ST. PATRICK'S DAY

     It’s St. Patrick’s Day in my home town of New York City and on-lookers crowd 5^th Avenue in celebration. You don’t have to be of Irish extraction—the parade in honor of St. Patrick is enjoyed by all of us. Shamrock green berets, coats, sweaters and ties are worn and snacks of cupcakes decorated with green icing, scones, Irish Soda Bread, and green bagels are devoured. Dinner, of course, is corned beef and cabbage. (It’s also the day of my mother’s birth and its always been a special day in my family—I’m sure the Saint would not mind sharing.)

     In honor of the day, I thought we might talk about all the authors Ireland has gifted to the world. St. Patrick, himself, led a life that reads like a tale of adventure. Born in Britain—ruled by Rome in the late 4^th century A.D., he was seized by pirates as a fourteen-year old and brought to Ireland where he was enslaved and given the task of shepherding sheep. During the six years, he spent as a slave, he dedicated himself to spiritual development and, after hearing a voice telling him a ship was waiting, he fled and made his way to a port 200 miles away. After many quests, he returned to his home and family. He later went back to Ireland as a Christian missionary.

     Legends claim St. Patrick explained the Holy Trinity with the aid of a three-leafed plant—the shamrock—a symbol of his day. He is also said to have banished all the snakes of Ireland--banished when they attacked him during a 40-day fast and driven into the sea.

     Many folk tales of ancient Ireland were written by the Irish author Lady Gregory in two books—her forward was by W.B. Yeats. Then there are James Joyce, Jonathan Swift, Oscar Wilde and four men who won the Noble Prize for Literature. W.B. Yeats, Samuel Beckett, Seamus Heaney and George Bernard Shaw.

     Today we have a cavalcade of fine authors. Romance—there’s Colm Toiben the author of Brooklyn. A book with people who stepped from the page bringing me hours of enjoyment. I was sorry when I reached the last page. The solution—read more of his work.

     Small town life in Ireland with its romance, emotions, pleasures and troubles was introduced to me by Maeve Binchy. Think of Circle of Friends and Firefly Summit.

     Into Gothic thrillers? Bram Stoker’s Dracula—scary and a must-read for generation after generation. In Gaelic, I learned, the phrase “Droch Ola” means bad blood.

     Mysteries—Tana French who won the Anthony, Barry and Macavity awards for best first novel and gives us many hours of engrossing, psychological spell-binders. Then there’s William John Granville who wrote the literary book The Sea and, as Benjamin Black, the best-selling Christine Falls and The Silver Swan, and P.D. James who features the poet Adam Dalgliesh in her crime novels. No wonder our bookcases are crammed, our night tables over-flowing and our eBooks everywhere.

     Which books by Irish authors fill your shelves?

Just Keep Moving...

So my office seems to be constantly evolving in an effort to keep me moving. The words never come any easier but at least I am trying to not lead a completely sedentary life. First, there's the dog. Our walks are the only things that makes me leave the house some days. It's less attractive at -40C, but a dog's gotta do what a dog's gotta do. We just do it faster when it's cold.

Then I have a standing and a sitting desk so I can vary my position. I try and do yoga, but lately I've fallen off the wagon because of other factor. I really miss it and recommend it for everyone. I've invested in dictation software and hope to use the dictation and transcribe functions just as soon as my plot starts behaving. 

Last, but not least, I invested in this beauty last year.

FitDesk

I don't get on it every day but I'd say I use it at least four times a week and generally more. I've taken to riding with friends while we edit and write and give each other that virtual push. I can read email and surf the web on it too, so really there is no excuse. I do get a sore butt after an hour though so fair warning.

How do you stay mobile?

ROMANCE:  WHY?  By Kathy Ivan

As a writer, I’ve talked to a lot of people about what they like to read, especially when it comes to the genres I write (contemporary romance, romantic suspense, and paranormal romance).  But it seems when the subject of mystery and suspense comes up, there are two different schools of thought.

