Be Careful What You Wish For

by Jennie Bentley

You know this picture you may have in your head, of the gracious author at her book signing: hair perfectly coiffed, nice clothes, friendly smile? That’s me. It’s release week for Spackled and Spooked, and I’ve got back to back events scheduled this week and for the next two. Three bookstore signings, one release party, one Evening with an Author, one TV appearance, and a three-day conference. Plus a couple of interviews, complete with photographer. What that means is an endless round of worry over make-up and clothes, whether my slip is showing, whether my hair is fluffy enough, how overweight I’ll look when the cameras turn on me...

Last year’s TV appearance for the release of Fatal Fixer-Upper was not auspicious. The anchor started the interview by asking me a question I didn’t understand. I kid you not, it sounded like gibberish. The words made absolutely no sense. I’ve watched the clip since, cringing, and it wasn’t just nerves: the question still doesn’t make sense to me, even when I’m calm. The cringeworthy part, though, is the silence that follows. The deer-in-the-headlights look on my face as I sit there, trying to decipher the question and how to answer it. The dawning horror on the anchor’s face as she realizes that she’s sitting opposite a guest who has frozen.

It worked out in the end, and I don’t think it took more than eight seconds or so. (Which, let me tell you, is an eternity on TV.) Eventually, I said something. Anything. I didn’t care what it was, as long as it filled the silence. I didn’t answer the question, but I was coherent. And it got better from there.

This year I get to do it again, along with all the other stuff I mentioned. If you look closely, you’ll see the manic look in my eyes as I worry about the hair, and the slip, and the fact that at home, I’m revising Plaster and Poison, which is scheduled for release in March, and writing DIY#4, tentatively titled Mortar and Murder, which—if I can get it written by the end of the year—might make it into the stores by the end of 2010.

Can you spell P-R-E-S-S-U-R-E?

Oh yes, and that’s without taking into account the ten or so manuscripts I've critiqued for Killer Nashville, the conference I’m attending next weekend; and the ten or so wannabe authors I have to meet with, to discuss their manuscripts; and the panels I have to prepare for, and the fact that at some point during the weekend, I have to write and ship a guest blog I promised to do on the 16th...

It’s the glamorous life of a writer. And I wouldn’t want it any other way. In September, when it’s all over and the only thing I have to worry about is finishing Mortar and Murder by the end of the year, I’ll look back on it and smile. But for now, if you happen to catch sight of me in the next few weeks, forgive me if I’m not the picture of the smiling, gracious author, would you? Ignore that rabid look in my eyes, and the way I twitch when someone says my name? And if I don’t answer your question right away, give me eight seconds for that deer-in-the-headlights look to go away and my brain to fire on all cylinders again? I’ll get there, I promise!

And if you’re in the neighborhood, I’d love to see you. Check out my website, to see where I’ll be, and when!

D-DAY!!!!

by Jennie Bentley

Yeah, this is the same post title I used last year, when I announced my debut. Today is the official release of my second book, Spackled and Spooked, #2 in the Do-It-Yourself Home Renovation mysteries, which I have on good authority - specifically, from Joyce - has been available in Pittsburgh, among other places, for a few weeks already. Apparently some stores received their shipments of August releases on July 16th and didn't see any reason to wait to offer the books for sale. So when a friend of mine in Delaware went to her local Barnes & Noble this weekend to look for my book, they were - get this - sold out!

No biggie. I don't really care when people buy the book, just as long as they do. And sold out actually sounds like a good thing.

Anyway, I'm using the same title again because, although it's not my debut today, my ITW debut author buddy and fellow Berkley Babe, Diana Orgain, is visiting the Stiffs today, and it's her D-day. Bundle of Trouble, featuring brand new mom and PI Kate Connolly, hits stores today, and sounds like a whole lot of fun. Without further ado, here's Diana:


I Should Be Writing...

In writing this post I’m trying to answer the number one question I get asked by moms (or other writers) – how I find the time to write. I have three little ones. My oldest is a girl, 5 and I have two boys ages 2 and 5 months. The honest answer is “I don’t know.”

Right now, two of three are playing with a tea set and the third, the baby, is chewing on a teething toy and working on kicking his socks off. It’s Sunday and we’re getting ready to go to my mother’s for dinner. My brother and his family are there and my kids are getting antsy to go play with their cousins. I’m writing this post between fixing socks, doing dishes and packing the diaper bag.

