Writers Block and new beginnings

Summer hasn't been the best for me writing wise, but I'm trying to put an end to that. I'm beginning to work on my forth installment of my Agnes Barton mysteries, Trouble in Tawas. It's time for Sheriff Peterson to run for office. What will Agnes do? Will she cause conflict, support the other opponent? Another person from Agnes' past comes into town with a mission in mind. Will Agnes figure out what it is or will she retire? Whatever she plans I'm sure it will involve that meddling partner of hers, Eleanor Mason.

I have a personal plea via the optician I go to. He wants a character named after him, well sort of. Lem McGroovy is that character. Will he be friend of foe or will he be Eleanor's lasted obsession?

I have some great ideas and did I mention that Sheriff Peterson's dad is missing! I'm planning to do my best to both finish this novel and have it published by Christmas!

Wish me luck!
Smiles :)
Madison

It's official ~ Agnes Barton is a hit!

Two promos I did in June carried over into July and my book Grannies, Guns and Ghosts is a proven winner. With the reduced price of $.99 my book stayed on the Amazon bestsellers list for the entire month of July in the humor category! 

I'm completely blown away with my sales and past happy. Of course I know the price point is the only reason my book fared well, and it's the only reason it still is doing so. I also know there have been websites and blogs that have posted my book on them.

They say there is a point when your books start to sell themselves and I believe I have reached that fork in the road. This too will change in time, but for now, I'm humble and thankful. Agnes and Eleanor deserve to have their shining moment and all they can say is, "We told you grannies rule!" 

I have decided for the time being to leave Grannies, Guns and Ghosts at $.99 for the time being. I hope you all take advantage of the great price point.

I want to thank all of my readers — thanks for all your shares and book suggestions. You are the best for I could do none of this without you!

Writer's Pause

June wasn't just a great publishing month for me... it was a time of reflection.

In June I published the third installment of my Agnes Barton mysteries, Senior Snoops. Sales were slow to begin with and I now know I'll never again have a summer book release. Summer readers don't really exist. Who would be reading a book or buying one when you could be outdoors enjoying the sunshine? Others might disagree with this, but this was my experience. It was so discouraging for me that I contemplated giving it all up. I thought maybe I didn't like to write that much anymore. I guess that is the result after publishing two Agnes Barton mysteries plus a novella that has yet earned out the editor fees. Writing is a struggle... finding an audience for your books is a struggle. I continue to work hard to find that audience.

In June I ran two different promos on high profile website that had me reducing the price of my book Grannies, Guns and Ghosts to 99 cents, the price it still is. I had intended to raise the price as of the 1st, but Amazon's rules are clear. If it's cheaper on another site, the price will be matched on Amazon. I'm not entirely sad that is the case because Grannies, Guns and Ghosts has landed on some bestsellers lists for humor and woman sleuth. The best stats to date was a #215 spot on kindle overall. That is the best to date for any of the books of my series. My other books in the series are selling including the first book, Armed and Outrageous.

I think the success of my most recent book had to do with the fact that it has never been promoted before. I no longer partake in Kindle Select and won't be offering any of my books for free again. It's my personal choice. I have devised a much different marketing ploy.

Going forward I will continue to write the Agnes Barton mystery series for the audience that craves it. It has found a following of sorts and I will continue to bring them more Agnes and Eleanor adventures. 

Writing is a struggle.... I embrace it. My family deserves more of my time... I try to fulfill my obligations to them. Writing is my passion and the one thing that makes me feel better about life. I will continue to live life to the fullest...

Coming in the fall of 2013.... Redneck Romance, which will be published by Tirgearr Publishing. It will be my first published book.

True to his words, Sheriff Clem Peterson sends Agnes Barton and Eleanor Mason packing to Florida via a Cessna, but things go haywire when during a fuel stop, two men shoot the pilot. Agnes springs into action slamming the door just as shots are fired while Frank Alton jumps into the cockpit flying them out of there.

When they land in Florida, they’re asked tough questions by Putner and Palmer from Homeland Security. They keep asking if they found a packet on board the plane, a packet that Agnes has tucked in her purse, but they never mention what’s in the packet. She decides to hold onto it; after all it contains twenty-five thousand in cash.

