Livia J. Washburn

Review Blues

2012-01-16T06:00:00.000-08:00

I received a one star review on the first novel of my urban fantasy series, Witch Got Your Tongue, because the reviewer thought it had a cliff hanger ending. The person even admitted it was a pretty good story but still gave it only one star. This is a series, and some things were resolved, but I did leave it open for many more books in the future. Is that no longer allowed in series? The only real thing left unresolved was something that will be an ongoing battle for the main character. I let the reviews about it not being a novel but a novella roll off my shoulders. Well, other than griping to James. It is 45,000 words. That is not a novella. It's a short novel, and I was very clear about that in the description by posting the number of pages in the trade paperback. Now I get complaints that it's a half novel that doesn't end. I really want to know if this is something that actually bothers readers, or if it just makes you want to read the next book.

Also, any readers willing to review the book, either on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, or on a blog, send me your email address with the type of file you would need, and I'll send you a Kindle file, Word file, or PDF. livia@flash.net .

Big Earl Will Ride Again

2012-01-09T12:21:00.000-08:00

Finally put the last of the Christmas decorations in storage yesterday. I had them boxed up for a while now, but a cold slowed down the process of getting them put away. That's always the sad part of the holidays. It means they are officially over. I had a lot of fun buying presents this year. My husband James is always the hardest to buy for, and I even surprised him this year. He loves to read, especially older books. Right before our last anniversary I bought him a collection of pulps. He wouldn't buy them, so I bought them telling him I'd have presents for life. A box of these pulps was what he expected to receive, but he hasn't cleared a spot upstairs to put more shelves, so I went a completely different direction. I bought him a costume. I found a place to buy old west clothing and bought him a vest, shirt, and pants. Then I hit Ebay and found a hat to go with the outfit and even some spiffy boots. I'm sure you're all wondering why would this make a good Christmas present. It goes back to writing. Many years ago James came up with a series featuring Judge Big Earl Stark. Pocket books decided to use an old west photo of James for the cover of the first book. James is planning on writing a new Big Earl novel this summer. It's going to need a cover. A new Big Earl photo will work great for the cover of the new book, so with the costume, Big Earl will ride again. Fun stuff. His birthday is early in June and probably before he'll have time to write the book . . . I wonder if I should get him a horse . . .

Interview

2011-11-22T19:45:00.001-08:00

Interview of Phyllis Newsom from The Gingerbread Bump-Off at Cozy Up Blog.

More Nice Reviews

2011-11-20T08:04:00.001-08:00

Over on Debbie's Book Bag she has this to say about The Gingerbread Bump-Off

Livia J. Washburn brings readers a great holiday themed cozy just in time for ... Livia J. Washburn has a great sense of community and small town involvement. ...

She is having a giveaway so check it out.

And of all places, you can find a 4 1/2 star review of Witch Got Your Tongue over on Coated Tongue Causes.

This is a fast, entertaining book, and there's bound to be a sequel along soon.

I just wanted to add that there will be a sequel, A Peck of Pickled Warlocks, but at this time I'm working on the 4th Literary Tour Mystery featuring the man's man Ernest Hemingway, For Whom the Funeral Bell Tolls.

If you can't find the books locally, they are available through Amazon.

Kindle Trade

Trade Kindle

Reviews For The Gingerbread Bump-Off

2011-11-17T07:11:00.001-08:00

Escape With Dollycas Into A Good Book: Livia J. Washburn is a wonderful storyteller and I love the adventures she takes us on with her characters. They are exciting and this one had quite a complicated plot with plenty of suspects.

Deb's Book Bag: Washburn's intrepid amateur sleuth Phyllis Newsom is such a gem. She's a retired teacher, an avid baker, and a senior with some attitude. Readers will fall in love with her spunky demeanor and her zest for life.

The Gingerbread Bump-Off Review

2011-11-07T04:22:00.000-08:00

The Gingerbread Bump-Off received a great review.
This is the latest of Livia Washburn's "Fresh-Baked Mysteries," and it's another winner. Pretty soon, Phyllis Newsom is going to have to quit thinking about entering baking contests, though. Too many people get killed when she does.
You can read the rest of the review here and you can buy the trade paperback for a discounted price following the link below.

Using My Career To Get Things Fixed

2011-11-01T06:17:00.000-07:00

Yesterdaywas the first time I threatened a company with my career. I have an embroiderysewing machine that I bought to use as a stress release. Somethingfun. It would sew just fine, then start bunching the thread underneathruining whatever I was sewing.

I took it in for repairs, and it took 4 weeks, and$132 to get it back. Of course what they supposedly had to replace wasn'tcovered under warranty. Took the machine home and sewed one test embroidery before it starteddoing the same thing again ruining the thing I was making for mydaughter's birthday, which is tomorrow.

I took it back yesterday, Halloween. This was definitely a trick or treat and I definitely wasn't going to get a treat. They said their repair guy was lousy and they were having to return a lot that he fixed or didn't fix. Guy there said he'd look at it and see if he could tell what was causing it. I waited there for about an hour, he was busy and didn't have time to look at it. My husband, James and I went to lunch.

I had brought James to lift the machine. It is pretty heavy and I have back problems. So we were both losing a day of work.

After lunch we killed more time at a couple stores in the area. Bought some Christmas stuff at the dollar store, bought crickets for my daughter's lizard. Finally we were running out of time. James had a dental appointment back in our town, so we went back to see if the guy was able to figure out anything.

He hadn't been able to look at it. They only pick up repairs on Tuesday, and since this was Monday it had to go in the next morning or wait a week. He said I could send it in, but itwould be gone another 4 weeks and chances were it wouldn't be fixed since the same guy would be working on it. He suggested another guy down the street. I would have to pay again, but he was a whiz at sewing machine repair.

At this point I was desperate just to get it fixed. We hurriedly took it there, waiting while he promptly fixed another lady's machine. He looked at my machine and said hecouldn't work on it, he couldn't get parts, and it would null thewarranty. He suggested I complain higher up. The place I took it before should have to fix it and fix it free.

I took it back to thefirst place and left it knowing it'd be a month before I'd see it again, but maybe I'd get it back fixed just before the holidays. We barely made it back in time for James' appointment. But then it started really bugging me the way I was given the run around.

I'm not great at calling and complaining, so I emailed the main office andsaid I was a bestselling author (hey publisher puts it on my books, so it mustbe true, right?) and I would use my blog, facebook, twitter, yahoo groups, and would even put it in my next book how bad their machine was if I didn't get a repairedmachine back. This machine has been giving trouble more than half the time I've had it and I was pretty fed up at this point. Two hours later I get a call from the manager where Idropped it off. I was told the machine would be sent in on high priority,would be back next week, fixed, and free. I wonder if it's not fixed if Icould get a new machine out of them. Evil writer thoughts. You will notice I did not mention the name of the machine and I definitely won't in a negative light, if it's fixed. I might even write about how good a machine it is, if it is fixed. I've even thought about writing a mystery centered around embroidery. You get the idea . . . if it's fixed.

Gingerbread Bump-Off Gets Unfair Review

2011-10-28T05:02:00.000-07:00

Gingerbread Bump-Off is just out and the first review on it is a 1-star because of someone who thought they were being smart. This is the review - if this title was releaased yesterday-why will it take one to three months to receive it?? does not make sense.

I ask you what does this have to do with the book? This is not a review and now I'm starting out with 1 star. Not fair.

Anyway, here's the book description: A Christmas killer has been icing Phylis Newsom's friends in the sixth Fresh-Baked mystery.

Not only will Phyllis Newsom's house be featured in the annual Christmas Jingle Bell Tour of Homes, she also has a Christmas Eve bridal shower and a New Year's Eve wedding to bake goodies for. But like her tasty treats, she rises to the occasion.

Before the tour gets under way, Phyllis makes a gruesome discovery on her porch: someone has tried to kill her friend. As Santa's naughty list gets longer, Phyllis tries to catch a half-baked killer.

Follow up: Amazon took down the review after it was pointed out to them.

Recipe From The Pumpkin Muffin Murder

2011-10-19T05:26:00.000-07:00

You can find the recipe for pumpkin cheesecake muffins here from The Pumpkin Muffin Murder along with some very nice photos. The book came out last year in trade paperback is coming out in mass market paperback November 1st. The trade paperback is presently 60% off at Amazon.

Twice As Deadly by Livia J. Washburn

2011-09-02T09:27:00.000-07:00

Laura Bailey is a young woman struggling to establish herself as a private detective following the death of her father, a veteran PI who established the agency where she works. Set in a vividly depicted Dallas during the 1980s, the two novellas collected in this volume are action-packed private eye stories by one of the top authors in the genre, L.J. Washburn, the creator of the iconic PI character Lucas Hallam.

"Ancient and Deadly" originally appeared in THE BLACK MOON, published by Lynx Books. This is the first publication of "Deadly Performance".

Includes a new afterword. 45,000 words. Available for Kindle and Nook.

Nice Review of Witch Got Your Tongue

2011-08-12T20:25:00.001-07:00

Anna Dougherty wrote a very nice review of Witch Got Your Tongue at Vamp Chix Bite Club. I have to disagree with one point of Anna's. She say's the book is under 100 pages, when in fact it is more than 100 pages. The trade paperback has 151 pages. Very small point, really. I truly appreciate readers that take the time to write reviews. Here's a small taste of Anna's review.

. . . this is an excellent end of summer beach type read, something to relax with, a brief repast from everyday stresses.

Sample Sunday ♫ WITCH GOT YOUR TONGUE by Livia J. Washburn

2011-07-31T06:23:00.000-07:00

Chapter One

I took a deep breath, trying to calm my nerves. Then I had to tug up the neckline of the costume to make sure my boobs didn't pop out, being careful I didn't pull so much my panties showed. I’d been doing that all day. Even though it was Halloween, I couldn't believe that on my very first day on this job I’d been sent out dressed like a sexy witch in this skimpy costume.

It was gold with a black spider web design and had a tight orange corset with little black paw prints, cut low in front, and the fluttery skirt was so short the hemline was practically up to my butt. I wore fishnet stockings and high heels with it (although I had a pair of comfortable shoes in my car for driving between jobs). A tall, pointed, cliché witch hat that matched the corset sat on my head. I guess I looked okay. My boss at the agency seemed to think so. I’ve never been one for wearing racy outfits.

I reached out and pressed the doorbell of the suburban house. It was late afternoon, almost evening. Kids would start trick-or-treating soon. Meanwhile, I had a treat – or was it a trick? – of my own to deliver to the guy who lived here.

The door swung open, and the man who answered my ring stood there with his eyes widening at the sight of the sexy witch on his doorstep. He was in his mid-thirties and looked like a high school athlete gone slightly to seed. He had come in from work and shed his coat, but he still wore his tie. It was loosened and his collar was unbuttoned, but he hadn’t gotten rid of it entirely yet. He had a drink in his left hand.

“Are you R-Ronnie Holt?” I asked.

