Thursday Evening Ramble

So I'm getting back into writing. It's a hard road, since I have my wine consulting job (pays the bills!) am editing my daughter's book American Woman, and will be formatting it once we get it back from the secondary editor (because it's always best to have more than one opinion and input option). I am also writing my political articles, which some would say isn't very smart, since some people may not share my views and therefore boycott my books. So be it. I figure there are enough liberal readers out there to keep me busy. And besides, I feel strongly about things like climate change, gun laws and women's issues. And if people don't like it, well you know what "they" say you can do with people who can't take a joke! And who the hell are "they" anyway?

I've picked up a short story I wrote a while back and am going to make it into a long story. It's fun getting back in the saddle again. I sat here the other day, hyperventilating, crying and wringing my hands as I wrote a scene from the book. I live my characters in my head, so when they're upset, I'm upset. It's very cathartic.

One of these days I'm going to have to take a break, head down the coast to Monterey and hang out at McFly's, have a few drinks, dance a few dances, meet some cool people and decompress. But for now, it's work, work, work. At least the writing work is fun. Sort of. When I'm not stuck.

Anyway, that's what I'm up to.

Thoughts On Having Too Much To Do

It has occurred to me that having too much to do all too often results in getting less done. Have you found that to be true as well? Back in the day, when my life belonged to me and no one else, I got a lot done - stuff that I wanted to do. I wrote several novels. I was active in my community. I had fun. I think the most fun was being able to do what I wanted to do when I wanted to do it. How could that not be fun?

Things are different these days. I have to work at a job where someone else hands me a paycheck. True, I only do it three days a week but that's a lot, particularly when you figure that I have always hated working for someone else. It used to be, when I was young, footloose and fancy-free and thought the ride would never end, that I would gauge a job by how long I would have to work before I could chuck it all and take a few months off to go lie on the beach. But now I'm grown up and have responsibilities and my beach days are over. Not just because I'm no longer young, but because I just don't go to the beach anymore!

Don't get me wrong, there are aspects of the job I have that I really like. Well, actually, there is only one aspect I can claim I will miss when I finally get to walk out that door for the last time. I'm a wine consultant and in that capacity, I get to taste about 2,000 wines a year. I taste everyday wines right on up to the pricey stuff like Cristal and Hundred Acre. I get to taste wines that most people aren't aware of and wouldn't know about except for the fact that I am their consultant and they trust my recommendations. I do like that part of the job. I hate having to wake up early in the morning. I hate have having to put up with the bs that is always part and parcel of any job that requires you to work for someone else. And I hate that it takes me away from the stuff that I love to do, which is writing.

I do write. I write for a political blog about things I care about. And I edit. Currently I am editing a book for my daughter that we are going to release this summer. Its title is American Woman. There is a subtitle but we haven't yet figured out what it is. Our designer, Ralph Faust, has once again come up with a killer cover and we are really excited about it. We have a company, ARK Stories, and we publish our books under that umbrella. We're building it but it's a slow process. My fondest wish is that it will get to the point where it provides both of us with a living doing what we want to do and writing what we want to write.

I've got an idea for a novel but I haven't started it yet. Actually, I have ideas for a lot of novels, but at present there is too much on my plate and I need to luxury of time so I can 1) sit down and write for an extended period of time and 2) remember what in the hell I wrote at first so I can keep things straight in my head while writing. That may sound odd but if I'm away from something for too long a stretch - and by that I mean a week or so - I tend to forget what I've written and what I've only thought of. I don't know if other writers have that problem but I do. So I haven't started my new novel. Yet. But I will. I just don't know when. Hopefully before the year is out, because I really do miss being in the thick of a story that is unfolding as I write it. It's the best kind of fun.

Okay! Well at least I've done something just for me today by writing this blog. Tomorrow it's get up early (ugh! - wish I were a morning person, but I'm not!), go taste some wine and sit in front of a computer all day and call my clients and hunt and peck for new business. Not to mention editing American Woman and maybe writing something scathing on the political blog. I like scathing.

Thanks for stopping by!

It's Good To Be Back After Such A Long Hiatus

It's been a long time since I've posted to this blog. Been busy. I released two novels: CRAZY and Cooper's Grove. I've been writing for a political blog - two actually - and I'm currently editing a non-fiction book my daughter is writing on women's issues and the importance of voting. Plus I have my Pay The Bills job as a wine consultant. Doesn't leave a lot of time for much else!

