Incredibly cute cookbook could be yours ....

My friend Ellery Adams and I are running a contest to get the word out about our upcoming releases.

What's in it for you?  Maybe a free copy of The Cozy Chicks Kitchen.

To find out more, check out today's post on The Cozy Chicks Blog.

See you over there!

Pimping for Pie Pops!

By Guest Blogger Ellery Adams

My sous chef and I have had such a ball using this cute kitchen appliance. It works like a charm too! We've made cherry pie pops, apple pie pops, s'more pie pops, grilled cheese pie pops, shrimp and cream cheese pops - the list goes on and on!

So how can you get one? Easy! Just talk up my latest releash PIES AND PREJUDICE somewhere in cyberspace. Iit doesn't matter if it's on Twitter, Facbook, Google+, Goodreads, a Listmania List on Amazon, a blog (other than the two where I blog), or a website. Everything's game!

Send the URL of your post to my email (elleryadams(AT)verizon(DOT)net) and you're entered in the contest! You can enter multiple times as long as your post doesn't occur more than once on the same day.

So no purchase necessary my darlings, but if you are so smitten by PIES AND PREJUDICE that you pre-order, I'll be smiling right up until July 3rd!  I will email 7 winners on July 1st.

Happy Pimping!

And in case I haven't enticed you enough, here's the blurb for PIES AND PREJUDICE:

"When the going gets tough, Ella Mae LaFaye bakes pies. So when she catches her husband cheating in New York, she heads back home to Havenwood, Georgia, where she can drown her sorrows in fresh fruit filling and flakey crust. But her pies aren't just delicious. They're having magical effects on the people who eat them--and the public is hungry for more.

Discovering her hidden talent for enchantment, Ella Mae makes her own wish come true by opening the Charmed Pie Shoppe. But with her old nemesis Loralyn Gaynor making trouble, and her old crush Hugh Dylan making nice, she has more than pie on her plate. and when Loralyn's fiancé is found dead--killed with Ella Mae's rolling pin--it'll take all her sweet magic to clear her name."

Preorder the book from:

Amazon ~ Barnes & Noble ~ Books A Million ~ Book Depository ~ Indigo/Chapters ~ Indie Bookstores
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Even though I can't reach the thousands . . . you can help.

Lately I've had to face a very sad truth.  Most of my Booktown mystery readers are NEVER going to figure out that Lorna Barrett is also  Lorraine Bartlet and L.L. Bartlett. They love my books, they read them, they never check out my website. How do I know that?  I have counters.  Every week I get a summary that tells me how many people looked at my websites.  They're always in the same ballpark--by maybe 10-20 hits.  (Mostly the lower end.)

I belong to a number of author newsgroups/information loops.  We trade what we're learning about the big, bold world of indie publishing.  The most important key to sales on Amazon and Barnes&Noble.com is REVIEWS.  If you like a book, not just mine, any author's book, PLEASE REVIEW IT.  I've even got a section on my Lorna blog for people to read about being a Book Booster, but I doubt that page is ever looked at.

Reviews not only tell other readers what you liked about a story (and please, if you do write a review, don't just say you liked the book--tell the next potential reader WHY you liked it; the story, the characterization, the setting, the way the author used weather to help tell the story--anything that caught your eye while reading), but gives them an idea of how much they will enjoy it, too.  But please, PLEASE don't give away the ending and/or reveal who the bad guy is.  That will spoil the suspense for those who haven't yet read the book.

Of course, not all reviews can be five star.  We realize this, but there's a big difference between not enjoying a story and posting a nasty review that attacks the author, not the work itself.  I've seen far too many of them.  Or one-star reviews that trash the third-party seller and not even mention the story.  If you're tempted to write a bad review just remember one thing:  your review might impinge on someone supporting his or her family. I always remember what my mother taught me:  If you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all.  (The entertainment field is the only one I know where complete strangers can criticize you on the job.  Imagine if someone did that to you.)

Even if you don't want to write a review, you can still click the LIKE button near the title on Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

Why is that important?  These big online companies pay attention to how many likes a book receives.  They have algorithms they use to decide what books (and authors) to promote and what to never pay attention to--EVER.

Another thing that was brought to my attention just yesterday. Now Amazon has a like button for author pages.  Here are mine for Lorna, Lorraine, and L.L. Bartlett.

Okay, I'll get off my soapbox now.  But if you have the time, I hope you'll click on a couple of the above links to check things out, and click the LIKE buttons (especially for any of my indie projects--you can find a list of them on the Backlist Ebooks website). You may not think that your one LIKE will count, but it helps.  The more likes, the more chances a story (or the author) has of being noticed by these large companies.  Your one vote/like really CAN make a difference.

