DEBRA H. GOLDSTEIN & ONE TASTE TOO MANY
December 2, 2018 by Jann Ryan in category Jann says . . . tagged as cats, cooking, Cozy mystery, Debra Goldstein
Debra H. Goldstein & One Taste Too Many
Judge Debra H. Goldstein is the author of Kensington’s new Sarah Blair cozy mystery series, which debutes with One Taste Too Many on December 18, 2018. She also wrote Should Have Played Poker and 2012 IPPY Award winning Maze in Blue. Her short stories, including Anthony and Agatha nominated “The Night They Burned Ms. Dixie’s Place,” have appeared in numerous periodicals and anthologies including Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine, Black Cat Mystery Magazine, and Mystery Weekly. Debra is president of Sisters in Crime’s Guppy Chapter, serves on SinC’s national board, and is president of the Southeast Chapter of Mystery Writers of America. Find out more about Debra at www.DebraHGoldstein.com .
Jann: Today we’re chatting with cozy mystery author and Judge, Debra H. Goldstein. We’re going to spend some time today getting to know her, Sarah, and RahRah.
Jann: Maze in Blue, your debut novel, received a 2012 Independent Book Publisher award. What was that like for you?
Debra: Maze in Blue was published by a small company (which ceased operations shortly after the IPPY Award). The company did very little PR and I was such a newbie that being published, attending conferences and being a panelist, and doing book talks and signings was already a heady experience. When I found Maze won an IPPY award, I was over the moon because it was recognition that my passion had value.
Jann: Your second book, Should Have Played Porker, released in 2016. What were you doing during the time between these two novels?
Debra: One thing I was doing was my full-time job as a sitting federal Administrative Law Judge. Somehow that took a lot of my time as did family obligations. In terms of the writing, after my first publisher went out of business in mid-2012, I still had more than six months of scheduled conferences and speaking engagements. I tried to interest agents and editors in doing some with Maze in Blue, but was told to “write something new.” Should have Played Poker was the something new I spent 2013 and the beginning of 2014 writing. When I finished the book, I queried agents and pitched it at conferences with little luck until Killer Nashville. After hearing the first two pages, the editor from Five Star indicated a willingness to read the entire manuscript. A week later, she purchased Poker, but it was so late in the year that the 2015 catalog was full. That’s why it was released in 2016. In the meantime, I wrote short stories and began One Taste Too Many, the first book in what will now be Kensington’s Sarah Blair series.
Jann: Congratulations on the 3 book contract with Kensington Press!! On December 18th, One Taste Too Many, the first book in the Sarah Blair cozy mystery series, will make its debut. Who is Sarah Blair—tell us about this amazing character.
Debra: I love Sarah Blair. She isn’t the perfect protagonist, but could be any of us.
Married at eighteen, divorced at twenty eight, Sarah Blair has nothing much to show for the last decade but her feisty Siamese cat, RahRah, some clumsy domestic skills, and a desire to succeed at her law firm receptionist job. Sarah knew starting over would be messy and a far cry from the life of luxury she led during marriage, but things fall completely apart when her ex drops dead, seemingly poisoned by her twin sister’s award-winning rhubarb crisp.
With RahRah wanted by the woman who broke up her marriage and Emily wanted by the police for murder, Sarah needs to figure out the right recipe to crack the case before time runs out. Unfortunately, Sarah is a cook of convenience who makes things like Jell-O in a Can. That’s why for Sarah, whose idea of good china is floral paper plates, catching the real killer and living to tell about it could mean facing a fate worse than death—being in the kitchen!
Jann: RahRah looks fabulous on the book cover for One Taste Too Many. Did you plan to have a cat in the story from the beginning or did RahRah do a walk-on as you plotted?
Debra: Cozy mysteries often include cooking, crafts and cats. When I began plotting One Taste Too Many, I realized there were a few areas I wasn’t very proficient in – cooking, crafts, and cats. Consequently, I researched each of these and decided Sarah would be a cook of convenience who lacked any craft skills and had a cat named RahRah. The more I played with the cat, I knew having RahRah simply be a walk-on character wasn’t fair to him (in other words, he talked to me and told me he needed to be a prominent figure in the series). The more I wrote, the more RahRah developed. He’ll be making an appearance throughout the series.
