Category: Yen for Murder

INTERVIEWS: Written and Audio

OPTIMIZE YOUR AUTHOR INTERVIEWS!

Written or audio, interviews are a wonderful opportunity authors to communicate with their readers, listeners, and the general public…

WRITTEN INTERVIEWS
We are fortunate when asked to give an interview without any effort on our part. Like several of my promotional opportunities, my first interview as an author was arranged by my publisher, Geoff Habiger of Artemesia Publishing. It was with Lorna Holland, The Writing Greyhound, a books and lifestyle blogger in Northamptonshire, England. “Interview: Jeanne Burrows-Johnson,” was a chronological look at my background and the beginning of the award-winning Natalie Seachrist Hawaiian Mysteries. Like most interviewers, Lorna was interested in the process of my writing, the progression of my authorship, and the publishing process, as well as the essence of Prospect for Murder. You can read her current work at The Writing Greyhound.

Recently, I was delighted to have a written interview released the day before my 71st birthday. It was based on questions posed by Naomi Bolton of ManyBooks.net. This interview focused on Murders of Conveyance. Publication was scheduled to coincide with the special $.99 pricing on the eBook edition (valid until February 22, 2021), on several internet book retailers. “Jeanne Burrows-Johnson – Visions, False clues, Murder and Hints of a Priceless Treasure” is based on my responses to questions posed by Naomi Bolton, who was especially interested in the convergence of two murders separated by sixty years, a Honolulu scavenger hunt during Chinese New Year, and a hidden jade artifact.

The interview also explored my writing methodology, expansion of the series with Yen for Murder (the fourth completed book), and my current volume, A Spineless Murder. I was especially pleased to be able to discuss Conversations with Auntie Carol, Seven Oral History Interviews with Caroline Kuliaikanu’ukapu “Wilcox DeLima Farias—a project nearing completion after twenty-five years.

AUDIO INTERVIEWS
When I was a young adult working in the performing arts, I sometimes recorded promotional pieces for plays and other events. Today, audio books, podcasts, and even drive-time radio programming, have heightened the popularity of audio interviews in numerous forms. As an author, I began giving talks and audio interviews with the publication of Prospect for Murder in 2016. My initial author audio interview was hosted by Rob Wesson on “The Professionals’ Round Table,” (with the Empire Broadcasting Group). This program highlighted myriad business professionals and I was glad to discuss the essence of my work as a branding and marketing consultant and the transition to being an author of fiction. Click below to hear this interview…

Twice I have been invited to discuss my authorship with Traci Halesvass who hosts “Write on Four Corners” on KSJE. As a retired New Mexico college English instructor, she takes particular interest highlighting the works of authors in the Southwest. Her congenial pace and curiosity about her guests welcomed me to an in-depth conversation about my developing career in mystery fiction from Prospect to Murder to Murders of Conveyance. 

March 6, 2019:
https://www.podbean.com/media/share/pb-4efvz-a9b920

October 23, 2019:
https://www.podbean.com/eu/pb-dwzci-c12784

ADVERTISING VIA INTERVIEWS
Sometimes it is expedient to pay to be interviewed on commercial programming. Such was the case in 2020, when I was preparing for the Tucson Festival of Books. At that time, I scheduled an interview on “Networking Arizona” (KFNX, Phoenix) hosted by Carol Blonder. I was especially pleased that a replay of the segment was scheduled for the middle of the Festival. Unfortunately, the Festival was cancelled, and I later learned that the program had not boosted sales of any of my books. If the Festival had occurred, it might have been a stimulus to potential attendees.

At this time, we are all anticipating that there will be a turn-around in the health of peoples around the world…and a greatly needed uptick in the economy. This will mean a widening of opportunities for in-person activity. Within a year, authors should be able to schedule public book signings and discussions of their work. That will make interviews beneficial, regardless of whether they are by invitation or paid advertisement. Also, it is important to remember that the benefits of advertising and other marketing are accumulative…you can never really know how an event impacts the reader, listener, or viewer over time. It used to be said that a potential customer had to have about six interactions before they would conclude a transaction. You now have to multiply that number at least twice!

Wishing you the best in your creative endeavors,
Jeanne Burrows-Johnson, author, consultant, and motivational speaker

To learn more about the award-winning Natalie Seachrist Hawaiian Mysteries, including Murders of Conveyance [Winner, Fiction Adventure-Drama, 2019 New Mexico-Arizona Book Awards] and other projects, please drop in at my author’s website JeanneBurrows-Johnson.com. You’ll even find Island Recipes that might inspire your culinary creativity.

For more ideas to strengthen your Wordpower© and branding, please visit: Imaginings Wordpower and Design Consultation.

Follow Me:
Amazon, Arizona Authors Association, Apple Books
Audible, Authors Den, Barnes and Noble, Blogarama, Book Bub
Cozy Mysteries-Unlimited, Facebook, Good Reads, Hometown Reads

Book sellers may contact book distributors such as:
Baker & Taylor, Follett, IPG, Ingram, Mackin, Midpoint, TitleWave

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PROMOTION IN QUARANTINE

Cost-Effective Promotion to Advance Your Brand!

The year 2020 came, threatened to conquer the world, and departed. No one I know was left unaffected personally, or professionally. Fortunately, there are signs that conditions in American politics and economics are improving. Sadly, global health is not. For the time being, quarantine from the pandemic remains a necessity, at least for those of us who are older. And even if we venture forth, safety precautions must be observed that preclude much personal interaction. The following blog addresses promotion for authors, but the principles are applicable for marketing many products and services.

