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WHAT’S
NEW NOVEMBER 2011
 This What’s
New needs to go in about a
hundred directions at once.
NEW
BOOK:
WORD
WATCH: A Writer’s Guide to the Slippery, Sneaky, and Otherwise Tricky
is my latest release. Yup, my first e-book venture into
non-fiction. This is a collection of columns written by my
alter-ego Word Watch for writers’ newsletters over four years. And it’s
not just for writers. If you like words – and who doesn’t? – it’s for
you. As an e-book, it’s easily browsable or searchable. It
has
plenty of tongue-in-cheek attitude, along with surprises for word
lovers.
You can visit with Word Watch through Twitter
and Facebook.
E-BOOKS
ABOUND:
If you’re an experienced e-book
reader, enjoying a brand new e-reader, or
only considering venturing into this new realm, I hope you’ll look for
Patricia McLinn books!
To make it as easy as possible for my readers, I have 17 of my novels
up at Barnes & Noble, Amazon, Apple, Sony, Kobo, Diesel,
Smashwords
and – of course –
AWritersWork.com. If I
can wrest any more
books from the old publisher, I’ll add those, too. And I hope
to
finish up some new ones … soon. (I’m working on two that I thought were
going to be short, tidy novellas. They’re turning into long, sprawling
novels.)
For you non-U.S. readers, note that you can buy any book at
AWriterswork.com in ePub or PDF, as along you can use PayPal.
I
know it’s frustrating for you to hear about e-books being out that you
can’t get – but you won’t have that problem at AWriterswork.com!
TEACHING:
I just
completed fall classes
with some great students. I’ll once again be offering fiction-writing
classes starting in late February. If you’re in the Cincinnati/Northern
Kentucky area, check out the Boone County Community Education website
for details.
AND
NOW … DRUM
ROLL … FOR THE REALLY BIG NEWS:
IT’S
A
MYSTERY!
No, I’m not being mean and teasing you by saying the news is a mystery
– I’m saying that I’ll be starting
a
mystery series in 2012!
Bell Bridge Books will publish Book 1 in June in trade
paperback and
e-book formats. I’d tell you the name of the series
and the
name of the book, but my editors at BBB haven’t decided on them quite
yet.
Instead, I’ll share with you what I wrote that persuaded BBB to read
the manuscript of the first book:
“Elizabeth Margaret Danniher has been among the top TV journalists in
the country. But she’s made two major mistakes – she divorced her
powerful network-executive husband and she passed her fortieth
birthday. For those sins, she’s been exiled to Wyoming as the ‘Helping
Out’ consumer affairs reporter for tiny KWMT-TV.
“Even as Elizabeth shakes of the shock and starts to sort issues of
identity, professionalism, relationships, and belonging, her dry humor
sees the irony in this situation. The quiet, personal brand of
journalism her exile forces her to practice is what she’d once
wanted. But she’s spent decades as a glamorous, famous
network
reporter. Can she adjust? Does she want to? Can she make the
home
she’s longed for in Wyoming, or is it just another stop on the road?
“Then there’s the matter of the opposite sex. Has she come to terms
with the end of her marriage? Both an ambitious colleague 10
years her junior and an enigmatic local man, indicate interest.
Shouldn’t she sort herself out
before she gets involved with anyone? Ah, but feelings don’t stick to a
schedule.
“First, though, there’s a missing deputy sheriff, and a little girl who
demands that Elizabeth fulfill her show’s motto to ‘help out’ -- by
proving that her father did not commit murder.”
As soon as I know the series name and Book 1’s title, I’ll let you
know. And in the meantime, I’ll be writing Book 2 of
Elizabeth’s
story.
That should keep me out of mischief!
WHAT’S
NEW JULY 2010
A
new book! I've been promising the next book in the Seasons in a Small Town
series, and now it's here. Welcome to autumn in Drago, Illinois.
PRINCIPAL
OF LOVE is the story of Drago High School principal Josh
Kincannon and Zeke-Tech CFO Vanessa Irish. You met them both in
WHAT ARE FRIENDS FOR? and THE
RIGHT BROTHER.
Josh
is a single father of three who's committed to his family, his job
and his community. Vanessa is a workaholic who believes she's not
interested in family or community.
