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Sharon A. Crawford appears at Inspire Book Fair

13 Nov

Sharon_A_Crawford_Book_LaunchReading is the sole means by which we slip, involuntarily, often helplessly, into another’s skin, another’s voice, another’s soul.

  • Joyce Carol Oates

The first Inspire: the Toronto International Book Fair gets underway this evening. And I’m going to be doing double duty in appearances there – signing and selling books and reading from Beyond Blood. More on that shortly. But first a personal perspective about how an author prepares for these events.

My books – Beyond Blood and Beyond the Tripping Point are key and I don’t just mean to sell. That’s important too but so is engaging with my readers. Just sitting there with a bunch of books does not connect me with my readers. I need to talk to them. And I don’t just do a book promo speech. I ask them if they write and what they write. Do they read mystery fiction? Conversation is a two-way street.

When I actually do read I don’t just stand there and drone on from my book(s). First I give a little background about my story and the main characters. Then I read. I’m told my reading is like audio, like I’m right in my story. True. I channel each character who speaks, particularly six-year-old David Bowman, Dana Bowman’s son. I love talking like a child. Not sure what that says about me.

I also get right into the actions going on. Haven’t stabbed or shot anyone yet. (FYI the only gun I have is a small water gun and carrying around knives would be considered carrying a concealed weapon). But I’ll shake my manuscript when Dana is shaking her sketch pad at her brother Bast.

Yes, I said manuscript. Because here’s my deep dark secret. I have terrible eyesight (the bane of getting old), and although the font is large enough in my books, sometimes the lights are not bright enough. So I have a few pages of pumped-up font printed out and read from that.

You really wouldn’t want me to use a magnifying glass, would you? Although I do carry one of those around and it would be appropriate for crime fiction.

Back to the books – the big question is: how many do I bring? Which gets translated into: how many can I carry? I travel on public transit and many Toronto subway stations don’t have elevators or down escalators. If I get a ride it helps – if there is a parking lot nearby.

You also sometimes need to create an attractive display in a small space, i.e. prop up one copy of each book, have some bookmarks and other info, but not too much. You don’t want to overwhelm your readers.

So, while I prepare for this weekend at Inspire, the Toronto International Book Fair at Metro Toronto Convention Centre North Building, 255 Front Street West, http://www.torontobookfair.ca/

here are the details about my appearances:

Friday, November 14, 6 p.m. to 7 p.m.

Selling and signing copies of Beyond Blood and Beyond the Tripping Point at the Toronto Sisters in Crime Booth No. 1120 in the Marketplace Section.

Saturday, November 15, 4 p.m.

Reading from Beyond Blood at my publisher Blue Denim Press’s booth No. 1326 in the Marketplace. Afterward I’ll be there to talk to my readers and sign books.

Note: my publishers will be at that booth for the duration of the book fair.

Please join me there and engage in the conversation about your writing and/or reading.

And of course Beyond Blood and Beyond the Tripping Point.

And pass this info on – tweet about it, link to your blog, Facebook, etc.

Cheers.

 

Sharon A. Crawford

For those not in the Toronto, Canada area, you can click on my book covers below – they will lead you to my publisher Blue Denim Press’s website. Scroll down and you can see where Beyond Blood is currently available, including at www.bluedenimpress.com.

And check my website www.samcraw.com – click on Beyond Blood. I constantly update the gigs etc. on that page.

Cover of Sharon A. Crawford's mystery short story collection

Cover of Sharon A. Crawford’s mystery short story collection

Cover of Beyond Blood by Sharon A. Crawford, published by Blue Denim Press

Cover of Beyond Blood by Sharon A. Crawford, published by Blue Denim Press

 
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Posted by on November 13, 2014 in Beyond Blood, Beyond the Tripping Point, Blue Denim Press, Plot and Characters, Short Story Collection, Writing Critique Groups

 

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Dana Bowman interviews author Sharon A Crawford

30 Oct
Cover of Beyond Blood by Sharon A. Crawford, published by Blue Denim Press

Cover of Beyond Blood by Sharon A. Crawford, published by Blue Denim Press

I suppose all fictional characters, especially in adventure or heroic fiction, at the end of the day are our dreams about ourselves. And sometimes they can be really revealing.

  • Alan Moore

Dana Bowman sits before me, sketch pad and charcoal in hand. She is going to give me the third-degree interview.

Dana: I understand you and my brother Bast share a career background.

Me: Journalistic, yes. I am a former journalist for 30 years, so a bit longer than your twin. I did write a few crime-related articles but my beats were the arts, health, seniors, and profiles of all kinds of people.

Dana: How and why did you switch from journalism to mystery fiction?