Jann: What about book 2 and 3? Can you give us any hints about them?
Debra: Book 2, which will come out in October 2019, is called Two Bites Too Many. In that book, Sarah will once again be forced into solving a mystery when it appears the police believe her eccentric mother murdered a prominent member of the community. In book 3, tentatively titled Three Treats Too Many, competing restaurants and dishes are bad enough, but murder complicates everything.
Jann: What kind of writer are you? A page a day or a burst writer?
Debra: I envy people who can write a certain number of words per day. I can’t. I write in spurts or bursts. Often, I go days without writing, but I have come to realize plotlines are percolating in my sub-conscious. When I finally write, it flows, and I lose all track of time.
Jann: What’s the best writing advice you ever received?
Debra: Having been orphaned twice, the best advice I received was “write something new.” If I hadn’t taken this advice and had simply kept trying to find a home for the books that were meant to be the first in a series and are now standalones, I wouldn’t have written the new Sarah Blair series I’m so excited about, my writing wouldn’t have improved, and I would never have had almost forty short stories published since 2012, including “The Night They Burned Ms. Dixie’s Place” (Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine – May-June 2017) which was a 2018 Short Story Agatha and Anthony finalist.
Jann: Do you listen to music when you write?
Debra: Each of my books have been written with show music inoNE the background.
Jann: What sound or noise do you love?
Debra: I love the sound of show music. I can’t carry a tune, but listening to the lyrics is what makes the music work for me.
Jann: What profession other than your own would you love to attempt?
Debra: I was lucky to have a legal career that included time as a litigator and a judge before I decided, a few years ago, to give up my lifetime appointment to follow my passion for writing. The only other career that might be fun, and which I get to do aspects of when I do a book talk, is comedy.
Jann: Debra, it’s been great spending time with you today. Wishing you and yours a fabulous holiday season. Looking forward to reading One Taste Too Many!!
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Featured Authors of the Month: Bethlehem Writers Group
December 1, 2018 by Bethlehem Writers Group in category Featured Author of the Month tagged as Bethlehem Writers Group, BWG, Featured Author of the Month
Featuring Bethlehem Writers Group, LLC
The Bethlehem Writers Group, LLC (BWG), founded in 2006, is a community of mutually supportive, fiction and nonfiction authors based in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. The members are as different from each other as their stories, spanning a range of genres including: children’s, fantasy, humor, inspiration, literary, memoir, mystery, paranormal, romance, science fiction, women’s fiction, and young adult.
BWG has published five anthologies. Each anthology has an overall theme—broadly interpreted—but includes a variety of genres, and all but the first anthology include stories from the winner(s) of The Bethlehem Writers Short Story Award. Their first anthology, A Christmas Sampler: Sweet, Funny, and Strange Holiday Tales (2009), won two Next Generation Indie Book Awards: Best Anthology and Best Short Fiction.
Besides anthologies and yearly writing contests, the group publishes a quarterly literary journal, The Bethlehem Writers Roundtable, and hosts twice monthly writing workshops and a critique groups for local members. You can see the schedule of BWG meetings and events, including author signings here.
About A Christmas Sampler
Christmas is a time for love, laughter, and wonder. A Christmas Sampler: Sweet, Funny, and Strange Holiday Tales, is an award-winning compilation of twenty-three Christmas stories commissioned by the Bethlehem Writers Group to capture all of Christmas’s myriad possibilities.
Paul Weidknecht’s “Those Things Remembered” is about a long-time mall Santa who realizes he has forgotten a child’s name. Courtney Annicchiarico believes against all evidence that she is pregnant in “Mis-conceptions.” Hilarity reigns in Headley Hauser’s explanation of a bachelor’s Christmas traditions in “A Modern Single Holiday.” In Carol L. Wright’s “You Better Watch Out” a small-town lawyer takes on a mystery when Santa falls from her roof three weeks before Christmas. In “Walter and Stella,” by Ralph Hieb, Walter finds himself dead on Christmas Eve, but refuses to leave his beloved alone for the holiday. And in “The Perfect Gift,” Emily P. W. Murphy explores that moment in a relationship when one partner is ready for marriage, and the other seems not to notice.
