Okay there are five winners! I’ll list the answer to the questions, then the winner, then the name and email of the person the winner needs to send their mailing address to so we can send out your free books! Please put MSW Contest in the subject line.

MONDAY:

The answer is S.J. DAY (aka Sylvia Day) is joining the blog!

The winner is MAUREEN!

Maureen, please email Jen at Jenapodaca@aol.com

TUESDAY

The answer is DEBRA WEBB is joining the blog!

The winner is ALBERT TAYLOR!

Albert Taylor, please email Natalie at Nataliewrites@gmail.com

WEDNESDAY

Then answer is HEATHER GRAHAM is joining the blog!

The winner is AMANDA!

Amanda, please email Deb at Debora@Deborahleblanc.com

THURSDAY

The answer is TONI MCGEE CAUSEY is joining the blog!

The winner is JENIFER!

Jenifer, please email Allison at Allison@allisonbrennan.com

FRIDAY

The answer is ROXANNE ST. CLAIRE is joining the blog!

The winner is MARGARET GOLLA!

Margaret Golla, please email Karin at Karin@karintabke.com

Congratulations to the winners! Be sure to email your mailing addresses to the gals listed. If the email doesn’t work for some reason, email the information to Jen at Jenapodaca@aol.com and I’ll forward it.

Come back Monday and see our brand new design! Many of our new bloggers will debut this week, and the others will debut next week.

©2010 Murder She Writes. All Rights Reserved.

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Why are we having contests this week? Why are we giving away free books as prizes? Because….

Next week, on October 6th, we are unveiling the Brand New MURDER SHE WRITES BLOG!!! Yay!!!

Okay, yeah, I’m a totally stoked about this. A few years ago, the five of us got together and decided to do a group blog. I’m not sure how long it’s been, maybe three years? In that time, many blogs have come and gone. People lose interest, careers change, conflicts happen…

But Murder She Writes has stayed strong.

Why?

Two reasons. First the five of us get along great and really enjoy working together.

The second reason? Our Blog Readers! You guys keep us alive. You’re the reason that we each try so hard to get our blog up no matter what’s happening in our lives. You all make Murder She Writes feel like a friendly, warm community where readers and writers can hang out.

So here at Murder She Writes, we had a staff meeting and asked, how can we give our readers EVEN MORE? It didn’t take us long to come up with a fabulous idea: We’re redesigning the blog, and we’re adding five more incredible, talented, smart, funny and all around awesome authors to the blog!

Now for the contest. Each day, we will give you five clues to the identity of one of the new bloggers. Today, I’m giving you five hints about the identity of the author I’ll be alternating Mondays with. The prize today will be free books from me and our new, awesome blogger! Just put your guess in the comments. From the CORRECT guesses, we will draw a winner.

So tell all your friends! Spread the word!

Ready? Let’s go! (Here’s a free hint, the blog is called Murder SHE writes, not Murder HE writes.)

Here’s the five clues to the identity of our first new blogger:

1) She learned Russian in the U.S. Army Military Intelligence.

2) In ONLY three years, she’s sold 17 books and several novellas to different publishers. Her first book was sold to Kate Duffy at Kensington Publishing for the Brava imprint.

3) Under a pen name, she has a new series coming out in 2009 from Tor-Forge, called the “Marked” series starring Evangeline Hollis. All three of the 2009 releases have “Eve” in the title.

4) She was a 2007 & 2008 RITA Finalist (Romance Writers of America) in the Best Romance Novella Category.

5) Under yet another pen name, she is writing the “Sapphire” series, starting with IN THE FLESH in June 2009 from Kensington Zebra! This woman is tireless! She’s also smart, funny, nice, and as genuine as they come!

Post your guess in the comments! Check back this weekend when we announce the winners!

©2010 Murder She Writes. All Rights Reserved.

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I love to people-watch. I suppose most writers do. But we must talk about those Hands Free Ear Things. I see them everywhere. Last week, I was in the grocery store and heard a woman talking to herself.

