Love is Murder is grand time!

This past weekend I attended my second Love is Murder conference at the Intercontinental Hotel in Chicago. This was the perfect place to get my head back in writing and to met some truly terrific people. I also knocked off my to-do list the horrible task of getting a new author photo. I will be unveiling it soon.  Stay tuned. Now back to LIM,  I would like to give you my top 10 list of why you need to put the next Love is Murder conference on your must attend list.

10.   Always be personal in your marketing and put your contact info on your website. This includes an email address.

9.    Sue Peterson from Brain Snacks is a great person to sell your books. Thank you!

8.   My favorite quote: "Positive relationships are your best marking tools." --Karen Syed.

7.   I saw real photos of autopsies of suicides, gun shot wounds, drownings  and other creepy things to help me describe the gore and add realism.

6.   The program had a forensic track that covered every aspect of crime and a few I'd never thought of. It also had a writing tract for those who wanted help with their writing.

5.   Real undercover stories from a New York City cop who was retired but didn't look old enough. I've never seen so many cops get off a bus and will never look at a parquet floor in quite the same way.


4.   Hank Phillippi Ryan, Julie Hyzy and Julie James are three very different, but classy woman who write great books and received some well deserved recognition. They also were very entertaining and shared some secrets as well as embarrassing moments.

3.   I laughed so much and enjoyed Donald Bain's take on ghostwriting and his Cabot Cove jokes. His list of books numbers three digits with many carrying our favorite Maine mystery author as sleuth.

2. David Morrell who made Rambo a household word has a great sense of humor, grounded in the real world and a wicked glint in his eye when contemplating murder and mayhem. I sat next to him on a panel and enjoyed his philosphy of writing only the books he wanted to no matter the pressure.

Drum roll here...And my favorite thing thing from LIM...

1.   The FBI guy (who will remain anonymous for his own protection) talked for hours about life as an agent to writers sharing secrets and showing me his credentials so I could get them right in my next book. I had to call it a night before he did. A true professional about the good, bad and the politics about his job.

While many of these people will not be the guest of honors next year, most of them were no strangers to Love is Murder and regular attendees. Pencil Feb. 1-3, 2013 into your calendar and sign up for the newsletter with all the information at http://loveismurder.net/.  I would also like to thank all the wonderful volunteers who work so hard to make it fun. I hope you enjoyed your down day. You must have been exhausted but I truly appreciated it!

I'm back and ready to write!

Happy New Year! It’s February 2 and for me it is the beginning of a new and better new year. I want to forget 2010. It was not my year with lots of personal issues. (This blog will be keyed TMI) In the good news department I lost a ton of weight got in shape for the first time in more decades than I want to admit to. The bad news is that losing weight comes with side effects that no one tells you about. So surgery was required in July just after A Case of Hometown Blues was released. Eight weeks of recuperation finished off my summer. Fall came and my plan entailed editing my fourth Mitch Malone Mystery and get a book ahead. I had a great idea and did a ton of research over Labor Day weekend for book 5.

Ready to dive in I started long hours at my computer as well as teaching Developmental English classes at a local college. I’ve had problems for a couple of years with my shoulder with calcium build up and figured it was time to get another cortisone shot. I will spare you the gory details but my tendon hung by a thread from a puncture. It only took two more doctors to find out what the real issue was and I needed another surgery. Not what I had planned for November and December! My right writing arm was immobilized in a sling for six weeks and then at least six weeks of physical therapy to get it usable. I became very proficient at one-handed typing.

February marks the beginning of my freedom. I’m getting better every day. Physical therapy is getting my arm in shape and I can’t wait to get to my computer. I’m up to an hour at a time before I have to quit. I’m planning to get back into Facebook, Twitter, networking groups and blogging. I may be a little sporadic at first. I’ve tried to keep up on email but have more than 600 unread messages which I believed could wait. If I missed something, please resend it.

If anyone will be in Chicago for Love is Murder this weekend, track me down. I can’t wait to reconnect! I’ve missed all my online friends!

New Author Connections

I can't believe it has been August since I last posted to my blog. Shame on me!!! I have some great reasons which I will be sharing soon. (A humorous look at my new life.) I have a lot of them ready just haven't gotten here to post them, but the dust is settling and I'm ready to come out of the closet or in my case, living in one. Stay tuned for that one.

I just wanted to publicly thank one of the newest authors to Oak Tree Press, Marja McGraw. I can't wait to get to know her more. We will be meeting in person at Love is Murder in Chicago in February. She just posted a great review on Amazon for my first book, A Case of Infatuation. She has a great blog at http://www.marjamcgraw.com
Check it out.

Here's the review...
When I picked up this book, I wasn't sure what to expect. And then I met Mitch Malone, a hard-nosed, lone wolf reporter who soon finds out that there's more to life than his reporting.

Saddled with a gorgeous intern, he heads to the scene of a double murder, where he discovers there's a very young survivor hidden away. With the help of the intern, the child and only potential witness is spirited out of the house and taken to Mitch's apartment in order to protect her.

Mitch works alone, so involving the hot intern is something new to him. Mitch also doesn't like kids, so he's breaking all of his own rules. And then he's accused of the murders and has to take his small entourage and go into hiding, and try to solve the murders and find the child's missing mother.

This book had just the right combination of humor, suspense and heart to make it an excellent story. I thoroughly enjoyed both the book and Mitch, and look forward to reading the next book in the series.

Thank you Marja!