Giving back: Deadly Little Secrets

I met Marla Miller years ago at my first Southern California Writers Conference. She has helped me and who-knows-how-many other writers hone our craft with her workshops. As a result of her teaching, I've build a better blurb, tightened my pitches, and learned what to leave in and what to rip out of a query letter.

Blurbs, queries, pitches - did she help me with my novels? You bet. Every piece of editing wisdom applied to one of those three items helped me tighten my writing all around. Through Marla, I learned what is essential, and sometimes I learned what I was even writing about.

Today Marla has released a novel of her own. I was lucky enough to read an early copy and it grabbed me from the start. It's set in the early days of AIDS, as one small-town nurse tries to educate the public and they try to resist.

Here's where to buy it - http://www.amazon.com/Deadly-Little-Secrets-Marla-Miller-ebook/dp/B00GW6SXI2

I'm thrilled for Marla and hope her book climbs the charts.

Oy vey.

So much to do, so little will to do it.

I'm home again from all the conferences. I swear I love the SoCal Writers Conference oodles, but it wears me out. I come home both energized to be a writer and too pooped to pick up a pen. I'll give you a few highlights before I say, "Neener, neener, you missed it." Then of course I'll direct you to the page for the February conference in San Diego.

I can never get a clear picture of Michael - he's always on the move.

THE WORKSHOPS:

I sat in some really good ones. Marla Miller and Jennifer Silva Redmond always run a great workshop they call The Pitch Witches. Read your pitch, then sit back and learn. I usually don't have anything to pitch, but I love to go and hear what works and what doesn't work. Pitches, loglines, and jacket blurbs are harder to write than the damn book.

My other favorite workshop was Jenny's on how to be your own acquisition team for your own book. It involves a lot of talking to yourself, which I'm good at. Marla and I snuck into Drusilla Campbell's NovelCram, just to watch her work. Totally cool.

I gave two workshops. The first one, "I've Written the End - Can I Self-Publish Now?" went really well and we had quite a few people. (BTW, the short answer is No. The long answer is Hell, no.) The second one, "Rhythm, Pace, and AMUSEment" also had a fairly large audience and was well-received.

Here's the thing: I use PowerPoint slides for both, mostly to keep myself grounded and on track. Both workshops have an equal number of slides. The self-publishing workshop ran out of time. I ran through the rhythm and pace workshop slides within half the allotted time. We still kept talking about writing and editing and things we do for craft, but if Michael asks me to teach this again, I gotta expand the slides by a bunch.

Several people asked me for copies of my slides, so I must have done a good job!

RUNNING WITH THE BIG DOGS:

For the first time as a workshop leader, I was given two (!) submissions by authors for me to read and evaluate. The first one even requested me. I was excited yet frightened. Both manuscripts showed promise. I liked a lot about each one. However, both required work. Would the writers take my notes in a positive light, or would they assume a defensive position and argue with me? Would they be sane or make me call Wes for security?

They were both lovely women who were anxious to learn, to have their questions answered, to have me say what they suspected. It was a wonderful time.

THE PEOPLE:

This is my tribe, my group of people that I can discuss writing and publishing and not feel self-indulgent because they're up to their ears in the same topics. If I list everyone I saw and hugged and talked to, well, I'm sure I'd leave someone out and then they'd read this and be disappointed. I hung out a lot with my editor, Jennifer, and with Marla, slummed a teeny bit at the registration table with Melanie, Laura, Heather, Oz, and Rick, and finally caught up with Claudia from Michigan. I see these people on Facebook a lot, but it's not the same as face time.

I also got to chat with the directors, Michael Steven Gregory and Wes Albers. We were missing a few faces this time. Judy Reeves and Cricket Abbott got some kind of waiver to do other things, Laura Taylor had an emergency (she's fine, thanks), and Rick's wife Linda decided at the last minute she was just too exhausted to drive up. To show Linda how much we missed her, Jen and I took pictures of each of us kissing Rick and Jen posted them to Facebook.

