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Showing posts from October, 2011

Monday Misc. Happy Halloween Meme!!

Susan McBride, over at the Stiletto Gang Blog started this fun meme. I answered the questions below and would love to read yours. Comment or leave a link to your Blog and I'll check them out!   (1)   What's your favorite Halloween costume ever? The Stegosaurus, my favorite dinosaur. When I was...I think seven, my Mom made me this wonderful Stegosaurus costume, head to toe. You know how it is when you're seven and Mom's know everything and can do anything? Well, this costume was so ambitious that she needed help from HER mom. (Grandma being the supermom, of course because when you're seven and your mom goes to her mom it's amazing.) I won best costume in that dinosaur suit. Favorite. Costume. Ever. (2)   What's your favorite Halloween candy (or other treat)? Chocolate. Just plain ol' chocolate. (3)   Name the scariest book you've ever read? Oh my gosh. Nothing comes to mind. I read mysteries not horror so I avoid the being scared... (4)   Who

Baker Street Saturday - Lessons From Sherlock Holmes

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There's a great article by Maria Konnikova  entitled Lessons From Sherlock Holmes: Don't Tangle Two Lines of Thought . It's wonderful for mystery readers (and authors to understand how readers think) yet so simple and natural. It states we should not include too many facts in our chain of logical thinking because, while related, they don't all lead to the correct conclusion. The trick, for a mystery reader of course, is to determine which facts are relevant and which ones are red herrings. Maybe that's why we love Sherlock Holmes as much as we do, for over a hundred years. We try to pick out the useful facts, dismiss the unimportant ones and solve the case before Holmes. (This happened to me only once, I'm proud and annoyed to say.) Perhaps this is the real reason original Holmes smoked so much; not addiction to tobacco but something to do while he sits for hours and just thinks. I, for one, prefer tea. Or hot chocolate if the sweet tooth is acting up.

Wordless Wednesday - Happy Halloween

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In Case You Missed It - Co-Guest Blogged at Lee Lofland's, The Graveyard Shift

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Just in case you missed it - my Mom (Ellie Oberth) and I co-guest blogged at Lee Lofland's Blog, The Graveyard Shift . We  summed up the Writer's Police Academy - a cool, unique, atypical, not-to-be-missed convention for writer's - as best we could. From arson to an instructor field-stripping his gun in the hallway, this convention wasn't ABOUT topics. We didn't take notes about how hot a fire gets (well, some of us did) but we FELT how hot it gets. (No, I didn't get to pour any gasoline but I did get to shoot a Glock.) Check it out - and come along next year!

Monday Misc - 'Chain of Souls' by Maria Zannini

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Maria Zannini's second book, in the Second Chances Series ,   Chain of Souls  is available! ($2.99) I haven't read this series yet (I'm more of a cozy mystery fan) but I checked out a sample of her writing and was impressed. If paranormal romances are your thing - check her out! (If you go to Smashwords , you can view 20% for free .) You can buy Chain of Souls at: Smashwords  (This is a great site because it doesn't matter what eReader you have, you can buy the book and download it. Kindle, Nook, Sony eReader and so on. You don't even need an eReader, you can read it from your computer screen!) Amazon Barnes and Noble  (There is a review you can check out.) Maria's description: "Banished from Heaven for refusing to harvest an unwilling soul, Liam Chase drinks to forget until the night he is visited by the Angel of Death. For the price of a few humans souls, she promises to get him reinstated into Heaven. A monstrous crime. If he refuses, the l

The Graveyard Shift - Lee Lofland's Blog

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Tomorrow, I'm co-guest blogging on Lee Lofland's Blog , The Graveyard Shift , with my Mom, Ellie Oberth. We'll be summing up the ultra-cool Writer's Police Academy that took place last month in North Carolina. Don't miss it!

Books & Things Thursday - Golden Donut Contest Entry

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Hi everyone, Check out my Mom's (Ellie Oberth) entry to the Golden Donut Contest. It won a spot in the top ten finalists and I'm very proud. It's a 200 word mystery - including the title - based on the picture the Writer's Police Academy provided (see below). BURIED SECRETS I say it's perfect for this Halloweenish time of year - tell her what you think!!

Wordless Wednesday - Anatomy of a Fire

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I uploaded a video of the fire to YouTube - it's really cool.

