Tag Archive for: Marilyn Meredith

Always a Finalist, Never a Winner

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I was going to call this post Always a Bridesmaid Never a Bride–but since I’m on my 60th year of marriage, that really doesn’t work.

As most of you know who read this blog on a regular basis, I’m primarily a mystery writer. However, I’ve written in other genres too: historical family sagas, psychological horror, Christian horror, and then there’s Lingering Spirit which I’ve always described as a romance with a touch of the supernatural.

I wrote it long ago and it was based on something that happened to one of my daughters but greatly fictionalized. It was published once before as an e-book way back before not many even knew what that meant–and it really didn’t go anywhere, or if it did I never saw any royalties. I took back the rights and later offered it to Oak Tree Press who is publishing my Rocky Bluff P.D. crime series. The publisher loved the book and put it out in trade paper. She put it on Kindle last year which made it eligible for the Epic contest and she entered it. (Epic is an organization for e-published authors and publishers, and I’ve been a member since their second year in existence.)

I recently heard that Lingering Spirit is a finalist in the supernatural/metaphysical category (or something like that.) Of course I’m thrilled, but my track record for the Epic contest isn’t so great. I can’t tell you how many of my books have been finalist (oh, I probably could if I took the time to count back), but I think it’s probably five or six. And though I’ve gone to every awards ceremony where my books were finalist, I always returned home empty-handed.

I’m not going to attend the 2012 Epicon where the awards will be handed out–do you think that might change my luck? I doubt it. And that’s not the reason I’m not going. The truth of the matter is, I’m just getting too old to fly all the way across country and change planes two or three times. I’m just happy that a book I wrote so long ago has managed to become a finalist.

For anyone who is interested, Lingering Spirit is available on Kindle and also as in trade paperback from Amazon. If you’d like an autographed copy, you can order it from my website. http://fictionforyou.com/

Marilyn

Planning a Writers Conference

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For the past few years I’ve been the conference chair for the Public Safety Writers Association’s writing conference. When I started we had about 16 attendees. The latest one in July, we had 50.

This is a different type of conference because everyone who comes wants to learn to be a better writer whether they are a retired cop, FBI agent, police dispatcher, Secret Service agent, coroner, lawyer, fireman, police psychiatrist, forensic expert or someone who wants to write mysteries that might include people of these professions. Because these are the people who attend, these are the people who offer to speak.

Fortunately for me, when one conference is over, these experts come up with ideas about what they’d like to talk about for the next conference. We don’t pay anyone who speaks, nor do we comp them, they must pay the conference fee just like anyone else.

Because most come wanting to learn how to write better we also have panels about settings, etc. One of the funniest panels was called Cop Talk. A former police dispatcher asked questions of four former officers, things like, “What was the most embarrassing thing you did while on the job?” These guy were hilarious and surprisingly honest.

The most popular speaker talked about writing screen plays and TV scripts. My favorite was the police psychologist.

It does take a lot of planning to arrange the program so that something that is lively will be on at 9:30 so everyone will show up, something that will keep everyone awake after lunch, and a speaker or panel so engaging that no one will leave until the day is over.  It came together well this year, and I hope I can pull it off again for next year.

If you’d like to know more about the conference and what went on, you can go to the website http://www.policewriter.com/ and read the after conference newsletter and see some of the photos.

I had a wonderful time even though I did have to work at keeping everything moving. 

Marilyn
http://fictionforyou.com/

My Past Jobs and the People I Met While Doing Them

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I’ve been around a long time and have had many jobs–none that I hated, but all that have had a tidbit or a person who I’ve been able to use in a book.

Of course my first paid jobs were babysitting, which I began at the age of 10. Frankly, I wasn’t much good at it, but people continued to leave their children with me for several hours at night. Like many young girls, when I was in my teens I had to fight off dads’ groping hands while being driven home. (Never took a second job with their kids.) Haven’t put one in a book yet, but I may.

I’ve worked at a boring job filing for the telephone company, there I met some interesting people. One of my coworkers lived with a man she wasn’t married to, my first encounter with such. (Remember, this was a long time ago.) She lived in a downtown L.A. apartment house complete with a Murphy Bed. Another co-worker was a young Mexican woman who lived in East L.A. I went to her wedding, and hubby and I had dinner with the newlyweds in their apartment in the barrio. I see reminders of that visit and neighborhood in many movies. I went to my first baseball game with the gals I worked with, ladies’ night so it was free, and we spotted a couple of movie stars. I also went to a nudist camp with another of my co-workers and her family. That was an experience I’ve yet to write about–but ought to.

I worked as a telephone operator off and on over the years (between babies) and met a lot of interesting people whose parts and personalities I’ve used in various books.