There is the reader who absolutely, positively does not want all that romantic fluff in their story.  They are the stick-to-the-facts readers, who want the meat and bones, the action and adventure of the plot without a lot of the secondary storylines which they think clog up the works. Purists who want to see the antagonist and protagonist battling it out until the very end.  They want their mystery and

suspense to be all-encompassing with no deviation for anything outside the scope of the mystery.

On the other hand, you’ve got the reader who loves having a little extra.  They want to see and know what makes the hero, heroine, or villain the person they are.  They want to juicy backstory, including that crazy attraction between the hero and heroine that seems to pop up at the most inopportunite times. 

I fall squarely into the second camp.  I am a romantic at heart.  As a writer, I love writing romantic suspense because it adds so many dimensions and layers to the story.  What could be better than taking a hero who is hot on the trail of a ruthless villain, closing in with each page, and suddenly there’s this character who shows up and steals his attention.  Keeps him off balance, because his thoughts have shifted, and he’s no longer laser-focused on one goal.

Adding in romance can change the entire dynamic of not oly your story, but your characters.  Suddenly, emotions begin creeping in at the most inopportune moments.  Instead of figuring out the villain’s next move, the hero or heroine’s thoughts are divided.  As the feelings grow and intensify, you’ve got the added complication of your lead character being given a vulnerability he or she didn’t have in the beginning—namely their new love interest.  This person can now be used as a bargaining chip by the bad guy. 

I love layering in all the complexities of a romantic relationship between the hero and heroine that you’d find in a romance along with the pulse-pounding excitement of the suspense.  Tensions are ratcheted higher.  There’s danger around every turn, which can lead to some very…interesting…extracurricular activities. 

And, one of the best things about writing and reading romantic suspense?  You get TWO satisfying conclusions.  The mystery/suspense is solved and the bad guy is taken out of commission.  That’s a good thing.  Plus, you get to have that happily ever after when all the dust has settled, and your hero and heroine can finally admit their true feelings for each other, and you get that tingly feeling when you close the pages, knowing everybody ends up happy (well, everybody but the villain). 

So I’ll continue to write my mysteries and suspense and they will always have a romance, because I love the intricacies and twists and turns, but mostly I love the satisfaction I feel when love wins.

Kathy Ivan is a USA TODAY Bestselling Author.  She’s currently writing the New Orleans Connection series of romantic suspense.  The latest book, Fatal Intentions, releases on 3/31/17.  It’s available for pre-order at these vendors: 

Amazon:  http://amzn.to/2kKs7WL

B&N: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/fatal-intentions-kathy-ivan/1125581075?ean=2940154167953

Kobo:  https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/fatal-intensions

Google Play: https://play.google.com/store/books/details?id=UqkDDgAAQBAJ

iBooks:  https://geo.itunes.apple.com/us/book/fatal-intentions/id1200301796?ls=1&mt=11

Writing Like a Builder (or Building Like a Writer)

When I’m not writing, I like to build things. Two years ago, my wife, Zoe Archer/Eva Leigh, and I moved into a house, opening up a new canvas of possibilities for projects. During this time, I’ve discovered how closely related my writing process and my building process is.

I’m a plotter. Especially in romantic suspense, I like to know where I’m headed so I can plan out the beats, transitions and pace through to the end. The same goes with building projects. After I find the inspiration (usually an area of the house in need of improvement or utility), I sit down and sketch out what it is I want to build. These sketches change and evolve as I think about the space and what construction techniques I’m capable of.

Once the plan is in place, I get down to the real plotting. This is where the measuring takes place. Cut lists are created so I know all the pieces I’ll need before starting. That’s what I like in the writing, too. If I have enough detail in the outline, then when I sit down to writing, I can move more easily into the words, knowing I’ve already done the work of figuring out the how and why of the scene.

