Hello and welcome to the Focused on Story Blog and to the Author Toolbox Blog Hop #AuthorToolboxBlogHop which meets every third Wednesday of the month to shareresources and tips for authors. Thanks to Raimey Gallantfor hosting this venture.
Please join us to learn more about the craft of writing and to meet bloggers who are dedicated to helping each other become the best writers possible. Click here to visit other blog hop participants.
Use Soundcloud to Record Your Blog Posts
All the blogging experts agree video is the "in" thing to have on your blog to keep viewers on your page. Podcasts are certainly popular too. Part of the reason is people need a break from screen time. Another reason is a lot of time is spent waiting for the kids while they practice soccer, football, sports. How about those long lines waiting to vote??? Don't forget all the lengthy times you have been in the doctor/dentist's office and twiddled your thumbs while stuck in traffic. Entertaining podcasts make the time pass more quickly while waiting.
Today you can add a tool to your toolbox for recording your blog and sharing it. You don't even have to be a podcaster to do it. This may help garner more eyes (or ears in this case) on your blog posts. (Podcasters use this tool too.)
I experimented using Soundcloud to record my blog. The blog is written on the page with photos and links as usual, but before the actual post, I share a link to the recorded blog post for those who prefer to listen to it perhaps due to sight problems or, again, they are waiting in their car for their kids, etc.
Click the link below to listen to a recording of one of my blogs.
Pink Flamingo Day Blog Post Recording
Flamingos on the first book cover of Sunshine Boulevard, a novella
The recording is about a rarely celebrated holiday, Pink Flamingo Day. You'll discover how it came about and why I love flamingos in this 3-minute recording made with Soundcloud.
Check out Youtube for several videos on how to make your recordings. You can also use these in emails, newsletters and social media. There is a learning curve, but it's worth it especially if you don't want to appear on camera.
Click here to check out this video about how to record using Soundcloud.
Conclusion: I did several recordings of my blog posts with spotty results. One received 25 views, while others only 3 or less! It's all about content, just like everything else. If you have the content and keywords to make readers aware of your blog, then you will have success.
I confess recording is time-consuming. I have not used Soundcloud for a few years, yes, years, but after writing this post, I am inspired to try it again....once I get a couple of projects out of the way.
Rescuing a naked woman lying in a geranium
bed? Investigating mysterious murders? These are not the usual calls in a
Florida retirement community for volunteer first responder Jim Hart. NO alligators! (Listen to the recording to find out about this comment. LOL)
BWL Publishing released Sunshine Boulevard, but it was a revised and expanded edition. Cover artist Michele Lee came up with a book cover that portrays the terror and mystery in the new novel, Terror on Sunshine Boulevard, a scary read for Halloween.
Click here to download this scary read, perfect for this month, at your favorite digital bookseller.
Do you listen to podcasts? Want to share your favorites? Do you record your blog or have you ever thought of doing so? Please leave a comment. I look forward to reading your answers.
Thanks for visiting. Click here to visit other blog hop participants.
The 5 W's of a story are who, what, where, when and why (and sometimes How is included if it doesn't contain any spoilers.) These important W's make up the skeleton or the bones of a story. This series has been a hit with readers. The Five W's in Terror on Sunshine Boulevard by J.Q. Rose Originally appeared on Ellen Jacobson's blog, the Cynical Sailor and His Salty Sidekick Today I thought I'd take a turn to share the 5 W's of one of my mysteries, Terror on Sunshine Boulevard, a touch of the paranormal with a lot of humor set in a Florida retirement community. That makes the perfect segue to the WHERE in Terror on Sunshine Boulevard--The action takes place at the Citrus Ridge Senior Community and Golf Resort--a beautiful park filled with manufactured homes, a community center, golf course, tennis, pickleball, horseshoes, bocci ball, heated pool and a club for every interest imaginable.