Me: That’s really two questions. First, the journalism one – it wasn’t really a switch. I just got tired of all the work for newspaper and magazine stories for little pay. Guess I ran out of steam but I am still interested in people and writing their stories, so profiles aren’t off the table completely.

Dana: But why mystery fiction?

Me: Because that’s what I like to read and watch on TV. I grew up with Nancy Drew, the Hardy Boys and from age 12, Agatha Christie. And my late mom and I used to watch the Perry Mason TV series – the original one in black and white. From all that I got hooked on the puzzle – why people do what they do, why it brings them to murder and who the heck is the guilty party. I also have a sense of justice – people who do the crime should do the time – in one way or another. That doesn’t seem to be happening anymore in real life, even back in your days in the late 1990s.

Dana: As Bast would say, let the record show, that Sharon is referring to the timelines in Beyond Blood and Beyond the Tripping Point. So, Sharon, can you tell us how you, well created Bast and I? Are you and I similar in any way?

Me: That’s two questions again. I see that’s how you operate.

Dana: You started it all.

Me: Right.

Dana: How are we similar? Especially with our height.

Me: Yes, you and I are shorties, but I have a couple of inches on you.

Dana: Why did you make me 4’11”? Couldn’t you have brought me up to 5 feet at least?

Me: Too close to me. Actually the idea of both yours and Bast’s height came from an aunt and uncle on my dad’s side. Aunt Marguerite was 4’ll” and Uncle Miles was 6’2” But I did give Bast an inch. But I gave you some qualities and traits I don’t have. You own and drive a car. I couldn’t drive a car to save my life.

Dana: Would you want to?

Me: Very occasionally but seldom. I know I would be guilty of roadkill, so it’s safer if I’m never behind the wheel of a car. Also you have a cell phone and I don’t. Sure, it would come in handy in emergencies but cell phone technology is a whole lot more complicated in 2014 than in the late 1990s. And I gave you the gift of being able to draw because I can’t draw a straight line even with a ruler.

Dana: A little jealousy here?

Me. Maybe, but I wanted you different than I. And you and your brother evolved over 15 or 16 years of on and off writing, now definitely in the on stage.

Dana: And Bast? Why did you make him gay?

Me: Because when I first started writing Beyond Blood back in the late 1990s, gay people were just coming out more. The annual Pride parade was just starting up in Toronto. And I wanted a character that was different than what was being published. I know there are now gay (male and female) mystery characters, but how many of them are a fraternal twin?

Dana: True. What about my son David? Where did he come from?

Me: Well, I do have a son, who is now in his mid-thirties and I too was a single parent, so I suppose some of that originated there. And I had issues with being a working mom and wanted to bring that out in the stories.

Dana: Okay. Now, moving along. You mentioned that you want justice done in this world. Is there anything in your background, particularly when growing up, that made you feel this way?

Me: Several things. I was bullied as a child by both one of my best friends and also by a nun in grade school. Never beaten up – it was more verbal. Also I read a lot in the newspapers about 11 and 12-year-old girls getting murdered and that really upset me. I was the same age then. You have to remember this was around 1960 when things were supposedly stricter. Well, they were at school and church – I grew up a Catholic and so there was this belief in the bad being punished for their bad deeds, even an eye for an eye. So, if you killed someone, you deserved to die. But Canadian justice seemed to be getting too liberal. Many convicted murderers were getting their executions (hanging in Canada back then) stayed. I remember in grade 11 at high school class discussion on capital punishment – it was around the time that the government was considering dropping the hanging sentence. I was one of the few in the class who wanted Canada to keep the death penalty. We all know that didn’t happen and a lot of the criminal law got too much in favour of the criminals since then. Sure, some harsh sentences remain, but the convicted killers get jail credit for time spent in prison leading up to and during the trial. The bottom line is I don’t think justice for the victim is being given. But in a mystery novel you can have this happen – one way or the other – even with any lenient laws.

Dana: Wow. That sounds familiar. That’s me; that’s how I feel. And now understand better why I do what I do.

Me: Well, remember I may have created you, but you go out on your own in my stories.

Dana: Oh, so you give me enough rope to hang…. sorry, bad choice of words.

Me: Right. We don’t want you getting killed. It would kill the stories.

Dana: Of course. And I thought it was because you like me.

Me: I do.

Dana: Okay, that’s it for this time. Bast wants to interview you next week.

Meantime click on my book cover above – it will lead you to my publisher Blue Denim Press’s website. Scroll down and you can see where Beyond Blood is currently available, including at www.bluedenimpress.com.

And check my website www.samcraw.com – click on Beyond Blood. I constantly update the gigs etc. on that page.

 

Cheers.