Sheriff Calvin Peterson, Sheriff Clem Peterson’s brother, picks them up from the airport in Florida, but tells them the bad news. His brother Clem made arrangements for them to stay at Sunny Brooke Retirement Village and work as the hired help to pay for their room and board. They go unwillingly, but discover in town that two maids have disappeared at Sunny Brooke.

It’s a race against the clock; will Agnes and Eleanor solve the case of the missing maids and finally figure out what happened to their pilot before they also show up on a milk jug?

Amazon

Barnes and Noble

WOW Wednesday ~ Digitus 233

When Zeph, the adventurous son of a millionaire hid in the cargo hold of the Learjet carrying his brother Zander to camp he had no idea there was anything dark or ominous going on. That was until he watched Zander ejected from the plane onto a barren arctic island and Zeph, trapped on the plane, found himself headed for South America. Will he be able to expose the truth behind Digitus, the world's dominant corporation, or will they succeed in their sinister plan to control his brother and destroy the world?

This is more than an action packed book series; it's a wakeup call to the world. Will we allow ourselves to go blindly into slavery or will we stand up and fight for freedom and our basic human rights before it's too late?

Amazon

My take: you have to check out this YA story, it grabs you from page one. 

Kim Emerson isn't just a great author, she's a great motivator and friend. She runs one of the most helpful writers groups on Facebook... MasterKoda.com... she's a publisher... running Master Koda Select Publishing. Please check out her book Digitus 233 you won't be sorry you did.

Coming Soon ~ Senior Snoops

Coming June 16, 2013

True to his words, Sheriff Clem Peterson sends Agnes Barton and Eleanor Mason packing to Florida via a Cessna, but things go haywire when during a fuel stop, two men shoot the pilot. Agnes springs into action slamming the door just as shots are fired while Frank Alton jumps into the cockpit flying them out of there.

When they land in Florida, they’re asked tough questions by Putner and Palmer from Homeland Security. They keep asking if they found a packet on board the plane, a packet that Agnes has tucked in her purse, but they never mention what’s in the packet. She decides to hold onto it; after all it contains twenty-five thousand in cash.

Sheriff Calvin Peterson, Sheriff Clem Peterson’s brother, picks them up from the airport in Florida, but tells them the bad news. His brother Clem made arrangements for them to stay at Sunny Brooke Retirement Village and work as the hired help to pay for their room and board. They go unwillingly, but discover in town that two maids have disappeared at Sunny Brooke.

It’s a race against the clock; will Agnes and Eleanor solve the case of the missing maids and finally figure out what happened to their pilot before they also show up on a milk jug?

Check out Madison Johns' Amazon page for her other books in the series.

Mystery Writes

When it comes to mystery I think about great plots that leave the reader guessing to the end. This is in fact hard to do. I never outline so I never know what's going to happen until I write it. It's important to always leave a cast of characters that all look guilty to a point. I'm careful not to make them look too guilty, otherwise I have no room to wiggle. 

Red Herring: it's good to have one and it's good to kill one. You must make someone look dreadfully guilty and then turn it all around. It's a struggle because in my latest sequel it looks too clear cut. It's my job as a writer to mold that into what will be a tighter plot. More possible suspects and more possible plot points. For instance in Armed and Outrageous, Agnes Barton and Sheriff Peterson don't get along at all. She wonders why he isn't taking the disappearance of a tourist seriously, but does that make him guilty of a crime, no. It makes for an interesting subplot.

Guest post Rachel Rossana ~ Editing

Today Rachel Rossano is stopping by and talking editing. 

Editing Checklist

Editing is the necessary evil every good writer endures in the journey to publication. I used to hate editing so much that I refused to edit until months (sometimes years) after I finished a manuscript. Now I am wading through those old manuscripts, bringing them up to date, polishing the writing style, correcting the cliches, fixing typos, and eradicating my bad writing habits of the years past.

Here are some items from my editing checklist.