All the hub-bub is typical around here. Both my husband and I work from home and we squeeze out every productive moment of the day we can. Kindergarten starts in a few weeks, and although I’ll miss my darling during the day it means I can write during nap time (since my five-year-old no longer naps but the boys do).

So what is my advice for working or stay-at-home moms who want to write? You have to really really want it. It means early mornings (even earlier than those early morning feedings) and it means late nights (even later than those late night feedings) you get my drift. Caffeine is an absolute pre-requisite for me.

In fact, I’m so addicted to coffee that I even found myself wishing to leave for my mother’s house a little early (she makes a great cup of coffee!). But alas, before I can go have Sunday dinner I still must answer the question of how.

I think as writers (or anyone pursuing a goal) you have to make the time. Yes, you can use found time wisely – but for bigger projects you have to make the time appear in your schedule. Commitment is a huge part of it and enrolling others to help you. For instance, I am very fortunate to have such a supportive husband and mother. My mom is always willing to take my kids to the park for a couple hours so I can write.

And then, once you have the time you cannot squander it. That is one thing I absolutely still struggle with.

Suddenly in an effort to find time to write, I arrange for my mom to have the kids and husband is out of the house on errands and then I am curiously alone.

The house is silent.

I can write in peace or…or I could…gasp…I could actually nap!

Yes, sleep is so good for the brain. I can think up a writing question, like say, what happens in Act II or “whodunnit” and fall asleep and the answer will suddenly magically appear. So that is not really like not writing, because I will definitely still be working on the story…only…it’s just that I’ll be asleep.

Hmmm. So you see. It is a struggle. Always juggling and balancing priorities.

When I completed my first book, Bundle of Trouble, someone told me to join Facebook and Twitter as a way to promote the book. Now, I must guard that I am not on these sites chatting when I should be writing.

Do you find yourself wanting to do something else when you know you should be focusing on a big project, dream or goal? What do you do? How do you bring yourself back to the task at hand? I’d love to hear your thought and tricks!

###

So there you have it. To learn more about Diana, Kate Connolly, and Bundle of Trouble, visit Diana's website, www.dianaorgain.com. There's even an excerpt you can read!

I'll be back on Friday with an update on my doings and undoings. Until then, enjoy my ITW debut author buddies and fellow Berkley Babes the LaPlantes, AKA Allyson Roy, tomorrow - you don't mind my calling you a babe, do you, Roy? Alice? - and ITW debut buddy Sophie Littlefield on Thursday.

Till then!

Pretty in Pink!

by Jennie Bentley

Since it's the weekend and nobody else is posting, and since I don't want to wait until the beginning of August for my next scheduled blog date - especially since I'll have other things to talk about then, like the release of "Spackled and Spooked" on the 4th - I figure I'll just take the opportunity right now to share this thing of beauteousness with y'all.

This is the brand-new, seen for the first time yesterday, cover for "Plaster and Poison," DIY#3, coming to a store near you on March 2nd, 2010.

Two cats, as you see; that's Jemmy on the floor and Inky on the bed. You'll note the picture of the Eiffel Tower on the table, and the toile and just general French-ness of the whole thing?

Well, Avery and Derek are renovating an old carriage house behind Kate McGillicutty's Bed & Breakfast, and turning it into a romantic retreat for two, just in time for Kate's wedding to police chief Wayne Rasmussen and subsequent honeymoon in Paris. With Rosemary Baker in town to check out Derek, Shannon gallivanting around with a silver fox, and two sets of initials inside a heart carved in the carriage house wall to track down, Avery has plenty to do even before the bodies start dropping.

"Plaster and Poison" is available for preorder from Amazon right HERE... but without the pretty picture, so far.

So do y'all like my cover? Do ya? Huh?

(Oh yes, to give credit where credit is due: the designer of this beauty is Rita Frangie Batour with the Penguin Group, and the artist is Jennifer Taylor with Paperdog Studio. Just so you know who to ask for when it's your turn.)

Location, Location, Location!

by Jennie Bentley

As you read this, I’m on my way to sunny Saint Augustine, one of my favorite places in the whole world.

Saint Augustine is the oldest town in the US, founded in August 1565, forty-two years before Jamestown and fifty-five years before the pilgrims settled on Plymouth Rock. There’s so much history there—from the first free community of ex-slaves in the country, Fort Mose, and the Castillo de San Marco, to the Fountain of Youth and the Spanish Quarter. And that’s without even mentioning the ghosts. Or the beaches. Or the birds and dolphins and manatees. Or alligators.