When I became a teacher in a pre-school for developmentally disabled children, I not only loved the work but I loved the kids. During my ten years at this school, I also went to college (raised teens, was a Camp Fire Leader and had husband in the Seabees who finally retired). I met more intriguing people whose various parts and personalities burrowed into my memory for later use.

From that school, I taught in three different day cares in low-income neighborhoods. I not only met people who ended up in my books, but situations that were perfect fodder for plots. In my first mystery, The Astral Gift, the heroine works in a day care and I gleaned a lot of what happened to her in her childhood and on the job from many different people and gossip told me by my fellow teachers.

Hubby and I moved to where we live now and took over a licensed facility (home) for 6 developmentally disabled women. The perfect job for me. I loved it and I had time to write when the ladies who lived with us went off to work. I also was exposed to a not so wonderful state-run system with far too many leaders who have no real conception of what it takes to provide a good home for folks, and far too many regulations. A bit of this seeped into a psychological horror I wrote called Wishing Makes It So about a very bad little girl who nearly ruins a family. (I also quizzed my couple of grandkids who were young at the time about mean things kids had done to them which also appeared in the book.)

It didn’t take me long to realize our new home was in a small town with its very own and unique personality. Also close by was an Indian reservation. New fodder for my books–and of course this was where Deputy Tempe Crabtree was born. Going to Pow Wows, driving the scary, narrow, winding road to the reservation, being involved in the controversy over the building of a casino on the rez, visiting the casino in its various stages of growth, watching the good and the bad that came from the casino, hearing and learning about the many Native American legends all things I borrowed from for my Deputy Tempe Crabtree mystery series.

After 22 years, hubby and I retired from the residential care business after helping the last remaining women in our home find new places to live, taking their desires into consideration (not our responsibility but we knew we’d do a better job than those in charge).

Now instead of going off to work, we’ve gone to lots of mystery conferences and book fairs in many interesting places–still meeting the most intriguing people.

Over the years I’ve met enough people and been enough places that I have far more material for books than I have time to write them–but that doesn’t mean I’ve quit paying attention and taking notes.

What about you, have you gotten ideas from any of your jobs or people that you meet in various situations?

Marilyn

Sneak Peek of My New Cover

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This is the cover for my next Deputy Tempe Crabtree mystery, Bears With Us, due out mid August.

When I was asked by the cover artist what I wanted on the cover, I said a stylized Native American looking bear. Did I have a picture in my mind? No, but this particular artist has done all my covers and she has always been able to come up with something that fits the story and looks like a Deputy Tempe Crabtree mystery.

I was on vacation when the publisher sent me a picture of the cover–I was and am ecstatic. She definitely nailed it.

In this particular book, the mountain community of Bear Creek is plagued by bears. Though there is a fish and game warden, he can’t be every place at once and Tempe finds herself having to chase bears out of people’s homes. Of course there’s plenty more to keep her busy, but for awhile the bears are her biggest problem.

I’ve been fortunate with all my covers lately. Both publishers have artists who really aim for giving a hint of the book and trying to interpret the author’s vision.

Marilyn
http://fictionforyou.com

Why I Love Facebook

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Families use Facebook to keep in touch, same with teenagers, and authors use it to let people know about their books.

I’ve heard some say they don’t understand Facebook or what the great attraction is–frankly I don’t understand those people.

Here’s why I love it. I have a huge family and many of them are on Facebook and I get to read what they’re doing and see their latest photos. One of my friends from grammar school found me on Facebook. She read about me making an appearance at a college near her home and she met me there and we had dinner together. Never would’ve happened without Facebook.

Someone who friended me on Facebook made comments after a lot of my posts so I became familiar with her face. When I was giving a talk at a bookstore in her town, she came and I recognized her face immediately. It was like greeting an old friend. Recently she told everyone at another talk that she loved having me for a friend on Facebook because I shared so much of what is going on in my life it made me seem like a “real person” not just a writer. (And she loves my books.)

Other readers I’ve met at mystery conferences have become my friends and I love reading about what they are up to–and the same with writers I’ve met in the same places. Especially since Mayhem in the Midlands was cancelled at least I can keep up with the authors and fans that I loved to hang out with.

I like it when people review movies they’ve seen–I rely on their feelings about the movie much more than any of the paid critics. Same with books, if someone I “know” really likes a book chances are I’ll like it too.

I like reading what other members of the Stiletto Gang are doing when they post on Facebook.

So, what are your feelings about Facebook? Love it or hate it? And why?

