Category Archives: Writing

Drastic Measures Must Be Taken

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I’ve been retired from the LAPD for about eighteen months now, and I often get asked how I like retirement. The standard answer I give is that I like retirement just fine, however…I’m working harder now than when I was working a full-time job.

I won’t bore you with the many tasks that take up my days and my nights. But, I will say if you think writers sit in front of their computers and dash off ten pages of a novel, then answer hundreds of fan letters, promote their books on television talk shows, and then go sit by the pool eating bonbons and drinking champagne, you’d be sadly mistaken. At least most of us don’t.

My ‘to-do’ lists often have sub- ‘to-do’ lists. It’s not unusual for me to have a numbered list of maybe ten things to get done during one day. However, as the day progresses, I find I’m adding things to the list – or stapling an additional list to the bottom of the first one.

Because I’ve been lucky enough to gain a following with my first two books, I feel pressure to get my next book out there. But I have to find more hours in the day to make that happen. So…

Drastic measures must be taken.

If you know me or you’ve been reading my blog for a while, you know that I’m a big fan of reality television. Until I started to list the shows I regularly watch, I didn’t quite realize how much time my TV habit was taking out of my day – and it’s not just the reality shows.

Here is a listing of the shows I like to watch. They aren’t all on during the same time of year, so I’m not necessarily watching all of these shows every week.

American Idol
Dancing With the Stars
The Amazing Race
America’s Next Top Model
Big Brother
The Bachelor/The Bachelorette
Bachelor Pad (Yes, I’m hanging my head in shame)
Survivor
The Glass House (This was the first season of this show. I’ve only continued to watch because one of the players is a cop. I hope he wins.)

Then there are the non-reality shows I watch.

Southland
Dallas
Longmire
Shark Tank

Then there are the shows I sometimes watch when I happen to be flipping channels.

House Hunters
Storage Wars
Pawn Stars
Say Yes to the Dress
Keeping Up With the Kardasians ( I can hardly look at my screen while I type this. Watching these folks is a very guilty pleasure.)

Then there are the daily news shows.

KTLA Channel 5 (Mornings – sometimes for hours!)
KCBS Channel 2 (Usually 5:00 p.m.)

Most of the shows I save on the DVR so I can watch when it’s convenient and so I can zip through the commercials. But with my reality shows it’s tricky because if I’m not careful someone on Facebook or Yahoo will post the ‘dramatic’ results before I get a chance to watch the show.

Clearly, I need to cut down my list AND how much TV I’m watching.

Let’s start with the news. I can easily cut down in the morning. I don’t have to watch two or three hours of news to see what’s gone on overnight. I can probably par that down to about a half hour. Same goes for the evening broadcast.

The shows I sometimes watch I need to cut out completely – unless I’ve written my word/page count for the day. And then I should only watch them while I’m cleaning or something else where I can multi task. And to be fair, usually I’m watching these shows while I’m having lunch or dinner.

As for my non-reality shows I watch. This is where I’ll stand my ground. I don’t want to cut any of these shows. However, it makes no sense for me to be watching reruns of these shows, and sometimes I do. The endings don’t change.

But where I can make considerable impact on my time management is with my reality show viewing.

I’ve determined I’m only going to allow myself four – and one of those is on during the year when the other three are not. So, who will I be watching and who gets cut?

The four who made the cut are:

The Amazing Race
Survivor
The Bachelor/The Bachelorette
Big Brother

I’m sure I’ll find many more hours in the day if I can follow my new plan.

What about you? What are the shows you ‘must see?’ What are the shows you’re embarrassed to admit you watch? What television show could you give up easily?

Until next time,

KMA367

I’ve Got an Ace in the Hole

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For two weeks I’ve had my poker face on…and it’s been killing me.

Robert Gottlieb of the Trident Media Group is now representing me!

For those of you who aren’t involved in the publishing industry, I will just tell you that when I was previously looking for an agent, I took one look at the client list at Trident Media Group and skipped them as ‘being out of my league.’ I’d also previously heard Mr. Gottlieb described as one of the best and most powerful literary agents in the country.

So, you can imagine my surprise when, the very day I was leaving for the Romance Writers of America national conference, I had an email from Mr. Gottlieb. It turned out he’d read my book, A Deadly Blessing and was ‘enthralled’ and wanted to know if I had literary representation.

After a few e-mails back and forth I learned he was going to be in the area of the conference I was attending. By chance, his agency was having a party within walking distance of my hotel and he invited me to attend. We talked, and as they say, the rest is history.

I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t nervous about this move. I’ve enjoyed moderate success self-publishing my books. I’ve been able to make all the decisions regarding my books and my career. I like having control. But I also know there are other literary avenues available to me. I just don’t have the know-how, the connections, or the time to investigate those options.

