New Review for The Fiend of White Buck Hall

Yes, The Fiend of White Buck Hall was released in 2010, but it received a review from The Romance Studio just the other day. As an author it is always gratifying for me to know the book was enjoyed. It does not matter how long it took for someone to notice it or read it. Teresa T. said, "Ms. Marzec gave us a suspenseful and intense story!" You can read the rest of the review at http://www.theromancestudio.com/reviews/reviews/buckhallmarzec.htm

Many of the characters in the book are former circus performers, including the hero. Naturally, there is a reason for that. When my brother graduated from high school, he needed a summer job. The circus came to town and my brother signed up. He went traveling from town to town, putting up the big tents, living in a trailer, and getting to know the circus family. It was quite exciting. My brother came home with a tan and some impressive muscles.

You can find the book at New Concepts Publishing, where you can read the first chapter. It is also available at Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

If you want to win a copy of The Fiend of White Buck Hall, go to my website (HERE) and sign up for the contest. You might get lucky. :^)

The Lost

One summer, my cousin Sandy came to stay with us. She's the girl on the left in the back, next to my brother. Sandy lived near Pittsburgh in a comfortable suburban home. My uncle and aunt had adopted her, but then they had four children of their own. Sandy felt she had far too many chores to do.

She enjoyed her stay with us and we all got along quite well but after she returned home, the tensions between her and her parents grew worse until at the age of sixteen she ran away from home. She called a taxi, telling her younger sister not to tell anyone.

Sandy was never heard from again. She was never found.

My mother and I had hoped she might run to us, since she had gotten along well with us. When we learned of her disappearance, we went to Penn Station in Newark and stood for hours on the platform hoping to spot her. It was a futile effort.

For a long time afterward, whenever a young woman's body was found in New Jersey, my mother would wonder if it was Sandy.

When I wrote Heaven's Blue I dedicated it to Sandy. It is not Sandy's story, but I was inspired to write it due to her disappearance because I always wished her story had a happy ending.

Hey Girls, We've Never Had It So Good

My work-in-progress is set in 1778. I've been delving into the details of history at that time. I love discovering all sorts of odd little facts. However, I sometimes go off on tangents--inadvertantly. I start off looking for one thing and wind up someplace else.

This happened to me today. I wanted to check into more of the particulars about my heroine's chemise, which was the only undergarment women wore at the time--and they wore the same chemise for days on end. Underpants had not been invented.

Then I saw some websites with information about chemises that I had not really considered. I found out that menstruating women usually bled on their clothing, including that all-important chemise which they wore day in and day out.

For those of you who are already grossed out, you may skip the following websites, though I really think you should take a look. Sometimes, I am just amazed that the human race made it this far.

Click on the following links and be grateful you weren't born more than a century ago:

http://myperiodblog.wordpress.com/2010/11/17/history-of-menstruation-part-1/

http://www.mum.org/whatwore.htm

As the websites point out, women did not menstruate as much because they started later in life than girls do today and then they were either pregnant, nursing, undernourished, or sick much of the time.

We've come a long way.

Begging for Reader Love

Being an author has discouraging moments. Writing books is fun. Selling books--not so much fun. Part of the strategy in selling books is collecting reviews. From what I've been told, the best way to sell books is to get a lot of reviews--specifically on Amazon. Supposedly, an author needs at least fifty reviews to make a difference in sales! The reviews can be good or bad evidently. It's the number that counts. Quantity not quality. :^(

My publishers solicit reviews as the books are released, but many times their notices are ignored. I have asked for reviews from reviewers and I get ignored, too. Experienced book reviewers are evidently busy people.

Book bloggers tend to be more willing to write reviews, but--of course--the author is responsible for contacting each and every one of them. However, not all of them will post the review on Amazon.

Of course, Amazon reviews are supposed to be written by customers, but one need not buy the book at Amazon to post a review. Anybody can do it as long as they have an Amazon account.

I have been lax in soliciting reviews and as a result, I do not have many. I have gotten some very nice reviews over the years, but most of those are not at Amazon.

Obviously, I have to do some catching up. Hence, I am basically begging. I need some reader love.

