*Deep breath*

Okay, go!

Q # 1:   What time of day do you write?

A # 1:  Morning. Now this can stretch into afternoon/evening if I’m on a roll, but morning is my start time.

Q # 2: Where do you write?

A # 2: Depends. Sometimes I write away from home (library, Panera, etc). I helps me shut down the distractions of home and actually get something done. But once I’m really going on the book (and provided no one is home), I can write at home, too.  That said, my very favorite place to write is a Borders Bookstore. Nostalgia, I guess.

Q # 3: Do you just write cozies?

A # 3: No! I write romance (a relatively new addition), too. I also have a great women’s fiction novel brewing in my head at the moment…in addition to a thriller that’s done but needs about 20K more words.

Q # 4: Where are you at with your writing right now?

A # 4: I’m currently working on the fifth book in my Southern Sewing Circle Mystery Series. It’s due to my editor on November 1st!  If your a series fan, this may make you scratch your head in confusion. But no, you haven’t missed anything. PINNED FOR MURDER (the third in the series) comes out on October 5th. DEADLY NOTIONS (the fourth in the series–already done/edited/cover designed and waiting) comes out April 4th.

Q # 5: This one is from me to you…Any questions you’d like to send my way???

~Elizabeth

P.S. If you visit my blog often, you may recognize the name Lynn Cahoon. She’s done a few guest blogs for me over the past few months. She’s both a writer and friend. Anyway, Lynn has done something very gutsy. She’s put the first chapter of a work-in-progress (romance) on a Harlequin website that is currently featuring New Voices. People can stop by and read her first chapter…and offer a comment/rating. If you have some time today, I’m sure she’d appreciate a little support. To read her entry, click HERE.

But it is.

So pull up a chair, sit down, and enjoy…

As is the case with most stories, we need a beginning. And, for the purposes of today’s “Writing Thursday” story, I’ll make that beginning be a fact.

Most writers have no say in their covers (except, maybe, the really big authors). We write the story. We send it in. The publishing house designs a cover. We see it when it’s all done.  

Now, if you’re lucky, you have a great artist working on your covers (as I’m fortunate and so so SO relieved–you’ll see why soon–to have over at Berkley Prime Crime). 

This is where I show a picture with my story.   This is PINNED FOR MURDER, the third book in my Southern Sewing Circle Mystery Series (October 4, 2010).  This is a gorgeous cover. The artist did an amazing job as she has with the two before it and the next one on the horizon (which I’ll share with all of you as soon as I get the go-ahead from my editor).

But here’s where the story gets interesting (or, rather, nightmarish if you will).

The gorgeous cover thing? That wasn’t always my fate.

Oh no. Not even close.

*Scroll slowly through the rest of this story for greater visual impact (and LOL potential)*

You see, my very first book was a traditional mystery published by a small, independent press. The book took me five years to write thanks to my main role as a mom of two children under the age of five.  During those five years I had a lot of time to fantasize about my cover. And fantasize I did.

Here was my image:  A night time scene at the beach. In the background was an amusement pier with the ferris wheel aglow. In the foreground was a body…laying face down on the sand…with a shadowy figure looming across it.

Cool, huh?

That’s not what I got.

But before I show you that first cover, I have a little more story to tell.

So I’ve written the book, I’ve signed a contract, and I’m waiting–anxiously–to see that very first cover. And, as always happens when you want something so bad you can taste it, it took f-o-r-e-v-e-r to get it. But then, one day, I get the email saying it’s on its way…

My cover. For my very first book. The one I’ve been dreaming about for years.

So the day comes when it should be in my mailbox. Only it’s not. Nor is any other mail for that matter.

Hmmmm…

The next day comes. No cover. No mail at all.

Double Hmmmm…

An hour later a knock sounds at the door.

Knock. Knock.

I open it to find the mailman. And he has news!

The mail truck carrying my mail from the day before had a little incident. It caught fire. All the mail on the truck that day was either damaged by the fire or the water used to put it out.  The post office will salvage what they can.