Today I got an email from someone who read one of my older entrees on this blog and it came as a pleasant surprise. I didn't think anyone still looked at it and he must have done a search under my name to get here because, to be honest, this isn't one of those wildly popular blogs that everyone shares with everyone they know! So it was cool.

I've been toying with the idea of starting a new novel. Actually, I still have one that I need to rework in a big way if I want to get it released. It's a thriller with a dash of science fiction. I like the story a lot, particularly a character named Henrietta Dowd. Isn't that a great name? She's a little old lady who drives a humungous Cadillac, circa 1960 something. And one of these days, I know I'll get to it. Henrietta isn't the main character, by the way, but she does play a big and important part in the story.

Newsflash: some woman just posted on Facebook that she has a lady boner for my daughter, writer Kimberley A. Johnson. Not that it has anything to do with what I'm writing now, but I thought it was funny and felt compelled to share it with you.

Back to my new novel idea. As much as I like Henrietta and the strange set of circumstances I created in Magic Man, a title that is certain to be changed, should I ever get around to the rewrite, I am drawn to an idea that has been percolating for several years now. It would be based on my mother and father. She was the daughter of Lithuanian immigrants and he the son of a drunk and a mother who deserted him and his sister to run off with some Englishman named Malcolm. My father and his sister were raised by their three well-to-do maiden aunts. Back in the day they were called Old Maids. I can only guess at the misery that was my father's childhood in that house of oh so proper ladies.

I don't know if it will ever get written. But I hope I find the time because I think it will make a great story. It will be a quiet story because my parents were quiet people, but they were salt of the earth people and best friends to each other.

Both of my parents are gone now. My father died a long time ago, when he was 23 days shy of 46 years old. My mother passed away seven years ago, on July 12, 2007. She was 92. I still miss them and I guess I always will.

If I do write the story, it will be titled Mary and Duke.

Buy A Book. Help A Child!

‘Tis the season! No matter who you are or what you believe, the holiday season ushers in a time of giving, a time of sharing, a time to reflect on the old year and the promise of the new.

One of the things I celebrate (and not just during the holiday season) is my love of reading. It has always been one of the greatest joys of my life and is why I am a writer. I am so grateful for the education I have had and now want to be able to share, if only in some small way, the opportunity to learn that so many of us take for granted.

This year, my daughter and partner in ARK Stories, Kimberley Johnson, and I have decided to spread the joy. For every ARK Stories book purchased between now and midnight December 25, our company will donate $1 (one dollar) to the K.I.N.D. Fund. That means Kids In Need of Desks and it was launched by one of our favorite MSNBC hosts, Lawrence O’Donnell, in coordination with UNICEF. Read about it here.

Whether you purchase a paperback or an eBook, we will donate $1 of the proceeds to K.I.N.D. We’ll post the final tally once the figures are in. In the meantime, you’ll get to read some really cool books! Great Christmas presents too!

Visit ARK Stories to read samples of each book.

Or just use these links to go directly to the online venues.

The Virgin Diaries   available only on Amazon

Ain’t No Sunshine: Men Reveal the Pain of Heartbreak

Also available in eBook formats on Smashwords

Dreams and Nightmares

Also available in eBook formats on Smashwords

CRAZY   available only on Amazon

Happy holidays!

Reading and Reviewing Indie Authors

I read a blog the other day about why Indie authors shouldn’t market to other Indie authors. The thrust of the blog was that by reading the works of other Indie authors and then trading reviews was a fruitless endeavor because ordinary consumers (those who aren’t authors) aren’t going to buy the review of one Indie on another Indie’s work.

I disagree. I will admit there are pitfalls there. If you find a novel that really stinks and say so, you stand the very real chance that the author will take it out on you by posting a scurrilous review of your book, even if it’s a great story and a barn burner. There’s a solution to that. If you read a stinker, just don’t review it. Simple!

As an Indie author, I have been reading a lot of books by my fellow Indie authors. I’ve given some great reviews but only when I felt they were deserved. I’ve had other books either sent to me or ones that I’ve downloaded during a promotion that were poorly formatted, poorly written, poorly constructed and those went straight to the dust bin of my Kindle. I did write one review of a book I liked but where the formatting was kind of screwed up and I mentioned that in my review, stating it made me give it 4 stars instead of 5. The person promoting the book thanked me, and the formatting issue was immediately addressed. But in that instance it was ONLY the formatting, and it wasn’t such a problem that it made the book unreadable. The story itself was very good.

Competing for reviews is an arduous task. I’ve sent out requests to a lot of book bloggers and reviewers and many of them will tell you they won’t post a bad review. If they don’t like the book, they will let the author know it didn’t make the grade but they won’t bash the book publicly. There are those who would say that’s unfair. I ask why? 