Just like the professionals I’ve hired to help me get my career to its current level, I’m thrilled to now be affiliated with one of the best agencies in the country to help me achieve even more.

I didn’t need any further confirmation I was making the right choice, but when I opened up the daily paper and saw my horoscope for the day I had to smile…

I won’t know until we actually start working together exactly how this collaboration will work. But I’m a gambling kind of gal, so I’m all in…and I think I’ve got a winning hand.

KMA 367

Third Time’s a Charm

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This is the third time I’ve written today’s blog. No, there wasn’t a computer snafu. I’ve had trouble with content. Here’s the deal…

The first post I wrote I was writing about Facebook and whether or not the social media site was on its way out. It was a good post, citing some of the recent problems with the company and Facebook page formatting changes that I think…suck. I was quite blunt. The only thing that worried me was that Facebook might come after me – or heaven forbid – cut me off for being rebellious. I scrapped that post.

My second attempt at a blog for today led me to write one of my cleverest works yet. It was entertaining, crafty, and funny. So where is it?

Because the blog post involved my husband I thought I should run it by him before posting. Truth be told, I knew he might have some issues with it and I was right. It was just a tad bit too revealing about our personal life…him in particular. He put the kibosh on that post this morning. It’s really a shame. It was darn good writing – if I do say so myself.

So, here we are with my third post, and I’m cheating. I’m doing a reminder that I currently have a contest going on my website where you can win a fabulous prize if you answer a question about my book.

I’m going to try to insert the link to the Code 7 page where the contest info is listed on my website, but I am having some trouble with my blog site. Not enough so I can’t post, but if you can’t access it from this page, copy and paste the link and it should work. If not, go to www.Kathy Bennett.com and click on the Code 7 page.

http://kathybennett.com/code7.aspx

So that’s it. Short – sweet – and a third time treat!

Until next time,

KMA 367

Finding A Better Time To Write

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I’ve been writing for a long time. I’ve always struggled with finding time to get my daily pages written. When I was working full-time, I didn’t feel as much pressure to produce because ‘I had a day job’ as a police officer. My days/nights entailed working twelve-hour shifts.

By choice, I worked what would be commonly known as the graveyard shift…except, unlike in the olden days, because of the twelve-hour shifts, my graveyard shift started at 6:00 p.m. and lasted until 6:30 a.m. So, it was understandable that on the days I worked, I probably wouldn’t get any writing done. But I also found that my days off were crammed full of grocery shopping, trips to the cleaners, and the most important trek to the hairdresser to cover the gray roots. You know, regular life.

But early last year I retired from the police department and became a full-time writer. Now what excuse did I have for not cranking out pages? None.

Well, that’s not entirely true. My mother is in an assisted living residence and I go to see her 3-4 days a week. Round trip it’s a 70-mile jaunt. But I don’t miss my visits with my mom unless I physically can’t get there. So far, travel (writing conferences) and having major surgery have been the only reason I’ve missed any visits.

I still have errands to do, and I will say retirement has allowed me a lot more flexibility with those. Even with more time in retirement, I wasn’t producing pages in the quantity that I’d envisioned. I find I’m busier in retirement than when I was working. In part, some of that was because I’d self-published my debut novel, A Dozen Deadly Roses and after the book was up for sale I spent a lot of time doing promotion.

What I found was that I could easily spend 7 – 14 hours a day on the computer, but not really get a lot of writing done. I was constantly trying to whittle away at my email in box that can fill up in the blink of an eye. I was following leads on books reviewers who were willing to read e-books. I was promoting (and goofing around) on Facebook and trying to understand Twitter, Triberr, Linkdin et al. Does any of this sound familiar?

I recently published my second book, A Deadly Blessing. I’m doing some promotional efforts, but really haven’t gotten into full swing with that yet. Instead I’m devoting more time to writing the next book in the series. By accident, I stumbled across a schedule or a system that is working for me.

Before I continue, I’m going to tell you flat out that what I’m doing probably won’t work for most of you. But I compare it to making the decision to self-publish. It’s not necessarily the right choice for everyone. But maybe what I’m doing will get you to think outside the box and look at your schedule and see where you find your best writing time.

This is what I discovered. First, I made a commitment to writing a certain number of words per day. I started out with 500 words per day. That went pretty well so mid-stream in the first week I upped that goal to 1000 words per day.

One day I’d been busy running errands and hadn’t gotten my word count in for the day. I was determined not to fall behind so at 10:00 p.m. sat down to write my pages. I worked until a little after 1:00 a.m. I staggered to bed and got up at 6:00 a.m. the next morning to take care of our animals, get them fed, etc.

