Murder She Writes

Hello From the Writing Trenches

It’s been a busy couple of months!

In addition to the release of TOO FAR GONE, the 14th (!!!) Lucy Kincaid thriller, I finished NOTHING TO HIDE, revised, and just received the copy edits today. I know what I’ll be doing over Thanksgiving break! NOTHING TO HIDE is the 15th Lucy book. It was one of those stories that I loved the concept, but was much harder to execute than I first thought. In the end, though, I was very happy with the way it turned out.

Though I almost lost the copyedits — the package was nearly destroyed in transport. I’m all for eco-friendly packaging–if it WORKS!

Eco-lite FAIL!

I also wrote a Lucy novella. It’s tentatively called STORM WARNING and while I don’t know exactly when it’ll be released, it’ll be out sometime before NOTHING TO HIDE — likely mid-to-late March. It’s ebook only (for now) but I promise a nice, juicy story that can stand alone. Lucy and Nate are sent to pick up one of the San Antonio FBIs ten most wanted who was arrested in a small rural community three hours northwest of San Antonio. The small jail floods during an early September storm and they can’t wait for the Marshal’s to get their guy back to town. And the journey back is harrowing and filled with danger — and that’s only the first half of the story!

TOO FAR GONE

If you didn’t know, TOO FAR GONE is out and has been since last week. I’ve just been really bad about blogging for the last year (or three!) so forgot to announce (though I did send out a newsletter!)

TOO FAR GONE hit the USA Today bestsellers list today at #35! (yeah!) I’m still mourning the loss of the NYT Mass Market list, because it would have most likely hit there as well .. only 9 mass markets were in the top 50 of the USAT bestsellers list. Sigh.

TOO FAR GONE is the FOURTEENTH Lucy Kincaid/Sean Rogan romantic thriller, this time also featuring Jesse Spade, Sean’s son. Here’s one of my favorite scenes in the book. Sean and Jesse are picking up dinner while Lucy is working late:

* * *

They walked into the Rib House—a casual hole-in-the-wall restaurant that had the best BBQ Sean had found in the city—and ordered the largest family meal, two and a half pounds of meat and four sides. Sean was serious about wanting leftovers. They sat at a table while they waited.

“Dad, can I ask you something?”

Sean’s stomach fluttered. Jesse had started calling him Dad more often than not, and every single time Sean felt goose bumps.

“Anything, you know that.”

Jesse remained silent.

“Is something bothering you?”

“No—sort of. I want to change my name. To Jesse Rogan.”

Nothing could have surprised Sean more, or made him happier. “Okay.”

“So you’re good with it?”

“I’m more than good.” What could he say to Jesse? He was ecstatic. Jesse was his kid—and Jesse was proud of it. Just like Sean was of Jesse. “You didn’t think I’d be upset about it, did you?”

“No, but—well, I haven’t told my mom yet. I looked on the internet about the rights of kids—kids don’t have a lot of rights.”

That was for certain. It had been a bone of contention between Sean and his brother Duke when Duke, as his guardian, made some decisions Sean didn’t agree with that impacted Sean’s life.

“Maybe if you talk to her you’ll be surprised what she says.”

“Maybe. But—well, I guess I don’t want to hurt her feelings.”

“I can respect that.”

“But I don’t want to wait until I’m eighteen—when I know I can do it without anyone’s permission.”

“So you want advice on how to talk to her?”

“I guess I wanted to make sure you were okay with it.”

“I am very okay.”

“And then—maybe you could be there when I tell her.”

Sean didn’t know how well that would go over. “If you think that would be easier. When I take you back to Sacramento, I can stay for a few days, no problem. But you need to think about it a little more. You don’t want your mom to think that we’re ganging up on her, or pressuring her.” Sean didn’t actually care—Madison had hurt him deeply, and his knee-jerk reaction was to hurt her back. But fortunately, he wasn’t the brash, reactive man he used to be. He recognized that his son would look to him for guidance, emulate him in many ways. He wanted to be the best person he could be, even when he wanted to rub reality into Madison.

He frowned. “I didn’t think about that.”

“We don’t have to make the decision right now. We have time. Just think about how you want to do it. You’ll know what’s the right choice. But Jesse? You could not have made me happier.”

* * *

My publisher arranged for a blog tour in two weeks: Here is the schedule. I’ll post links the week of the events.

And don’t forget, I run a contest every month on my website. Sign up, get my newsletter, and be entered to win a free signed book.

November 8, 2018Allison Brennan, Books, Books, Books!, Writing & Publishing — 4 Comments ↓

Tagged with: Allison Brennan, Blog tour, books, contest, excerpt, Lucy Kincaid, reading, thriller, Too Far Gone, writing
Posted in Allison Brennan, Books, Books, Books!, Writing & Publishing

ABANDONED

We’re not supposed to have favorites. Like, kids. I’m a mom and I’m not supposed to have a favorite kid. And I don’t. I might have a favorite kid on one day, and then another day it’s another kid. Maybe the kid who makes me coffee in the middle of the day because he notices I’m dragging, or the one who calls me just to say hello, or the one who plops down on my office couch and spontaneously tells me about his day without me having to drag it out of him … yeah, sometimes I have a favorite, but it’s short-lived, because I love them all.