But, of course, when I moved onto her aisle, I saw that she was actually talking into her earpiece. Her young daughter was wandering around the aisle, and finally, the woman yanked her back to the cart and said, “I’m talking! I can’t concentrate!”

I wanted to yank the plastic doohickey out of her ear and suggest that now she could concentrate…

But that would be wrong. I think.

Anyway, I see people everywhere I go wandering with a blank stare, talking to no one I can see.

I saw a woman in a fast food restaurant the other day who evidently could not manage to dress herself or comb her hair, but she could use the wireless ear device. Interesting.

Cell phones have made rudeness acceptable in our culture. I can’t count the times I’ve seen a customer ignore, or be rude, to the clerk helping them in a store or bank. It makes me uncomfortable. I’ve seen them YELL at the clerk for interrupting them, all the while they are holding up the line.

People think nothing of answering a cell phone during lunch with an old friend. Or even better, I was writing in Starbucks one day waiting for my son to finish up something. I saw a “business meeting” between two women. The one who asked for the business meeting kept answering her cell phone until the other woman got up and walked out. That was too funny!

But I’m sure you all have seen this too. What’s the deal with these people? My husband thinks that cell phones have become a status symbol. Look at me, I’m successful, I’m on a cell phone!

But if that’s true, why don’t truly important people act like this? My brother in law is a neurologist and he’s never rude. He has gotten calls or pages, and he always politely excuses himself and handles it. But he’s never rude.

When I spent time with my editor and agent at the RWA Conference, I never even saw their cell phones. I know they both have and use them, but they didn’t see any need to be on them 24/7.

I have a basic OLD cell phone and don’t much care. But that’s because I’m home most of the time. If I used my cell more, I’d have a better one. But to me, my cell phone is a communication tool and a convenience. I like to have it with me for security—if my car breaks down, I’ll be darned glad I have it. I don’t feel like it’s any kind of status symbol, and when I’m in public situations, I rarely use it.

So I’m wondering, what is the addiction to cell phones about? What is the social status symbol that makes people want to walk around with ear pieces that keeps them always connected? That strikes me as not so much as status symbol, but a severe kind of insecurity. Like the story my son told me about the girl complaining that she never had any fun at parties, but she sat in a corner texting all night instead of talking that the people who were at the party.

What do you all think?

©2010 Murder She Writes. All Rights Reserved.

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I’m deep into my book and living in a state of constant terror. I am always battling to keep one step ahead of the fear that I am one chapter, one page, one paragraph, one sentence, one word away from the dreaded Career Ending Bad Book.

I don’t know how I write books.

Allison knows exactly how she does it. Why can’t I be Allison?

But I’m not, I don’t know I do it and I’m afraid to figure it out. What if I try to streamline the process and leave out the one important ingredient? You know, like the time I was talking on the phone while making banana bread and left out the flour?

Banana Brick anyone? Seriously, I could have done some serious damage with that Banana Brick.

What if I do to my book? SHUDDER!!!

And yet, once I realized HOW I screwed up the banana bread (the fact that I was not covered in flour as I usually am when I bake was a clue), I made the bread over again and it came out perfect.

Hmm…perhaps I should figure this out? You’ll be proud to know that I got myself over to Google and I stared Googling (fine Natalie, you win. The noun Google can be used as a verb).

And then I found it! The magic quiz that told me just what kind of writer I am!

I’M A PLOT WRITER!
MWHAHAHAHA!!! NOT!

Actually what I do is write a story idea or synopsis with the well know SWAG method, (Scientific Wild Ass Guess). Then I start writing the scenes and realize my science sucks, my guessing sucks and I end up swinging wildly between writing chapters and stopping to plot, then rewriting, then plotting then trying to make everyone do what they are supposed to do and…it sure as heck doesn’t FEEL like I’m a plot writer!