Sharon A. Crawford

 

 

 
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Posted by on October 30, 2014 in Beyond Blood, Beyond the Tripping Point, Blue Denim Press, Credible Fiction Characters, Fictional Characters Interviewing Authors, Sharon A. Crawford

 

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Beyond Blood – …and open the door again…

02 Oct
Cover of Beyond Blood by Sharon A. Crawford, published by Blue Denim Press

Cover of Beyond Blood by Sharon A. Crawford, published by Blue Denim Press

If you will practice being fictional for a while, you will understand that fictional characters are sometimes more real than people with bodies and heartbeats.

  • Richard Bach

Footsteps are heard coming up the stairs to The Attic Investigative Agency.

Dana: Who is it this time?

Bast points to the doorway. Debbie Sangwell, babysitter for Dana’s six-year-old son and daughter of Dana’s best friend, Marge, stumbles in.

Dana (joking): Rough night?

Debbie trying to get her breath: No. Must be the stairs.

Bast: We have an elevator.

Debbie: Yeah, right. Didn’t see it. Oh, this place looks neat. I guess you are wondering why I’m here.

Dana: And where’s David?

Debbie: He’s with Mom. She took him to the park. I’m not feeling that good.

Dana: You coming down with something?

Debbie: Oh no. Just something I ate for breakfast. I’ll be okay. I just wanted to check on the arrangements for Friday evening.

Dana: The reception starts at 7.30 p.m. so you can come over maybe around 7 p.m. or earlier. Hey, why not come for supper?

Debbie staggering a bit. She grabs the back of a chair: Maybe. But 7 p.m. sounds good.

Bast jumping up from his chair: Here, Debbie sit down. I’ll get you a glass of water.

Bast exits the agency office.

Dana, swivelling her chair around until she is almost knee-to-knee with Debbie: You look awful. Your face is pale. You don’t look like you’ve seen a ghost; you look like you are the ghost.

Debbie: I said I’m okay. Just something I ate.

Dana: Okay, just concerned. Okay, back to Friday night. David will probably want to come up here to see all the guests but there will be adult stuff talked about and to tell the truth, some of our guests may be old school and not take kindly to having the son of one of the business owners around. If it were up to me, I’d let him come in at the beginning, introduce him to all, let him look around a bit and then go back downstairs.

Debbie: Got it. I will keep him busy on the second floor, mostly in his room. We have a pile of books to read and… are the Randalls next door coming?

Dana: No, why?

Debbie: Just thinking. Maybe I could take David there to see Mr. Randall and his big train set-up downstairs.

Dana: Hmm.

Debbie: Before his bedtime. I could come here at 6.30 p.m. and take him over.

Dana: Hmm. Well check with Mr. Randall first.

Bast returns with a glass of water which he hands to Debbie. She leans over to grab it and almost falls forward. Dana catches her arms and helps her sit up.

Dana: You really don’t seem well.

Debbie: I’m okay. Just something I ate. Think I’ll go home and rest up for Friday.

Debbie gulps down some water, hands the glass to Dana and manages to stand up without keeling over: See I’m fine. I’ll give you a call before Friday or drop over before.

Dana: Okay.

Bast: Take care.

Debbie: I will. I’m going to have a little nap when I get home.

Bast. I’ll take you to the elevator.

Debbie: No, stairs are fine.

Dana and Bast listen as she goes down the stairs. Her footsteps sound like they are going at normal speed. When they drift off from the second stairway down, Dana turns to Bast.

Dana: Something is up with that girl.

Bast: I agree. You better speak to Madge.

Dana: Will do.

Dana’s cell phone rings. She picks it up

Dana: Hello. What do you want?

Bast’s cell phone starts ringing and he picks it up.

 

Stay tuned for next week’s post.

Meantime check out my books. The book at the top of this blog post links to Amazon. Click on Sharon A Crawford for my profile.

For those of us with Kobo’s, here is that link for the e-pub version. http://store.kobobooks.com/en-CA/ebook/beyond-blood-1 And check out my updated web page at www.samcraw.com and click on Beyond Blood. Scroll down to Sharon A’s Gigs to see where I will be appearing with Beyond Blood.

 

Cheers.

Sharon A. Crawford

 
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Posted by on October 2, 2014 in Beyond the Tripping Point, Blue Denim Press, Credible Fiction Characters, Interviewing fictional characters, Plot and Characters, Sharon A. Crawford, Writing

 

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Beyond Blood – open the door to…

25 Sep
Cover of Beyond Blood by Sharon A. Crawford, published by Blue Denim Press

Cover of Beyond Blood by Sharon A. Crawford, published by Blue Denim Press

Every man at the bottom of his heart believes that he is a born detective.

  • John Buchan

 

Two uninvited visitors have just entered the office of the Attic Investigative Agency a few days before the agency’s official opening. Dana has asked why they are there.

Lois Chalmers: Is that any way to speak to your boss? Right, Ray?

Ray (her husband) shrugs his shoulders.