I’ve always thought it would make a great setting for a series of books. I even went so far as to pitch a ghost story/mystery idea to my agent once. She picked another idea she wanted me to work on instead, but I haven’t forgotten about it. While I’m waiting for the time to be right, I’m enjoying Nancy Haddock’s vampire series, set in Saint Augustine. If you haven’t yet tried La Vida Vampire and the sequel, Last Vampire Standing, get thee to a bookshop. I intend to get Nancy to autograph me a copy while I’m on vacation, since she lives there.

Setting has always been a very important part of a book to me, both books I like to read and books I write. My favorite books aren’t set just anywhere, they’re set somewhere specific. If the locale changed, the book wouldn’t be the same. That’s the way it ought to be, I think. The setting becomes almost like a character, playing its own part in the story.

I’m partial to ‘real’ settings, with ‘real’ history attached to them. In the first book I wrote, A Cutthroat Business, the setting is East Nashville. I live here, and I wanted to write about what I know. I changed some of the street names, since I don’t want anyone to come knocking on my door to complain, but I know exactly where things are. Savannah’s apartment is on the corner of Fifth and Main, and I know what she’s looking at when she looks out her window in the morning. The decrepit house in the book—the one where the body is found—is based on this one, called the Ambrose House, in Historic East End. (I’ve been looking at for long enough to know what it looked like before someone sunk a million dollars into fixing it up. It's an events venue, and if it weren't so danged expensive, I might just have my release party there...)

Waterfield, Maine, on the other hand—the setting for the DIY-books—is a fictional place. It’s located about 45 minutes up the road from Portland, on the coast, but it doesn’t exist. It’s more a conglomerate of every small town I’ve ever seen, with the landscape I grew up with. Dark pine trees and white birches, a craggy coast dotted with rocky islands, and a Main Street made up of turn-of-the-last-century Victorian commercial buildings. Waterfield’s history is the history of downeast Maine, and if Waterfield was located somewhere else, the series would be different.

While I enjoy reading about ‘real’ settings, though, some of the best locales out there are the fantasy kind. And I mean that literally. The Harry Potter books, with their alternate universe, away from prying muggle eyes. Tamora Pierce’s Pebbled Sea and the countries surrounding it, steeped in ambient magic. Lois McMaster Bujold’s Vorkosigan saga, taking place on planets like Barrayar and Komarr and Beta Colony and Jackson’s Whole. Or if sci-fi doesn’t count—the earth is mentioned once or twice, so it’s not technically fantasy, I guess—Lois McMaster Bujold’s Chalion series. Terry Pratchett’s Discworld. (Flat, carried on the backs of four elephants standing on the shell of a giant turtle, inhabited by dwarves and trolls, vampires and werewolves. And people. Strange people.)

So what about you? Do you care about setting? If you write, do you make setting an integral part of your work, or could your book be set anywhere and not really miss much by it? (That’s just fine, and works well for some types of books.) As a reader, does it matter to you where the book is set, or is one place pretty much like another? Do you have a favorite locale? Or a favorite author you think nails the setting for his/her books?

I’ll only be around in the morning today, so play nicely amongst yourselves, please, but I’ll check back over the weekend, in case there are any questions I have to answer.

Till next time!

Free at last, Lord, I’m free at last...

by Jennie Bentley

It’s been ten years since I had my last steady job. The kind with set hours and a weekly or biweekly paycheck. That all changed exactly ten years ago today, when my first child was born. (Happy Birthday, Finn!) I worked at the Nashville Convention and Visitors Bureau at the time, and I was at my desk right up until 5 o’clock on April 2nd, 1999. Two hours later, while I was getting ready to go out to dinner with my husband—April 2nd happens to be our wedding anniversary, as well—my water broke. Instead of going to dinner, we went to the hospital. And that was the end of my life as I knew it. I went from one kind of indentured servitude to another.

This isn’t going to be about the joy of having children, though. Even if I adore my kids—most of the time—and wouldn’t trade them for anything. Except maybe a million dollar advance on my next book.

I didn’t rejoin the work force after I gave birth, but stayed home with the little tyke, and four years later, with his brother as well. I’m still there. At home. Both kids are in elementary school now, and somewhere along the way, I got my real estate license. I bought and sold—and renovated—a few houses over the next few years, and then, of course, came the book contract. Three books in a series of home renovation mysteries for Berkley Prime Crime. Book 1, Fatal Fixer-Upper, came out last November. Book 2, Spackled and Spooked, will hit stores in August. And book 3, as yet untitled, is scheduled for release in just over a year, May 2010. I sent the manuscript to my editor last week. She’ll have revisions, and there’ll be copy edits and line edits and all sorts of things to deal with, but as of right now, I’m free as a bird.