This premier anthology also features stories by Jeff Baird, Carol A. Hanzl Birkas, Cindy Kelly, Jerome W. McFadden, Stanley W. McFarland, Sally Wyman Paradysz, Jo Ann Schaffer, and Will Wright.
These heartwarming, hope-filled, and hilarious tales will delight readers of any age.
Next up for BWG
BWG is working on their sixth anthology, Fur, Feathers, & Scales: Sweet, Funny, and Strange Animal Tales.
In connection with this anthology, they are hosting The Bethlehem Writers 2019 Short Story Award. The 2019 Short Story Award will open on January 1, 2019. The theme will be Animal Stories,broadly interpreted. Stories of 2,000 words or fewer about WILD ANIMALS, PETS, or IMAGINARY BEASTS will be welcome (so long as an animal is an important character or element of the story). The winner will receive $200 and may be offered publication in the above mentioned upcoming anthology. The 2019 guest judge will be John Grogan, best-selling author of Marley & Me.
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Dear Extra Squeeze Team: Do I REALLY Need an Agent?
November 30, 2018 by The Extra Squeeze in category The Extra Squeeze by The Extra Squeeze Team tagged as Agents, Extra Squeeze, Newbie Questions
Dear Extra Squeeze Team, Do I REALLY need an agent? What can they do for me that I can’t do myself? Are they worth the money?
Rebecca Forster
USA Today Bestselling author of 35 books, including the Witness series and the new Finn O’Brien series.
If you want to play with the big boys then, yes, you need an agent. They will negotiate for you, they will field opportunities you may not have the expertise to deal with (case in point I had a contract with an Italian publisher I did myself and found I needed my agent’s guidance for tax purposes. Wish I had let them handle it). An agent can manage tricky creative questions with your editor. An agent will be the first to hear of new publishing opportunities – new lines coming out, changes being made that might affect yours. Having an agent also gives you street creds. If you are going to publish as an indie you don’t need one, of course.
Robin Blakely
PR/Business Development coach for writers and artists; CEO, Creative Center of America; member, Forbes Coaches Council.
Anything an agent can do, you can do better—as long as you have enough knowledge, connections, and experience. An agent is worth the money if you need help navigating the industry. An agent is worth the money if you do not already have an indomitable entrepreneurial spirit working to build your career in the face of a highly competitive industry. The choice of working with an agent or going solo is entirely up to you. You certainly do not need an agent if you plan to go indie. You most likely cannot go it alone to the highest levels if you plan to go traditional.
H.O. Charles
Cover designer and author of the fantasy series, The Fireblade Array
I was speaking to a couple of friends in the non-fiction world who wouldn’t have been able to get the lucrative deals they had without an agent. They had nothing but praise for their agents, especially when it came to sorting out problems with the publisher (international rights). That said, there are agents and agents. Some are fabulous and will work their socks off to help you. Others are terrible and will never do anything for you. If you self-publish, you don’t need any of that, but you will have to put in a little more work yourself for the same gains.
Jenny Jensen
Developmental editor who has worked for twenty plus years with new and established authors of both fiction and non-fiction, traditional and indie.
The answer depends on what it is you want.
You’ve written a book so now it’s time to take it to the next level. If having a traditional publisher is the one thing that will satisfy you, then you will need an agent. They say hen’s teeth are rare, but not as rare as a legitimate publishing house taking an unsolicited manuscript. An agent’s job is to champion your work to publishing houses. If she is successful, l then you have a publisher- at a cost. The agent will receive a percentage of any contract she sets up and a publisher will take a further percentage of sales.
I’m not demeaning those percentages; after all both agent and publisher have earned it but chances are, you’ll have to be the Champion of your work anyway. By champion I mean you will have to make the effort to market and publicize your work so that it will stand out to potential readers – stand out from the thousands of books posted daily on Amazon, Smashwords etc., or the hundreds of printed books on the shelf. Unless you’ve created a ground-breaking runaway akin to Hunger Games it’s unlikely that the publisher will do more than simply produce and distribute your physical book. For that service the publishing house takes its percentage of sales.
If you’re willing to take the time required to try to find a good agent – query letters, samples, response time – there is no reason not to at least give it a try. Unless Amazon et al change tactics you always have the option of Indie publishing should no agent work out for you – no agent required. In that case know that you have a marketing road ahead for you to personally strategize and implement in order to generate sales and the – all important – reviews.