Dana: Actually, Mr. Bevens is my boss for doing security at the Mini-Mall.

Lois: Very well. But don’t forget I’m head of the merchants’ association for the mall.

Bast: We know that. But why are you here a few days before we open? You were sent an invitation to the opening reception.

Lois: We wanted to check it out beforehand. Might be able to send some business your way.

Dana (chuckling): Yeah, right. More like protecting your interests. And what about you Ray? What does the Chalmers Shoe Store want here right now?

Ray shrugs his shoulders again.

Dana: What Ray? Cat got your tongue?

Ray points to Lois: It was her idea.

Lois: Oh for goodness sake.

Ray: We just er, wanted to see the place.

Dana: Very well. Bast shall we give them the pre-opening tour?

Bast: Sure. Why not? Let’s start with the reception area out in the hall.

Lois: Novel idea, reception area right at the top of the stairs. But an attic has less space. What does this door lead to?

Bast (rushes forward to the door): That’s my room. Not part of the agency.

Lois (looks around the hall): But good location near the office in case of an emergency. And even a washroom up here.

Dana: Well, as you said, it is an attic. Wouldn’t want clients to have to run downstairs to answer the call of nature.

Bast: Let’s return to the office.

Lois (points to a glass door): And where does this lead?

Dana (opens the door): The balcony.

Lois: Neat. On hot days you can shoot the breeze with clients out here. Better be careful they don’t jump over the railing.

Dana: Lois, really.

Lois: Just kidding.

After they go back inside, Lois walks everywhere in the office, touching bookshelves, desks.

Lois (peers over the monitor of Bast’s computer): Hmm.

Bast (leaps his six foot three inch frame over to Lois): That is confidential business.

Lois: Oops. Sorry. But that’s great you already have business.

Dana: Lois. Why did you and Ray really come here?

Lois: Oh, I forgot. I have a cheque for your last two weeks’ service at the Mini-Mall. Mr. Bevens said to bring it over.

Dana (holds out her hand): Thanks. Is that it?

Lois: For today. Ray and I look forward to your opening reception on Friday.

Lois and Ray Chalmers leave. As their footsteps are heard going down the stairs, Dana scratches her head.

Dana: What did she really want? She has never delivered my cheque in person before. I’ve always picked it up from Mr. Bevens’ office in the mall.

Bast (strokes his beard): I think she was checking out the competition.

Dana: Hmm. I think it was more than that. That woman is up to something. Better keep an eye on her at the opening on Friday.

More footsteps are heard charging up the stairs.

Dana: Christ. Who is it this time?

Stay tuned for next week’s post.

Meantime check out my books. The book at the top of this blog post links to Amazon. Click on Sharon A Crawford for my profile.

For those of us with Kobo’s, here is that link for the e-pub version. http://store.kobobooks.com/en-CA/ebook/beyond-blood-1 And check out my updated web page at www.samcraw.com and click on Beyond Blood. Scroll down to Sharon A’s Gigs to see where I will be appearing with Beyond Blood.

Cheers.

Sharon A. Crawford

 

 
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Posted by on September 25, 2014 in Beyond Blood, Blue Denim Press, Interviewing fictional characters, Plot and Characters, Sharon A. Crawford

 

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They’re back – PIs Dana Bowman and Bast Overture in Beyond Blood

18 Sep
Cover of Beyond Blood by Sharon A. Crawford, published by Blue Denim Press

Cover of Beyond Blood by Sharon A. Crawford, published by Blue Denim Press

Ideally, I like to integrate the human issues into the suspense story itself.

  • Jeffery Deaver

 

As the book launch for my prequel mystery novel Beyond Blood is gearing up for October 19, 2014, Dana Bowman and her fraternal twin Bast Overture are back here on my blog post. So are some of the other characters carried over from their four linked short stories in Beyond the Tripping Point. The time is August 1998 and the scenarios coming up now and the next few weeks are supplements to Beyond Blood.

In this session, Dana and Bast are mulling over the opening of their Attic Investigative Agency upstairs in their house, when… well, you’ll have to read on here to see what happens.

Dana enters the Attic Investigative office where Bast is hunched over his computer.

Dana: Still sending out invitations for our open house reception? Or, do we already have some business?

Bast: No just emailing for some more publicity.

Dana (frowning): That’s what I’m concerned about.

Bast: Publicity? Thurston may be a large town but not everyone knows what everyone else is doing. Have to get the word out to get business.

Dana: Yes, I know and that’s what I mean. I really want to do this but I’m still having concerns about our location.

Bast: Dana, we’ve been over this before many times. We are centrally located, a few blocks in from Main St. in downtown Thurston. And having the business in our home keeps us close to David.

