Okay so it’s not all about Sisters in Crime, a writing club worldwide for women mystery/crime writers. I joined because they once had great articles and podcasts about writing and especially crime.
Recently, I found I’d spent needless dollars for a group which had gone totally woke. I am generally non-PC or neutral in my writing, but I am all about crime. I want to hear, read, listen to podcasts about crime writing. Not politics.
Gah. Not a crime podcast for an entire year about crime.
So I removed my emblem from my website featuring Sisters in Crime. I wrote to them via email, asking them to discontinue my subscription. And I’d like my money back. I’m off their facebook site. Just. No.
Do you have the discipline to write, read, and get down time in your day?
Hmm
got it! got it! yay!! it’s three a.m.! oh.
ahhhhhhhhhh
I DO NOT.
Pfft.
Because I have a contract for “Glass Slipper,” I have been binge-writing. I need time to do some more reading.
Have you a cloning machine? Do you need to have a cloning machine? Me too … and the writing one needs to type faster and rewrite as consciously as possible.
AND NOW WE HAVE CHICKENS.
Twelve.
I think they are mostly roosters but I can’t tell. Yet. So we handle these chicks a lot.
Barred Rock Chickens (these are pullets- very young hens. I think they are pullets)
6 weeks old pullets (wee hens) what we have
Hopefully they’ll be at this point SOON. (Hens, right here) 6-8 pound hens.
the most pampered chickens ever
Roosters and 10 pounds – why they are meat chickens …
I know you have projects (like gardens, knitting, baking, cooking for huge families, cows, chickens, goats, sheep, etc), and I want to know what takes up your time – eating into reading and writing!
Writers, tell me please your process. I love hearing from other authors what their process is, do you write by the seat of your pants? Do you plan? Do you do both? How do you build your characters? Before, during, or after the inciting incident? Do you interview them beforehand like you’re the journalist, or use a program?
And last, do you know the beginning, middle, and end before you start? Truth be told I flailed through my first manuscript. I found for my next novel, a software to help develop plot, characters, plot arc, and character arc. So I guess I’m a planster. A bit of both, seat of the pants and planning.
AND my corkboard. So old school, but nothing gets LOST in the midst of a downed internet.
OKAY. Your turn.
Your favorite genre (to write/read)
Planner, pantster, or planster?
Old school?
Programs?
Major distractions?
Binge reader? Binger writer? Or both?
Now it is YOUR turn. Like, subscribe, comment, share (if you so want).
Still on my down-time for reading after publication of “Rules of Engagement.” Whew, 5 days, 4 books, and counting. I am going for another 5 or more before returning to “Glass Slipper.”
Speaking of, “Glass Slipper,” still set in Whiskey River, Oregon, will take on a new look. You won’t know it however, because you haven’t been exposed to the rest of the manuscript I do have. Anyone else have that issue? I don’t mean rewriting/editing. Clear as mud, right?
So I’ll leave it up to you to ponder what I could be up to. It is still a sequel to “Romance Under Wraps,” that much I’ll give ya.
Since I like to keep posts short so your eyes don’t glaze over, I am skeletonizing (forming the bare bones, the framework, the blueprint, outline … oh you get it) the sequel to “Rules of Engagement,” where it looks to already be a sit-down-and-chew-yer-nails read. This will be in the style of “Rules of Engagement,” and is an intrigue/thriller. Again, a lot of players.
I do have a Work-in Progress (aka WIP) title but that’s just so the manuscript doesn’t say, Work in Progress (which we too, all are, not just our manuscripts, but I betcha I can find that as an actual book title).
What are you reading? What’s you’re favorite genre? I really do want to know, so *like, *subscribe, and *comment.
I’m excited to announce that “Romance Under Wraps” is on sale for 99 cents. One week only. Midnight (PDT) June 30th to 11:59 pm (PDT) July 7th. Alrighty then. I asked the publisher why ‘Romance Under Wraps.”
