Catching UP!

Books that went to press this week:

THE DREAMER GAMBIT, by Kathryn Flatt

TOBY MARTIN: PARK PATROL, by Barbara Grengs


Galleys that went out, or went out again, this week:

GHOST AT STALLION'S GATE, by Elizabeth Eagan-Cox

OCCUPATIONAL HAZZARDS, by Michael E. Field

DREW GETS IT RIGHT, by Ludima Gus Burton

TOO DANGEROUS, by Geoff Geauterre

ROUGH WATERS, by Gianni DeVincent-Hayes


Work began, or continued on the following:

A HOUSE TO KILL FOR, by Judy Reveal

ON WINGS OF TRUST, by Anna Dynowski



Galleys still out with the authors:

A GRANDFATHER'S GIFT, by Hugh Carter Vinson


WARNING...WARNING...WARNING...DELAYS AHEAD...DELAYS AHEAD!

It's time to do payroll again. :D

My favorite thing to do is to pay my authors, but it is a long and tedious process to collect sales statistics from 9 different venues and compile them accurately so everyone can get every cent that's due them. It does take time away from the regular work schedule for both myself and Shelley, so please expect me to get very little regular work done in the week ahead.

Always a fun time to see who sold what and how many. I hope we all make lots of money together.

Coincidences -- writing tip

Question: The people in my writers group complain that my plots have "too many coincidences." What's wrong with a coincidence? They happen all the time.

Answer: In real life they happen all the time, it's true. But Fiction is a compressed world. There, everything has to be cause and effect. So usually, coincidences are a no-no for fiction writers.

If you're going to have a coincidence happen, try to make sure it is foreshadowed by previous action so that the coincidence will be believable. For instance say two people are going to meet by accident (okay I can't resist a pun) in a fender-bender at a certain intersection.

Although fender-benders happen all the time, the reader might feel their meeting was too coincidental. But you could foreshadow that by saying having the driver see the upcoming light and remember that the traffic light there was malfunctioning last week. Then the possibility of a fender-bender (the next thing that happens) there becomes more likely. It's expected, not a shock.

Chocolate Crinkle Cookies -- Recipe

Gianni Hayes’s Chocolate Crinkle Cookies

Contributor’s Note: These cookies are absolutely delicious, and the softer you make them, the better. For Christmas, you might want to stir in red and green M&Ms. It's easy and quick to do but the secret's in the chilling. This is a recipe handed down to me by my neighbor Diane Davenport. Everyone in my family makes them now.

1/2 cup cooking oil
4 squares baking chocolate, grated and unmelted
2 cups granulated sugar
4 eggs
2 tsp. vanilla
1/2 tsp. salt
2 cups sifted flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1 cup powdered sugar (reserve for baking)

In a large bowl, mix the chocolate, oil, and sugar. Add the 4 eggs, one at a time, mixing well. Mix well, add vanilla

Next, stir in baking powder, the flour, and salt. Chill several hours or overnight (This is an important step). After thoroughly chilled, pre-heat over to 350-F or 177-C degrees

Make small to medium-sized ball; you can use a teaspoon for this. Drop the balled dough into the powdered sugar and roll it around to cover it with the powder. Place 2" apart on greased baking sheet. Bake 10-12 minutes.

Option: Leave out grated baker’s chocolate and add into mixture chocolate Tollhouse morsels or M&Ms. Makes about 50 cookies.

Contributed by Gianni D. Hayes, Ph.D, author....

Scene structure -- writing tip

Question: When I was your student you talked a lot about writing in scenes and scene structure, so I always try to be careful about that in my own writing. But recently, I bought a book from a self-published author for my Nook. It was a good enough story, but there were scene breaks all over the place, and scenes with two or three lines, then another break, with no apparent reason. At first, I thought the writer just didn't understand scenes, but he had viewpoint down, and that's harder to do than scene structure. Have I missed a new trend?

Answer: The rules haven't changed. Scenes are still required to have structure and only one viewpoint character per scene. My best guess is (and it IS a guess, since I have NO IDEA what book you are talking about) the author edits in a scene break whenever the viewpoint changes, with no regard to scene structure and it's requirements.

Doing that will keep the viewpoint critics off his back. And help protect him against sneering reviews on that score. But it may get him reviews that have the words "choppy," "disjointed," and "disconnected" in them.

My best advice is not to disregard either of those rules as book reviewers tend to jump on them.

Every scene has the same structure. Here it is:
1. Transition, preferably with hook.
2. Rising action and dialogue
3. Turning point of the scene
(The turning point is the place where something changes forever. If there's no point, the scene goes, no matter how well written)
4. End/resolution of the scene, preferably with another hook. Usually when we come to the end of a scene,

* * *


we indicate the scene break with the double line break, at least two extra lines of "white space" and most people use the three stars, a line, or some other indication, in case the word processing program closes up blank lines automatically.

