My first mystery novel, Speaking of Murder, was published by Barking Rain Press in September. I did as much promotion as I could--dozens of guest blogs and a half-dozen speaking events--but haven't seen any earthshaking sales or important reviews. 

I signed a deal with an agent, John Talbot, and then a three-book contract with Kensington Publishing. I wrote the first Local Foods mystery and sent it in, and have 30k written on the second one (a few thousand words more by tonight, I hope!). 

I had a short story, "Stonecutter," accepted for publication in an anthology, and two other stories were published in the Burning Bridges anthology where all proceeds went to charity.


I decided to self e-publish two previously published short stories whose rights have reverted to me, because they are actually the backstory to two important characters in Speaking of Murder, and I have formatted them for Smashwords and gotten covers done (by StanzAloneDesign - aren't they cool?). They'll be available for all ereaders sometime in the next month.

I attended a dynamite Donald Maass writing workshop, the Writers' Police Academy, and New England Crime Bake and learned so much from each event. I even plunged into the world of smart phones and Kindles.

All this went on while I was working full time writing software manuals, exercising most days, selling and buying a house and moving, and sitting with my mother while she died in April. Whew!

I'd like to thank all of you who stopped by to see what was up all year long and especially to those who commented and who read my writing. It means so much to me.

May you have a happy, healthy, harmonious new year filled with lots and lots of reading!

Two Years of Blogging

I'm a little late with this. I somehow missed the two-year anniversary of this blog, which was August 7. I got a little closer last year with One Year in the Blogosphere. 

My goal when I started was one post per week. I pretty much stuck to it: 106 posts over two years. I let up a bit on frequency this summer. Hmm, think moving and getting two books out had anything to do with it? Plus I've been blogging every few weeks over at the Sisters in Crime New England group blog, Pen, Ink, and Crimes, which sometimes uses up all my available blogging energy.

A post I wrote about doing research on the Crane Estate in Ipswich has gotten a lot of steady traffic. But besides that, the top three posts have to do with finding the space to write: Retreating to Write, my report on Wellspring House, and Gathering to Write, about a four-writer retreat I was part of in June. I guess most of my readers here are writers (or would-be writers longing for retreat). Total comments for the two years is 519. Average of 5 per post? Seems high, but then those count my replies to all you kindly (and MUCH appreciated) readers who leave a comment.

One interesting stat: the first year more readers viewed the blog on Firefox than on Internet Explorer. That flipped this year, with a new fourteen percent on Chrome (what I use exclusively). More people continue to use Windows than Mac, although one percent read it on an iPhone. Other mobile devices are still under one percent. 

At the end of last year's anniversary post, I noted that I would "continue blogging on topics relating to Speaking of Murder (book One), Murder on the Beach (book Two), and, of course, writing and publishing." At the time I didn't have a publisher for Speaking of Murder, and now it's coming out in print (under a pen name) from a reputable small press, Barking Rain, in less than a month. See Tace Baker's web site for details, or preorder it!

And the Local Foods Mysteries series wasn't even a gleam in Kensington Publishing's eye at the time. Now it's a three-book contract signed, sealed, and delivered, and I'm about to send the completed and many-times-revised manuscript of A Tine to Live, a Tine to Die off to the editor this Friday! Watch for that release next June

That's a big change in a year's time.  I wonder what will happen in the next year. Despite several articles that foretell "Blogging is dead," I plan to continue for at least one more year. 

I thank each and every one of you for being a faithful or even occasional reader, and I'll randomly pick one commenter from today's post and send him or her a signed copy of Speaking of Murder, so be sure to leave a valid email address if you think I don't know how to find you otherwise.

Finally, do you think blogging is worth it? Do you read blogs regularly? Still write posts alone or with others, or has Facebook taken over that role? What do you think is next on the horizon?

Another brief recess

Dear Readers, you will notice a pause in my regular postings. Life has intervened, as happens on occasion. I shall return.

Meanwhile, be sure to check out reports of the recent fantastic Donald Maass workshop on Writing the Breakout Novel that Sisters in Crime New England sponsored. Oh, so many inspirations on going forward and so many concrete suggestions for improving the work in progress!

On Julia Spencer-Fleming

My Julia Spencer-Fleming streak is complete, that is, until next week when her 7th book comes out.

I had heard about the fabulous Spencer-Fleming for a while from my Sisters in Crime/New England peeps. I finally picked up her 6th book, I Shall Not Want, at Crime Bake last fall, where the author graciously signed it for me, even encouraging me about my first book. I read it without stopping, as I recall.

Now, on my recuperation from back surgery, it felt like a good time to catch up on the first five. And have I ever. In In the Bleak Midwinter, Clare Fergusson is the new Episcopalian priest in small-town Miller's Kill, New York. She's fresh to Reverending, after a stint as an Army helicopter pilot. Already perks your interest, right?

She tangles with the married chief of police, Russ Van Alstyne, while she attempts to take care of her parishioners. The tangling turns into attraction. This is a theme throughout all six books, tantalizing the reader with wanting more from their at-times stormy relationship. Other characters come and go - fellow police officers, members of St. Alban's vestry, the residents of the town. Clare and Russ remain at the center of these suspense mysteries, which Spencer-Fleming writes with lyrical language that draws you into the emotional core of their lives and the vivid details of the setting.

I had to reread I Shall Not Want when I finished book Five, All Mortal Flesh, so I could connect with the bits of backstory that she wove in so expertly I didn't question it the first time through. I'd recommend reading the series in order, but you certainly don't have to. She also changes the storytelling format from book to book. I was astonished to realize that To Darkness and to Death takes place over the course of a mere 14 hours. In 308 pages, that I only put down for the most necessary distractions of real life. In Out of the Deep I Cry, the story goes back and forth between the present, the near past and dates far in the past, to 1930 and possibly earlier. It flows beautifully. She seamlessly connects the character you have met in the present with the one you are now reading about in the far past.

Spencer-Fleming submitted the first novel she wrote, In the Bleak Midwinter, to the St. Martin's Best First Novel contest - and it won. After I read it, for just a little minute, it made me feel like quitting writing - how could I ever produce something that deep, that good? Of course, I won't, and in fact am more inspired to make my next book deeper, better. Thank you, Julia!

Look for One Was a Soldier, coming out shortly.