“Yeahhhh,” he said, sounding like he didn’t know what to make of me.

I put what I hoped was a seductive smile on my face and said, “I’ve g-got something for you.”

Stop right there. I know what you’re thinking. I wasn’t a hooker, no matter how I was dressed. I wasn’t a process server, either, which is probably what the less dirty-minded of you were thinking.

No, as Ronnie Holt’s surprised stare started to turn into a hopeful leer, I began to sing. I was scared to death, but I forced the words out anyway.

“The only sight I ever wouldst see

“Love of my life thou wouldst be

“All I need to fill my heart

“And you promised we ne’er would part . . .”

Ronnie’s grin got even bigger.

“But after I shared with you my bed

“You’d call me in the morning, you said

“But still I wait for your call

“I don’t think you meant it at all . . .”

The grin disappeared, replaced by the beginnings of a frown.

“Now I see what was really your goal

“I’m just another notch on your bed pole

“And since you deigned to break my heart

“Now I break your proudest part

“Shorn of that which you love most

“Soon you’ll be as pale as a ghost

“There’s always a price for what you do

“And now I make it all come true!”

I threw in a few mystical gestures, just for effect.

“What the hell is this?” Ronnie demanded, visibly angry now.

“C-Compliments of Miss Angela Vandermeer,” I said. I reached into the bosom of my outfit and pulled out a business card. That was the only place in the costume to carry one. CATHCART ENTERTAINMENT AGENCY was printed on it, and below that in smaller print were the words CHILDREN’S PARTIES – CLOWNS – BALLOONS – SINGING TELEGRAMS – ADULT STRIP-O-GRAMS, then the address, phone number, website, and email.

Hold a business card out to people, and nine times out of ten they’ll take it. Ronnie did, looked at it, and got even angrier.

“What the hell!” he yelled. “Angie paid you people to . . . to put a curse on me?”

I took a step back. I had worried that he might not take it well, but Sherry, my new boss, had said that people always laughed these things off, even the mean messages. Ronnie Holt sure wasn’t laughing, though.

“It . . . it’s just a singing telegram,” I said. “A j-joke. Miss Vandermeer is your . . . ex-girlfriend, right?”

“I had drinks with her one time! Yeah, we had a little fun together, but that doesn’t make her my girlfriend! Now she’s hiring people to stalk me? She’s crazy!”

I backed away some more, being careful not to step off the porch and fall.

“I’m not stalking you, Mr. Holt. I’m just d-doing my job. It’s just a j-joke,” I said again.

“It sounded like you were putting a curse on me.”

I shook my head and said hurriedly, “Oh, no, not at all. Just a joke.” I pointed at the business card he still had in his hand. “And if you’d like to send a reply to her, you can just c-call that number or visit the w-w-website – ”

“Get off my porch before I call the cops!” he roared at me.

I backed quickly down the steps, hoping I wouldn’t trip on those blasted high heels. “I’m sorry,” I said. “I was just doing my job – ”

He blew out his breath in exasperation, stepped back into the house, and slammed the door behind him.

Well, that was a lousy way to end my first day on this job, I thought. But at least it was over. I had survived. And for the most part, it had been okay. A lot better than I’d expected when I went into Sherry Cathcart’s office that morning with the referral from the temp agency I was signed up with.

“We need another sexy witch,” she’d said. “Halloween is our second-busiest day of the year for singing telegrams, after Valentine’s Day, and everybody wants a sexy witch.”

“I d-don’t think I can do that,” I’d told her as I shook my head. “I won’t do strip-o-grams.”

“Honey, you’re not listening. This isn’t strip-o-grams I’m talking about.” She looked me up and down. “Although you could handle that job, if you get my drift. I’m talking about singing telegrams.”

“I c-can’t do that, either.” I’d hated to come right out and say it, but I had to. “I stutter.”

“Eh, not bad, from what I’m hearing.”

I thought she was wrong about that. It always sounded terrible to me when I tried to talk, especially to strangers.

“Anyway, try this,” she went on. “Sing do, ra, mi.”

I had almost walked out then and there, but I needed the job. I took a deep breath and sang the notes. They came out surprisingly clear and strong.

“See?” Sherry had said. “People with a stammer can sometimes sing just fine. Remember Mel Tillis?”

I shook my head.

“Never mind, he was before your time. He was a country singer. Had a bad stammer, but he sang beautifully. You can, too.”

“I don’t know . . .”

“It’s all confidence, dear. You got that, you can do anything.”

But that was the problem, although Sherry didn’t know my history to be aware of it. I had no confidence. Zero. Zip. Nada. Never had, never would. As far back as I could remember, every time I struggled to force words out of my mouth, the more I just wanted to crawl under a rock somewhere and never say anything to anybody. I had tried to fight that over the years by forcing myself into situations where I had to talk, but it had never worked.

“With your looks you’ll make decent tips. And you’ll look great in the costume,” Sherry went on. “You’ll be delivering telegrams mostly to guys, so trust me, when they see those curves and all that gorgeous black hair, they won’t be paying that much attention to what you’re saying anyway.”

I suppose she was just trying to make me feel better about myself, but it didn’t work that well. I’d always thought my curves were rather modest, and my hair was okay but nothing spectacular. Also, I wasn’t that fond of guys leering at me all day.

“Most of the time our clients are wives or girlfriends who want to send a surprise to their husbands or boyfriends,” Sherry continued. “I won’t lie to you, there’ll probably be some hooting and hollering when you go into these offices to deliver telegrams, but it’s not too bad. You’ll get used to it real quick, and then you’ll be disappointed if you don’t get a reaction.”

I had a hard time believing that. I’d spent most of my life doing my best not to get noticed.

I could tell she was getting a little tired of trying to convince me. She confirmed that by saying, “Anyway, do you want the job or not? If I have to get somebody else, I need to see about it right away.”

It wasn’t really a matter of whether I wanted the job. I needed the job. My roommates had been carrying me for a couple of months now, and even though they were friends – especially because they were friends – I couldn’t keep depending on them like that.

“I want it,” I said.

“Good. You’ll do great, trust me.” Sherry got up from her desk and went to a rack of assorted costumes that stood against the wall. She took one of them down and held the hanger out to me. “Here’s what you’ll be wearing.”

“Where’s the rest of it?” I had asked with a frown.

“Ha, ha, funny. You can change in the bathroom. I’ll get the paperwork together. What was your name again, dearie?”

“Aren,” I told her as I eyed the tiny outfit she had given me. “Aren McAllister.” I spelled the first name for her, since it wasn’t very common.

“Pretty name. Get changed, and I’ll have some tax documents for you to sign. Also a stack of names and addresses and telegrams for you to deliver.”

So I had taken the job. I’d struggled into the costume, signed the paperwork, and been handed my assignments. Sherry told me to memorize each telegram and practice them in the car between jobs until I had them down. It wasn’t good to have to read the telegrams off a piece of paper while I was singing. Didn’t look professional.

I had a dozen telegrams to deliver, of which Ronnie Holt’s was the last one. I had stumbled a little on some of them, but Sherry was right: nobody seemed to care. The tips were good, and everybody was just having a good time. It was fun for them. Not for me, necessarily, but not as bad as I had feared, either. I didn’t have to talk much, and Sherry was right about the singing, too. I didn’t stammer at all. I remembered hearing about such things in the past, but I’d never really tried it. I figured it wouldn’t work, like all the other things I had tried that were supposed to help.

Once I was back in my car in front of Ronnie Holt’s house, I took off the high heels, tossed them in the floorboard on the passenger side, and slipped on the comfortable shoes. I looked at the house one more time, sorry that the day had ended on a sour note, and started the car. I planned to stop by the office, drop off the papers Sherry had given me, and see if she would need me again the next day. I doubted that she would. Like she’d said, Halloween was the second busiest day of the year for singing telegrams.

Maybe she would need a clown, I thought. Some clowns were silent and never talked at all. It was part of their character.

I headed along Ocean Drive to get back to the office. It was a little out of the way and took longer, but it was easier than fighting the traffic on Corpus Christi’s freeways, and I got to see the big waves of the Gulf rolling in along the seawall, too, always an inspiring sight. Sherry’s office was in a fairly nice strip of businesses not far from the waterfront.

She had told me to call in a couple of times during the day and let her know how things were going. I had spoken to her while I was taking a break for lunch. Drive-through, of course. No way was I getting out of the car and walking into McDonald’s in this risqué outfit. It was bad enough that the kid working the window got an eyeful from his angle.

Sherry beamed at me as I came in and set the witch hat on her desk.

“See, I told you it would be just fine, and it was, wasn’t it?”

“I guess,” I admitted with a smile. “I had a little b-bit of trouble on the last telegram, but – ”

I stopped as somebody jerked open the office door, and when I looked over my shoulder, I was shocked to see that that “little bit of trouble” was here.

Ronnie Holt stomped into the office, and he looked really mad now.

* * * * * * *

Now available as eBook at Amazon & Barnes & Noble for $2.99, and the trade paperback is available through Amazon, and at CreateSpace for &7.99.

First Review of WITCH GOT YOUR TONGUE

2011-07-14T06:56:00.000-07:00

Bill Crider is the first one to post a review of WITCH GOT YOUR TONGUE, and he has some very nice things to say about it. You can read his comments here. Thanks, Bill!

Witch Got Your Tongue Book Trailer

2011-07-09T12:21:00.001-07:00

About the book:

Aren McAllister is a beautiful but shy and withdrawn young woman who has battled a stuttering problem her entire life. But then, seemingly by accident, she discovers that she wields an incredible power: she is actually a witch and can cast potent spells . . . but only by singing them.

This discovery throws Aren into a dangerous power struggle between different factions in the society of witches who live among humans unknown by them. And for the first time she encounters a romance that may change her life as much or more than the powers she never knew she had.

WITCH GOT YOUR TONGUE is the first novel in the Tongue Tied Witch series, a brand-new urban fantasy thrill ride from award-winning, best-selling novelist Livia J. Washburn, author of the best selling Fresh Baked Mystery series and the Literary Tour Mysteries.

Link to Amazon Link to Barnes & Noble

Vacation Novel - Witch Got Your Tongue

2011-07-09T11:44:00.000-07:00

My husband, James and I went away for 2 1/2 weeks in June to write. We drove 372 miles to stay in a one room rustic cabin a few blocks from the bay. The whole purpose of the trip was to get away from our home lives to write.

I would get up between 3-5 a.m. to get started because the broadband internet down there would only work early in the morning, so any research that needed done on the internet had to be done then. When 7 a.m. would roll around I’d get in the van and go to the Sonic for 2 Route 44 unsweetened teas with extra ice. The ladies there got to know me very well. It was a strange mix. I’d get our jolts of caffeine while gazing at the sun reflecting on the bay.