Thank you!

It's a REAL hardcover!

The other day I got a couple of sample copies of Murder On The Half Shelf.  Woo-hoo!  They're beautiful!

It wasn't the first time I'd held one of my own books, in hardcover, in my hands. I had that honor (?) back in 2005 when Murder On The Mind was published. I can't say it was one of my happiest experiences.  For one thing, it arrived with the world's ugliest cover (and still holds that honor).  It was yanked from it's comfortable March publication date and thrust into a very unfriendly November timeline. The review copies went out late, and since that publisher targeted libraries who buy books based on reviews, the book was doomed.  It would have been kinder to just bury the thing in the backyard with an RIP wreath.

Luckily, the book had a second life as a mass market paperback.  (Although for some unknown reason, the cover was of a brown leather chair, a cold fireplace, and a open book.  Still scratching my head over that one.)  Finally, the book has an even happier life with a wonderful cover (done by my good friend Pat Ryan) as a trade paperback and an e book.  (Now, don't you have to agree that this is a marvelous cover--and speaks directly to a scene in the book--um, my favorite as it turns out.)

To make up for the nasty first cover, my publisher redeemed themselves by giving me a spectacular cover for Murder On The Mind's sequel, Dead In Red (also in hardcover).  Sales were still lackluster, and so once I had the rights back, I self published it as a trade paperback and an e book.

Which brings me up to Murder on the Half Shelf (or, MOTHS--great acronym, huh?).  Look at that cover.  Isn't it lovely?  As pretty as it looked in a j-peg photo, it looks spectacular with REAL printing on the dust cover.  And look!  The title is embossed in gold (which also isn't in the j-peg).

I'm really happy with that dust cover.  My publisher was gracious enough to add a box on the back flyleaf that notes my website address, facebook author page, and twitter handle.  I hope a LOT of my readers will feel motivated to check out all three -- and then maybe they'll find out about the Victoria Square and Jeff Resnick mysteries.  One can but dream!

Now, to see if readers (and libraries!) will embrace this story.  I've got my fingers crossed.

Murder On The Half Shelf will debut on July 3rd.
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A Frog Went A Courtin' ...

Hey, it's mid-June -- that means it's time to open the money pit, er, our in-ground pool.  We've never felt competent to do it ourselves (uh, we experimented closing down the cottage once ourselves.  Can you say burst pipes and an emergency call to the plumber?), so we know when we're licked.  Still, there are a number of jobs one has to do before Pool Man comes in June.  The snow and rain accumulates on the top of the pool cover and it's our job to get that water (and all the leaves and other crap) off, as well as raise the water level.

We've been dilligent about keeping water off, and this year, have kept nearly all the crud off, too.  However, there are little bits and pieces (and lots of pine needles) that are difficult to retrieve.  And then there are the frogs.

The top of our pool is like a motel that rents rooms by the hour.  Frogs, frogs, frogs there for one reason:  sex.  And polliwogs!  OMG--back in May, we had a gazillion of them.  But nature took care of that.  No rain, the pool cover dried completely, and no more polliwogs.  (Birds find them tasty snacks, you know.)

It rained a lot during the past week, so it was time to get out the submersible pump and get the water off.  Only...there was a BIG Frog in there, and I didn't want it to get sucked into the pump.  (BTW, I am AFRAID OF FROGS, but I regularly save them from drowning.)  So, out came the skimmer, only ... this wasn't one big frog, just one good sized frog with a another on its back--certainly nothing I've ever seen before.



Okay.  Were they just friends?  Man and wife?  Man and husband?  (Hey, NY state doesn't discriminate.)  We considered throwing a bridal shower, but hey--maybe this was just yet another hook up.

Or maybe not.


During the 2-3 hours we pumped off the water, the frogs were removed FOUR TIMES and the kept coming back.  We even removed them to the far corner of the yard and ... boom, twenty minutes later, back they came.  After a while, we said, "The hell with you!"  The pump was removed and the last we looked they were still underwater just ... sitting there.

So, anybody have any ideas about this odd frog behavior?
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My little part of the Queen's Diamond Jubilee

I wasn't able to make it to England for Queen Elizabeth's Diamond Jubilee.  It would have been nice to see the flotilla on the Thames, but I did get to see a bit of it on TV.  What was priceless was seeing the Queen smile as she waved to her subjects, and all those people waving the Union Jack.  Everybody looked happy.