Dana: That’s it – close to David. He is a six-year old and I’m still not sure if the top floor of the house he lives in is safe for him. We will be dealing with criminal cases, probably interviewing some shady characters, and…

Bast (swings around to face his sister): Whoa! Hold on there Dana. The office is separate upstairs with a closed door. David will be downstairs or outside with one of us or Debbie when she comes over to babysit. Sometimes she’ll take him to her apartment, as she does now. And David will be in school full days starting next month.

Dana: I suppose. But I keep getting this funny feeling in my gut.

Bast: You’re just hungry. You need to eat more. You’re

Dana and Bast: too skinny.

Dana: Let’s leave my weight out of it.

Bast: You are under 100 pounds.

Dana: I’m also under 5 feet short. No, food won’t remove that gut feeling.

Bast: We have an alarm for the office.

Dana: Yeah, but you haven’t tested it yet have you?

Bast: No. All right. I’ll do it now.

Bast goes over to the alarm, sets it, leaves the office, and returns.

The sounds of silence fills the office air.

Dana: See what I mean.

Bast: All right. All right. I’ll call the alarm company.

He has just done so when loud footsteps are heard on the stairs and two figures rush into the office.

The sound of the alarm vibrates inside the office. Both Dana and Bast jump up.

Dana: What are you two doing here?

 

Stay tuned for next Thursday’s blog post to find out just who did rush into the room and why.

Meantime check out my books. The book at the top of this blog post links to Amazon. Click on Sharon A Crawford for my profile.

For those of us with Kobo’s, here is that link for the e-pub version. http://store.kobobooks.com/en-CA/ebook/beyond-blood-1 And check out my updated web page at www.samcraw.com and click on Beyond Blood. Still more updates on my reading gigs to be added as I get them.

 
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Posted by on September 18, 2014 in Beyond Blood, Beyond the Tripping Point, Blue Denim Press, Interviewing fictional characters, Plot and Characters, Writing

 

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Beyond Blood shows up in print

11 Sep

 

Cover of Beyond Blood by Sharon A. Crawford, published by Blue Denim Press

Cover of Beyond Blood by Sharon A. Crawford, published by Blue Denim Press

To write what is worth publishing, to find honest people to publish it, and get sensible people to read it, are the three great difficulties in being an author.

~ Charles Caleb Colton

 

My publisher just delivered my print copy of Beyond Blood and it is bloody good – lots of red on the cover, better than the icon here.

Beyond Blood had a long journey from inception to print. The original story was first conceived in the late 1990s. I researched, wrote, rewrote, rewrote (many times),

Think again, Sharon A.

Sure, one publisher asked for the full manuscript and read it – but rejected it. So did several other publishers who looked at only one to three chapters.

Into the drawer. Hide it on my computer.

Until my short story collection Beyond the Tripping Point was published by Blue Denim Press in fall 2012. Just before that the editor at BDP, Shane and I were talking about a series and I mentioned the closet novel. He was interested in looking at it.

So the big rewrite began. I started working from a printed copy because that is easiest for me to grasp the whole story and scribble notes. Not that I looked at them all when doing the rewrites. Something about putting it down on paper ingrained the changes in my mind. And when I rewrote, the ideas expanded.

I thought it was ready for Blue Denim Press. Not quite. But they were willing for me to have another go. So I did with Shane’s suggestions and fine-tuned it some more. Then I sent it back.

Not quite yet – but they were accepting it. I just needed to do some more rewriting. So, with Shane’s suggestions (and some more ideas of my own that they spawned), I got back to work rewriting. Even hired a freelance editor to proofread it and the author who wrote the back page review even took it upon herself to comment in a few places. So more changes were made.

After a bit more to-ing and fro-ing of questions and comments between Shane and I the bloody manuscript was ready. And I’m not swearing – remember, the novel’s title is Beyond Blood. And that was my original title.

It’s taken 17 years, but Beyond Blood has come to fruition.

So all you “closet” novelists, keep writing and rewriting. Keep persisting. Get feedback.

Don’t give up.

For a peak at what Beyond Blood is about – go to www.bluedenimpress.com Check out the flyer for information on the book launch October 19 – and if you are in the southern Ontario Canada area, come to the book launch.

And stay tuned – the fraternal twin PIs from the Beyond books – Dana Bowman and Bast Overture will be back here starting in next week’s post.

The book at the top of this blog post links to Amazon. Click on Sharon A Crawford for my profile.

For those of us with Kobo’s, here is that link for the e-pub version. http://store.kobobooks.com/en-CA/ebook/beyond-blood-1 And check out my updated web page at www.samcraw.com and click on Beyond Blood. Still more updates on my reading gigs to be added as I get them.

Cheers.