That's just how much we care.

Heather was the person who summed up the weekend for me. We were both dragging our tushes around the conference rooms on Sunday morning, after being up WAY TOO LATE Saturday night. She said she had been so tired she was almost falling asleep and knew she should go to bed, but she loved being around these people so damned much, she couldn't leave the party.

That was my feeling, too.

SO:

Neener, neener, I got to spend a fabulous weekend doing fabulous things with fabulous writers. Jealous? Then here's the link for the February event. http://www.writersconference.com/sd

See you in San Diego.

The hangover from the hangout

Last night I did a Google Hangout for Indie Author TV with Jason Matthews and Marla Miller. It was pretty fabulous, and I enjoyed doing it. Here it is, in its 23-minute entirety:




Some behind-the-scenes extras:

1. Jason started having technical difficulties, but no one knew it until he said anything. Marla and I just thought he was showing my different online footprints - A LOT.

2. The barking you hear at the end are my two canine maniacs - caniacs as I like to call them - who had decided they had been kept out of the room long enough. Letting them in the room while I did the interview is like having a phone conversation as a mom. Your kids never want your attention until you pick up that phone and then everyone needs you.

3. I tried to look better for the camera than I did. My hair decided to go squirrely, and the blue top I was wearing made me look like I had blue eye shadow. Really, I know better. At any rate, the words all worked, so I can't care that much about looking my age. Mostly, I wanted to find the right nouns and verbs and sound like I was as savvy as Marla thinks I am.

4. I'd do it all again in a heartbeat, although perhaps I'd hire someone to make me look good.

I am not a tease

It dawned on me that I posted some general statement about "learning a lot" at the panel I did in Santa Barbara and talking to Sheri Fink, etc. It also dawned on me that perhaps I should share some of that learning, instead of just hinting, then leaving you all hanging.

You know that's not who I am.

What I learned can be summed up in two basic ideas, both of which seem like no-brainers, but were taught to me in a new way. Because sometimes you need to see things from another angle.

1. Value yourself. I have about 20 copies of the old version of Freezer Burn, and I was musing with Sheri about what to do with them. "Should I offer them as contest giveaways? Or sell them at a discount?"

Savvy Sheri was decisively against this. "No. You pair the book with some kind of trinket, give it a special autograph, and charge more for it as a Limited Edition."

Whoa. Instead of trying to dump them, I need to treat them as rare birds. Interestingly, when I mentioned this to Marla, she said, "It's a girl thing. We don't value ourselves enough."

So now I get to figure out what to pair with my books and how to sign them. By July. No biggie.

2. Write your thank you notes. I'm always grateful for whatever breaks I get, whether it's a nice review or a chance to speak or whatever. I always tell them how grateful I am, thankyouthankyouthankyou. But I don't always put it in writing.

From now on, I'm sending them a note. If I don't have their street address, I'll email them. Everyone will have a written record of my thankfulness. Because I AM GRATEFUL.

One more thing I took away from the panel was not really a lesson, but more of a result, a by-product, a residual that remained beyond the day: we writers ARE a tribe. Our community shares its secrets, supports its members, and rejoices in EVERY success.

That alone was worth the drive.

Where do I start?

I know you're supposed to keep blog posts short and sweet because, God knows, no one has seen their attention span since the 50s, but I've done so much in the past week, it's hard not to tell you all about it in EXCRUTIATING detail.

But I'll spare you and give you the highlights.

On Tuesday, I drove up to the Santa Barbara Writers Conference to be on a panel of entrepreneurial authors. Marla Miller asked me to join her, and of course, I was delighted. My other partners in crime were Sheri Fink, Madeline Sharples, and Jennifer Aderhold. I love panels because I learn as much as I share.