Marilyn
http://fictionforyou.com Books by Marilyn

This is What I was Doing and Where I was Doing It

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This was the pond by our campsite

 


One of the many gorgeous scenic views in Sedona

Sedona is one of the most gorgeous places I’ve ever visited. Around every turn is a surprising and mouth-dropping vista.

Besides the book events I did, we traipsed all over and even took a Pink Jeep tour into the back country.

 One of the highlights of our trip was attending a cowboy dinner and show. The food was delicious and ample–and most surprising was the talent of the performers. I couldn’t help but wonder what they were doing in a small town like Cottonwood. 

Next week, I promise I’ll be back to normal–whatever that is.

Marilyn
   

 

Time Management–What’s That?

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Anyone else have trouble managing their time and getting everything done that they wanted to do?

I used to be much better at it than I am now and that’s when I ran, owned and lived in a home for 6 developmentally disabled women. Besides cooking, planning activities, doing laundry, taking people to the doctor, and tons of paperwork, I also wrote five days a week for at least 4 hours. I would edit what I wrote after I went to bed. Weekends were devoted to the women. (They went off to workshops during the week and were gone from 6:30 a.m. to 3 p.m.)

I still get up early and get to work before I eat breakfast, but I can’t seem to get nearly as much done as I used to. Part of the reason I think is because of blogging and other promotion on the Internet that wasn’t available back then. Of course I was using the computer and the Net because it helped with what I did for my residents. I went to bed early back then (sometimes before the gals did) and I still go to bed early.

I know I spend far too much time on Facebook, but I don’t want to just be promoting on it, I want people to know me as a real person. Besides, all my relatives and friends are on there too and I love keeping up with what everyone is doing.

My daughter-in-law helps with most of the housework, though I still do the laundry (only have to do it a couple of times a week these days–not 4 or 5 loads a day like I once did), and I still do a lot of cooking and have many people sitting around the dinner table. (I have no clue how to cook for only two.)

Somehow, though I should have more time, it seems the hours are no longer 60 minutes but they’ve managed to shrink somehow.

I still write lists as I’ve always done, but I don’t seem to be able to get through everything I’ve listed before the end of the day.

Anyone have any great tips? (Oh, back in the day, I watched two soap operas in the day time, now I watch General Hospital once in awhile.) My mind is mush by evening, so I don’t usually do any work then.

What I really need is the discipline to write first and then check my email and Facebook.

Marilyn

Heading Off on a Vacation

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When my sister and I were kids, our family always went on a summer vacation, even when you had to use gas rationing stamps to buy fuel. I remember wonderful camping trips to Yosemite back in the days when you could camp alongside the Merced River, watch the firefall, and go to the garbage dump and watch the bears eat.

During later years, we camped at Bass Lake, also right on the lake edge (something that’s not allowed today) and took two boats, one to water ski behind, and an outboard that we kids could use to go exploring.

As a married adult, my husband and I did have lots of family vacations, always camping trips, and one great adventure where we tent camped with a VW bus clear across the U.S. and back, but that’s another story.

For the 23 years we owned, ran and lived in a care home for 6 developmentally disabled women, we always went on a vacation with them, places like Disneyland and Universal Studios. When they went off to camp, we took a few days to ourselves to vacation, sometimes Las Vegas and also several short cruises to Mexico.

Lately, all of our vacations have been to wherever a mystery conference was happening and we’ve really seen a lot of the U.S. that way, many places we’d have never gone to if the destination didn’t include a Bouchercon or Left Coast Crime.

In a week we’re heading off on a real vacation though I must confess I’ll be having two book events while we’re gone. We’ll be “camping” with our son and daughter-in-law in their motor home in Sedona AZ. We were there briefly a few years ago and vowed we’d come back. We’re going to stay in the same campground we stayed in before, beautiful spot with a stream, swimming pool and lots of trees. But nothing compares to the beauty of Sedona with it’s red rocks and contrasting green growth. We’re planning on doing a lot of sight-seeing including a Jeep tour.

One afternoon, I’m giving a talk at the Sedona Library about online promotion, and the Saturday we’re there I’ll be at Kris and Joe Neri’s Well Read Coyote bookstore talking about working with small publishers.

I always manage to do something “writerly” while I’m doing something fun like this.

Marilyn
http://fictionforyou.com/

Watching Old Movies

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Watching movies is one of my favorite pastimes–not that I have much time to pass.

I love going into a movie theater with anticipation, hoping that I’ll be entertained, charmed, seduced, scared, or surprised. It doesn’t always happen, but I’m pretty choosy about which movies I pay good money to see. I’m not quite so choosy when I’m picking out a Netflix movie to watch. If I don’t like it, I’ll pop it out and stick it back in the envelope for its return trip.

