6/12 Good things happening

Who's the Rogue? is at my publisher. Triple Trouble is out electronically, and will be out in paperback soon. Where Is Henderson? will soon be out in paperback.

So I'm going to set up another book signing at Panera very soon. I've been invited to speak on a panel at Leadership Illinois in July. And I'll be signing books at the Quincy University homecoming in September. I'm feeling pretty motivated by all this movement.

So it's time to start writing #7, tentatively titled Shall We Move?

Thanks so much for buying my books and reviewing them. Both things mean so much. We indi writers live and die by our reviews. So I hope you continue writing them.

Here we go again....

Gosh, I love writing books!

5/18 Home from the hills

After five days and four nights on a writing retreat at Snowmass, Colorado, I've returned home. The retreat, at a Trappist Monastery, was successful in many ways. Certainly spiritually. However, it was even more successful writing-wise. The first draft of Book Six is finished and in the hands of my beta readers, and I wrote a short story for a mystery anthology coming out in the summer or fall. (I'll post more about that later.)

Who's the Rogue? (Book 6) is well on its way to being in your hands.

Also, Triple Trouble is very close to being published. I have the formatted version in my hands. Then it will be ready. I'm thrilled about this, since it has a special short story inside as a gift. So in Triple Trouble readers will get the first three Sam Darling mysteries as well as a short story about Sam and George's Prom fiasco in high school.

Writing in a gorgeous hermitage, surrounded by the Rocky Mountains is inspiring. It's also surprisingly easy since there's no WiFi and no cell phone reception. Amazing what I can accomplish when not tempted by the Internet, phone calls, and texts.

Still haven't unpacked, so more later...

(This is misplaced in my list of posts, because it sat here in draft. Guess I forgot to hit Publish. Also I guess I have more in common with Sam Darling than I thought.)

5/29/16 My daughter's birthday and an editing day

So my daughter's birthday is today, and I'm smiling about that. However, what doesn't make me smile is that she's thousands of miles away. I wish her much joy and happiness, as always.

As for the editing part. Well, Whose the Rogue? is due to my publisher by June 1, and I'm gathering comments from my beta readers and will incorporate some of them. Gosh, I love smart people. My beta readers are smart in different ways, but they sure know how to catch my inconsistencies. One of the many reasons I love them.

So there's that.

Also, I want to start thinking about/working on Book #7. I love the start of the process, with a blank canvas, as it were. I know what the book's about, but don't know who is killed and who did it. That's part of the fun for me, discovering the victim and the villain(s) as I write. So far, this process has worked well for me.

To hear first about my new books, sign up at http://eepurl.com/z30jv. Your email will never be made public and you can opt out at any time. 

5/8/16 Mothers' Day and Writing

I'm so excited because two more of my books are in print (as well as being e-books). Can You Picture This? and Will You Marry Me? are in print as of this weekend. Many of you have enjoyed the books electronically, but a lot of readers prefer to hold a book in their hands. That's why I'm so happy about this.

And my fifth book (Where Is Henderson?) will have a print version shortly.

On this Mothers' Day, I'm sitting here feeling incredibly grateful that I'm a Mom and also grateful that I got to fulfill other dreams (besides parenthood). My dreams included being a writer. I am living proof that dreams can come true, even in your 60s.

Go to http://www.amazon.com/Jerilyn-Dufresne/e/B00HK36AUO/ to see all my books, both electronic and print.

Thanks so much for reading. If you keep reading, I'll keep writing.

2/17/16 The character versus the author

Some people compare my character, Sam Darling, with me. That's because she and I share many similar traits. However, I think she's much nicer than I am. When my friends say, "In book three you...," I have to remind them that it's Samantha and not I who did such and such.

When I began the first book (begun in 1995, published in 2012) I didn't have any experience in writing books. I'd written shorter works all my life, but never a book-length project. So I did what most new writers do—I made everything too autobiographical. So I did a lot of editing on that first book and I changed a lot. There are now 6 Darling sibs instead of 9. (Nine sibs in my family.) Sam's first name was changed from Jan to Sam. (JD are my initials and I didn't want the character to have the same initials as I.) There were more things I edited as well.