Words that usually need to be removed:

that

-        had (frequently not necessary)

-        said (or other dialogue tags when it is clear who is saying what)

-        was/were/is (can usually be easily replaced by an active verb)

Words that usually need to be changed for something else or deleted entirely because I use them too frequently (They are allowed in extremely small quantities.):

-        look, looked, noticed

-        felt, feel

-        could, would

Things to watch for:

-        

Head hopping (switching POV without a break)

-        

Poetic or high description from a character that isn't a writer or inclined that way

-        Pace (Is the story moving forward at an appropriate pace)

-        Sentence structure (too many long sentences, too many short, too many of the same kind, or an inappropriate one for the pace, e.g., a long complex sentence at a point of high action in the story)

-        Guys talking like girls (for example, about their feelings)

-        Too much crying

-        Conversations that are realistic (sort of) and dialogue where characters sound like themselves (good thing)

-        Phrases that pull the reader out of the story or draw unnecessary attention to the POV character. For example, "I looked up. His face tightened with grief." Deleting the first sentence would actually make the second stronger by focusing the reader's attention on the person being observed, not the observer (the POV character). I hope this makes sense. It tends to be tricky to explain.

-        Telling when I should be showing and the opposite, showing when I should be telling. The reader doesn't need to know the minute movements necessary to fix tea. But, she/he would probably be interested in the physical response of everyone in the room when the hero drops a plot bomb in the middle of the tea party conversation.

-        Cliches

So, what items are on your editing checklist? I might have missed something.

Book Plug

Brielle Solarius struggles to keep her village from starvation. The men rode off to war and never returned. The remaining women and children face a winter of starvation if they do not find a solution soon.

Tomas Dyrease, the newly made Earl of Irvaine and the village of Wisenvale, owes his good fortune to his king. When that same king demands Tomas marry the impoverished daughter of the late Lord Wisten, he obeys. However, no one warned him that she wasn’t a typical noblewoman.

Duty: a novel of Rhynan follows their journey from strangers to friends as they face complications from their pasts and the shaky politics of a changing regime. Then Brielle is implicated in her cousin’s treasonous activities. Can a marriage of duty survive treason?

Author Bio

Author of a growing stack of novels, novellas, and short stories, Rachel Rossano balances her time between the chaos of raising and homeschooling her three children and the world of drama and high adventure in her head. With her faithful husband and chief consulting editor by her side, she dreams of many more adventures to come in both of her double lives. Check out her work at http://Rachel-rossano.blogspot.com.

Buy Links

Amazon - http://www.amazon.com/Duty-novel-Rhynan-ebook/dp/B00BAI41RO

Smashwords - https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/281699

Thank you,

Rachel Rossano

Blog ~ http://rachel-rossano.blogspot.com/

Website ~ http://anavrea.webs.com/

Twitter ~ http://twitter.com/#!/RachelRossano

Facebook ~ http://www.facebook.com/RachelRossanoRambles

YouTube ~ http://www.youtube.com/anavrea

Sequel to Armed and Outrageous Now Available

Senior snoop, Agnes Barton, has taken up residence in a Winnebago at a campground in East Tawas, Michigan. It’s not the ideal place for a woman of seventy-two to live, but she’s making do. She had planned to start a detective agency with partner in crime, Eleanor Mason, but a snag with the license has them free wheeling it, not that it matters because they are the ones folks call when dead bodies turn up.

A frantic phone call has Agnes and Eleanor racing to the scene of yet another crime scene. Herman Butler has fallen to his death from a third story window, and the widow, Betty Lou, is beside herself with either grief or competing for the Oscars, and it’s up to Agnes and Eleanor to unravel the mystery, which gets more interesting when a ghost is listed as a possible suspect.

This time around, Agnes and Sheriff Peterson can agree, the widow is nuts, but wait, a few days later the ghost ship, Erie Board of Trades, was spotted off the shores of Lake Huron. Ghost hunters, G.A.S.P., hightail it into town, and East Tawas is overrun with ghost sightings.

Agnes and Eleanor must sort fact from fantasy before another body is found or a curse is realized.

Now available on Amazon and Smashwords. 

Pretty and Pregnant release party

Today March 14, 2013 at 7 p.m. EDT — I'm hosting a book release party for my novella — Pretty and Pregnant on Facebook. I have a series of games planned with prizes. Milk is the central theme as the main character in Pretty and Pregnant is pregnant, so a milk mustache is optional. 

Have your email address ready because I'm giving away books and giftcards from Amazon. If you have a nook you'll need to tell me that so I can make sure you receive a gift from Barnes and Noble.

Dress, your attire is completely up to you as this is an online party, but if you want to share, that's fine with me.

Prizes: gift cards... books...

Indie Book of the Day Giveaway

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