REFINING OUR BRANDS
As we move forward in this year, re-examining our status and brand as creative professionals is vital. One of my challenges as an author centers on labelling the genre in which I work. My informative books embrace elements of classic literary fiction. And although the genre of “mysteries” obviously defines the core of my Natalie Seachrist Hawaiian Mysteries, the issue of selecting an appropriate sub-genre is difficult. Some, such as “police procedural” can be eliminated immediately, as my protagonist is a semi-retired journalist. Since my books do not feature profanity, sex, or overt violence, the term “cozy” is generally applied to my books.

Unfortunately, that sub-genre often connotes a simplistic tale with little substance. So, what sub-genre incorporates the protagonist’s breadth of visions, the emphasis on history, detailed multi-culturalism, depth in character relationships, and passages of stylistic prose? Suspense? Paranormal? Historical fiction? Romance? At this point, the general category of “mysteries” remains most appropriate. It’s nice to observe that in Hawai`i, my work is placed in the Hawaiiana section of libraries and bookstores.

MOVING YOUR BRAND FORWARD
Once you have examined and possibly refined the elements of your brand, it is time to determine how you can best promote it in the current and as well as prospective marketplace. You might begin by asking how you normally present yourself in marketing and promotional projects. Do you strongly feature yourself? Perhaps, if you are an author, your protagonist the key element. Like me, the environment in which your stories take place may be dominant.


EXAMINING OUR OPPORTUNITIES
When cost is not an issue, there are myriad advertising options. I’m lucky that much of the promotion of my books is taken care of by my publisher. However, in this tight literary market, I am expected to undertake many aspects of promotion. With three titles in the NS series, I sometimes team with Geoff Habiger of Artemesia Publishing in marketing projects.

As sales and promotion via brick-and-mortar stores and events have been reduced by the pandemic, opportunities afforded by the Internet are increasingly impactful! As I observed in my last blog in the summer of 2020, the success of this type of marketing can be amplified by entrepreneurs of every type. The primary challenge is selecting among the prospects that are appropriate for maximizing outreach to our target audience. The following are some of the cost-effective avenues from which I choose.

~ Book Reviews. Whenever a new book is published, I [or my publisher] submit it for reviews. Traditionally, some of the venues for doing so have more stature than others…either because of the longevity of their existence, their current popularity. For nearly 90 years, Kirkus Reviews have been the hallmark of respected review of published material. While the cost of their services may be considerable, they have remained the most respected in their field. In addition to providing reviews, they offer opportunities to promote publications highlighting text from their reviews of the material. The above ad will soon appear in the Kirkus eMail Newsletter which is directed at a substantial list of subscription recipients.

~ Professional Associations. There are many local, regional, national, and international groups that authors and other creative professionals may choose to join. Some are more appropriate due to the genre in which one works. Which are best for you? Those that are prestigious or least expensive? What opportunities do they provide to their members: educational programming to expand their members’ knowledge and proficiency; invitations for the public to examine member websites and social media pages; the ability for members to directly post links to their websites, social media, podcasts, or other On-line presence? Another important consideration is whether an organization participates in events to meet current and potential clientele?

~ Contests and Awards. National, regional, and state organizations abound with the chance to enter author and artist creations for evaluation and award. Unfortunately, I do not write short stories, which are often the basis for writers’ contests. I have learned that there are opportunities for submitting initial pages of my books. Not long ago, my publisher and I entered two of my books in a book-to-film contest. This meant that we were able to split the cost which benefitted both of us. While we did not win, we did receive useful evaluations. What I learned from the experience is that my work is unlikely to appear on the big screen, it may be appropriate for small screen stand-alone or serial presentation.

~ Websites for Authors and Readers. There are many websites in which both readers and authors can participate…free but often requiring becoming a member. In addition to providing space for book covers, descriptions, reviews, and links to facilitate sales, some websites [both public and via membership] invite authors to submit articles and blogs for the benefit of both authors and readers. I periodically offer commentary to Hometown Reads [Coloration for Authors and Public Speaking to Enhance Branding] and Authors Den [where you’ll find articles and poetry in addition to information on my books]. Such sites sometimes offer opportunities to sell books at a discounted rate during special promotions. They may also provide low-cost advertising events.

~ Book and Art Shows and Fairs. This may be the most expensive form of promotion in today’s suggestions…but far less than long-term advertising. A quick check on the Internet will yield lists of book fairs across the country…and the globe. Local and regional websites of media outlets offer event calendars for book and art shows. Depending on where you live, such events may have been suspended for the time being, but virtual events may still be open for your participation.

Wishing you the best in your creative endeavors,
Jeanne Burrows-Johnson, author, consultant, and motivational speaker

For further discussion of branding and marketing see:
Rainbows of Color, May 2015
Winning Logos & Slogans, October 2015
Harmonizing Branding Elements, August 2016
Book Promotion and Evolving Art, January 2017

To learn more about the award-winning Natalie Seachrist Hawaiian Mysteries, including Murders of Conveyance [Winner, Fiction Adventure-Drama, 2019 New Mexico-Arizona Book Awards] and other projects, please drop in at my author’s website JeanneBurrows-Johnson.com. You’ll even find Island Recipes that might inspire your culinary creativity.

For more ideas to strengthen your Wordpower© and branding, please visit: Imaginings Wordpower and Design Consultation.

Follow Me:
Amazon, Arizona Authors Association, Apple Books
Audible, Authors Den, Barnes and Noble, Blogarama, Book Bub
Cozy Mysteries-Unlimited, Facebook, Good Reads, Hometown Reads

Book sellers may contact book distributors such as:
Baker & Taylor, Follett, IPG, Ingram, Mackin, Midpoint, TitleWave

 

AUTHOR TIME MANAGEMENT

Jeanne Burrows-Johnson

Successful Time Management with a Simple Matrix!