But that’s not to say that everything always works out as planned. Once a piece of furniture is starting to be built, some of the dimensions change, and the cutlist has to be altered. Or the need for additional supports reveals itself and those have to be added. The same happens in the books. Often, the voice of the piece doesn’t get settled until I’m through the first two or three chapters, and I have to go back and adjust those early sections to fit. Or the characters move faster or slower through their emotional arcs than expected and their trajectories have to be altered.

That’s why I like to plan, but with enough room for the process to develop. If every angle is welded together from the start, then the elements will end up breaking, rather than flexing as the piece evolves.

In the furniture, like the writing, completing the first pass doesn’t mean it’s done. There’s still editing. It might be completed with an angle grinder rather than a red pencil, but it’s still the same idea of smoothing over rough transitions or anything else someone might get caught on. Then there’s the polishing, sometimes literally. The little details make the piece feel finished. Often, these are invisible touches. In the books, the reader won’t necessarily know how you moved their emotions, but your inspiration, work and revision is what got them there.

Here’s a short video to explain my process:

So what about you? Do you have any non-writing activities that parallel that process? Or is there something you do because it accesses a completely different part of your brain than writing?

March

March is a busy month.

It’s National Women’s History Month. There is a perfectly wonderful Women’s History Museum page. Very inspiring.  

Spring break for a lot of schools. Here in Florida we’re bracing for the influx of sun and fun lovers.

There’s March madness. If you’re not into college basketball you probably know nothing about that.  If you are into college B ball no need to say more.

The Feast of St Joseph is March 19^th.   Big day for Italians.

March 17^th is St Patrick’s Day. The Irish in the US celebrate BIG time.

We lived in Kansas City and there was a huge parade and other activities that may or may not have included adult beverages. A very Irish friend had an uncle visiting from the ‘old country’ and that was the first time I realized the day wasn’t celebrated (at that time early 80s) all that much in Ireland. The man was quite taken aback with the celebration. He was recounting all he’d seen when he paused, looked at us all serious and said, “And that green beer.” He shook his head. “They’ll be peeing green for a month I know.”

My characters from Under Fire: The Admiral, Gemma and Ben, shared an experience they had a few months ago while visiting Ireland.     

They were in the Irish countryside on a very dark, stormy night–really it was–in the middle of nowhere. They’d stopped at a local pub for dinner and were enjoying the food, pints, and conversation when the pub door slammed open. A soaking wet, obviously upset young man stood in the doorway. He rushed in babbling about a horrible experience.

He was settled into a chair and given a pint. The beer was half-gone before he could string words into sentences and answer the many questions. The young man explained he was backpacking through Ireland and on a deserted road with rain pelting down so hard he could hardly see a few feet ahead. Finally, a car came slowly towards him and stopped. Desperate for shelter and thinking he was being offered a ride, he got in and closed the door only to realize there was nobody behind the wheel. Even though the engine wasn't on, the car once again started moving. Ireland’s many ghost stories rumbled through his brain and fear paralyzed him. That is until he looked at the road ahead and saw a curve looming. Gathering courage, he prepared to jump. Then, through the driver’s window, a ghostly hand appeared out of gloom. In terror, he watched as the hand turned the wheel, guiding the car around the curve.

The lights of the pub appeared and gathering strength, he jumped out of the car and ran for it.

A silence enveloped the pub when everybody realized he was crying.  

Once again the door slammed open, startling everyone, and two men walked in from the dark and stormy night. They too were soaked and out of breath. Looking around, and seeing the young man sobbing at the bar, one said to the other...

"Look ....there's that fookin idiot that got in the car while we were pushing it!" 

Rita. 

A Book is a Door Waiting to be Opened

by Sandy Parks

I recently posted a photo of a door to my Facebook page and asked people where they thought it was located and what might be behind it. Some guessed it might belong to a church or a home or it opened to a public place. Their questions set me to thinking about how a book starts with the cover and the reader opens the book to enter into a new, often unexpected world. How many times do we prejudge a book, a person, or a home by what we see on the outside, without any hints or knowledge as to what might lurk beneath the cover? As a reader that is part of the adventure of a good book.

