A season of hope and promise

From My House to Yours, MERRY CHRISTMAS 

cj Sez:  My shopping is done, and my presents are wrapped and under the tree, (Yay) and if the picture above looks familiar, it is. I was going to have son Jeff take a new picture of my decorations for the blog, then discovered that my room looked exactly the same as it did last year. I am nothing if not consistent (or monotonous).

I have many blessings to be thankful for this Christmas—good health for me and my family, marvelous friends, and you, my readers of this blog and of my books.

I was fortunate to receive a special early gift this year when CHOOSING CARTER was picked up by publisher Crimson Romance. The eBook launched in July and the paperback in September. My second book on Amazon also brought more readers to my first, DEADLY STAR. It’s all about name recognition and marketing. I am, however, a very slow writer, but that tells me I’d do well to get my brain in gear and finish another book. 

In late October, I served on a “Writing Romantic Suspense” panel with a group of talented writers at Killer Nashville. That was another gift...a learning experience and a pleasure.

It’s now a little more than a week away from the new year, and it seems that 2015 has sped by. Another year is nearly gone, and I'm looking forward to the next one, praying it’ll bring continued health, a bit of happiness, and most of all, peace to the turmoil.

I wish all you-all Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays. May this season of hope and promise bring joy to you and your loved ones. 

cj 

cjpetterson@gmail.com

https://www.facebook.com/CjPettersonAuthor

Choosing Carter  -- Kindle  /  Nook  /  Kobo   /  iTunes/iBook

Deadly Star --  Kindle  / Nook  / Kobo

(PS: If you're still wondering what to give someone, give them an adventure...give them a book.)  

Silver Falchion winners, Veterans Day

cj Sez: The Killer Nashville International Conference was an amazing weekend of workshops and presentations. My fellow panelists on the Writing Romantic Suspense panel were awesome. Congratulations to the Silver Falchion Winners:

Best Attending Author:  Palmetto Poison – C. Hope Clark

Best Novel:

Romantic Suspense: Truth Be Told – Hank Phillippi Ryan

Cozy/Traditional: Hunting Shadows – Charles Todd

Historical: Death on Blackheath – Anne Perry

Private Detective/Police Procedural: Field of Prey – John Sandford

Speculative: Fear City – F. Paul Wilson

Literary Suspense: The Day She Died – Catriona McPherson

Political Thriller/Adventure: I am Pilgrim – Terry Hayes

Crime Thriller: In the Blood – Lisa Unger

Best First Novel:

Cozy/Traditional/Historical: The Life We Bury – Allen Eskens

Literary Suspense: The Weight of Blood – Laura McHugh

Mystery/Thriller: The Black Hour – Lori Rader-Day

Best Children’s Picture Book: An Armadillo in Paris – Julie Kraulis

Best Children’s Chapter Book: The Haunted Library – Dori Hillestad Butler, Illustrated by Aurore Damant

Best Middle Grade: Still Life (The Books of Elsewhere, Book #5) – Jacqueline West

Best Young Adult: Grunge Gods and Graveyards – Kimberly G. Giarratano

Best Nonfiction: Mainstream Crime Reference: 400 Things Cops Know – Adam Plantinga

Best Single-Author Collection: Seeing Red: From the Case Files of Detective James T. Kirkland – Terry Odell

Best Multi-Author Anthology: In the Company of Sherlock Holmes: Stories Inspired by the Holmes Canon – Edited by Laurie R. King and Leslie S. Klinger

Best Long-form Novelty Fiction/Poetry/Graphic/Experimental: The Undertaking of Lily Chen – Danica Novgorodoff (Graphic Novel)

Best Nonfiction: Memoir/Biography: Liar, Temptress, Soldier, Spy: Four Women Undercover in the Civil War – Karen Abbott

Best Nonfiction: Academic: The Figure of the Detective: A Literary History and Analysis – Charles Brownson

Best Nonfiction: True Crime: The Skeleton Crew: How Amateur Sleuths Are Solving America’s Coldest Cases – Deborah Halber

Veterans Day is November 11. Originally known as Armistice Day, it began as a day to remember the end of World War I. Germany signed an armistice with the Allies that signaled the end of the war at 11 a.m. on 11 November 1918. President Woodrow Wilson declared the day a holiday in 1919, and it was renamed Veterans Day in 1954. 

I send my grateful Thank You to all who have served and are serving in our United States military. To the men and women risk life and limb as they are sent into harm’s way to protect our American freedoms, I pray the Lord will watch over you and bring you safely home. SALUTE !!

From my Facebook page.

NaNoWriMo writers, are you plugging along? Stay with it! When the challenge ends at midnight November 30, you'll have the draft of a brilliant new novel.