What Sam and I do share are a natural curiosity about everything. And I do mean everything. I ask questions all the time, and have done that since I was very small. And I honestly don't mean to be intrusive, I am just overly curious. The big difference is that I would never look in someone's medicine cabinet or search through drawers without permission. Sam would do it without blinking.

She and I share an inability to tell a lie very well. I choose not to lie, and that has caused problems in my life. She blushes when she lies. However in the later books she's become quite good at it.

Sam is not a good housekeeper. Me either.

Sam holds a grudge. I don't. (In fact, she's a professional at it.)

She's a smart-ass. And I have to confess that I am too.

She's in love with love. Me: Guilty as charged.

She doesn't have a lot of close friends outside her family. Me either. I've always had a ton of sibs in my life, and very few close friends. When I've lived away from Quincy, I developed more friends because I didn't have my sibs close by.

That's all I can think of off the cuff.

2/13/16 I answered a friend's question

My friend, Kimberly Shursen, asked people about how they get their ideas. She also asked other questions, but that's the one that stuck with me. By the way, she's a wonderful thriller writer and I suggest you check out her books on Amazon or else on her website kimberlyshursen.com.

Anyway, my response on her blog was so long that I thought it would make a blog entry on my site. So here it is:

I really enjoyed your post, Kimberly, and also enjoy your thrillers immensely. As you know, I write different types of books. Mine are called cozy mysteries. I am working on number six right now. Where do I get my ideas? From people. From conversations I've overheard. From questions I've asked. One whole book was totally conceived on the patio of a Panera Bread Company when a friend said, "Wouldn't it be funny if...?" And we went off on a riff that gave life to one of my favorite works. (Note: That book is Can You Picture This?) I write mostly at Panera and that's because I'm an extrovert and get energy from people. At home I have a hard time writing even though I have a great office.

So in the summer I'm on the patio there and in the winter I'm ensconced in booth number 2, from 8 to 11 AM. I call them my office hours.

My characters tell me the plot. When I start I have a general idea, like right now--my book Who's the Rogue? started when I was in a play at our community theatre and noticed there were some dark areas and also that the basement was a little scary at times. I thought, "What if a murder would happen there? How would that be able to happen?" I didn't want to make it the stereotypical theater murder where a sandbag falls on someone's head or a real gun is substituted for the fake one. So I came up with another idea. Then a friend asked me if I'd use his name in a book. And voila'! Wes Friday is the Broadway star brought to my hometown to star in a show. And so it goes....

Wow. Sorry this is so long, Kimberly. Your questions inspired me. I'm going to copy and paste it to my blog. :)
                                                                    ***

So, do you have any questions for me about writing? Either my writing or writing in general? I'm certainly not the foremost expert on writing, but I do know a thing or two.

12/8 Full of memories

The 7th, 8th, and 9th of December are the birthdays of three (out of five) of my brothers. Dad's birthday was on March 16th. You do the math.

Anyway, surrounded by their birthdays always makes me reminisce about my childhood and the happy memories of growing up the eldest in a big family.

I feel so lucky that I'm able to celebrate some of the memories by incorporating a few of them into my books. For example, the Darling family in the series use the word "shup" in place of "shut up." That's from real life, and we still use the word.

I don't know if it's just an abbreviation or if we'd get in trouble for saying "shut up." Either way, it's one of the small things from real life that made it into Sam Darling's fictional life.

11/20 NaNoWriMo continues...

I have almost 20,000 words finished during NaNoWriMo. Since this is the 20th, I actually should have written 33,340. So I'm not going to reach 50,000 words this year. That's okay. The important thing is that I'm writing.

And I'm having fun doing it. Now that I know who the killer is (or the killers are), and I know why the person(s) did it, I am in writer heaven. That's one of the hard parts.

So I know the ending, and I just have to follow the route to get there. Unfortunately, the route isn't charted, since I don't outline. However, writing the book is a lot easier once the characters tell me about the villain(s).

The book itself is almost 2/3 finished, so I'm feeling pretty darn good. Who's the Rogue? will be completed this year. My publisher will be happy!

