Guest Blogger - Supriya Savkoor

So When’s Your Book Coming Out?




I hear this question all the time. At least a few times a week actually.



About nine or ten months ago, I let the cat out of the bag to friends, family, and the world at large that I’d been working an international suspense novel and eventually hoped to get it published. A lot of folks presumed that meant I was right on the verge of fame and fortune. As it turns out, I’m not that much farther along my journey than I was in January.



I did finally complete revisions on my book, Breathing in Bombay, with a lot of help and encouragement from fellow writer friends (who also helped pick apart every loose plot end and misplaced comma to whip my work into its final shape). I’ve submitted queries to a dozen or more agents, received a few rejections, piqued the interest of a couple others, and have yet to hear back from a handful. I’m told this is an above average “strike rate” for most authors. (Not sure what that means but it’s supposed to be good.)



Fact is, the publishing world is harder to break into than ever. Traditional publishing companies are taking fewer chances on authors without a proven track record and, as a result, it’s more difficult finding an agent than even a decade ago. I know too many talented writers, with many more books under their belt than I have, who have been seeking an agent a lot longer than me and accumulated many a rejection.



But finding an agent is only the tip of the iceberg. The agent then gets busy trying to find a publisher who will buy the book and eventually get it into its publishing schedule. Finding a publisher could take as long or longer as finding an agent; it could take a year or more to get the book published. Some publishers only put out one or two titles a month and so, for example, most locked up their print run for 2011 months ago.



So what’s an author looking to get published to do? I could twiddle my thumbs and wait to hear back from a potential agent but I also know that writing my little heart out and actively pre-marketing myself and my book are necessary. So for starters, I’ll start blogging again. I’m about to launch a new blog with other cross-cultural authors at Novel Adventurers (http://noveladventurers.blogspot.com/). And of course, I need to finish writing the first draft of book two, which is in progress.



After all, once I find a publisher, I may be expected to produce a book a year (maybe faster than that) and then, who knows, there will be all those promotional events like book signings and conferences, right? One can only hope.



Supriya Savkoor is a former newspaper reporter and magazine editor turned mystery writer and freelance editor. Her international suspense novel, Breathing in Bombay, was awarded the 2010 Helen McCloy/Mystery Writers of America Scholarship for Mystery Writing. It’s the first book in the Across Black Waters series, which brings together her twin passions of writing and travel. Supriya is based near Washington, DC, where she lives with her husband and two children. She’s a member of Sisters in Crime and Mystery Writers of America. You can follow her progress on Facebook, Twitter, Goodreads, and beginning October 4, on Novel Adventurers.

Weekend Fun

Weekend Fun:







I had a cross stitch weekend and I could and did stitch all weekend. Fall does this to me I can stitch a lot in the fall especially on the weekends.


What can you do all weekend during the fall season?


I have to admit that I will probably go on a baking binge before fall is over and done because I love the way the house smells when I bake things like pumpkin bread and cinnamon rolls.


What is your favorite fall scent?


I seem to have a little more energy in the fall and is probably because I take more walks. I keep wanting Frank to put up a basketball hoop for me so I can shoot hoops. I can't use the parks because this time of year it's always got the college kids there who beat me to it. Fat jiggles so that wouldn't be any fun for the whole town of Parsons to see.....


Okay I am off to stitch a pumpkin do you see a theme here?


Hugs,


Pam

Review: A Killer Plot

Title: A KILLER PLOT


Author: ELLRY ADAMS

Publisher: Penguin

Paperback Orginal

Page count 311

ISBN: 978-0-425-23522-5

New Cozy Mystery Series

Olivia Limoges has returned to Oyster Bay, North Carolina and to her family home her dog Captain Haviland is her best friend. Olivia doesn't have to work as she is a very wealthy woman but that doesn't mean she that she doesn't fill her time with worthy causes. She owns a lot of Oyster Bay and she is also writing a novel. Lately Olivia has suffered writer's block and so when she is asked to join the Bayside Book Writers she does exactly that and in the process makes many new friends. One friend in particular is Camden Ford and from the beginning of their friendship Olivia begins redoing her lighthouse cottage because the writers need a less public place to meet.

All is going beautiful for Olivia until Camden is murdered and the killer leave a haiku poem as his calling card. Then another murder happens and soon Olivia and the other writers begin their own investigation into the murders.

There is the new bookstore owner that nobody knows much about and a famous family who seem to have more secrets than James Bond, there is a couple of locals and many more suspects.

So if you like to read a nice cozy setting with lots of fun characters and a few quirky townsfolk then you won't want to miss one of the best cozy mysteries on today's market.

This is a first mystery in the series and I am hook, line and sinker a fan of Ellery Adams series. You will enjoy Olivia and Captain Haviland.

*********

Pamela

Review - The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson

Paperback: 600 pages


Publisher: Vintage Crime / Black Lizard (June 23, 2009)

ISBN-10: 0307454541

This book is the first in a series and I picked it up because everyone has been raving about it for quite some time.