 

Sharon A. Crawford

 
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Posted by on September 11, 2014 in Beyond Blood, Beyond the Tripping Point, Blue Denim Press, Plot and Characters, Rewriting Fiction, Sharon A. Crawford

 

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Book launch of Beyond Blood has two guest authors reading

04 Sep
Cover of Beyond Blood by Sharon A. Crawford, published by Blue Denim Press

Cover of Beyond Blood by Sharon A. Crawford, published by Blue Denim Press

Publicity can be terrible. But only if you don’t have any.

  • Jane Russell.

This just in.

Nate Hendley who writes true crime books and Rosemary McCracken who writes mystery novels are guest readers at my book launch October 19.

They will certainly add variety to the two of us from Blue Denim launching our books. Lots of murder and mayhem (in the books, not in the Paintbox Bistro, Toronto launch location). Let’s see:

Nate Hendley has written several books about the baddies such as the The Black Donnellys: The Outrageous Tale of Canada’s Deadliest Feud, American Gangsters: Then and Now, The Mafia: A Guide to an American Subculture and Crystal Death. His current book focuses on something different – a miscarriage of justice – Steven Truscott: Decades of Injustice (Five Rivers Publishing, 2012). Nate is also a Toronto, Ontario-based freelance journalist and the Ontario VP for Crime Writers of Canada. I have been helping him line up public readings for CWC authors in Ontario. Find out more about Nate and his books at http://www.natehendley.com/ And check out his crime blog at http://crimestory.wordpress.com/

Rosemary McCracken, another Crime Writers of Canada member writes a mystery series about financial planner Pat Tierney and if you think that sounds dull, think again. Pat seems to get herself embroiled in financial mayhem and murder, and usually some family member is involved somehow. So far the series books are: Safe Harbor (Imagin Books, 2012), and Black Water (Imagin Books, 2013). Pat Tierney also appeared in Rosemary’s short story “The Sweetheart Scamster” in the short story anthology Mesdames of Mayhem Thirteen (2013). Check out Rosemary’s website at http://www.rosemarymccracken.com/Home_Page.php for more book information and her Moving Target blog at http://www.rosemarymccracken.com/Home_Page.php. Rosemary and I did blog tours and my blog post there is at http://rosemarymccracken.wordpress.com/2013/11/15/interview-with-author-sharon-a-crawford/

Nate, Rosemary and I have also made several appearances together and done readings with these CWC presentations. The three of us may be touring together later this year or early next year for more readings. Stay tuned.

And of course, the two of us with books being published by Blue Denim Press

Dead Wrong by Klaus Jakelski – a medical murder mystery. And yes, Klaus is a medical doctor with a family practice in Sudbury, Ontario, but his book takes place in Boston, Massachusetts and Toronto, Ontario. His book is available in e-copy at http://www.amazon.com/Dead-Wrong-Klaus-Jakelski-ebook/dp/B00N32O9Z4

And my book, Beyond Blood, with the infamous fraternal twins Dana Bowman and Bast Overture, a mystery taking place during eight days in August 1998 in fictitious Thurston, Ontario, just north of Toronto.

Meantime, yours truly is still frantically doing pre-book launch promo. Not going as fast as I had hoped. It doesn’t help that both my email/website server went down for a day during maintenance and yesterday my modem-router went off the ISP grid for a bit but only on the hard-wired connection on my desktop computer. The wireless was fine and my laptop was connected. Glitches fixed thanks to good techies at the other end(s). But it steals from your time.

I’m blaming that on why I haven’t updated my website page for Beyond Blood. Some of the updates are off-line but when I had the time to load it – that’s when the website server was off. More info will be up on my website www.samcraw on the Beyond Blood page in the next few days.

Check out the details on my book and my colleague Klaus Jakelski’s book at www.bluedenimpress.com.

The book at the top of this blog post links to amazon.com and for those of us with Kobo’s, here is that link for the e-pub version. http://store.kobobooks.com/en-CA/ebook/beyond-blood-1 And when I (finally) get my amazon profile and web page updated I’ll give you the links to them.

Print versions of Beyond Blood and Dead Wrong are coming out soon.

Watch for Dana and Bast. They will be returning here in these blog posts soon. And I promise, Bast will not go missing this time, but somebody else might.

 

Cheers.

Sharon A. Crawford

 
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Posted by on September 4, 2014 in Beyond Blood, Blog Tours and Guest Blogging, Blue Denim Press, Plot and Characters, Sharon A. Crawford, Writing

 

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Beyond Blood my mystery novel debuts amid promo frenzy

28 Aug
Cover of Beyond Blood by Sharon A. Crawford, published by Blue Denim Press

Cover of Beyond Blood by Sharon A. Crawford, published by Blue Denim Press

Publishing is a business. Writing may be art, but publishing, when all is said and done, comes down to dollars.