By the time I got back to the cabin with our teas, James would be up and at the computer. With our tea and cereal, we’d hit the computers hard until lunch. Lunch was always our main meal, and there were three restaurants we went to the most. One was a Chinese buffet, the second was a Mexican restaurant, and the third was a sea food place with windows looking out at the wharf. All three places had grilled fish, my favorite. After lunch we might go out and walk along the beach or look through some of the bookstores in the area. Then it was back to the cabin, working until a late supper. Supper was usually whatever could be eaten at the computer since we were rarely done by supper time.

We’d work until late evening, pop in a DVD and watch something for an hour or two. After the TV was turned off, we’d see if the internet was working enough to answer emails. Then it was time for bed. That was our vacation. We were only planning to go for 2 weeks, but our daughters told us to stay longer and they could take care of my parents a little longer. It is only because of them that I was able to write my latest novel, Witch Got Your Tongue. This book is now on sale on Kindle and the Nook. The trade paperback is coming soon.

My friend Alyssa White designed and illustrated most of the cover. My daughter Joanna made the book trailer with help from her friends. Bethany McLemore and Cheryl Lemmons created and played the music, and Kim Mckelvey drew the wicked witch. My thanks go to all of them.

Mending Fences By Livia Reasoner Now Available as EBook

2011-06-26T04:23:00.000-07:00

Originally published in Jove’s heartwarming Our Town series! Mending Fences is now available as a ebook in Kindle and Nook. This story takes readers to the frontier town of Zephyr, Texas, where a young romance writer falls for a character she might have invented - a handsome cowboy who stirs her deepest longings...

Amazon link: Mending Fences

Nook link: Mending Fences

Now Available as EBooks

2011-06-18T06:17:00.000-07:00

I finally have my three paranormal romance novels up as eBooks and they are available on Kindle and Nook. Spirit Catcher, Alura’s Wish, and Yesterday’s Flame were originally published under the pen-name Elizabeth Hallam. And yes, I know that there is a writer by that name. I had written a historical novel for Berkley/Jove called Mending Fences. My editor called and thought since Spirit Catcher was a paranormal romance she wanted a pen-name. I had to come up with something off the top of my head, so I suggested Beth Hallam after one of my characters. She liked it but wanted to change it to Elizabeth Hallam. It was the next day that I discovered there was already an Elizabeth Hallam. I called my editor and told her about this, but it was already too late to change. So for three novels, I was the other Elizabeth Hallam. I’m happy that the three books can now be found under my married name Livia Reasoner.

Hallam Now 99 Cents on Kindle

2011-05-05T06:12:00.000-07:00

Hallam is now 99 cents but I've added another story. It still has "Hallam", a 10,000 word story is the first appearance of Lucas Hallam, a cowboy who has outlived the days of the old west to become a gun-toting private eye and stuntman in the early days of motion pictures in California. Originally published in The Eye's Have It, 1984. Now it also has "Hollywood Flesh", a 7000 word story was published in The Book of all Flesh 2001. It's a good thing Lucas Hallam is a hard-headed old cowboy and doesn't believe in such nonsense as Zombies, or this case might give him nightmares.

Turning Books Into EBooks (Or, Help, I’ve Been Kindleized and I Can’t Get Up)

2011-02-28T07:39:00.000-08:00

Since we have several books that we have the rights to, we decided to try and put them up as eBooks. The house fire prevented us from being able to just take the files we had and work from them, so the first thing we had to do was buy copies of our books to scan. Also we had to buy a scanner that would work through the books quickly. After researching, I decided to get the Fujitsu ScanSnap S1500. It feeds the paper through quickly, reads both sides, and it converts it to Word. Since it has a feeder, pages have to be cut out of the books. I found the easiest way for me to do this is with a ruler and a rotary blade. It’ll cut through about 20 pages at a time. You have to make sure and cut it close to the spine without leaving glue. If there’s even a little glue pages with go through the scanner together. If you cut too much it’ll cut off words. I’ve learned from experience. Even though the ScanSnap is a nifty scanner, it doesn’t work without problems. It will have errors and stop somewhere in the middle of the batch it scanned. I work in batches of around 20. When I have the converted Word document for that batch. I check what page it scanned to, adjust my pages to be scanned, and get the next batch scanning. After the first converted Word document, the following ones have to be cut and pasted into the first one. It’s time consuming, but it gets it scanned and converted easier than anything else I’ve found.

Once you have the scanned pages finished, what now? Now you have to read the whole manuscript and search for OCR errors. I like to show paragraph marks and other hidden formatting symbols. Headers and pages numbers have to be removed. Hyphenated words have to be fixed. I will usually save my manuscript in text only and reopen that to work with. It takes out a lot of spacing errors caused by the OCR program, but it also replaces tabs with spaces. Those multiple spaces can be searched and removed, you will then create the space with your first line indent bar. Three spaces is good for a book indention. Kindle seems to recognize this type of spacing the best. At the end of each chapter insert a page break. Don’t start the next chapter too far down the page, or it will look odd on the Kindle. I start my chapter heading on the fifth line.

When you save your document as a text file, rename it so your original file will be preserved. Saving as a text file will also cause the manuscript to lose all its italics, but you search for them in your original file and restore them in your reformatted file. Also, any text that was centered in the original file will need to be centered again in your new file. Once you’ve done this, save the file as a regular Word document.

At this point, you’re ready to see how your file will actually look on the Kindle. If you own a Kindle, it was given a specific email address when you registered it. You can send your file to that email address and have it delivered back to your Kindle for a small fee. There’s also a free Kindle email address where you can send the file and have it delivered back to your computer in Kindle format for no charge, and then you can use the USB cable to drag the file over to the Kindle itself. This is not the same as uploading the file to be published. No one will see this version except you.

I go through the book page by page on the Kindle, looking for spacing and formatting errors. When I find them, I can go back to the Word file and correct them. After this pass, I usually repeat the last step and send the file to Amazon to be “Kindle-ized” again, then go through it again. You can do this as many times as it takes to get everything looking just like you want it to.

When it does, you’re ready to upload the file to be published!

All Three Lucas Hallam Novels Are Now Available on Kindle

2011-02-09T08:26:00.000-08:00

WILD NIGHT
Winner of The American Mystery Award and The Private Eye Writers Of America's Best Original Paperback Award. Here's the real Hollywood of the studio days . . . glamour, glitz, and an underside of dark and dangerous secrets.

WILD NIGHT has been recently reviewed by Ed Gorman and Cap'n Bob.

DEAD STICK Set in the 1920s, this intriguing mystery marks the return of likable Lucas Hallam. A stuntman and former Texas Ranger, Hallam is hired by Hollywood producer Carl McGinley to find out who is trying to sabotage his current film, set during World War I. Dead-Stick is on target. True-to-life characters with a dash of 1920s seasoning contribute to a satisfying read. -- Publishers Weekly Cap'n Bob also recently reviewed Dead Stick.

DOG HEAVIES
A novel set in the glory days of the Hollywood western. One actor is an ex-gunslinger, a former Texas Ranger, and tough private detective. He is hired by a film studio to take a spoiled New York actor to a ranch in Texas and turn him into a credible cowboy star. Once at the ranch in Texas, the situation is complicated when a ranch hand turns up dead. The local sheriff suspects a Native American actor and so the tough-guy detective takes on the case.

"There is more tension than in a barbed-wire fence." --The Los Angeles Times
"A striking original detective set against a lush, fascinating narrative backdrop." --The Dallas Morning News

Another Nice Review of Killer on a Hot Tin Roof

2011-01-15T09:09:00.000-08:00

The entire literary tour consisted of interesting characters, each with their own unique story. When Delilah finally gets her fill of lust, greed, murder and emotional turmoil, the highlights of the literary tour, she makes up her mind to find the murderer and get the remainder of the group back to Atlanta.

Livia J. Washburn has written a mystery full of humor and some interesting bits about New Orleans and Tennessee Williams.

If you want to read more check it out here.

Nice Review @ Bookreporter.Com

2010-12-15T03:55:00.000-08:00

Warning, if you go to the site, the rest of the review gives away much of the book. Posted below is what doesn't.

Author Livia J. Washburn’s latest foray into literary murder mysteries successfully marries entertainment with literature, highlighting the works of playwright Tennessee Williams in a fast-paced and enjoyable mystery novel. The prolific author has a winner in series heroine Delilah Dickinson, a Southern belle and feisty redhead (just don’t call her “Red”) with a knack for solving crime. Washburn has just the right touch with the literary theme, providing informative tidbits about Tennessee Williams’s life and work, without bogging the novel down with minutiae. A fun read!

The Winners

2010-12-06T08:00:00.000-08:00

Using Random.org the winners are:

Mark Justice: Killer on a Hot Tin Roof

Marscha Jacobs: Huckleberry Finished

Even More Free Books

2010-11-26T04:29:00.000-08:00

This time I'm giving away two of my literary tour mysteries. I have two books, so there will be two winners. First is my latest a hardback from Kensington, Killer on a Hot Tin Roof. (I love that cover!) and second, recently released in paperback, Huckleberry Finished. Email me at washburn@flash.net by December 5th to enter.

And The Winners Are

2010-11-26T04:26:00.000-08:00

Using Random.org the winners are:

The Pumpkin Muffin Murder - Cullen Gallagher

Killer Crab Cakes - Scott Cupp

The books will go out Monday.

Free Books!

2010-11-17T15:42:00.000-08:00

I have one autographed copy each of the paperback KILLER CRAB CAKES and the trade paperback of THE PUMPKIN MUFFIN MURDER that I will be giving away, so only two people can win this time. Email me before November 25, 2010 (Thanksgiving) to enter the drawing. washburn@flash.net.

One of my favorite recipes in THE PUMPKIN MUFFIN MURDER:

Pumpkin Cheesecake Muffins

Filling:
1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese softened
1 egg
3 tablespoons brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Topping:
4 1/2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
3 tablespoons chopped pecans
3 tablespoons butter

Muffin:
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups white sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 tablespoon pumpkin pie spice
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1 1/3 cups canned pumpkin
1/3 cup vegetable oil
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Grease and flour 18 muffin cups, or use paper liners. Fill any unfilled muffin cups in tin with water.

Filling: In a medium bowl, beat softened cream cheese until smooth. Add egg, brown sugar and vanilla. Beat until mixed, then set bowl in freezer to set while mixing other ingredients.

Topping: In a medium bowl, mix flour, brown sugar, cinnamon, ginger and pecans. Add butter and cut it in with a fork until crumbly. Set aside.

Muffin batter: In a large bowl, blend together flour, sugar, baking powder, pumpkin pie spice and salt. Make a well in the center of flour mixture and add eggs, pumpkin, olive oil and vanilla. Beat together until well mixed.

Place pumpkin mixture in muffin cups about 1/2 full. Take the cream cheese mixture out of the freezer then add one tablespoon of the cream cheese mixture right in the middle of the batter in the muffin cups. Having the chilled cream cheese mixture will help you keep the cream cheese from touching the edges. Sprinkle on the streusel topping.

Bake for 20 to 25 minutes.

Makes 18 muffins

Note: If you have dogs, add a heaping tablespoon of the leftover canned pumpkin to their meal. All of my dogs like pumpkin and it’s a healthy treat.