Mihkel Blomkvist is an investigative journalist who has just been found guilty of libel.  When an opportunity to take time off away from Millenium (the magazine he works for) and work for Vanger Corporation scion, Henrik Vanger he is intrigued.  He learns the assignment is a 40 year murder mystery.  He, along with his research assisstant, Lisbeth Salander find some very dark secrets and twists.

So, I had a terrible time getting into this book.  Seemed so slow and plodding.  Not to mention mroe details than I thought necessary.  Many times I almost put it down but I kept going thinking all these people I know who love it cant be wrong.  Then a co-worker told me that yes he thought the exposition too much as well, but the last 1/3 of the book is worth it, then the others in the series get better.

Okay, so I perservered.  The last third got interesting.  And I did enjoy all the twists even though the action seemed to be too short (compared to all the detail on non-action stuff. LOL).  And then we got to the revelations of the truth (mixed bag here too - it was an interesting twist but one I did not find too believeable) and his revenge on the man who he was convicted of libeling.  (satisfying).

Overall, I would give this book a "c" I guess.  Okay - good points and bad balance a lot out.  I will say I LOVE the character of Lisbeth Salander and SHE will be the reason I pickup the next book in the series.

Terri

Guest Blogger - Gwen Mayo

Being an Author                                                                   




by Gwen Mayo



Since CIRCLE OF DISHONOR was published I have discovered that nearly everyone I meet has a book idea. Their “book” is only in their mind, or their fantasies, but they are going to write it someday—when they have time. Sane people make it sound so easy when they talk about writing a book ‘one day’.



Authors are not sane people. They may have been sane people before they started writing a book while still working jobs and juggling all their other responsibilities. Somewhere between writing, editing, submitting, learning to deal with rejection, and finally getting the book into print, sanity disappears.



I am just another crazy writer: sitting at my computer long after I should have gone to bed, squeezing pages of my current work in progress between loads of laundry or dishes. There are days when the word count has to take a back seat to the rest of my life. On a bad day, just ask me about my WIP. You’re sure to get an earful.



Don’t blame me for being a little hostile. Shaping my WIP into a finished manuscript is like trying to organize schizophrenia. I have the bones of an outline before I sit down to write, but the real work is pulled out of my twisted mind one word at a time and those words come at a steep price. If I do my work well, my characters come alive. If not, the voices in my head will rip me apart until the right story bleeds out onto the keyboard. One day my WIP will be finished. Meanwhile, I am just a bloody mess with a partial I want to rip to shreds.

The people who will write their book when they “have time” have never taken writing seriously. They have never actually had to craft a synopsis or wait for an agent or publisher to pick their book from thousands of submissions. They haven’t suffered through the writing or the submission process. They haven’t had years of work turned into another rejection form. Nor have they ever held their first novel in their hands. They don’t know the thrill of signing copies, or visiting bookstores just to admire their cover. They are not likely to ever know the feeling of seeing their name followed by that single word that makes it all worthwhile… Author.

Inspector Lewis Mysteries

Inspector Lewis Mysteries:







I became hooked on Inspector Lewis Mysteries before they were a thought way back when Lewis was a sidekick to Inspector Morse. I have watched this actor grow and I admire the easy way he makes acting a crime solving so interesting. Now he has a sidekick named Hathaway and the more I watch the two of them the better I like the pair.


I thought last night's episode with the quizz contest was especially interesting not to mention the fact that for a long while Inspector Lewis did not date. His wife Valarie had been murdered and until the murderer was caught it was like he couldn't move on but indeed thanks to Hathaway the murderer was finally caught and now Inspector Lewis is starting to date.


If you have not watched these PBS Mysteries you are really missing out because these are quality mysteries that any mystery lover will love. You can also get them from Netflix and while you're at it you might as well make a list for there is Frost, Midsomer Mysteries, Campion, Ruth Rendell Mysteries, P.D. James and a whole host of other mysteries that PBS and Netflix offers.


With winter coming soon and the mystery of autumn beginning this week this just the type of programing that will get you through those dark dreary days of winter and challenge your gray cells this fall.


Hugs,


Pamela

A Cross Stitcher's Delight

A Cross Stitchers Delight:







How long does it take you to finish a small project, a medium project and a large project? For me it depends on wehter or not I stop off to do a small project inbetween larger projects. Ususally I can stitch a small project in an afternoon to three weeks. I don't stitch everyday but I am getting better at picking up the needle.






What was your last finished project? With the holidays coming soon are you spending more time stitching or about the same?






I actually am trying to spend more time stitching but that is because I want to try and increase my focus and to stay with something until it is completed.






What is the one cross stitch project that still speaks to you after all of these years ?






You know cross stitch is a form of self expression and it is also a form of art so what does your cross stitch say about you?






I do a lot of fun projects which tells me that I have very little fun (this may change soon) but for now I am sure that my stitching is a reflection of my want for fun and enjoyment. It also reflects how much I like certain holidays and my love of beauty. I like timeless projects that can be enjoyed now for fifty years from now.






Also I think a part of me remembers how much I enjoy books and enjoyed books growing up. Such as fables and fairie tales. I loved Peter Pan, Alice In Wonderland and Sleeping Beauty.


Today stitchers tell us how your stitching reflects who you are?






Hugs,


Pam