Terror on Sunshine Boulevard by J.Q. Rose Rescuing a naked woman lying in a geranium bed? Investigating mysterious murders? These are not the usual calls in a Florida retirement community for volunteer first responder Jim Hart. Click here to download your e-copy or read the sample
WHO--The main characters are Jim and Gloria Hart, snowbirds from Michigan, who spend their winters at Citrus Ridge meeting friends and joining in the social activities. Jim and Gloria retired after selling their hardware store in Michigan. Jim was a volunteer fireman, so when he moved into the community, he became a volunteer first responder and eventually the co-captain of the Citrus Ridge first responders squad. Because the volunteers live in the park, they are key to saving many lives due to their quick response. WHEN--Contemporary WHAT--The members of the first responder squad are accustomed to being called to seniors' homes for slip and fall accidents or high blood pressure issues, but Jim has never been called to the homes of so many folks dying of unknown causes. WHY--So if seniors are dying every day, the question is why? What is killing them? A virus, deadly air quality, bad water, a treacherous mad man? Why don't Jim and Gloria head back north and get out of there? (If any of you have endured or are enduring winter storms, icy roads, blizzards, you may understand why Jim and Gloria want to stay in warm, tropical Florida. !!!) As co-captain of the squad, Jim is drawn into the police investigations. Gloria feels responsible for so many of her senior friends who rely on her for assistance. They both know if they went home to Michigan they would only be miserable worrying about their Florida friends and feeling guilty for abandoning their community in crisis. Wouldn't you? HOW-- I can't tell you how the cause of so many deaths is solved. You knew I wouldn't, didn't you? That would ruin the fun of readingTerror on Sunshine Boulevard. Click here to download your e-copy or read the sample. Click here to order your paperback copy at amazon.
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Jingles, a star in the book
BACK OF THE BOOK: Terror on Sunshine Boulevard by J.Q. Rose Rescuing a naked woman lying in a geranium
bed? Investigating mysterious murders? Not the usual calls for first responder
Jim Hart. He expects slip and fall accidents or low blood pressure emergencies
in his retirement community of Citrus Ridge Senior Community and Golf Resort. The
ghastly crime scenes turn the winter time fun into a terrifying season of death
and mystery when the authorities cannot track down the predator responsible.
Jim
and his wife Gloria could escape the horror and grief by returning to their
northern home, but concern for their friends and residents keep them in Florida.
With the entire community in a dither over the deaths, the Harts participate in
the normal winter activities of golfing, dancing, and pool parties with their
friends to distract them from sadness and loss.
Can Jim and Gloria work with the authorities to discover who or
what is killing the seniors on Sunshine Boulevard and stop the increasing body
count?
About J.Q.
After writing feature articles in magazines,
newspapers, and online magazines for over fifteen years, J.Q. Rose entered the world
of fiction. Her mysteries published by BWL Publishing are Terror on Sunshine Boulevard, Dangerous
Sanctuary, and Deadly Undertaking.
Blogging, photography, Pegs and Jokers board games, and travel are the things
that keep her out of trouble. She and her husband, Gardener Ted, spend winters
in Florida and summers up north camping and hunting toads, frogs, and
salamanders with her four grandsons and granddaughter.
Blog Swap Time! Do you enjoy getting two-for-one blogs? That's a blog swap. Today I'm swapping with mystery and horror author Sara Jayne Townsend. Sara, joining us from London, England, is my guest. She's sharing about making time to write. Now there's something many writers need to figure out! AND Sara is generously offering agiveaway of a choice of either one of her Shara Summers books, Death Scene or Dead Cool,or the horror novel, The Whispering Death. The spooky book trailer is at the end of the page Take a peek, if you dare. Please leave a comment below to enter the drawing. Winner will be chosen after 6 pm EST on Wednesday, November 25. Good luck! Since it is a blog swap, I'm at Sara's blog revealing my desire to raise awareness about issues in our modern society through my writing. Sounds like a heavy topic. I would like your opinion about authors using their stories to bring attention to their causes with subtle messages in books. You're invited to hop over to Sara Jayne Townsend's blog after you finish here. You can sign up for the Rafflecopter drawing while there or sign up below to win prizes during the Deadly Undertaking Book Blog Tour. Deadline to enter is midnight November 25. Thank you.
The Whispering Death by Sara Jayne Townsend UK Kindle link Death comes to us all; life is the name of the game and everyone has a role to play.
MAKING TIME TO WRITE
By Sara Jayne Townsend
There’s a misconception that the writing
life is a glamorous one. And that all writers are rich. If you’re JK Rowlings,
that’s undoubtedly true. If you’re not – well, the reality is that the vast
majority of writers don’t earn enough from writing to do it for a living and
have to have a separate source of income.