The Pumpkin Muffin Murder

2010-11-06T04:40:00.000-07:00

Publisher: NAL Trade; Original edition (November 2, 2010)
ISBN-10: 0451231325
ISBN-13: 978-0451231321

This is the fifth book in the Fresh Baked series and on the stands now. Much of the book is centered around Holland Lake Park in Weatherford, Texas. This historical park features two double log cabins built in the mid-1800s. During my research, I discovered that the park where we took our daughters to play when they were young has had major changes. The log cabins are still there, but the old wagon they used to play on is gone and shiny new playground equipment replaced it. I'm sure kids enjoy the new playground, but it was sad to see the old wagon gone. It seems like kids today have less chances to just use their imagination when playing. The research at the park certainly brought back a lot of nice memories even with all the changes. My daughters are both grown now and teachers at our local schools, but I will always remember them sharing bread with the ducks and geese and laughing happily at Holland Lake Park.

Summer Battle with Google

2010-09-13T06:00:00.000-07:00

Google I really like Google when I’m looking up anything on the internet. Then the whole Google verses Author lawsuit came up and we discovered several of our books available on Google that paid us nothing. Even that didn’t bother me as much as the latest thing they did. We had an internet bookstore where I sold books from our old bookstores. Most of my sales were on eBay and half.com. In 2008 we lost all of our stock when our house and studio burned to the ground. This summer Google decided that we had a bookstore and gave our home address and phone number. I have been battling to get it off Google since we started getting strange phone calls and I discovered it on their search engine. We would get calls almost every day wanting to set us up with something, usually to take credit cards, and from customers wanting a certain book. This would have been really nice when we actually had some books to sell, but under the circumstances it was just annoying. Every time I’d get set up to do some writing the phone would ring and I’d have to jump up. It became so bad that I ended up buying two more phones so I could put them near where I was working. I had to send off for a pin number, and of course that didn’t work. It would say it’d let me edit, but then it would just post that information, too. Finally after being annoyed all summer, I was able to get a second pen number and take it off the search engine. I'm not sure why it didn't work the first time. That's one thing about computers, you can do exactly the same thing and it won't work 5 times and then it'll suddenly work the 6th time you try something.

Killer Crab Cakes

2010-09-06T13:19:00.000-07:00

Killer Crab Cakes is now available in Japanese. I love the covers they put on this series. This book was set in Rockport, Texas where I spent many fun vacations as a child.

The book was published in trade paperback last year and will be reprinted in paperback soon.

Seduced By A Vampire

2010-08-20T04:14:00.000-07:00

Just received author copies of the Australian edition of my book The Vampire Affair. It's a 2 book in 1 edition sharing with Nancy Holder's Son Of The Shadows.

I like 2 in 1 books and wonder why there aren't more of them in the USA. Usually here publishers only use this format for reprints not original novels. I would think 2 in 1 books would be a great way to launch new authors paired with a well known. I understand bestselling authors probably wouldn't want to share the royalities, but it is hard for a new author to get a foot in the reader's door.

Also Coming

2010-06-30T03:15:00.001-07:00

Killer On A Hot Tin Roof. This Kensington hardback will be released on November 30, 2010.

Because of her friendship with Professor Will Burke, Delilah becomes involved with arranging a tour for people who want to attend the Tennessee Williams Literary Festival held every year in New Orleans. She figures that a group of English professors and their spouses will be a low-key, intelligent, and, well, professorial bunch. Unlike some of her trouble-plagued tours, she expects this one to go smoothly. Which, of course, she realizes later, is a sure-fire way to jinx things.

Coming

2010-06-30T03:05:00.000-07:00

The Pumpkin Muffin Murder: A Fresh-Baked Mystery. This NAL Trade title will be released on November 2, 2010.

The fifth in a delectable series fans can't wait to sink their teeth into. Includes fifteen recipes! Phyllis loves to spend quality time with her grandson. She'll be taking him to a festival with hopes of winning the baking contest-now that her friendly competitor, Carolyn, is judging and not competing. But when a decorative scarecrow is actually a dead body in disguise, it's Phyllis's sleuthing skills that are needed. The dead body is that of the festival's organizer- and his wife, Carolyn's friend, falls under suspicion. Carolyn turns to Phyllis for help, because who's better at dishing out some justice than a baker extraordinaire who can handle the heat...

Barnes and Noble Mystery Discussion Group

2010-06-30T01:49:00.000-07:00

What was the June selection for the Barnes and Noble Mystery Discussion Group? It was my novel Frankly My Dear I'm Dead. Mystery Reader posted a little about it here.

Review of The Vampire Affair.

2010-04-06T07:45:00.000-07:00

Check out Craig Clarke's blog Somebody Dies for a review of The Vampire Affair. Thanks Craig for the kind words.

Kim Harrison’s Black Magic Sanction

2010-04-03T05:11:00.000-07:00

In New York Times bestselling author Kim Harrison's most complex and nuanced adventure yet, bounty hunter and witch Rachel Morgan fights a deadly battle—mind, body, and soul

Black Magic Sanction

Rachel Morgan has fought and hunted vampires, werewolves, banshees, demons, and other supernatural dangers as both witch and bounty hunter—and lived to tell the tale. But she's never faced off against her own kind . . . until now. Denounced and shunned for dealing with demons and black magic, her best hope is life imprisonment—at worst, a forced lobotomy and genetic slavery. Only her enemies are strong enough to help her win her freedom, but trust comes hard when it hinges on the unscrupulous tycoon Trent Kalamack, the demon Algaliarept, and an ex-boyfriend turned thief.

It takes a witch to catch a witch, but survival bears a heavy price.

I discovered the Kim Harrison books when James and I went to his Uncle Sidney’s 80th birthday party. We stopped at a bookstore before we left Brownwood and I picked up one of her paperbacks. I searched all the Half Price bookstores in our area for the others, but didn’t have a lot of luck. Thank goodness for the internet. James bought the rest of the series for me for Christmas and he gave me the hardback of this book as a late birthday present. If you like paranormal novels, this series is a must read.

Review of Huckleberry FInished

2010-02-02T04:49:00.000-08:00

There is a nice review of the second Delilah Dickinson Literary Tour Mystery, Huckleberry Finished here. Thanks Dennis for the kind words.

Just Relax Already

2010-02-01T14:52:00.000-08:00

I’ve discovered a breathing technique I like to use when my mind won’t slow down at the end of the day. You breathe in one nostril while holding the other closed, and switch the nostril you’re holding closed and breathe out for ten deep breaths, then switch. Was that clear? Breathe in the left nostril, out the right 10 times, switch and breathe in the right and out the left 10 times. This isn’t something you can do in public; since it looks very silly switching back and forth holding a nostril closed, but it is relaxing. It clears all the crazy book deadlines, plot twist that aren’t coming together, taxes that need figuring, etc, the pure panic of how I can possibly get it all done, by keeping the mind busy remembering what number you’re on and what nostril you’re holding. If you don’t believe it works, try it. It also works better than counting sheep at bedtime.

A New Review of A Peach Of A Murder

2010-01-16T04:33:00.000-08:00

Clean Cozy Mysteries has written a nice review of the first book in my Fresh Baked mystery series.

I enjoyed the book. I did figure out the ending, something I almost never do, before the heroine did, but it was still an unexpected and unusual ending. I was satisfied with how it ended and how the story developed.

Check here to read more.

Do You Write from the Heart or For the Bucks?

2010-01-12T05:29:00.000-08:00

I like to think it’s possible to do both. For instance while working on the plot for my next paranormal romance I discovered that books with vampires or werewolves sell better. My book was about shape shifters, but not werewolves. I wondered if I should try to come up with a different plot, but then it dawned on me. With just a little twist the book could be even better and the titled changed from Shifting Affections, to Enemy of the Wolf. Fingers crossed that the editor likes the changes, because she liked the original idea.

If you’re going to get published today, I think you have to think about the money, too. For example what are the chances of selling a gothic novel today? Slim. Writers have to keep up with the market in order to keep selling. This is the reason James and I have been able to continue writing for thirty years. We’ve written in many different genres over the years and have had a ball doing it. I wouldn’t think it would be fun to write one type of book for thirty years. So, keep an eye on the market, it’ll be changing again.

Holiday Cooking

2009-12-11T03:49:00.000-08:00

The mass market edition of The Christmas Cookie Killer shipped so well, that the editor asked for another Christmas book. I had an idea for a New Year book, but I can probably adjust the plot. Recipes would be different. With the family Christmas get together coming up I will need to start working out the recipes now. If you put out a bunch of goodies in a large group, you can tell pretty fast which recipes are winners. It does take a lot more effort to create original recipes. You end up throwing your hard work into the trash at times. My problem is with not having some of the book written, I don’t know what I need in the way of recipes. This would be the best time to have other people test taste, however. I know one thing, something is going to have a lot of chocolate in it! Also I have to come up with a killer title. Get it??? Killer title! LOL I crack myself up at times. I hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas spent with family and friends, and a healthy, prosperous 2010.

Winners of the Drawing

2009-11-16T05:29:00.001-08:00

Using Random.org Jack Harville was chosen to receive the signed hardback, Huckleberry Finished, and Helen Morris was picked to receive the signed trade paperback, Killer Crab Cakes. Congratulations!

More Free Books

2009-11-02T08:53:00.000-08:00

I have one autographed copy each of KILLER CRAB CAKES and HUCKLEBERRY FINISHED that I will be giving away, so only two people can win this time. Email me before November 15, 2009 to enter the drawing. washburn@flash.net

HUCKLEBERRY FINISHED (Kensington Hardback)

Delilah Dickinson's literary travel agency is a hit! And now, after an alarmingly lively tour through the Old South of Gone with the Wind, she's ready to embark on a leisurely steamboat trip down the Mississippi, a la Huckleberry Finn. But when one of her passengers winds up dead, Delilah reckons she'll have to get to the bottom of this downright ornery mystery...Ain't no doubt about it.

KILLER CRAB CAKES (Signet Trade Paperback)

When Phyllis’s cousin asks her to look after her Oak Knoll bed-and-breakfast for a few weeks, Phyllis jumps at the chance—mostly because the inn is located close to the annual Rockport, Texas, Just Desserts competition. But Phyllis’s holiday turns bitter when she and Sam discover a dead body—and all signs point to murder.

Reviewed at Mystery Reader Discussion

2009-11-02T08:39:00.000-08:00

Frankly My Dear, I'm Dead has recently been released in a mass market paperback edition.