Indie publishing is an ever-evolving critter and it’s a full-time job just to keep abreast of new developments nearly every day. (I’m amazed my clients have the time to write.) Amazon’s ever-changing algorithms give me a headache; I don’t pretend to understand them all, but that has created a need. That need has given rise to a new indie publishing niche – the Virtual assistant or VA. These are people who you pay a fee to deal with your social media. There are also agents who specialize in Indie authors and look for review options, seek foreign markets, manage rights, etc. Of course, there is a fee and many of them earn it righteously. The decision to take on an author will be based on sales history by volume and price.
The success of a book has costs – either in the author’s time and effort to market or in a share of sales dollars. Whether you have an agent or not, success ultimately depends on content. Be sure your work is the best you can make it.
Geralyn Corcillo Featured Author
November 29, 2018 by A Slice of Orange in category Apples & Oranges by Marianne H. Donley, Featured Author of the Month tagged as Bestselling Author, Featured author, Geralyn Corcillo, romantic comedy
Gerayln Corcillo Featured Author
When she was a kid in Scranton, Pennsylvania, Geralyn Vivian Ruane Corcillo dreamed of one day becoming the superhero Dyna Girl. So, she did her best and grew up to constantly pick up litter and rescue animals. At home, she loves watching B&W movies, British mysteries, and the NY Giants. Corcillo lives in a drafty old house in Hollywood with her husband Ron, a guy who’s even cooler than Kip Dynamite.
Geralyn is not only an author of romantic comedy and women’s fiction novels, novellas, and short stories, she is also an avid and eclectic reader. You can read her book reviews here on A Slice of Orange, in her monthly column Things That Make Me Go Mmmrrh . She loves to connect with readers on Facebook and Twitter—drop her a line or leave a comment here.
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Balancing the Toddler-Mom and Writing Lives—Achievable or Myth? by Melinda S. Collins
November 28, 2018 by A Slice of Orange in category Guest Posts tagged as Balancing, Kids, Moms, writing
Balance. My goodness, I have a love/hate relationship with this idea of having enough time for everything in my life—dayjob, daughter and hubby, keeping the home in a semi-state of controlled chaos, reading, writing the next great American novel. Oh, and taking time out for myself so I don’t lose my mind.
Every now and then I’m able to get into a good juggling rhythm. By every now and then I mean about every 1-2 months. Because, Murphy’s Law, if anything can go wrong, it will. Which means one can only wonder whether balance is truly achievable or just a big ‘ole myth.
Over the last few months, I’ve thought quite a lot about my own balancing act, and that lead me to first review the definition via Webster’s online:
Balance [bal-uhns] Noun
- A state of equilibrium or equipoise; equal distribution of weight, amount, etc.
- Something used to produce equilibrium; counterpoise.
- Mental steadiness or emotional stability; habit of calm behavior, judgment, etc.
While each of these definitions are on point, that last one is the epitome of my current life goal: creating a habit of calming behavior so I can have mental steadiness and emotional stability.
So now you may be wondering how the hell I’m going to manage that achievement, eh? I hear you. I have a job in the managed healthcare industry that I am very good at and really love (most days), a headstrong, energetic, and fast-growing two-year old daughter (read: stubborn, exhausting, and teething), a wonderful, supportive husband, a home I love but never devote enough time to its upkeep, and a novel I finished 2 years ago that needs heavy revisions so I can finally get it into the inboxes of the dozen agents/editors who’ve requested pages. Amongst all of that, I’ve got additional aspirations for furthering both my managed care and writing careers, expanding our little family (soon-ish), and getting my daughter involved in group activities. Whew! I may have been hit with a little anxiety just typing all that out.
So yeah, how the hell am I going to manage all of this? Well, luckily that wonderful husband I’ve mentioned has committed to my dreams in the same way I have, because in order for me to obtain the balance I need, his foundation of love and support will be invaluable (I’m also providing the same to him for his dreams). And because of that, I can confidently share my top five tips for balancing the writing and mom life while keeping your sanity… cause it’s not a myth. smile
- Know your priorities. For me, family will always come first, no matter what. As long as my family is happy, loved, and functioning, everything else in my life is a bonus. This is where my dayjob comes into play as well, because my pay check greatly contributes to the roof over my family’s heads and the healthy, homemade meals they get every evening.