No. I’m not kidding.

So, eventually my cover comes (with a nice little note from the post office about circumstances beyond their control). In an envelope that is burned along the edges with smeared writing on the front. 

I get over the shock and tear into the envelope…dying to see that cover I’ve been imagining for oh so long. I reach my hand inside and pull this out:  

A shocker, ain’t it?

So there you go. My story. But wait. There’s an epilogue of sorts…

A year later, JURY OF ONE came out with Worldwide Mystery as part of their direct-to-consumer book club program (there was much rejoicing, I tell you). And, I’m happy to say, they slapped a new cover on it.

That cover wasn’t what I’d imagined, either. But, having been through the shock of the image directly above, I was pleased with what I saw (though, when I first saw it, it was on their website and it was very, very tiny…and, for a moment, I thought I was staring at the Hamburger Helper Hand–talk about a near heart attack):

So there you go. My infamous cover-from-hell story.

Not bad, huh?

~Elizabeth 

**One worthwhile side note about this book. Jury of One was an Agatha nominee (one of five) for Best First Novel of 2005. It didn’t win, but the nomination was very cool!

**Jury of One was the first in the Jenkins & Burns mystery series. Forecast of Evil (my personal favorite) came out with Worldwide Mystery in 2007. Marked by Fate followed in 2008 (with Worldwide in 2009).

Granted, that was in twenty minute increments here and there (with my youngest crawling around at my feet and my oldest distracting me from the computer with pleas to play Fisher Price Little People), but still, it took five years.

My second book, FORECAST of EVIL (the one I think would make a great movie), took eight months to write. My third, MARKED BY FATE, even less.

And now that I’m writing the Southern Sewing Circle Series (as Elizabeth Lynn Casey)? Well, let’s just say I put in some very long days to get a book done. There are several reasons for this: 1) I work well under pressure. 2) I write in two different genres now which means more books/more deadlines so I need to be disciplined. 3) Once you’re published, writing is no longer a luxury dictated by “when I have time.” You need to make the time…

~For writing.
~For marketing.
~For event planning.
~For plotting the next book.
~For pitching entirely new ideas.
~For copy edits on manuscripts getting ready to go to press.
~For corresponding with those amazing readers who take time to drop you a line.

And so it goes. With each and every book.

Writing is not for the faint of heart. Sure, it’s a great gig (it’s all I’ve ever wanted to be and I’ve worked hard to make it happen) but it’s work…in a lot of different areas all at the same time.

Any questions?

~Elizabeth

**Next Thursday I’ll be talking about cover art and a little known fact among most readers. And if that isn’t enticing enough, I’ll even toss in a little personal experience (read: cover from hell story) of my own.

Take a chocolate shop for instance. If you worked there, you could eat chocolate all day long (that would be a best). Yet, if you did, you’d run the risk of a) wearing what you eat and/or b) becoming a great big giant zit (a correlation I made in high school).

Then there’s being a fitness instructor. If you had this career, there’d be no reason to be out of shape (another best). Ever. Yet, everyone would expect you to be in shape (a worst).

And so the story goes. One job after the other.

Being a mystery writer is no exception. Let me offer a few exhibits in the “best” category:

1) You can stay in your jammies all day if you want. 

2) If you come across a personality you don’t like, you can poison (or strangle) them and cover your tracks.

3) You have an excuse to read (because everyone knows that reading translates to better writing).

4) You get to travel for book events and meet lots of amazing people.

As for the “worst” column…

1) I tend to snack on junk food (candy corn) during the final few weeks of a deadline even though I know it’s bad.

2) Money is sporadic.

3) No matter how many wonderful reviews you get, the nasty one or two always hurts.

4) You’re very isolated during the writing process unless you go elsewhere to work (but, even then, it’s still really just you and your computer).

So how about you? What’s the best and worst parts of your job (bonus points to those of you who can refrain from telling us what you do for a living yet describe it so vividly via your bests/worsts that we can guess, anyway)?

