Please Welcome Mystery Author, Wendy (W.S.) Gager

Wendy Gager

W.S. Gager has lived in Michigan for most of her life except when she was interviewing race car drivers or professional woman's golfers. She enjoyed the fast-paced life of a newspaper reporter until deciding to settle down and realized babies didn't adapt well to running down story details on deadline. Since then she honed her skills on other forms of writing before deciding to do what she always wanted with her life and that was to write mystery novels. Her main character is Mitch Malone who is an edgy crime-beat reporter who would have made a great noir detective but instead hunts for the next Pulitzer and won't let anyone stop him.

Webpage: http://www.wsgager.com/
Blog: http://www.wsgager.blogspot.com/

Some of Wendy's Books -
                                                            


Her Amazon author page- http://tinyurl.com/3fqfzf2

COMING SOON-              
A CASE OF HOMETOWN BLUES

Mitch Malone hasn't returned to Flatville since his parents were killed in an auto accident while he was in college. His mission is to teach good reporting skills to the local newspaper but Mitch isn't teaching material and his first session sends in disaster when he makes a bet with two reporters that he can find a major news story before the week is up. Drowning his sorrows in the local pub he comes face to face with his classmates celebrating the 15th class reunion. The Homecoming Queen he always had a crush on makes the moves on him and when she comes up dead the next day, he is the main suspect. Add in a bully for a cousin, a police chief who made his life miserable in school and a tragedy from his youth that still haunts him. As Mitch pokes around, more people start turning up dead and he is next…

Today, Wendy is posting on a topic you may relate to, as I do -  
CAN EMAIL BE ORGANIZED?

I consider myself a pretty organized person. I can put my hands on anything in the first place I look in my house whether it is bills, extra toothpaste, or note cards for a panicking daughter who has a presentation the next day.

If I’m so organized with physical things, why can’t I apply those same principals to computer stuff? My hard drive is a disaster. I spend lots of extra minutes looking for things in directories that all have similar names or everything in My Documents.

Worse yet is my email account? Why do I have a hard time deleting or organizing? I am on several email loops and love them but I get over 100 emails a day and some of those lists are digests. How do you organize that information? I’ll admit it. I’m an email pack rat. My email is going to crash because it is so hard to delete anything that I may someday want.

All I can think about is the old woman who dies and the EMTs have to wade through stacks of newspapers, boxes, junk mail to get to the body. What is a person to do? In my day job, I’ve worked with people who get an email, respond, and then delete it. I hate these people who only have a few emails in their inbox at any one time! (If you are one of those, please don’t take offense. I could use some help!) How can they be so organized? I’ve tried to set up a file system similar to what I do for bills and paperwork at home but only virtually. I never seem to file anything consistently so now I have two places to look, the list with 2800+ emails and then the filing system.

I can’t not get the emails. I’m currently on a blogging tour for my latest Mitch Malone Mystery, A CASE OF HOMETOWN BLUES, I can’t miss an opportunity to promote or worse yet a purchaser, an invitation or interview request. I would miss something I need. Things get really bad if I can’t check my emails for a day or heaven forbid two or three days. I have close to 500 emails. How will I ever read them all? At that point I begin to feel helpless and out of control. I nearly lost control when one loop had every one of its 1000 plus people do tagging and their tagging emails filled my box until one enterprising person creates a database with them in it. I kept up for a day or two and then have gone back five or six times but still have those emails in my in box. I can’t delete anything sight unseen.

This is the start of my five step plan. Admittance: I’m addicted. Is there any help for me? Have any suggestions? I do so want a slim little inbox and be able to put my hands easily on the emails I do need. Help!

Can anyone offer Wendy some help? Or are you helpless, also? I know I am. Please comment below.

Craziness! By June Sproat

So, in my previous post I was talking about how my kindle version of Ordinary Me has been doing so well, which I can’t explain, but what really is out of this world is the fact that the old version, previously published with The Wild Rose Press, is being sold on line for $2,475!!

I have no idea why anyone would pay that for the book, but my guess- the book is no longer in print so the company that has it moves up the price. Simple supply and demand. Craziness!!!

Of course if anyone really wants to pay $2,475 for a print copy I can personally help you out with that!

Have a great week!

Best,
June

www.junesproat.com

A Mini Vacation by Margot Justes

I was lucky enough to play tourist both in my own neck of the woods-Chicago and New York.

My daughter received her MBA at Nary Pier last Saturday, so we spent the weekend in Chicago and had a delightful walking adventure. We had breakfast at the Marriott on Michigan Ave. and we were lucky enough to be seated in front of a huge window overlooking the magnificent mile.

We stopped at Bloomingdales and visited the Nespresso boutique and of course had coffee. It was a terrific family weekend that culminated with Solonge's graduation.