For me, and many other writers, this means
writing around the day job. I have a rather demanding day job that involves
three hours a day of travelling to and from London. Finding the time to write
around that requires discipline. I can’t afford the luxury of waiting for the
muse to strike. I allocate time to writing, I sit down to do it, and if the
muse is asleep I poke her with a big stick until she starts being productive.
I don’t use my commuting time to write,
since my train is rather crowded and getting out the NetBook on the train would
mean elbowing my fellow commuters and, more importantly, having someone read
over my shoulder – off putting, to say the least. Nor do I generally write
during lunch time. Sometimes I need that time to get away from the office.
Sometimes I use it for personal tasks I don’t have time to do at home, or for
writing blog posts or Tweets or other promotional material. Neither do I get
much writing done in the evenings, since I’m generally too tired when I get
home from work to focus.
So my writing routine these days is to get
up at 5:30am twice a week and take the early train into London, where I sit in
a coffee shop with my NetBook and write for an hour before going into the
office. Getting up at such an ungodly hour doesn’t suit everyone, and I
wouldn’t say I’m naturally a morning person, but there does seem to be an
advantage to writing before my ‘internal editor’ is awake. I am quite
productive at that time in the morning, especially with a first draft, as I am
able to tap directly into my subconscious for the words, without that internal
voice interrupting with, “that sentence is rubbish”. An indulgent breakfast
muffin to munch on and a big cup of tea to drink as I wait for the NetBook to
boot up gives me added incentive to get out of bed so early, and I can arrive
at the day job feeling satisfied that I’ve achieved my word count for the day.
And besides, the early train is much quieter, since most of my fellow commuters
are still in bed at that time.
The trick to finding time to write is to
work out what’s best for you and mark the time in your calendar. If you can’t
face the idea of getting up early, maybe you can allocate some time in or lunch
hour, or sit at the laptop after the kids are in bed instead of watching that
TV show. But once you’ve worked out what’s best for you, put the time in your
calendar and treat it with the same commitment as you would any other appointment.
The truth is, the writing life isn’t an
easy one. Those of us who feel moved to do it, do it out of a sense of need
rather than regard it as a pleasurable hobby. And the only way it happens is to
apply backside to writing chair and get words written. If there was an easier
way to do it, we’d all be best-selling writers.
About Sara
Sara Jayne Townsend is a UK-based writer of crime and horror, and
someone tends to die a horrible death in all of her stories. She was born in Cheshire
in 1969, but spent most of the 1980s living in Canada after her family emigrated
there. She now lives in Surrey w
Author Sara Jayne Townsend
ith two
cats and her guitarist husband Chris. She
co-founded the T Party Writers’ Group in 1994, and remains Chair Person.
She is the author of the series of
mystery novels featuring Canadian actress and contemporary amateur sleuth Shara
Summers, but her most recent release is a supernatural horror novel, entitled
The Whispering Death, featuring a group of live action role players who
unwittingly release an ancient evil during a game.
Book Trailer for The Whispering Death by Kensington-Gore Publishing
Enter the Rafflecopter drawing to win prizes after the Deadly Undertaking Book Blog Tour is completed. Hurry. Deadline is Wednesday, 12 pm EST, November 25.
Welcome to the Good Eats, Great Reads month long celebration of good food and entertaining books. Recipes you can use during the holidays for all the parties and get-togethers, and stories to help de-stress you from the planning, shopping, indulging, and excitement in the next two months. If this isn’t enough, many of the authors have generously offered their books as prizes in the drawings.
The recipes come to us from around the world—Irish, Mexican, English and more. There are main dishes, desserts, sides, and breads. I do not want you to miss out on one of them, so I have collected the recipes on the J Q Rose blog during this month of November and placed them in a FREE e-book collection available mid-November. It is my gift to you during this holiday season.
During this special time of year, we count our blessings. We know there are folks who are not as fortunate as we are. I hope this month of recipes will bring awareness to the problem of hunger in our local area. If you are able, please consider donating food to your local food pantry or send a cash donation so the pantry can buy food at discounted prices to stock their shelves. Thank you.