  • Nicholas Sparks

 

 

My first mystery novel Beyond Blood is making its debut in the e-copies on amazon.com and Kobo now – early. I am still frantically doing all the pre-book launch PR and wishing I had a clone or astral body to do some of the work.

Not that I mind – I love doing the PR but my two-week holiday earlier this month probably wasn’t a good idea time-wise. However, I did do some promo during my vacation– lining up possible reading gigs for Beyond Blood in southwestern Ontario and telling my cousins – “you’ll get an invite for the book launch once the details are finalized.”

Well, after all the other promo that comes before is done. And yes, I do have a marketing plan. Finding the time to do all that is on it for pre-book launch is the challenge. Too much else going on but I am trying to prioritize. Whatever can wait goes on hold on the back burner. That includes answering some email and even some client work. For the latter I am focusing on one editing client’s manuscript evaluation because the deadline is the end of next week.

But I am so happy that my fraternal twin characters – Dana Bowman and Bast Overture are back. Some of you may remember them from the four linked stories in Beyond the Tripping Point. Or from the series of Dana interviews on this blog a few months ago. Beyond Blood’s story is actually the prequel to the four linked stories.

Watch for Dana and Bast. They will be returning here in these blog posts soon.

Meantime, check out the book. The book at the top of this blog post links to amazon.com and for those of us with Kobo’s, here is that link for the e-pub version. http://store.kobobooks.com/en-CA/ebook/beyond-blood-1 And when I (finally) get my amazon profile and web page updated I’ll give you the links to them.

Print version of Beyond Blood is coming out soon.

Cheers.

 

Sharon A. Crawford

 
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Posted by on August 28, 2014 in Beyond Blood, Blue Denim Press, Fiction Characters, Sharon A. Crawford

 

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Authors – read from your book or chat too?

21 Aug
Cover of Sharon A. Crawford's mystery short story collection

Cover of Sharon A. Crawford’s mystery short story collection

“Be awesome! Be a book nut!” — Dr. Seuss

While touring around southwestern Ontario, Canada  to promote my upcoming mystery novel Beyond Blood, I ran into opposite takes on how the author should present his or her new novel in person to readers.

A bookstore owner who wants me (and a few other Crime Writers of Canada authors) to read in his bookstore this fall or early spring said authors need to do more than just read. People no longer want to sit through an author only reading from her published book. I agreed and said my publisher had told me – not more than 10 minutes of reading or the audience starts fidgeting. I explained that what crime fiction and non-fiction authors have been doing is interviews – either myself or Nate, the CWC Ontario Regional Director who organizes these readings (some with my help), interviews the other authors presenting and we get one of them to interview us. Interviewing yourself is not cool or hot or even lukewarm.

I added that some of us are or were journalists so there is the contrast there and how we switched to writing about crime – fiction or fact. And we open it to the audience for a Q and A. He was enthusiastic about that.

Then, one of my readers told me she would rather have the author read from his or her book rather than talk about it or about their writing.

Hm. This is maybe less work for the author. But I still think anything that will get the author to interact with her audience and provide some insight on where her characters come from, adds to the interest. That is what has been my experience in the Q and A – even when we do reveal something about our writing and our characters.

Maybe the latter also whets the reader’s appetite.

So, the answer may be to blend in the reading with the back story and a Q and A.

And sell some books, of course.

Cheers.

Sharon A. Crawford

You can read about my characters and their stories in my short story collection Beyond the Tripping Point (Blue Denim Press, 2012). Click on the book at the top and it takes you to Sharon A. Crawford’s profile – including book reviews – at http://www.amazon.com.
More info on Sharon A.’s upcoming gigs, workshops, guest blog posts, etc. at http://www.samcraw.com/Articles/BeyondtheTrippingPoint.html And keep checking http://samcraw.com/Articles/BeyondBlood.html for the latest news on the release of my first mystery novel Beyond Blood, also published by Blue Denim Press http://www.bluedenimpress.com More info on the Beyond Blood page as we get closer to the date. And remember that clicking on the book icon at the top gets you to my Amazon profile.

Cover of Dead Wrong by Klaus Jakelski, published by Blue Denim Press

Cover of Dead Wrong by Klaus Jakelski, published by Blue Denim Press

Cover of Beyond Blood by Sharon A. Crawford, published by Blue Denim Press

Cover of Beyond Blood by Sharon A. Crawford, published by Blue Denim Press

 
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Posted by on August 21, 2014 in Beyond Blood, Beyond the Tripping Point, Blue Denim Press, Plot and Characters, Sharon A. Crawford, Writing

 

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Your life in fiction?

14 Aug
amazon.comlink to Sharon A. Crawford's mystery short story collection

amazon.comlink to Sharon A. Crawford’s mystery short story collection

If you have other things in your life—family, friends, good productive day work—these can interact with your writing and the sum will be all the richer.