Romantic suspense, clean read, with a dash of police procedural.
Some folks just can’t stop breaking the law…
I can’t tell you how fun this is. I’ve been looking forward to a near-giveaway for months, and Deb Haggerty from Elk Lake Publishing said, “As you wish.”
Well, you know what I mean. And Deb doesn’t look like Wesley. Which is a good thing.
So this is the perfect time to storm Amazon and pick up a kindle copy for 99 cents!
no, it’s better than a TV!
“Romance Under Wraps” is also available paperback, Audible, and Kindle Unlimited.
She’s an identity thief with partial amnesia impersonating a nurse practitioner—trying to go straight. When one of her patients dies a mysterious death, she is faced with an agonizing decision. When evidence points to murder, she must overcome her fear of prison for the truth. Her biggest problem is the cop who caught her.
Rick Calhoun is a homicide detective who knows more about Cade than she does. When he finds a murder scene and catches up with Cade, the chase begins.
She tries to keep her lies straight, and it’s a job while tending patients and opening a bakery. He has to keep the investigation quiet, tend to his homicide cases, and keep Cade out of trouble.
Cade’s biggest worry is the detective who found her. He’s onto her, and she‘s stuck. Calhoun’s biggest problem, he is in love with her and will sacrifice anything to give her safe passage.
Love means never having to hear your Miranda Rights …
I never thought I’d read about, and like, a scam artist and identity thief. But I just did, and I do! Who wouldn’t like Catherine Cade and her effort to get her memory back, and her witty repartee, and her exploits? And who wouldn’t like Calhoun, her sexy detective boyfriend? “Romance Under Wraps” has as many ups and downs and twists and turns as a rollercoaster and just as much action. If you like fast-paced mysteries laced with romance this is the book for you. A very enjoyable read. I give O’Sullivan 5 stars for this debut novel. ~Nadia
In a heart-wrenching story about losing one’s sense of self while driven with a ferocious instinct to survive, Romance Under Wraps dazzles readers with its exploration of love and redemption. It is insanely relatable for anyone who’s found themselves questioning their faith. Cade and Calhoun work together, albeit not easy at first, to show the world how love, alongside God, brings redemption to even the most cunning of sinners. ~ Kara Kelley
Yesterday, someone with a long history of working forensics asked me why I write crime fiction. Well, I write a combo of crime/romance or thriller/romance but that’s neither here nor there.
I thought it through and it didn’t take long.
Here it is:
“I write (romantic suspense) crime fiction primarily because of the evil I have seen in the world, the crimes perpetrated by others, and people so hurt, so lost, that they need a message of hope. I write specifically to a crime or serial killer with an obstacle standing in the way of the main character’s ability to find the suspect as well as a subplot for the main character, an obstacle for him/her to overcome emotionally/spiritually.
Everyone has a wound, physically, emotionally, spiritually. Everyone has physical obstacles to overcome whether the huge stack of dishes caked with eggs, cheese, and no dishwasher or a crime, a villain, and the chase. These elevate people (I pray) that they see something in their mundane lives that they can relate to (the chase, the doing of, the dishes, whatever) and give them a message, one of redemption.
I was a nurse practitioner and saw a lot of evil. Patients in need, ignored. I also have taken forensics classes and I give the main character a good pile of evidence for the main character through forensics (which is a lot like performing a history and physical, examining labs, imagining, diagnosing, chasing down the ‘villain’ of the body). Also I understand redemption and prayer, overcoming physical and emotional obstacles, as well as spiritual. And that’s why I write crime fiction.”
She emailed me back and said in her twenties she’d seen much of the same.
Yes, I agreed with her statement, “It’s heartbreaking.” Indeed it is, and folks, even by being entertained, often need a hope, for someone to understand, even if it’s on a subconscious level.
