Tag 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

From Cop to Writer – Different But the Same

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One of the things an applicant for the Los Angeles Police Department has to do in the hiring process is to be interviewed.  In my day, there were two police sergeants and a civilian on each interview board, and part of their duty was to determine if a person ‘had the right mindset’ to be an LAPD officer.
I know that one of the first questions I was asked was: Why do you want to be a police officer?  My reply, in part, was about wanting to help people. Not surprisingly, ‘helping people’ is a very common thread in applicant replies to the question, about why a person wants to become a cop.
With my new career of writing stories, if I’d been asked why I wanted to write, my reply would have been: I want to entertain people while giving them a glimpse into the world of the LAPD.
Little did I know that my writing career would achieve the same result as my police career.  Through my writing I’ve touched someone. I’ve helped someone.
I got this letter from a young woman and I was so impacted by her story and her words I asked her if I could share them with you.  She agreed.
The lesson to writers: If you think what you write can’t or doesn’t make a difference…think again.
This is the actual letter by the young woman I’ll call, Miss H…
Reading is by far not my specialty. I’m about three grade levels under my own on reading skills. Sure I can read your average every day children’s book but anything over 100 pages puts my heart in shock. In other words, I don’t read much.  
When I bought my Barnes & Noble Nook Color, I for sure thought, “I just wasted a perfectly good 240 bucks!” 
See this is where I was wrong. I ran across your book, A Dozen Deadly Roses, one day while sitting on my couch listening to the bickering and arguing of my dysfunctional family.  
At first I just skimmed over it then I took a second look. I decided to buy the book and open a page or two to see if it was worth reading. My journey through your book began slow, to slow. Then something caught my eye, Jade.  
Shockingly, we have much in common; a remarkable, strong willed mother, filling her duties as a cop in everyday life. It was everything I dreamt of being.  
I felt a strong connection with her and Donnie. My father is an alcoholic, I knew exactly what Jade was going through.  
Although Jade became a new idol in my world, I felt myself many times screaming at her, “why won’t you tell Mac that he’s the father, why?!” Then I realized it was for the better. It opened my eyes to that you shouldn’t always do the expected but rather do what’s best in that situation for you and others involved.
I also love the fact that you use to be an actual LAPD cop. When I read that about you, my heart skipped a beat. I felt like I had even more of a connection with your book because for once a fiction book wasn’t so fiction anymore. Your book had more life in it; it wasn’t “just a book” anymore. I loved that.  
My desire to be a cop has been a dream of mine for a long time. However, my mom and others like to crush that dream. Jade gave me a lot of courage in reading this book. She showed me that I need to be brave and stand up in what I dream and love. Jade also gave me the strength in my heart that seemed so broken from others. She made a light shine in me like no one has ever done before.  
Reading your book has changed my life.  
I was doubting my future before I read your book; here I had planned my whole high school diploma based on wanting to be a cop, and then it was just gone, like it wasn’t even worth any of the time I gave it. 
I felt lost, like a loser in a big ocean of popular people. 
Jade’s character made me open my eyes and realize that it’s my life and I can do anything I want to do if I believe I can.  
I thank you, Kathy Bennett, for not only changing my mind but showing me a new way of life. 
I will read your book again and enjoy every page turning chase it gives me. I assure you that you book was so worth every minute I put in it.
Kathy here – Needless to say I wrote back to Miss H and we’ve corresponded a few times. I found that when I wrote back to Miss H I’d put on my  ‘police officer’ hat and tried to offer advice, encouragement and compassion.  And you know what?  I was glad to wear that hat again.
Miss H feels I’ve changed her life with my book. Little does she know how much she’s changed mine.
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       

 

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

A Cop Wrestles For Control

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As a former police officer, I’ve been in countless situations where my heart beat out of my chest whether it was from fear, excitement, or adrenaline.

When I chose to retire, I kind of thought those days were behind me.  In fact, I looked forward to spending my days writing my books and trying to snare the one agent and publisher who would make my dreams of being a published author come true.

About the same time as my retirement, I also began to hear tales of self-publishing and how some writers were making a go of it.  I investigated the process and for various reasons (mostly due to having control of the process) I chose to self-publish my book, a romantic suspense, A Dozen Deadly Roses.  In fact, having control of the whole publishing process was very appealing to me.

So, in June 2011, I made my book available on Smashwords, Kindle, and Nook.  Then I let my friends, family, and all my blog followers, Facebook friends, and Twitter followers know that I was now a published author.

Every morning I went to my account sections of my various retailers to see how my sales were doing.  I was quite pleased to discover that it seemed my sales were going better than average.  Of course it was impossible to know for sure, but I felt I was doing pretty good.  I can remember saying to my husband, ‘I just hope I can maintain ten sales a day’.  Then something wild happened.

This past week my Nook numbers spiked.  I sold double-digits in one day on Nook – where I’d previously been selling one or two books a week.  I was thrilled and had no idea what caused the jump.  I knew something was up, so I searched the Barnes and Noble site and found that I was on the list of the Top 100 Barnes and Noble Nookbook (e-book) Police Stories.  I was giddy with excitement!  This was like winning the lottery.  My heart was beating like a machine gun.  Immediately I got online and spread the word about this stroke of luck.

Each day I’d get up and check my numbers; and while the other retailers remained static, my Nook numbers were soaring.  A day or two later, I then discovered I was in the Top 100 Barnes and Noble Nookbooks!  I was beside myself.  I couldn’t believe it.  I got online and put out that announcement too.  I think for two days I was really really happy.