Sheri contacted me before the event to see if we could carpool to Santa Barbara. She lives in Mission Viejo (or as we like to call it, "Bitchin' Viejo"). Normally, I like driving long distances solo so I can sing along to my iPod, but I wanted to get to know Sheri better. Two-and-a-half hours, each way, seemed like a great way to either learn about each other, or start a cat fight.

As it turns out, Sheri is The Sweetest Woman in the World. When she arrived at my house, she had to run the Doggy Gauntlet in order to use the restroom. Duffy immediately jumped on her bare legs and scratched her, to the point of needing first aid.

I'm SO SORRY, Sheri!!! (Note: abject groveling and apologies are the only grammatically correct time to use more than one exclamation point.)

The panel was wonderful. The workshop attendees were interesting and savvy and asked great questions. All of the panelists had insights and information, and Marla facilitated effortlessly, so what was not to love? In addition, Sheri is insanely savvy as a businesswoman. I learned as much from her on our car ride as from the panel.

After the panel, we all scampered down to the bar and met up with good friends Michael Steven Gregory and Jeremy Lee James, who were giving a workshop on the following day. I wish I could've stayed for that workshop, but I had places to go...

Like Tameri Etherton's house on Thursday. I met her at her home in Carlsbad, where I went with her and her darling daughter, Alexzandra, to dinner and a play. The dinner, the play, and the whole experience was beyond fun, but started with a bang - I got a present!

Such a pretty box, what could be inside?

For me? Squee!

I didn't expect it. I may not deserve it. But I'll take it - now I can rule the world.

Thank you, Tameri! Thank you thank you thank you!

Back to busy-ness

Now that my cold is better, I can tell you all how truly great this year's Southern California Writer's Conference, LA Version, was. Good workshops, good speakers, good information, good inspiration. If you are in the southern California, I recommend these conferences. (Major Caveat: If you require that life be taken seriously, the SCWC will be too casual for you.) If you live elsewhere, find a conference, dang it.

Conferences are a great source of face-to-face networking with other writers, which you need to meet even if you think you don't, because you can't just sit in your little room typing-typing-typing all day. You need to find your tribe. You can also meet experts at things writers need, like publishers and agents, media manipulators, etc. Someday your manuscript will be ready for these things, so start making your connections now.

Some of my own personal highlights of the weekend:

1. Marla Miller and Jennifer Silva Redmond gave two great workshops on how to fix what's wrong with your pitch or query letter. I love to go to these workshops, even if I have nothing to read, just to hear how Marla and Jennifer approach the problem with each pitch/query. (And nearly everyone has problems - that's why they're there!) I am currently having a problem with the pitch for my humor books, so even though I didn't read anything, I got a lot out of listening to other people.

2. Scott Sigler, along with Back My Book gave an excellent workshop about some of the things the entreprenurial author should have in their tool box. I couldn't write fast enough, and now I have a big To Do List of things for my website.

3. Stacey O'Brien had a really nice workshop on writing memoir. It was fun, in that her workshop mirrored her own writing process. Stacey is a scientist whose specialty is owls. She lived with an owl for nineteen years, and after his death, wrote her grief in large, disorganized clumps, after which she started organizing in the most scientific of ways, until she had a book. It is Wesley the Owl and it is a gem. Her workshop followed that pattern of being a little disorganized at the start, then snapping into focus. I ended up learning A LOT.

4. In Judy Reeves' Read and Critique, I got to read the first chapter of my third mystery. I hadn't read it aloud for anyone but myself and I couldn't figure out why it wasn't working. Thanks to Judy and the rest of the writers, I found it. The read and critique format at these conferences is the best I've ever encountered; they are constructive, they are helpful, and you walk away feeling like you want to get to work on your changes, not like your back is still bristling from the arrows.

In between the workshops, I hung out with my old friends and made new ones. We laughed at the bar, then went to dinner and laughed there, then went back to the bar and laughed some more. Of course, when we weren't laughing, we were talking books, publishing, and where we all were on our paths. It was glorious, and I can't thank the directors, Michael Steven Gregory and Wes Albers, enough.