I went to visit mom, sent my husband off to work (he works nights) and after he left, I thought I’d take a little nap. I slept for two and a half hours that afternoon and after I woke up, I did a little housework and laundry. When nine o’clock came around, thanks to my nap, I felt pretty good for writing. I sat down and wrote 1500 words. I think I finished up about the same time 1:00 a.m. I’m just beginning my next book and the first pages are always the hardest for me, so it’s slow going.

The next day I took another long nap and then wrote until the wee hours of the morning. The way it’s worked out is that I’m getting about four hours of sleep during the hours of darkness and about 2-3 hours of sleep during the day. I’ve worked as late as 3:00 a.m. (and still gotten up at 6:00 a.m.) but I feel my former years of working the graveyard shift lets me do this without too much trouble.

But this is the real secret of what I’ve learned. You all are in bed late at night and in the early morning hours…yes, even those of you who live on the east coast. You don’t write email, you don’t to post to Facebook and you’re not buying books, so there is no need for me to check my sales numbers. I no longer have those distractions I could rationalize that were necessary and found so irresistible.

Not only was I able to write more, it’s better writing right from the first draft.

How long will this schedule last? I don’t know but it’s working now, so I’m going to use it as long as I can. Like I said, I don’t think this type of schedule is for everyone, but maybe you’ll find inspiration in my process and discover the best writing time for you.

Oh, and one thing I’ve learned: without a doubt I love my afternoon naps!

Until next time,

KMA367

Taking Off the Uniform – A Year Later

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I’m writing this article on February 22nd.  It’s a beautiful Southern California day with temperatures expected to hit the low eighties.  I can tell you that February 22, 2011, was also a beautiful day.  The sun was shining and there was a light breeze in the air.

Now you’re probably wondering if I’m a living almanac.  I’m not.  On this date last year, it was a Tuesday and my last day of working for the LAPD.  My co-workers threw me a fabulous BBQ.  My retirement wasn’t official until February 26th, but that BBQ was my last day at Devonshire Station.  Oh, I snuck back in and did my last Basic Car meeting on Wednesday, but I was in plain clothes and it was more of a party than a meeting.

If I had to describe my retirement in one word, I’d say: hectic.

One of the main reasons I retired was because my mother had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease.  I spent most of March taking Mom to various doctors for various issues.  I’ve been driving over 70 miles three times a week to spend time with her.  

I also needed to catch up on my own periodic doctor appointments.  Some of those doctor visits were in relation to the back injury I’d suffered in an on-duty traffic collision. 

In addition, I began to get phone calls from friends who all wanted to have lunch, since I had ‘nothing but time on my hands.’ I didn’t want to burst their bubble about what retirement is all about, so I went.

I’d already made my decision to self-publish my debut novel and was working with a cover designer to get the cover ready. I also took an online class to learn how to make a book trailer (much like a movie trailer) for my book.  I also tried to learn how to format my manuscript for e-reading devices (Kindle, Nook, etc.)  I joined two other writing groups and started reading up on how to promote my book and myself.

June was a huge month for me.  I launched my book on Amazon.com and BarnesandNoble.com.  My second career had begun!  But it wasn’t just the book launch that made the month special.  I also had been approved for an epidural shot to help ease the pain in my back.  I had that procedure done in mid-June.

The month of July was a blur to me.  I spent as long hours at my computer self-promoting my book by requesting reviews from book reviewers and book bloggers.  I attended the Public Safety Writer’s Association yearly conference in Las Vegas as a speaker.  The only problem was, that I’d arrived a few days early and, by the time the conference rolled around I was seriously ill and had to go home.  What a way to make a good impression.  Thankfully, to my knowledge, no one else got sick. 

In August, my book ‘took off’ on the Barnes and Noble website and I was in their Top 100 of all their books being sold.  It wasn’t long and I hit the Top 100 at Amazon as well.  This was another month of heavy book promotion.  You have no idea how many book-related websites there are on the Internet!

However, August was also a sad month too.  Over the few months I’d been stopping in three times a week to care for Mom, I’d come to realize that Mom’s condition was way more advanced than either my sister or I realized.  We came to the conclusion Mom would have to go into an assisted living facility. 

The arrangements were made to get Mom moved and comfortable in her new place.  I spent the first two days with her to help her get oriented and continue to visit her three times a week. None-the-less, it was one of the hardest decisions my sister and I had ever made.

In September, I taught an online writing class.  It was also time for Mom’s scheduled visits to her doctors and I was still seeing a group of doctors regarding my back.  Oh, and have I said that during this whole time I was revising my second book, A Deadly Blessing?

