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Guest Post: Judy Penz Sheluk on "The Fine Art of Procrastination"

In addition to writing short stories, SMFS member Judy Penz Sheluk writes novels. Like the rest of us, she procrastinates when she should be writing. Below are her top five ways of doing so.

Judy Penz Sheluk: The Fine Art of Procrastination

I’m going to let you in on a secret: I procrastinate, even when I have a deadline looming large—or perhaps because I do and suddenly it all begins to feel a bit overwhelming. Here are my top 5 ways to fritter away the time I should spend writing:

Pinterest: Don’t get me wrong, I love Pinterest. If I’m looking for a recipe, or how-to build a wood shed, Pinterest is the first place I look. I have 26 boards relating to movies, books, TV shows, running, golf—the list goes on—and because my profile is linked to my author website, occasionally Pinterest will bring me some traffic. But Pinterest can also be a place where I spend way too much time pinning pins instead of spinning a yarn.

Facebook: The original time suck! I used to have an author page only, so I could justify the time spent finding and scheduling posts. In February 2015, Facebook changed the rules and everyone with an author page had to have it linked to a personal page. Now I’m able to double the time I spend on Facebook…of course, on the plus side, I’ve made a lot of new friends!

Googling Under the Guise of Research: Research is as much a part of writing as the actual writing; some might even argue it’s more important. After all, one wrong fact and you’ve lost the trust of your reader. It’s when I start googling things like “was there a full moon on May 1, 1980, when my protagonist, Callie Barnstable was born?” That might be important to know if I was writing a vampire series. I’m not.

Who was that actor in that TV show I watched last night and why can’t I remember what he/she was in before?: The ultimate mind niggle that won’t let go. It happened to me recently, when I was marathon watching the excellent series, Friday Night Lights (I don’t know how I missed it originally). There’s an actor, Gaius Charles, who played Brian “Smash” Williams, and I’m thinking…where do I know him from? I’m running the shows I regularly watch in my mind, and saying, nope, nope, nope, when suddenly I remember: Grey’s Anatomy. He was Dr. Shane Ross. This of course, leads me to do another google. You never know when Gaius Charles trivia can come in handy.

Office Cleanup: Cleaning up my desk drawer, sorting my paperclips by color (because what self-respecting author would have those plain metal paperclips), tidying up my bookshelf, typing up labels for my file folders using a different font…

What’s not procrastination (even when sometimes it feels like it is)? Writing blog posts, like this one, to help promote my latest novel, SKELETONS IN THE ATTIC. So, without further ado, here’s the blurb. Now, before I get back to my work in progress, I just have to get back to sorting my paperclips.

Judy’s latest release is Skeletons in the Attic, the first book in the Marketville Mysteries:

What goes on behind closed doors doesn’t always stay there…

Calamity (Callie) Barnstable isn’t surprised to learn she’s the sole beneficiary of her late father’s estate, though she is shocked to discover she has inherited a house in the town of Marketville—a house she didn’t know existed. However, there are conditions attached to Callie’s inheritance: she must move to Marketville, live in the house, and solve her mother’s murder.

Callie’s not keen on dredging up a thirty-year-old mystery, but if she doesn’t do it, there’s a scheming psychic named Misty Rivers who is more than happy to expose the Barnstable family secrets. Determined to thwart Misty and fulfill her father’s wishes, Callie accepts the challenge. But is she ready to face the skeletons hidden in the attic?

Find Skeletons in the Attic:
 http://www.imajinbooks.com/skeletons-in-the-attic

SKELETONS IN THE ATTIC is now available for pre-order on Amazon Kindle for the special introductory price of .99 (reg. $4.99). Find it here :http://getbook.at/SkeletonsintheAttic

Judy Penz Sheluk ©2016

Judy Penz Sheluk’s debut mystery novel, The Hanged Man’s Noose, was published in July 2015. Skeletons in the Attic, the first book in her Marketville Mystery Series, was published in August 2016.

Judy’s short crime fiction appears in World Enough and Crime, The Whole She-Bang 2, Flash and Bang and Live Free or Tri.

Judy is a member of Sisters in Crime, Crime Writers of Canada, International Thriller Writers and the Short Mystery Fiction Society.

Find Judy on her website/blog at http://www.judypenzsheluk.com, where she interviews other authors and blogs about the writing life.

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SMFS Member Publication News: July 2016

The members below reported their publishing successes for July 2016:

Sarah M. Chen, "Pig Boy" in Hardboiled: Dames and Sin by Dead Guns Press (July 5, 2016).

Trina Corey, "Flight" in Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine (July).

Diana Deverell, "Dirty Bop to Blighty" in The Norwegian American (July 29, 2016).

Peter DiChellis, “Murder in Malibu” in Woman's World #27, (July 4, 2016). 

James Dorr, "The Re-Possessed" in Cemetery Riots by Elysium Press as well as the story “Gold”  in The Beauty Of Death by  Independent Legions Press. 
  

Gail Farrelly, "Double Trouble" in the Yonkers Tribune (July 30, 2016)

John M. Floyd, “Bunker Hill” in Woman’s World, (July 25,2016)  as well as the story “A Million Volts” in The Strand Magazine summer issue (June-Sept 2016).


Kaye George, "Murder with Crow" in Cooked To Death (Nodin Press, July 2016). Includes a “top secret zucchini bread recipe.” 


Jacqueline Seewald, "Everything Old" in Hypnos: Spring 2016 (Volume 5, Issue 1).


Email news for next month's post to SMFS president Kevin R. Tipple (KEVINRTIPPLE at VERIZON dot NET).

Guest Post: Kaye George on “Why Should a Novelist Write Short Stories?”

Today Kaye George offers a few thoughts on why novelists also frequently write short stories.

Kaye George: “Why Should a Novelist Write Short Stories?”

Not all novelists should, of course. But many do. Ever wonder why?

I know that some big name authors have been asked by their publishers to put out short stories in between the novels, to keep their names before the public, and to remind the readers that they’re out there. Another book is coming! Here’s this little story in the meantime to hold you over.

Sometimes a novelist will want to explore a minor character further. A short story featuring that character is an excellent way to do this. You can give that character center stage and, in writing his or her own story, discover things about them that can be used in a later novel.

Another thing a novelist can explore in a short story is background. Prequels are a good way to let the reader in on the backstory in detail. You can indulge yourself and expand on the life of the main character, and others, by delving into what exactly makes them tick.

It’s fun to put your characters into another setting and see what happens. This is another fun indulgence. They will be out of their element and can show different sides of their personalities to the readers.

It’s also very fun to go together with another writer or writers and put your characters into adventures together. This is a way to promote your own work to a wider audience since the readers will consist of the fans of all the writers.

You can even age your character and look into the future. You can use a time period that you don’t expect your series to get into, to see what the main character will be like in their twilight years.

There are quite a few what-ifs that can be explored this way. These are just a few. I’ll bet you can think of more.

Kaye George ©2016

Kaye George, national-bestselling and multiple-award-winning author, writes several mystery series: Imogene Duckworthy, Cressa Carraway (Barking Rain Press), People of the Wind (Untreed Reads), and, as Janet Cantrell, the Fat Cat cozy mysteries. (Berkley Prime Crime). Her short stories appear in anthologies such as Murder On Wheels, magazines, and her own collection, A Patchwork of Stories. She reviews for Suspense Magazine. She lives in Knoxville, TN. http://kayegeorge.com/