- Goals are a non-negotiable. Without an end goal in mind, you cannot create a roadmap to achieving that said goal. Part of my 2019 goals includes making myself accountable to not only my family, but a critique partner. Next month I will send them my writerly goals for the first quarter of 2019, then I will sit down and create my roadmap for meeting those goals by the end of March. Then rinse and repeat for quarters two, three, and four. *smile*
- Schedules are a necessary evil. Without a schedule, all you have are the destinations (goals). So in order to say you know how to achieve your goals, you need preplanned, dedicated, uninterrupted work time. For me that means every Saturday from 7am to 4pm is sacred. I work between forty and fifty hours any given week, and my boss will tell you that in that time I complete the work of 1.5 people. This means that during the week it’s very hard to do anything writerly unless it’s a simple beta read, because, let’s be honest, by the time dinner and bath time are done and the kid’s in the bed fast asleep, it’s nearly 8:30 and I’m t-minus one hour away from passing out myself. So as long as I have dedicated time to work on my writing, I can allow the chaos of family life to overtake my weeknights without worry.
- A solid support system is key. In order to even stick to the schedule you’ve set, you need a support system that’ll not only make sure the toddler’s fed, changed, entertained, and safe, but also remind you they are sacrificing their time in order for you to have those few, precious hours. Lately my husband and I split our weekends: I have Saturday until 4 and he has Sunday until 4, after that time on both days we spend time with our daughter together. Each Saturday he’ll tell me to get my writing done, which is both a wonderful support and reminder that he’s counting on me to use my time wisely. And not just him but the critique partners who then take their time to review my work and provide invaluable feedback.
- Be accountable to yourself, first and foremost. None of the above will work if you are not going to be accountable to yourself. After all, the main person you’re letting down by not achieving your goals is YOU. I’ve learned this the hard way, over and over again and, truth be told, I’m sick and tired of setting goals and never being able to check them off as complete, because I know that eventually what’ll happen is ten years will go by without a damn thing accomplished and I’ll be nothing but regretful and disappointed in myself. And that’s not the example I want to set for my daughter.
BONUS TIP
Celebrate. Every. Accomplishment.
When my kid actually follows instructions and puts away all the canned food she stacked throughout the kitchen? cheers REWARD.
When she lets me drop her off at daycare without a five-star, soap-opera-worthy dramatic meltdown. cheers REWARD.
And here’s my favorite: When she actually pees in her potty vs the bathroom floor? cheers REWARD.
Seriously. The reward system works, and it’s not just for kids. Even as adults, celebrating every accomplishment, no matter how small, sends a signal somewhere in our brain that then keeps us motivated to do more. To reach higher. To push ourselves beyond our limits because we can do this!
Because I need to drink my own Kool-Aid on this one, here are the writerly accomplishments I’m going to celebrate this week, as they will push me into the next project like nothing else:
- I am a two-time Lawson Academy Immersion Grad. This means I not only participated and stuffed my brain with a ton of amazing craft lessons via online classes, but I immersed myself in those lessons for 5 days with Margie Lawson and small group of like-minded writers.
- My second novel, Retribution, placed first in its category in the 2013 MCRW Melody of Love contest.
- My latest novel, Case of Magic, has a dozen requests from the editors/agents I’ve pitched to at conventions.
- My first venture into the short story world, One Night in December, will be released as part of an amazing anthology, Once Upon the Longest Night, on December 21st—the Winter Solstice, aka the longest night of the year. (How brilliant is that?)
‘Scuse me a second while I fix a celebratory cocktail.
Ok, so in closing… while I’ve been cooking on the things I need to do to obtain balance in my life, trust me when I say that it wasn’t until these last few weeks that my eyes were opened WIDE. Because of that, my drive to hold fast to these tips, follow and incorporate them every day has only grown ten-fold. And if I can make someone else’s life a little easier by sharing my hard-learned balancing lessons? Well, that’s a cherry on top of the messy cake known as my life. J
Happy writing! cheers
Melinda S. Collins
Paranormal & Urban Fantasy Author
www.melindascollins.com
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