October found me teaching another on-line writing class and taking Saturday’s to go cheer at my granddaughter’s soccer games.  I was still revising my next book and began working with new website designers to give my website a facelift.

I was still spending about six hours a day self-promoting my book in November.  I guess I should clarify here that when I say self-promoting, I was also reading the tons of articles to keep abreast of the vast changes in the writing scene.  I also ‘ran away’ for a few days to a hotel where I could lay out the 300+ pages of my revised book and see how it all was flowing.

I don’t really need to say anything about December.  It was the holiday season, filled with more events, obligations and merriment than usual.

The first of this year has been spent revising and editing A Deadly Blessing and I’m keeping my fingers crossed it comes out in March. The manuscript is in the hands of beta readers right now.

But what about my former life?  My life as a cop.  What about that?  It doesn’t happen often, (mostly because I dot have time to think about it), But sometimes I ache to be driving the black and white and wearing my uniform and badge. I’ll see LAPD officers on a traffic stop, but now, instead of being their back-up, I’m a typical rubbernecker.  Driving to where my mom lives for a visit, I’ll see the LAPD helicopter racing to a call somewhere or orbiting over a ‘hot’ call.  I want so badly to know what’s going on and to be ‘in’ on the action. 

I wanted to find a way to cope with those feelings.  So, when I see police activity that tugs at my memories, I try to think of possible circumstances of the incident that I can turn into a scene in a future book.  Admittedly, it doesn’t always cure the melancholy, but it leads to some really interesting pages on my computer.

Until next time,

 

KMA367       

 

A Whirling Dervish…or…Haste Makes Waste

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Yesterday, I made my bi-monthly pilgrimage to Costco to stock up on paper towels, toilet paper, and impulse items I wouldn’t normally have bought – in this case, imitation fur-lined gloves and a paper shredder. 

 

My basket was overflowing with my bounty, and being it was a weekend, I stood in line with all the other delusional people who thought they too were saving money by purchasing items in bulk, conveniently forgetting the items in their carts selected on a whim.

 

I picked my checkout line with care.  I didn’t want to get behind the family with four kids and four times the amount of items I had in my own cart.  I didn’t want to get in the line where the checker had no ‘box’ person to reload the cart with my purchases.

 

Assessing the checkers, I wanted one who seemed to be moving efficiently with not a lot of chatter.  I found my line and started unloading the cart.

 

When the clerk reached out for my card, I also proudly handed him the three coupons for my fabric softener sheets, mouthwash, and Kleenex tissues.  With his little barcode gun, he immediately went to work on the heavy items I’d left in the basket.  This is where everything started to fall apart. 

 

The checker moved like a whirling dervish.  There were only five heavy items in my cart, but he must have scanned each item three times.  He came back to the register and advanced the tape several times, counting items.  He was in such a frenzy, he couldn’t figure out which of the five items wasn’t scanning.  Eventually, he figured out it was the paper shredder…the reason it wasn’t scanning was because there was a ten dollar manufacturer discount that needed to be taken at the register.  I don’t normally go over my receipts before I leave a store, but I made a mental note to do so this time.

 

Once he got the heavy items out of the way, he scanned the barcodes on my smaller items like a mad man.  My order was done quite quickly.  He finished with a flourish and announced my total.  I asked him if he’d applied my coupons to the total.  He quicuckly glanced at the register receipt and said yes.  Then he scooped up my coupons, crumpled them up and put them under the counter.

 

I was suspicious.  I hadn’t seen him scan my coupons.  So, when I got my receipt I moved out of the flow of basket traffic and reviewed my purchases.  I immediately realized he had NOT applied my coupons to my order.  I wondered why someone would be so blatantly stupid to lie to me in that manner.  I was transported back to my cop days when I’d caught someone in the act of criminal activity and the stupid lies they’d spin to try to convince me of their innocence.

 

I slogged my cart over to the customer service desk and relayed my experiences.  I told the representative I wasn’t upset the clerk had missed the coupons.  I was upset he’d transparently lied about it.  I also relayed the fact I thought the checker was working very hard but maybe too fast.  Eventually, I got my $8.00 in coupon savings applied back to my credit card and I left the store placated. 

 

But it got me to thinking about my own habits.   With my penchant for over-committing, I too am often moving faster than I’d like.  It makes me worry about things I might have missed in haste.

 

Not wanting to dwell on my own possible shortcomings too much, I got to thinking about other writers.  I wondered about writers who announce they’ve just finished their debut novel and are going to start the sequel – but that’s after they finish the novella they’ve had in the back of their mind.  After they finish the sequel to their novel, they’ll try their hand at branching out to another genre, and then do a novella in that style as well.  Oh, and they hope to get all these books and novellas written before summer ‘beach-read’ buying season.