You-all guys keep on keeping on, and I'll try to do the same. 

cj

https://www.facebook.com/CjPettersonAuthor

Choosing Carter  -- Kindle / Nook /  Kobo  /  iTunes/iBook

Deadly Star --  Kindle  / Nook  / Kobo

Killer Nashville International Conference 2015

cj Sez:  This weekend mystery/suspense/crime writers from “everywhere” converge on Nashville, Tennessee, for Killer Nashville International -- http://www.killernashville.com/   And I will be one of them. It’ll be my first “big” conference in a very long time.

Guests of honor for the 2015 conference are

John Gilstrap … the New York Times bestselling author of Against All Enemies, End Game, High Treason, Damage Control, Threat Warning, Hostage Zero, No Mercy, Nathan’s Run, At All Costs, Even Steven, Scott Free and Six Minutes to Freedom.

M. William Phelps … the New York Times best-selling author of 30 books and winner of the 2013 Excellence in (Investigative) Journalism Award.

Robert K. Tanenbaum … a New York Times bestselling author of three nonfiction books, including Echoes of My Soul, The Piano Teacher: The True Story of a Psychotic Killer and Badge of the Assassin. 

By the by, on Saturday a.m., Oct 31, I’ll be a member of the panel on Writing Romantic Suspense … woo hoo. That’ll be a kick. Since I want people to think I knew what I was doing when I wrote Deadly Star and Choosing Carter, I’m studying up on the genre.

There’s an upcoming new anthology from the conference as well. Killer Nashville Noir: Cold-Blooded is a collection of stories from bestselling authors that include Jeffery Deaver and Anne Perry.  Look for it on its October 27 release date.

Killer Nashville will be chockfull of writers, readers, agents, editors, publishers, old friends, and hopefully, some new friends. I am so looking forward to having a wonderful meet, greet, and learn experience. Fun and work at the same time (part of the job of being a writer). 

I’m thinking about what I need to pack, so I guess I’d better get to it. If you’re at Killer Nashville this weekend, I hope we have a chance to say hi.

You-all guys keep on keeping on, and I’ll try to do the same.

cj

PS: My books will be available at the Killer Nashville Barnes and Noble bookstore.

cjpetterson@gmail.com

https://www.facebook.com/CjPettersonAuthor

Choosing Carter  -- Kindle  /  Nook  /  Kobo   /  iTunes/iBook

Deadly Star --  Kindle  / Nook  / Kobo

Now is the time for all good readers . . .

cj Sez:  . . for a chance to win a whole summer of romance novels enter the contest at www.SummerOfLoveBooks.com       DEADLY STAR is one of them.

There will be more than one winner, and for an extra chance to win, "like" my Facebook author page at    http://on.fb.me/1xRVDej 

GOOD LUCK TO EVERYONE

*************

In May of last year, my Lyrical Pens post said this:

In addition to the usual writerly things (critiques, writing short stories, attending a conference or two, entering contests), my writing plans for 2014 include revising a romantic suspense/mystery, completing the first book in a detective series, and thinking through (is that called outlining?) a young adult fantasy. Several months into these projects, the dust is settling around me, and I wonder how much of this ambitious schedule is wishful thinking.

I accomplished only one item of that ambitious schedule. . . revising the romantic suspense novel. I did more than one edit cycle on the story, tweaked it a zillion times, and it's now ready for submission to someone somewhere. (I'm working on a back cover blurb and will post it in the near future.) The first story in my proposed female sleuth series has resurfaced, but the young adult fantasy is still on the proverbial back burner. I sometimes wish I wrote faster because there's so many stories I want to tell.

Attending a conference or two in 2014 never happened, but I've registered for the 2015 Southern Christian Writers Conference, June 5-6 in Tuscaloosa, AL. And I'll be at Killer Nashville in October (the Good Lord willing and the creek don't rise). Between registration fee and hotel rates, the first conference is very reasonably priced for the number of workshops and speakers, plus I'll have the opportunity to sell some books. By the same measure (mostly the hotel), the second is not so reasonably priced, but there are a great number of workshops and speakers, plus there's a possibility I may be selected to participate on a panel (maybe). Lot of experiences and networking possibilities there.

The thing is, I didn't get "everything" done during 2014 that I planned to do, but I'm not going to beat myself up over perceived failures. I'm okay with them. I took time to enjoy my family, my gardens, and my friends. I think that counts as success. 

Okay, that's all for today. Be sure to enter the contest and give my Facebook author page a "like" for a second chance to win 16 romance novels. You-all guys keep on keeping on, and I'll try to do the same.

cj