Adventures N Writing

I am very happy today to have my good friend Jessica Park share the first chapter of her next book, "Cook the Books," due out in March. If you haven't read a Gourmet Girl Mystery, you need to. They're everything a good mystery should be and more--They're funny, romantic, mysterious(duh) and just plain fun. Do yourself a favor and read the entire series. You won't be sorry! Without further ado... Chapter 1 I have a love-hate relationship with Craigslist. On the one hand, I adore poking through the online classifieds for items I don’t even want—Swedish bobbin winders, chicken coops, vintage Christmas ornaments—and for enviable extravagances that I can’t afford—like the services of someone to come to my house to change the cat litter. On the other hand, I hate getting sucked into the vortex of randomly searching for weird items and unaffordable services instead of looking for what I actually need. For example, at the moment, I absolutely had to find a part-time j...

Okay, so you've been checking out my WIP stuff because that's what I've been posting. Today, I figured I'll post a little bit of the next wine mystery due out in April. And here's a little reminder--Books are cheap gifts! The holidays are approaching and I am a book giver because I know how hard writers work and because I LOVE books. I figure if I can't help support the industry then, I'm a schmuck. And I don't just buy the bestsellers for my family and friends. I tend to look for the new authors, the writers I know who could use that extra push. I think there are so many wonderful, overlooked books out there. I won't go into it because I'll get sad and then angry and then confused and frustrated and I don't want to go there. Basically what I'm telling you is that you should buy books for your holiday gifts. People need to be reading! It's a good thing. And people don't just need literary, make you think and pose questions about l...

When I write a book I have my own process that works for me. I teach this process to the kids I work with and in adult writing workshops. Every writer has her/his own process. If you've been reading over any of my writing series that I've posted on the blog, it gives you a little insight as to how I go about it. One thing I really like to do when creating a book is put together a scrapbook of characters. This gives me a visual that I can thing consistantly refer to. It also helps to study the photos, where I can really think about description and the right words to put on the page. When I do scrapbooking, I cut and paste pictures from magazines of what I think my charcaters look like, where they might live, what their favorite foods are, etc. It's a visual outline for me, and I can come back to it over and over again. I have now started putting together my visual outlines on my computer. Isn't technology great? Since Happy Hour was relased today, I thought it might be a...

I LOVE Thanksgiving. It's my favorite holiday because I love to eat. I think that's a given for many of us, right? Thanksgiving is always at my parents' house. It's been that way forever and I don't see it changing any time soon, as my dad doesn't like to leave his house. I can't really blame him. My folks live out in the country with views of mountains and trees, a pasture and their horses--pretty nice. We don't exactly have peace and quiet in our house seeing that we are directly in the flight path here in San Diego. I can pretty much tell you what flight is going out when they fly overhead about every three minutes. Don't get me wrong. I love this old house--it was built in the 20's and is a Spanish style with the arches and hardwoods and a ghost or two (think I'm kidding?). But no one really says no to my dad. So, it's off to Grandma's house we go for turkey day. On T-Day at my mom and dad's place you can find relatives, frien...

Here is chapter three of Happy Hour. Enjoy! Three and a half years ago... CHAPTER THREE Danielle These things were always so phony. The smiles, the chit-chat, the bullshit. Women in their designer outfits discussing the latest craze in cosmetic surgery and gossiping about which desperate housewife had taken the leap and gone under the miracle worker’s knife. Good God, could it be any more dull than that? Get a life, right? But Danielle Bastillia caved every time someone called and asked her if she would participate in whatever charity event their organization represented. Al thought it was wonderful, explaining how necessary it was to keep good community relations. Sure, that was a part of it. However, for Danielle, it always came down to the charity itself. She was a sucker for kids, animals, anything and anyone stricken. Maybe it was the Catholic upbringing and the inevitable guilt that came with it, but come on? How could she turn down the Leukemia Fund for Children’s Hospital, or...

