There was a time in my life when I had a terrific memory. I mean, seriously
terrific. I could quote poems, rattle off telephone numbers, remember what day I
was supposed to go to the dentist, and was never at a loss for a name to go with
a face.
I don’t remember precisely when it changed (ha!). Some time in my thirties, I
think. That was when I started carrying a purse-sized calendar into which I’d
write notes, clip party invites for the kids, and jot down flight information.
Now of course all that is on my phone and/or my computer calendar. None of this,
however, prepared me for writing a series.
There’s so much to keep track of! Names, places, relationships, hair colors,
town history, streets, ages, cars! It’s hard enough for me to keep track of all
of them in a stand alone book, but to remember them over the course of several
books? As Tony Soprano would say, “Fuhgeddaboudit.” I know other people have
more complicated series than I do. Heck. I’ve had a more complicated series than
this one where I had to keep up with whatever rules I was making up for a
paranormal world on top of all those names and places and appearances. Still,
it’s been a challenge!
I’ve heard other authors talk about keeping a “series bible.” I really like the
idea. First of all, it makes it all sound so important. I mean, a bible! Wow!
Second, it would be nice to have something to flip through when I needed to
remember one of those little details that are so easy to forget. What street is
her friend’s house on? Did that guy have brown hair or gray? When was the
lighthouse constructed?
That would require me to actually keep track of those details and, this might
sound nuts in the middle of a blog post about how I can’t remember anything
anymore, I always think what I’m writing is important enough that I’ll remember
it. I seem to have forgotten that I won’t . . .
Enter the copywriter. In case you aren’t familiar, sometime after the revisions
are finished and the line edits are done but before publication, we authors
receive our copy-edited manuscripts. Someone else, not the editor who plucked
you from the slush pile or from the bouquet of manuscripts presented by your
agent, goes through the manuscript with a fine-tooth comb looking for
grammatical errors, continuity problems, and plain old logic goofs. That is that
person’s job. That human being is paid to go through the pages you’ve been
slaving over and point out every tiny error you’ve made.
It’s not my favorite phase. Of all the phases of a manuscript’s production, it’s
the one most likely to send me crawling back into bed with a box of tissues and
the cat. It requires greater ego strength than I possess on even a good day, and
yet it must be endured. One very good thing comes with the copyedited
manuscript, though. Generally, there’s a list attached. A long beautiful list of
all the names and places with a few little details added in.
Ta da! A bible. Or at least the basis for one. Those lists -- and the
copywriters who create them -- have saved my life and sanity more than once. So
with the marked up manuscript that is going to make me feel like an idiot comes
my salvation.
Funny how life works, isn’t it?
Popcorn Shop
Mystery #2
Gourmet popcorn entrepreneur Rebecca Anderson and her poodle, Sprocket,
are back on the case, in the second Popcorn Shop Mystery from the author of
Kernel of Truth.
Despite Rebecca Anderson’s best efforts to distance herself from her
ex-husband, the guy keeps popping up. When Antoine offers to feature her
breakfast bars and popcorn fudge on his popular cooking show, she suspects he’s
once again trying to butter her up—but the TV exposure for her gourmet popcorn
shop, POPS, is too good to turn down.
Things take a shocking turn when the crew comes to Grand Lake to film in her
shop, and Rebecca discovers Antoine’s assistant electrocuted in a hotel bathtub.
Now the police want Antoine to come clean. Her ex may be a pain, but he’s no
killer. So Rebecca decides to bag the real culprit. If she isn’t careful,
however, she may be the next one getting burned.
INCLUDES POPCORN
RELATED RECIPES!
Mystery Cozy [Berkley Prime Crime, On Sale: January 3, 2017, Mass
Market Paperback / e-Book, ISBN: 9780425280928 / eISBN: 9780698193871]
Kristi has been obsessed with popcorn since first tasting the caramel cashew
popcorn at Garrett's in Chicago. If you've never had it, you might want to hop
on a plane and go now. Seriously, it's that good.
Kristi lives in
northern California, although she was born in Ohio like the Rebecca, the heroine
of the Popcorn Shop Mysteries. She loves snack food, crocheting, her kids, and
her man, not necessarily in that order.
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