Shameless Self Promotion

Every once in a while we, as authors, have to do this. We spend countless hours alone with a computer and so we get excited when good things happen and we like to share them. I have been struggling for nearly five months to get my first audio book completed and released. Now it's time to let the world know.

I decided to go the independent route and have it done in a studio with a professional narrator. It seemed like a good idea at the time. I'm not complaining about that choice. In fact, it was a wonderful experience. I sat for several days listening to the the narrator as she read and stopping her when necessary to fix things. I learned a lot and gained a new respect for narrators. The whole process was totally fascinating.

After meeting every day in the studio from early morning to late night, the narrator left and I stayed with the engineer to finish it up. Then I joined my family for Thanksgiving dinner, thrilled with what we had accomplished.

However, when I submitted it to ACX (Amazon's audio division) they rejected it because it wasn't mastered quite right. At that time I had no idea what that really meant. It took me another four months to get the audio mastered correctly and re-submitted to ACX. Some of the time delay was just bad luck. (The original engineer was hospitalized and out of commission for some time.) ACX said they would review it and get back to me. I was told the process would take ten days to two weeks. Three weeks later, I was about to call back to see if I needed to go back to the drawing board, when I discovered it had been released for two days and I had already sold quite a few copies. Yay!

So, today my first book, The Advocate, is available on Amazon, Audible, and iTunes. Now I have the other four books in production, although I have chosen to take a different route this time for many reasons.

Teresa Burrell
Author of The Advocate series

I'm thankful for much

By Gayle Carline

It’s Thanksgiving, at least for us Yanks, and I have much to be thankful for. As always, I’m thankful for my family, for the roof over my head and the food on my table. This year in particular, I’m thankful for a good health insurance, because a week ago, I had cataract surgery on my right eye. The entire procedure was paid for by the insurance company, bless their little hearts, although I had to reach into my pocket for the bionic lens. I figure I’ve got a year to pay for it before I have to have the other eye done.

I’m also especially thankful that I’ve got a new book coming out. If I wasn’t still under doctor’s orders, I’d do a little happy dance, but know I’m dancing in my head.

THE HOT MESS is the third book in the Peri Minneopa Mystery Series. The ebook will be released this Monday, November 26, and the paperback will be out on December 10 (good Lord willing and the creek don't rise, as they say). Here is the cover:

I’ve got some wonderful friends helping me launch the book with a contest. Sometime this weekend, I’ll be posting excerpts from THE HOT MESS on several blogs, and on Monday, my own blog will have some questions that can only be answered from reading all those other blogs. The first person to answer everything correctly will win a free copy of their choice — ebook or paperback.

Here are the blogs for you to visit this weekend:

Our own adorable Andrew Kaufman,http://www.andrewekaufman.blogspot.com/

The lovely and talented Jenny Hilborne, http://jfhilborne.wordpress.com/

The fierce but friendly Michele Scott, http://adventuresnwriting.blogspot.com/

A sweet cozy writer Teresa Trent, http://teresatrent.wordpress.com/

Mr. All-Things-Dean-Martin, http://ilovedinomartin.blogspot.com/

When you’ve visited them, come on over on Monday and see me at http://gaylecarline.blogspot.com/

Here’s the jacket blurb.

It’s a hot time in P-Town!

No one in the small town of Placentia, California is surprised when Benny Needles’s house catches fire. The outside hasn’t seen a paint brush in years. The inside is stuffed with Dean Martin memorabilia. It would be a simple case of homeowner negligence, except for the body found inside.

Under suspicion of both murder and arson, Benny turns to the one person who has always helped him, private investigator Peri Minneopa. Fire investigation isn’t on her menu of services, but Peri’s weak spot for Benny overrules her reluctance, and she agrees to look into things. Her investigation takes a dangerous turn as she uncovers family secrets, going back several decades.

There are skeletons in everyone’s closet, and even Benny’s bones are rattling.

 
I've never done a contest like this, so I'm interested to see how it all works. Of course, if it translated to sales, that'd be great, but I'm also hoping some readers from each blog find the others and want to read more of them (and buy their books, for the authors on this list). I'd like my friends to get something out of this, too. I'll be happy to report whether it worked to generate any interest in the book.

Happy Thanksgiving, all — Let the holiday madness begin!

A Baker's Tale

Before I get started on today's post, I need to post this. Cause it's funny.

I thought, in honor of Thanksgiving, I'd write about cooking. A few years ago, before my first book came out, I contributed a short story to an anthology and met some other writers, including Amy Alessio. She wanted me to contribute something to her blog, except that her blog is about cooking, which has nothing to do with mystery, unless you're at my house. Just kidding - I know how to follow a recipe. Don't ask me to wing it, though, or you'll never know what you're gonna get.