The Coffin Hop Horror Blog Tour Winner is Erin O'Riordan. I will send her a copy of Sunshine Boulevard. (It's still scary even in November!) Thanks to everyone who commented on the blog hop.
Come back tomorrow when I share a family favorite recipe and leave a comment to be eligible to win my holiday short story, The Good Neighbors.
Now get your cooking supplies and utensils ready to start a delicious month of recipes!
It's Halloween. Boo! Today I am sharing a musing with you. You tell me if it's a trick or treat. Have a wonderful, fun, spooky day and night of fun. Leave a comment to win my scary novella, Sunshine Boulevard. Then hop over to the other amazing horror writer blogs. Find the list at the coffin hop blog.
Undertaker’s Daughter
By
J Q Rose
I always thought of horror writers as rather eccentric,
peculiar people. But my perception changed when a horror story sprang from my
own mind. You can imagine my surprise when my mystery/horror tale Sunshine Boulevard was accepted and
published by Muse It Up Publishing this year. That made ME a published author
of horror stories.
Right away, I must tell you I am NOT an eccentric, peculiar
person. I am just a regular woman who is a wife, mother, grandmother. But,
perhaps some would think my childhood was different. You see, my father was an
embalmer and funeral director. I was reared in a funeral home.
It was not unusual to have a dead body laid out in a casket
in our living room several days in a row. In fact, sometime we’d have more than
one in our home. The embalming room was in the back of the house, and yes, I
wore lots of perfume and soap to cover the pungent odor of formaldehyde on my
clothes and hair.
We had knee caps for ashtrays in the private area of our
home…not in the public area because that may upset some folks. But Dad was a
heavy smoker, so he appreciated having the convenience of an ashtray nearby at
all times.
It wasn’t unusual to have boxes of ashes of the departed
sitting in the pantry shelves next to the canned green beans and corn. Some
families squabbled over who was going to pay for the funeral expenses for their
dearly departed, so they never showed up to claim the ashes for fear of being
left with the debt. In one case the
family of Ida Mayberry, their sweet aunt, never claimed her. So Aunt Ida took
up residence in the cupboard next to the pork and beans.
Life as an undertaker’s daughter did not seem to be any big
deal. My friends, well, most of them, were happy to come over and play hide and
seek in the casket room or to swipe flowers out of the funeral arrangements to
put in our hair for dress up.
My girlfriends did get upset when one of the spirits who
regularly hung out in the funeral home flew by. The whoosh of air was the only
indicator of their presence. Yes, I lost a couple of friends that way because
they were scared to death…well, not literally. They just were creeped out
especially when one of the spirits would knock over the Barbie doll house or
send the family of Barbies swirling around the room.
Needless to say, I enjoyed going to my friend’s house. It
was a treat to open their pantry door to get a can of pineapple and not see the
boxed ashes of poor Aunt Ida. I could never shake the sadness I felt for her
because noone cared enough to bury her ashes or at least sprinkle them on their
garden.
So, yes, some may believe it was an unusual childhood
compared to the experiences of others. But I felt loved, secure, and safe at
all times. And that’s what counts for a kid.
The growing up years certainly shape the adult one becomes.
I don’t know if this is the reason I can write a horror story or not, but I can
assure you I am a normal, well-rounded person, not eccentric or peculiar at
all. In fact I got rid of the knee cap ash trays just last week, but I do have Aunt
Ida in the cupboard. Her family never claimed her and I have grown attached to
her company.
Thanks for stopping in today at Brynna’s blog. Thank you to
my hostess, Brynna, for inviting me to be her guest and let folks know about Sunshine Boulevard, a perfect scary
story for October.
Does a little mouse darting across the kitchen floor scare you? How about snakes, spiders, bugs? All real things that can set a heart pumping.
Then there are the creatures like Frankenstein, monsters, zombies, werewolves. Are they fantasy or actually walking around in our world?
How about the staircase leading to the unknown, the face of the serial killer reflecting in your mirror, the hand reaching out of the grave, the bloody dagger on the floor of the car, the dark room containing mysterious sounds…
Does one of these scary things cause your heart to pound faster and your mind to whirl more than another? Is a mouse skittering across your toes comparable to spotting a Zombie? Are there various degrees of horror for you?
What scares you the most? Now, don’t say your mother-in-law!
