#Amwriting: Author filter systems are Wide Open by Rolynn Anderson

Whales, humpbacks, for example, are filter feeders.  An easy, efficient process if you think about it: open the mouth wide, swim, and snack.  Recognize the posture?  Once we’re into writing a new story, our author filter systems (our brains) glean relevant facts we can use for our characters, plots, and settings.  We pick up details from eavesdropping in Starbucks; snatch a piece of information out of the New York Times; during conversations with our friends or family, we jump onto tidbits of dialogue we could use in our books.  I present one sample…my new ‘Drone Filter.’

Drones.  FIRE IS NICE, the book I’m madly editing presently, has plot turns dependent on drones.  Of course I’ve done the research on drones (you can snap up one for $400, but the big ones used by the police run about 25 grand)  With my feeding filters open, lazily swimming through my days, I’ve been gathering factoids on drones, some

astonishing:

1.  The National Parks don’t allow them (usually) because they interfere with the park experience and upend our rights of privacy as citizens.  Drones are legal to use when ‘watching’ non-citizens, but since U.S. folk mix in visitors from other countries, drones have been a no-no in the Parks.

2.  Drones are now used by lifeguards to locate swimmers in trouble and throw life saving equipment to them.  Saw that in the New York Times.

3.  Homeland Security has a stable of drones they can’t use (a legal issue).  I have my character in FIRE IS NICE, borrow them.  Convenient, huh?

4.  My husband is on the board of our 50-home community council.  In rewriting the covenants, whether or not to allow drones in the neighborhood, has become an issue.  Do you want drones flying over your house?

5.  Drones are flying.  All over the place, I guess.  Not to be paranoid.  But.  They fly 15,000-60,000 feet above us and take pictures, constantly.  Where, we aren't sure.

6.  Worse?  Drones are being used by Mexican cartels to kill people: https://www.rmus.com/products/rmus-heavy-duty-police-drone?utm_medium=cpc&utm_source=googlepla&variant=27915714241&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI6LPv2NP42AIVzol-Ch3m9g-BEAQYAiABEgI1pfD_BwE

I reiterate, authors are filter feeders when it comes to enriching our stories.  What are you learning a lot about lately because it’s important to your manuscript?

 

One focus when I wrote BAD LIES was caves on the Amalfi coast.  Want to fly with me to Italy and see some caves?  You can pretend you’ve got a chance to win a golf tournament helped by the caddy of your dreams.  Here’s BAD LIES http://a.co/0DuYNPn:

Italy’s haunted caves spell danger for an American golfer and a NATO geologist

***

Sophie Maxwell is a late-blooming, unorthodox golfer, and mother of a precocious thirteen year-old. Determined to put divorce, bankruptcy, and a penchant for gambling in her past, Sophie goes to Italy for a qualifying golf tournament.

Jack Walker turned his back on a pro golfing career to become a geologist. As a favor to his ailing father he’ll caddy for Sophie; off hours, he’ll find caves on the Mediterranean coast, suitable for NATO listening posts for terrorist activity.

Someone is determined to stop Jack’s underground hunt and ruin Sophie’s chances to win her tournament.

On a Rome golf course and in the Amalfi coast’s haunted caves, all the odds are stacked against Sophie and Jack.  In their gamble of a lifetime, who wins?

Web and Blog:

http://rolynnanderson.com

Facebook page:

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Rolynn-Anderson/188767867821613  

Twitter:

https://twitter.com/rolynnanderson

Goodreads:

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4990049.Rolynn_Anderson

Amazon

http://www.amazon.com/author/rolynnanderson

My Golf and Writing on Parallel Paths by Rolynn Anderson

I’m a retired Washington State high school principal (and English teacher) who traded Seattle’s gray skies for sunny California in 2000, decided to write suspense novels, signed up for the golf experience at Cypress Ridge Golf Course in 2001, started writing...and never looked back.

Sixteen years later, I realize my adventures in writing matches my journey to become a skilled golfer.  I’ve learned golf and writing share the same pains and joys…and I wouldn’t give up either endeavor.

Let me show you how my golf and writing careers have followed parallel paths.  For instance, after writing eleven novels in nine years, I was picked up by Wild Rose Press-my thriller, LAST RESORT.  In golf, I chipped away at my index, dropping from a 28 to an 18.  For those of you who know the game, that means I took ten strokes off a round of eighteen holes of golf.  Yippee!

And I challenged myself by playing difficult golf courses, pocked with bunkers, and plagued by narrow fairways that took right and left turns at will.  As an author, I challenged myself at every crossroad, following LAST RESORT with a quirky series of three novels about a boutique funeral planner whose dead clients refuse to rest in piece.  Every book presents a new ‘golf course,’ forcing me to dig deeper for confidence, skill, and persistence.