Check out the review at Mystery Reader

Winners of The Vampire Affair

2009-10-28T04:36:00.000-07:00

Using Random.org the following winners were chosen to receive a signed copy of The Vampire Affair.
Paul Bishop
Juri Nummelin
Craig Clark

Lots of free stuff

2009-10-24T17:21:00.000-07:00

It's time again for the annual Writerspace Halloween Party, to celebrate the chill in the air and find some terrific books to curl up with this fall! So please join me and dozens of your favorite authors at the 2009 Halloween Mash at Writerspace on Wednesday, October 28th from 8pm ET to 11pm ET. Authors will be dropping in to chat all during the evening and we will be giving away 100s of new books and other fantastic prizes -- autographed, hard-to-find, advance copies plus special treats like gift baskets and more. We hope to see you Wednesday night! You don't have to be present to win, but you must be registered. To register, and for details on all participating authors and the prizes they're giving away, visit http://www.writerspace.com/halloween

Bill Crider Reviews The Vampire Affair

2009-10-21T04:42:00.000-07:00

As you can plainly see by the cover to the left there, this is supposedly a romance novel in the Silhouette Nocturne series. Vampires, as anyone can tell you are a hot item these days in romance. But I'll bet this book isn't what you're thinking it is. The vampires here aren't the romantic leads. They're the bad guys. The very bad guys.

You can read more on Bill Crider's Pop Culture Magazine. Bill is a writer that I respect greatly, and his review means a lot to me.

This is the last week to throw your name into the drawing. I'm giving away 3 books and the deadline is October 26th. Just email me at reasoner@flash.net for a chance to win an autographed copy of The Vampire Affair.

Another Nice Review

2009-10-18T14:31:00.000-07:00

Here is a review of The Christmas Cookie Killer. This third book in the Fresh Baked series will be coming out in paperback November 3, 2009.
Signet Mass Market Paperback $6.99

Killer Crab Cakes Review

2009-10-18T14:10:00.000-07:00

There is a great review on the Mystery Reader's blog.

The latest Fresh Baked Mystery by Livia J. Washburn was just released last month. It is called Killer Crab Cakes. I enjoyed getting back to another Texas mystery and this is a fun series.

If you are interested in reading more of the review check out

Mystery Reader Discussion

(Fourth book in Fresh Baked series)Nal Trade, September 29, 2009, ISBN: 978-0451228369 Trade Paperback $14.00.

Nice Review of The Vampire Affair

2009-10-13T04:55:00.000-07:00

There is a very nice review of The Vampire Affair on the CataRomance website.

THE VAMPIRE AFFAIR brings out your deepest emotions on countless occasions, as the joys or fears of the beloved hero and heroine affect you as if they are your own.

If you want to read more go here.

I'm still collecting names for the giveaway until October 26th. Just email me at reasoner@flash.net for a chance to win a copy of the book.

And the Winners are . . .

2009-10-06T12:58:00.000-07:00

Using Random.org the following winners were chosen to receive a signed copy of Frankly My Dear, I'm Dead.
Charles Gramlich
Gerry Tilley
Mary Arnold

Remember there's still time to enter The Vampire Affair contest.

Another Free Drawing

2009-09-22T15:15:00.000-07:00

The Vampire Affair by Livia Reasoner

“I’m not sure if we can reach a deal or not, Mr. Brandt. The current owner of the resort has no interest in selling –”
Michael Brandt opened his briefcase and pushed aside a 9mm pistol, a vial of holy water, a wooden stake sharpened to a deadly point, and an antique knife with a silver-filigreed handle. He took out a legal pad, plucked a pen from the pocket of his jacket, and wrote a number on the pad. As he turned the pad around and pushed it toward the man seated on the other side of the table in the conference room, he said, “I’m sure you’ll pass along my offer to him anyway, as you’re duty-bound to do as his attorney.”

If you are interested in reading more, I am giving away 3 autographed copies. Send an email to reasoner@flash.net to enter. The winners will be chosen October 26th, just in time to get the books before Halloween.

Drawing for Free Books

2009-09-15T12:41:00.000-07:00

Frankly, My Dear, I’m Dead, by Livia J. Washburn. An amateur sleuth and travel agent leads a tour of Atlanta sites connected to Margaret Mitchell and GONE WITH THE WIND, but her group really gets an eyeful when the Rhett Butler impersonator ends up dead.

The mass market paperback edition will be coming out October 6, 2009. I will be giving away 3 signed copies. Email me before the publication date to enter the drawing. washburn@flash.net

Good Luck!

Huckleberry Finished Review in Publishers Weekly

2009-08-25T07:08:00.000-07:00

Publishers Weekly likes my second Delilah Dickinson Literary Tour mystery, HUCKLEBERRY FINISHED. You can read the review here. The book will be out at the end of October. I just turned in the third one in the series, KILLER ON A HOT TIN ROOF.

Computer Backup Bling

2009-08-20T20:30:00.001-07:00

Last week my computer died and I lost some of my data because my usb memory stick was in my purse. I didn't take the time to go dig it out and backup. I won't leave it next to my computer because the one I did before burned with the house last year. I've decided never again. I bought a ugly memory stick with 8g of memory and glued and wired it to this owl pendant. Added a ribbon and I will now be wearing my computer backup. With a flick of a switch the usb connector comes out under the tail. I wonder why there isn't jewelry like this on the market.

COMING: THE VAMPIRE AFFAIR

2009-08-19T11:54:00.000-07:00

This is the cover for my Silhouette Nocturne novel that comes out around November 1. I’m very pleased with it. I like the colors, and the characters actually look like they’re described in the book. The manuscript went through several titles before the editor and I decided on this one, and while I’m aware that it’s the same title as an old Man From U.N.C.L.E. novel, it really seemed to fit the story. I’ve written paranormal romances before, but this is my first book with vampires in it. I had a great time writing it.

Writers, Health, and a Writers Imagination

2009-08-01T04:23:00.000-07:00

I believe writers are either the best at handling illness or the worst. Of course anytime any illness occurs in ourselves or families, we start researching. What could it be? What is the best treatment? Is this something that I can treat without a doctor? Sometimes this works out, and other times it just adds terror to our lives.

At one time I actually wondered if I had the Plague. Hey, quit laughing. Doctors were seeing cases showing back up at the time and the symptoms fit. I went to doctor after doctor trying to find out what was wrong, and they were baffled. I took many rounds of antibiotics the various doctors prescribed which caused even more problems, went to several specialists, and had an MRI of my brain. It was through my research that I discovered that many of my symptoms could be caused by nasty food allergies. I went in for a food allergy test, of course that doctor messed up and just did an environment allergy test which I didn’t want. I had already paid for the test, so I just lost that money. I went to a different doctor and had the test I wanted done. Sure enough I was allergic to legumes, and soy was making my life miserable since it is hidden in a lot of foods. Changes to my diet made a world of difference. This took care of at least half my symptoms. If I hadn’t researched, would the doctors have finally stumbled on this? I don’t know, but I would have suffered even longer waiting for the right doctor to discover it. The rest of my symptoms still baffle the doctor. All I know is it isn’t Lupus, even though it fits the symptoms . . .

This week my father started telling me that he could no longer take his blood sugar test on his right hand because it tested wrong. When questioned it turned out his blood from his right hand was testing higher. Now I will admit, I thought he was delusional. Blood flowing through the body should be the same, right? Well, doing what a writer does, I hit the search engines. What do you know, the dominant hand can have a different reading, but it’s the one he should be testing on. People have reported getting numbers 30-40 points higher in their dominant hands. Your dominant hand is more likely to reflect the more recent changes in your blood sugar because of increased blood flow. He’s not going to like it when I tell him the higher number is the one he should have recorded.

My Bios Are Mind-numbing

2009-07-24T19:04:00.000-07:00

My editors often ask me to write new bios for books, websites, newsletters, etc. Since I’m a fiction writer who sits at a desk many hours, and a daughter who cares for her elderly parents, my life is pretty boring. I’m not a detective, doctor, or lawyer who writes as a fun hobby. I sit, type, research, copy-edit, and type some more. I’ve been married to the same good man for more than 30 years and have two sweet grown daughters who are teachers like my mom was. I have four dogs, two of which are young pups and are driving me crazy trying to housebreak them. I’m too soft. I can’t just crate them all the time and listen to them cry.

I cook when I have time and have fun coming up with my own recipes, usually by accident because I didn’t have time to go shopping and didn’t have what the recipe calls for.

Today I worked for a few hours on the computer, went out to pick tomatoes so I could take some to my parents, then drove to their house to check on them. I have to bathe my mom. She has Alzheimer’s and has forgotten how to even shower by herself. I know it disturbs her when I help her bathe, it disturbs me, too, but it’s the only way it’ll get done. My dad is in his 80’s, hard of hearing, and life confuses him. My mom took care of all the extra things in life for him for 50 years and now she can’t. My brother and I try to handle all that we can for them, because it’s just too much for my dad. Today his dryer quit working. I helped him hang the wet clothes around in the house. Luckily my brother can fix appliances. On my way home I stopped by his house to see if I should get a new dryer. He is going to go out there to check and see if the old one is worth fixing. If not, I’ll be shopping for a new dryer. It’s four in the afternoon before I realize I haven’t had breakfast yet. Where has the time gone?

This life isn’t something that makes an entertaining bio. The only thing entertaining in my life at this time is within the fiction I write. Why couldn’t I have been a rocket scientist who writes as a hobby? With that I could write an entertaining bio.

I won’t even mention trying to come up with a new publicity photo. SIGH!

Huckleberry Finished

2009-07-18T04:54:00.000-07:00

ISBN: 0758225687
Format: Hardcover, 304pp
Publisher: Kensington Publishing Corporation
Pub. Date: November 01, 2009

I really like this cover. It's fun and really fits the book. I'll be writing more about this book closer to November.

Mighty Big Ears You Have

2009-07-17T05:38:00.000-07:00

My daughter told Nicki and Nora at six weeks that they were going to need to start doing ear exercises to get them to stand up properly. Honestly I thought they would have ears that hung down as dogs, but they’ve been doing their exercises. As you can see at ten weeks later their ears are up. I swear if there’s a good wind little Nicki will blow away.

Hit By the Japanese Spammer

2009-06-30T03:52:00.000-07:00

スパム My blog was finally hit by Sexy the Japanese spammer that has already hit everyone else’s blog. I truly do not understand the purpose of this. It took me an hour to delete it off all the pages. Translation at Google didn’t clear up the purpose of this. It translated into random words. It did give me a chance to respond to some of the bloggers that I hadn’t gotten around to. Seems like I run around lately like a chicken with its head cut off. Do people say that anymore? It was one of my grandmother’s sayings.

Hope everyone is having a great summer.

Rereading Overload

2009-06-19T04:26:00.000-07:00

Lately we’ve had a sudden influx of books that need editing. I barely finish one when another comes in. The last couple days we’ve had three novels arrive FedEx that are in the page proof stage. For those of you who don’t know what page proofs are, they are preliminary versions of publications. They are unbound, and in some cases electronic. They are created as part of the proofreading and copyediting processes, but can be used for promotional and review purposes also. At this stage most of the mistakes should be already corrected. Usually mistakes we find are from what was corrected in copy edit stage and entered incorrectly. At this point I’ve read the book so many times that it is sometimes hard to catch mistakes. This would be my last chance to catch a mistake. It really bothers me when something stupid doesn't get fixed. For example in Frankly My Dear, I’m Dead I did not catch that I had Margaret Mitchell’s husband down as John Walsh. His name is John Marsh. I knew this, but for some reason my brain didn’t catch it. That still bugs me. Let’s hope my brain is sharper this week. I'd better eat some fish.