Russian Tea - recipe

Mary Cox-Bilz’s Russian Tea

2 1 qt. (large jars) containers Instant Iced Tea, sweetened and with lemon (any brand)
1 1 qt. Jar Tang
3 tbsp. Cinnamon

Since I am a quadriplegic, for this tea, I get someone whose fingers work to mix all ingredients well and store in an air tight container. I use one I can flip open with my mouth stick, but any jar, air tight cannister, or even a large Ziploc bag works well.

Mix two teaspoons with half a glass of water. Add ice, and enjoy a refreshing treat any time you like. You can also use it as an instant hot tea. Or we sometimes make it by the pitcher using 3/4 to 1 cup of mixture to a 2 quart container.

Catching UP

Books that went to press, or back to press this week:

FACEPAINTER MURDERS, by Virginia Winters

CATHERINE'S RING, by Elena Bowman

A POCKETFUL OF HOPE, by Anna Dynowski

SECOND REPUBLIC, by Steven Clark Bradley

TAPE, by C.M. Albrecht


Galleys that went out, or went out again this week:

TOBY MARTIN, PARK PATROL, by Barbara Grengs

A GHOST AT STALLION'S GATE, by Elizabeth Eagan-Cox

DREAMER GAMBIT, by Kathryn Flatt

OCCUPATIONAL HAZZARDS, by Michael E. Field

FORCED PARADISE, by J.C. Compston

PLAYING WITH FIRE, by Tonya Ramagos



Work began or continued on:

TOO DANGEROUS, by Geoff Geauterre

A HOUSE TO KILL FOR, by Judith Reveal

DREW GETS IT RIGHT, by Ludima Gus Burton



Galleys still out, waiting for authors to finish proofing them:

A GRANDFATHER'S GIFT, by Hugh Carter Vinson

ROUGH WATERS, by Gianni Hayes

COLLECTED SHORT STORIES OF VICTOR URIBE, by Victor Uribe



Fictionwise Best-Sellers for Ebooksonthe.net over the last 20 days:

1. Serious Nuts: The Inevitable Rise of Miss Grainger by Geoff Geauterre [Suspense/Thriller/Mystery/Crime]
2. Bleeding Hearts by Josh Aterovis [Mystery/Crime]
3. A Medic in Iraq: A Novel of the Iraq War by Cole Bolchoz [Mainstream]
4. Return of Tarzan by Edgar Rice Burroughs [Classic Literature]
5. Reap the Whirlwind by Josh Aterovis [Mystery/Crime]
6. Memoirs of a Slave Girl by Harriet Jacobs [People]
7. Tortured Souls [Arbiter Series Book 2] by Matthew L. Schoonover [Horror]
8. 2004 Anything Goes by Ebooksonthe.net Editors [Horror]
9. Unfamiliar Territory by Nina M. Osier [Science Fiction/Suspense/Thriller]
10. Grimm's Fairy Tales by Brothers Grimm [Classic Literature/Young Adult]


Fictionwise Highest Reader-Rated titles

1. A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett [Classic Literature/Children's Fiction]
2. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen [Classic Literature]
3. Minder's Oath [High Places Series: Book 2] by Nina M. Osier [Science Fiction/Mainstream]
4. Ghost Dancer by Arline Chase [Historical Fiction]
5. Captain Blood by Rafael Sabatini [Suspense/Thriller/Classic Literature]
6. The Mysterious Affair at Styles by Agatha Christie [Mystery/Crime/Classic Literature]
7. The Secret Adversary [Tommy and Tuppence Book 1] by Agatha Christie [Classic Literature]
8. Dark Elf: [Book 2 of the Red Knight Chronicles] by Ray Morand [Science Fiction/Mainstream]
9. Slow Dancing with the Angel of Death [Hollis Ball and Sam Westcott Series Book 1] by Helen Chappel [Mystery/Crime/Humor]
10. Tortured Souls [Arbiter Series Book 2] by Matthew L. Schoonover [Horror]

Baked Rock Fish -- recipe

This works equally well with blue fish or any large baking-sized fish.


Baked Rock Fish

1 4-8 pound striped rock fish (stripped sea bass, in season, of course)
4-6 strips of bacon
3/4 cup melted butter
2 cups dried bread crumbs or stuffing cubes
1/4 cup chopped celery
1 small onion, grated
1 tsp. Sage
1 tsp. Salt
1/2 tsp. Pepper
1/2 cup white cooking wine (optional)

Wash and dry fish and place in a shallow baking pan lined with aluminum foil. Mix1/2 cup butter with remaining ingredients, to form stuffing. Fill fish cavity and lace shut. Place bacon stips across the side of the fish and baste with remaining butter. Bake at 350-F or 200-C degrees for 40 to 60 minutes, depending on the thickness of the fish. Give it plenty of time to cook through, but not long enough to dry out.