So, what's on my list of things to do? Among other things, these are three things I want to put into place on the website as soon as I can:

1. Put the Facebook, Twitter, and RSS feeds back. When I was building the site, I didn't like where they were, so I removed them and never re-installed them. What was I thinking?

2. Add a form for people to sign up to receive news about new books, appearances, etc. I put that stuff on the front page of the site, but maybe people want to be told, instead of going to the site. Never know. Could happen.

3. Podcasts. Free podcasts. Scott does a free podcast of one chapter of his latest book each week, along with a little four-minute sales pitch. Four minutes sounds a little harsh - I promise not to take that long, but I could start with Freezer Burn and give people a chapter a week. I'm actually really jazzed about this one.

How does any of that sound?

Flotsam and jetsam

I so love that phrase, I used it two or three times in HIT OR MISSUS and had to go through and rip out all but one occurrence. Damn.

Yesterday, as I was getting ready to drive to Santa Barbara to be Marla Miller's guest panelist at the SB Writer's Conference, I had a Really Big AHA Moment about being an Indie author (which makes me want to wear a fedora and buy a bullwhip, BTW). I drove home thinking, gee, what an excellent blog post that will make - I'm gonna write that as soon as I get home!

Except that I got home after two-and-a-half hours on the freeway and thought, well, nothing, because my brain had turned to oatmeal. Instead, I watched last week's episodes of So You Think You Can Dance with my hubby and tried to point out where my friend, Megan, and I had been in the audience. We were waaaayyyyy off-camera, but when Cat Deeley is in the upper aisle behind the judges, there's a lady's hands in the lower left corner of the screen.

We're in her row.

So the Indie-AHA will wait for another day, while I turn my attentions to writing my weekly column. I usually write it on Tuesday nights, but we're going to see Les Miserables at the Ahmanson tonight, so I will probably NOT want to write about the spider in my shower when I get home from being thrilled. I also need to wash a few clothes. Like, all of them.

In the meantime, I'm going to post a video of my dog chasing the water spraying from the hose. Just because.






Later, Peeps.

Now I'm over here.

Geepers, I'm everywhere these days.


I woke up this morning to find myself on Babs Book Bistro, being interviewed. Thanks, Babs, for such entertaining questions! Unfortunately, we were advertising the HIT OR MISSUS Goodreads Giveaway - I didn't know when my interview was going to be posted and I thought the giveaway would go through the deadline.


(Note to self: read the fine print.)


Then I did the Blogtalk Radio interview with Marla Miller. Before the interview, I was completely obsessing about my morning allergies. I describe it as "morning gunk" that makes me sound stuffy and nasally, and I cough until the sun comes out. But once the interview started, I think I only coughed once. Not too bad. Here's the interview:

Listen to internet radio with MarketingtheMuse on Blog Talk Radio

If you listen carefully, you can hear me playing with Duffy in the background. Dogs are like children - they never want your attention quite as much as when you're on the telephone.


At 2 p.m. today, I'm at the Placentia Library, launching HIT OR MISSUS (the other books will be available for sale, too). Someday I'd like to do a book launch by shooting my book out of a cannon. That'd be cool.

In the meantime, I'm packed and ready to scoot to the library. Cookies are baked. Lemonade and ice have been purchased. Booker & Hatch are rarin' to go.


Life is good.

What are you doing on June 18th?

Listening to Marla Miller's Blogtalk Radio Show, Marketing Our Muse? Because she will be interviewing me at 9:30 PST. I have no idea what I'll be saying, but I'm hoping I'll at least be awake.

If you miss the live version, you can always click on the link above and hear the broadcast later. She's always got fun and interesting things to talk about, so set your cyber-dial to her station!

