REVIEW 5 out 5 quills Queen of Heartsby Rhys Bowen
I love my job! Especially when the best selling author and their publicist asks me to review the ‘new book’. Rhys’ newest book in the Royal Spyness series goes on sale today.
Lady Georgiana Rannoch is a cousin to the present King of England (1934) and umpteenth in the line of succession to the throne. Never able to keep a job for long and struggling to keep food on the table for her and her maid, Queenie, her (absent) Mummy appears and wants her to go to America with her. And that is where the style, glamour, decadence and fun begins. And the cherry on the top is a jewel thief and a nice juicy murder! Continue reading “REVIEW…’Queen of Hearts’ by Rhys Bowen”
July 19th begins my two part interview with NY Times Best Selling author, Ace Atkins. In addition to writing for Robert Parker and continuing the mystery series for Boston’s iconic private eye, Spenser, Ace is a wonderful writer, authoring his own books, The Broken Places, The Lost Ones and The Ranger (just to name a few).
‘A former journalist who cut his teeth as a crime reporter in the newsroom of The Tampa Tribune, he published his first novel, Crossroad Blues, at 27 and became a full-time novelist at 30. In 2010, he was selected by the Robert B. Parker estate to continue the author’s work after his death. Continue reading “Don’t Miss my Interview with author, Ace Atkins!”
Author, Blogger Tara Ford seems to love my writing….so much that she is featuring my books on her web site at Fiction Five Fridays.
Tara is a successful author out of the UK. To help support her fellow-authors, she has developed this clever Friday Special. Visit her web site and wander around. You won’t be disappointed! http://taraford.weebly.com/fiction-five-friday
The rules are simple – 5 sentences from a page with the digit 5 in the number. Short and sweet and readers get a little taste of what their favorite (or new) author is writing.
TODAY! I have been chosen by Tara with my 5,5,5 contribution (fifth day of the week, a five in the page no. and a five sentence excerpt) from a roaring twenties, hot jazz and cold gin, wild novel that I wrote about San Francisco: “Wild Violets”. WHAT FUN!!
I first met Lee while publishing my interview with Janet Evanovich. He recently co-wrote The Chase with Janet. His two careers, novelist and TV writer, merged when he wrote the eight books in the Diagnosis Murder series of original novels, based on the hit CBS TV mystery that he also wrote and produced. He followed that up by writing fifteen bestselling novels based on Monk, another TV show that he worked on. So I was delighted when Lee agreed to be interviewed.
Q. Where do you write? Do you have a special room, shed, barn, special space for your writing? (please upload a photo/s of your shed, room, closet, barn….)
A. I have an office in my house where I write surrounded by books and James Bond posters (I alternate the posters every month or so). But I can, and do, write just about anywhere.
Part II An Interview with VO professional and actor, Daniel Dorse (Part I, click here)
It’s Easy! I use www.acx.com. The platform is simple to use and they have a terrific ‘stable’ of professional narrators. Your book is published in audio form at amazon.com/audio, audible.com and iTunes.com. You can pay your narrator/producer a percentage of sales or a one time fee. The one time fees are on a sliding scale depending on what the narrator requires ‘per finished hour’. With acx.com you will know what you will be paying (it’s based on the number of words in your manuscript.) before you commit. Tip. Eliminate all extra words like copyright page, acknowledgements, title, etc. and count only the words of the manuscript.
My one and only complaint about acx.com is the length of time they take to do the final quality control bit. Two weeks. Now sit back and enjoy the second part of my chat with Daniel.
Daniel working in his studio
Q. Can you tell us about your process when you get a job to narrate a book?
A. When I’m hired to produce an audio book, I should read the entire book, making character notes, notes on pronunciation, mood, transitions, accents, etc. In fact, I like to live dangerously, reading only a few chapters ahead (to avoid too many unwelcome surprises, like , “Uh-oh! This character I’ve been voicing for 15 pages is supposed to be Irish. Now I have to re-record.”). I do this, I tell myself, because I like to retain an element of spontaneity in my read, but it’s probably also because I’m both lazy & overly cocky about my sight-reading abilities. Continue reading “Where to Find a Narrator for my Audio book? (Part 2)”
Choose a narrator for your audio books….sounds easy doesn’t it?I’d like to share my hit and miss experience and some tips about finding those perfect narrators for your audio books.The good news is that now that I’ve learned a few things I have two wonderful reliable ‘voices’ for the production of my books. The miss (when I didn’t know what I was doing and was new to the audio book world) was the situation where I found my first narrator wasn’t willing to collaborate and work with me. She said that she was hired and paid to narrate the book that I sent, nothing more. Sigh!