Cool!

I collect royal family memorabilia, and have since I was a teenager.  It's not that easy to come by around here.  I'm going to Canada later this year, and hoped I could get a couple of pieces while there.  Of course, by then the Jubilee would be old news, and maybe they wouldn't have any mugs or cups in stock.

Worry worry.

But then ... NOT to worry!  My aunt Michele sent me a beautiful Diamond Jubilee mug.  Don't you just love it?  And, even better, it arrived during the Jubilee.


As it turns out, Amazon has a slew of Diamond Jubilee souvenirs, but nothing as nice as my mug.  And even better, mine was a gift from the heart.

Thank you, Michele!
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Ucoming story teasers . . .

I have two books to write in the coming months.  This is the week I've set aside to write the synopses.

I hate writing synopses.

For one thing, I'm a pantster.  That means I write the book by the seat of my pants.  I figure if I know everything about the book before I write it, I'll get bored.  I like being surprised by the characters and events.  It's a PITA when it comes to rewrites and continuity, but it's a lot more fun.

But, I have to write them anyway.  Usually the main story idea stays, it's the little details that change.  Like the murderer.  I can't tell you how many times I've thought, "this person did it," only to hand the book in with another killer all together.

Right now I'm stuck on the murder in the Booktown #7, but I have all the juicy subplots figured out. (They're the most fun for me.)  I've spent a lot of the past few days thinking about Victoria Square #4.  I know how it opens, I know who dies and how, but I haven't figured out whodunit.

One thing's for sure, I'm going to have some fun writing both.

Spoilers?  Let me just say that Victoria Square opens up on a beautiful day at the new marina.  Katie has gone sailing with Seth.  On the dock, she meets up with an old acquaintance, who will later be found dead on Victoria Square.  (Don't they always?)  You would be right if you think the marina will be one focal point in the story.

Interested so far?

And just to tease you a little ... what do you think of the cover of One Hot Murder, Victoria Square #3?

Someone stole our columbines! (Not that we wanted them.)

Our yard is a work in progress.  We've been working on it for the past few years.  For a while, it was the scariest house on the street thanks to the overgrown landscaping.  We had that addressed last year, and it must not be scary looking anymore as we went from 1 or 2 trick-or-treaters to about 50 last fall.  Yup, the yard definitely looks better.

On this year's agenda is ripping out the last of the ivy that covered a big chunk of the front and back yard. Nice looking ground cover -- but it takes over and is extremely hard to eradicate.  Ask us -- we ripped out an area about 4 x 12 feet and nearly died of cardiac problems.  There's one left patch and we're paying for strapping young men to dig it out.  But the major reason for ripping it out is that it hides mice.  Lots of them.

I'm sorry, but real mice aren't cute.  They don't wear lederhosen and sing and help Princesses get the Prince.  No, they take up residence behind your dishwasher and poop on your dishtowels and silverware.  If that doesn't freak you out, I don't know what would.

But, as usual, I digress.  The guy came, gave us an estimate on the cost of ripping out the weeds and a lot of rogue columbines on our side yard (in addition to the ivy) and now we're waiting for the work to be done.  Except ... the day after the guy came, somebody came in dug up every last columbine.  Now, these weren't the pretty pink ones, these were plain old purple.  I mean, who'd want them?  It wasn't our neighbors.  We'd have seen them transplanted in their beautifully maintained yard if that was the case.



So what gives?

And by the way, our neighbors have been systematically renovating their home since they moved in (we're talking new fireplace, new bathrooms, new kitchen, all new rugs and floors) and have a beautifully landscaped yard.  But they have one blind spot -- literally.  They have no window that overlooks their side yard that butts up to ours -- where we want the weeds removed and replaced with mulch.  They've had a dirt pile there for three years.



The first winter it was there, they covered it with a big piece of plastic -- that flapped in the wind EVERY SINGLE NIGHT FOR FIVE MONTHS. How do I know?  Because I sleep by the window that overlooks that portion of their yard.  The plastic disintegrated long ago.  Half the dirt pile has blown away.  It's got weeds growing all around it. It's ugly!  I know they see it when they cut the grass -- why do they let it stay there???  (It is visible from the street.)

We're not on the kind of terms where you say, "Hey, NAME-NOT-GIVEN-TO-PROTECT-THE-GUILTY, when are you going to move that dirt?"  We nod and say hello, but that's about the end of it.

Maybe I should print out the above picture and mail it to them?  What do you think?
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