As I wrote the blog that will first appear on Hometown Reads beginning on November 5, 2019, I realized the irregularity with which I’ve been writing for this site. Setting aside the publication of Murders of Conveyance, the third Natalie Seachrist Hawaiian Mystery and two bouts of flu, scheduling my time has been a major challenge to my productivity this year…Thus,  time management has been on my mind.

SUCCESSFUL SCHEDULING
Every professional finds challenges in maximizing productivity. Often the problem exists in both personal and professional living. That has certainly been true for me. The Natalie Seachrist Hawaiian Mystery series is growing, and I maintain two websites, this blog, and two Facebook pages. These ongoing projects are my excuse for untimely scheduling this year. It has seemed that there are several deadlines I have faced each day and while I’m putting out those fires, I’ve failed to follow a simple time management matrix.

STEPHEN R. COVEY & DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER

One of the most important philosophers in my life has been author and business consultant Stephen Covey [1932-2012].  He was a dynamic man who based his secular advice on his personal faith in the precepts of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. His doctoral dissertation was based on analysis of self-help books which he would add to later for the benefit of people of many professions and philosophies. For many of his readers, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People was his most impactful book, which helps to move one from dependence to independence to interdependence. I found the most memorable advice he presented was the Eisenhower Matrix, a decision-making tool for prioritizing one’s activity, which he attributed to U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower. [Note, the President credited the concept to an unnamed college president.]

EXAMINING YOUR INBOX
Consider the following classifications for the items in your existing calendar and inbox:

 A. URGENT, IMPORTANT                   B. NOT URGENT, IMPORTANT
 C. URGENT, NOT IMPORTANT         D. NOT URGENT OR IMPORTANT

Obviously that which is Urgent and Important must be addressed first. This could be the biographical paragraph your publisher has requested for your latest book or a cover letter that you will package with gift copies. Conversely, items that are not Urgent or Important [Quadrant D] should be examined for worthiness; do they even merit being on your schedule? If they are indeed things worth keeping, can you handle them in a more effective way?

For instance, maintaining good relations with colleagues and service suppliers can be vital to your success. But rather than having frequent personal meetings, consider scheduling occasional festive events that include several of these people…or if they are not in close proximity to you, consider meaningful gifting at unexpected times. For instance, rather than sending cards and gifts for Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, or Christmas, consider Thanksgiving, New Year, or even an unexpected surprise at Asian Lunar New Year. As to gifts, consider whether there is something distinctive about your work that would be appropriate. In both fiction and non-fiction, the focus of most of my writing is Hawai’i, so it has been easy to share Hawaiian macadamia nut candy.

Once you’ve dealt with Quadrant A’s Urgent and Important items and the elimination or redirection of the Non-urgent and Unimportant things lingering in Quadrant D, look at the Non-urgent but Important listings in Quadrant C. You have declared them to be urgent; but, they are not important in the abstract. This area of concern includes spur-of-the-moment issues that arise, as well as administrative paperwork and organization.

For me, activity in this area usually focuses on filing—especially the growing number of my biographies. These are written in both first and third person, ranging from two sentences to a couple of pages. Generic ones have a conversational tone and discuss my life in general. Others focus on my fiction [especially the Natalie Seachrist Hawaiian Mysteries]. Academic ones present non-fiction projects like Conversations with Auntie Carol, A Series of Hawaiian Oral History Interviews. Organized by word count, I can quickly determine bios that meet the requirements of an unexpected request. Usually, I then copy/paste contenders into a new document and create a new bio or two that can be folded into the master file.

We have now arrived at the all-important consideration of items within our Quadrant B. Why take it out of order? As Stephen Covey would say, this area of concern should be the essential focus of our attention in setting our daily, weekly, monthly, and overall life schedule. If we constantly work on the non-Urgent but Important areas of our professional and personal life, we will find there are less deadlines to be faced…and eventually experience balanced living. Of course, that does not mean that unexpected emergencies will not occur to encroach on our time periodically.

In preparing for expansion of my career as an author, I’ve faced many issues this year. They have included: redesigning my two websites, learning to insert art and audio files into this blog, creating a professional Facebook page, and completing both Yen for Murder (the fourth NS mystery) and writing an annotated introduction to the Auntie C project [including 74 endnotes]. The overlapping of these projects has been daunting at times, BUT the time spent on future editing should be manageable!

ALIGNING YOUR CALENDAR
Let’s complete our time management exercise by re-examining the contents of our daily, weekly, and monthly calendars from this new perspective. You may have pre-set appointments like children’s schooling and other activities, your own working hours, wellness appointments, etc. Even the scheduling of these could be altered or made flexible.

Are there other parents with whom you might share transportation? Would your employer consider changes in your schedule like a reduction or shift to earlier/later hours, or even remote work from your home? Can you shift medical, dental and therapy/exercise appointments to days of the week or month to harmoniously fill out set blocks of time? Within those preset appointments, you could double your productivity as I do in performing a bit of library research prior to meetings of my authors salon.

How might you delegate some of the work you now undertake personally? Should you hire an accountant for bookkeeping and tax filing? If this is not an option, consider software that can optimize the hours you do invest in this activity. I am fortunate that many obligations I once undertook have passed to my husband who is retired. He now handles shopping, bill paying, and even the preparation of most dinners, allowing me to pursue completion of inspiration in my work.

Like my protagonist, Natalie Seachrist, I am an avid devotee of list making. When I look at items falling within Quadrant B, I have found that several lend themselves to specific times of the year, when other required and/or predictable activity lessens. That usually means there are gaps in my schedule during the winter holiday season and summer, when many people I work with professionally are on vacation. These are the times that I clean out hardcopy folders, sort through old research, rearrange and re-label files. Well, this summer has passed without any of those tasks being addressed…so, I guess you know how my holidays will be spent!