11/1 NaNoWriMo

And so it begins. I've got about a thousand words done out of my 1667 needed for today. I'd like to hit 2,000 because I know there will be days when I won't or can't write. In order to hit the 50,000 I need to overachieve on a few days I think.

I'm about 1/3 of the way through Who's the Rogue? and I still am not sure who did it. There are a few people who look suspicious to me as the writer, but I'm getting caught up in wanting to write about Sam and George's relationship and not in solving the murder.

Dumb, I know.

It's not easy to weave both of them together--to want to write a mystery but to also have a love story in it, and hopefully a realistic one. Well, not a completely realistic one. George is pretty much the perfect guy, after all. :)

Okay. Back to work. Wish me luck.

10/31 Candy and kids

Munching on candy while I wait for my great-nieces and great-nephews to come to the house. Gus is waiting at the door, hoping kids will come soon.

Something unusual happened today. I didn't write.

It feels funny. I've been writing at least 1,000 words a day for a while, but haven't touched the keyboard until now. (My FB posts were done on my iPad. Now I'm typing on my Mac Air.)

But tomorrow NaNoWriMo starts. It's National Novel Writing Month and it comes around every November. The idea is to commit to write 50,000 words during the month of November, which averages 1667 words per day, a little more than I'm used to doing.

But I've exercised my fingers and am raring to go. During November I'll finish the first draft of Who's the Rogue? (Sam Darling Mystery #6) and will begin #7. Thinking about the concept of #7 now.

Hope you have a great Halloween and hope you are reading and enjoying my books. By the way, if you are, please write a review on Amazon. Writers live and die by their reviews. Thanks.

10/25/15 Faces

The older I get the more I believe there are only a certain number of faces in the world. Everywhere I go I see people I know. Unfortunately, sometimes they aren't people I know. Perhaps they're clones. That would explain it.

Or perhaps as one ages, the planes and lines on a person's face blur so that the things that make us look special are no longer so evident.

I mean, it really could be a high school chum I saw on the Eiffel Tower. I was there, so he could have been there too. Except he looked as he looked in high school. And I...didn't. Not fair.

I was with my sister on Oahu in the 70s when she saw a classmate from Illinois. It does happen.

I've seen others I recognize and then discover it's someone's child and not the person I know. Some day it might be a grandchild I mistake for a friend. Time hurries and hurries and pushes forward and we're swept up in the wave.

Much of the time I blame my imagination. The same thing that allows me to write books also helps me make things up when I'm trying to identify someone.

This is true--I saw the same woman twice in one day and they were different people. I even asked the second one if she had a sister or daughter that looked like her. She said she had no female relatives.

Clones.

It's the only answer.

Unless I'm making this all up.

10/6/15 Book news and book signing

Am taking a break from writing Who's the Rogue? in order to get all the other books ready to be printed. Then every single book will be available in both ebook and paperback. I'm going to be so happy when that's done. The only book (from 1 through 5) that needs to be checked is number four, Will You Marry Me? One and two are printed, and three and five are at the formatters.

This is a huge deal for me because I've wanted the ebook and print book to come out virtually simultaneously for a long time. Many of my readers prefer a book in their hands, so that's my goal.

Be on the lookout for the books to show up in print form.

In the meantime, I'm having a book signing for the first two books--Who Killed My Boss? and Any Meat in That Soup? It will take place at Panera Bread Company in Quincy, IL on Saturday October 10 at 10 AM. Hope to see you there!

The plot thickens...

In Who's the Rogue? I now know who gets murdered. I'm still not sure who the murderer is. I'm like a reader as I write; I have to get into the book before I know who killed the person(s). Right now I'm making educated guesses, just as readers do. It could be so-and-so because of a checkered history with the victim or it could be so-and-so because of a jealous rage or even...

You see. I don't know much at all yet. :) I do have ideas though, and have narrowed the field of potential murderers.

I've reached the 5,000 word mark which means I'm definitely in it! And I'm loving the premise. Hope you will too.

And Where Is Henderson? should be out soon. It's with my publisher and I expect to get her suggestions back at any time. Then some quick edits and off to the formatter. Getting excited.