You’re well aware of the old saw that we learned everything we need to know about life in Kindergarten.  Forget that.  I learned everything I know about writing from golf.  I whack at a golf ball with the same intensity I attack a sentence, no holds barred.  Each ‘lie’ (or plot sequence) is different.  Every hole (or scene) requires fresh insight.   I must learn the ins and outs of a new character…same with a new golf club.  Choosing a club, aligning the ball and calibrating my swing match my deliberate word choice and word order.  I love playing with great golfers as much as I’m inspired when I read novels by fabulous writers. Conflict?  Oh yeah! Novels are juiced up by conflict, as is competitive golf.  Each 'game' can go down because of a psych-out.

But the most important thing I learned from golf is the ‘practice’ element.  You can’t be a great golfer or writer without consistent, repetitive, focused encounters with the skill.  I write every day, revising and crafting new stories…and my golf index improves if I play two or three times a week.

I will tell you that in many ways, golf is easier than writing a novel.  Most books take me eight months to write, with the editing part as painful as labor.  In golf, four hours may produce a score of 82…or not.

I ask you to pick up a glass of champagne and join me in a cyber toast:  Here’s to golf (and chipping two more strokes of my index) and the launch of my new golf/geology/Italy/cave novel, BAD LIES.  Big sales and tiny handicaps to us all! 

To celebrate, I’m offering BAD LIES, in e-version, free for three days, July 10-12.  Download it, read it, and please review it on Amazon/Goodreads.  If I get 20 reviews, I can promo the novel on Book Bub…that’s my goal!  Thanks for helping me get there!

Here it is, BAD LIES http://a.co/0DuYNPn:

Italy’s haunted caves spell danger for an American golfer and a NATO geologist

****

Sophie Maxwell is a late-blooming, unorthodox golfer, and mother of a precocious thirteen year-old. Determined to put divorce, bankruptcy, and a penchant for gambling in her past, Sophie goes to Italy for a qualifying golf tournament.

Jack Walker turned his back on a pro golfing career to become a geologist. As a favor to his ailing father he’ll caddy for Sophie; off hours, he’ll find caves on the Mediterranean coast, suitable for NATO listening posts for terrorist activity.

Someone is determined to stop Jack’s underground hunt and ruin Sophie’s chances to win her tournament.

On a Rome golf course and in the Amalfi coast’s haunted caves, all the odds are stacked against Sophie and Jack.  In their gamble of a lifetime, who wins?

Seven Suspense Novels Spiked with Romance

Web and Blog:

http://rolynnanderson.com

Facebook page:

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Rolynn-Anderson/188767867821613 

Twitter:

https://twitter.com/rolynnanderson

Goodreads:

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4990049.Rolynn_Anderson

http://www.amazon.com/author/rolynnanderson

Promo Problems: How Bad Can This Book Signing Be? by Rolynn Anderson

Happy May 1!  The concept: Gathering around a pole in May to celebrate Spring.  http://www.historicalharmonies.org/mapypoledanceorigins.htm Beautifully dressed people, a beribboned post, happy folks dancing around the pole to the right, entwining their ribbons, then dancing to the left, untangling themselves.  Sounds sweet and simple, doesn’t it?  Ha!  As “sweet and simple” as choreographing a book signing, I’d say. 

On my website I’m spending the next months talking about the five follies of book signings: http://rolynnanderson.com

But today, I want to tell you a story about the book signing I recently held at a golf pro shop for BAD LIES http://a.co/0DuYNPn, giving you an example of how we can never predict promo problems.

It’s an hour before the book signing and I’m hauling my stuff into the pro shop to set up my table.  I am over-prepared and early…my usual self.  My arms are full of stuff as I stumble into the room.  I see James, who’s working behind the counter, and I can tell from the look in his eyes, he’s startled to see me, even after all my e-mail reminding, press releases, posters, and newspaper articles.  I give a heavy sigh mentally (we shoulder on, after all), and as I put my things on the floor (no table in sight), I notice that a pall has come over the room.  The Masters Tournament is playing on two TV’s, with the sound turned off.  I glance at the TV to see a pro hitting a great tee shot.  Why is it so quiet in a room with twenty men eating and drinking and watching the Masters?

The first thing I think is: These guys have no time for an author of romantic suspense.  They want to drink beer, eat hamburgers and watch the damn Masters.  Get this writer out of my pro shop.

I look around the room again.  All the men are ignoring me, and since James has been surprised by my appearance, his day has gotten complicated.  Again, I suppress a sigh, thinking I may have picked the wrong venue for my golf novel.  How can I build interest with a group of men who are shunning me?

James goes off to find a table for me while I watch the men.  Now I see fellows gesturing to each other.  Smiling.  Not laughing.  Pointing to the TV.  Giving high fives.  Gutteral sounds of happiness or anguish.  The bartender gives me a look but doesn’t say a thing.

