NOT YOUR USUAL SUSPECTS

A group blog featuring an international array of killer mystery, suspense, and romantic suspense writers. With premises and story lines different from your run-of-the-mill whodunits, we tend to write outside the box. We blog several times a week on all topics relating to romantic suspense and mystery, our writing, and our readers. We welcome all comments and often have guest bloggers. All our authors can be contacted separately, too, using their own social media links.

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NOTE: the blog is currently dormant but please enjoy the posts we're keeping online.


Julie Moffet . Cathy Perkins . Jean Harrington . Daryl Anderson . Nico Rosso . Maureen A Miller . Sandy Parks . Lisa Q Mathews . Sharon Calvin . Lynne Connolly . Janis Patterson . Vanessa Keir . Tonya Kappes . Julie Rowe . Joni M Fisher . Leslie Langtry

Wednesday, September 16, 2015

Popcorn kittens

Have you ever heard of popcorn kittens?

It’s an expression that’s become more and more relevant to writers, especially those who indie publish or hybrid publish (you know: part-indie, part-traditional). I first became aware of the term from Kris Rusch, who wrote a post about it back in 2013. The link to the video no longer seems to work, but you can see it here. Go watch it (it has kittens!) and come back.

Cute, aren’t they? They’ve become a metaphor for this new world of publishing. As Kris says in her post, writers are no longer limited by what traditional publishing dictates. We can write what we want, when we want, and publish it when we want. Which can lead to an interesting problem: which story do we pick to write?

That’s the quandary I’m in right now. I should be working on the fifth Mendenhall Mystery but I didn’t get far before the second A’lle Chronicles Mystery started singing its siren song. Then, as I was flipping back and forth, I got not one but TWO great story ideas that Just. Won’t. Shut. Up. In the meantime, I’ve been writing short stories and sending them out into wide world.

I feel flushed with possibility and yet paralyzed by indecision. What’s a girl to do?

Anybody else experience that? How do you deal with it?

Photo by Karen Abrahamson


You can find Marcelle here: web | facebook | twitter

8 comments:

Maureen A. Miller said...

Quite the wonderful quandary, Marcelle! My kittens are standing in a straight line, waiting somewhat patiently for me to get to them. The poor things certainly won't be kittens by the time I'm done. :)

Anne Marie Becker said...

Kittens!! Love them. :)

I'm enjoying the hybrid world, and have plenty of stories to write, in various stages of production. Such a hard thing to juggle when there's only so much time in the day! And I find I get more ideas when I'm deep into the book I'm supposed to be working on. Those other plots are like a child you're trying to ignore, so they act up even more to get your attention. I try jotting everything down in a notebook, but not letting it take me off my path (especially if I have a deadline!).

Good luck! :D

Toni Anderson said...

Oh, yes, ideas abound 😎 glad to hear you have the same problem ❤️
I have plans to take me to the end of next year and then I have ideas...

Elise Warner said...

The kittens are adorable. And isn't it grand to have so many ideas. I imagine one of your characters will tell you who to choose first.

Marcelle Dubé said...

@Maureen, you've certainly got your kittens well trained!

@Anne Marie, I have trouble with working on more than one thing at a time -- I don't have the mental discipline, I guess. And yes, I jot down my ideas on index cards so I can refer back to them when I have time and they can leave me alone for now.

@Toni -- I suspect you have ideas enough to last you for decades!

@Elise -- My characters are all loud mouths and don't know how to take their turn. They keep jumping up, waving their arms and yelling "Me! Pick me!"

jean harrington said...

Marcelle, Keep sending those babies out! Any one, your favorit as well as your step-child (so to speak). And I love it that you're concentrating on short stories; they're so challenging, so terse, so terrific in many ways that novels cannot imitate.

Marcelle Dubé said...

Thanks for the encouragement, Jean!

Wynter said...

You had me at kittens! And I too have the same problem.

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