Not much

I've been writing at least 500 words per day. It doesn't seem like much, but with the rehearsals for Mary Poppins, plus learning my lines, 500 words is plenty.

I do think there will be a day when all I do is write. As soon as the characters tell me who gets murdered, and who did the deed, the words will just flow. Until then, I write some "filler" scenes, waiting for the action to happen.

Some people think it's funny that I don't have an outline or don't know what really is going to happen in the book. I have the idea of where the book will take place and who the characters are, but that's about it. As the characters become more and more "real" to me, they let me know who is going to die and finally who the murderer is. I get quite excited when that happens.

I'll let you know when I know. Nope, won't tell you who, but will tell you that I have it figured out.

Writing and singing, a nice combination

Book #5, Where Is Henderson?, is with my publisher. I expect it back soon with some (many?) suggested edits. It should be published as an e-book by mid-June. I'm currently writing #6, Who's the Rogue?, which takes place entirely in Quincy, IL. Back to my roots, as suggested by some readers. See, I do pay attention!

My second book--Any Meat in That Soup?--has been printed in paperback form and is available at Amazon and I believe Barnes and Noble. Excited about this.

I'm rehearsing nightly for Mary Poppins, in which I play the Bird Woman and Miss Andres. I love that I get to play both a hero and a villain. Because of my renewed love for local theater, via Quincy Community Theatre, WTR? takes place at a community theatre. In the book it's Gem City Community Theatre. For the uninitiated, Quincy's nickname is the Gem City, given to us by none other than Mark Twain. I believe his exact words were, "Quincy is a gem of a city." No, I'm not quite old enough to have heard his words myself.

I'm hopeful that my fellow castmates won't mind that I stare at them and occasionally take notes. I'm still deciding who's going to die in the book and who's going to do the murdering, so everyone better be nice to me.

Fair warning.

Writing is therapeutic

For me, writing is therapeutic. If I'm in a bad mood I just have to turn to my characters to cheer me up. I laugh at Sam's efforts to be a sleuth, and how she normally bungles things. I chuckle at the new characters in each book and come to care about them. Will You Marry Me? was published October 1, and contains some of the more memorable supporting characters. Perhaps some of them will appear in a later work. Never can tell.

Right now I'm working on number five--Where Is Henderson? It takes place in both Quincy, Illinois and Henderson, Kentucky. The title applies to the town and a person as well, and promises more murder and mayhem.

My publisher informed me that the print versions of the first books are with a formatter. I'm so looking forward to seeing them in print. It will be a totally new experience, and I can imagine my joy. I think when the first box arrives I will emulate one of my favorite writers--Hugh Howey--and will film the official "box opening." I only hope I'll remember to do it. I'll probably be so excited that I'll rip the box open! Not very mature behavior for someone my age, but that's the way I am.

Well, back to work. There's a murder to be solved.

I need noise to write

I'm an extrovert. (I can just hear people say, "Ya think?") I get energy from people, plus I think out loud. That's why I write my books primarily at Panera, and sometimes at Starbucks. 

So now, my dog Gus and I are in a little cottage at a retreat center--from Friday morning until Monday morning. I love the peace. I love the location. And sometimes I even love the quiet. But not when I'm trying to write. So book number five, titled Where Is Henderson? still just has two chapters complete.

I should have known that quiet wasn't conducive to my creative writing.

I do love it here, though. Gus and I will definitely return. I found Windridge Solitude by Googling "solo retreat with pet." Et voila--it appeared. And just 2 1/2 hours from my home. Check out windridgesolitude.org and you'll see how lovely this place is. And reasonable. The cottages are small and new, with everything you'd need. You bring your own food. There's no wifi of course, but I turned my phone into a mobile hotspot and am able to post. However, I'm not "hanging out" on the internet like I usually do. Just a few times a day.

I've been reading some spiritual books, and the entire place and process has had a calming influence on me.