In the afternoon, you could be at my book launch party. Oh, yeah, that's right - HIT OR MISSUS will be feted at the Placentia Library from 2-3 p.m. on June 18th. My plan is to offer some cookies and lemonade, talk a little bit about the book, Placentia, and the library, then autograph away. I'm putting together a basket to raffle off - the proceeds will go to the library. In it, you can win an autographed copy of HIT OR MISSUS, a gift card to a local restaurant (not sure which one yet), and a Joe Sample CD.

I've included the Joe Sample CD because it is referenced in one of the chapters of the book. The chapter is below, just to whet your appetite for more:

 * * * * * * * 

Two steps into her kitchen, Peri's shins made contact with a soft but immovable object. She stuttered forward, trying to stay on both feet and hold onto the bag of Chinese food she'd just bought at Pick Up Stix. The object yowled as her foot came down on it and she fell to her knees, sending her chicken teriyaki bowl and egg rolls dashing across the floor and into the wall, where the container tops exploded.

"Ow-ow-ow." Pain pulsed from her hands to her elbows, her knees to her hips. She eased back onto her heels and rubbed her palms, looking at the chaos that was supposed to be her lunch, now splashed on the wall and floor.

Her new guest wandered over to the mess and sniffed. He picked up a piece of chicken and proceeded to shred and eat it.

"Damn cat, I forgot about you." Peri stood and limped to the paper towels.

Mr. Mustard sat and licked his paws while she picked up the food, then bolted away when she got out the spray bottle of cleanser.

Later, as she curled on the couch and ate a peanut butter sandwich while reading her notes, she felt a warm prickle on the back of her neck, as though she was being watched. She looked up to find two large, yellow eyes staring, unblinking, at her.

"Finding everything you need here?" She reached out and rubbed his ear. "Poor kitty, losing Bob and Dottie within a month. Don't worry, I'll find a good home for you. Someone who loves kitties."

Peri finished her sandwich and thought about Bob and Dottie. It wasn't unusual for elderly couples to die within weeks, or even days, of each other. Still, she thought it was curious.

She wadded up her napkin, and heard a strange, giggling sound. The cat at her side leaped to attention, staring at the paper ball in her hand. She held it up.

"You want this?"

The cat's tail vibrated. Peri threw the napkin across the room and watched him run after it, capture it, and return to her, the napkin in his mouth. She laughed and threw it again. The tabby gave chase, then dropped the napkin at her feet and waited. They spent a few minutes in this game, until the cat suddenly walked away and curled up in the window for a nap.

Peri thought about their game, and remembered the morning's events.

The paper Mr. Mustard gave me – "DECIDE NOW" – what was that phone number? She closed her eyes and visualized the note. It had been written in bold, dark print, making it easy to recall. Five-five-five, oh-six-two-four. She reached for the phone and dialed.

A woman answered, her voice low and words enunciated. "Keller and Patterson, how may I direct your call?"

"I'm sorry, I think I misdialed - is this 555-2624?"

"No, ma'am, it's oh-six-two-four."

Peri apologized once more and hung up. Why would Dottie have a note to call her client's office?

Forcing herself back to her own case, she logged on to her laptop and did a preliminary hunt for Nikki Simms Keller. A pass through the woman's internet presence was enough to give Peri indigestion. According to Classmates, Nikki Simms enjoyed life as a high school cheerleader before attending the University of Southern California as a communications major.

She checked Facebook next. Usually, people had their privacy settings so no one could read their information, but updates to the online social network sometimes reset preferences. Nikki's privacy settings were in the middle of the road, so Peri could see some of her information, such as her friends, her photos, and her notes.

Looking at her friends' photos, Peri saw one that looked familiar, Carol Hanlon. Carol was a woman she had once cleaned house for and was now in her Facebook friend list. She guessed Carol was Nikki's friend because they both belonged to the Alta Vista Country Club. Clicking on Carol's name, Peri was able to read some of Nikki's status updates.

"Party time tonight for all my Bettys," was the latest.