Killer Crab Cakes

2009-06-07T14:22:00.001-07:00

Publisher: NAL Trade (September 29, 2009)
ISBN-10: 0451228367
ISBN-13: 978-0451228369

I wasn't sure what to expect for a cover with the title Killer Crab Cakes. I visualized a crab waving around a gun or knife. No crabs, but it is a nice colorful cover. The book is set in Rockport, Texas where James and I spent a month researching and working. He actually wrote a book and a half while were were down there while I researched, plotted, and cooked seafood. I'm much, much slower at this process than he is. It took a second trip down there to finish writing the book. Unfortunately we couldn't spend a second month down there. The second trip was just for a week, but the last touches were put on the book in Rockport.

Nicki and Nora

2009-05-25T17:19:00.000-07:00

We finally settled on the names for the puppies. Who would have thought it would be that hard to name a couple little female pups. We went through a lot of names, but none fit them. I threatened to call them Jo and Anna since our youngest daughter, Joanna, recently moved out. I wasn't serious and she saw the humor in it.

I thought about Calamity and Belle, but we had a little goat named Belle. John suggested Min and Pin and Michael Davis went even further with Minnie and Pennie. Good names, but not for these two. Michael came up with a lot of good ideas for names on Facebook, some we’ve even used in the past for pets.

Finally we decided to name them Nicki and Nora. I like the salute to the mystery series, but since we didn’t have a boy pup Nick was changed to Nicki. Nicki also has a second meaning to us. When our daughters were little we read a book called No No Nicky. They loved that book. It was a book the whole family knew without actually seeing the pages, because we read so many times. Even though it was about a cat, it really fits the smallest pup. She climbs up my leg when I’m sitting and suddenly I have a tiny pup in my lap. She climbs so high, I’m afraid she’s going to fall. We do seem to say no, no to them a lot. They are only eight weeks old and have many things to learn not to do. Like don't go near the grumpy ol’ dog we’ve had for many years. I think he must look a little like Momma because they really, really want him.

They are getting more adventuresome which can be a problem because we have a pair of hawks that live in the nearby woods. Yesterday one flew right over them. Luckily it wasn’t interested in them because it had a big ol’ snake.

I’d forgotten how much fun babies were. We’ve had kittens before but never puppies this young. They will just make you laugh out loud and our house hasn’t had enough laughter lately.

A Very Nice Review

2009-05-19T03:53:00.000-07:00

There is a very nice review of The Christmas Cookie Killer by Pamela James at the Mayhem and Magic blog. Thanks Pamela.

Mother's Day Puppies

2009-05-10T16:50:00.000-07:00

We have two new additions to the family. Today James and Shayna went to Denton and brought home these two little girls. These little half-pints are seven weeks old Min-Pin/Chihuahua mixes. They napped in a plastic tub while I bought supplies.

Now we need to come up with names. Any suggestions?

Pot Roast

2009-05-09T05:15:00.001-07:00

I finally bought a new crock-pot to replace the one I lost in the fire over a year ago. I never really used the old one that much at home. Actually I had two of the big ones, but they were bought to make nachos for the school math and science team home competitions while our daughter was on the team. James and I ran the concession stand for the teams for several years. You wouldn’t believe how many pots of cheese we’d sell in one competition. I would have to get up especially early on those mornings to start a batch in the first pot. The kids would start buying nachos as soon as we’d set up for breakfast. While setting up, I’d start the next batch in the second crock-pot so hopefully it’d be hot by the time the first batch was gone, so I could start the next pot of cheese, and then the next . . . I really hated nachos by the time our daughter graduated high school.

This morning I filled my new crock-pot with baby carrots, onions, celery, red potatoes and two braised chuck roasts. The smell is already getting to me and I haven’t even had breakfast yet. If it turns out tasting the way it smells, I’ll split it between us and my parents. I do love cooking a whole meal in one pot, not to mention I can work through the time I would normally cook supper.

New Review

2009-04-21T07:54:00.001-07:00

There's a nice review of A Peach of a Murder on the blog of the Mystery Reader Discussion.

Sweet Potato Buttermilk Pie

2009-04-04T15:38:00.000-07:00

I felt lousy today and work wasn’t going well. That seems to be happening more often lately. I decided to bake a pie. My next baking book is set during Thanksgiving, so I need something that says Thanksgiving. I thought about pumpkin, but I’m a little tired of pumpkin as a holiday pie, to tell you the truth. I remembered how much my mother-in-law liked sweet potato pie, so I decided to try that with a twist. I wanted to mix the sweet potato pie with a buttermilk pie and add a pecan topping. It kept me busy this afternoon and I didn’t feel like I was just wasting the day, since technically coming up with these recipes is work. It just came out of the oven and I thought it looked pretty good. Of course the true test will be the taste.

Book Review

2009-03-21T07:41:00.000-07:00

There is a nice review of The Christmas Cookie Killer on the Mystery Reader's blog.

Published Mistakes

2009-03-16T05:45:00.000-07:00

It is always embarrassing when you make a mistake in a novel that gets published. A fan recently pointed out that Margaret Mitchell's husband was John Marsh, not John Walsh, as was in my book Frankly My Dear, I’m Dead. Yes, I know his name is Marsh. I do not know how I changed it to Walsh. I went over that book three times and still missed that one. I’m not even sure where the name Walsh came from. I have had problems with switching letters around in the past. I misspelled the word the in an entire manuscript before I had spell check. Fortunately I had find and replace and was able to make a quick fix. This little glitch in my brain is the reason I have to check, double check, and then triple check everything. It sure does slow down writing, and it's frustrating that mistakes still get through.

Fortune Cookie

2009-02-16T13:51:00.000-08:00

James and I went out for a few hours this morning. Gone are the days when we could just take off for the whole day. We both have too much work, thank goodness. Anyway, we went to the library, Half-Price books, and Wal-mart. It was a typical morning off from work. We ended the morning with Chinese food while discussing the books we're working on. My fortune cookie said - You have a charming way with words and should write a book. What happened to the fortunes that say I'm going to get wealthy? Oh well, I don't know how charming my words are, but I sure do need to write a book. Deadlines are always looming around here, so I guess my fortune is already coming true.

All About Writing

2009-02-13T05:00:00.000-08:00

James and I talked to our youngest daughter's gifted and talented students about writing yesterday . The last time we did this was when our youngest was in sixth grade. I won't tell you how many years ago that was, but it's been a few. It's always refreshing meeting a new generation of young intellegent readers.

We were in the school library and they asked if we knew any authors. Of course we scrambled to think of authors they might know. I'm sorry to say they wouldn't be impressed by most of our friends. Bill Crider was the first name we came up with. One of the girls scrambled to the Wishbone section and picked out his book, Muttketeer! They were very excited we knew Mr. Crider.

Before we left the students shared power points they had made about their favorite authors. These 8-10 year olds had professional looking power points that were very well researched and nicely made. Either my daughter is an amazing teacher, or these kids are beyond gifted, or maybe both.

It's always a good day when you can spend it with kids that enjoy reading.

USA Today

2008-12-18T12:07:00.001-08:00

There was a nice mention of THE CHRISTMAS COOKIE KILLER in USA Today, along with several other Christmas-themed mysteries. You can find it on-line here.

Home Sweet Home

2008-12-16T16:02:00.000-08:00

We moved into the new house December 6th.

We have officially moved into the new house. It's finished other than a few little things I'm doing. I am very thankful to our builders, Larry and Karen Mackey at Prestige Builders in Azle. I would gladly work with them again. They were total pros and didn't charge an arm and a leg. The photos I have aren't the greatest but welcome to our home.

This is our entry where you can see the stained cement shining. I need to add another layer of sealer, but it's pretty as is. The ceiling is ten feet and there's a nice coat closet to the left.

This is our living area. The furniture is thanks to our youngest daughter and the television was bought by our oldest. We have great kids. The rug was a remnant from Brumbaugh's, where my brother works, and they gave us a wonderful deal on all our carpet. A gentleman there bound two of our remnants from our daughters' bedrooms for area rugs. The fire hasn't been lit in the fireplace yet, but it's pretty cold tonight . . .
This is my dining nook. As you can see I do love big windows. The little dog is the one James carried around when the house burned down. He's adjusting to the new house pretty well.
Larry did a wonderful job finding guys to build my cabinets and counter tops. The cabinet builder retired after building ours which is a major shame. He did a great job.
I have a nice pantry to the right, just past the refrigerator. I love this kitchen. And again it has a nice big window.

This is the master bedroom. I love the step up two tone ceiling. I haven't decided on curtains for this room yet, so I just stuck paper blinds up. Who knew they made paper blinds. They're very quick and easy to install.

This is James hard at work upstairs. I just finished the floor this morning. Larry had a guy who would have done it but I wanted to do something in this house and I knew James wouldn't care if it wasn't perfect. Now I need to go back to Lowes and buy more boards for shelves . . .

I would like to thank everyone who helped us get into this new home.

2008-12-10T04:04:00.001-08:00

Gift basket giveaway winner was Janet Chambers and the runner up who will receive a signed copy of Frankly My Dear, I'm Dead, was Mary Cannon. Congratulations.

Basket Give Away

2008-11-11T05:39:00.001-08:00

Email me at livia@flash.net to put your name in for a chance to win the above basket. All I need is your name. I'll email the winner for their address. The basket contains a signed copy of my book The Christmas Cookie Killer, a signed bookmark, a mug with the cover of the book, a tin of snowflake cookie cutters, red and white snowflake pot holders, Dark hot chocolate mix, biscotti cookies, two small boxes of chocolates, and a stuffed snowman. The drawing will be December 7th. Good Luck!

House Snafu

2008-11-05T03:08:00.000-08:00

We’ve run into a slight snafu on the house. The guys who did the sheetrock work put down cardboard to cover the stained floors. They taped it down with cheap masking tape. The tape does not want to come up. It’s around the edges with baseboard over it but not touching. There’s little room to work, and anything that will get the tape to release also ruins the stain. James and I took up all the cardboard last weekend, but we’ve had no luck with the tape. I took up a little in the bathrooms so the plumber could install things, but I had to use my pocket knife and bloodied my knuckles just clearing a small area. I tried goof-off on a small area and it discolored the stain. I'm not sure what we're going to do.

Bookmarks

2008-10-22T15:29:00.000-07:00

If you would like a signed bookmark for The Christmas Cookie Killer, and or Frankly My Dear, I'm Dead, please send a self addressed stamped envelope to

Livia J. Washburn

P.O. Box 931

Azle, Texas 76098

The Fireplace

2008-10-16T07:21:00.000-07:00

This is Gerald. He's doing our rock work. He finished outside and the fireplace should be done tomorrow. Just in time, too. It's starting to get cooler. It took 19 tons of stone and he lifted every stone.

