Martin Luther King Day, From Blog to Book, This Week, Giveaway

Today we remember and honor Civil Rights activist, 

Martin Luther King, Jr. 

His dream may not be completely realized, but because of his vision, we have made great strides 

and continue to work on equality for all.

Working on my mystery novel

Good Monday morning to you! I'm all revved up with so many plans for writing projects in 2015. I moved from my desk to the dining room table to have my notes and pages easy to grab at a minute's notice. 

In this photo I am working on the mystery. Deadly Undertaking. Yes, it takes place in a funeral home. This is probably the biggest challenge I've faced in fiction writing with a story that includes, wait for it,...mystery, romance, AND paranormal. I'm having so much fun with it. My dear main character, Lauren, has sooooooooo many problems. I'll tell you more about it this month as I prepare the ms for submitting it to a publisher. 

After reading through and re-writing the ms two times and discussing it with my crit group, I have decided to let the story rest. When I get away from it for a couple of weeks, I will return and study the elements of the story with fresh eyes. Do you do that too? I still think about all the possibilities during those two weeks, so I guess that's not exactly letting it rest. Needless to say the characters are always with me! 

During this two weeks, I have not quit writing. Oh no. I'm in another project very close to my heart AND I have a co-author. My dear husband, (DH), who shall be known as Gardener Ted, is advising me on our new series of booklets on gardening tips for writers. 

Gardener Ted's Harvest

I've heard about many folks who turn their blogs into books. I understand Word Press has a plug-in that will do it for you. I wrote a blog for several years about gardening, The Garden for Eatin', but stopped when I had to start marketing my fiction. I missed it.

After writing mysteries and romance, I'm glad to be in the real world again! I enjoyed my life as a freelance writer with featured articles in newspapers, magazines, and online magazines. Getting entertaining information into the hands of readers is very satisfying for me. So, the idea of turning the blog into a series of gardening books was born.

I'm excited to have my DH involved in the series. He IS a gardener. Not just a hobby guy. He is immersed in gardening. His dream was to garden twelve months out of the year, and now he is doing just that. We have an enormous garden up north and a smaller raised garden in the winter in Florida. 
With his knowledge derived from a lifetime of gardening, and as a greenhouse grower and garden center business man, he is a go-to guy for tried and true tips for gardening. 

Spring Garden in Michigan

My plan was to copy/paste those brilliant blog posts into a ms and publish it to Amazon. Sounds simple, doesn't it? Not quite. Funny how my writing has changed a bit in the last three years. I have re-written and added to the posts, so the little project has grown. And I love it! 

Have you tried working your blog posts into a book or article? Please leave a comment and let us know about your experience.

I hope to have the first book in the series, Starting a Vegetable Garden, done in a week. I plan to begin promoting it the first week of February, especially since the gardening season begins soon for most folks in this part of the world. 

I need to design a book cover for the series, but I have a problem. I haven't settled on a title for the series. With an eye to marketing, I'm trying to use keywords in the title as experts tell us. Here are a few ideas. Quick Tips for Vegetable Gardening, Tips You Can Use for Vegetable Gardening, Gardening Tips for Growing Vegetables, Quick Tips for Growing Your Vegetable Garden. 

Can you help me name this series? I'd appreciate your input.

This Week:

Romance and Mystery Authors on Writing series

Thursday, January 22--Award-winning romance author Helena Fairfax shares helpful writing tips on character and structure for the series, Romance and Mystery Authors on Writing.  Join us as we celebrate her just released romance, A Way from Heart to Heart. She will give a $5. Amazon Gift Card to a lucky commenter. 

Just released, A Way from Heart to Heart