What are Bettys"? Peri searched the Internet, trying to figure out the meaning. Google was of no help; all of the pages were about businesses with 'Betty' in the name.

"No, I don't mean Betty's Baked Goods," she told her computer.

She printed basic information about her client's wife, including her previous addresses and criminal history. Peri glanced at them as she put them into a large purple folder with a number on the top. Apart from a few recent traffic citations, Nikki had no criminal history, and it didn't look like she had spent any significant time outside California.

The question of Dottie Peters and Don Keller's development firm tugged at the back of Peri's brain, so she decided to take a break and do a little digging in another direction. She was still wandering aimlessly through Dottie and Bob's histories when she heard a key in the back door, followed by the sound of the hinges, a simultaneous thump and cat's scream, and then Skip's growling expletives.

"Watch out for the cat," she said.

An orange streak flashed by her as the cat ran toward the bedroom. Skip walked in a few moments later with a bottle of beer.

"Thanks for the warning." He reached down and kissed her before collapsing into the couch.

"Rough day?"

"Not bad, except for Dottie. Death just leaves me feeling kinda… spent."

Peri put her laptop aside and wrapped her arms around him. "Sorry, Babe. Even when someone's older, it's hard." She kissed his neck. "And the older I get, the younger Dottie seemed."

They sat, entwined, for awhile, listening to the music from the stereo. Peri had put on Joe Sample, and the strains of smooth jazz piano floated through the room like a grown-up lullaby.

She reached for his beer. "What's for dinner?"

He glanced at his watch. "It's pretty early. We could go for sushi."

Peri caught his wrist and checked the time. "Five on a Tuesday. Hmm, I guess Fish in a Bottle won't be that busy."

Their heads bent together towards the watch, his upper lip close enough to brush her lower one. In less than a second, they were kissing, losing themselves in the moment while they tried not to spill the beer.

"How hungry are you?" He nuzzled her neck. "Could we get something a little later?"

"Mmm, sounds tempting, but I could eat shoe leather right now. The damn cat spilled my lunch."

He kissed her again. "Here one day and he's already ruining our love life."

She stroked his cheek. "Well, feed me and we can get back to business."

* * * * * * *

No RSVP is needed, for the radio show or the launch party. Just show up and have fun!



Take the rest of the day off

I know I'm supposed to be hawking the new book at every turn, and I do love this new one and am probably spending unhealthy amounts of time looking at my Amazon rankings.

But this is Friday and I'm sick of saying, "Hey! Hey! Hey! Look over here! New book! Over here!"

So here are a couple of videos. One is my friend Marla Miller, doing a Quick Query Critique. Subscribe to her and learn, Grasshoppers:



The other one is just for fun. I've posted this before, but it makes me laugh until I weep EVERY time I watch it. Laughter is good for you:



Keep reading and writing, Peeps.

Like the new look?

A woman gets bored. To un-bore herself, she changes her hair, buys some new shoes, and goes on a bank-robbing spree across seven states.

Or she just changes the look of her blog. Like it? Do these bookshelves make me look fat?

Although I had a very busy weekend, driving to the ends of the world and back, something good was waiting for me at each destination. On Friday, I had a very good riding lesson at the ranch. Then I went to Long Beach and picked up my truly delightful son and all his crap belongings from his dorm room. He's home for the summer and I can already tell I've got another adult in the house, not a teenager anymore (although he's still technically a teen at 18). I ended Friday back at the ranch with a sweet little seven-year old who did a very good job focusing on riding her horse. Afterward, she got to pet the ranch's Macaw, Rio, which was a definite highlight for her.

On Saturday, I was back at the ranch and gave another lesson to an eleven-year old with a few issues. Nothing insurmountable, but sometimes it's hard for her to stay on task, and she has some quirks about horse saliva. She arrived in a rather foul mood, shuffling her feet and grooming the horse in fits and starts, only when prodded. I could have just gone down that black hole with her, but I decided to try for something better.

