Paddy Plays in Dead Mule Swamp - Chapter 9

cover design by Farah Evers

One of the things about writing a series of books is that certain elements of the protagonist's life and locale will appear over and over. In fact, as a lover of serial mysteries, I expect certain things in (almost) every book. For example, what would a Nero Wolfe novel be without a scene in the orchid room, or would we love Anna Pigeon books as much without the various National Parks as backdrops?

So, I am trying to determine, even at this early point, what are the key parts of an Ana Raven mystery. Based on the feedback I've received so far, people seem to love the descriptions of the rural area, and Ana's interactions with her friends. Chapter 9 has Ana exploring a back route to her house, revealing more of the county.

Here's an excerpt from Chapter 9:

    I was a little confused, because I had already crossed the Petite Sauble River, back on Kirtland Road. So, had the road wandered north again, or where was I?
    The map quickly revealed that there was a small river, the Thorpe, coming in from the southwest and flowing into the Petite Sauble. I was only about two miles from my house, and could drive right home if there were still a bridge. I could see a matching dirt road with a guardrail across the water and realized it had to be the seasonal road that continued beyond my place.
    I looked upstream on the Thorpe River. Much to my amazement there was a bridge just a short distance away.

And yes, I am mapping the whole county on graph paper.

You can buy book 1, News from Dead Mule Swamp, for only 99¢ at Smashwords, or Amazon

Paddy Plays in Dead Mule Swamp - Chapter 8

cover design by Farah Evers

Chapter 8 takes Ana to the next county, to a larger town called Emily City. She's learning a lot about taking care of a large puppy, and has just been shopping at a pet store.

Sometimes I feel as if the chapters that don't move the plot along are extraneous. Yet, I know from reading many mysteries, that the parts of the story that fill in details of the characters' lives are part of what makes a book well-liked. I'm working at finding a good balance.

Here's an excerpt from Chapter 8:

    In just a few minutes I had pre-paid for an hour of dog-sitting, and was about $50.00 poorer all together, but feeling much better about doing the other errand I hoped to complete. It was good that Paddy seemed happy to go with almost anyone who would pay attention to him. I petted the red head, looked deep into his brown eyes and told him I’d be back soon. His standard answer was a lick and a tail wag, after which he let Brad lead him toward the back door.

As you may have guessed, this book strongly features Patrick, Paddy, the Irish Setter. He makes friends wherever he goes.

Paddy Plays in Dead Mule Swamp - Chapter 7

cover design by Farah Evers

I was hoping to write two chapters this weekend, but so far I've only managed one. One is better than none!

I'm sort of hung up on wanting to have some action in Chapter 8, but I really need to bring in another conversation first... unless I can find a way around that. So I'm thinking about it. I know some people say, "just write" and figure it out later. But I do better if I figure it out first.

Here's an excerpt from Chapter 7:

    “There we are.” Paula’s gaze roamed over the dining room. “I need to get back to work, but it’s been nice to meet you. Stop in again. I’d like to know how those babies are doing.”
    “Some babies!” I said. “Maybe I’ll bring them here for a treat.”
    “That might work. But you should make sure they feel all right about coming, first. Star was old enough when it happened to have plenty of memories of her mother.”

Chapter 7 just sort of happened. The character and what she would have naturally done next dictated it. It wasn't in my original plan.

You can buy book 1, News from Dead Mule Swamp, for only 99¢ at Smashwords, or Amazon

Ludington Daily News Column- January 2012

For my monthly newspaper column this month, I expanded on the blog post at Scanning the Bar Code. I turned it in on Monday, but am just getting around to this posting.

Here's an excerpt

Did you know you can learn to read bar codes without a machine? It’s true. Each code begins and ends with 101, and has a 01010 in the middle. These lines are longer than the others at the bottom. There are four different line thicknesses, and a sequence of four lines forms a digit from 0 to 9...

I much prefer scanning the bar codes of items one can shop for in the great outdoors. The codes are usually easy to read. In fact, I would wager that you can read almost all of these bar codes without any help at all.

And tomorrow, my weekly column will begin at Mason County Press.

Paddy Plays in Dead Mule Swamp- Chapters 5, 6

cover design by Farah Evers

I've spent time writing over the weekend and today and have two more chapters done of Paddy Plays in Dead Mule Swamp.

Even though it's a bit unorthodox to have the cover design done so early, I love having it to show with every update about the writing. It actually inspires me to write, having Paddy looking at me so plaintively! I'm hoping it makes you curious too.

Here's an excerpt from Chapter 6:

    The café had been modernized fairly recently. Probably its location on the edge of a larger town helped build the customer base and bring in enough income to cover occasional renovations. There was an entryway with heavy glass doors, and a bulletin board choked with business cards on the wall. Two posters with cars for sale, and another asking for help to locate a lost dog were also taped to the wall. I wondered if someone had taped up pictures of Angelica eight years ago.

For some strange reason I struggled a lot with chapter 5. It's short and straightforward, but it took me a whole afternoon to write. Chapter 6 just sort of rolled along. Writing is like that!

You can buy book 1, News from Dead Mule Swamp, for only 99¢ at Smashwords, or Amazon

Hey- at least click the Google+ button if you like this!

Publicity is Always Good!

Joan H. Young with a print mock-up of News from Dead Mule Swamp (photo by Rob Alway)

This week, I was interviewed by Rob Alway, editor of the newly created (some might say resurrected from a long defunct print paper) Mason County Press. Rob hopes to bring an online news magazine of mostly human interest stories to life for Mason County, Michigan.

Rob thought that my publication of News from Dead Mule Swamp was newsworthy, and I'm not about to argue with that!

He did a good interview, which you can read at Joan Young Begins a New Adventure- Writes First Mystery Novel

Next week I begin writing a regular column for Mason County Press, too!

You can buy News from Dead Mule Swamp, for only 99¢ at Smashwords, Amazon

Cover for Paddy Plays in Dead Mule Swamp

I wasn't sure that I could get the cover for Paddy Plays in Dead Mule Swamp created as cleanly as the one for News from Dead Mule Swamp, all by myself. I decided to give Farah Evers' design services a try, as she has designed some great covers for other members of Accentuate Writers.

I told her what I had in mind, and she immediately "got it." We did about four rounds of editing until we were both happy with the design. Here it is!



I highly recommend Farah if you need a book cover that is professional and reasonable. Whether you have a concept in mind, or even need someone to help you start from scratch on a graphic representation of your book, she can do the job!

Visit Farah Evers' web site. This link takes you to her graphics services page.