I’m gearing up for this year’s Whe Word’s Collide Festival for Readers and Writers, which takes place Aug 11-13 at the Delta Calgary South. This year I’ll be on six panels, all of them in the hotel’s Tower building:
Beyond Traditional and Self-Publishing, Fri 3 pm, Fireside room
Aging Series Characters, Sat 10 am, Parkland room
The Mystery of Mysteries, Sat 12 pm, Bonavista room
Absolute Mystery Basics, Sat 3 pm, Willow Park room
Fragility & Mental Illness Within Story, Sun 2 pm, Bonavista room
The Thrill of the Smoking Gun, Sun 3 pm, Parkland room
I’ll also be doing a shift or two at the Books We Love authors table in the Merchants’ Corner and attending the Mass Autograph Session (Sat 8-10 pm) and Roaring Twenties themed banquet.
It’s shaping up to be a fun and hectic weekend. Hope to see you there!
Great fun last night our joint reading Side-saddled: Local Writers Take on the Stampede. I was awed by the turnout – about 80 people. Everyone seemed enthused and interested in the readings and discussion about all aspects of the Stampede, from mini-donuts to animal treatment. I learned so much and will now be more observant of our annual happening. Several people who attended told me they found it the perfect launch into the Calgary Stampede season. Many thanks to the Calgary Public Library and Wordfest for hosting, and for Shelf Life books for bringing our books for sale.
Happy Canada 150 Day!
Shaun Hunter, Susan Calder, Aritha van Herk, Emily Ursuliak and Kris Demeanor
I’m gearing up for my first event of the Calgary Stampede season Side-saddled: Local Writers Take on the Stampede. I’ll be reading from my novel Ten Days in Summer, set during the Stampede, and chatting with local authors Aritha van Herk, Emily Ursuliak, Kris Demeanor and emcee Shaun Hunter about all things Stampede.
The event takes place Thursday, June 29 at 7 PM – 8:30 PM, in Memorial Park Library’s lovely second floor presentation room, 1221 2 Street SW, Calgary.
Cool graphic designed by J. Q. and posted on her websiteWhen my fellow BWL author J. Q. Rose invited me to guest blog in her Summer Readers Circle, I leapt at the opportunity. She scheduled me for today, June 16th. I suggested we swap blog posts on the same day and write on the same topic. J. Q. proposed we both blog about what inspired us to write our books.
My blog today features J. Q.’s post titled My Inspiration for the Romantic Suspense Novel, Dangerous Sanctuary. In the post, she also talks about her non-fiction book written to empower and inspire girls called Girls Succeed: The Stories Behind the Careers of Successful Women.
If you read and comment on J. Q.’s post through one of the simple methods outlined, you’ll automatically be entered in a draw to win a free ebook of Dangerous Sanctuary. Deadline is Tuesday, June 20, 10:00 pm EDST.
And then you can go to J. Q. Rose’s website, read my post and make a comment for a chance to win a free ebook of Ten Days in Summer.
Thank you, Susan, for swapping blogs this week. I hope your readers will hop on over to the J.Q. Rose blog to read your post about what inspired you to write your new novel, Ten Days in Summer, a sequel to your first murder mystery, Deadly Fall. A lucky commenter will win a copy of Susan’s e-book.
My Inspiration for the Romantic Suspense Novel, Dangerous Sanctuary by J.Q. Rose
Win this novel by J.Q. Rose
The main character in Dangerous Sanctuary is a female pastor, Pastor Christine Hobbs. People often ask what inspired me to write a book featuring a woman pastor.
Actually the spark of the story was ignited after I interviewed a female pastor for my non-fiction book for middle-grade girls, Girls Succeed: The Stories Behind the Careers of Successful Women. I was intrigued with the pastor’s story about her entry into the ministry at a time when it was typically a man’s career. When she discovered women were making breakthroughs into becoming ordained ministers in a few denominations, she worked hard to achieve her dream of becoming an ordained minister. She succeeded in earning her Master of Divinity Degree at Yale University Divinity School and was ordained by the General Conference of the Mennonite Church in Pennsylvania.
To empower and inspire girls
At the time I interviewed her she was the District Superintendent of the West Michigan United Methodist Church Conference. She was responsible for sixty-nine United Methodist churches and their pastors. Her devotion to God, her determination, and her great experiences inspired me. I was honored to share her journey to success with young girls. Today, Pastor Laurie is a bishop in the United Methodist Church.
That same year, a woman pastor was assigned to our local church. I learned even more about being a woman pastor from her e.g. no one tells a male pastor he’s wearing cute shoes! With these two exceptional role models, I created the character of Pastor Christine Hobbs.
Since I’m a mystery writer, Pastor Christine had to be one of the murder suspects. What a juxtaposition to have the good pastor accused of such a horrendous crime. Having a female pastor as the main character in a cozy mystery would offer interesting situations for readers to keep them turning the pages. I also wanted to explore the controversy over allowing women this leadership position in a church.
Pastor Christine is a strong, smart woman, the kind of main character I like to read and write about in my stories. Having a pastor as a main character is not unique, but a female pastor does put a different twist to the story.
Tagline for Dangerous Sanctuary by J. Q. Rose: Pastor Christine Hobbs never imagined she would be caring for a flock that includes a pig, a kangaroo, and a murderer.
Back of the Book: Pastor Christine Hobbs has been in the pulpit business for over five years. She never imagined herself caring for a flock that includes a pig, a kangaroo, and a murderer.
Detective Cole Stephens doesn’t want the pretty pastor to get away with murdering the church music director. His investigative methods infuriate Christine as much as his deep brown eyes attract her
Can they find the real killer and build a loving relationship based on trust?
ABOUT JQ: After writing feature articles in magazines, newspapers, and online magazines for over fifteen years, J.Q. Rose entered the world of fiction. Her published mysteries are Deadly Undertaking and Dangerous Sanctuary released by Books We Love Publishing. With her non-fiction book for girls, Girls Succeed! she returns to her first love, writing about real people. Blogging, photography, Pegs and Jokers board games, and travel are the things that keep her out of trouble. She spends winters in Florida and summers up north camping and hunting toads, frogs, and salamanders with her four grandsons and granddaughter.
During this Scrivener Trial period, every time I log into Scrivener the software program reminds me of how many non-consecutive days I have left in my 30 day free trial. Now it’s 15 days remaining.
What do I have for my 15 days?
1. Not as many overlapping files as in this image, but a few I can easily switch back and forth between.
2. Ten chapters of a novel-in-progress. Very rough chapters. Extremely rough. With lots of comments on the side bar for changes and things to follow through in later chapters.
I’m still not confident this novel will work to the end. But I want to continue, probably on Scrivener. If I do make it, I’d write the second draft on Scrivener because I’ll really need to process all these notes I’ve made in the various files. I see myself transferring it all to WORD for draft 3, mainly because I’m concerned about the transfer process. Will it really work? Also, a friend told me certain things come out strangely in WORD as a result of the transfer. I’ll want to fix those up before I get too far along.
I estimate that I’m a little over 1/4 of the first draft. My goal is to finish it by mid-October–unless I hit a wall. Already, I’ve cut one character and replaced her with someone I had intended to be off-stage. The first character couldn’t move the story much and she wasn’t a realistic suspect, which felt like a waste of my limited number of new characters.
And I still don’t know whodunit. The story seems to be leaning toward one person, but I’m not convinced. For books one and two, I had a strong feeling at this point about who was guilty.
It’s unsettling, but I expect unsettled is one thing first drafts are largely about.