Okay guys, go take the quiz and come back and tell me what kind of writer you are. Here’s the link one more time http://www.quizilla.com/quizzes/99775/what-kind-of-writer-are-you

©2010 Murder She Writes. All Rights Reserved.

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My husband and I were going to the gym last Friday morning and listening to the radio when we heard this story:

Tigard police say two men dressed as security guards fooled a pair of bank customers into giving them deposits.

What these crooks did was dress up as security guards, wearing uniforms, badges and guns. Then they put a sign on the night deposit slot that read, “Out of Service” and offered to take the deposits for the customers who stopped to drop them off.

Evidently they fooled two bank customers into giving them their deposits.

The radio show called those customers “bone heads” because HELLO, how can a SLOT be out of order?

At first, my husband and I were laughing, and then I said, “Wait a sec. I think I might have fallen for that.” Yeah, it’s stupid, but picture this. You’ve been working all day, dealing with the usual crap and difficult people, and now all you want to do is get home! You have one last stop to make, the one you do every night–drop off the day’s money at the bank.

Two security guards are standing there. They are friendly, and tell you the slot is out of order, but they’d be happy to help. They ask you to make sure the money is safely sealed in the envelop, they carefully fill out a receipt, they make it all so professional…

You give them the money and, glad to have your day over, go home.

I might have fallen for it. With the authentic looking uniforms, and the fact that I instinctively trust cops (yeah, I know they security isn’t cops, but the uniform is playing psychological games with us), I think it’s possible I would have been one of those bone heads.

It’s kind of embarrassing actually since I consider myself pretty saavy. A couple years ago a detective came to the house to talk to my grown son (about a court case he was a witness in, nothing he did wrong!) and even though he actually looked familiar to me, I asked to see ID. It turned out that I did know him, that we had friends in common and yes, he was a detective. But I’m careful. The detective was more than happy to show me his ID, by the way.

But in this case, given the right circumstances and end-of-the-day exhaustion, I might have been a bone head. What about you all?

©2010 Murder She Writes. All Rights Reserved.

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I’ve made some pretty bad decisions in my life.

For instance, there was the time I decided to get a perm. I have naturally wavy/frizzy/icky hair that I spend much of my life trying to tame. After giving it much thought, I decided to get a perm. BAD DECISION! I have no idea what I was thinking! I was basically giving my hair the frizzy, curly version of steroids. When I got home sporting my new perm, my youngest son, a baby, took one look at me, then hid his face in his dad’s shoulder and cried. (My husband was trying not to laugh…I give him credit for trying…)

My three year old son stared at me, then said, “Can you fix it?” If I wasn’t so lazy, I’d search out a picture and scan it for you all…but I am lazy, so let’s just say that hair perms are not for me.

Ever.

I’ve made my share of bad decisions.

But…some decisions people made just baffle me. Like this one: A man tired of battling the mother of his son for custody decides to hire someone to kill her.

And the bad decision keep piling up. Like the decision to ask a random friend if he knew someone who could kill the woman. Oh yeah, he’s going to hire someone to commit MURDER and he just asks around for the name of a killer.

Now you’d think maybe he’d go home and say to himself, “Hmm, this is probably not a good idea.” But no, instead he meets with the “killer” the next day.

And gets arrested.

Of course the friend went to the cops, who sent an undercover detective to pose as a killer. The friend was clearly wanted nothing to do with this bonehead scheme (GOOD DECISION!)

In retrospect, my perm decision doesn’t seem to bad…

Okay lets have fun. Share your bad decision…trust me they can’t be as bad as trying to hire a killer…or my infamous perm!

©2010 Murder She Writes. All Rights Reserved.

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A while back, my husband and I went to Wendy’s for a Frostie. It was a hot evening, and we just wanted to sit and chat.

We got our frosties (or is it spelled frostys?), we both had chocolate and vanilla, and once we got our ice cream, we chose a high table with three chairs. The two of us sat across from each other, with a chair between us. We were talking away about whatever…our conversations run between the every day stuff of kids, work, the house, bills, to the weird stuff I could never explain.