Lori at Lori's REading Corner has been cool enough to post excerpts from the Happy Hour book, and she's running an awesome promo as well (amazon gift cards, anyone????). Anyway, Happy Hour is on schedule to go on sale late next week, but for now you can still get your pre-order in on the link to the right or off my website at http://www.michelescott.com (if you haven't checked out the new site, please do. There's a yummy recipe up, plus some great contest info for book clubs, etc--and you can see photos of my four legged kid Krissy). I thought I would give readers here a little "taste" of Happy Hour for the week. Here's a partial of Chapter One. Hope you enjoy! Cheers, Michele CHAPTER ONE (Three and a half years ago...) Kat Kat McClintock was late. This was not good. This would not be good. Damn. Damn. Damn. “Okay, boys, listen.” Neither one of her pre-pubescent sons looked at her. They were far too absorbed in whatever new Game Station, Game Cube, Play St...

The sixth book in The Wine Lover's Mystery Series is now available for pre-order. For Nikki Sands' fans, here is a little info: The big day is swiftly approaching for Nikki Sands--Manager of the Malveaux Estates in Napa Valley—and her fiancé Derek Malveaux, who owns the winery. But when they start receiving cryptic messages questioning their belief in fate, things quickly turn fatal… As the wedding grows closer, it seems the entire affair is cursed. A chewing gum fiasco forces Nikki to cut her hair and go platinum blonde. Then Derek's old college buddies, along with an assortment of old flames and frustrating family relations, show up to work Nikki's last nerve. But when Nikki's close pal Simon is shot as he walks her down the aisle, Nikki realizes that she has to find a matrimonial murderer before her wedding becomes someone's funeral. INCLUDES RECIPES & WINE PAIRINGS! Praise for the Wine Lover's Mysteries: "The full-bodied characters, sweet roman...

It's a little late in the day for my post. Sorry to be behind. Wednesdays can be a little disorganized because it's my day to go and teach a very excellent group of 8th graders a writing program I've created. We will work for the year together and each student will write their own book. I've done this program for two years now with 8th graders and I think I learn as much as they do. I love working with kids because they get really involved with the project and their imaginations are amazing. They let go when they discover that I don't give them very many rules in the creative writing process. I've also been fortunate enough to work with Kindergarten and a fifth grade classes last year, and it looks as if I'll be adding third grade into the scheme of things. It's my goal to get kids writing and to enjoy the process of writing stories. Each age group is unique and fun. Today was all about where stories come from and how we begin to develop them. The initia...

Okay, okay. I did not plan to post today, but I am taking time out from the housework to make an announcement. I have a new book now available for pre-order. the official release date is November 5th, but order now because this is a special, limited edition. In the back of the book there are book club discussion questions, an interview with the author (oh that's me) and some cool offerings for book clubs. The book is currently available for those of you who have a kindle. http://www.amazon.com/Happy-Hour/dp/B002RL9KRO/ref=sr_1_8?ie=UTF8&s=digital-text&qid=1255200745&sr=1-8 Also, readers have an opportunity to win a copy over at Lori's Reading Corner http://www.lorisreadingcorner.blogspot.com . Lori will be posting a chapter a day of the book over at her blog, so readers will be able to read the first several chapters, and I will be posting up some tidbits about the book as well throughout next week, including some of the recipes that are in the book. Lori has a grea...

I get asked a lot at writer's conferences about what works and what doesn't in terms of marketing. It's a great question because in this day and age of publishing the writer HAS to be his/her own biggest advocate. They have to be willing to go out there and shout about their book from the rooftops, and then hope that their shouts get picked up by a strong wind that spreads the title of the book and the name of the author from coast to coast. These days there are so many outlets to market a book via social networking, blogs, virtual book touring, etc--it's no longer about the traditional in-store book tour. Besides, in my opinion, book tours only work well for those household name authors. Trust me. I can't tell you how many times I've sat in a bookstore behind a table and been asked where a certain book is located (and it isn't my book). It's quite a humbling experience. So, with all of these new possibilities available to writers, what does work? Honest...