"You can have a good attitude or a bad attitude," I told her. "It's completely your decision. What would you like to have?"

"A good attitude," she said, scowling.

"Okay, then, look at me." (She has trouble making eye contact.) When she looked up, I threw my hands out and over-smiled, in the geekiest, most over-the-top way possible. "My name's *blank* and I'm gonna have a GREAT lesson!"

It worked. She started laughing and repeated my words. And we were right - we had a great lesson.

I ran home and changed clothes, then hit the road for Los Angeles. Not just the southern corner, but the furthest corner of L.A. from my door. Traffic was amazingly light on the I-5, then ground to a standstill about ten miles from my destination off the I-10. When I pulled into the Palm-Rancho Park Branch Library on Overland, I thought my journey had ended.

Instead I found no parking spaces, partly because several cars had decided they were feeling a little bloated and needed two spaces, a minivan blocking one aisle, and another completely unoccupied minivan blocking the exit. After two trips around, I exited, found a side street to park, and ran across Overland in my little heels. May I just say that Overland is a big, freakin' street with lots of traffic and no cross-walks?

But I did it all for Marla. I've mentioned her before in my posting. I even mentioned her in the acknowledgments for Freezer Burn. Marla Miller has a knack, a gift, a talent, for reading your query letter or synopsis and telling you what's not working. Her website, Marketing the Muse, offers Quick Query Critiques, where she videos herself reading and critiquing queries that are submitted. It's very much like sitting in one of her workshops at the Southern California Writer's Conference, except that she's able to get the audience involved in the critique process as well.

She was speaking at the GLAWS meeting (Greater Los Angeles Writer's Society), doing her quick query thing and pitching the idea of writers helping writers. Networking is not just about meeting someone who will buy or promote your book. It's about reciprocity. Each meetup should result in a win-win, which I'm hoping is happening with my cross-blogging.

I may not have hundreds of followers, but I probably have followers that my guest does not have, and vice versa. And I believe it makes no difference if we're in the same genre or not. Although I read lots of mysteries, they're not the only thing I read. I'm guessing my followers are the same way. For example, maybe someone follows me because they're a friend of mine but they really like historical romance. I get an author on my post who writes historical romance and my friend hasn't heard of them. Suddenly, the author has a new reader and potentially more, if the reader likes their book and recommends them to others.

Of course, I'm hoping that author has some friends who like mysteries and humor...

Marla really hammered that point home on Saturday, along with displaying her awesome skills at identifying the problem with each query. I was happy to have battled the traffic and parking just to hear that I'm on the right track, by offering something of value with my schmoozing.

I support Marla so much that I've added links to her sites on my right-hand column. You can find the link to Marketing the Muse, as well as her new venture, Women Over 45, Speak. This is a fun site for Women of a Certain Age to send her a 3-minute video (vlog) where they talk about anything. Truly. Anything. You can promote your business. You can prattle on about the new grandbaby, or your family or friends. You can rant about something unpleasant. It's a good place for you to speak your mind, and it's a good place for men or women under 45 to go and listen to what we have to say.

I did it. It was fun.

And, in true Marla fashion, for supporting her, she has offered me a couple of neat opportunities. She's going to interview me for her blogtalk radio show (tentatively June 18, but I'll post details). She's also invited me up to the Santa Barbara Writer's Conference for an afternoon to be part of her panel of Entreprenurial Authors. Hopefully, I'll have something insightful to offer. I'll at least have my experiences to share.

