Welcome to this week’s edition of Welcome Wednesdays!

Today I’m asking all you authors to tell us a little bit about the way you write.

Are you a plotter?  Do you meticulously outline every scene of your books?  Are your walls covered with index cards?  Do you have a three-hundred page notebook with every detail of every character, from your hero down to the homeless guy at the bus stop who was mentioned once, twelve books ago, and never seen again?

Or are you a pantser?  Do you just write and let the characters take you wherever they want to go, and hope it all makes sense in the end?

I’ll begin…

I’m far more of a pantser.  I have a general idea of what the story is, and where it will end (and sometimes a clear idea of the climax), but the road to that ending is not defined at all to begin with.  I just start writing and see what roadblocks and detours crop up, what subplots appear, which minor characters demand more attention.

Now it’s your turn!  Tell us your process, and be sure to leave a link so we can find out more about you and your books!

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Welcome to this week’s edition of Welcome Wednesdays!

Today I’m asking all you authors to take a step back from your books and try to see what unconscious influences might have made their way into your stories.  I think we all end up putting things into our books based on things we aren’t conscious of at the time, but that become clear when we look at them afterwards.  Tell us about one of your books, and something that you put in there without knowing why at the time, but now you can see exactly where it came from.  It might be a character trait, a location, some dialogue, anything, really.

I’ll begin…

One of the supporting characters in the Dream Series books was drawn from a TV character – but I didn’t realize where she’d come from until I was partway through the third book of the series.  Sara’s mother-in-law, Helen Alderson, took a dislike to Sara right from their first meeting in DREAM STUDENT.  She didn’t show up, except for being mentioned in passing a couple of times in the second book, DREAM DOCTOR.  But she had a much larger role in book three, DREAM CHILD, and it was in the course of giving her a little bit of the spotlight that I realized where she came from.  I was totally channeling Lorelei’s mother, Emily Gilmore, from “Gilmore Girls.”

 

 

Now it’s your turn!

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Welcome to this week’s edition of Welcome Wednesdays!

I’ve got a lot going on with the launch of my new book this week, so I couldn’t come up with a clever theme or question.  Instead, it’s an open promo today.  Tell us anything you like about any of your books.  Just be sure to leave a link so we can find out more and buy your books!

 

 

As for me, well, I DO have a new book out, just yesterday.  It’s the second book of the Jane Barnaby Adventures, and it’s called LOSERS WEEPERS.

What’s it about?

Jane Barnaby had everything going her way.
Now she finds herself in a desperate fight for her life.

Jane had it all: a prestigious internship at theMuseum of Natural History, a fantastic Upper West Side apartment, and theesteemed duty of helping plan her best friend’s wedding.

A casual lunch with her friend’s controlling fiancéset off alarm bells, and sends her digging into his dark and mysterious past.

When her search for answers leads Jane and heron-again, off-again boyfriend to the English countryside, they are thrown intoa suspenseful quest. As they uncover secrets dating back to World War 2, searchfor priceless art treasures looted by the Nazis, and fight off the thieves whowill kill to get those treasures for themselves, Jane is faced with a question:will they discover the truth, or lose their lives?

Embark on a fast-paced travel thriller bybestselling author, J.J. DiBenedetto that is perfect for fans of Clive Cussler.

 

 

Now it’s your turn!

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Welcome to this week’s edition of Welcome Wednesdays!

I’ve used this topic before, but it’s been a while, so I expect a lot of new answers today!

It’s simple – tell us about the next book you’ve got coming out.  Whether it’s releasing in a week or two (like my next one), or in six months, doesn’t matter.  Tells us about it, give us the blurb, show us the cover, and give us a link (a pre-order link if you have one, otherwise a link to your website or your Amazon Author Page or your FB fan page).

 

I’ll begin:

LOSERS WEEPERS is the second book in the Jane Barnaby Adventures (FINDERS KEEPERS was the first).  It will be released on July 26th, but you can pre-order it now.  What’s it about?

