What Kind of eReader do you have? Or don't you?

I was surprised to notice I've sold many Killer Career ebooks in the Kobo format. I don't even own a Kobo, but I guess I better do a Google and find out what one looks like.  Apparently, they're pretty popular.

For some reason, I thought most people had kindles, like I do. Mine's a kindle 3.

Many years ago, I also owned a Palm. It's in my cabinet somewhere. The screen was too small for me to be comfortable reading from it. I also own an Iphone, but again, the screen is too small for me to enjoy reading on it.

What about you? Do you have an eReader? If so, what kind? If not, why not?

Morgan Mandel
Killer Career 99 cents
on Kindle and Smashwords

Memorial Day

As today, the day marking the beginning of summer, begins to wind down, I started to think about what we need to do. We took out the pool and cleaned it and it's filling as I type. You can read about my pool adventure here.

I have a few more days off, so I need to write. And I mean write. Not think about it, just write and get the words down. Books don't come to be by just thinking about them, you have to get the words on paper, or so I'm told!!

There is another thing to think about. Summer reading. I think summer reading is 'fun' reading. Easy reading, escape reading or beach reads. Whatever you style is make sure you stock up and enjoy!

I received a review for the anthology Summer Lovin' which my short story is in. Check it out for some fun summer reading. It's available on kindle as well.

Lastly, I want to remember all the soldiers who fought for our freedom. Today we honor them and thank them.

I hope you all had a wonderful day and have a great week!

Best,
June

www.junesproat.com

Air Travel by Margot Justes

Booking air fares is a nightmare, not only do prices change seemingly minute by minute but keeping track of timetables, and how many stops it will take to reach your destination adds to the frustration.

First you have to decide if you're flying economy, packed and squeezed like the proverbial sardine in a tin can, your choices of comfort are no-existent. It is assuredly less expensive to fly economy, and if you select off season travel it could be downright cheap to cross the pond. (aka the Atlantic) You may feel like a pretzel by the time you deplane, but you will be on terra firma in a new and wondrous place. That is how I look upon travel.

There are deals to be had by contacting the airlines, for instance Lufthansa notifies me anytime they have a deal.I also check the vacation specials that include hotel and airfare packages.

In early spring and fall prices drop, tourists for the most part have gone home, and you can visit at leisure without fighting the crowds, and saving money at the same time.

This spring there were offers to Ireland for less than five hundred dollars round trip, not a bad deal.

One word of advice, if you're cruising, do not fly on the same day you board the ship, if there are any delays, the ship will leave without you.

If you can afford business class travel, it's not necessary to pay the full price, unless you really feel you have to overpay. Your travel agent should be able to check with consolidators to get the best business rate.

Lufthansa (I like to fly Lufthansa-great service and good prices) offers business travel deals this summer , the high season for travel. You have to book and fly by a certain time, but the price is fantastic, half of the going rate. The business fares to some cities in Europe are going for less than two thousand dollars, economy is going for about six hundred.

It takes the patience of a saint to get everything booked, confirmed and priced to your satisfaction, but it can be done. Look at the planning as part of the excitement and anticipation of your trip, and once everything is all set, you'll feel like a savvy traveler.

Next week boutique hotels or chains?

Till next time.
Margot Justes
www.mjustes.com
A Hotel in Paris

GUEST STAR BLOGGER on Deck Today.
Please welcome a special guest at ACME. My guest blogger today is a 5-Star Bks. Author with an impressive amount of determination and talent. Kelly Irvin is articulate and entertaining. Her bio says it all:

Kelly Irvin's writing career in nonfiction and fiction spans the last twenty-five years. The Kansas native has a degree in journalism from the University of Kansas. She spent a year and a half in Costa Rica as a college student, learning the Spanish language and gaining an understanding of other cultures. She moved to Laredo, Texas, in 1981 to work at a local newspaper. After five years in Laredo, she spent another year in El Paso. That stint at border newspapers gave her keen insight into this multicultural region. All of these experiences were fodder for her fiction and are reflected in her…

Bombshells With a Side of Empathy

My Blazer hurtles through the streets of San Antonio at a neck-breaking speed of three miles an hour during rush hour traffic. Which is why I listen to audio books. The other day I enjoyed an old Dana Stabenow novel that got me to thinking about character versus plot and that ironclad rule that says you have to hit the reader with something earth shattering in the first few pages. Kate Shugak had been lollygagging about in her Alaskan park eating pie and drinking tea for several chapters before Stabenow hit me with a murder that left tears in my eyes. I admit I’d been thinking what the heck, when is something going to happen? Then I realized the time she gave me to build a relationship with her characters made the murder incredibly effective.