Amid
colorful leaves, high school football, homecoming, Halloween,
Thanksgiving and Zeke and Darcie's magical October wedding, Josh and
Vanessa are thrown together, discovering together if the attraction of
opposites can last through all seasons.
PRINCIPAL
OF LOVE is available for sale at AWritersWork.com
in e-Pub format or as a PDF, both convertible to any e-reader
format. What if you don't have an e-reader? Not to worry, download free
software (try Calibre) to read e-Pub on your computer. Or download free
software (Adobe Reader) to read PDF on your computer or to print it out
so you can hold it in your hands.
Speaking
of other
AWritersWork.com books, I hope
you'll consider buying
MATCH MADE IN WYOMING. All of my proceeds from its
sales at AWritersWork.com
will be going to
animal rescue groups.
Read more about it here. I hope
you'll help these wonderful groups – buy a book, help a pet!
WHAT’S
NEW MARCH 2010
 What
do readers want?
I've been
asking
myself that question for quite a while, as both a writer and a reader.
I know what I want as a reader is to have good books by authors I trust
at a good price . . . and no waiting.
That's the
whole
idea behind the March 1 launch of a new website –
AWritersWork.com.
I got together
with a group of fellow authors – all of us published professionally --
and we've put together a site that we think readers just like us will
love.
As
AWritersWork.com grows and expands, we'll be offering fiction
and non-fiction, previously published and original, long and short from
an increasing number of professional authors. There's no waiting. And
the prices are great, because this is direct from the authors to you.
If you follow
publishing, you know that a whole lot is new in 2010. E-books are being
talked about everywhere. But you probably also know that for a reader
it's a jumble out there in e-book land. The largest marketplace for
e-books urges anybody to publish anything. Have you been burned by
this? Thinking you were getting a quality book written by a
professional, and what you got was anything but? I sure have.
At
AWritersWork.com, you know you're getting stories from proven
authors. Plus, you can read the complete first chapter before making a
decision.
What if you
don't have an e-reader? No
problem. You can
download any
AWritersWork.com book as a PDF
and read it on any computer or print it out. Or you can download the
software to read the e-Pub format on your computer.
Sure hope
you'll
come visit, and let me know what you think!
WHAT’S
NEW 2009
It’s taken me a
year to be able to write this update:
My much-loved
collie Riley died on April 14, 2008. He had a degenerative disease that
he had fought so well for two and a half years that the end caught me
entirely unprepared. I’m still trying to absorb all the wonderful
lessons he’s taught me about living. Take a look at the article I wrote
on “Lessons
From Riley.”
 At the end of June, I
adopted another collie from Tri-State Collie Rescue. She was about 18
months old then and had had a rocky start, with the experts saying
she’d been abused before showing up at a shelter at about a year old,
then being adopted by well-intentioned people who didn’t have
experience with dogs, much less an abused dog.
I named her
Kalli, after the heroine of RODEO
NIGHTS. Riley was named after the hero of that book, so it
seemed right. Kalli’s made great strides in the months I’ve had her,
and has provided lots of entertainment. Especially in our regular
visits – in all kinds of weather – to the local dog park. Let me tell
you, there are a million stories at the dog park!
Giving to Others:
For a long
time, this space was devoted to Katrina relief. Need
doesn't disappear after a disaster like that -- or disasters that have
supplanted Katrina in the media and our attention.
So, I hope you will consider donating to
organizations you have verified are doing good things in areas you care
about.
A few
points on donations:
-- Beware
of scams, particularly websites that imitate established charities,
mushroom sites that arise out of nowhere after disasters and disappear
after they have your money, and online or telephone appeals.
-- Experts recommend that you do NOT donate to anyone who appeals to
you via e-mail or phone solicitation. Seek out the places you want to
donate to … and check them carefully.
-- Keep your eyes open for matching donation opportunities, including
with your employer.
-- Don’t abandon your regular
charities in times of disasters. Their needs remain.
Places to check out charities:
Charity
Watch
Charity Navigator
If you are looking for ideas of where to
donate, I hope you'll look at
Fisher
House
(helping families of wounded and ill
military & veterans)
International
Rescue Committee
Reading
Is Fundamental
Tri-State
Collie Rescue
Bless your hearts!
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