Monday I flew to NY for an altogether different adventure. The Marriott Marquis located in Times Square fits the area well, loud and boisterous and doesn't seem to sleep, just like the famed spot.

I tried to see as much as I could and still manage to attend a few functions at the RWA conference.

What I thought would be a wonderful treat turned out to be a very expensive and great disappointment. The high tea at the Plaza hotel fell far short of expectation. The recommended bold tea was anything but, served in a pouch, it was weak and pretty much lacking in flavor. The bread of the finger sandwiches had been cut and allowed to sit, because when served it had that cut and dried prepared hours ago feel to them.

The best part was the volcanic scone eruption. I picked up my scone and tried to gently pull it apart, a scone will easily divide in half if not desiccated with age. This cone erupted, crumbled and tiny specs scattered everywhere. Rather like a crumbly volcanic fall-out.

When I finally was able to get the waiter to ask him for more hot water, I told him this was literally the crumbiest scone I've ever had, his reply was, "believe it or not, it is very fresh." My reply, "Seriously?" He never even asked if I wanted another scone. The price of that delight was $50.00 plus tip. Visit the hotel, the building is gorgeous, but for tea head to the Waldorf Astoria.

If you're in Chicago and want high tea, there are 3 places I recommend, the Russian Tea Time restaurant, it's small and intimate but serves a delightful high tea, the Russian food is good too. The Drake Hotel for the ambiance and an excellent tea service, but the best is the Peninsula hotel because the food is exceptional but service can be inattentive.

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

Do You Know Your Target? by Morgan Mandel

Some authors write the book of their heart. They enjoy the experience so much they can't and won't write any other way. When they're through, they have a quandary. What's their audience? Who will read their book?

Others right away target a specific audience before even starting their manuscript. They don't have as much trouble finding an audience.

Then there's another category. They write the book of their heart, plus have a good idea who might like it. They have the ideal situation, unless they're wrong about who'd really like their book.

For my upcoming paranormal suspense, Forever Young - Blessing or Curse, I'm hoping to belong to the last category, and also hoping the senior audience will enjoy it. If younger ones like it, that will be an added boon I'd love to happen.

What about you? Which category do you fit in? If you know your target, what is it?

Morgan Mandel
http://spunkyseniors.blogspot.com/
Every Thursday a new post about a
Spunky Senior. July 7 Maggie
Toussaint goes kayaking!
My romantic suspense,
Killer Career, is 99 cents on
Kindle & Smashwords.

Writing Space and Time

So, I'm working on revamping the area in my home where I write. My goal is to bring the level of distraction down in this space so I can think and write more robustly.

Like most writers, I have lots and lots of books: Non-fiction including how-to's but, also, many works of fiction. I'm lining one wall with bookcases and it's looking great.

I love to read.

I'm taking a more Zen approach with my setup but not a completely meditative approach since I still need to be awake when I write.

I'm on the search for one of those chaise lounges (like the ones in the movie shown in a psychiatrist's office). Ikea has one - now I'll have to go to their store and look at it, sit on it, and rub my hand over the fabric. That might take me the better part of a weekend day. If it's too comfortable I might back off on the idea, but we'll see. I do need a place to help me get in the zone when I get stuck.

I have a small television in my area right now and I'm trying to talk myself into taking it out. But how would I get the news! I am often inspired with ideas just from watching the news. Maybe I'll just have to settle with reading it online. Of course, I can spend hours reading and researching online.

Ah, the challenges of getting it just write!

Happy 4th! by June Sproat

Wishing all of you a happy and safe Fourth of July!

Have a great day!

Best,

June

Wrapping it Up and Dragging it Out

Recently here at ACME we discussed word count in stories and did we write 'long' or 'short'. This has stuck in my mind because I am at the wrapping up part of my latest WIP. I have one chapter to go and my hero and heroine will live happily ever after. *blissful sigh*

Unfortunately, to make my word count, I have about 12,000 words to go. Depending on how you do the math, that's anywhere from 50 - 60 more pages. Way too long for a chapter or even two. *frustrated sigh*

So, now instead of wrapping up, I need to go back and drag the story out. Add scenes and chapters in the middle that can't just be fluff and filler, but need to move the story forward and enhance the plot. *double sigh*

I have a couple of little ideas swimming around in my head (*relieved sigh*) which will hopefully springboard into larger, meaningful, and relevant ideas with a lot of words! (Which as Morgan so aptly described, will need to be coaxed out kicking and screaming.)

How I do envy those of you who write long at times like this. *sigh*

Happy Fourth of July!

Until next time,

Happy Reading!

Debra
www.debrastjohnromance.com