 

Can a writer do so much writing a matter of months?  Sure.  Will it be good writing?  I’m not sure. 

 

I know I can’t turn out multiple quality stories in that amount of time.  I suspect there are few writers who can.  Do I think there are authors out there who are shooting themselves in the foot with their whirling dervish writing style?  I’ll just say such writers may be hurting themselves by working hard…but maybe too fast.

 

Regardless of a writer’s speed in turning out the next book or novella, is there a customer service desk where readers can go when they feel they didn’t get what they were entitled to?  Yep, it’s called one and two star book reviews.  Oh, and don’t forget the ‘coupons’ also known as returns.

 

Until next time,

 

KMA367

Kindle Owners Should Know This Exciting News

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So you’ve got your new Kindle and loaded it up with lots of books.  You’re bound to have hours and hours of reading pleasure from some of your favorite authors and probably some newly published authors as well.  Have I got exciting news for you!

For many people who buy books traditionally, one of the customary experiences  is to have an author autograph and personalize the book for them.  But now that you own a Kindle, how do you get the author to ‘sign’ your copy of their book?

The answer is Kindlegraph.   I’m no techno-wizard, so I’ll include a link to the Kindlegraph website in a minute.  But I want you to understand the process to get an author’s autograph sent to your Kindle is very easy.

The first thing you’ll have to do is sign up for a Twitter account because you use your Twitter sign-in to access Kindlegraph.  I don’t know why you have to do this, but don’t let it scare you.  Just because you sign up for a Twitter account doesn’t mean you have to use it.  I have a friend who signed up for Twitter and has never used her account except to sign up for Kindlegraph.  If you’ve already got a Twitter account you’re all set for Kindlegraph.

So, you’ve signed up for Twitter, then the next thing you’ll want to do is go to the Kindlegraph website.  I’m about to include the link, but I’m not sending you to the home page.  I’m going to send you to a page where there is a brief video that shows exactly how Kindlegraph works.  The video was made by Kindlegraph’s creator, Evan Jacobs.  Once you’ve seen the video you’ll see how it works and how simple it is.

Here is the link for the Kindlegraph video:  http://www.Kindlegraph.com/about

Here is the link for Twitter:  http://www.Twitter.com

Naturally, I’m hoping you’ll buy my book, A Dozen Deadly Roses, and ask me to sign it for you on your Kindle.  If that sounds good to you, here’s is a link to my book at Amazon:

http://www.amazon.com/A-Dozen-Deadly-Roses-ebook/dp/B0054EU1KQ/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1326092602&sr=8-1

Oh, and for Nook owners…Evan Jacobs is working on a version for Nook as well!

If this is your first visit to my blog I hope you’ll come back again.  Take a look around my website and I’ll see you soon.

Until next time,

KMA367

Police Officer Evaluations – Writer’s Evaluations

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When a person is employed, usually the employer has some format in place to assess the performance of the employee.  For most of my career with the LAPD I received a yearly Performance Evaluation Report.  A few years ago, they scrubbed the old format and came up with the Standards Based Assessment.

It doesn’t matter what the department calls them – the officers just call it a rating report.  When the rating reports were changed to the Standard Based Assessment, the idea was the report would more accurately document the individual officer’s performance…without any subjectivity.  There were, basically, three levels of evaluation an evaluator could choose for the various categories of job performance: Needs Improvement, Meets or Sometimes Exceeds Standards, and Greatly Exceeds Standards.



But the problem is, no matter how many check boxes you put on a form, the person who is ‘checking’ those boxes is using their subjective opinion.  There is a section where the rater can add comments and usually, those comments reflect the rating of the officer.

Frankly, I wasn’t too concerned about my Performance Evaluations (or my Standard Based Assessments either).  I worked as hard as I could and did the best job that I could – no matter what my assignment was.  I hoped that my supervisors and commanding officers recognized how hard I was working, but the truth was I knew I was doing a good job and I was able to collect my paycheck without reservation.  (There were people I knew who should have been paying the city <g>).


But now I’ve started this new career as an author.  There isn’t anyone who will be giving me a written evaluation of my work product.  Basically, I have to rely on my sales…and reviews.  But for those of you not in the ‘writing arena’, you would be shocked at how few readers actually write a review for a book.   Currently, I stand about tied between book reviews and fan letters I’ve received.  I love to interact with my readers (so keep those e-mails coming).  But I’d also like to know how to generate more reviews from people who’ve purchased and read my book.



