Archive for the ‘Writing Process’ Category

One of the pleasures of writing this series is sharing my impressions of various places around the Upper Midwest with you, my readers. I am aware that some see this part of the US as “fly over country”, which sounds to me like it’s somehow being deemed as an inconvenience to tolerate between coastlines. I hope that reading my books might convince people otherwise.

Yes, there is a rawness to this place. Sometimes it is in fact bleak with its lack of civilization. But that isolation can be good for the soul. Removal from the constant white noise and blur of other humans, seeming to always crush in around you, can bring a clarity never before experienced. We need to be humbled by our own smallness in the scope of the natural world once in a while. Otherwise, we deceive ourselves into believing that we are in control of the universe, rather than merely being a part of it.

Some of the locations I describe are like old friends to me. I picked my way along deer trails and cow paths through brushy wood and neglected pastures. I traversed ravines above dried out creek beds blanketed with moss. I slipped and slid along sandy gullies left behind by logging machines that removed decades old forests in a manner of weeks. I’ve climbed ancient river bluffs and marveled at the enormous geological events that put them there. And I’ve meditated on the shores of the Great Lakes, feeling blessed that I get to live in such a dynamic and powerful place.

But the Upper Midwest is not as desolate as it may seem. People exist here in small pockets of communities, brought together by either fate or design. And it is through them that I glean my characters, and you get to witness this place through their eyes. They get to experience the history, the successes and failures of progress, the way nature takes back what humans leave behind and makes proper use of it. My characters are affected by their environment as much as by each other.

The location is it’s own character in my series. Book Six will be no exception. I hope you enjoy where I take you next.

Every once in a while, celebrity news programs will do a “Where Are They Now?” sequence of stories about long lost actors from old TV shows of Yore. Some of those famed actors would have gone on to more successful gigs, while others may have simply faded into obscurity.

It becomes very handy for me as a writer to use that same philosophy with some of the minor characters from previous books in the series. For one thing, I don’t have to come up with a new name (which, believe it or not, is harder than it sounds). And if they were really just a foot note, consisting of a paragraph or two, the sky is pretty much the limit on where I can take them in their re-introduction.

Maybe they were a pie-in-the-sky character whose reality never lived up to their expectations. Maybe they were branded a villain previously, and were never given the chance to prove themselves otherwise. Maybe their mold had already been set and they turned out exactly the way you and I expected them to. So many possibilities to choose from.

I reiterate that I am glad that Bernice and Evan met in their mid to late thirties. There’s a good three decades worth of people from their pasts with which to work with. I’m just chomping at the bit to show you “Where They Are Now.”

Well, the 5th book is finally done. I went though all the rigamarole to create a pre-order, offering 20% off. Do you know how many orders I’ve had in the last two weeks? Three.

Where are you?

Where are all you fans who were touting how much you loved my work and couldn’t wait for the next book? Did you mean that? I made you wait, and now you are through with me? Where is that nice lady from New Jersey, or that other nice lady from Texas? Where’s that binge-reading gentleman from Ohio? Have you abandoned me for another author? One with the same genre, but maybe her smart ass heroine is from Iowa instead of Wisconsin?

Sigh….I really wish I could have granted your wishes on demand, but that would have required half-assed writing off the cuff with plot holes big enough to drive a car through. Well rounded characters require back stories, research, and, damn it all anyway, time to come into their own.

So, now, as with every book, I must evaluate my present my marketing and ask myself, “Who’s not finding me?”

There are challenges, of course, first and foremost, my own stubbornness. I don’t enjoy marketing. It seems like one has to be plugged in all the time, and frankly that much external chaos is too disruptive to my internal chaos. More often than not, my phone is out of juice because I rarely use it. It gets the most use during the growing season, because I’m taking pictures of my plants, not tweeting to non-existant followers about random thoughts.

But if it will sell more books, that is what I must do. I must find ways to reach people and stay connected. I need to look at other marketing strategies and actually make an effort to use them. I can’t blame others for not finding me or for losing me if I don’t make the effort to be found, and to stay found.

Stupid marketing. Where are the clairvoyant mystery fans?