I never dreamed we'd have a fireplace after losing the last house to fire. Of course we are a lot more careful with fire than the guy that caused our house to burn down. While just burning brush, I dug a hole four feet deep, including a foot and a half through gravel, with the tractor. I watched the fire until it had burned down and then buried it. I don't know if I'll ever be comfortable around fire again.

The old house had a gas stove and heater so we always had heat when the electricity went out. We decided to get the fireplace because the new house is all electric. When that next ice storm comes through this part of Texas and takes down half the power lines we'll still have heat.

New House Update

2008-10-05T04:09:00.001-07:00

As you can see the house is coming along. We had some problems getting the green shingles that we wanted. Most places don't even carry green shingles and 30 year shingles blew off the old house, so we wanted something heavier. We ordered 50 year shingles but received a call the next week that they no longer make that shingle in green. We ended up with lifetime emerald green slate shingles. We're waiting for the ridge line shingles to come to finish the roof. The rock along the bottom should be finished this week.

Inside the pipes and wiring are in the walls and ceilings, and the insulation is almost finished. We decided to get the foam insulation even though it's more expensive. In the long run it should save money. After it's all blown into the studs and ceiling, the shaved pieces will be added to the insulation in the ceiling. The house will be well insulated so our energy bills should be low. The sheetrock will go up this week.

I ordered 24 small fast growing dragon trees (Paulownia). By ordering them this time of year, I was able to get them for half price. They're small 6-8" and I put them in pots for the winter. This way I can move them inside if we have a hard freeze. I'll set them out next spring. Dragon trees are fast growing trees, about 30 feet in 3 years. A dozen are Kawakamii which only grow to be around 30 feet, and a dozen are Elongata which are supposed to grow to be 80 feet. We should have some nice trees in a few years. I never would have known about the dragon tree if my cousin hadn't told me about her tree. Thanks for the tip, Sabra. We definitely lost the big pine tree that was close to the old house. The fire just did too much damage and the branches died one after the other. Now it'll have to be brought down.

Reduce Reuse Recycle

2008-10-05T03:35:00.000-07:00

I'm always on the lookout for new uses for things we no longer use or need. Of course I had to go to this website: 29 new uses for old nylons
Yahoo! Green - Many women have felt the frustration of getting all dressed up when — rrrrip! — a run in your nylons. Here are some great uses for damaged stockings.

I would really like to create an outdoor hand-washing station. Now I need some damaged stockings. You would think with three females living in one house we would have produced some damaged stockings since January 29th. To tell you the truth, I haven't even bought a nice dress to need stockings since the fire. I'm a slacks kind of gal. Guess it really wouldn't be going green if you have to buy the stockings to make the hand-washing station. I'll have to give this some more thought.

Kirkus Reviews Frankly My Dear, I'm Dead

2008-10-03T04:59:00.000-07:00

Rhett Butler is murdered, and the suspects naturally include Scarlett O'Hara.

Sassy southern divorcée Delilah Dickinson has just started up a literary-tour business. Her maiden voyage involves Gone With the Wind—and is nearly gone with the wind itself. Delilah, her son-in-law, Luke, and her teen twin nieces, Amelia and Augusta, are shepherding the tour group around the Margaret Mitchell home and Movie Museum when one of her charges, a German tourist, accuses another, Elliott Riley, of trying to steal his camera. After Delilah smooths things over, the group buses out to Fontenoy Hall, a plantation that provides food, a ball, overnight accommodations and characters from Gone With the Wind in period costume. The group is charmed until Riley finds the corpse of Rhett Butler, aka Steven Kelley, in the garden. When the police arrive and hold both tourists and actors for questioning, Delilah decides to turn sleuth and salvage her tour. Steven, head of the drama department at a nearby college who supplied the student actors and costumes, enjoyed quite a reputation with coeds despite a wife who played Scarlett to his Rhett. Although frozen out by the police, Delilah keeps hunting for clues and finds enough to put her life in danger.

The first in a Literary Tour Mystery series from Washburn (The Christmas Cookie Killer, 2008, etc.) is a promising addition to the ranks of cozies featuring strong Southern women.

ISBN: 0758225660
ISBN-13: 9780758225665
Format: Hardcover, 304pp
Publisher: Kensington Publishing Corporation
Pub. Date: November 01, 2008

9 More Days . . .

2008-09-21T14:20:00.001-07:00

The official release date is September 30th by NAL Trade. I love this cover and I can't wait to see the book!

Just in Time for the Rain

2008-09-12T14:48:00.000-07:00

Front of house.

Back of house.

They worked hard today to finish closing up the roof and cover it with felt to protect everything from the rain that we're sure to get from Ike

The builder is talking about pushing the downed trees away from the house and burning them. I cringed when I heard that, but it would cost a pretty penny to haul it off and it'd just be landfill. I may sit up all night with a water hose in hand, or maybe two or three.

It's Starting To Take Shape

2008-09-05T15:50:00.000-07:00

Publisher Weekly Review

2008-09-02T10:29:00.000-07:00

Frankly My Dear, I'm Dead Livia J. Washburn. Kensington, $22 (224p) ISBN 978-0-7582-2566-5

Gone with the Wind provides the inspiration for Washburn's fun Literary Tour mystery, the first in a new cozy series. Divorcée Delilah Dickinson, who owns an Atlanta travel agency, has high hopes for her new tour to sites associated with Margaret Mitchell and her landmark novel. Unfortunately, by the time the group reaches “Tara” for a dinner dance, which includes local actors portraying the famous characters, nothing's running smoothly. Then Steven Kelley, the actor playing Rhett Butler, turns up dead in the mansion's garden. In classic Agatha Christie fashion, a sheriff's department investigator tries to catch the killer by keeping the group at Tara overnight—with Delilah's unasked for assistance, of course. Much like the charismatic Rhett, Steven had an eye for the ladies, but otherwise lacked any Clark Gable charm. Washburn (Murder by the Slice) supplies an amusing, breathlessly quick resolution to what proves a featherlight crime of passion. (Nov.)

Three Guys and a House

2008-08-28T14:01:00.000-07:00

I'm amazed at the speed three guys can build in this horrid heat. This morning there were no walls.

Cement Trucks Came!

2008-08-26T05:01:00.000-07:00

The ground was finally dry enough for the cement trucks to come.

The slab will be scored today for stained floors.

Okay, Enough Already

2008-08-20T15:15:00.000-07:00

(Click on photo to enlarge.)

And Then It Rained

2008-08-18T14:31:00.000-07:00

It looked like everything was going to be done quickly, and then it started raining. We've had two delays on having the concrete poured, and we had another heavy rain today so that will delay it again. This black clay turns to gumbo when it rains, so it will be a while before it will be dry enough for cement trucks to drive on. That pile of brush out front was once a thirty foot tree, a twenty foot tree, a twenty foot Crepe Myrtle, and about fifteen feet of pine tree. We only lost half of that pine tree, maybe. Anyone know a good, fast growing, shade tree that grows well in black clay?

House Update

2008-08-11T07:54:00.001-07:00

As you can see, the rebuilding has finally started. The cement for the foundation is supposed to be poured today.

FRANKLY MY DEAR, I'M DEAD

2008-08-09T09:12:00.000-07:00

Coming out in hardback November 01, 2008.

No one is surprised when feisty Delilah Dickinson opens her own literary travel agency in Atlanta after her divorce. But during her first group's tour of an old plantation modeled after Tara from Gone With the Wind, she finds herself in the middle of a murder mystery-and everyone knows death is not so good for business. So, with God as her witness, Delilah vows to find the killer.

Things start quietly enough: a visit to the quaint apartment where Margaret Mitchell wrote her great opus, then a stop at the Gone with the Wind Movie Museum, and a hearty Southern luncheon at Mary Mac's Tea Room that will surely guarantee her new clients will never be hungry again. What could possibly go wrong?

Quite a lot, it turns out. During an overnight stay at a lovely recreation of Tara-complete with a full cast of actors-things start to really go south. The actor playing Clark Gable playing Rhett Butler is found dead, apparently the victim of a fatal dose of Southern in-hospitality. Before anyone can even think "Where shall I go? What shall I do?" the police have the place under lockdown, insisting everyone remain at the mansion while they investigate.

Delilah finds herself taking over the investigation when their #1 suspect is her son-in-law Luke-the not-so-bright husband of her daughter, Melissa. But life starts imitating art when the actors begin taking their roles a little too seriously-believing they actually are Ashley Wilkes, Scarlett O'Hara, and Melanie. Next stop: Sunset Boulevard.

With all the drama of Margaret Mitchell's epic story suddenly coming to alarming life, Delilah's only chance to head off a not-so-Civil War is to track down and confront the deranged murderer. But shemust move quickly and very quietly, or risk becoming the next victim of a killer-who frankly doesn't give a damn.

Publisher: Kensington Publishing Corporation
ISBN-13: 9780758225665

THE CHRISTMAS COOKIE KILLER

2008-08-02T05:31:00.000-07:00

Christmas comes to Weatherford, Texas, in this delicious new entry in the national bestselling series.

Yuletide is here—and retired teacher cum amateur sleuth Phyllis Newsom looks forward to finishing up this unlucky year. But she won’t be hanging up her apron just yet—because this year’s Christmas bake-off is going to be cutthroat.Phyllis would like to think she’s entering the Christmas cookie contest for the fun of it—but that’s not exactly true. She can’t imagine anyone beating her snowflake-shaped lime sugar cookies. Then, during her annual Christmas cookie exchange, Phyllis heads over to the elderly Mrs. Simmons’s home and finds her dead, in a pile of lime sugar cookies. But with a number of names on Santa’s naughty list, this case may be a hard cookie to crumble.

Publisher: NAL Trade (September 30, 2008)
ISBN-10: 0451225341
ISBN-13: 978-0451225344

House Update

2008-07-25T06:13:00.000-07:00

We’ve both been so busy with writing that we really haven’t done as much as we should have on the building front.

We moved into the mobile home at the end of February, one month after the fire. We settled in quickly and set up office spaces. James had the kitchen table and I used a desk in the living room that his brother gave us. Since then we’ve also set up a small table in our bedroom that James uses part of the time. Lately I’ve been using a lapboard and work in a recliner in the living room while we have two printers set up at the desk. The first printer we bought quickly and has a scanner and is wireless. We were never able to get it to work wireless, and the ink is expensive. I bought a used Canon printer that uses cheap cartridges that can be re-inked, and we use this for printing manuscripts. I still miss my old printer, but this Canon is pretty good.

After we moved in we were able to get the water well working and unhooked the hoses from my brother Bruce’s well. The next week our well went dry and we had to hook the hoses back up. Gas wells were going up all around us, including two within a quarter mile that were drilling that week. They use a lot of water. We called a well guy my cousin knew and found out that you can’t just drill a well deeper, you have to drill a new well. We arranged to have a new well dug, and then it started raining. It took weeks before it dried out enough for the trucks to come onto the property to drill. We had them drill this one twice as deep as the old well. Finally we had water again and the water wasn’t as hard as the old water, which meant I could finally use a dishwasher. The only problem was the water stunk horribly. The well guys added a new tank to our old one that fixed the problem. It took months, but we finally had good water.