Gus is bored when we stay in the cottage, I think. However, there are 93 acres to roam around on, and we've been doing a lot of that. This may sound strange but my favorite place is their pet cemetary. The nuns rescue dogs and cat, and most of the animals are old and their time here is short. I met the current three dogs, but didn't meet the cats. One of the big dogs has huge scars across her skull. She's had a rough life, but here she's pampered and loved and will be here until she passes.

They do good work here.

Writing Process Blog Tour

At the request of author Kimberly Shursen (kimberlyshursen.com), I'm answering questions about my writing process. Then I'll "tag" two other authors to respond.

What am I working on now?

Currently I'm writing book number four in the Sam Darling Mystery Series, Will You Marry Me? I know it sounds more like a romance than a mystery, but trust me, it's a mystery. Sam's dog finds a bone that turns out to be a human femur, and off our heroine goes--creating more trouble than you'd expect from a social worker-wannabe-sleuth.

The above picture, from Tiger Imagery, is going to be turned into cover art by Keri Knutson.

How does my work differ from others in its genre?

First of all it takes place in my hometown of Quincy, IL. A town that normally doesn't have as many murders as my mystery series would imply. Also, Sam Darling has a psychic connection with her dog, Clancy. Clancy herself is a big help in solving crimes. Additionally Sam is one of six kids. They're close, but all of them are irritated by Sam's nosiness and her inability to stop butting in where she's not wanted.

Why do I write what I do?

I am from Quincy originally, but was a nomad in the middle part of my life. While living in hotels when I traveled weekly, I found myself homesick for the little city I loved. So one night I just started writing. This was nearly 20 years ago. I was unable to find an agent because my first manuscript was like many from novice writers--it wasn't well-written and was full of rookie mistakes. So I put the manuscript away. However, it kept surfacing in my brain. I really liked the characters, and they haunted me. So I edited, edited, and edited it some more. And finally an indie publisher thought it was good enough. By the way, she was the first person I sent it to after I'd re-written it.

How does my writing process work?

Well, as I said--the first book was born from boredom and homesickness. The second idea followed soon after, and the third and so on. Now I only work part-time at my other jobs--as a mental health therapist and a university instructor. I view writing as a job as well. Three or four days a week I go to my favorite writing spot, Panera Bread, and write for three or four hours in the morning. I also write by my sister's pool during the summer. The only place I don't write is at home in my nice little office. For some reason, writing at home is too distracting. I keep thinking of laundry and all the TV shows I've taped but haven't watched yet. When the weather's nice, my dog Gus accompanies me to the Panera patio and definitely to my sister's pool. I find him calming and sometimes an inspiration for Clancy in the books.

Ideas aren't hard for me to come by. Discipline is.

What are my writing plans for the future?

As I said, I'm working on book four and I have ideas for several more in the Sam Darling series. I'm also considering branching out with some stand-alone novels--maybe a little edgier, or maybe a different genre.

I would like to retire from my other jobs some day, but hope to never have to retire from writing. Not only does writing keep my mind active, the characters continually make me laugh. I think I'm my own best audience.

Currently my books are available on amazon.com in electronic format. They'll be in print by summer.

Tagging: I'm tagging Nikki Shields and Lynnette Spratley to blog about their writing, using the above questions.

Writing continues...

I've had a trip to LA which fed my soul. Spending time with my daughter, son-in-law, and grandkids is a great way to rejuvenate me and energize my writing.

Number 3, Can You Picture This? is out and doing well. Currently I'm working on number 4, with the title, Will You Marry Me? All is not as it seems in the idyllic Ozarks town of Crackertown, MO. So small, it's not on any maps, even though it's the "Ritz of the Ozarks." Sam and George "accidentally" end up there on their way to a Grand Canyon vacation. Clancy is in tow, of course, and she unearths the reason they have to stay in Crackertown, even though their vacation is calling.

Am having fun with this one. I love the Ozark Mountains and the people I met the several times I visited.

More writing news

Last night I turned in the manuscript to my publisher. Can You Picture This? is well on its way to publication. However, I fear there's a little work to do. We'll see, after she reads it today or tomorrow.

It's funny to not have that book to work on. I'm going to grade some papers for my other job, and then read a little, but I really need to get to work on #4. I'll tell you the name of it as soon as I know it. :)

Keep reading!