Wishing you the best in your creative endeavors,
Jeanne Burrows-Johnson, author, consultant, and motivational speaker

To learn more about the award-winning Natalie Seachrist Hawaiian Mysteries, including Murders of Conveyance [Winner, Fiction Adventure-Drama, 2019 New Mexico-Arizona Book Awards] and other projects, please drop in at my author’s website JeanneBurrows-Johnson.com. You’ll even find Island Recipes that might inspire your culinary creativity.

For more ideas to strengthen your Wordpower© and branding, please visit: Imaginings Wordpower and Design Consultation.

Follow Me:
Amazon, Arizona Authors Association, Apple Books
Audible, Authors Den, Barnes and Noble, Blogarama, Book Bub
Cozy Mysteries-Unlimited, Facebook, Good Reads, Hometown Reads

Book sellers may contact book distributors such as:
Baker & Taylor, Follett, IPG, Ingram, Mackin, Midpoint, TitleWave

WEBSITE RENEWAL

Jeanne Burrows-Johnson BOOK LAUNCH TO WEBSITE RENEWAL…

IT’S BEEN SO LONG SINCE I HAVE UPLOADED A POST! I can’t believe that half of 2019 has passed! A lot of my work time was lost in experiencing two bouts of flu. The one thing I truly missed has been remaining in touch with those of you who periodically drop in at one of my sites or Facebook. But when I look at the following list, it appears my working in spurts did allow me to accomplish most of my other goals:

~  Murders of Conveyance, the third Natalie Seachrist Hawaiian Mystery, recently launched.  I hope you have enjoyed at least one of Natalie’s adventures in murder. This book is a romp across the island of O`ahu during a Chinese New Year scavenger hunt. Unfortunately, Natalie discovered that her dream of a film noire was actually another of her visions. It was a mid-twentieth century murder, that eerily parallels the crime that occurs in front of the hotel suite where she and PI Keoni Hewitt are staying. To learn more about this and the rest of the series, drop in at JeanneBurrows-Johnson.com.

~  Some of my down days included study in order to enhance aspects of the never-ending joys of Search Engine Optimization. This resulted in my adding art to my blogs…present and past. [Scanning the left side menu of past blogs may reveal topics worth exploring.]

~  I’ve also reshaped ImaginingsWordpower.com, a website with tips for branding, marketing, and development. While brightening its overall appearance, I decided to move articles I’ve written on historic Tucson to my author’s website. At this time, you’ll find the first third of “An Early History of Tucson and Her Cemeteries.“

~  Inspired by the upcoming British Isle holiday of my fabulous editor, Viki Gillespie, I have just completed Yen for Murder, the fourth Natalie Seachrist Hawaiian Mystery. While finishing the remodel of her Auntie Carrie’s cottage, Natalie and Keoni contemplate an antique auction’s catalogue. In it, they discover the image of a Shākyamuni Buddha statue stolen during the commitment of a murder in one of his last cases as a detective with the Honolulu Police Department.

~  Today I’ve completed the redesign my author website, JeanneBurrows-Johnson.com, which will launch later tonight. There you’ll find the first section of “The Growth of Tucson and her Cemeteries.”  I’m also inserting the following audio sample, “Yuletide in Tucson,” a lighthearted piece on historic Tucson. Wish me luck in embedding this for what I hope will be your listening pleasure!

Yuletide in Tucson

I guess that’s a fair amount of work, but I promise to remain in closer touch with you! This includes launching a business Facebook page.

Wishing you the best in your creative endeavors,
Jeanne Burrows-Johnson, author, consultant, and motivational speaker

To learn more about the award-winning Natalie Seachrist Hawaiian Mysteries, including Murders of Conveyance [Winner, Fiction Adventure-Drama, 2019 New Mexico-Arizona Book Awards] and other projects, please drop in at my author’s website JeanneBurrows-Johnson.com. You’ll even find Island Recipes that might inspire your culinary creativity.

For more ideas to strengthen your Wordpower© and branding, please visit: Imaginings Wordpower and Design Consultation.

Follow Me:
Amazon, Arizona Authors Association, Apple Books
Audible, Authors Den, Barnes and Noble, Blogarama, Book Bub
Cozy Mysteries-Unlimited, Facebook, Good Reads, Hometown Reads

Book sellers may contact book distributors such as:
Baker & Taylor, Follett, IPG, Ingram, Mackin, Midpoint, TitleWave

REVIEWING 2018

 

Have you reviewed the highs and lows of 2018?

Every year brings a mix of high and low points. Hopefully, you have experienced positive outcomes in both your personal and professional lives. I’m delighted to say that that has been true for me in several ways. On the personal front, my husband John was declared free of cancer. This September was especially memorable. I was able to visit friends as well as readers of the Natalie Seachrist Hawaiian Mysteries in a visit to the city of my youth, Portland, Oregon—after an absence of more than twenty years.

MERGING OF PAST AND FUTURE
When I used to travel from Honolulu to Portland, I often planned a gathering of friends, which allowed us to catch up on one another’s lives. This was not possible on my last trip. However, each day I was able to see people who mean a great deal to me. The first evening, I saw had supper with Jerry Lesch, one of my favorite directors at the Portland Civic Theatre. We briefly met with my editor, Viki Gillespie, who was delivering marketing materials that I had shipped in advance. Although he was not aware of it, he had met Viki many years earlier during my performance in the play A Shot in the Dark, which Jerry directed. Later, her daughter had taken drama classes with him in high school.

The following morning, Viki took me on a tour of the city. I found that the trees had grown phenomenally and the city seemed much hillier than when I lived there. Later, I enjoyed dinner with my former Highland Dancing teacher, Bonnie McKenzie and her husband Colin, a renowned bagpiper and composer of classical piebroct music. My next event was passing out Hawaiian candy at my 50th high school class reunion. The following week, I gave public addresses at my high school and a combined meeting of book clubs of the American Association of University Women. What a wonderful visit to the past, while gliding more firmly into my public life as an author!