A skilled horror writer can make even the tiniest mouse sighting become frightening to the reader. Using words to paint the picture in the reader’s mind and build the suspense allows even the mundane to take on the aspect of horror.
My best girlfriend laughed when I told her my book, Sunshine Boulevard, contained elements of light horror. She said you can’t have light horror. That’s like being a little pregnant. Scary is scary. I tried to explain that it is light horror as opposed to dark. No torture, blood and guts.
I must admit the story does include some frightening stuff as well as secrets and suspense. It also has lighthearted comedy mixed in with the everyday lives of the folks in Florida’s senior golf resort community.
What frightens you? Leave a comment here to tell us.
Every commenter’s’ namewill be saved in a handsome oak coffin for a drawing to win the PDF of my mystery/horror novella, e-book, Sunshine Boulevard. Be sure to leave your email address so you can be notified. Yes, that’s all you have to do to be a winner here at the J Q Rose blog. The coffin will be opened to draw out the lucky winner’s name on November 1. I promise not to disturb the body lying in repose. Good luck!
Now trudge on over to visit more blogs listed at the coffin hop website. You can win even more prizes!!
All the excitement of the Book Fair and the Coffin Hopping Horror Tour this week. It's a fabulous week for readers and authors.
An old-fashioned Book Fair on this new-fangled technology is the perfect way to spend the day exploring the diverse genres, variety of writing styles, amazing authors.
The Coffin Hop is made for this frightening month of October. Horror lovers are giddy with anticipation for the next scary story leaving them trembling and hiding in a safe place. Enjoy these tours!
I am J.Q.Rose. Today I introduce you to Sunshine Boulevard, a mystery/light horror novella, e-book only. This is the perfect scary story for an October evening.
Reviews:
What a page turner and full of surprises! I couldn't put this book down.
Roseanne Dowell, author Stranger on the Shore
This story blends humor with mystery and death very cleverly, making it a book I had to keep reading. Even after I found out the answer to the question, I was still hooked and had to read on to find out what happened next. Sue Perkins, Sue’s Book Reviews, Feb 25, 2011 http://suebookreviews.blogspot.com/?zx=d335197e035d3ef3
Following the senior couple Gloria and Jim Hart, two snowbirds who migrate annually to Florida, Sunshine Boulevard is a page turning mystery. Instead of relaxing in their winter home of Citrus Ridge, Florida, playing golf endlessly and attending events at the community club, the couple becomes involved with a string of deaths and the gossip surrounding them. Jim, who is a First Call Responder volunteer, witnesses some of the mysterious deaths right after they occur, giving him the benefit of acquiring pieces to the puzzle before the public. Deaths in a senior community are not uncommon, per se, but Rose's writing foreshadows someone or something lurking just beneath Florida's rays of sunshine. Sunshine Boulevard is a gripping quick read and has encouraged me to be very wary when visiting the Sunshine State in the future!
This review is from: Sunshine Boulevard (Kindle Edition)
J.Q. Rose's writing is as "bad" as Steven King's. When I read Salem's Lot, I couldn't put it down and I slept with a Bible, a Lutheran prayer book, and a Catholic prayer book for several weeks. I didn't pick up another of his books for twenty years
I read Sunshine Boulevard in bed and it's a miracle I did not have nightmares. If I were the naked lady in the geranium bush, I'd have been farther-gone--somewhere up North and still screaming. The fact that I read the whole book, however, is a testament to J.Q. Rose's writing. She had me from the first truly weird death to the ominous ending.
This review is from: Sunshine Boulevard (Kindle Edition)
Sunshine Boulevard runs through Citrus Ridge,FL, a place filled with senior citizens who come to enjoy the sunshine in the winter instead of cold and snow in their own home states. Affectionately known as "snowbirds," Jim and Gloria Hart are but one couple in this engaging read. Jim is a "first responder" to all emergencies within the community, and one of the first to witness the body of a deceased resident who bears a strange coloration and collapses into dust with a mere touch. When more deaths occur, the local police step up their investigations and bring in their dogs to help flush out the killers. OMG!
J.Q. Rose creates a suspense-filled story that keeps you reading to find out what is claiming the lives of people in Citrus Ridge. I won't give away any secrets, but I will reiterate my review title: I'm NOT moving to Florida...ever ever ever.