In an attempt to fit a square peg into a round hole, I wrote a little story about how my gal, Peri, can't cook but is trying to bake a cake. I've re-interpreted it here for your enjoyment:

* * * * *

    "Beebs, you gotta help me." Peri stood in the aisle of Albertson's Grocery Store, an index card in one hand and her cell phone in the other.

     Blanche Debussy, Assistant Coroner for the Orange County Sheriff's Office and Peri Minneopa's best friend, was nothing if not sympathetic. "Make it quick, Girlfriend. I'm in the middle of an autopsy."

    "This recipe you gave me calls for sugar, but there's so many different kinds." She curled the index card in her hand as she spoke. "There's brown stuff, and fluffy stuff, and stuff in paper bags. And what's a tisp?"

    "It's not a tisp. It's the abbreviation for teaspoon."
    "You mean I gotta buy a whole bottle of vanilla just for one teaspoon?"
    "Don't be a baby." Blanche's deep voice was stern. "You can flavor your coffee with it later. And get the kind of sugar you use in your coffee. How did you manage to grow to female maturity without knowing how to cook?"
    "My mother figured, if I wanted to learn, I'd ask. I never asked. I can make a salad and grill a steak. Why should I know how to bake a cake?"
    "So why are you baking one now? You know there are places that sell cakes."
    "Because Skip bet me I couldn't do it. And no, you can't help me. That's part of the bet."
    "Then I'd better let you get back to shopping."
    "Not yet." Peri read the recipe again. "Where do I find baking powder? How do I crush a pineapple? I still have questions."
    "And I'm apparently not supposed to help you, which works for me because I'm in the middle of a dead man. I'll check in with you later."
    Left with silence on the other end of the phone, Peri went back to reading the card, studying the boxes and mumbling softly to herself about getting into this mess. Why did I have to tell my boyfriend that anyone could bake a stupid cake, even me?
    Later that evening, a car pulled into Peri's driveway and the sound of women's heels clicked around the corner and up the back steps.
    "Peri?" Blanche opened the door. "How'd the cake turn out?"
    Peri looked up from her seat at the kitchen table to see her best friend's eyes grow wide. She followed her gaze and regarded the room. On one side of the sink, the counter was strewn with bowls of various sizes, serving spoons, and a frying pan. On the other side were bags of sugar and flour, a carton of eggs, and other ingredients. Everything had been dusted with white powder.
    Blanche continued to walk in. She picked up a plastic cup. "What's this from?"
    "I needed a measuring cup, so I used the one from my detergent," Peri said. Blanche scowled, so she added, "I cleaned it before I used it on the sugar. And how do you work with flour without it - foofing - all over the place?" She splayed her fingers to mimic an explosion.
    "It's a skill," Blanche told her. "Did you at least get some of it in the pan?"
    Peri pointed to the stove, then resumed picking the batter from her fingernails.
    "Peri…" Blanche looked at the brown and orange layer of lumps, a quarter-inch thick, crusted across the bottom. "What the hell happened?"
    "I have no clue. I followed the directions. They're obviously wrong." She picked up the recipe. "I put the sugar and oil together."
    Blanche looked at the bottle on the counter. "You used olive oil?"
    "The recipe says 'vegetable' oil. Olives are veggies, aren't they?"
    "Only on a pizza, dear. How did it stay so flat?"
    "How should I know? I scrambled the eggs, then added them to the sugar-"
    Blanche interrupted. "Wait. You 'scrambled' the eggs. You just mixed them, right? You didn't cook them."
    "Well, of course I cooked them. Raw eggs are unhealthy, right?"
    Blanche sat down beside her flour-spattered friend and began to laugh. She kept laughing until her sides were sore and eyes wept.
    "I'm glad I can provide your comic relief," Peri told her, before breaking into laughter herself.
    "By the way, what was the bet about?" Blanche asked, as her giggles subsided.
    "If I won, Skip was going to treat me to a day at Glen Ivy Hot Springs."
    "And if Skip won?"
    Peri stopped laughing and frowned. "I have to take a cooking class."
    The two women looked at each other, and their laughter began again.

* * * * *

In case you're dying from curiosity, here's the recipe she was trying to follow -

Carrot Cake

1 1/2  cups sugar

 1 1/4 cups vegetable oil
 4  eggs, lightly beaten
 2 cups flour
 2 tsp baking soda
 1 tsp salt
 3  tsp cinnamon
 1/2 tsp nutmeg
 2 tsp vanilla
 3 cups carrots, grated
 1/4 cup pineapple, crushed

Directions:

Preheat oven to 325. Combine sugar, oil & eggs. Sift dry ingredients. Add to sugar mix, beating well. Add vanilla, carrots & pineapple. Pour into greased & floured pan(s). Bake approx. 45 min or until inserted toothpick comes out clean.

Just top it off with some cream cheese frosting and you've got a little slice of heaven. Easy, right?

Happy Thanksgiving!