If you have read my books, please go to Amazon and let everyone know what you thought of them. (You could make yourself famous!)

If you would like to know more about how the system at Amazon works I found a fantastic explanation at Amazon Reader Reviews: 12 Things Everybody and His Grandmother Needs to Know .

You can make a big difference. :^)

New Review for KISS OF BLARNEY!

Mom

Here's Mom with Dad at the bulkhead in Keyport. Mom is holding a little sketchbook. She was always busy sketching or painting. She had more time in her later years for her art, but she did as much as she could when she was raising me and my siblings.

When we were young, she would sit at the easel, supposedly absorbed in her painting, but she always knew when one of us was up to something. She made me and my siblings believe she had eyes in back of her head.

Talented, intelligent, and loving, but a good disciplinarian as well, Mom did not hit us. She used words to guide us--lots of words. She told stories, moralistic ones, of course--but it worked. (Hint to parents: Communicate with your children.)

Sometimes, when she was not feeling well due to migraines, she would lie in the double bed and we snuggled down beside her. She made up stories in which all her children were the heroes and heroines. We loved it!

Maybe that is why I like to make up stories. :^)

When my mother read a story, it came alive. She gave the characters different voices and accents. Mom would have made a good actress.

Nearly three years ago, Mom died. Having no mother for Mother's Day takes some getting used to. Walking into the card shop before Mother's Day is a surreal experience. Nevertheless, I picked out cards for other mothers--my sisters and my friends. I ordered geraniums as usual, but I used to give them to Mom, now I put them in my own yard. And so life goes on.

I feel fortunate that my father as well as my mother-in-law are still here. It is comforting to have some of the older generation available to tell us their stories and offer their wisdom.

I am also very blessed because I have my daughters to pamper me. Daughter #1 has promised to make meatloaf for me on Sunday. I love meatloaf.

But, I still miss Mom. Sometimes, I talk to her. After all, she could be listening. If she had eyes in back of her head, she surely has ears in heaven.

Happy Mother's Day, Mom. I love you.

My First Communion

May is the month for First Communions. My brother and I knelt at the altar rail for the first time in May of 1957. We did not have a special sitting with a photographer. We did not get a party. That's the way it was.

I still felt special. Maybe that was due to the gigantic veil on my head.:^)

Among the Ranks of the Rejected

In putting together my talk on self-publishing, I came across some interesting material. I started out looking for the names of famous self-published authors. There are a lot of them. However, I found the list of now famous authors who were rejected over and over again to be more intriguing. It takes courage to persist in sending out a manuscript repeatedly, despite blistering rejections. It is comforting to know that Gone With the Wind was rejected 38 times before a publisher recognized its worth. Madeline L’Engle’s A Wrinkle in Time, was turned down 29 times. Louis L’Amour was rejected over 200 times.

It seems there are many short-sighted publishers in this world.

I have been to innumerable writers' conferences and listened to panels of editors describe what they want. I have heard many of them say, "I'll know it when I see it."

Really?

To be fair, I realize that editors are swamped with manuscripts. They have to get rid of some of them.

Over the years, my manuscripts have been turned down plenty of times. Irons in the Fire had 25 rejections from both agents and editors, but it was published eventually and was nominated for a Romantic Times Reviewers Choice award.

It is wonderful to find an editor who appreciates your writing, but it isn't an easy task and frequently those editors move on. Then the author has to start the process all over again.

I am still collecting rejections from publishers. In the last letter I received, the editor wrote about my use of formal language. It wasn't right for her.

Daughter #1 got a laugh out of that. She figured I probably wrote out the word your instead of using ur.

Prince of the Mist is currently my only self-published book. However, it was previously published. Putting it up for sale again was a no-brainer.

Self-publishing is not a difficult process, but it is extra work. I have considered putting up my books on my own, but it is wonderful to have someone else edit, format, make a cover, and upload the book for me.

All I really want to do is write.

Filler Words

I am giving a talk at the library next week. (Middletown Township Public Library, May 2nd.) I am going to tell people how to e-publish their own books. I wrote out the talk and have been practicing my speech.