Granted the book is a few years old and Stabenow is an established author who can get away with this delayed bombshell in an era of instant gratification, thirty-second sound bites, and twenty-four hour cable TV. I can’t and sell my work. I imagine most of us can’t. So how do we make readers care about our characters when that bomb blast hits on page two? In A Deadly Wilderness, my first novel, I introduce a nasty murderer-for-hire in the prologue, then proceeded directly to Ray Johnson’s trek through a wilderness park where he falls from a cliff and lands on a dead body. Why care about Ray? He uses his day off to take two young boys on a hike. One has lost his father and the other is a foster child whose mother is in jail. It’s apparent Ray is in love with Marco’s mother—and the love is as yet unrequited. Plus he’s hurt. All in the first couple of pages of chapter one. The main character is fleshed out by his actions and reactions to the events occurring around him.

In No Child of Mine, which debuts in September, seven-year-old Benny Garza is introduced on page one. Very quickly the reader knows he’s a foster child who has experienced more than his share of pain. His mother’s in jail. He’s been terrorized by gang-bangers and Mom’s boyfriends. Yet, he’s still excited by the same things as most little boys are—horses and food. He wants to fly. He’s worried his foster dad will be mad because he gets his church clothes dirty. By the time the inciting incident occurs on the second page, it’s enough (I hope!) to make the reader want to scream aloud: “Stranger Danger, Stranger Danger! Run, Benny!”

All this to say, it is possible to make readers care and care quickly. We just have to spin the tale with fewer, carefully selected details that build character and propel plot at the same time. Happy spinning!

Kelly Irvin
http://www.kellyirvin.com/

No Child of Mine
Coming September 2011

Currently available:

A Deadly Wilderness
(Also available in large print)
"A solid romantic suspense debut . . ."
--Publishers Weekly

What Overtakes Your Dreams? by DL Larson

I have a small plaque on my desk at the library: "In Life, don't let the weeds overtake your dreams!" Nearly ever day someone reads the quote outloud and comments on the simple advice. Many times it's the adults who ponder on their future, sharing how they haven't had time to work on their goals or dreams. My usual response, "that's why I display the plaque! We should NEVER forget our dreams."

Every day happenings have a way of nudging our dreams right out of our thoughts, let alone off our "To Do" List. Staying focused is hard. But that doesn't mean we let the routine part of life choke our goals til they no longer thrive. We need to take a moment or two and decide what it is that overtakes our creative ambitions? And what can we do to accomplish our once shiny and sparkling dreams? How do we make them a priority?

So, after contemplating awhile, I'm taking my own advice; I'm restructuring my goals, creating time to read more, write more and make a real effort to keep the weeds from covering up my dreams. I'm striving for time management - a real challenge for me!

What helps you stick to your routine? Do you have a favorite inspirational saying? Perhaps most importantly, how do you avoid the pitfalls that suck away your writing time?

Take a moment to share with us.


Til next time ~

DL Larson

Please Welcome My Guest, Mystery Author, Jean Henry Mead

Today I'm happy to host Jean Henry Mead, a delightful mystery writer and Internet friend.
 

Jean Henry Mead

 Jean Henry Mead is a mystery/suspense and western historical novelist. She's also an award-winning photojournalist. One of her fortes is interviewing writers, actors, politicians, artists and ordinary people who have accomplished extraordinary things. She began her writing career as a California news reporter/editor/photographer,first in Central California and later in San Diego. Mead later transferred to Casper, Wyoming, to serve as a staff writer for the statewide newspaper. While there she served as editor of In Wyoming Magazine and two small presses. She also freelanced for other magazines, both domestic and abroad, among them the Denver Post.. Her first book was published in 1982. She's since published fourteen novels and nonfiction books.
You can reach Jean at http://www.jeanhenrymead.com/


Writing with Humor

by Jean Henry Mead

I’m not a comedian but I’ve found that adding humor to my books increases sales. In fact, I’ve received several reviews stating that the reviewer hoped I would add more humor in my next novel. A Village Shattered takes place in a central California retirement village where Sew and So club members are dying alphabetically. Nothing humorous about that, but I added a couple of quirky characters to the mix: a love starved widow and a rednecked cassanova, which not only makes it a fun read but enjoyable to write.