In this day and age, when you can go to Amazon or Smashwords or just about any online venue and read portions of the book before buying, you can pretty well judge whether or not it’s your type of book. You can see right away if the author has writing skills, whether or not it’s difficult to read due to the formatting of the text and whether it’s worth your time. And if you make a mistake you can get a refund!

I market to everyone who enjoys the types of books I put out there. Writers are generally known to be avid readers. It’s the reason they’re writers! So why shouldn’t I let other writers know about the books I’ve written? Why shouldn’t they let me know about theirs? I love to read and always have a stack (now virtual) in my To Be Read Pile. Being the voracious reader I am, it gets to be a rather expensive habit, so I love the fact that I can gets lots of books for free or pay $5 or less for a book. Plus, there’s the added bonus of finding some real gems.

So I think I’ll go on reading and reviewing other Indie authors and happily having them read and review me. If I get a bad review here and there, I can take it. It’s part of the bargain. Luckily, the reviews of my books from fellow authors, as well as bloggers and people who are total strangers to me have all been good. Except for one. Actually, that review of DREAMS AND NIGHTMARES was my favorite because it was recommended for “A dirty mouthed sailor” and one of the main characters, a criminal named Albert Crawford, was accused of having a “terrible potty mouth.”

So the next time you’re on Amazon or Goodreads or Smashwords and you see a review from me, know that it is sincere and not just a fawning attempt to wring a good review out of that author for one of my books. I only review books I think are worth reading and I leave it to you to discern the ones that aren’t.

CRAZY Art

Okay, I'm officially excited! Our designer, the incomparable Ralph Faust, has once again worked his magic and the cover for CRAZY is better than I could have imagined! We went through so many iterations, tried so many approaches and finally came up with the absolute BOMB cover! Thank you, Ralph, a thousand times THANK YOU!

I'm now waiting for the proof copy to arrive so I can make sure my newest novel is ready to be unveiled. But in the meantime, you can check out a couple of chapters here: TWO CHAPTERS

Writing CRAZY

Conjuring a serial killer is an interesting pastime. To make a killer real requires delving into parts of oneself that perhaps one doesn’t wish to examine. Then again…

Who hasn’t given over to a nasty flight of fancy when somebody out there really pissed them off? It isn’t something we necessarily share with others, these evil imaginings, but we’ve all engaged in it at least once and probably more than any of us would care to admit. When writing a killer, especially a seriously deranged killer, those flights of fancy are a mere stepping off point and pretty soon, take on a life of their own upon the page. 

My killer begins slowly, with a nasty little missive sent in the Christmas mail. The serial killer inside hasn’t yet been born, but it is gestating and has been gestating since age ten when my killer squeezed the family pet canary to death and then went to the kitchen for some milk and cookies. Jealousy is the fuel that fires the killer and as my protagonist, Emily Simonson, becomes more and more successful, the killer becomes more and more enraged. Taking the leap from killing a canary to torturing and killing women who look like Emily is a journey that I, as an author, had to imagine, construct and make plausible. So I had to get inside the head of my killer, and let the reader know what is going on inside that head.

For example:

    Let’s see, what kind of message would make a lasting impression on Little Miss I’m So Fucking Special? Or maybe I should amend that to Big Miss. A giggle there. God, she is so... so... large. Big bones, big frame, big fucking head, thinking she’s so much better than anyone else. Miss Look At Me I’m On Television. No, don’t go off on a tangent, just stick to what’s important, and what’s important here is to make her squirm. Like a worm. Squirm like a worm.

    Laughing again. Picking up the telephone and dialing the number and waiting. Waiting to hear that oh so perky greeting. But instead of her annoying voice there’s that chiming noise from the phone company and then a computer-generated message. “We’re sorry but the number you have dialed is no longer in service. Please check your directory and dial again.” Feverishly depressing the hang-up button and redialing only to hear the same message. Slamming down the phone, in a temper now. 

    She changed her number! The fucking bitch changed her number! Thinks she can escape that easy, huh? Well, we’ll just see about that!  But how? What can I do? 

    Pacing back and forth, twirling a lock of hair. Tighter and tighter until the pain comes. Like it’s being pulled out at the roots. Twisting it tighter yet. Trying to think but thought is so difficult under the circumstances. Feeling so all alone and misunderstood. 

    “We’ll have to make quite an impression on her this time.” The voice of the Guardian, so silky smooth and soft, whispering. “You have to let her know she’s dealing with someone who means business.”