I’m not alone.  Many writers sing the same song…How do I get my readers to leave reviews?  And what we mean is, if you bought your book via Amazon, leave a review on the book’s Amazon page.  Same goes for Barnes and Noble, or Smashwords, or whatever retailer you purchased your book.

You might also be surprised to know that authors don’t necessarily expect you to gush about their book.  They’d rather have the truth than some overblown piece loaded with dozens of adjectives.  Of course, if you hated the book, you can say that – but even if that’s the truth, usually, you can find at least one thing to mention that the author did well.

So, if you are mainly a reader:  Do you write reviews for books you’ve read?  If not, why not?  Do you write fan letters to the author?

If you are mainly a writer:  Do you solicit reviews from readers?  Do you like getting fan mail?  Dumb question I know – but I have found some authors who don’t like interacting with their readers.

One thing I can tell you.  My work ethic hasn’t changed from one career to the other.  As a writer I still work as hard as I can and do the best job I can – no matter what aspect of writing I’m doing.  I hope my readers and peers recognize how hard I work, but the truth is I know I’m working hard and writing the best stories I can, so I’m able to collect my payment without reservation.

Until next time,

KMA367

TREASURE QUEST: DISCOVERY LIES BETWEEN THE COVERS MEGA AUTHOR BLOG HOP TOUR

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TREASURE QUEST:  DISCOVERY LIES BETWEEN THE COVERS

MEGA AUTHOR BLOG HOP TOUR

BLOG HOP WINNERS HERE!:

Monday: Babs – bhitwr at gmail dot com

Tuedsay: Ashley – shadowestr at aol dot com

Wednesday: Lisa V. – fishboyswife at yahoo dot com

Thursday: Cathy M. – caity_mack at yahoo dot com

Friday: Nikki – no e-address given

Saturday: Robin D. – robindpdx at yahoo dot com

Sunday: Rhonda H. – no e-address given

Monday: Shadow – shadow_kohler at att dot net

SURPRISE GIFT WINNER:   Ellen T. – vampyreprincess109 at gmail dot com

If I don’t have an e-mail address for you or the e-mail I have listed is incorrect, please email me at www.Kathywriteslapd@sbcglobal.net with the correct information.

TOUR RULES:

1)  HAVE FUN!

2)  INVITE ALL OF YOUR FRIENDS! SPREAD THE WORD!

3)  THIS TOUR STARTS:  Monday, July 18, at Midnight (Arizona Time)

THIS TOUR ENDS: Monday, July 25, at Midnight (Arizona Time)

Winners will be drawn and posted July 26th! ***

4)  MEET AND MINGLE WITH ALL THE AUTHORS! EXPERIENCE A NEW TREASURE DESTINATION AT EVERY STOP! PARTICIPATE IN EVERY BLOG CONTEST AND BE ENTERED FOR CHANCES TO WIN MULTIPLE PRIZES! EVERY BLOG VISITED IS ANOTHER OPPORTUNITY TO WIN!!

5)  PARTICIPATION AT ALL BLOGS IS RECOMMENDED, BUT NOT REQUIRED. REMEMBER, THE MORE BLOGS YOU HOP, THE BETTER YOUR CHANCES OF WINNING PRIZES. EVERY AUTHOR IS WAITING TO MEET AND INTERACT WITH YOU, SO PLEASE BE SURE TO SHOW EVERY AUTHOR SOME LOVE!

6)  DID I MENTION TO HAVE FUN?  WHOO! HOO! HERE WE GO!

***Authors have full discretion to choose an alternate winner in the event any winner fails to claim their prize(s) within 72 hours of their name being posted or after notification of win, whichever comes first. Anyone who participates in this blog hop tour is subject to these rules***

ATTENTION:  I’m thrilled to announce that my book, A Dozen Deadly Roses reached the top 100 e-books on Barnes and Noble!  How’s that for starting the week off right?

Hey everybody!


I’m in Vegas where almost every visitor searches for treasure.  For some, the treasure might be in the form of winning a monster poker hand.  For others, treasure might be a good meal and a lavish show.  For me, that elusive treasure would be winning that one big slot machine jackpot – or any jackpot for that matter :-) .


I’ve been wandering up and down the strip dropping a little money here and a little money there.  But I figure what better place to try and find treasure than at the Treasure Island casino.  A resort based on a pirate theme, the décor is all about treasures and pieces of eight.



The temperature is about 100 degrees, so the water where they’ve got a couple of weathered pirate ships docked is looking pretty good to me.


Whoops, in my haste to get inside the air conditioned casino (and my waiting jackpot), I almost knocked over a little boy.  I turn to apologize to the boy and his mother.