In my peripheral vision, I see the Wendy’s employee carrying a tray heading our way. My husband’s back is to her so he doesn’t see her yet. Some part of my brain is thinking, “Hmm, woman over thirty working at Wendy’s. Empty nest? Divorce? Victim of downsizing? Second job? It’s just a small part of my brain doing a character profile.

Then the woman shocks me. She walks right up to our table, plants her butt in the third chair and drops the tray down on the table. She says something like, “I need a break from my boss looking over my shoulder.”

My husband and I were speechless. I just had no frame of reference to grasp that the Wendy’s employee had suddenly decided to join us.

I’ve handled some weird situations, and in hind sight, I know how I’d handle this now. But then—SPEECHLESS. My husband too.

Evidently, she realized that we just weren’t that friendly, so she got up and left, and sat down at ANOTHER table.

Okay, now I know why she’s working at Wendy’s. The woman clearly doesn’t understand the concept of boundaries.

This is such a little thing. We certainly didn’t feel threatened and no real harm was done. But I was annoyed. It just felt like a weird kind of invasion.

In other, nicer restaurants, a trend I’ve noticed lately is for the manager to come over and strike up a conversation with the customers regardless if they customers seem to be deep in conversation. This happened to us on Valentine’s Day. We watched the manager do this over and over, then zero in on our table. A simple, “How is your meal this evening?” would be fine, but he’s doing the buddy routine, going on and on, even trying for humor.

So I’m just wondering, does anyone else find this behavior annoying? Intrusive?

©2010 Murder She Writes. All Rights Reserved.

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So how was your weekend?

Let me tell you about mine. My husband came home early Friday so we went to lunch. We decided to try this place near by that is supposed to be like a 1950′s diner. I got a pastrami sandwich.

I suspect the grease dripping out of the sandwich was from the 1950′s.

Saturday? I got up and thought, Hmm, I must have made the coffee too strong. It’s tastes almost bitter. Then my stomach sent out a message, DO NOT EAT AT THAT DINER EVER AGAIN!

Message received and I spent Saturday with my bottle of Pepto.

Sunday, I slept all night and woke up feeling great! My coffee tasted just right. I had plans! I wanted to do a few chores, write a blog, maybe take a drive out to see some family and then knock out some pages on my book. I ran up the stairs, did a couple things, grabbed the phone and my glasses, and started down the stairs, thinking about everything EXCEPT what I was actually doing.

My foot slid off a stair. I’m not sure what happened next until my the back of my left hip hit one of the stairs and I swear I saw stars.

“What’s that?” My husband yelled.

Embarrassed, but knowing he would worry, I said, “I slid on the stairs, I’m fine.” I had landed in a sitting position and stayed there. I was trying to get my breath back. Plus there was the little matter of feeling like a hot pole was stuck through my lower back hip area.

He ran up the stairs. After I little coaxing, he got me to try and stand up. It wasn’t pretty.

Sigh…I am such a klutz. The end of the long story is that I’m spending my Sunday with ice and ibuprofen. I can’t sit long enough at the computer to write, but I will tomorrow. I have too.

And that was my weekend. How was yours?

©2010 Murder She Writes. All Rights Reserved.

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Filed Under; Strange Conversations.

Last night, we were hanging out in the Jacuzzi. You may have started to notice a pattern—we are in the Jacuzzi a lot.

And of course, I feel compelled to mention here that my husband wasn’t so sure about getting a Jacuzzi when we built the pool.

I wanted the Jacuzzi.

Guess who was right? Guess who mentions that every chance she gets? Seriously, my husband isn’t wrong very often, so when he is, the kids and I make special note and repeated references.

But I digress (and yes, I digress all the time!)

So, we were in the Jacuzzi and talking about work. He was talking about some meetings that had taken up his last few days and I was talking about conference and my current book.