Ditto with books. I love all my books — and hate them — equally. Such is the writer’s life. We have highs and lows. We usually love our book when we start it. It’s new, it’s exciting, it’s fresh.

Then we hate it. We get stuck, our characters don’t cooperate, we have no idea who the killer is or how to catch them or if they even should be caught because after all they killed a child rapist and shouldn’t all child rapists be dead?

Then we love it because we type THE END and it’s done. It’s now our favorite book of all time because it’s DONE. It’s OVER and we get to start something new!

Then we get revisions and we think, “Damn, we really suck. We can’t write.” But we muddle through and think, okay, maybe this doesn’t suck as much as we think. But we are so damn tired of reading and reading and rewriting and rewriting and cutting and slicing and adding and subtracting … we want it to just be DONE.

Then a couple months pass and suddenly the page proofs are on our desk and we can sit down and give the book one final proofread. And that’s when it’s real. “Did I write this? This isn’t half-bad. It’s actually pretty good. In fact, I really like it. Except, why I use the word ‘retribution’ three times in one paragraph AND NOT CATCH IT THE FIRST HUNDRED TWENTY SIX TIMES I READ IT!”

Yes, this is the writer’s life.

Who Are You? Personality Tests

Remember when you were a teenager … or maybe more recent! … when you loved filling out personality tests to find out what kind of person you are? Ha … yeah, we already know, right? But now with the Internet it’s so much easier.

Seriously, I never took much stock in personality tests. Sure, based on your answers they can tell you if you’re an introvert or extrovert (I don’t think most of us need a test for that); they might give you some insight into why you like a messy desk or a clean desk, or what sort of work environment suits your personality, but to dig down deep into what makes you tick and where you will thrive (or not thrive) — hmmm, not really.

Except for one.

Twenty years ago I was working on a political campaign and the candidate also was part of a family business. Working with family is a completely different animal because, you know, you can’t really fire someone. They hired a business consultant who had them take the Myers-Briggs test on Temperament, Character and Intelligence. The benefit to their business — and their family — was phenomenal. They all read about their family/staff members in order to find out how they best work. When you understand how someone thinks and works, you can better work with them. I could go into great detail, but short version? Their business and family relationships started to thrive and so Greg, who I worked for, bought all his campaign staff the book PLEASE UNDERSTAND ME by David Keirsey because he wanted to know where we landed and how we work best.

I was skeptical, but I took the test. (This was before the test was online, we had to do the “hard work” of scoring ourself!)

I was an ENTP: “The Inventor.” And wow. It was me. Especially how I get bored with repetitive work and am always seeking ways to outwit the system. I ended up reading the entire book and learning how to better work with my colleagues because I finally understood how they work best and how to better communicate.

Erica Spindler, Storyteller Extraordinaire!

I’m thrilled to have my friend and amazing suspense author Erica Spindler back to Murder She Writes. Enjoy! And while you’re enjoying her blog, check out her latest book FALLEN FIVE.

A Good Gumbo

The first time I heard of gumbo, I was twenty-years-old. I grew up in the midwest, in a blue collar, factory town. We ate things like beef stew, pot roast, and goulash. And a lot of noodles and potatoes. A salad was iceburg lettuce and tomatoes, drowned in French or Thousand Island dressing. Nothing wrong with any of those things, but they’re not gumbo.

This was before the whole Cajun food craze hit, before Paul Prudhomme became a celebrity chef, and way before Emeril Lagasse exclaimed the now famous “Bam!” How did I hear about this exotic dish? My boyfriend—now husband—had lived in Louisiana for a few years, and during their stint there, his mother, learned how to make it. By the way, she also introduced me to okra around the same time and I’m still not a fan.

My knowledge about, and appreciation for, gumbo has grown since that first introduction, all those years ago. I now live in the New Orleans area and am exposed to some of the best in the world—including my husband’s.

The origins of gumbo are disputed, but many give the nod to the influence of Louisiana’s French Acadians. These people were hunters and fishermen and they tossed whatever they had on hand into their pot—and the resulting creation was rich and delicious.

I’ve come to think of my writing and my books this way. I add a little of this, a little of that—whatever I have on hand—to make what I hope is something that’s like a good gumbo. Something hearty, with depth of flavor, unexpected additions, and enough spice to provide my own brand of “Bam!”
Read more ›

February 13, 2018Allison Brennan, Books, Books, Books!, Guest Bloggers — 4 Comments ↓

Tagged with: Allison Brennan, Erica Spindler, Fallen Five, suspense, writing
Posted in Allison Brennan, Books, Books, Books!, Guest Bloggers

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Hello From the Writing Trenches

TOO FAR GONE

ABANDONED

Who Are You? Personality Tests

Erica Spindler, Storyteller Extraordinaire!

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