Hey, I know the mother.  It’s Jade Donovan and she’s got her partner, Mac Stryker with her.  She’s an LAPD cop and Mac is her rookie partner.  I’m not sure why they’re together, but I know the department would start a personnel complaint if they knew they were socializing off duty.


I saw Jade at a party at my house a few weeks ago.  We aren’t close friends, but she told me she was being stalked by some psycho who is leaving dead roses at her door.


“Hey, Jade.  I’m sorry, I almost hip-checked your little boy into the water there.”  I smile down at the boy who looks to be about four.


He grimaced at me like a pirate might do and said, “Arggh”.


“That’s alright,” Jade said.  “Donnie’s a pretty sturdy little boy.  He wants to be a fireman when he grows up.”


“Yeah, and even though you tried to push me in the water, I’d try to save you if you needed help cause that’s what firemans do,” Donnie adds.


“I’m sure you would.” I say while feeling about three inches high.  It’s not pleasant for a retired cop to be put in place by a small child.


I turn to the ‘boot’ partner, Mac Stryker.  “What are you guys doing here in Vegas?”


“We’re here for a wedding.”  He frowns at me.  “Is there a reason you want to know?”


Jade speaks up.  “Mac!  Kathy is just making conversation.  You don’t have to be so unpleasant.”


Mac displays an apologetic smile.  “I’m sorry, Kathy.  We’re both under a lot of stress.  I’m sure Jade told you about it.  Besides, I hate Las Vegas.  As a recovering alcoholic, it’s a tough town for a non-drinker to visit.”


I noticed that Jade’s eyes narrowed at his statement and her gaze searched his face.  She sure didn’t like hearing that, I thought.  I turn my attention to Jade.  “Any news about that nut who’s been sending you the flow-“


“I can’t talk about that now,” Jade interrupted, turning a pointed gaze to Donnie.


“Oh, okay.  I understand,” I say.


Boy this pair is wound up tighter than all the slot machines that have been gobbling up my cash.  Of course, if I was being stalked by some nut leaving me dead roses and my boss was out to get me like Jade says her boss is, I might be a little tense too.


I know Mac has his own problems.  He quit the LAPD a few years ago instead of getting fired when he and Jade were in a shooting situation and he was too drunk on duty to take action.  The police department has said he’s sober and okay to work again, so he’s back.  And now he and Jade work together.  Sounds to me like he’s still craving the booze.  I’m sure he feels like he has something to prove.  I guess it’s understandable they’re both a little on edge.


“Well,” I say, “I’m baking out here in this Las Vegas sun.  Besides, I’ve got a date inside with some slot machine that’s going to give up its pirate’s booty to me.”


“Nice seeing you Kathy,” Jade says.  “Good luck.”


“Yeah, good luck,” Mac adds as he puts a protective arm around Jade and Donnie and begins to lead them away.


“Hey Donnie.  I’m sorry about almost knocking you down,” I call out to the little boy.


“It’s okay.  Old people don’t see good.”


Ouch.  Thanks a lot, kid.


“I hope you find the pirate’s booty,” Donnie yells, and then almost collapses in a fit of giggles, thinking he’s referring to a pirate’s back side.


Okay treasure-hunters…if you’d like to be eligible for the treasure from this blog, this is what you need to know:

At the end of the blog tour the treasure hunt will be over.  I will do a random drawing from people who left comments on my blog.  I will be giving away a PDF file of Jade and Mac’s story, A Dozen Deadly Roses.

I will be doing a drawing for each day, so that means there will be one winner for every day.  You can post a comment each day if you’d like additional chances to win the prize.  You can only win once.  However…

At the end of the contest, I will also be giving away an additional surprise prize.  Each person who comments on my blog will be entered once into the surprise gift drawing.

All the winners will be posted on my blog on Tuesday, July 26th.

You need to leave your e-mail address with your comment so I can let you know if you win!

Until next time,

KMA367

Next stop on the treasure hunt is: Beth Trissel’s blog. Click here:  http://bethtrissel.wordpress.com/2011/07/17/treasure-quest-discovery-lies-between-the-covers-mega-author-blog-hop/

PARTY 'TIL YOUR HEELS FLY OFF: MEGA AUTHOR BLOG HOP TOUR (JUNE 13-20)

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Here are the winners of the daily book giveaway from the party.  If I don’t already have your e-mail address, please e-mail me at Kathywriteslapd@sbcglobal.net.

MONDAY’S WINNER:  Patricia Dela Grange

TUESDAY’S WINNER:  Kristina H.

WEDNESDAY’S WINNER:  Jean P.