I'll end this post with a vlog from Marla - take it away:

Sorry for the delay

I realize I haven't posted for awhile, and I'm awfully sorry about that. I've tried to post a couple of times, but when my thoughts haven't been too scattered to collect into one place, they've been plain old, day-old stale. Here's where they are scattering:

1. Should I make bookmarks for my new book, What Would Erma Do? I could leave them at the library to drum up business, but other than that, is there any other place who would use them? I've handed them out at book festivals, conferences, etc. but having been a recipient of TONS of bookmarks, I can't say I've ever used any of the ones I was given. Perhaps the day of the advertising bookmark is done. Maybe I should hand out pens… or Kindle covers with my cover on them…

2. I need to push the advertising of the new book. I've been hanging back while it got uploaded for Kindle, but now that it's oh-so-nearly complete, I need to prepare to get busy!

3. I need to edit and update my Peri short story and decide what to do with it. I've got a couple of ideas, but I need to actually DO them.

4. My second Peri book is in the hands of two agents. I was flattered to have them request it. One has had it for a couple of months, however. I've contacted her once to see whether she got it, whether it's a no, but haven't gotten a response. Should I contact her one more time and piss her off? The other agent just received it, so she gets more time.

5. Speaking of the second book and agents, should I even be pursuing a contract with a publisher or should I self-pub?

6. Next week, I'm off to a horse show in Burbank, and the following week I'll be at the Southern California Writer's Conference in San Diego. Just in those two weekends, there's a lot to think about, as well as some packing to do.

So until I have something meaningful to tell you, I'll leave you with a lady I love to learn from, Marla Miller. She has a great website on how to market your muse. Oh - and if any of YOU have something meaningful to tell ME, go ahead and spill. I may be scattered, but I'm still listening.

Happy-Happy, Joy-Joy!

I'm off to San Diego tomorrow, for a four-day revelry of writing, seeing old friends, and just-enough wine, if I'm lucky and haven't caught my son's cold. It's the yearly Southern California Writer's Conference, held each President's Day weekend at the lovely Crowne Plaza in Hotel Circle, which used to have some kind of Hawaiian name (the Hanaleilauleaupookipooki-somethingorother?) and still retains that tres tropicale air, down to the sushi bar. BTW, I love sushi, so with the writing, friends and wine, this is like the trifecta for me.

For the writing, I have a plethora, nay, a cornucopia of workshops to choose from. If I take Jean Jenkins' workshop one more time telling me to cut out my adverbs, she'll think I have no memory retention at all. Should I learn about copyrights and publishing law instead? Marla Miller's got some interesting 'shops about non-fiction for newbies, a writer's responsibility to the business, and fixing what's wrong with you... wait, make that fixing what's wrong with your query.

Or I could just hang out in the Read and Critiques and try out some of my second book. These groups gave me a lot of good feedback on my first book, at least the first five pages of it. But I learned to extrapolate and apply their comments to the rest of the book. Until I find a good writing group, these workshops are my substitute. My favorites are the ones run by Judy Reeves.

I usually go to the Rogue Sessions, which are just Read and Critiques on steroids. They start around nine-thirty and go until the last dog is dead, if you'll pardon the expression. I don't know if I'll get to them this year - I've kind of started hanging out with the Big Dogs after hours. Michael, Wes, and company have some pretty late nights acting silly in the bar, then retiring to patios and rooms and where ever to discuss writing and politics and whatever else comes along.

This year, Gordon Kirkland will be there, too. I met Gordon at my first San Diego conference. As a matter of fact, I went to that conference just to meet him. He's a funny writer, and I wanted his opinion of my humor essays, so I submitted some of them for his feedback. He liked them very much and we began a friendship because we make each other laugh until, well, in my case, I hiccup, and in his case, the tears run down his legs. So I'll be hanging out with him, too.

And other friends I've met. Indy and Tameri and Rick and Ed and Cricket and and and... oh, and my friend Nancy will be attending for the first time ever. No wonder I'm so excited. I'll come back recharged and ready to complete the last half of my second book, which is always the GREATEST feeling.

Sorry, I gotta go pack now. If you're planning to be there, I'll see you tomorrow. If you hadn't planned to go and are now regretting it, they've got room for walk-ins. If you can't make it, see you on Tuesday!