Daughter #1 belongs to Toastmasters, an international organization dedicated to public speaking and leadership. She was rather shy in grade school, but she's definitely improved. She pointed out some of the filler words I used on a regular basis when I was practicing.

Toastmasters has a specific list of filler words. Anyone giving a speech should never use the following words:

ah
um
like
you know
so (an unofficial filler word, but it can be distracting)

I speak on a regular basis. I am not afraid of public speaking. In fact, I love to talk about books! Once I get started, it's difficult to stop--but short of electric shock therapy, I doubt that I will ever be able to get rid of all my um's and you know's.

How about you?

A Wounded Protagonist

Saturday, I spent hours at a special New Jersey Romance Writers workshop listening to Michael Hauge's talk on story structure. It was a fantastic lecture interspersed with film clips. I took plenty of notes, and it is taking me a while to absorb all of the presentation. However, one of Michael Hauge's points has really stuck with me. He discussed giving the hero (or heroine) a wound--something from the distant past that has affected the protagonist deeply. As an example, Mr. Hauge showed a clip from the movie L.A. Confidential in which Russell Crowe's character talks about a horrible incident in his childhood. That scene defines the character, lending him empathy, but also adding an emotional punch which would not be there if the viewer did not know what makes the character tick.

I've always found it difficult to wound my heroines. I don't like to hurt people, but--as Michael Hauge pointed out--all of us are wounded in some way. Everyone has defense mechanisms in place by the time they are adults. All of us hide some of our true selves.

Mr. Hauge's left us with a statement to fill in for our protagonist, "I'll do whatever it takes to achieve my goal, just don't ask me to ________, because that's just not me."

If our characters are to succeed, they must go beyond their fears. That is courage. They must reveal their true selves because that is where their strength lies.

Then Mr. Hauge asked all of us not only to use his statement for our character, but to question ourselves.

A Sense of Direction

If you hide an accordion deep in the heart of New Jersey, hubby will find it. He does have good map skills, but while he has lived in New Jersey for more than forty years, he cannot find his way around without a map or me. I am hubby's GPS. He knows his way around Brooklyn, where he grew up, but he doesn't know north from south, east from west in New Jersey. He has no sense of direction.

He fears getting lost, which is incomprehensible to me. How can anyone get lost in New Jersey? There are Parkway signs and Turnpike signs all over the state. With all the jughandles, everyone makes a wrong turn now and then, but there will be another jughandle down the road where you can swing around and correct your course.

Besides, sometimes getting a little lost is fun. I call it exploring. New Jersey has some lovely scenery and unless you take a detour now and then, you will miss it.

When I write a book, it's like taking a long detour and doing some serious exploring. My outline is my map, but sometimes I loop around an unfamiliar jughandle and discover a scene of great beauty. If I was afraid of getting lost, I would never find that scene.

I know how to get home. I know how to find that happy ever after ending, but much of the fun in writing for me is in exploring. I travel deep into my characters' hearts, discover their motivations and learn what they really want. It's an incredible journey, but very entertaining.

My advice to all my writing friends is to write fearlessly. Do not be afraid of getting lost. Develop a sense of direction by studying the landmarks in your story. Tour new vistas and analyze the details.

And have fun. That's what writing is all about.

My Imaginary Friends

Yesterday, I spent some time making up a chart with the main characters in my new work-in-progress. The chart looks like this:

This is the bare bones stuff, but I find it handy. I don't want anyone's eye color to change mysteriously during the story.

I spent a considerable amount of time naming my imaginary friends. (That's what Daughter #1 calls them.) I had borrowed a book from the library which contained the names of many of the original families who settled in this county, which is the setting of this novel. I did not want to use any of those names in the book because my people are fictional.

Still, they had to have fairly common names for the time period, 1778. Of course, everything is subject to change. If a better name floats into my head for a character, I will use it. The heroine in my last book had another name at first, but when I realized I had too many names starting with the letter m, I changed her name. It isn't difficult with a computer. :^)

I set up this chart in Word. I can add lots more people simply by adding more rows to my table. I do much of my writing by the seat of my pants, but even I need some organization.