 

 

Jane Barnaby had everything going her way: a prestigious internship at the Museum of Natural History, a fantastic Upper West Side sublet apartment, and helping plan her newly-engaged college friend’s wedding.

Until a casual lunch with her friend’s fiancé set off alarm bells, and sent her digging into the rabbit hole that is his past.

When that rabbit hole leads Jane and her on-again, off-again boyfriend to the English countryside, uncovering secrets dating back to World War 2, searching for priceless art treasures looted by the Nazis, and fighting off the thieves who will kill to get those treasures for themselves, will they discover the truth, or lose their lives?

 

Now it’s your turn!

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Welcome to this week’s edition of Welcome Wednesdays!

For any author, or really any creator of any kind of art, bits of your real life can’t help but find their way into your creations.  So, this week, the question is: tell us about something from your life that has shown up in one of your books.

It can be a character modeled after someone you know, or a location based on somewhere you once lived or worked, or a happy/funny/annoying/terrifying incident that you fictionalized for a scene in a book.  Tell us about it, give us an excerpt, if it makes sense, and be sure to provide a link so we can read more about it, and you!

 

I’ll begin:

Several years ago, I went on a trip with Earthwatch.  They sponsor scientific projects all over the world, and regular folks can volunteer and spend a couple of weeks working on them.  In my case, the project was an archaeological dig on the island of Mallorca, Spain.  It was an amazing experience, and I’ve used it – and the man who ran the project – in several books.  “Professor Welldon” (William Waldren, in real life) and his dig appear in BETTY & HOWARD’S EXCELLENT ADVENTURE and then he shows up again in FINDERS KEEPERS and we’ll see him again in future…

Here’s our introduction to him in FINDERS KEEPERS

Jane walked into the Middle Common Room and spotted Professor Welldon immediately.  He was settled in a plush armchair, deeply engrossed in a book.  She couldn’t help but smile; her advisor was always “deeply engrossed” in whatever he happened to be doing at the moment.  The man had more energy than anyone else Jane had ever met, and he was able to focus it like a laser beam on who or whatever was in front of him.

Jane went over and sat in the next chair, wondering how long it would take for Professor Welldon – she couldn’t bring herself to call him Bill, no matter how often he asked – to notice her.

The answer was: until he reached the end of the chapter he was reading, about ten minutes.  Her advisor put the book down and grinned at her.  “Right on time!”  Jane didn’t bother to point out that when she’d gotten here ten minutes ago, she was already ten minutes late; she’d learned the first week of term that Professor Welldon didn’t set much store by the clock.

 

 

Now it’s your turn!

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Welcome to this week’s edition of Welcome Wednesdays!

 

There’s an old saying that “free advice is worth what you pay for it,” but in my time as a self-published author, I’ve found that isn’t remotely true.  I’ve gotten lots of great advice from other authors who have been only too willing to help their fellows out.

So today, I’m asking you authors to do exactly that.  In the comments, share with us some good advice about writing.  Do you have a really effective method for beating writer’s block?  A trick to help you write better dialogue?  A way to catch more typos when you’re reviewing and rewriting your work?  a productivity tip that helped you write 2,000 words a day instead of 1,000?  Whatever it is, tell us!

And please be sure to leave a link about you and your books so we can follow you!

 

I’ll begin:

 

One thing I’ve found that helps me is training myself not to worry and fuss over every single word in the first draft.  The most important thing is to get the words down.  They can be edited and rewritten and tweaked once you have them written in the first place, but you can’t rewrite something that’s only in your head.

It’s really easy to fall into the mindset that everything has to be perfect right from the start, but then you run into the problem of the perfect being the enemy of the good, and that’s such an easy trap to fall into…but very difficult to get out of!

 

Now it’s your turn!

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Welcome to this week’s edition of Welcome Wednesdays!

This Monday marked the first day of summer, and what’s one thing that most of us think of during the summer?  Going to the beach!  And what do we do at the beach, besides get sand in inconvenient places and sunburn ourselves?  Read!