Continue reading REVIEWING 2018

Drawing on Sense Memories

What visions dance in your dreams?

HAVE SENSE MEMORIES IMPACTED YOUR WRITING? 

What are your earliest and favorite sense memories? Most of us think of the five physical senses as we are experiencing them. The toast looks and tastes all right, but it has a slightly burnt smell… I wish the kids would stop screaming, my ears are starting to hurt… I love this faux fabric, it almost feels like my cat’s fur…

THE CREATOR’S SENSORY PERCEPTION
As a writer, or other creative person, sensory perception can be an important element in preparing a stimulating picture via words or graphic images. We may not be aware of it, but the way an image or scent impacts us personally can greatly impact or work. One of the most effective devices for creating believable images is by consciously drawing on our memories. This is because referencing something we’ve encountered personally provides a depth of authenticity in whatever work we are undertaking.

THE TRUTH OF ONE’S EXPERIENCE
This does not mean that we have to reveal our personal circumstances in order to truthfully share a sensory experience. Of course, that may not be true if we are presenting a work that is a memoir or similar personal expression, for which we are obligated to reveal this aspect of our lives. The truth of our sensory experiences can be shared without revelation of the circumstances in which they occur.  Isolating the experience from its original circumstances, can encourage us to revisit the specifics of what we saw, smelled, heard, touched, and/or tasted with greater accuracy.

For example, while we may wish to describe the beauty of a star-lit night from our honeymoon, we do not need to provide details of the circumstances in which we viewed it. Even when we need to describe something we have not experienced, it’s good to seek out the concrete memories of those who have. In describing Shanghai in the 1920’s for Prospect for Murder, I drew on images shared by people whose fascination with the city transcended the actual era in which they traveled. And despite their degree of positive or negative reactions, I was able to utilize their perspectives to provide images of the bustling streets and even the scents they encountered in their sojourns.

In Murders of Conveyance, the third book in the Natalie Seachrist Hawaiian Mysteries [Winner for Fiction Adventure-Drama in the 2019 New Mexico-Arizona Book Awards], my heroine overhears a conversation in Chinese from outside of the building in which she stands. I’m sure we can all think of times when we’ve  accidentally overheard a conversation, whether in a language we speak or not. When I moved to Honolulu at the beginning of the 1970s, there were many occasions in which I heard languages I couldn’t understand, nor even identify. Because I needed my heroine to feel connected to foreign dialogue, I inserted phonetic sounds that allowed Natalie to guess the speakers might be referencing someone she knew.

STIMULATING VOCABULARY
Sometimes we are fortunate to be able to utilize vocabulary or pictures that effectively mimics the images we wish to share.  I find the following words and phrases can bring clarity to a description, sometimes reaching beyond a single sense: wispy; screech; a snapping branch; wrinkled; razor’s edge; staccato; fragmented; shrunken; glassy; whispered; fiery.

The perception of other words often relies on those who read or hear them. Reference to an Upscale dining experience may arouse the taste and ambiance of a five-star restaurant to one person, and a fast-food joint to another. While the phrase Opulent jewelry signifies a strand of synthetic pearls with rhinestones to one reader, someone else may envision weighty crown jewels. Vintage clothing could generate a disco scene from the 1970s for a millennial, whereas someone my age may picture a flapper dress from the roaring twenties—the 1920’s that is. Similar variances can arise with an author or artist’s use of color and shape, as well as a composer’s insertion of pauses, changing rhythms, and escalating tones.

I’m fortunate that many of the images I wish to share in the O`ahu setting of the Natalie Seachrist mysteries practically write themselves: the sparkle and whooshing sound of incoming surf on a moonlit night; the stickiness of teriyaki sauce on a barbecued chicken thigh; the fresh fragrance of a flower lei, the stench of rotting plumeria blooms beneath an aging and neglected tree. But although I bring personal insight to such images, I must avoid cliché verbiage that will bore the veteran traveler. 

YOUR TARGET AUDIENCE
This brings us to a brief discussion of one’s audience…one’s target market. If you’re working within a recognized genre of literature, art, or music, there may be standards to which the majority of your audience will expect you to adhere. If you are striking out on your own to create a variant or wholly new artistic expression, you can move in any direction you wish…keeping in mind that you will need to attract some degree of a following in order to achieve any degree of success.

Accordingly, I sprinkle snippets of pan-Pacific and world history across my mystery plot-lines.  And while I present a fair number menu items within each book, I place actual recipes on my author website, rather than completely bogging down a story.  As to the cast of characters, folio art framing page numbers, chapter aphorisms, and linguistically and historically detailed glossaries, the reader can choose to appreciate or ignore them…

Wishing you the best in your creative endeavors,
Jeanne Burrows-Johnson, author, consultant, and motivational speaker

Tips to enhancing your writing may be found in:
Empowering Your Words, February 2015
Creating Fictional Characters, March 2015
Sidestepping Writer’s Block, April 2015
Communicating with Every Sense, May 2015
Energizing Narrative Passages, September 2015
The Author Recycles, July 2017
Balancing Text & Space, February 2017
Book Series Adventures, April 2018
Drawing on Sense Memories, July 2018

To learn more about the award-winning Natalie Seachrist Hawaiian Mysteries, including Murders of Conveyance [Winner, Fiction Adventure-Drama, 2019 New Mexico-Arizona Book Awards] and other projects, please drop in at my author’s website JeanneBurrows-Johnson.com. You’ll even find Island Recipes that might inspire your culinary creativity.

For more ideas to strengthen your Wordpower© and branding, please visit: Imaginings Wordpower and Design Consultation.