    A feeling of relief. No longer alone. Now there’s someone who knows what to do, who can offer advice. Who can plan. Thank God there’s someone who knows.

    What should I do? How can I let her know that?

    “It’s all in the details.”

    What kind of details?

    A moaning sound, almost like an orgasm, an expression of sublime pleasure. “Oh, all sorts of details. Come, learn at the feet of the master.”

    Yes.

    “We are about to change Little Miss Emily’s life.”

    A wince as the hated name scrapes the eardrums much as fingernails drawn across a chalkboard.

   “Are you prepared?”

    Yes.

    “Then let us begin.”

I got about three quarters of the way through writing CRAZY when I thought perhaps I’d better see how my serial killer stood up to the real thing. It was eye opening. So many of the things I had my killer do were the hallmarks of some of the more famous serial killers of our time, even though I hadn’t been aware of their actions. It’s kind of scary in a way, but it’s also exhilarating because it tells me that my imagination is steering me right and ultimately, the story will have the ring of truth, albeit a strange and awful truth. Then it will be up to you, the reader, to decide whether my efforts make the grade.

You can check out my forthcoming novel and read a couple of chapters here:

Coming soon: CRAZY

I’m putting the final touches on my new novel, Crazy. It’s been a long time coming but I think you’ll find it was worth the wait. Once it’s up on Kindle, I’ll be doing a ONE DAY GIVEAWAY, so watch for it! Here’s a little bit about the book.

Someone is stalking star chef Emily Simonson. That someone wants her dead, but first, that someone wants her terrified. And that someone has figured out the perfect way to do it.

Aspiring actresses who bear a resemblance to Emily are being murdered and before each murder, a warning is sent. But those warnings don’t tell who, where or when. Who is next? And when will it be Emily’s turn to die?

CRAZY takes you into the mind of a fiendish killer who, fueled by Satanic fantasies and a mysterious Guardian, wreaks havoc in Hollywood. There’s a lunatic on the loose. Who will be the final victim?

Read two chapters here: CRAZY

What's All This Fuss About Sex?

What is it about the subject of sex that makes people in this country so uncomfortable? I’ll admit I really didn’t have the faintest idea of how people would react when my daughter, Kimberley Johnson, and I started work on The Virgin Diaries. She had the idea, I thought it was great and the book was born.

Our aim was to create a book for virgins of all ages and, since virgins are generally young people living at home, for their parents to use as a tool for opening a dialogue with their teen about first time sex and the emotions associated with the experience. We had no agenda when putting together the accounts we gathered. There was no judgment or advice given regarding what a person should or shouldn’t do. It is a book that is simply meant to inform and allow the reader to come to his or her own conclusions and apply those conclusions to their lives.

Once we got the book finished and out on the market, we did what any author would do. We went looking for reviews. And that’s when we found out that people were actually “apprehensive” and “afraid” of what was between the covers. I don’t know what they expected to find. It’s not explicit. It’s not “dirty.” It’s not erotica, which to my mind is just another term for female porn (thank you to Joey on the TV show Friends for that observation, which I have just co-opted). It’s 72 stories from real people telling what it was like both emotionally and physically.

One woman said she thought it was a good idea but she didn’t think it was appropriate for teens under 18. To that I have only this to say: in most instances, the horse is out of the barn by then and Elvis has left the building! There were so many stories where the first time took place at an achingly young age: 12 and 13. The average age? Around 16. Why on earth would a parent want their teen to be uninformed or misinformed about something so important? In then end, our adult reviewers gave us rave reviews.

Teens shied away because we’re older – I could be Grandma and my daughter could be Mom, so who wanted to listen to us? So my daughter went out and sought teen book bloggers. Again, we were greeted with that apprehension. Surmounting it was pretty easy. Kimberley told them to just read it and if it makes you uncomfortable, put it down and forget about it. None of them put it down and all of them gave it a great review.

Studies show that in states where abstinence is the only thing taught, the teen pregnancy rate is higher than in states with a comprehensive sex education program. Even then, sex education deals more with the biology than with the emotional aspect. Again, my question is why do parents wish to stick their heads in the sand and deny the physical urges associated with puberty, the peer pressure and the pervasive sexual messages in advertising, movies and music throughout our society and the effect those factors exert on their children? Particularly when there is so much at stake? Knowledge is power and it is the duty of every parent to arm their children with every resource necessary to meet the challenges of modern society and sex is one of the biggest challenges faced during the teen years.