4 stars A Real Page Turner, April 4, 2011
Excerpt:
“Jim, Jim!” Gloria threw her keys on the kitchen counter and then stashed her mat and barbells in the hallway closet.
“Jim!” She called louder. He was not in the Florida room. She gingerly stepped from the kitchen to the carport. She darted into the attached shed housing the laundry room with storage in the front and Jim’s workshop in back. She walked through the workshop and out the door to the neat little back yard and found him watering their garden plot.
“Did you hear about George McDonnell?” Gloria shook her auburn hair, compliments of her favorite brand of hair color #118. Her clear blue eyes filled with tears.
“Yes, I heard.” Jim kinked the hose to stop the water flow and dragged it to the faucet on the back of the house. He slowly turned the tap to cut off the stream of water and dropped the hose to the freshly cut grass.
“How sad that he died alone. Oh, Jim, he wasn’t discovered for so long his body just ro...” She couldn’t say it.
“Gloria, come in the house. I have to tell you something. I don’t want the neighbors listening in on this conversation.” Gloria knew her husband of thirty-five years well enough to realize something wasn’t right.
As they stepped into the bright kitchen, Jim turned to her. Looking straight into her eyes, he said, “Royce called this morning. George’s death was peculiar. I guess, that’s what the Medical Examiner is saying.”
Jim was friends with the county M.E., Royce Williams. They worked together on investigations involving the First Responders Unit. Living in a retirement community, the Medical Examiner and medics were frequent visitors. An ambulance at a home was not a significant event at Citrus Ridge. It was part of life and death.
“Royce told us George’s body did not rot. It couldn’t have decomposed that quickly because Miss Lottie checked on him every day when she brought him the mail in the afternoon. She delivered it the day before he died. He was alert and talked about the weather.
“When Lottie called 9-1-1 at one o’clock yesterday, she was so upset she couldn’t even speak. They traced the call to her house. When the police arrived, she only pointed to George’s house.”
Jim stopped a minute. Gloria saw the anguish in his face. “They discovered George sitting in the living room in his recliner. His body was mustard yellow. His clothes were melted to his body. The odor was not a rotting smell, but rather like burning or scorching. In fact the fabric in the chair was charred. Ron was the first responder. He told me when he and the paramedics touched the body, it turned to powder.”
Gloria cried out in disbelief. She covered her face with her hands. “Dear God. What happened, Jim? What could have caused such a thing?”
“Ron arrived at the scene first. You know Ron. Always talking and telling greatstories.” Gloria remembered the usually fun-loving raucous Ron.
“Royce told me there was such a look of horror in Ron’s eyes. He was traumatized by what he saw. Ron told him he moved George’s wrist, and his hand fell making a pile of yellow ashes on the floor.”
“Dear God.” Gloria sat down at the dining room table feeling nauseous. Jim wiped his eyes. “I don’t know how Ron and Lottie will ever forget this nightmare.”
The e-book is available at Muse It Up Publishing Bookstore
It's the chillingly perfect time of year to savor all that is frightening, spooky, scary, and just plain fun!
October is here and so is the Coffin Hop Horror Web Tour!!
October 24-31, 2011
What better month than October for horror writers to crawl out of their coffins and spread the Halloween spirit!
Are you interested in winning great horror fiction and Halloween goodies the week of October 24-31, 2011?
Go to the Coffin Hop Site to discover participating authors' websites. Each author has a contest to enter on their site.
Over 80 chances to win!
MEET AND MINGLE WITH THE AUTHORS! EXPERIENCE A NEW DESTINATION AT EVERY STOP! PARTICIPATE IN EVERY SITE'S CONTEST AND BE ENTERED FOR CHANCES TO WIN MULTIPLE PRIZES! EVERY BLOG VISITED IS ANOTHER OPPORTUNITY TO WIN!
5) PARTICIPATION AT ALL SITES IS RECOMMENDED, BUT NOT REQUIRED. THE MORE SITES YOU HOP, THE BETTER YOUR CHANCES OF WINNING PRIZES.
Be sure to return to this site for a Halloween story this week and visit the other author sites all week long. Find a list of participating authors at the Coffin Hop Blog Tour Site.
