Eula May and the Easter Kandy Killer

Some readers are curious about how writers write.  Here is how/why I wrote my most recent story.

On March 1 (2015), I set myself a challenge of writing a short (20,000 word) Easter mystery in less than a month so it could be published before Good Friday.  I met my challenge (doing nothing else except writing!) and the book, after final editing, will be available on amazon.com soon--I'm hoping Friday, March 27.
       "Eula May and the Easter Kandy Killer" takes place during Eula May's Hollywood days before she returns home to Karnak, KY, having failed to become a successful dancing star.  (This is the same Eula May who recently starred in my first novel, "Eula May and the Flim Flam Nun.")
       The dancer's low bank account forces her to take a go-fer job working for Sal Minitini, a TV producer.  Her first assignment is help Sal and his writing team over Easter holiday weekend at the Retro Motel in Palm Springs, CA.  Sal thinks the relaxing spot will up his writers' creativity turning his new TV series, "Gals and Guns," into a big success.  
      Unfortunately, before the script is finished Eula May finds Sal's dead body.  To save herself, she needs to discover how and why he died.  And, if he was murdered, 'who done it'.  Of course, there's a handsome homicide detective who both helps and hinders her, and gets her heart beating in more ways than one.
      Warning.  After reading this book, you may find yourself looking differently at Chocolate Easter bunnies.
     

Playing Ping Pong with a Book

What's a Blurb?

I thought a few people might like to know the steps a book goes through before it is offered to the public. That story, Playing Ping Pong with a Book, is at the end of this post.  

Most viewers probably prefer to read a blurb for the book.  A blurb is sort of a tease to make you want to read more about the story.  So until the actual book is ready, here's a taste of it.

Eula May and the Flim Flam Nun is a mystery laced with humor instead of arsenic and riddled with romance rather than bullets.

Eula May chokes back a shriek as she stumbles over the blackmailing nun's murdered body. Will this affect her wedding plans? Lance--rich, handsome, candidate for mayor—will dump a fiancee` involved with the police. And he's her last ticket to happy heaven.

After torching the chef's toupee on a Hollywood cooking show, she dragged her tutu home to Kentucky, doomed to teach dance. Lance's proposal opens doors she feared were glued shut. Would the nun's death slam them back on her fingers?

The rest of the blurb can be found on my other blog, www.amy-sotlittletime.blogspot.com in post 57. about the ABNA.

Playing Ping Pong with a Book

Getting a book from the computer to your hands.

Last week I finished writing and editing my funny and romantic mystery novel, "Eula May and the Flim Flam Nun".  Then I formatted this text to meet publication standards, and finally created a cover.  I sent my formatted cover (thanks to Sandra and Tom Fremgen for all their work) and the formatted interior to CreateSpace, my 'publisher.'

I sent version one Monday morning and got a message that night saying it had been accepted.  But I found a typo on the back cover, so corrected it, and on Tuesday morning sent back a revised copy, version two.  That night I again got a message saying it was accepted but I didn't like the way the yellow of the cover dripped over onto the spine of the book, so I corrected it, and on Wednesday morning sent back a revised copy, version three.  Surprise, surprise that night I got another message saying it was accepted but that since the graphics weren't a dpi (whatever that is) of more than 200 the images might be blurry.  Sandra fixed that problem and on Thursday morning I sent off, version four.   Last night (Thursday) again it was accepted, and this time it looked perfect to be so I ordered a physical book for proofing.

The book should arrive by June 3, and if all goes well and I approve this copy, amazon.com should have copies available before the end of June.

Eula May Goes to the Publisher

Hurray!  Tomorrow I'm submitting to the publisher my self formatted interior and cover for my new book, Eula May and the Flim Flam Nun.  It's a funny mystery with romantic overtones.  I've been told by experts (all family members) that it's the best book they've ever read--had them rolling on the floor with laughter when their hearts and other parts weren't pitty-pattying for love and weddings.  
       Writing can be lots of fun.  You get to dream up characters, just like you, who look terrific and have wonderful things happen to them.  And then there is the flipside, you can pay back (anonymously of course) all your enemies by writing about terrible misfortunes that happen to them in your book.  Ah, but I would never do that, would I?  I guess you'll have to read my book to find out.
        If you would like to write--a book, a play, a script, or even a letter--I need to warn you what happens when you start your project.  Up until now your computer has been a fairly good and faithful servant, sending and receiving emails, finding out important information on internet searches--such as how old is she anyway.  But the minute you embark on A WRITING PROJECT, 
            the evil b*st*ard that lives in your computer 
takes over.  You may beg, cry, scream, curse, even unplug the computer, and when forced by despair, remove the battery and wait five minutes.  Nothing will work. You have to find another way of doing what the manual says is easy.
      This is why only truly creative people can write anything.  You must be truly creative to come up with clever ways around the destructive roadblocks
            the evil b*st*ard that lives in your computer 
will put in your path to authorship.   Of course there is another way to deal with this vicious problem and I will discuss it in a future blog.
     In the meantime, I'd like to hear stories from anyone else who has an evil b*st*ard that lives in your computer.   But no bad words, please.  I only used this one, to get your attention.  Now that I have it, I won't need to resort to such weasley tactics.  I'd also like to know if weasley is a real word and if I've spelled it correctly.
     Send emails to afremgen@gmail.com. 
                                                                          The End