If this book had been around when I was a teen, I would have devoured it. The same goes for Kimberley. So many people who contributed their stories had the same thing to say. Our teen reviewers DID devour it and saw the value of the information and never once considered it to be titillating or embarrassing. They were grateful for the real input from real people. The Virgin Diaries is timeless and yet a book for our times.

Visit The Virgin Diaries Blog and join the conversation.

Why I Write What I Write

I love reading. Always have. The day I got my first book, a primer about David and Ann and their dog Spot, I was hooked. My heroes have always been the people, who like Calgon Bath Oil, could "take me away." There is something so amazing about the written word and its ability to transport a person to far off places, put them in situations they would otherwise never experience and give them sometimes visceral experiences. I recall an occasion when I was coming down with the flu and knew it. So on the way home from work, I stopped and picked up some paperbacks to read for the duration of my illness. One of them was The Exorcist. I was feeling pretty poorly and thought I’d get in a few pages before I fell into bed. At the time I was living in a one-bedroom apartment and had given the bedroom to my five-year-old daughter. I slept on a sofabed in the living room. I hadn’t yet pulled out the bed and was reading furiously when my little girl awakened and wandered into the living room to ask for a glass of water. I was so into the book that upon hearing her tiny voice calling “Mommy” my heart leapt into my throat, the book flew across the room and I landed with a thud on the floor. Now THAT was a visceral experience!

I like to read all kinds of things but I love writing thrillers and weird stuff. Like the song says: I don’t know why. I just do. I like going to odd and disturbing places in my head and finding out what sorts of things lurk there. Sometimes I’m surprised. Mostly it makes me laugh because the things I write are so unlike who I am. Well, the boring characters are sort of like me, but the villains, who are so much fun for me to write, are the polar opposite of me. I guess that’s why I like to write them. They let me bust out of my shell, so to speak.

The thing that’s so cool about writing, as opposed to acting, which was something I thought would feed that inner rebel, is that I get to be ALL the characters and I have ALL the control. So you now you know. I have control issues. So much of life is out of our control and I’m lucky to be able to have that one little corner where I can do and be anything and everything I can possibly imagine. It’s a powerful thing, even if it’s just an illusion.

Mostly I write what I write because it’s fun, pure and simple. It’s hard work but it’s enjoyable hard work and I love doing it. The MOST fun is when people like what I write. Then I feel like I really did something special. I got to take them away, transport them to a world created in my imagination and engaged them. What a feeling! And who knows, maybe someone will be inspired to write because of one of my books, just like I have been inspired by the authors who have engaged me.

Paper vs. Digital

I was one of those people who always said, "I want to hold a book in my hands!" I really believed it. And I will admit I do like having books around me. They're like old friends or a comfortable pair of jeans. But I'm also a modern woman and an author who has several books out, both in print and in digital formats. So for Christmas the only thing I wanted was a Kindle. I wanted it so I could download my own books and make sure the formatting looked right. And I thought I'd also download a book every once in a while.

I am now officially addicted to Kindle. I love that I have tons of books at my disposal ALL THE TIME! It's great not to have to worry about losing my place if I get up and forget to bookmark my page. And because I really don't want to pay the high prices that traditional publishers insist on charging for eBooks, I'm getting acquainted with a lot of Indie authors and finding that some of my favorite mainstream authors like F. Paul Wilson and Dean Koontz have plenty out there for $2.99 and less. I did step up to the plate and pay $7.99 for the new Sue Grafton. It was worth it.

I will probably buy a conventional book every once in a while. But only if it's one I absolutely, positively have to have and only if the price between the conventional book and the eBook is just a few dollars apart. But then again, maybe not. I've always had a thing for gadgets and my Kindle Touch is a gadget that I love. It's lightweight, small enough to bring anywhere, GREAT for going on trips ( I used to have to lug a bunch of reading materials with me whenever I went on vacation or a business trip) and not only can I download books, I can download games.

The only drawback, as far as I can see, is that you must remember to recharge your eReader. The charge lasts for a long time but it's still a necessity and I can imagine getting all in a dither if I forgot to do it. Then I'd have to sit there, tethered to my computer in order to read and get charged simultaneously. But I'm a pretty savvy gal and I think I can remember to plug in that puppy before I got to bed so all of my goodies will be waiting for me when I arise and once again greet the day.

So there you have it. I am a traitor to paper. I have been seduced by the digital age. And I'm unrepentant.