Perhaps some of you could relate on a level of fear from not knowing who you really are. Or running from abuse. The life of indecision or shame? If you are one of many who has backslidden, or never really made a decision, consider reading “Romance Under Wraps.” The message of hope and redemption are within your grasp.
The first pass edit of How to Steal a Romance passed the publishing house’s editing team with three whole blips, which I call a win. Fixed in 3 minutes.
Made those corrections and sent the manuscript back, and it is ready for submission to be published.
Whoosh!
And anxiously awaiting to see what the cover will look like. I know what my brain says, but let’s see what their graphics team comes up with!
So, what are you doing during the ‘stay-inside’ plague?
I am thinkin’ I need to distance myself from social media (mercy! I am already social distancing…!) to do some catchup reading and writing.
Expect How to Steal a Romance on the shelves, KDP/Nook, etc., before fall. YEEEEKS!!
Military intrigue. Not my usual genre. Yes… yes. There is some romance. But more of a dude’s novel.
I ‘usually’ write romantic/suspense, however, several years back I started this military thriller/intrigue. By the time I finished ‘How to Steal a Romance,’ it was time to do a rewrite. This is a fictionalized novel loosely based on happenings in 2014.
I’ll leave you to guess what it’s about.
Got a lot done in the past few days on the new novel. I find it truly amazing how much can be accomplished when not on social media… who would have thought.
Anyway, the next steps include: Finishing the last third of the rewrite. Putting this through the paces of my Grammarly and electronic reader. Send it to beta readers (whom I will need, btw, in the event you want a free copy). Then off to my Grammar Nazi who will also rip it to shreds. Then… a copyeditor and off to publishing houses out there and/or agents.
My timeline ‘was’ six months to finish the rewrite. Well, I am almost done. So, the next goal, I continue now at three months to beta readers, six months or thereabouts to copyeditor, minus the copyedit, send off, acceptance by agent/publisher, and their edit requests.
In roughly 5 months Elk Lake will be publishing and I will be launching ‘How to Steal a Romance.’
Team is up and reading/reviewing already. I have one slot open. Just one free copy to give away for a confirmed helper to launch this romantic suspense… Facebook, comment here, or DM on Twitter!
THE UPDATE :
Progress is being made. The publishing house/creative graphics department is working on a cover. Yeeks! Can’t wait to see it!
Next, a professional website is close to done and thanks to Bob Phillips, webmaster. This is Bob (well, not really). I am apparently a pain in the neck with my emails and requests…
I am finally on Instagram. Soooo I don’t really know how to use it yet, gimme time. *AuthorClaire1 – got a few pics up…
Expedition in the garage getting fixed up for some road trips. Yay!
The launch team (minus 1) is so on it and I love you guys, you rock!
… finished a big project oh say like a novel and got a contract and wonder what’s next?
YA.
That’s me. And freakin’ out a bit.
That’s my story and I’m sticking to it. If you have ANY wisdom do let me know. That’d be awesome. Novel is ‘supposed’ to be out in about 6 months. How to Steal a Romance, ’cause I know you wanna read it. Right?
My apathy and angst over reading and writing lasted far too long.
Time’s up.
Got the 1st 50 pages proofed (because I can only take fixing stuff a small dose at a time). Then about a week or so later fixed them thar errors.
Today, wrote … wait for it … synopsis, cover letter, and polished proposal.
The awesome thing right here is that an agent listened to my pitch on P2P (Pitch-top-Published) and said, send it!
Sweet! But that was, of course, months ago when I was still having that eReader read through my manuscript. Not quite done with that process I might add.
Sent my grammar-a-holic friend the next 50 pages and the 1-page synopsis and 1-page cover letter.
As I quake in fear.
Once fixed, I will send that into the ether and finish that read-through if’n I can’t finish it in the next few days.
Then, onto fixing one of my 3 other novels, listening to the fire.
![Romance Under Wraps by [Claire O'Sullivan]](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51kapqWMMVL.jpg)
Claire O'Sullivan 
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