Monday, October 7, 2013

Who is Lorna Collins?


My dear friend and fellow writer, Marilyn Meredith, is my guest today talking about me as well as my alter ego in her latest book, Spirit Shapes. Be sure to enter the contest, and next time she may write about you!


Who is Lorna Collins?

In real life, Lorna Collins is many things: wife, mother, writer, techie and good friend to many, including me. We share our birthdate (though I’m much older than she is) and have learned through our friendship that we have many traits in common. I won’t list them here, but at times it can be rather amazing.

One thing I would like to mention though, is both of us like to write about ghostly events. She created a wonderful ghost character in her latest, Ghost Writer. Not all the supernatural entities in Spirit Shapes are as friendly.

Lorna won my last contest and has a character named after her in Spirit Shapes. Lorna Collins, in this latest Deputy Tempe Crabtree mystery, isn’t much like the one I know.

My character, Lorna Collins, is a ghost hunter. My friend has had many jobs and interests, though I don’t think this has ever been one of them. The character is tall with white hair; my friend is short with an abundance of dark hair.

What the two do have in common is no fear of ghosts and the ability to take charge in a bad situation.

My friend, Lorna, is hoping that Lorna Collins, the ghost hunter will turn up in another Deputy Tempe mystery. That might happen. I don’t know right now, but it is certainly a possibility.



Spirit Shapes: Ghost hunters stumble upon a murdered teen in a haunted house. Deputy Tempe Crabtree's investigation pulls her into a whirlwind of restless spirits, good and evil, intertwined with the past and the present, and demons and angels at war.

To buy direction from the publisher in all formats:

Also available directly from Amazon.
 

Marilyn Meredith is the author of over thirty published novels, including the award-winning Deputy Tempe Crabtree mystery series. She borrows a lot from where she lives in the Southern Sierra for the town of Bear Creek and the surrounding area, including the nearby Tule River Indian Reservation. She does like to remind everyone that she is writing fiction. Marilyn is a member of EPIC, three chapters of Sisters in Crime, Mystery Writers of America, and on the board of the Public Safety Writers of America. Visit her at http://fictionforyou.com and follow her blog at http://marilynmeredith.blogspot.com/


Contest:

The person who comments on the most blogs on this blog tour will have the opportunity to have a character named after him or her in the next Deputy Tempe Crabtree mystery.


Tomorrow I’ll be visiting at: http://terryambrose.com 

Wednesday, September 18, 2013

Making Video Trailers



I’ve been working on video trailers for all our books. I finally finished the last ones. I doubt they make much difference in book sales, but I think they are a fun way to introduce readers to the books. Most of them are posted on our website.


A lot of people spend a great deal for professional videos for their books. I must admit I’m too cheap for that!


Mine are put together using PowerPoint and Microsoft MovieMaker. Choosing the right music is the biggest challenge. Fortunately I have over 10,000 songs on my iTunes, nearly all of them from CDs I own.


All of the trailers are now on YouTube:



An Aspen Grove Christmas: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2CA0x1K575Y
















What do you think about video trailers? Do they encourage you to read books? Do you enjoy seeing them? Let me know.




Thursday, September 5, 2013

Anniversary Dinner




Yesterday, September 4, was our forty-eighth wedding anniversary.


Larry got home from jury duty hot and tired. It was much too warm to cook, so we finally decided to repeat our wedding supper.

Just like this year, we were married on the hottest day of 1965 in a church (Marengo Avenue Methodist Church in Alhambra, California) with no air conditioning. The wedding was at eight at night to try to avoid having to serve a meal, small children, and some of the heat. We succeeded on the first two counts...

Four hundred twenty-five people attended a truly memorable service during which my veil kept drooping. But all that mattered was we were finally married.

The day had been really hectic, and neither of us had eaten. We had a cake and punch reception. (Try to get away with that today!) Since we were mere children—I was only one week past my nineteenth birthday, and Larry was twenty-one—and we had to pay for most of the wedding ourselves, this was easier. I worked for the baker, Mr. Brown of Lucille Brown's Bakery, so he gave us the cake as his gift. (It was truly the most beautiful one he ever made.)


Mom had prepared cold cuts and salads back at the house after the service, but we wanted to get on the road to Crestline. (Larry’s folks were members of the old St. Moritz Club, and they rented us a ‘chalet’ for our honeymoon.)

We were driving out the freeway after ten at night when we both realized how hungry we were. We pulled off at Peck Road in El Monte and ate hamburgers at Denny’s. (I was and remain a cheap date!)

So last night, we went to Denny’s again!