Follow Me:
Amazon, Arizona Authors Association, Apple Books
Audible, Authors Den, Barnes and Noble, Blogarama, Book Bub
Cozy Mysteries-Unlimited, Facebook, Good Reads, Hometown Reads

Book sellers may contact book distributors such as:
Baker & Taylor, Follett, IPG, Ingram, Mackin, Midpoint, TitleWave

MEA CULPA

WHAT DO YOU REGRET IN PAST OR PRESENT WORK?

Your book series is doing well!  This truly is an accomplishment to cherish!  What must you do to ensure your writing career continues on an upward trajectory?  Regardless of whether you have a publisher or self-publish, there are problems that can arise during the complex process of production. Some we must live with and bypass with minimal discomfort. Others we can take steps to remedy in order to bring greater harmony to past as well as present tasks…

PUBLISHING ERRORS
I’ve previously discussed issues an author faces in publishing a series—regardless of genre.  Fortunately, the process of publication is seldom the responsibility of a single person.  Of course, as the author, the quality of the final product reflects on you—for it is you who will be facing the public.

As a reader, as well as an author, I have not heard of a book that arrives in a reader’s lap without flaws of one type or another.  They may be barely perceptible, and actually may be a matter of choice rather than outright error.

DISCOVERING FLAWS
The process of finding errors can be simple or complicated.  In writing a series, you probably have a written or mental list of flaws you’re prone to make.  As I awaited publication of Murders of Conveyance [Winner for Fiction Adventure-Drama in the 2019 New Mexico-Arizona Book Awards] and the publishing of Yen for Murder, I’ve found that the following errors appear frequently:

~  Repeated Words and Phrases
My favorites, myriad and R & R.

~  Overuse of Prepositional Phrases
Mine frequent the beginning of sentences. 

~  Complicated Action
I’ve found scenes in which a character would need three hands to accomplish what I’ve described.  I’ve also struggled to explain how hidden compartments are accessed…

~  Character Flaws
Misspellings of names, and their pronunciation in audio books can easily occur, and did in the audio edition of Prospect for Murder.  Titles of officials and their organizations can be misstated or may change over time.  Evidently my love of British police procedurals produced my mixing of the word detective with the ranks of police officers.  In actuality, most police forces in the U.S. [including Hawai`i], do not do that.  A sergeant with the Honolulu Police Department who becomes a detective is simply referred to as detective, with higher ranking officers being referred to by their rank.

~ Major Errors
You might think that writing fiction means that few errors unrelated to grammar will materialize.  But issues of consistency still need to be addressed.  My own inconsistencies have included changing the floor on which protagonist Natalie has a condo and the color of the truck of her boyfriend and detecting partner Keoni.  While regretting even these minor mistakes, at least they do not interfere with the reader’s ability to follow the story.  I’m not sure the same can be said for the two lines of crossed-through text in Murder on Mokulua Drive.

One thing that cannot be ignored or casually dismissed is the erroneous reporting of a historical fact.  I was particularly embarrassed to discover that in copying and pasting text in the Glossary of Prospect for Murder, I mistakenly dropped a sentence relating to Hawaiian Princess Ka`iulani into the description of Queen Kapi`olani. This is an obvious mistake to readers who are familiar with the lineage of Hawaiian royals and a serious detraction from my desire to share Hawaiian history with a global readership.

VARIATIONS…NOT ERRORS
As a series unfolds, it is to be expected that improvements in writing style and changes in book layout may occur.  This doesn’t mean that earlier editions of books are necessarily flawed.  Happily, my publisher opted to offer embossing on the vibrant cover of Murder on Mokulua Drive.  And, as I like reference material to be readily accessible, we are enlarging the font that introduces Glossary sections.  Similarly, we are inserting spaces before and after the hyphens between author birth and death dates in chapter aphorisms.

WHOSE FAULT?
In truth, no matter how much effort [and sometimes treasure] you invest in maintaining the quality of your work, unexpected flaws can emerge.  They can arise from both overt errors, as well as from actions you failed to take.  Most of my errors come from copying and pasting text and repeating favorite words.  Unless one closely and repeatedly reads the edited text, words may end up out of sequence, or can be wholly missing.

MAKING CORRECTIONS
Having determined the cause of a problem, you face correcting it.  This can be fairly easy with the publication of a digital book, and other on-line pieces…That is, if you are capable of altering the text within the template that generated it. If you cannot do so yourself, you may have to return to the typographical artist who originally laid out the book. If you are not able to reconnect with them, you will have to find a new source of help.  Fortunately, my publisher is working to correct the MOMD Ebook error regarding Queen Kapi`olani.

Matters are more complex in correcting flaws in printed editions. Unfortunately, the error regarding the Queen can only be corrected when further batches of the books are printed.  I wish I could send out errata labels to everyone who has a copy of the book…The one thing I have done is to publish a message of Mea Culpa on Facebook!

AVOIDING REPETITIOIN OF THE CRIME
Once you’ve pinpointed the sources of flaws, you can seek appropriate ways to dodge their recurrence. This challenge is exacerbated in the production of a series.  To keep my projects separate but harmonious, I’ve prepared and continually update detailed reference notes listing aspects of appearance, voice, attire, movement and behavior. I also have spreadsheets that pinpoint chapter elements [such as when Natalie has which vision] and the family trees of major characters.

I’m glad that most of my readers enjoy references to daily life in the Hawaiian Islands—especially food.  There are, however, some who would prefer little discussion of food, beverages, relationships, history and cats.  At this point, I don’t foresee removing these elements from my tales—nor would I detract from plot lines by inserting actual recipes.  However, recipes  that reflect Natalie’s life, local restaurants and menu items one might expect at an Island gathering, do appear on my author website.  This has necessitated my keeping records of the food and beverages I write about for review during the writing of each book.