The Minds of Men

If you ask most women how a man reacts to losing love, you'll get an answer along the lines of "Oh, they don't feel the same way we do. Men have a much easier time of it than women. They just go out and find another woman."  I suppose in some instances that's true. But for the most part, I think men experience the same hurt, the same sorrow, the same feelings of helplessness. They just don't show it. It isn't "manly".  But that doesn't mean the feelings aren't there.

Aint' No Sunshine: Men Reveal the Pain of Heartbreak was a revelation to my daughter and me. We really didn't know what to expect when we began collecting the stories but what we got exceeded any expectations that may have been lurking in the backs of our minds. Some of the stories brought us to tears. Others made us laugh and only one painted the picture of a man whose first and seemingly only concern was for himself and yet, we still applaud that man because he sent us an honest story. We are finding those who've read it agree with us.

We expected that only women would be interested in this book. We were wrong. We've heard from  several gentlemen who told us the book was helpful to them because now they knew they weren't alone. Wow! That's the icing on the cake.

The 42 year Old Virgin

It isn’t often one finds a totally honest person when it comes to the subject of virginity. It’s the reason my daughter Kimberley and I decided that anonymity was the way to go when we began collecting stories for our book The Virgin Diaries. It’s a personal subject and most people don’t want to go on record talking about what in so many instances was an awkward and sometimes embarrassing event in their lives. In my instance, I really didn’t care but needed to be mindful of the person who was my first. After all, I may not care but it’s possible that he wouldn’t want the whole world to know about his deflowering of me.

Recently my daughter started corresponding with a gentleman who found our book online and was overjoyed to find something of this nature. Why? Because he’s a 42 year old virgin. Hard to believe but true. He’s written a book about it and wanted to participate in our blogs and so Kimberley, that Mistress of the Questionnaire, came up with some questions and he answered. His entry is thoughtful, well written and honest. I am impressed!

In the course of going through and editing his piece (I did very little—didn’t have to because it was so well written) I couldn’t help but feel compassion for this man who is now experiencing regrets for having waited so long. I’m certain that fear is also a part of the equation because after having waited for all these years, there must be feelings of inadequacy. I just want to tell him not to fear. Don’t be afraid that women might think you’re weird. Well, perhaps they might but then again, you may find a woman who will be happy to show you the ropes. For you, Anthony, are that rarest of creatures: an adult male who has never engaged in sex and therefore, carries absolutely no threat of transmitting a venereal disease. In this day and age that is SUCH a plus!

Although Anthony is an arch conservative and I am a proud liberal, there some things that transcend politics and this is one of them. I commend him for his honesty and sincerely hope he finds that Sarah Palin loving, pro-life Tea Party woman who will rock his world.

Read his story here: Interview with Anthony Tarquino: The Real 42 Year Old Virgin

The Serial Killer In My Head

I am currently rewriting a novel I completed about a decade ago. It's about a woman who has begun to achieve success only to be stalked by a nefarious character who remains unnamed and mysterious for a good part of the story. The killer decides that not only should the object of hatred be killed but tortured in a most unusual way, that being to kill people who look like her as a prelude to the main event. The character is loosely based on a person I've known in the past but who is not, at least to my knowledge, a serial killer.

When I first wrote the story, it was titled The Happy Face Killer and it was fun in a bizarre way to have the killer leave a bright yellow Happy Face with the inscription "Have a nice day!" at the scene of each murder. You can imagine my dismay that after spending a year writing and polishing and paying for a professional edit, I found out there was a real Happy Face Killer and someone had written a book about him titled The Happy Face Killer. I bought the book and read it, recalling that I'd actually heard reports about the guy on the news. He was a long distance trucker who picked up women who hung out at truck stops, raped and murdered them, then left little scrawled happy faces in restrooms along the interstate system.  Not a very imaginative fellow, nor was he very smart because they caught him and he's in prison now, but wow! Was I ever bummed. So I put the story aside and thought perhaps I'd drag it out again after a few years had gone by.

So they've gone by and I'm doing the rewrite and it won't be titled The Happy Face Killer any longer because I don't want my novel to be confused with the true crime story. In doing research, I've had to read about real killers but I do things ass backwards sometimes, so I did the research after I'd finished the story - just to check if my killer is believable. I found that my fictional killer was just as much of an egomaniac as real killers are. My killer sends missives to the news media. So do real killers. The Happy Face Killer did and so did the Zodiac Killer. Zodiac was smarter than Happy Face because they never found him, although I recently read they think they know who he was but now that person is dead, so the authorities will never know for certain.