This week, our theme is “beach reading.”  I’m leaving it open to all you authors to interpret that however you like.  Tell us about your favorite book that’s a great beach read; tell us why one of YOUR books makes a perfect beach read; give us an excerpt from one of your books that features a scene set at the beach – anything you can think of that fits the beach theme.

Whatever you do, please be sure to leave us a link so we can learn more about you and your books!

I’ll begin…

Here’s an excerpt from BETTY & HOWARD’S EXCELLENT ADVENTURE.  That story follows the parents of Sara, heroine of the Dream Series, on a European vacation.  And here, they’re taking a little walk down to the beach…

 

After our lecture, we had time to ourselves until dinner.  We walked down a long, rocky path to a tiny beach, along with Claudia and Megan.  I just wanted to see the beach, and Howard was humoring me, but once we got down there, Megan took off her jeans and sweatshirt to reveal a bathing suit underneath, and she went straight in the water.

I’m shivering in sympathy as I write this.  It was a beautiful day, and the sun was out, but it was still only sixty degrees or so.  So the water couldn’t have been any warmer than that.  The girl just went right in, as though swimming in frigid water with God knows what sort of sea creatures lurking under the surface was a perfectly reasonable thing to do.

And then Claudia took off her jeans and her sweatshirt.  I honestly wasn’t angry at Howard, not even in the moment, not even for a second, when his eyes almost popped out of his head.  Because mine did, too.

I just hope the Devil gave her a good deal when she sold her soul for her looks.  Not that I’m jealous.  Not one tiny bit.  If I were her age, though?  And single?  I think I’d have to kill her.  And that would be a shame, because she’s so sweet, and polite, too.  There’s literally nothing wrong with her.  No flaws at all, physical or mental or emotional.

If I had to compete with her, I’d definitely have to kill her!

(it’s also a FANTASTIC audiobook narrated by the wonderful Nicola Bryant of “Doctor Who” fame)

Now it’s your turn!

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Welcome to this week’s edition of Welcome Wednesdays!

Last week we talked about last lines, so this week let’s discuss opening lines.

Authors, share with us your favorite very first line from one of your books.  Be sure to tell us a little more about the book, too, and leave a link so we can learn more about it!

I’ll begin…

This is the very first line from my next book, due out the end of July, LOSERS WEEPERS…

“Did you get a good look at that rock?”

Now it’s your turn!

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Welcome to this week’s edition of Welcome Wednesdays!

Today we’re talking about last lines – the final line of a chapter, or a book.

Authors, share with us your favorite last line from one of your books (or a chapter within one of your books).

(and be sure to leave a link so we can learn more about your books!)

I’ll begin…

This is the very last line from chapter 11 of my most recent book, FINDERS KEEPERS:

All he could do was follow this madwoman and hope the old saying was true, that God really did protect fools, drunks and Americans.  And that it applied to everyone else in their vicinity, too.

 

Now it’s your turn!

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Welcome to this week’s edition of Welcome Wednesdays!

We all have a book that we loved up right up until the author killed off our favorite character, or took an unexpected turn that we didn’t like, or in some other way didn’t turn out the way we hoped it would.

So today, authors (and readers!), I want you to tell us about a book that you wish you could rewrite.  Briefly describe the book, and then tell us what you would have done differently had you been the author…

(and be sure to leave a link to your own website so we can learn more about you and your own books!)

I’ll begin…

This is a no-brainer for me.  I am a huge fan of Frank Herbert and particularly the Dune series.  I even love the book nobody likes (God Emperor of Dune).  But his son took over after he passed away, and wrote first a bunch of prequels (which were dreadful) and then a two part conclusion to the whole series that picked up right after the last book Frank wrote (Chapterhouse Dune).

The first part of the conclusion was called “Hunters of Dune’ and I hated it SO much that I actually returned the book to the bookstore (which I’d never done before and have never done since).  I honestly don’t know how I would have concluded the series, and I know for sure I couldn’t do justice to Frank Herbert’s work.  But i also know that at my worst, I could produce something better than the truly awful books his son wrote.  And so could every single person reading this post.

Now it’s your turn!

 

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