Alley in Marrakesh

Morocco is famous for its bland and dusty alleys with ancient doors that open to true surprises. A typical lane might have a door like the one you see above. Below could well be the treat that is waiting inside.

Riad in Marrakesh

Rabat, Morocco

A door represents the start of a story, whether it be mystery, romance, or any genre. In a mystery, the protagonist investigates a crime. The reader stands at the door with the detective or sleuth ready to discover what happened. How did the art get stolen? Who murdered the person found in the alley? While a door may give hints, they can be misleading and the reader and protagonist will gain little information until the door opens.

Fez

A door like this one above offers questions before it is even entered. Why is there a smaller door inside a bigger one? If the book is an historical, the reader might discover the smaller one is for people and the bigger one is for horses. Or might a good sleuth discover other explanations. And what does a door say about the characters in a romance? What kind of hero or heroine lives behind the fancy gold or brass door? Or perhaps one built of sturdy wood? Or the door deteriorating and covered in graffiti?

Palace doors

A house in Greece

A door can also be more of a portal that simply beckons the reader to walk through.

Portal in the hills around Sparta, Greece

A door can hint at what a reader might expect to find within. Are there symbolic things hanging over, on, or around the door? And lastly, what if the door is something we expect, but offers a surprise. Below is a door to a church…or is it? What if it represents so much more than that. This one is the door to a monastery…a very old and unique one, built in a place that promised solitude (see the photo below it). This is the way authors want to tell a story. Start with what seems a simple premise, but take the reader on a journey that is something greater than the door promises.

Kalambaca, Greece

Monastery, Kalambaka, Greece

So what doors are you preparing to open as a reader or what adventure are you cooking up behind closed doors as a writer? 

I SPY: FIGURING OUT SOCIAL MEDIA

When I started out writing my first book in 1991, there was no such thing as social media. An author wrote a book, got an agent or sent a manuscript to a publisher ourselves where it went into what was known as the "slush pile." After writing the book, the biggest responsibilities we had were edits, proofs and an occasional book signing. Maybe once or twice a year, I sent a newsletter. That was it.

Fast forward to today's world for writers. Authors are required to be savvy marketing specialists. We must network. We must advertise. Our presence on social media is critical. We need to be everywhere. We require a profile on every platform (some personal, some business). We should act natural, but fascinating, and interact in a friendly, responsible and yet exciting way so everyone will find us and our books irresistible and buy oodles of copies.

Aaagh! It's too much. How do we sort it all out?

Every marketing specialist seems to have a different view of what platforms authors need to cultivate to sell books. I'm not here to tell you which one to choose (I can barely make that decision for myself), but at least I can give you a general idea of some of the more popular ones, as of 2017, and what kind of audience you are catering to there. Armed with that knowledge, hopefully you can determine which ones you are the most comfortable with and where you want to invest your time and presence.

For the purpose of this article, I'm not going to address messaging apps such as Whatsapp, QQ, Skype, Viber and WeChat since those are more for personal, interactive communication. This article is directed more for writers who are trying to judge where to spend their most time on social media with the most return on their investment, depending on their unique needs, audiences and comfort level.

Facebook: It's the largest of the social media sites. It surpassed 1 billion users worldwide A MONTH in 2016. I feel pretty confident in saying that if you're an author and you don't have a presence there -- you should. If you decide to go this route -- get a business page. A personal page is optional, but you should claim a page for your books and start building a base. Keep in mind, Facebook users tend to be older, about 35 and up. Not to say there aren't younger people here, too, but this is not their hangout of choice.

Tumblr: I didn't realize how big Tumblr is, but it has more than 555 million users monthly worldwide. That's pretty darn huge. This site is primarily for bloggers, but you can use it to post anything -- photos, recipes, your latest blog or whatever. The age range for this platform is all over the place for this one, because it caters to bloggers, young and old.

