Out in the land of the living

"Now is the winter of our discontent 

Made glorious summer by this sun of York."

We all remember March 2020, when the lockdown came for us and we sat home and masked up and cracked our hands red from washing. It was the winter of our discontent, which lasted about 15 months. 

I remember it painfully because I had JUST. RELEASED. A. NEW. BOOK. I had plans, People. Big plans that were thwarted on all sides because I couldn't go anywhere and meet anyone and do anything.

In time, I dried my tears and kept working on the next project.

But glorious summer is literally and metaphorically coming. I'm happy to announce that I will be having a booth at this year's Celebration of the Arts and Music Festival, presented by the Yorba Linda Arts Alliance Foundation. Yeah, it's a mouthful to say, but just say you'll be there to see me IRL! I will have bunches of books, and maybe some giveaways and IDK, a way to tell you how grateful I am to actually see you in the flesh.

But before that, I will be part of a panel at the Sisters in Crime Orange County meeting on this Sunday, May 23rd. Unfortunately, we will still be Zooming, but at least it's not as far to drive, and you don't have to put on pants!

Here is the link to the time, the topic, and all of our friendly faces. I can't wait to talk with these ladies!

http://ocsistersincrime.org/

Hope to see you!

Plugging. So. Much. Plugging.

Oy, I have so much to shout about, I've had to increase my aerobics training just to get enough lung capacity to be heard.

First: The Southern California Writer's Conference is coming soon, September 25-27 - have you signed up yet? If you haven't and you're a writer, you need to. There are workshops to help you develop your writing, workshops to help develop your pitching, and workshops to help develop your marketing. And I'll be teaching a workshop to help you decide what kind of author you want to be - traditionally published, or author-published?

Go here to register: http://writersconference.com/la/la-registration/

Seriously, go there. Right now. (Then be sure to come back!)

Second: The 2nd Annual Ladies of Intrigue is a few weeks away, on Saturday, October 3rd. It's a full day of meeting fabulous women mystery authors (sponsored by the Orange County chapter of Sisters in Crime), hearing them speak, and buying their books. There's coffee in the morning and lunch in the afternoon, all in the delightful Hotel Huntington Beach. We've got two very special guest speakers, Catriona McPherson and Carol Higgins Clark. I will be your hostess for the day, and promise some lively entertainment.

I know what you're thinking: Why do I want to go to this? I'll give you several reasons:
1. You are a voracious reader who is always looking for new authors and series to read.
2. You are active in an organization that is always looking for interesting speakers, and you want to see whether any of these authors would be a good fit for your group.
3. You are a member of Sisters in Crime (any chapter) and want to support your SinC community.
4. You are a writer who wants to know more about what kind of books are being published, and who is writing and publishing them.
5. You enjoy a fun day of mingling with other book-a-holics.

Go here to find out more about the event and the speakers: http://www.ocsistersincrime.org/LOI.htm

Go here to register: http://www.ocsistersincrime.org/LOIregistration2015.pdf

Really, I'm just begging you to attend this. It'll be all kinds of fun, and we need at least 100 people. 


THIRD (and finally): My Book Launch is coming! On Saturday, October 10, I will be launching my three new books at the Placentia Heritage Day Festival in Tri-City Park. I'll be in the booth from noon until 5 pm. What will be going on during those five hours? PLENTY!

1. All of my books (in paperback) will be on sale. They are regularly priced from $12.99 to $14.99, but on that Saturday only, they'll be priced as follows: one book = $12, two books = $20, three books = $24. Such a deal!

2. Prizes-prizes-prizes! Books and gift cards will be given out for whatever reason I see fit. I'm thinking that I'll give a prize to... the first person who tells me, "I shot a man in Reno," and maybe... the 20th visitor to my booth, and then... anyone who tags me on social media, especially with a picture. 

3. Refreshments. All book launches have refreshments, so I'll be handing out something, depending upon my time and creativity. I might serve cookies, or cupcakes, or Halloween treats, along with a drink of some sort. Sorry, it has to be non-alcoholic. 

How's that for a launch? 

Go here to see the new books and read about them: http://gaylecarline.com/whats-new/

I hope to see you SOMEWHERE soon!

The trouble with trailers

I haven't posted anything recently, due to the fact that I've been insanely preoccupied with everything from getting my tax info together (something I vow to keep up with all year, but abandon by June), to working with the kids in the riding academy, to stressing over the reception for my son's recital.

I've also been musing, ruminating, noodling over a problem. It's not just my own problem, it belongs to a lot of authors, I think.

What do we do with book trailers?

Let me begin by saying that I think books should embrace all media. As our electronic age opens more doors, books have a wonderful advantage. You can sit down with a physical thing and feel the paper as you turn the pages and smell the ink and the glue from the binding and get lost in the words. Or you can press a button on a slim device and conjure up a story that comes with hyperlinks to pictures of things you've never seen and maybe even music playing in the background, and you can still get lost in the words.