Peach Memories

The peach trees in the orchard have bloomed. They are beautiful, but every time I think of peaches, I think of my mother-in-law bringing me a ton of ripe peaches and telling me to do something with them before they all rot.

It was ninety-nine degrees and we had no air-conditioning.

I made peach jam. My daughters and my mother-in-law helped. They peeled and cut up the peaches. I hovered over the boiling jam until I thought I was going to melt.

I canned the jam and it was the very best peach jam ever, but every time I think of peaches, I think of being forced to make peach jam on a brutally hot day.

I used a lot of my peach experience in The Company You Keep. For a writer, even a negative experience can be useful. That's one of the big perks of being a writer. All kinds of situations can be channeled into a story.

My family can recognize the truth in my fiction. None of the plots I've devised resemble reality. None of my books are anything but fiction. However, some of the details are taken from actual incidents--like the peach business.

I still eat peaches, I like the scent of peaches, and I buy peach jam, but I never made another batch of peach jam. If anyone handed me a ton of ripe peaches now I would eat a few and hand out the rest to anyone who would take them.

I would rather be writing than making peach jam.

Plotting

I have been dividing my time between the real world (dishes, laundry, cooking, Easter bunnies, etc.) and June 29, 1778, which is the day my new heroine finds a wounded Redcoat in her barn. I am reading history books for research and working out a plot.

Plotting is a lot like walking through a maze. Other writers have made this comparison and there is a very nice blog post about it here. Like Cheryl Reif, I have run into a few dead ends in my plot.

Since I am writing a book about a certain time period, I have to factor in the cultural restrictions of the era. However, many women during the Revolutionary War displayed a great deal of courage. They were not shrinking violets. :^) Reading about the heroines of the Revolution is fun!

I do much of my plotting in my head. I'll fold laundry and think ...if this happens ... then that must happen ... no ... that won't work ... it has to be this way ...

So if you see me walking around in a fog, now you know why.

We're All In This Together

Yesterday, hubby and I went to a party. Some longtime friends were celebrating two events--the successful recover of our host from surgery and his brand new grandchild. One woman, an artist, was also at the party. She does not have a Facebook account or a blog. Our host's son tried to convince her to set up a website. She said she just always thought she could take her little red wagon into town with her work and sell it. She is a talented painter, but in today's world she needs an online presence.

There are many people who believe the internet is a fearsome beast. However, for writers, artists, and musicians it is a powerful advertising tool. Best of all, it's very inexpensive.

The writers I know are generous and entirely willing to help each other. I spent the weekend hitting the LIKE button on several writers' Facebook fan pages. In turn, they liked my fan page. The authors at Crescent Moon Press started a tribe at triberr.com so we can now share blog posts easily on Twitter.

Selling books (or any art) is all about networking and reach. A potential customer needs to know you have something they might like to buy and your product should be easy to find in a search engine. It's simple.

But it helps to have good friends to give you a boost--not only those who will like your fan page and invite you to join their tribe, but those who will give you a good review on Amazon or Goodreads.

We are all in this together and I am very grateful to those who have helped me.

I hope my artist friend puts away her little red wagon, gets a blog, a website, and a Facebook page. I'll be the first one to "like" her. :^)

A Look Back at Easter 1963

Forty-nine years ago, this was Easter. There's me with my mouth open and those crazy eyeglasses, which were very stylish at the time. Notice the gloves on my hands and the pillbox hat, also the very height of fashion. Mom is next to me, my brother is on the right (with a very skinny tie). My little sisters have bonnets and handbags. I know they must be wearing shiny patent leather shoes. Dad must have taken the snapshot, but I am sure he wore a suit.

Every Easter, we always wore new, special clothes. Our Easter outfits were a very important part of the celebration. We went to Mass every Sunday. However, on Easter we went in high style. But what was chic in 1963 is not chic anymore. I am especially glad I don't have to wear eyeglasses like that anymore!

A Fresh Coat of Ideas

Last weekend, I pitched The Pirate's Wraith to four different editors at the Liberty States Fiction Writers conference. Each of them asked for either a partial or the full manuscript. By Monday, one of the editors sent a rejection. However, it didn't sting too much for two reasons. First of all, she warned me that she did not know if there was a place for a time travel in her company. Secondly, we were going to have the living room and dining room painted.