I gotta tell you, it's a pretty weird thing to find out that the serial killer living inside your head mirrors the real ones out in the world. In one way it's a great feeling because you know the character stands up to the test of reality and is, therefore, believable, or at least as believable as a crazed manic can be in an ordered world. But on the other hand, it's scary to know that a character like that is back there, lurking somewhere in  the nether regions of your brain, just waiting to get out.

It makes me grateful that writing about it is all the thrill I need rather than the screwed up soul who has to act on those thoughts.

So I'll get back to work and try to get this done by the end of the year and then all you people who like to read mystery-thrillers can pick up a copy of Crazy and get a glimpse into the mind of my serial killer. More than a glimpse, actually but I'll leave that for later. Don't want to put too much on the table right now!

The Reader In Me

From the moment I picked up my first grade primer and learned how the letters on the page formed words to tell me the adventures of David and Ann and their dog Spot, I have loved to read.

I grew up with books in the house. We had shelves full of books: the Cherry Ames, Nurse series, the Nancy Drew mysteries, the Hardy Boys, Don Grady Among the Gorillas. There were so many and I devoured them all. I used to like it when I got sick because my mother’s library card allowed her to get an unlimited number of books to bring me, while my card limited me to three at time.

When I was ten, I borrowed a library book titled “Marjorie Morningstar” because my older sister had read it and I idolized my older sister. It was the story of a young woman who joined a summer stock theater company and there was sex in it! I had no idea what I was reading but I wasn’t interested in kids’ books after that one!

I once read James Clavell’s Taipan—all 736 pages of it—in one sitting. It took me about thirteen hours and my eyes looked like they were bleeding by the time I was done but what a book!

My love of reading is what led me to write. Writers have always been my heroes because they were the ones who allowed me to go places I’d never been, imagine things I’d never imagined and think about things I’d never been aware of until those words jumped off the page and into my brain.

People ask me who my favorite author is and I have to laugh. I have so many! It’s hard to begin the list without thinking of another and another and then another. I appreciate the creepiness of Stephen King, the lyrical style of Dean Koontz (yes, I do consider his writing lyrical!), the introspective style of Patricia Cornwell, the political savvy of Richard North Patterson. I love biographies and autobiographies and historical books, fiction and non-fiction alike.

When asked what I like, my answer is always the same: Everything and anything, as long as it’s well written.

Which brings me to my pet peeve, perhaps the biggest pet peeve I have going: That being a writer who is sloppy. I hate it when I’m a quarter of the way through a book and I already know who did it. I paid my money and I want to be entertained and don’t want to know the payoff before I get to the big climax. And it’s happened. I won’t mention the name of the writer, as she is well known and sells a lot of books. Just not to me. Another thing that really chaps my hide is the writer who constantly has zingers in the plotline—things that maybe once could happen but not every other page. I think it’s lazy and a contrivance to keep the reader on the edge of his seat. All it does for me is make me close the book.

I don’t care how outlandish the story is, I just want it to be plausible.

That’s what I try to do with my books: create characters who are real, put them in situations that are believable, even when they’re fantastic, and build a story to make you keep wondering what’s next. You may think you know where it’s going but then it’ll go somewhere else and you won’t know the ending until you get there. Because I respect the fact that you paid your money—even if it’s just 99 cents for an eBook—and I wouldn’t expect my readers to accept anything less than I would accept. That’s what I did with Decker Jones and Albert Crawford and Ruby Wheeler in Dreams and Nightmares and what I did with Amanda Harris and Seth Crowfoot in The People Next Door and what I will continue to do in the books I will publish in the future. Because I want to be one of those writers you think of when you think of your favorite stories.

A 21st Century Sexual Revolution

I was kid in the ‘50’s and had what can only be described as an Ozzie and Harriet/Leave It To Beaver kind of childhood. My father was the wage earner and my mother stayed home and took care of the kids and the house. Except for the style of automobiles, music and fashion, my childhood was pretty much interchangeable with the ‘30’s or the ‘40’s. Except, of course, the Great Depression and World War II were behind us. But, for the most part, societal norms were the same.

One of those societal norms was that a woman’s place was in the home. Nobody questioned it. I’m sure everyone reading this has seen that email making the rounds depicting the top ten sexist ads of the day.

Then came the ‘60’s and the sexual revolution. I think it’s a fair assessment to say that a contributing factor was the hard fought battle to make birth control pills available to the public. The battle was long, having begun in 1950 and the history is interesting, if you care to look it up. The pill made it possible for women to have sex without the consequence of getting pregnant. It gave them the freedom previously enjoyed only by the male of the species. 