I keep thinking book trailers will find their niche in the advertising scheme of things. They're out there, I know. My friends make them for their books. I even have friends who make trailers for other people's books. James Patterson gets his trailers on network TV, usually during episodes of Castle.

Like he needs more readers.

There needs to be a place for trailers to go, apart from YouTube and the author's website, etc. Some ideas I've had:

- A Book Trailer Channel. Twenty-four hours a day, nothing but trailers.

- A feature on trailers on NPR or other sites or TV channels that feature book reviews.

- Access to trailers for bookstores, either brick-and-mortar or internet, so they can display them on monitors in a store or in the corner of their website banner.

Got any other ideas? Maybe we could put our heads together and come up with a plan.

In the meantime, here are my three, promoting my Peri Minneopa Mystery Series:

FREEZER BURN:



HIT OR MISSUS:



THE HOT MESS:

 

Gotcha!

Am I the only one who has categories of friends? You know, you really like A and you really like B, but you know if you ever get A and B together, fur will fly, heads will roll and the countdown to world destruction has started.

Tameri Etherton is not one of those friends. I could get her together with anyone else I know and not worry about the outcome. She's hysterically funny and smart as a whip and honestly true and will suck you into her funny-smart-cool-honest universe in the best possible way.

This is her birthday week, and this is her blog: A Cup of Tea and Sorcery. She's playing a game of Get-To-Know-Me and has tagged everyone who tunes into her blog. Here are the rules:

1. You must post the rules. (check)
2. Answer the questions and then create eleven new questions to ask the people you’ve tagged. (kind of check, I’m using the same questions)
3. Tag eleven people and link to them. (again, kind of check. I’m opening this to everyone. It’s Tameri's birthday week, so I'm following her lead.)
4. Let them know you’ve tagged them. (consider yourself tagged!)

Questions:

If you could live in a fictional world, where would that be?

Probably Alice's Wonderland. When I was a kid, I enjoyed thinking about what life would be like on the other side of the mirror, or if the house was upside-down. As much as I am organized and logical, I romanticize the topsy-turvy life.

Do you read in noisy or quiet places?

I can read anywhere, as long as people leave me alone to do it. Yes, that includes noisy places, and even while I'm watching TV. The worst place for me to read is actually in bed. I can't concentrate for some reason.

What was the first book you ever read?

I'm sure I don't remember - my mom used to buy me these weird books about children and young animals (puppies and colts) where the moral of the story was always about being happy that you're normal. Gah, who wants to be a happy normal? The first book I REMEMBER and took to heart was Call of the Wild by Jack London. Even though it ended sadly, the adventure was worth it.

If you could only read one book for the rest of your life, what would it be?

Waaaa! Don't make me choose! Can I have The Lord of the Rings trilogy?

Favorite author?

Difficult choice. I'm all over the map, stylistically, from Willa Cather to Dean Koontz to James Thurber. And then there's Ray Bradbury and Erma Bombeck and Raymond Chandler and... forget it. I don't play favorites with my children either - oh, wait, I only have one of those.

Do reviews influence your choice of reads?

Only if they are in-depth examinations of what worked and what didn't.

Fiction or Non fiction?

Fiction.

Have you ever met your favorite author?

I've met Ray Bradbury, which was a real treat. And, upon meeting Val McDermid, I blurted, "I love you!" Which is awkward, since she's gay and I didn't mean that kind of love.

Kindle or Paperbacks?

Either. I don't care about the delivery mode, just the words.

Classic or Modern Novels?

Classics - if you include pulp fiction as "classic."

Book Groups or Solitary Reading?

Believe it or not, I've never been in a book club. I'd like to try it someday. In the meantime, I'm a solitary gal.

 

OKAY, it's your turn, if you want. I'd love for everyone to play along, because I'm uber-curious about everyone. If you do this, leave me a comment with a pointer to your blog, so I can go find out what makes you tick.

 

In the meantime, I'll leave you with a Merrie Melody about books.

 

 

A Christmas Sing-a-long!

I really have a bunch of cleaning to do today, but I had to get this out of the way first.

I was itching to do a promo video, and asked my son to provide the soundtrack. Unfortunately, he's all tied up with things like finals and juries (these are finals that you sing), so he was unable to help. That means it's up to you.

Let's have a sing-a-long! Here's your motivation (in addition to not being a singer, I'm also not a photographer, but play along):

Okay, in your best Karen Carpenter Dulcet Tones, sing along with me:

(insert beautiful piano intro here)

I'll be home for Christmas,
You can count on me.
Please have Nooks,
And lots of books,
And Kindles 'round the tree.

Christmas Eve will find me
Where the stories lead.
I'll be home for Christmas,
With lots of stuff to read.

Happy Holidays with much love for your support and friendship,

Gayle.

Speaking of editors.

Not a big post today, ladies and gents. I saw this today in the Los Angeles Times (yes, the actual paper-in-hand edition) and wanted to share it with you all (sorry it's a little teensy, but I can't figure out how to make my blog space bigger):







Because that's the kind of gal I am. I'm here for you.

P.S. I so want to meet Stephan Pastis... if only to ask him how he pronounces his name.