~Elizabeth

While I can’t answer that question for any other writers, I can say this…I don’t. As I’m nearing the three-quarter mark of whatever my wip (work in progress) is at the time, another seed starts to grow. I never write them  down, opting instead to go the route of trusting my memory (meaning, if it’s worth writing, I won’t forget).

But a strange thing is going on in my head right now in that stories are warring. On the one hand I have the book I need to start this week–the one that’s contracted and has been brewing in my head for the last few days. On the other hand, I have an idea that grabbed hold of my imagination a few months ago and refuses to let go.

Why didn’t I start writing when it first surfaced, you ask? Simple. I was working on a proposal that was taking longer than normal (a fact I now recognize as a casualty of my muse’s stubborness). And even now that the proposal is off to my editor at Harlequin, I still can’t tackle this particular story because the contracted book takes precedence.

Yet, I can’t shake it from my mind. And the more I try to ignore it, the more it digs in its heels and takes over my thoughts. Which, as you can probably imagine, is causing a little bit of a dilemma. Especially when I know the muse is always right. Always. It’s when I don’t listen that I get in trouble. 

So I think I’m going to do what I’ve tried before yet abandoned out of weakness (or a bent toward writing monogomy)  every time I’ve tried in the past. I am going to write the book that needs to be written (the one that is tugging on my brain just as hard) while taking a real stab at this new idea. The idea itself is a slight departure for me. It’s not mystery and it’s not romance. It’s more toward women’s fiction (which might explain my personal reading choices as of late)–the kind of book that makes you think and reach…and, maybe even grow.

Which leads me to today’s question. Or, more appropriately, a plea. Have you ever tackled two big projects at a time? How’d you do? Any advice or tips?

~Elizabeth

Pouring in more chicken stock, I came across this bit of advice: read bad fiction so you can appreciate the good (read, literary). And where did Mr. Gardner suggest we find the bad fiction? Woman’s fiction, mostly. He goes on to tell us that we should underline passages that stream with triteness, cuteness, and sentimentality.  By this time, something was steaming. And it wasn’t the risotto.

Why is romance, and women’s fiction, the stepsister of the publishing world? Why are cozy’s looked down upon by the noir division of the mystery world? Tell me what’s wrong with not having bloody body parts showing up, page after page. And why do we, as readers, love the books we love?

I’ve been struggling for a while to define and claim what I write. When I announced that I had sold a short story to people at work, they thought it was cute that I’d sold to True Love. Selling three months in a row, my stories are claiming me. I am a romance writer. Romance with a touch of mystery and humor.

I kept reading as I was stirring. Mr. Gardner redeemed himself at the end of this chapter with this one idea: even though you can get advice from a lot of great writers, in the end, it’s your story and you must face that blank page on your own. In other words, trust your gut as my accountability partners tell me. I think readers are given that same advice. Read what you love, not what people tell you to read.

Stirring the last bit of broth into my risotto, I realized something. Writing is like food. Not everyone has the same tastes. And that’s what makes this journey so much fun.

So today’s question, what one book did you read because you thought you had to? Did you enjoy it?

Lynn Cahoon’s work has appeared in Grit, Chicken Soup for the Soul, True Romance, and True Love. She is currently polishing two romance novels, working on a cozy mystery, and waiting for a call from the slush pile. She lives in the St. Louis area with her husband.

Ready?

1) Think of something you want to get across about your character–wealth or lack thereof, ethnicity, religious beliefs, patriotism/or lack thereof, etc.

2) Now, think of ways you can show this aspect without saying, “Richard is patriotic.” For example, perhaps a flag is mounted from his mailbox, maybe he has a red, white, and blue sticker ribbon decal on his back bumper, maybe he has patriotic music wafting from his apartment windows. Do you see where I’m going with this? By showing this aspect of his personality, you’re allowing the reader to imagine it rather than having it spoon fed to them.

3) Now take the aspect you’ve decided to give your character and write a simple paragraph for us in the comment section. The follow-up person guesses what the aspect is (wealth, diet issues, whatever) and then gives a paragraph of their own. And so on, and so on.

