Tag Archives: #TheJulietBlogTour

Jul 18 2016
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reading

In one week I can take a bath

I have one more week of convalescence before I can get back to exercise and doing normal things bathing in a tub. I had not idea how much taking a bath meant to my peace of mind, or how crucial it was to my writing. I normally take a break for a quick bath if I’m a little stuck–I call it a thinking bath–and then get right back to writing. Showering is no good.

In the mean time, the blog tour has wrapped up, and I’m looking forward to supporting other writers for a while.I know it sounds weird, but it feels like my summer has just begun.

Last night we had more GPS adventures than we were prepared for as we headed out to Wonderland Ballroom to attend a Noir at the Bar event, hosted by E. A. Aymar. We missed the first set with Nik Korpon, but we saw the second which included Jen Michalski, and at the break we stepped out for some cool air before heading home. I’m not a huge fan of readings–either listening to them or presenting at them, but I have LOVED every Noir at the Bar event I’ve attended. The energy is super-ramped, and the stories are never boring or self-indulgent. Here’s the whole line-up from last night’s do:

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Today I was inspired enough to finish a new short story that I’m calling “A Good Girl with a Hatchet,” adapted from sections of my New Royal Mystery novels, The Mean Bone in Her Body and The Orphans Court. Mean Bone is scheduled for release this year (fingers crossed), but Orphans Court is still in early draft phases. I did not extract sections of The Juliet and publish them as short stories, but I did for Death Wishing, and I realize I miss having fresh stories “out there” while I work on the long projects.

 

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Jul 14 2016
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Day 3 of The Juliet Blog Tour

There’s just so much going on, it’s hard to keep up! Yesterday’s post at Lectito was all about my evolving process for writing my novels, and how each one has a different mission–and therefore a different method.

Then today there were two more posts.

At Alternating Current, there’s an exclusive audio clip of me reading from fairly deep into The Juliet—it’s a section set in the 1920s when Becky Skinner, a former prostitute who is now the wife of the mayor of a ghost town, meets a young stunt actress named Moll Grease. Making this clip was especially challenging, as I’ve never done one before, and firing up the software ended up killing my old MacBook Pro. No worries, though. Next day I got a snazzy 2 lb MacBook (rose gold), that came with a free set of Beats headphones.

Then over at Rainbow of Books, I talk about timelines and character sets in The Juliet.In particular, I stress how strong characterization generates organically developing paths. An excerpt:

Having characters return and change makes it easier to pull the universe together, especially if they intersect with multiple plotlines. Intersections are fun, and when plausibly built and interestingly revealed, they’re like miniature mysteries unto themselves. Imagine the mail carrier who knows everyone on his route. Now imagine that he has several unmarked graves in his back yard. He doesn’t just have good information about his community; he’s interesting on his own, as well.

So ends the middle of the journey. I hope you are enjoying these posts as much as I enjoyed writing them. Two more days, four more posts to go!

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