This past Friday I ran a one-day promotional giveaway of my end-of-summer novel Zapped: an Edgar Rowdey Cape Cod Mystery. I’ve described my reasons and strategy in my previous two posts. HereRead More…
How [Not] to Run a Promo on Amazon AND Apple, Kobo, Nook, & Google
Goal: run a simultaneous book giveaway on all 5 major e-distribution sites — Kindle/Amazon, Apple/iBooks, Nook/B&N, Google Play, and Kobo. As described in my previous post, I’ve wanted to do this forRead More…
How (Not) to Run a Book Promotion in 2020
Here comes Labor Day, but what happened to summer? I can’t be the only reader missing those long lazy afternoons on a beach or deck with a good book. So I decidedRead More…
To Praise Women or to Bury Them?
I’m writing this on March 8, also known as International Women’s Day. What does that mean? When I was little, Woman’s Day was a magazine full of recipes and household tips, similarRead More…
Aotearoa – Land of the Long White Cloud – 1: Auckland
It was the Golden Age mysteries of Ngaio Marsh that first piqued my curiosity about New Zealand. How could someone who wrote like Agatha Christie come from a country so foreign fromRead More…
One-Bite Mysteries: 2019 Short Stories
This has been a year for stories! Left Coast Crime, a favorite conference of Sisters In Crime’s Northern California chapter, took us north across the border this year to Vancouver. I metRead More…
Fault Lines: Stories by Northern California Crime Writers
It’s here! Sisters in Crime’s NorCal branch has published their (our) first-ever anthology — Fault Lines: Stories by Northern California Crime Writers — and I’m delighted that my story “Birdbrain” is inRead More…
Celebrating the New Year with Stories, Theater, Blossoms, & Kumquats
On this bright cold morning after a night of firecrackers (and a dusting of snow!), warm wishes to you for a happy Year of the Pig. So far I’m liking 2019. FebruaryRead More…
Thoughts on The Undoing Project and New Year’s Resolutions
With 2019 approaching, I’ve been immersed in a book about how people make decisions: The Undoing Project, by Michael Lewis. He’s the author of Moneyball. You remember the Oakland A’s, back inRead More…
Mutabilis: The Rose and Edward Gorey
by CJ Verburg Rosa Mutabilis (Chinensis): one of my favorite flowers, from the SF Botanical Garden’s wonderful plant shop. Yesterday, after weeks, two green teardrops swelled into tight yellow buds. This morningRead More…