No job.

No contract.

No demands.

No requirements to produce this, that, or the other.

I can write whatever I damn well please, with no concerns about whether my editor will approve of it or not. Because I don’t have an editor anymore.

Gulp.

It’s a mixed bag. On one hand, it’s scary. Will they offer another contract? Did the first book do well enough that they’ll want to take a chance on more? (I think so, but after the bad news from the publishing industry lately, who knows?) Will they wait to see how book 2 does before they decide? Will I have to wait six months for them to come through? Or will I go back to being a contract-less writer? Free as a bird, but with no commitment as to work or income?

On the other hand, the sky’s the limit. I can write what I want. Any kind of book in any genre. Hell, I don’t have to write anything at all if I don’t want to!

It’s a beautiful, scary, wonderful, worrisome kind of feeling. And a whole lot of fun, as I try to decide what I want to work on next. There’s a whole world out there full of stories begging to be told. And a whole head-full back here, of characters clamoring for their chance to be heard.

So what about you? If you were going to scrap what you’re working on right now and start something new, what would you write about? More of the same, or something different? A new story with a new character, or one with someone you already know and like? Same genre or different? Any brilliant story ideas bouncing around in your brain that you’d like to share?

I’ll be back here on Monday, by the way. Wilfred the Author has jetted off to beautiful Hawaii with his lovely wife, and he has asked me to fill in.

Bwa-ha-ha-ha! (cue evil laughter)

He already wrote A Reason for Dying—after Monday, he’ll have A Reason for Dying... of embarrassment!

That’s all I can say for now, but you’ll want to be here on Monday, I promise. You’ll kick yourself if you miss the denouement. See you then!

A few good men

by Jennie Bentley.

Last week sometime, I got suckered into responding to a discussion on Facebook about fictional—fictitious?—romantic heroes, and I thought it might make for an interesting blog topic.

The question that started the discussion was really simple—What makes for a good romantic hero these days? Does the tall, dark, and handsome George Clooney-type still work, or have the Brad Pitts taken over?—but the issue, of course, is a lot more complicated than that.

I don’t write romance novels, per se. I tried once, and discovered that while I could do it, I didn’t want to. That’s not to say I have anything against romance. Everything I write has romance in it, and I always enjoy reading books more when there’s a relationship developing along with the mystery. I’m sure the same holds for many of us. We may write thrillers or mysteries, or science fiction or fantasy, but relationships are a part of life, and chances are our protagonists have them too. Some of the most memorable love stories out there are found in books other than romance novels. Julia Spencer-Fleming comes to mind. So does Dorothy L. Sayers. And Deborah Crombie. So the question of what makes for a good romantic counterpart is something that should be of interest to all of us.

First off, I have to confess that I don’t particularly swoon over either Clooney or Pitt. Or Hugh Jackman or McDreamy or McSteamy or whoever the latest Hollywood heartthrob is. I prefer my crushes fictional, thank you very much. And I’ve certainly had plenty of those up through the years, from Rhett Butler and Sir Percy Blakeney to Janet Evanovich’s Ranger and Elizabeth Peters’s John Tregarth. And for that matter J.D. Robb’s Roarke and Stephenie Meyer’s Edward Cullen. And that last one is in spite of avoiding crushes on the undead as a general rule. I don’t really like vamps.

Lots of variety there, physically speaking. They’re not all traditionally handsome, either. But then, the question isn’t really about the physical, is it? Any type of man (or woman) can be sexy and attractive. Doesn’t matter whether the hero has smoldering dark eyes or dreamy blue ones; whether his hair is the color of sunlight or a curtain of black silk. Or for that matter as red as the setting sun. (Jamie Fraser, anyone?) Whether he’s tall or short, stocky or lean, muscular or a bit of a weenie. Fashions change, and so do people’s perception of beauty. All that matters is that the protagonist finds the love interest attractive, and if he/she is the love interest, then we have to assume that it’s so, don’t we?