Distraction is a great way to deal with rejection.

Monday was a busy day at our house. We had to eliminate all the clutter in the two rooms that were going to be painted. We have a surprising amount of clutter after living in this house for 33 years.

The painter arrived on Tuesday. He worked non-stop and finished the job. The rooms look so much better. I love my clean walls. However, I could not bear to put all the clutter back.

Wednesday, we brought a whole bunch of clutter to Goodwill. I tossed out the old curtains in the dining room. I simply could not hang them up again. Daughter #1 went online and ordered a new pair.

Thursday, hubby and I took a break and went to the Columbus Flea Market. The weather was glorious. We drove along Route 537, past farms with green grass and flowering trees. Hubby found another musical instrument at the flea market that he could not pass up. (More clutter--I can't win.) I got dried pineapple slices and sesame sticks.

Once we were home, I decided to start another book. There's no point in waiting for an editor to make a decision on my manuscript. I'm still waiting for a decision on Daddy Wanted, which I handed in last year to an editor. So I pulled out my idea file.

My idea file is messy. There are sticky notes, little scraps of memo paper, and newspaper articles. Some of the ideas are no more than a title. Some are character sketches. Some are whole outlines. It's wonderful.

And I found something I meant to expand and finish a long time ago. :^) I opened up a new file in the computer. It's like an empty wall waiting for a fresh coat of ideas. This is going to be fun!

My Pirate Reading List

Before attempting to write a book about a pirate in 1711, I immersed myself in books about pirates and sailing ships. While most of the books were non-fiction, I read some fiction as well, such as James Fenimore Cooper's, The Red Rover and The Pilot. I read Jack London's The Sea Wolf. My favorite was Rafael Sabatini's Captain Blood, but I also read his Sea-Hawk. (Hint: Most of these books are FREE or close to it.) I learned about buggery from a rather gritty book, The Eye of the Fleet.

Then I read a bunch of non-fiction books: The Complete Idiot's Guide to Pirates, Pirates and Privateers, The Pirate Prince, The Mammoth Book of Pirates, and Two Years Before the Mast. I cannot say I became an expert, but I do feel I gained a better understanding of the era and I am very glad that I live in modern times. :^)

I did not use everything I read in my own pirate story. In fact, I used only touches here and there. After all, my pirate story is mainly a romance--it is concerned with a relationship. Yes, there is quite an adventure, but the focus is on the couple.

I love delving into history. All the little details are what make it interesting. Unfortunately, most of those details are not in standard history books, which usually offer a brief overview and dates.

What history books have you read that you found fascinating?

Am I Famous Yet?

Prince of the Mist is a hit this week. I hope all the readers who downloaded it for FREE enjoyed it and will give it a favorable online review. I also hope this sample of my writing will convince readers to try some of my other books. Some writers have used this marketing strategy and it has worked. Some claim it did not make a difference. Some refuse to try it.

I have downloaded free books. Since I have a Nook, I always check the Free Friday offering. I love to read classics and since the copyrights expired a long time ago, those are free. I buy plenty of used books, too. I have discovered many terrific authors this way and I have subsequently purchased their other books.

It took time for me to write the book and it would be nice to be compensated for that time, but I do have other books. I finished Daddy Wanted last year and I'm still trying to find a publisher for it. The Pirate's Wraith is completed and now I have to shop it around and find someone willing to take a chance on it. In a few weeks, I intend to start another book.

A writer must keep writing AND finishing books. Of course, it isn't hard if you have a lot of stories to tell. And I do. Please visit my Facebook fan page (http://www.facebook.com/penelopemarzecbooks) and like it just in case I become uber famous someday.:^)

FREE for One Week Only

For one week only, you can download Prince of the Mist for FREE! (Just in time for St. Patrick's Day!) You must download the book from Smashwords and use the coupon code. You can find the book here. Smashwords offers books in all sorts of formats--so there's one for your ebook reader.

Smashwords is offering all sorts of books at discounted prices because it is officially Read an EBook week. Now is the time to load up your ebook reader. Don't miss out!