Monday Misc. - Car Trouble in West Virginia

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Mom and I left Chicago on our way to North Carolina to attend the Writer's Police Academy (WPA). We had to get there by Thursday, 4:45 PM N.C. time to catch the bus to go to the jail tour we'd won. Wednesday evening, my car made this knocking, weird, hard-to-describe kind of sound. We stopped at a gas station in Hurricane, West Virginia and I asked the attendant if she knew what it could be. Another attendant followed us outside and they listened and looked under the hood and neither knew what on earth was causing this horrid sound. The guy suggested we go to the Napa Auto Parts store in the morning because they're pretty knowledgeable about cars. He gave directions and we found a god-awful motel and I somehow got to sleep worrying about cars and germs. ( Monk NEVER would have survived this trip.) I woke up in that dirty motel room (seriously, I'm only doing a Motel 6 or Super 8 from now on) Thursday morning, had a difficult time getting dressed (don't ask

Books & Things Thursday - NaNoWriMo

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NaNoWriMo is almost upon us once again! If you're unfamiliar  with National Novel Writing Month, I'll tell you in as few words as possible: You write 50,000 words of a new novel in 30 days (in November). Simple. Simple yet hard work. And I LOVE it! I've done NaNoWriMo since 2007 and won every year. (My 2007 novel is in the hands on my editor as we speak. I expect to be getting it back sometime next week. I'm thinking of a release date in January but if I get it polished sooner, we'll see.) If you're a writer (professional or by hobby), check out the forums . There's nothing quite like the wonderful writers in the forums . Need help with a tricky plot problem? Ask away and you will get multiple suggestions on how to fix it. Want to know how much arsenic to use to not quite kill your character? Ask away! Want a writing buddy to keep you going when the going gets tough? They've got those, too! Seriously, this is the best supp

Wordless Wednesday - What's That Knocking Noise?

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On a trip to North Carolina, we got stopped in West Virginia. So not fun. So, so, so NOT fun...

Misc. Monday - Repos Have Never Been This Much Fun!

So I'm watching TV on a Saturday morning and I leave the room. (I have the attention span of an olive.) I came back and it's one of those reality shows where this tough, muscled-guy is repo'ing a truck from a farm. The skinniest woman you've ever seen comes out on her cell phone, demanding to know what's going on and then bellows for her parents. Two of the skinniest people come out...and the muscled-guy says he's repossessing the car unless they can answer three of five trivia questions correctly, in which case he'll pay the car off then and there. I was like, 'what?!' So were they. It's a car repossessing game show... Oh. My. Gosh. The concept of this show, Repo Games , is hilarious. I ended up watching the whole thing and found myself rooting for the three people about to lose their cars. But what the heck? They didn't pay their bills, why am I rooting for them? You've just got to see this one to believe it. (From th

Books & Things Thursday - WPA Jail Tour

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This is the first in a series of posts about the WPA or, Writer's Police Academy . It. Was. Awesome. This was not a typical writer's convention and it was obvious that a lot of hard work went into making it come alive but it all paid off. A big thanks to Lee Lofland - I'm not sure what his official title was but he was the point person, organizer, see-that-things-run-smoothly guy who kept appearing out of nowhere to set something right or take a picture and wham!, he was on to the next superhero feat. The instructors were amazing, too. They were actual professionals in the all-emcompassing field of criminology. And I'd like to give a shoutout to the drivers - especially Bunny who I miss! Onto the first event (that started before the convention did): My Mom and I won the lottery and got to go on a jail tour. A tour of a real jail. (You think Castle is cool with the writer-guy getting to be a part of amazing things generally reserved for the police or crim

Wordless Wednesday - Writer's Police Academy Jail Time

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Baker Street Saturday - Doyle's Shortest 'Sherlock Holmes'

This is Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's shortest Sherlock Holmes story, How Watson Learned the Trick :      Watson had been watching his companion intently ever since he had sat down to the breakfast table.   Holmes happened to look up and catch his eye.      "Well, Watson, what are you thinking about?" he asked.      "About you."      "Me?"      "Yes, Holmes.   I was thinking how superficial are these tricks of yours, and how wonderful it is that the public should continue to show interest in them."      "I quite agree," said Holmes.   "In fact, I have a recollection that I have myself made a similar remark."      "Your methods," said Watson severely, "are really easily acquired."      "No doubt," Holmes answered with a smile, "Perhaps you will yourself give an example of this method of reasoning."      "With pleasure," said Watson, "I am able to say that you were