The clean up also hit a snafu. I had my father’s tractor. It’s a medium-sized tractor with a front end loader. It wasn’t heavy enough to do the work easily. It took much longer than planned and when I finally had the dumpster loaded, I loaded it too much. I ended up having to empty part of it out of the dumpster. I became overheated and ill, and haven’t been able to take the heat since. So, only half of the mess is gone. I plan to leave the slab the garage was on, but the rest of the foundation has to go. We had pier and beam and need it all cleaned up before putting down a slab. We don’t want the new house to smell like smoke.

We have finally found a house plan that we like. I think things will start to move faster now. A builder is supposed to come look over the place in the next few days. It's been a long process.

With all the distractions I’m amazed we’ve written as much as we have. James has been amazing. I can’t believe how much he’s written in the last five months. He writes almost every day and usually all day. I get distracted too easily and find the whole day gone.

Recipe in Murder By The Slice

2008-07-18T16:10:00.000-07:00

The case of the missing salt

It has been pointed out by a couple readers that the recipe for the peanut butter cookies is missing how much salt to use. I remember cutting the salt in the original recipe to use less, but the changes didn't make it into the book. It mentions salt in the directions but not the ingredients. If you make the cookies 1/4 teaspoon works great.

Murder By The Slice In Large Print

2008-07-18T15:55:00.000-07:00

The second book in the Fresh-baked mystery series came out in large print earlier this year but I failed to post the cover then. I just received author copies and it's a nice hardback book.

Retired schoolteacher Phyllis Newsom's scrumptious baked creations are known throughout Weatherford, Texas, for many things, but being healthy isn't one of them. So this year's contest should be quite a challenge. . . . You catch more flies with honey, but it seems nobody ever told Shannon Dunston, despotic president of the Parent-Teacher Organization. Even though the carnival fare is heart-healthy, it won't help Shannon after someone stabs her in the chest.

I'll be posting more about this series and my new literary mystery series soon.

Now with Sudoku

2008-04-28T05:13:00.000-07:00

I've added Sudoku puzzles to my blog. This comes from my favorite online puzzle website. It's small on this page to fit in the area, but if you want a bigger puzzle just go to their site at http://sudoku.com.au/ They have other types of puzzles if you're really not into Sudoku.

Light at the End of the Tunnel

2008-02-25T04:04:00.000-08:00

We've had a very productive weekend. With my brother, Bruce, and his son, Eric, we were able to get the electricity hooked up to the mobile home. Now all we need to do on that is cover the long trench. That'll be easy with the tractor.

We didn't get the well finished. We just ran out of steam and daylight. We did get water hooked up to the mobile home, however. We just hooked it up to my brother's well for now. Bruce has done an amazing amount of work to get us into our temporary home. The sewer that my cousin, Ricky, put in works like a dream, too. Ah, the things that become really important when you don't have them. We were very thankful for him this past weekend. While he was putting in the sewer system, he also dug the trenches for the plumbing and electricity. If he hadn't done that we would still be digging rather than having power at this point.

I also put in a phone jack and ran the cable under the floor to the end of the house. We should have that live again on Thursday. Guess I'd better go buy a phone, now.

We still haven't gotten our recently purchased '91 pickup running. It supposed to go to the mechanic today, but the battery is dead again. According to the charger the battery is fully charged, but we left it charging, anyway. I'm starting to wonder if we made a mistake buying this one. Also, my youngest daughter's Blazer had the door smashed in while it was parked this weekend. It's always something, isn't it? The bed we were sleeping on last night started falling apart on my side. I finally ended up staying up all night. It's not the first night I've stayed up since the fire.

At least we've having an eventful year. James has rewitten the part of the book he lost in the fire and has started the new part of the story. Progress.

If this post makes no sense, remember I had no sleep.

Progress

2008-02-22T03:55:00.000-08:00

I’m so excited. We’re actually making some progress this week on getting into our temporary home. It’s been over three weeks since the fire and we’re still camped out in my parent’s spare bedroom. Yesterday electricity was hooked up to a new pole. Now we can run wire from it to our home. With electricity I can get the well fixed. I bought some pipe earlier this week, cut and fitted some together without glue. Now I can go get the new well tank and control box and some fittings. This weekend I’ll start working on the fence and well house. That means I need to buy boards today, too. After everything is hooked up and the mobile home people do a walk through and fix problems, we can get furniture. Maybe we’ll be in the home by next weekend. I have hope.

When we get moved in we can start working on clean-up, and start investigating rebuilding.

The Fire

2008-02-17T04:02:00.000-08:00

Many of you already know that our house burned down January 29, 2008. It was caused by a neighbor burning trash during a no burn period. Our county has been dry and windy for months now, so no one is supposed to be burning anything. He burned his trash the day before and left the next day for work. The forty to sixty mph wind stirred it up and blew an ember into the field causing a massage grass fire. It almost burned many houses, but only burned ours. By the time the first little volunteer fire truck arrived, our house was in flames, and my brother was struggling to save his. The firefighter had to make a tough decision. Whether to try and save something of ours, or save my brother’s. She only had a small truck. Thankfully she made the right decision. With the high winds she probably couldn’t have saved any of ours. She did help my brother save his. Unfortunately we lost everything. Including parts of books we were writing. Short stories we hadn’t sold, books we hadn’t sold . . . The list goes on endlessly.

We have decided to rebuild on the land. We are staying with my elderly parents right now. The first thing we did was arrange to have a mobile home moved onto the property. We were able to accomplish this fairly quickly. We found the cheapest single wide we could find and begged them to get it out asap. Electricity has been a major problem. We had to finally change electricity companies because the one we had was going to take too long to hook up. First we were told we had to have the mobile home moved out to hook up to. That was India we were talking to. Well, after we said it’s out there come hook us up, they said no they couldn't do that. We had to hire an electrician to put up a pole and then they’d hook it up. We found that another company had poles on the other side of our property and we could talk to them in our town in English. We changed companies. We’re still not hooked up, but we hope to be by later this week.

My cousin, Ricky Wright, has been putting in our new sewer. The craziest thing. After the fire burned our house down, one of the fire trucks backed into our sewer tank and busted it to pieces so they could water down the ashes of our house. Bad luck all around. My cousin has been working like crazy all week to get the new system up and running. He’s also dug the lines for the electricity. Isn’t family wonderful?

Mine is. My brother has been helping us with both the electricity and our well. Other members of the family have sent money to help us get started. They’ve helped us with love and support. My aunt Nina came over with supplies and a warm meal. Meals are one of the things we've neglected. We've skipped many the past few weeks. It's just too much trouble to deal with and most of the time we haven't felt like eating.

Work has been slow for both of us. There’s little quiet time. We were able to save two dogs, our little inside dog and our big outside dog. Actually the big dog saved himself. My parents don’t have a fence, so now they’re both inside dogs. The little inside dog was recovering from surgery at the time of the fire, so we’d been carrying him around all the time. He’s gotten really crabby now, so we have to watch him all the time to make sure he doesn’t bite anyone. The big dog wants back outside. We can’t leave them anywhere, so we have to take them everywhere we both go. Neither have traveled much before the fire. It’s been interesting. Mom has dementia and will open the door any time she hears anything. We have to jump and grab the dogs constantly. We keep them attached with halters and leashes at all times. Could be another reason the little dog is so cranky.

My new F150 burned up with the house. I'd had it a little over a month. It was the first new vehicle we'd owned. We can’t afford another new truck until we see how the insurance is going to cover rebuilding. I bought a little ’91 Nissan this week. It needed a little work, but should be ready Monday. It’s not my F150, but it’ll haul furniture and wood.

I borrowed my dad’s old truck to buy some boards to make a front step for the mobile home. I also had to buy some tools. I do love tools. I’d finally gotten a nice collection. My husband knows to get me tools for gifts and after over 30 years of marriage, I’d acquired quite a collection. This birthday came and went last week with no celebration. We needed too much to even think about it. We only buy what we absolutely need.

Clothes have been another matter. When you lose everything, you have to start over. It takes years to find the perfect clothing and shoes. I liked my collection. Now most things don’t fit well and are Wal-Mart markdowns. A very nice lady saw me looking at coats at a store in Lake Worth and she gave me a coat and many nice clothes. It’s people like my family and this lady that make this bearable. I hate that my daughters lost everything. I ache for them. All their photos, books, trophies, clothes, videos, childhood stuffed animals. The quilts James' mom made for them. And now she's gone too. My dad has been a bit crabby about all the stuff we have brought into his house. Everytime we'd bring in a bag, he's say, "More stuff?" When you have nothing, you need a lot of stuff. We've been living out of the cars as much as possible. The girl's trunks are full. I'm thankful they were both student teaching when the fire hit and have their vehicles. The teachers at their schools have been wonderful, too. Teachers have the biggest hearts.

I’m trying to work on a list for the insurance. We have to list everything we had. An impossible feat. How do you remember how many socks you had, how old they were, and how much they cost? Crazy. I know we had much more than the max they’ll allow, but they don’t. Now if I can just remember . . . everything.

We lost three cats and one little goat. Two of the cats we’d had since my youngest was in kindergarten. They were fifteen years old and major parts of the family. The third cat we’d only had for thirteen years. He was dropped on us when he was a kitten. He was a shy kitten that grew up to be a shy cat. He’d only recently started becoming attached to my oldest daughter. He’d haul his eighteen pounds onto her lap and purr like crazy. As I write this my parent’s cats are meowing, reminding us of what we lost. The goat was a dwarf goat that we got eighteen years ago. He was the last surviving from a small herd. We fed him with a bottle when he was a babe. And last was the parakeet. We got my daughter birds years ago, this was one of the first set, his partner was killed by our cat. Cat never was the same after that. I truly don’t think she meant to kill the bird. She just stuck her paw in and he was gone. Before that she was a great mouser, afterward she never caught another mouse. We bought another bird. That bird just dropped dead, we bought another and that bird died. I finally said no more. Cotton Candy was a pretty little bird and he loved to listen to Weezer. I’ll miss them all.

We also have to get many papers replaced. I kept wanting to get a fireproof safe. My back had been bad for a while now and I kept putting it off because I didn’t want to carry that much weight. Wish I’d done it. Now all our records and photos are gone.

Oh well, enough. We’re rebuilding. We haven’t decided what kind of house we’ll build to replace our home. When things settle down a little, we’ll talk to builders and look around. Now we just need to get into our temp house and get started cleaning up. We had a dumpster delivered Friday. My dad showed me how his little Kabota tractor works. I spread gravel all day Valentine's day and learned a lot about the tractor. I think I can get the mess cleaned up. I would like to save some of the rock around the house. It came from family trips, my grandparents old farms, and have value in my heart.