  • David Brin

 

How much of your life do you put into your fiction? What do your favourite fiction authors do? It is supposed to be fiction after all.

But life creeps in – sometimes a barely-concealed fact turned into fiction – usually because the story is too painful to the author or she is afraid to put herself into a real-life story with all the people who did her wrong or are, well, scoundrels. Then there is the fear of retribution or the desire to tell her story but keep herself out of it. My personal opinion here is to write it as a memoir and use pseudonyms (and state you are doing so). That’s what I’m doing – but that’s another story.

So that leaves us with what can you put from your life into fiction and how can you do it?

Disclaimer here: this is my opinion from my experience. It is not the only way to go about it and some of you may think I cross some lines between fact and fiction.

Here are a few instances from my short story collection Beyond the Tripping Point and my soon-to-be-published first mystery novel Beyond Blood.

In “No Breaks” (BTTP) two female friends are driving to one woman’s family cottage and on the way the car’s main brakes fail. In my life I once did ride with a friend up to her mother’s cottage and on the way her brakes failed. Except for the way my friend managed to get us up to the cottage (she had a few driving tricks up her sleeve), the two friends, Millie and Jessie, in “No Breaks” are completely different from my friend and me. The storyline in “No Breaks” also gets somewhat sinister and crimes are committed (it is mystery fiction). And the title is not spelled incorrectly as the main character in the story feels life has treated her very badly and so she has had “no breaks” in life – and that includes the trip to the cottage. Even when she tries to give herself some breaks it doesn’t exactly work out as she planned. As many of us do, sometimes I feel as if I am getting a lot of bad breaks in life – but there are good things happening too. Millie doesn’t feel that way about her life.

So how did I go from some facts to fiction? I took this scenario in my life and pulled out relevant parts that I thought could be the root for a story. Then I used my imagination to develop my plot and characters.

In Beyond Blood I take so many things from life – not just mine – and fictionalize them into the mystery. One of the threads running through the story is something many mothers can relate to – the working mother and how she balances raising her child(ren) and doing her job. Dana Bowman, one of the fraternal twins is a private investigator and she is always concerned that she doesn’t give enough of her time to her son, David, yet she has to work and she chooses to work with her twin brother in something she is interested in. It doesn’t help that Great Aunt Doris disapproves of Dana working and chastises her constantly for it – another thing working mom’s have to deal with, although it might be a mother-in-law. So when something happens to David, Dana is really in conflict – should she be “working on the case” (Note: I don’t want to give away some of the plot) or just spend her time being mom. Also the twins are in their late 30’s, David is six years old, and Dana is divorced – more fodder to connect to today’s working moms who are having children into their 30s and even 40s. I don’t think Dana would resonate with readers as much if she was in her 20s. (And I have been told by several readers that they like Dana and Bast, too)

So how did I get from fact to fiction here? David did come from the fact that I have a son and am divorced (although he was much younger than his 36 years and my ex and I were separated, not divorced, when Beyond Blood was first conceived in my head and I started writing it.) Yes, it has been a long haul of on and off writing because I had to make my living as a single mother of one son. Not as a PI but as a freelance writer, book editor and writing instructor. The direction I take with all of those have changed and I do less editing and more teaching, but it is doing something I enjoy.

Which Dana was doing with her twin Bast when they opened their investigative agency on the attic floor of their house. Then thing started happening and…

But that would be a spoiler. You’ll have to read Beyond Blood when it comes out. Stay tuned here and my other social media – I will be posting as soon as I get more details about the book launch.

 

 

Sharon A. Crawford

 

You can read about my characters and their stories in my short story collection Beyond the Tripping Point (Blue Denim Press, 2012). Click on the book at the top and it takes you to Sharon A. Crawford’s profile – including book reviews – at http://www.amazon.com.
More info on Sharon A.’s upcoming gigs, workshops, guest blog posts, etc. at http://www.samcraw.com/Articles/BeyondtheTrippingPoint.html And keep checking http://samcraw.com/Articles/BeyondBlood.html for the latest news on the release of my first mystery novel Beyond Blood, also published by Blue Denim Press http://www.bluedenimpress.com More info on the Beyond Blood page as we get closer to the date. And remember that clicking on the book icon at the top gets you to my Amazon profile.

 

Cover of Dead Wrong by Klaus Jakelski, published by Blue Denim Press

Cover of Dead Wrong by Klaus Jakelski, published by Blue Denim Press

Cover of Beyond Blood by Sharon A. Crawford, published by Blue Denim Press

Cover of Beyond Blood by Sharon A. Crawford, published by Blue Denim Press

 
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Posted by on August 14, 2014 in Beyond Blood, Beyond the Tripping Point, Blue Denim Press, Credible Fiction Characters, Plot and Characters, Sharon A. Crawford

 

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