The second book in my Logan & Cafferty mystery/suspense series is Dairy of Murder, which takes on a more series tone when Dana Logan and Sarah Cafferty, two widows traveling in their motorhome, learn that Dana’s sister has died and her husband claims it was suicide. Dana knows her sister Georgi, a mystery writer, would never take her own life, so she and her friend Sarah set out to prove it was murder. Along the way they stumble over more bodies and a vicious drug gang. The only humor comes from Sarah’s dialogue and reviewers complained that it wasn’t as funny as A Village Shattered.

My first novel, Escape on the Wind, republished twice and retitled Escape, a Wyoming Historical Novel, was probably my most humorous as well as my best selling novel to date. It features a kidnapped young heiress, Butch Cassidy’s Wild Bunch, and a little known member of the gang, Tom “Peep O’Day, an alcoholic horse thief who nearly takes over the plot because he was so much fun to write about. Good-natured and bungling, he causes the gang to botch the Belle Fourche bank robbery.

I added humor to my first, recently released children’s novel, Mystery of Spider Mountain, as well as the second, The Ghost of Crimson Dawn, which I’m currently writing. I’ve also added humor to my nonfiction books. Casper Country: Wyoming’s Heartland, was researched by spending two years behind a microfilm machine reading 97-years’ worth of newspapers, dating from 1889. I’ll never do that again, but I found some funny incidents to add to the centennial history book, which was eventually used as a textbook at Casper College.

One of the things I remember was an article about three young boys stealing watermelons from a railroad boxcar. They were housed briefly in the county jail during the early 1900s. When police were asked about the case by a reporter, an officer remarked about how good the watermelons tasted. I doubt the young boys had watermelon for dessert.

In my latest novel, Murder on the Interstate, Dana and Sarah discover the body of a beautiful young woman shot and killed along I-40 in northern Arizona while traveling in their motorhome. The killer returns to make sure his victim is dead and disables their RV. A woman trucker then comes to their rescue and they chase the killer in “Big Ruby” MCurdy’s produce truck to record his license number. Along the way Ruby alerts other truckers to keep an eye out for his dark red Dodge pickup and the resultant conversations are humorous. When the two women find themselves trapped in a Hummer during a flash flood, they’re cracking jokes to prevent hysteria.

To research the book, I drove my own 36-foot motorhome along the same mountainous interstate while listening to truckers on my CB radio, so the language is authentic.

                                      To order Murder on the Interstate, go to http://tinyurl.com/3qvolo5.

                                      To learn more about Jean and her books, you're welcome to visit her at her website at http://www.jeanhenrymead.com/.

Please leave a comment below to welcome Jean to Acme Authors Link.

The writing honeymoon is over - or is it?

Over the years - no decades - I’ve struggled to find enough of the right kind of time to write. I’m writing this on the train on my morning commute.

I work full time in a very demanding federal law-enforcement environment and with budget cuts and hiring freezes, those demands seem to be increasing constantly. I’m also actively involved with a number of veteran organizations, and there is the Love Is Murder Conference - and if you don’t know about this conference by now, you should.

Oh, and I teach part-time.

I’ve completed a novel, a screenplay and numerous shorter works of fiction. I’m also near completion on a number of non-fiction works related to tax advice and guidance for writers.

So, I AM writing.

I’ve submitted and been rejected, pitched my work then chickened out on sending it again.

I’ve noticed lately that most of my writing time has been spent on outlining and starting new ideas. I’m back to that!

I had promised myself after getting my daughter moved north for grad school that I would finally be able to complete those many projects begging to be completed. But, I distracted myself with the many things around the house that need to be done, my dog who just turned eighteen, my elderly friend who’s being scammed, and now my garden. I’ve been doing more and more home repairs lately and proud of the professional results.

I know all the right and write things to do to fix this situation with my writing but I think I’ve discovered something about myself. I love the romance of my honeymoon phase of writing.

Yes - honeymoon phase! That’s where I get to experience again and again the adrenaline rush of thinking in my head with new ideas followed by the excitement of writing them down and seeing them play out in my head like a movie. I’m great a visualizing scenes - now if someone could just develop an implant with a USB port so I could have these scenes recorded directly to my laptop.

As I said, I know the right and the write thing to do because I’ve done it with my completed, then submitted, then rejected novel, as well as a screenplay and short stories. I just don’t enjoy the part of writing where I have to do all the hard work of submitting and facing rejection.

The prospects that ventures such as Amazon Create Space and Barnes and Noble’s PubIt! offer are enticing and I definitely have plans to investigate those prospects, but the bottom line when it comes to writing regardless the path you choose is - Writing is really hard work!