Because I’ve spent my hard-earned money, I seldom walk out of a movie in a theater. I have done it once or twice though, when the movie was so gross I couldn’t stand another minute. The theater managers have always kindly let us go see another movie. Of course there are movies that I watch clear to the end and am disappointed, but that doesn’t happen too often.

This never happened when I was a kid growing up. My dad worked in the movie business and we went to the show nearly every Friday night. In those days there were always two movies–the first run and a B picture. (Also a news reel, coming attractions, a comic, and often entertainment of some kind during intermission.) We could have easily left before the B picture started, and we wouldn’t have missed much if we had, but neither Mom nor Dad could bear not to get their full money’s worth. (I’m sure this came from not having much of anything during the depression.)

Back to my subject of watching old movies, thanks to Netflix I’ve revisited some movies that I loved when I saw them the first time. Frankly, I’ve been disappointed by some. “Giant” was one. In fact, several movies Elizabeth Taylor was in have disappointed me. Sometimes the acting seemed what my husband calls “too over the top.”

I remembered “North by Northwest” fondly, but was disappointed when I watched it recently. Not the acting, Cary Grant was great and the story good, but the special effects left a lot to be desired. I’m afraid I’m spoiled by today’s wonderful special effects.

One of my favorite movies of all time, “Gone with the Wind” is still as good as the first time I watched it. Clark Gable was a wonderful Rhett Butler. And “The Wizard of Oz” is another I’ve watched many, many times and still holds up.

The other night, hubby and I watched, “The Mirror with Two Faces,” a Barbra Streisand movie and we loved it. Perhaps the story was a bit on the corny side, but the acting was great and so fun to see Lauren Bacall. If you haven’t seen that one for awhile, try it again.

Have you ever re-watched an older movie and been disappointed?

Marilyn
http://fictionforyou.com

What’s in a Name?

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Naming your characters can sometimes take as long as figuring out the plot. I always want the character name to have some reflection on the personality of the character, but it doesn’t always work out.
My Rocky Bluff P.D. series began years ago and though I was definitely concerned about picking out the perfect names for each of the characters, at that time I didn’t even consider that I shouldn’t have main characters whose names begin with the same letter. Now I’m stuck with some of them. For instance, my main detective—who was a street cop in the first and second books—is named Doug Milligan. His partner is Frank Marshall, making them Detectives Milligan and Marshall. Frank is getting close to retirement so once that happens the problem will be solved.
Another thing I’ve noticed is that for the sympathetic characters I seem to pick names of people that I really like. Of course not the whole name, but I’ve always loved the name Douglas and knew I had to use it for a hero type one day.  I have a cousin and nephew named Doug. In face, with a family as big as mine, it would be impossible to avoid any of their names.
In the beginning,  I hadn’t really thought much about the names for minor characters. And when Stacey Wilbur first made her appearance in Rocky Bluff, she was not that important. I’m not crazy about her name, though I’m certainly used to it by now because she’s become a major character and especially in Angel Lost as she’s preparing for her wedding to Doug Milligan. (Sometimes I feel the same way about the names my grandkids have chosen for their children but once they arrive the names seem to fit–and It’s kind of that way in my books too.)
When I was choosing names for my Deputy Tempe Crabtree series, I wanted my heroine who is part Indian, to have a name that sounded Native American. I chose to use my own great-grandmother’s name because I thought it fit the character. (And the first Tempe Crabtree has been long gone so I knew she wouldn’t mind—and the relatives who actually read my books think it’s great to have great-grandma immortalized, so to speak.) Another major Indian character is Nick Two John. I heard the name Two John and thought it would be a good one to use for Tempe’s friend who has educated her about her Native American heritage. My latest in this series is Invisible Path.
All the real-life Indians I know have quite common American sounding names and many others have Mexican roots. In fact, I try really hard not to use any of the family names of the Indians who live on the nearby reservation.
I collect names. Keeping graduation and play programs has also helped. I like to find a first name that’s unusual, fits the character, and then look for a last name that goes with the first name. Sometimes I’ll see a name in credits for a movie that I might use sometimes and quickly jot it down.
When I worked in day care, some of the girls had the most unusual first names—ones it took me a while to remember—and I wrote those down. And yes, I’ve used some in different books I’ve written.
I recently read a teen book called “Prom and Prejudice” (was really fun and guess what it was based on) and the main hero’s name was Darcy. Some names are so connected to books and movies—think Rhett. Would you name a hero Rhett? Probably not, unless there was a good reason for it.
For you writers out there, how do you go about picking names for your characters? And you readers, how important is a character’s name to you?
Marilyn a.k.a. F. M. Meredith