Instagram: Instagram is largely a video and picture-sharing platform. This platform is slightly skewed toward younger viewers who enjoy looking at photos or videos without having to read too much. Facebook now owns Instagram, so if you have Facebook, you can easily and simply integrate your accounts. There are about 400 million users a month.

Twitter: This is a challenging platform for writers because you only get 140 characters to say what you want to say. This platform is quickly gaining in popularity because brevity is key with this platform. There are also lots of advertising opportunities and it is evenly divided between younger and older users, which is a good way to all ages in one swoop. As of the end of 2016, Twitter had about 320 million monthly users.

Google+: I have a nephew who works at Google, so of course, I have a Google+ account. Unfortunately, other than to talk with him, I don't use it. It's similar in some ways to Facebook, but not nearly as popular. However, it does has cool video-conferencing features and the ability to advertise using business pages. I personally think this is an untapped market, for me at least. There are about 300 million users.

Snapchat: If you have a YA book or want to reach out to a younger audience, you need to be here. It's all about the pictures. Photos stay up only for a brief time and then are deleted as soon as you view them. It's a fast and furious environment, but in addition to posting photos, you can access news and live recordings. This is a very fast growing platform with about 200 million users a month. I think it's only going to get bigger faster. I would recommend snagging a profile now and worry about figuring it out later (okay, that's my plan, not that I'm EVER going to get it figured out).

Pinterest: This platform grew out of the craft industry and is a great place to "pin" ideas for travel, cooking, writing and a variety of other projects. It's visually-based with pictures of your ideas instead of text. Approximate users -- around 100 million users a month. Audience tends to be a bit older.

LinkedIn: This is a professional networking site and is focused on interacting with the intent of connecting people for professional and industry reasons. It is evolving in many ways, but it doesn't hurt to post a profile on the page. There are about 100 million users a month.

YouTube: Got a book trailer? Want to enhance your sales by talking directly to your fans with a recorded video? Then YouTube may be the way to go. Create your own channel and post your own videos. Who know? Maybe you can become the next Internet sensation. This is the world's largest video-sharing site. It's very popular with the younger crowd, but older people are also becoming more and more invested.

Stage 32: This is a social network similar to Facebook, but for individuals who work in film, screenplays, television and theater.

Wattpad: This is an online storytelling social media site where you can post excerpts of your books or works in progress. Very popular with a younger crowd, but it is gaining more traction with older folks as well.

There are literally dozens, hundreds, more sites, but I wanted to outline the most popular ones for you. Keep in mind, many of these platforms can be linked together, so one post can go to a multitude of places. I would recommend exploring that option if you can.

For example, my Facebook Author page is linked to my Twitter profile. My Instagram account is connected to both my Tumblr and Twitter accounts. I have a LinkedIn profile (although it more prominently features my day job position) and my own YouTube channel. I have Pinterest, Google+, Wattpad and Snapchat accounts, too. Do I have a clue what I'm doing on all of them? Absolutely not. Am I active on all of them? Nope. In fact, I haven't even figured out how to get a profile picture on Snapchat yet. Aaagh! But I'm pretty active on a few of the social media sites where I feel comfortable. I do try to post something occasionally on everything else.

I think everyone has to figure out what works best for them. Hopefully, I've given you a little knowledge to show you where the most people around the world are showing up.

Sooooooo...good luck! Oh, and by the way, if you want to follow or "like" me on ANY of my platforms listed below, feel free to click on them! I'll follow or like you back. :)

Julie's Facebook Author Page
Twitter
Instagram
Tumblr
Pineterest
Stage 32
Wattpad: (You have to download the app on your phone. I'm: @JulieMoffettAuthor).
Snapchat: (You have to download the app on your phone. I'm: juliemoffett4)


Julie's latest book, NO LIVING SOUL, featuring geek extraordinaire, Lexi Carmichael released on January 2, 2017 and is available across all online platforms. Click here to see the book on Amazon.