Let’s get to it!

~Elizabeth

This one focuses on setting a scene, making it so vivid your reader can imagine being there thanks to the use of as many senses as possible (without going overboard)…

I’m going to start this off by naming a location. The first person to comment will use their senses (hearing, seeing, tasting, touching, smelling) to describe the location. Then they will throw in a monkey-wrench. Something that–should it happen in your location–might determine tone in conjunction with setting.

For example:  Classroom.

See: Chalk dust, pencils, wall clock, kids hunched over their desks, etc.
Hear: The buzz of the overhead lights, coughing, pencils dropping, etc.
Smell: Spoiled milk, body odor, perfume from classmate next to you, etc.
Touch: Crinkled paper, smooth chalk, etc.
Taste: (sorry, drawing a blank at the moment)

Monkey wrench:  thunderstorm.

See: Kids looking outside. Trees swaying. Concern in teacher’s eyes, etc.
Hear: K ids crying, screaming, teacher giving instructions, perhaps a siren in the background.
Smell: Smell of rain wafting through the windows, etc.
Not sure touch and taste would change…

Get it?  Okay here’s the first setting:  Major league baseball stadium.

~Elizabeth

# 1.  When writing dialogue for characters, read it aloud. You’ll be amazed how quickly you can pick out what’s wooden and what’s natural.

# 2.  Beginning writers tend to think that people speak perfectly, with little to no contractions or skipped words. But this isn’t true. To prove this point, try being a fly on the wall at a coffee shop or mall or wherever. Listen to the way people talk. They’re not as perfect as you might think…or as perfect and wooden as you’re trying to make your characters talk.

# 3.  Try a fun writing exercise to illustrate my # 2. Come up with two characters in your head. Put them in conversation but don’t allow them to say more than three words at a time. While this is an extreme, it illustrates how few words we really need to say to get our points across. Watch…

A: Where ya’ going?

B: I don’t know.

A: Taking the bus?

B: I guess. Why?

A: Just wondering.

B: Kinda bored lately.

A: Oh?

B: Yeah.

A: Hoping this helps?

B: Can’t hurt, right?

A: True.

B: (Points at bus) Here it is.

A: Well, have fun.

B: Yeah. You, too.

Pretty cool, huh? This was an exercise I used to do with my Basics in FictionWriting Class at a community college in Missouri.

Go ahead, give it a try in the comments. Three words, no more. And see if you can set a scene in our heads through your dialogue!

~Elizabeth

Q: How do you pick a critique group?

A: Dru, I’ll be honest, I no longer do a true critique group. In the beginning it was useful because it allowed me to see what I was doing well/what I was doing poorly. And when surrounded by other writers at your level or higher, that’s priceless. The thing to watch out for, however, is members who aren’t at your level. If they listen and take comments well, you’re still learning, too. But when they don’t listen or continue to make the same mistakes time and time again, you have to question if the squeeze is worth the juice.

These days, when I’m writing three to five books a year, I can’t afford to spend too much of my writing time doing anything other than writing. That said though, I have two dear friends who I can count on for honest feedback. I also engage in friend-to-friend goal setting on a weekly and monthly basis. We send daily emails about our word count, weekly emails about our goals for the coming week, and a monthly phone call where we essentially answer for how we’ve done and plan for the month ahead. I’ve found it helps with accountability and I think Lynn agrees.

But if you’re at a point where you feel as if you’d benefit from a critique group, there are several ways to find one. First, you can join a professional writing organization (Sisters in Crime, Mystery Writers of American, Romance Writers of America, etc..). Very often these groups have local meetings where you can find others interested in improving their craft. Second, consider taking a writing class at a local community college. During the course of the class you’ll undoubtedly find people interested in writing the same thing you write as well as people at a similar level. Finally, consider posting a sign at your local library. You may find the group doesn’t work for you…in which case you move on. But you may find it’s the best thing you could have done for your writing.

Thanks, Dru!

The mailbox is now open. Fire off some more questions, everyone!

~Elizabeth