Fortunately, while outright flaws need to be addressed, developments in an author’s style of writing and the presentation of their work can be things of beauty!

Wishing you the best in your creative endeavors,
Jeanne Burrows-Johnson, author, consultant, and motivational speaker

To learn more about the award-winning Natalie Seachrist Hawaiian Mysteries, including Murders of Conveyance [Winner, Fiction Adventure-Drama, 2019 New Mexico-Arizona Book Awards] and other projects, please drop in at my author’s website JeanneBurrows-Johnson.com. You’ll even find Island Recipes that might inspire your culinary creativity.

For more ideas to strengthen your Wordpower© and branding, please visit: Imaginings Wordpower and Design Consultation.

Follow Me:
Amazon, Arizona Authors Association, Apple Books
Audible, Authors Den, Barnes and Noble, Blogarama, Book Bub
Cozy Mysteries-Unlimited, Facebook, Good Reads, Hometown Reads

Book sellers may contact book distributors such as:
Baker & Taylor, Follett, IPG, Ingram, Mackin, Midpoint, TitleWave

Dreaming Your Way to Success

DREAMSCAPING YOUR WAY TO SUCCESS

Have you heard of lucid dreaming?  This is when a dreamer is fully cognizant of being in a dream state.  Some authors work at learning to control this form of dreaming as a means for shaping their projects, regardless of whether they are focused on fiction or non-fiction.

DREAMSCULPTING YOUR CREATIVE PROJECT
Also called dreamscaping or dreamsculpting, this process allows the dreamer to actively contemplate the contents of a dream while asleep—and to question how these subjects may be relevant to their personal or professional living. Wordsmiths and artists are often encouraged to keep notebooks at hand for recording stray thoughts that can help them maximize future creativity.  This includes placing a pen and paper by your bed for capturing ideas that may materialize during the night. 

Regardless of your type of work, I’m rather certain that you have awakened on more than one morning (or the middle of a night) and thought, “Hmm, that was an interesting dream.  Now what was there about it that I wanted to remember?” 

For those of us relying on random ideas on which to build our shaping of words and images, it can be important to retain unexpected thoughts.  I can report that I have benefited from vigorously striving to record the contents of potentially significant dreams.  And I’ve suffered the disappointment of having forgotten to have the implements for recording anything before falling back into a deep and dreamless state.  The mornings that have followed have been very frustrating.  Far worse than a simple hangover experienced by authors of yore!

MY METHODS OF DRECTING THE DREAMING PROCESS
A simple Internet search will yield instructional resources for learning to implement Lucid Dreaming.  As I’m not a specialist in this field of study, I’ll merely share how I have approached the topic. 

After reading some background material, and discussing the concept with artists, I decided to delve into the process several years ago.  I began my sojourn in this endeavor by placing a retractable pen and small bound book for journaling on my bedside table.  Do note that having a pen without a lid has proven invaluable to my night-time note writing, since I’m rather clumsy and a bit befuddled when rising from a vivid dream.

Most evenings, I spend a few minutes before going to bed contemplating projects I wish to undertake the following day.  Often, this is while rocking in a chair and petting my cat, which I find soothing on several levels.  I then read a few pages of both meditative and mystery books.  After turning off my reading light, I review my to-do list.  I won’t claim that my contemplation of work goals is directly responsible for yielding inspirational ideas during the night.  However, these practices do serve as an off-switch for my overactive mind. 

As anyone attempting to call me in the a.m. will attest, I am not a morning person.  Some of my best work is born in the silence of nocturnal hours.  So prior to entering my pre-sleep routine, I’m already in a creative thinking mode.  The number of hours I spend in sleep varies, but when most people are rising to their own days of productivity, often I am entering my deepest dreams.  While most may seem unrelated to the work I envision undertaking, they are varied in topic and have a film-like quality. 

RESULTS FROM MY DREAMSCULPTING
Having disciplined myself to interrupt the dreaming process, I can now report overall success in benefiting from dreaming with lucidity.  Records of some of my dreams make it into my journal.  Elements of others capture my attention sufficiently to be recalled for several hours after my waking. 

Perhaps the worst challenge that arises from the overall experience, is being forced to fold new concepts into work I may have considered complete.  Sometimes that means reprinting quite a number of pages of text due to a minor edit in their midst.  However, I’m thrilled to report that expanding a character’s role by having her play a bamboo flute has yielded a lovely audio element to that scene… and an interesting twist to the epilogue for Yen for Murder, Book Four in the Natalie Seachrist Hawaiian mystery series!

Wishing you the best in your creative endeavors,
Jeanne Burrows-Johnson, author, consultant, and motivational speaker

To learn more about the award-winning Natalie Seachrist Hawaiian Mysteries, including Murders of Conveyance [Winner, Fiction Adventure-Drama, 2019 New Mexico-Arizona Book Awards] and other projects, please drop in at my author’s website JeanneBurrows-Johnson.com. You’ll even find Island Recipes that might inspire your culinary creativity.

For more ideas to strengthen your Wordpower© and branding, please visit: Imaginings Wordpower and Design Consultation.