All of a sudden women were footloose and fancy free: burning their bras, opting for careers over family and having sex when they wanted with whom they wanted. They were speaking up and speaking out.

Except, in a lot of instances, in the bedroom. We had learned to speak up for ourselves outside the bedroom but were afraid to use that newfound freedom for fear that we would be rebuffed, be called names like “ball buster” or drive our men into the arms of other, less vocal woman.  So, much like the women who went before us, we suffered and still suffer in silence as the man has all the fun and we feel like we missed the party.

Men, on the other hand, have the lament that their women seem to get a lot of headaches or have their period every other week and aren’t interested in sex. There are a lot of men out there who remain faithful in the face of a less than enthusiastic partner but they sure would like that magic bullet to clue them in on what they can do to regain the sexual glow that enveloped them when the relationship was young.

Have I got a blog for you! My daughter and I are currently collecting stories for a future book dealing with women and sex and what turns them on. We decided it would make a terrific blog and we invite you to come on over, take a look and give us your input. Whether it’s women giving detailed instructions or men asking questions or the other way around, we’d love to hear from you.

A sexual revolution is more than taking your clothes off in public and dancing naked at Woodstock. A real sexual revolution is when men and women decide to talk to each other about the things that make them sexually happy and do it in a way that is non-confrontational, informative and fun.

Come check it out! Here She Comes Blog

I like Bad Guys!

I like bad guys. Not in real life. In books.  Love, love, LOVE ‘em! They fascinate me and I guess that’s because deep down inside of me, there’s a bad guy (or gal) lurking. I just don’t let him (or her) out. I know I’m not the only person who feels this way, otherwise people like Thomas Harris, Dean Koontz and James Patterson wouldn’t have an audience. There’s just something so cathartic about getting into the mind of a seriously disturbed individual without having to bear the consequences. It’s why we like horror movies and novels like Silence of the Lambs, which was made into a very scary movie.

I have found, however, that there’s one thing I like even better than reading about bad guys or watching them on the big or small screen and that is creating them. I’ve written a few novels and even though I’m an avid and eclectic reader, when I sit down to write I just naturally gravitate to the dark side. There is nothing more fun than coming up with a totally horrible person and bringing that person to glorious, bloody life!

Take for instance, Albert Crawford, one of the protagonists of my newly released novel Dreams and Nightmares. I had Albert down before I ever put word one on the page. He was a character in a novel that didn’t gel but I’d come up with this wonderful character and I just couldn’t let him go. Eventually, a light bulb went off in my head and I found the perfect home for Albert and his band of miscreants.

Meet Albert:

Albert Crawford had a face that looked as if it had been pressed upon glass. His nose, larger than most, had been broken in a bar fight some years back and it spread across his face like silly putty left too long in the sun. Thick, protruding lips opened in a perpetual pout exposing teeth that looked more like they belonged to some feral animal than to a human being. His smile, an infrequent thing, was literally wolfish and had the tendency to scare people; except for Ruby Wheeler, his biker girlfriend, who seemed to thrive on danger and what she referred to as Albert's "edge". At one time, his mother had purported to love that face and she'd promised the boy she would get the money to have his teeth fixed. The promise, like so much of what she said, was a lie. Empty words uttered by an empty woman. She was dead now, at the hands of her loving son, although this was a fact known only to him and Ruby. His eyes, his best feature, were a shade of blue that bordered on turquoise. They would have been beautiful, were it not for the hardness in them that chilled the soul of anyone unlucky enough to become the object of their scrutiny. To compensate for his lack of physical beauty, Albert worked out like a demon and had a physique that could easily have been the envy of Conan the Barbarian.  

This is a guy you don’t want to meet in a back alley. For that matter, you don’t want to run across Ruby Wheeler either, because she might just be a bigger badass than Albert and that’s saying something!

I’ll let you in on a secret. When I’m writing some of the awful things these people do, it never fails to strike me funny. I mean, I will sit there and spew the worst of the worst on my computer screen—scare myself half to death sometimes—and then I’ll read over what I’ve just written and laugh (sometimes hysterically) because I can’t believe that what I just wrote came from some fevered part of my brain that otherwise would never see the light of day. It certainly does alleviate any tension I may have built up in the course of my everyday life.

If you like bad guys (and gals) too, then I invite you to check out how Ann Werner does them! For only 99 cents—not even a buck!—you can meet the gang in Dreams and Nightmares. It’s just been released on Kindle and also on Smashwords for you Nook and other e-reader fans.  My advice: pull the covers up over your head so the bad guys don’t get you!

Read the first two chapters here.