But then pressure began to mount.  First of all, I had no idea what had caused my rapid assent to the tops of these lists.  I certainly wasn’t controlling my sales.  I was beside myself with worry that I didn’t have a follow-up book for readers to buy.  I was afraid that I’d reached the pinnacle of my writing career after just a month and a half of being published.  I wasn’t reveling in the fact I was up on the shelf next to James Patterson, Janet Evanovich, Michael Connelly,  or Tom Clancy…to name a few.

But today, I finally realized something.  I can’t control how many books I sell.  I can’t control if I make it on one list or another.   All I can control is writing the best books I can.  Writing as many books as I can, and nurturing the relationship I have with my friends, family and readers.

So this is my promise to you.  I will do everything I can to write a book that entertains you, makes your heart beat with excitement, and gives you characters to root for and care about.  I will be there for you as family, friends and readers.  I hope you’ll come visit me at my website, or on Facebook or on Twitter. www.KathyBennett.com, www.Facebook.com/Kathywriteslapd, www.Twitter.com/Kathywriteslapd

That’s all I can control.  Where I land in my sales is out of my hands…and in yours.

Until next time,

KMA 367

Wanna Be A Crook?

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Well, now you can be – and be in no danger of going to jail.  This is my way to announce my debut novel, A Dozen Deadly Roses is now available as an e-book for Kindle here: http://tinyurl.com/3rqlr9t and, as an e-book at Smashwords.com for other formats here: http://tinyurl.com/42gcyjo. If you don’t have an e-reader, you can read the book on your computer.  Go to Smashwords.com  and purchase the HTML version.   The Nook and other e-book readers will be added within the next couple of weeks so you can purchase them at their respective websites – and don’t worry, I’ll let you know when those formats are available.

Now about that crook business…The larceny comes in with the fact you can own this book for only $.99!  That’s less than your favorite beverage at Starbucks.  Heck, that’s less than most anything you can buy.


Here’s a hint of what the book is about:


Los Angeles Police Officer Jade Donovan is being hunted.  There’s the lieutenant who’s out to get her, the psycho who’s stalking her and leaving dead roses at her door, but most frightening of all, she’s been assigned to partner with her son’s father, Mac Stryker.  Mac doesn’t know he’s Donnie’s dad, and Jade will stop at nothing to prevent him from finding out and possibly taking away her son.  She will protect and defend him at all costs.


Mac Stryker is a cop with something to prove.  Five years ago, he’d been forced to resign the police department in disgrace when he was too drunk to take action during a shooting.  Now, Mac is sober, back on the force and back working with Jade Donovan, the rookie who’d saved his life.  Worse, he finds himself attracted to Jade and her precocious son, Donnie.  But Mac is through with love.  The violent death of his wife and daughter turned him into an alcoholic, and he won’t put his job or his heart at risk again.  He will protect and defend them both at all costs.


But when the deadline looms on Jade’s dozen deadly roses stalker, will the two partners manage to put aside their differences in order to save their son?


It’s taken me many years (too many to mention) to make my dream of being a published author a reality.  I KNOW A Dozen Deadly Roses is worth the buck.  So, if you’re a reader, please take a chance on me and give the book a try.  And if you aren’t reader – tell your friends who are.


If you DO like the book, please leave a quick review at the site where you purchased the book.  Those reviews are more valuable than gold to a writer.

Thank you!


Until next time,


KMA 367



Too Stupid to Live

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In the writing world, the phrase ‘too stupid to live’ refers to characters like the heroine who hears a noise in the dank, dark basement of the creepy old house and goes, by herself, down to the basement to investigate.  Oh, and she’s ignoring the fact that three of her friends one-by-one have already been murdered in the very same basement.  Basically, in the world of writers, if your heroine is that dumb, then she is: Too Stupid to Live.

But today, I’m talking about someone else who could fall into that category.  Put yourself in this guy’s shoes…

You’re a hardened gangster.  If you’re a typical thug, you think nothing of stealing a car, selling drugs, or even…murder.  Yep, you kill a guy – and you get away with it.

You continue on with your gangsta’ life.  Maybe you snatch the purse of an old lady, tag your gang’s name on a wall, or jump a ten year old into the ‘family’.  Then one day you’re out doing nothing.  Just driving along, minding your own business when the cops pull you over for a traffic violation.  They wind up taking you to jail.  You’re fingerprinted and booked.   During the booking process, the cops take quite a few photos of your many gang tattoos.  Then you’re released and, eventually, the whole traffic violation thing is resolved.

Sometime later, you’re arrested again.  Due to your chosen lifestyle, it’s not uncommon for you to be in jail a lot.  They put some other poor slob in your cell with you.  After a while, the new guy starts talking to you.  Pretty soon you’re bragging about the detailed tattooed drawing you have on your chest.  You tell your cellmate the depiction inked into your skin is the scene of a murder you committed.

Instead of being impressed, your cellmate, unbeknownst to you, is recording your whole conversation.  You see, the guy in your cell is actually an undercover cop.   By the time you figure out that you’ve been ‘played’, it’s too late.

The cops never thought they’d solve the case of the rival gang member you’d murdered.  You learn that a cop who’d worked in the area where the murder took place saw your ‘crime scene photo’ in your booking photographs and recognized the location.  The smart cop also knew the gangs in the area.  He was able to put together your gang name, the nickname for the rival gang, along with your tattoo and make a case of murder against you – and you were convicted.

In these circumstances, if you were this gangster, I guess it goes without saying that you’d be too stupid to live.  And the story is TRUE.   But don’t worry, this is California.  We have a death penalty, but we’ve only used it thirteen times since 1976.  There are about 678 people on death row ahead of you.  You might be too stupid to live, but I don’t think you’ve got anything to fear.

(In the photo, I’ve removed the visible gang name from the tattoo)

Until next time…

KMA 367