The Third Caitlyn Jamison Mystery is Published

I've been so busy (explained in previous post) that I've neglected to share the fact that I published the third Caitlyn Jamison Mystery on October 4. I've been holding off on formally announcing the publication until I receive my shipment of books - just to make sure. I'm not especially happy that it is taking two weeks for my books to arrive. In the past, book shipments always arrived a day or two or more ahead of the stated shipping date. And, with CreateSpace, they also honored my small orders and not bundling them, which then moves the arrival date ahead by several days.

And so I wait. The time is not wasted. I'm now able to focus on setting up the timeline, plot line, and characters for the suspense story I've started. I attended a workshop at the library last Saturday where I learned about taking each major character and listing their strengths, weaknesses, misbelief, and personal goals. I started this on Sunday morning and realized how difficult that is. It is forcing me to dig deep into each character's thoughts, feelings, and beliefs that drives them, and the story will be richer because of this. I'm concentrating on finishing this part of the project, as well as finishing my draft outline so that on November 1 I can start NANOWRIMO and accomplish my personal writing goals for each week.

Speaking of NANOWRIMO, I am a National Novel Writing Month "rebel." Instead of setting myself up for certain failure by adhering to their 1,167 words a day to get 50,000 words in the month of November, I'm setting my writing goal to 430 words a day, which is more reasonable for me. Another goal is to write one new memoir piece per week. I'm setting my goals low so hopefully I will exceed them and feel success. We have to do whatever works. The important message of NANOWRIMO is to get in the habit of writing. And that I applaud. 

The Death of Cassie White

Table set up for Chancellor's Village presentation

I published The Death of Cassie White on October 4, 2019. If I thought my summer was busy, it was nothing compared to the last two months. Finishing final edits (realizing editing is never finished), and getting transcription jobs coming in, and preparing the first seven chapters of my suspense story for the Old Town Sleuth critique group meeting on October 1 . . . well, needless to say, I’ve been a little stressed out.

I am still waiting for my first shipment of books to arrive – hopefully tomorrow. Although extremely pleased with the quality of the covers of Kindle Direct Publishing (Amazon), I am not so happy about their bundling my first two small orders (in order to get the books faster), into one big order, shifting the arrival day by three days. Consequently, I missed having my new books for my first author talk yesterday.

 

I arrived early to make sure I had plenty of time for set-up.

Getting over that, my talk to the residents of Chancellor’s Village Independent and Assisted Living facility in Fredericksburg, VA was extremely delightful. There was a good turnout and a fun loving group. We had a lot of laughs as I shared stories of my writing life. How it began in 2008, why, and how plot lines are developed and characters who change the story.

The recreation director and I ended the talk by encouraging the residents to write, especially memoir writing. They each have a wonderful story to tell, to share with family. I left there energized and feeling that maybe in some small way I enriched their lives as much as they did mine.