THURSDAY’S WINNER: Renee Rearden

FRIDAY’S WINNER: Krystal Larson

SATURDAY’S WINNER: Vonnie Davis

SUNDAY’S WINNER:  Rhonda Helton

Congratulations to all the winners and thank you for coming to visit me.  I post a new blog every Sunday night, so please visit me again!

Come on in everyone!  As you can see, we’re doing a little something different this week.  We’re having a party to celebrate the release of my e-book A Dozen Deadly Roses. Yea!

What’s happening is this:  There are a group of authors who are all throwing parties on their blogs this week.  You have the opportunity to visit each blog and, if you leave a comment at a blog, you are entered to win a prize from the author of the blog where you’ve left the comment.   If you’re starting your “party hop” with my blog, you’ll see your next location at the end of my blog.  If you’ve come from another blog…welcome!

Here are the rules:

1)  Have fun!

2)  Invite your friends!   Spread the word!

3)  This tour starts:  Monday, June 13, at Midnight (Arizona Time)
This tour ends : Monday, June 20, at Midnight (Arizona Time)
Winners will be drawn and posted June 21st!

4)  Meet and mingle with all the authors.  Experience a new party destination at every stop. Participate in every blog contest and be entered for chances to win multiple prizes.  Every blog visited is another opportunity to win!

5)  Participation at all blogs is recommended, but not required.  Remember, the more blogs you hop, the better your chances of winning prizes.  Every author is waiting to meet and interact with you, so please be sure to show every author some love.

6)  Did I mention to have fun?  Whoo hoo!  Here we go!!!

We’ve got quite a crowd in here, so in order to avoid having the cops come and shut our party down, here are just few more things…






1.  Leave your firearms at the door.
2.  No drinking and driving.
3.  Keep screaming and yelling to a minimum.
4.  No fighting over chocolate, men, or anything else.

So, don’t be shy.  If you see someone you don’t know, introduce yourself and start a conversation.  Like that woman over there.   She looks familiar.  I think I’ve seen her around one of the police stations.  I’m going to go talk to her.


“Hi, my name’s Kathy, and I’m your hostess,” I say extending my hand to her.

“Hi, I’m Jade Donovan and I’ve got problems.”  We share a solid handshake.

“Oh, that’s too bad.  Can I help?”

“I don’t think so.  My lieutenant is out to get me.  I don’t know why.”  Jade takes a sip of her fruit punch.  “But that’s not all.”

“What else?” I ask.

“I’ve been assigned to work with my former training officer.  A few years back, he had to resign from the LAPD.  He was drunk on the job.  We were in a shooting and I saved both our lives by killing a suspect who was trying to kill us.”
“Wow!  That’s must have been something.”  I go over to the bar and refill my glass.

“Now I’m his training officer.  But that’s not all,” says the dark-haired beauty.

“There’s more?” I ask.  She nods.

“There’s some psycho who keeps leaving me gold florist boxes of roses every day – dead roses.  I’d like to say, it doesn’t bother me, but each day, the box contains one less flower.  What’s going to happen when there are no flowers left?”

We both turn as there’s a commotion near the front door.  There is a man who’s just joined the party.  He has dark hair and dark eyes and his clothes display his powerful and athletic physique.  Every woman in the room is studying the mysterious stranger.











“Wow,” I say.  “That guy is hot.  I wonder who he is.”



Jade sighs.  “That’s my new partner, Mac Stryker.  He has the potential to tear my home life apart.  I don’t want him anywhere near me.”



“Well, I don’t want to be the bearer of bad news,” I say, “But look what he’s got in his hands.  It’s a gold florist box.”



I wasn’t able to keep up with Jade and Mac at my party.  As the hostess, I had to leave them to fend for themselves due to an ‘ice’ crisis.  But if you want to know how their story began and how it turns out, pick up a copy of my romantic suspense – A Dozen Deadly Roses. You can buy it at:


Amazon.com: http://www.amazon.com/A-Dozen-Deadly-Roses-ebook/dp/B0054EU1KQ/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1307927647&sr=8-1 or

at Smashwords.com here: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/64237

Don’t forget to leave a comment!  I will be drawing one winner from each day of the tour to win a PDF copy of my book.  Winners will be posted here on June 21st.   I’m looking forward to chatting with you.


Oh!  Here’s a party favor for you!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l8vRBYoueak

If you aren’t into partying, next week’s blog (which I usually post on Sunday night) will be about one of my most memorable radio calls as an LAPD officer.


You’re next stop on the party tour is:  http://blog.heatherhiestand.com/2011/06/11/party-til-your-heels-fly-off-mega-author-blog-hop-tour-june-13-20.aspx

Until next time;


KMA367