For the record, I’m a sucker for the hero with a secret, past or present, that he has to keep hidden. I particularly like the scenario where he plays the part of an ineffectual fop but turns out to be the big hero in the end. (Yes, that’s why Sir Percy’s on the list.) He doesn’t have to be on the side of the angels, either; I’ll take a not-quite-rehabilitated but dashing thief over a plodding policeman pretty much any day. Not that a policeman can’t make a fine hero in his own right. And he doesn’t have to be an alpha he-man type, either; brain over brawn is just fine with me. The one thing I insist on, is that he be charming. I’m a sucker for charm in real life, and it sure helps if a fictional character has it, as well.

So what about you? What do you think makes a perfect love interest? Do you have any fictional crushes you want to share? Who’s the love interest in your WIP, and why did you make him/her that way?

Hook, Line, and Sinker

by Jennie Bentley

As you read this, I’m on my way to Birmingham, Alabama, for Murder in the Magic City, a choice little conference sponsored by their local chapter of Sisters in Crime. I met the arranger during Killer Nashville last year, and was asked if I’d like to participate, and of course I said yes. I’ve been hearing about Murder in the Magic City for years, so the invitation was a real thrill.

It’s a short conference, just the one day, so I’m only doing one panel, followed by a signing session. I’ll be sharing my panel with Maggie Toussaint, Elizabeth Zelvin, and moderator Mary Jane Maffini, with whom I also share a publisher and an editor.

Our panel is quite simply called What. There’s also a panel called Who, one called When & Where, and one called Why. When & Where would be the historical mysteries panel, I think, and the one with the exotic locations, while the Who panel is likely for romantic suspense and that sort of thing. Not sure about Why.

The What panel, and I quote, is about …well, what your books are about. All of you have something distinctive, a hook if you will, or a topic that you delve into in your writing. Organization, home renovations, horse rescue, addiction... How did you all decide to write about what you write about? What's your research process? Is a hook necessary in today's writing market?

Since it’s been on my mind, I figured I’d talk about hooks a little. They are, after all, a huge part of mystery writing today. The traditional mystery, the cozy, the type of book that used to be synonymous with Dame Agatha Christie and Dame Ngaio Marsh—synonymous with mysteries in general—has evolved into something more like a cutesy hobby mystery of the kind that I, and so many others, write.

For those of you who aren’t familiar with me and my books, my gimmick is home renovation. That’s the framework into which the story is set. The story, at its heart—and don’t tell my editor I said this—is a love story. (She thinks it’s a mystery. It’s not.) There’s a mystery there, sure. It frames the romance. Layers, if you will. But if every book is about people, and I believe they are, or at least that they should be, then my book is a romance. At its core, that’s what it’s about. The mystery is background for the love story. The home renovation is background for the mystery.

But I digress.

I started writing about renovating because I was asked to. Berkley Prime Crime wanted a series about a do-it-yourself home renovator, and I had the necessary background for the job. As an aside, let me just say that doing it that way helps with the research. Sure, you can decide to write about something you don’t know the first thing about, and learn as you go, but it’s easier if you already have the appropriate background. It cuts down on the time you have to spend researching, and gives you more time to actually write. And when you have deadlines to meet, that’s an important consideration.

As for how Berkley knew about me and my background, it was because I wrote another book. It featured a Realtor, and there was some home renovation going on in that book, as well. That wasn’t the gimmick of the book—it didn’t really have a gimmick—but there was enough home renovation woven through the story to make someone sit up and take notice.

Now, I should mention that that book never sold, and although I can’t say for sure why, I can tell you that as far as my Berkley editor goes, she read it and liked it, but told me it doesn’t fit their focus on ‘crafts and activities.’ Whether that means that it’s necessary to have a hook in order to succeed in today’s market, I’m not entirely sure.

If you want to write cozies for Berkley Prime Crime, then yes. To write a Prime Crime series, you gotta—as the girls in ‘Gypsy’ said—have a gimmick. If you don’t have a gimmick, then forget it. Or send your book to another publisher, or another imprint. There are lots of them out there, and they don’t all publish books with hooks.

So for what it’s worth, that’s what I’ll be saying this weekend. Now it’s your turn. Do you think it’s necessary to have a hook to succeed in today’s market? Is there a hook in your work in progress? Or if you’re not a writer, in the book you’re reading? If so, do you like that fact? Did you plan it, if you wrote it? And if there isn’t, do you wish there was? Do you think there should be?

Since I’m in the car, and can’t check back, play nicely amongst yourselves.

Oh, and just in case some of you missed it, and because I really like it a lot, here's a peek at the cover for DIY#2, Spackled and Spooked, coming on August 4th, 2009! Pretty, innit?