You will find, as I did, that your book ‘sounds‘ far different than the written word on the page and how it sounds in your head. You, the author, will need a narrator that will allow you to make changes. You might remember my interview with my childrens’ book narrator and gifted opera singer, Carin Gilfrey. Now I thought it would be interesting for my readers to get to know, Daniel Dorse, the voice of Sergeant Detective Jack O’Roarke. (The World of Murder Series). Continue reading “Ready to Find that Ideal Narrator for your Audio-book??”
This is my one year anniversary of interviewing best selling authors and I’m amazed at the success of it!! Authors have been so generous with their writing process and their time. The interviews are on-going and currently we are booked through April, 2014. It’s always a thrill for me when busy, well-known authors are so generous with their answers that I must break it up into ‘parts’. Continue reading “Interviewing Best Selling Authors…looking back!”
TS. ‘This photo speaks loudly about the rewards of overcoming procrastination, doesn’t it??’
Part 2 of 3 ** My Interview with Raymond Benson
Q. What’s your best advice to other writers for overcoming procrastination?
A. If you don’t have a real deadline from an employer, then make one for yourself. Just tell yourself, “I’m going to finish this by the holidays,” or whatever, and stick to it. It takes discipline, and you might have to work at it, but hey, being a writer is, after all, a job.
Q. Do you ‘get lost’ in your writing and for how long?
A. Never, because I take care of all the instances of getting lost during the Outline phase. I’m a firm believer in outlining a novel prior to writing it. I know many writers don’t, and that works for them, but for me, I find it to be an invaluable tool. I spend a month or two on it, and it’s in that document I work out the plot, the twists and turns, the red herrings, and I structure the story into a dramatic piece, the entirety of which I can look at with a bird’s-eye view. It’s like doing a prose storyboard for the novel. Believe me, it’s easier to throw out a few paragraphs of an outline when you don’t like the way the story is going, than it is to throw out two or three chapters. So I do all of my hair-pulling and angst-spouting during the Outline phase, which then makes the longer, more tedious phase of Writing much easier. Continue reading “A Chat with Raymond Benson, Author (part 2)”
I can’t believe that it was just this past September that I wrote this blog about an idea becoming a one act play and NOWI’m writing my fifth book in the World of Murder mystery series. The first four novels are available here and on amazon.com and now are audio books at audible.com So I am thinking it is worth posting this again to let my fellow writers see how an idea can grow into something pretty damn amazing!!
If you missed the story here it is again:
Let’s see….I think it was 2005 and we were in rehearsals for “Cheatin'” in Port Aransas, Texas. I was the director and we had pulled together a terrific cast. The title pretty much tells you the story line but the fun part and what made it so funny was it was set in….where else?…… Texas and was filled with good ole’ boys and girls. It was the highest grossing play for that theatre in many a year and won Best Production and Best Set Design (thanks to Janis Johnson’s contribution). I was very proud of the cast and crew! Continue reading “An Idea..A New Mystery Series! “The World of Murder””
My Interview with best selling author, Heidi Jon Schmidt
Q. Where do you write? Do you have a special room, shed, barn, special space for your writing?
A. I write in bed. It started during a chaotic childhood when my bed was pushed into the quietest corner of the house, a safe place to withdraw to and think, imagine, write. And now that I have my own house, family, garden, life….it’s still the place where I feel most connected to my imagination.
Q. Do you have any special rituals when you sit down to write? (a neat work space, sharpened #2 pencils, legal pad, cup of tea, glass of brandy, favorite pajamas, etc.)
A. The minute my daughter walks out the door for school, I take a cup of coffee up the stairs. And I don’t do anything else until I’ve gotten a day’s work done.