Somehow we got sidetracked (probably by me as we’ve already established my talent for digression.) Somehow we were talking about reincarnation. He told me that whatever we play over and over as kids must be our past life.

Therefore, my obsession with the TV show BEWITCHED meant I was a witch, probably burned at the stake. (Not sure how he came up with me being burned at the stake, but he liked it a little too much if you ask me.)

He was a cowboy, maybe killed by an Indian. He and his brothers played cowboys and Indians endlessly as kids before they knew it was politically incorrect. Therefore he was a cowboy in a past life, and unjustly killed.

He theorized that we are repeating lives until we get justice.

Hmmm.

I haven’t noticed any Puritans burning witches at the stake so what am I to do? Do Puritans even exist anymore? Or maybe they are in hiding because all the supposed witches they burned are back and looking for them?

Where would they be hiding? Who out there could be a Closet Puritan? Perhaps it’s the Famous Preacher’s Wife who pitched such a nasty fit in first class on an airplane that she was removed and fined by the FAA?
Or maybe it’s the judgmental radio personality who tells women to quit shacking up, get that ring on their finger then stay in the house raising kids where they belong?

Where are those Puritans hiding? Do any of you know?

So what about you? What past life would you be repeating judging by your childhood games or obsessions?

And please, don’t worry, my husband has always been nice to Native Americans. But he’s not a fan of horses—maybe he was trampled by a horse? I mean, come on, he suggested I was burned at the stake! Of course, maybe he wouldn’t suggest that if I didn’t keep telling him that I was right about the Jacuzzi!

©2010 Murder She Writes. All Rights Reserved.

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I apologize for being late. I blame the RWA conference! And now I’m behind on everything. I have copy edits sitting on my desk that I haven’t even opened yet. But I wanted to get this blog written before I open that envelope.

So let’s talk about the RWA Conference!

First off, I had a great time. I met tons of new people and that was fascinating, and I now have a new rule:

If you are unpublished, DO NOT APOLOGIZE FOR IT! I still love to hear what you are writing! People are interesting whether or not they are published. Two of my critique-partners are unpublished and I very much value their input. Being published is a goal but it doesn’t define us.

When do you apologize? Well for me, it was when I spilled coffee on my friend’s lovely purse. That was a bright shining moment for me, sigh.

Okay, let’s move on. I’m can’t possibly talk about the entire conference or I’ll have a twenty page blog! I’m going to just go with two quotes that really stood out for me at the conference. (And this will be a little bit of a ramble—I’m still tired!) The first quote is from the agent Steven Axelrod:

“If you want to succeed, double your failure rate.”

YES! Failure hurts and it’s scary as hell, but if it works, the payoff is amazing. Few people will rise to the top by staying safe and writing the same book over and over. Some will, of course, because there are always exceptions. But generally, if you aren’t taking risks, you aren’t trying hard enough. I loved this quote. He also said that failure is part of the business, and it is. Take risks!

The second quote came from Claire Zion of NAL Publishing:

“Work of mouth remains the engine of success in this business.”

The question and answer part of the NAL Spotlight became a bit of a chat, discussing electronic readers versus traditional paperbacks, and what readers will spend their dollars on in the shrinking economy. Many people repeatedly said, in one way or another, they will “risk” their money on books they’ve heard about. They trust friends first, but “hearing” also includes the Internet, and specifically, blogs. It was nice to get some specific ways to feed that “engine of success.”

There was so much more at the conference! I met with my new editor, who is as lovely in person as she is on the phone and e-mail. I went to parties, I hung out with friends, and I learned so much. Last night, I was in the Jacuzzi with my husband, chatting on and on about the conference, and it dawned on me that I was just as excited about my friend’s conference goals as I was about my goals. I want my friends to succeed! With all of RWA’s problems, that is one common theme I saw everywhere. Friends supporting and encouraging one another on their paths to their dreams.

How cool is that?

©2010 Murder She Writes. All Rights Reserved.

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