J L Wilson's Page

Oh, surprise.

I'm working on 2 books at once. It's going well but I need to finish them both by October 1 so I can move on to another project. So I am seriously under the gun (ha! a pun on a crime site!) to write, write, write. Of course, I also have to attend myriad family functions -- this is the year people are getting married, having babies, getting married, graduating, getting married -- busy!

So I'll be back in the fall with my usual verbosity. Until then that noise you hear is me, with… Continue

Haven't been here much. I discovered Facebook, which led me to Twitter and I got sidetracked there. See my profile page for how to find me there.

I've signed a few more contracts (5) since last I posted: 3 for mysteries and 2 for a new paranormal series, starting in August. I also won a Big contest (big for me, at least). I got an Eppie for If Not For You, my romantic suspense book featuring Layla Whitford and Max Lerner, two of my favorite characters. The Eppies are for electronically p… Continue

I entered the Eppies (the Oscars of the E-pubbed world) and I've got 2 finalists: If Not For You (available here: http://...com/2ftpsq) and Candy, Corpses & Classified Ads (available here in download: http://...com/ysxvxb and here in print: http://...com/5ukz4y).

I don't enter many contests any more. While it's nice to get the recognition, I'm also not sure how useful they are -- I used… Continue

I've been tweeking my next 2 submissions and you know, I could nickel and dime myself all day. It's good that I'm working on the 2 books simultaneously, because they're related -- one follows the other in the series.

What I'm doing now is the gruntwork: I've got my list of faux pas that I regularly commit and I'm slogging through both ms, checking for those gotchas (too many ellipses, too many dashes, too my 'ly' words ... you get the idea).

This is the unglamorous side of writing, the cleanup… Continue

I keep a checklist of Book Things to Do. It lists things like where I can post promo items on what day, where I should check/read a blog, where I should blog.

I've been lax lately on the blog thing because blogging is a bit like a black hole. You toss something out there and you're not sure if anyone hears. If a blog falls in a forest and no one is around, does it make a noise?

I regularly do guest blogs for other authors where they give me a topic and I give them a reply. They post it on thei… Continue