Follow Me:
Amazon, Arizona Authors Association, Apple Books
Audible, Authors Den, Barnes and Noble, Blogarama, Book Bub
Cozy Mysteries-Unlimited, Facebook, Good Reads, Hometown Reads

Book sellers may contact book distributors such as:
Baker & Taylor, Follett, IPG, Ingram, Mackin, Midpoint, TitleWave

THE AUTHOR RECYCLES

Is your pen always at the ready?
NEW CREATIONS FROM PAST WORK

Is your pen at the ready at all times? In past blogs I’ve talked about examining your previous work as a writer.  Not only does this allow you to measure your progress, it also provides a pool of sources for new directions in content and style.  I am a member of the National Writers Union and the local chapter recently asked me to be their featured speaker at a monthly meeting.  Often, their speakers read from current projects, but since I’d help to fill in the previous month with a reading of both the Prologue and Epilogue from PROSPECT FOR MURDER [the debut title of the Natalie Seachrist Hawaiian Mysteries], I decided to give a talk on how I’ve recycled parts of past projects.  While there’s nothing novel in this concept, I thought that in detailing how I’d used pieces I’d created during my years in Arizona, I might stimulate my listeners to consider the ways in which they might draw upon works in their own files…

Wordsmiths Don’t Fall into a Single Demographic Description
When you look around any gathering of writers, you’ll find that we’re: Young and old; formally educated and barely literate in the grammatical sense; gifted melodious speakers and hoarsely halting readers; technical prodigies and flawed yet persuasive explorers of every topic imaginable.  The breadth and depth of our compositions are as varied as we are.  And usually, if we’re old enough, such variety will be found spread throughout our individual bodies of work.  

In projects of both fiction and non-fiction, I draw on a background in business, education, and the performing arts.   As might be expected, there is no consistent pattern to my output—except for the decades of public relations, marketing, and design consultation I’ve performed for executives and their profit and non-profit entities. 

Forms from the Past…
In preparing for my talk, I looked over previous work I had drawn upon for recent print, audio, and Internet projects.  Not all were inspirational gems of form, content, or style, but each item I had chosen to re-purpose fulfilled a specific need.  With every new project, I contemplate how the assignment fits within the scope of my professional history.  Not only do I look for concepts, data, and text that may yield something I can reuse, but also the bits and pieces that should be moved to the recycle bin.

…Reshaping for Today and Beyond
This year’s springtime file pruning produced some of everything.  I found business cards, ads, and brochures that could be used for marketing workshops. As I continued my file and closet clearing, I eyed posters and signage that could be augmented with a large artistic label for some future event.  I quickly dismissed them as ineffective for a speech delivered from a podium.  There was, however, one item I could share:  a copy of Stephen Covey’s famous matrix of time and productivity management.  The gist of this true jewel of philosophy is that if we focus on aspects of both our personal and professional lives that are important but not critical, we’ll be better prepared for challenges that may arise.

After a brief introduction of this principle to open my talk, I noted how elements of past writing had been folded into my writer’s blog [for samples, please visit https://www.Blog.ImaginingsWordpower.com].  From project inspiration to background research, through the phases of writing and editing, production, and marketing, I discussed how I select issues that may be of interest to other authors and artists.  In addition to mentioning a few of those blog topics, I provided examples of material I’d chosen to use in recent book projects.

~  When I joined with five other authors to publish UNDER SONORAN SKIES, Prose and Poetry from the High Desert,  I contributed both fiction and non-fiction.  With new and as well as re-shaped pieces, we all expanded our repertoire.  Knowing that publication of  Prospect For Murder was approaching, I included its prologue.   I also featured historical articles such as “The Holidays in Tucson, 1878,” which I read at the NWU meeting.   

~  In  Murder on Mokulua Drive [the second book of the mystery series], I’ve drawn on notes from my studies in history, plus a series of oral history interviews I conducted many years earlier.  This has allowed me to mention the first woman registered to vote in the Territory of Hawai`i in 1920, and to place a major scene in the historic and ecologically significant site of Kawai Nui Marsh.  

~  The compilation of the oral history interviews, Conversations with Caroline Kuliaikanu`ukapu Wilcox DeLima Farias has indeed proven to be an invaluable resource.  Carol was a dear friend seeking to preserve her family’s history, library and other artifacts.   Descended from Hawaiian nobility, her recollections of life in upcountry Maui in the early twentieth century and dancing hula in Waikīkī on December 6th, 1941, delight both readers and listeners.  In reshaping the layout for a book of the seven interviews and an audio edition comprised of the original recordings, I described how this resurrected project is benefiting from the comprehensive glossaries I’ve constructed for the Hawaiian and other non-English vocabulary included in the Hawaiian mysteries. 

~  Finally, I referred to the fourth mystery, A Yen For Murder, for which I examined promo materials I wrote for Highland Games and the Hilo International Festival on the island of Hawai`i during the 1970s.  This led to having Natalie reminisce about hearing a remarkable young woman play the Japanese koto at the Festival…and decades later having that woman, then a Buddhist priestess, become the victim.

In the future, I anticipate giving talks on the authorship process, for which many of these examples will be useful.  Of course, there will also be samples of flawed book covers, changing email addresses, and evolving reviews to reference.  How does all this relate to your work?  Well, I wonder what awaits you when you dive into your own files.  Will you choose to build on your dramatic successes?  Or will you determine that what was once viewed as a failed project may rise to the realization of full and positive fruition?

Wishing you the best in your creative endeavors,
Jeanne Burrows-Johnson, author, consultant, and motivational speaker

To learn more about the award-winning Natalie Seachrist Hawaiian Mysteries, including Murders of Conveyance [Winner, Fiction Adventure-Drama, 2019 New Mexico-Arizona Book Awards] and other projects, please drop in at my author’s website JeanneBurrows-Johnson.com. You’ll even find Island Recipes that might inspire your culinary creativity.

For more ideas to strengthen your Wordpower© and branding, please visit: Imaginings Wordpower and Design Consultation.

Follow Me:
Amazon, Arizona Authors Association, Apple Books
Audible, Authors Den, Barnes and Noble, Blogarama, Book Bub
Cozy Mysteries-Unlimited, Facebook, Good Reads, Hometown Reads

Book sellers may contact book distributors such as:
Baker & Taylor, Follett, IPG, Ingram, Mackin, Midpoint, TitleWave