And then I see fingers flying with sign language and men standing up to get the attention of other guys across the room by waving their hands. 

Yes.  You have it now, don’t you?  The mystery solved.  Every single man in the room was deaf except for James.  For the next hour the only males entering the room were speechless.  I set up my table quietly among golfers who had recently finished 18 rounds of a Tournament for the Deaf.  A yearly event at Cypress Ridge Golf Course.  Who knew?

The experience teaches me a thing or two about promo.  Never think the worst about an audience that does not respond to your glorious novels.  They might be deaf to your pitch (or not readers, or not readers of fiction, or not readers of your genre, or audio only, or Kindle only…). 

We mush on no matter what the ‘condition’ of the environment.  The goal: put our novels in the hands of readers.  (Postscript: The booksale was a great success.  I sold 24 books, made some new friends, and made history by holding a book signing in a pro shop!)

So here’s my golf/pro shop novel, BAD LIES http://a.co/0DuYNPn:

Italy’s haunted caves spell danger for an American golfer and a NATO geologist

****

Sophie Maxwell is a late-blooming, unorthodox golfer, and mother of a precocious thirteen year-old. Determined to put divorce, bankruptcy, and a penchant for gambling in her past, Sophie goes to Italy for a qualifying golf tournament.

Jack Walker turned his back on a pro golfing career to become a geologist. As a favor to his ailing father he’ll caddy for Sophie; off hours, he’ll find caves on the Mediterranean coast, suitable for NATO listening posts for terrorist activity.

Someone is determined to stop Jack’s underground hunt and ruin Sophie’s chances to win her tournament.

On a Rome golf course and in the Amalfi coast’s haunted caves, all the odds are stacked against Sophie and Jack.  In their gamble of a lifetime, who wins?

Seven Suspense Novels Spiked with Romance

Web and Blog:

http://rolynnanderson.com

Facebook page:

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Rolynn-Anderson/188767867821613 

Twitter:

https://twitter.com/rolynnanderson

Goodreads:

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4990049.Rolynn_Anderson

Are You a Spelunker? by Rolynn Anderson

I happen to be the sister of a geologist who works, on contract, for the U.S. Government.  Because he has clearance high on the intelligence scale, I can’t tell you much about his job, but my research online tells me the following: he’s probably looking for terrorists in caves (and figuring out how to keep bad guys from finding the good guys hidden in caves), and he might be sorting through underground facilities to stash vital people, equipment and munitions, as well as potent products like spent fuels.

My NATO geologist in BAD LIES http://a.co/0DuYNPn, researches how the caves and mines in Italy have been used for centuries, extrapolating how they might be implemented today.  ‘Jack Walker’ scans satellite imagery, pours through geology studies, and consults local geologists.  Field trips to the sites?  Jack’s favorite part of his job.  He tours the terrain, examines rock structures and explores caves, both man-made and natural. 

Want to spelunk with Jack? 

To give you a flavor of man-made caves, I chose some pictures of caves/mines in Italy, Orvieto, built originally by the Etruscans, 2500 years ago, used heavily in WWII.  Take a look:

https://history.denverlibrary.org/news/forever-italy-and-hidden-caves-orvieto-0

The grotto I talk about in my novel is a little spookier, a wonder of nature.  Here are some pics from Trip Advisor: https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g194863-d669726-Reviews-Grotta_dello_Smeraldo_Emerald_Grotto-Positano_Amalfi_Coast_Campania.html  Some caves/mines along the Amalfi coast range for a mile or more, with a maze of offshoots.  And dark?  Oh my, yes! 

I ask again, how many of you would enjoy exploring the caves on the coast of Italy?

While you’re thinking, here’s BAD LIES http://a.co/0DuYNPn:

Italy’s haunted caves spell danger for an American golfer and a NATO geologist

****

Sophie Maxwell is a late-blooming, unorthodox golfer, and mother of a precocious thirteen year-old. Determined to put divorce, bankruptcy, and a penchant for gambling in her past, Sophie goes to Italy for a qualifying golf tournament.

Jack Walker turned his back on a pro golfing career to become a geologist. As a favor to his ailing father he’ll caddy for Sophie; off hours, he’ll find caves on the Mediterranean coast, suitable for NATO listening posts for terrorist activity.

Someone is determined to stop Jack’s underground hunt and ruin Sophie’s chances to win her tournament.

On a Rome golf course and in the Amalfi coast’s haunted caves, all the odds are stacked against Sophie and Jack.  In their gamble of a lifetime, who wins?

Seven Suspense Novels Spiked with Romance

Web and Blog:

http://rolynnanderson.com

Facebook page:

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Rolynn-Anderson/188767867821613 

Twitter:

https://twitter.com/rolynnanderson

Goodreads:

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4990049.Rolynn_Anderson