Nearly on the Road

Two weeks until I leave for Sleuth Fest. I have my check list. I know you’re all probably tired of hearing about this, but I’m excited and when I’m excited, I ramble.

I have check lists:

1. New lap top loaded (my Valentine’s gift)
2. iPad loaded
3. Business cards with contact info (nothing fancy)
4. Log-line and short pitch (memorized)
5. Long pitch/short synopsis (printed one page 1.5 spaced)
6. Long synopsis (three pages, double spaced)
7. Cover letter (generic: three brief paragraphs)
8. Reader’s Corner critique sheets (20 printed)
9. Reader’s Corner introduction and chapter one (printed in case of IPad failure)
10. Cover Image printed (Just in case)

I still need clothes. I don’t think they would appreciate my pjs or nudity.

A friend is doing a photo shoot for me soon for bio pics.

I’ve done my homework and the agent I am hoping to pitch to won the Nobel Prize for being a really cool guy and was Knighted by Queen Elizabeth  for just being himself. (Seriously…it must be true. It’s on his Linked-In page. ) He’s with Curtis Brown.

I practice my pitch all day and I read my Reader’s Corner at least three times a day. A few days ago I got to pitch my book to strangers. It was fun.

We went to see Tim Dorsey author of my favorite crime adventures stories starring Serge and Coleman who are serials killer anti-heroes who take down Florida scammers and kill them in bizarre ways that usually involve science. Serge is a genius and Coleman is an addle-brained stoner. He told some funny stories, signed books, then split before I could get a picture with him.

Afterwards, the crowd was hanging around chatting about authors and writing and upon learning I, too, was a writer, I was asked about my book. It really felt good to be prepared to pitch it and everybody said it sounds like something they would enjoy reading. That’s just terrific for me because his readers are part of the audience I’m aiming for. I had a captive audience and didn’t feel guilty at all.

I’ve already gone to Twitter and followed everybody who follows authors who read Florida crime fiction authors. I got lots of follow backs, but still follow twice as many people than follow me. I’ve never really caught onto how to use Twitter effectively, but I’m learning and trying.

I’ve updated all of my social media sites to include mention of my crime romps and plans for the series.

You may have noticed that my new wordpress address has been changed to sknicholls instead of redclayandroses1. That was advised by an author whom I greatly respect, Sue Colleta. If you are interested in crime fiction, she has a terrific murder blog dedicated to all things crime and then some. You can find her here. She also has a newly published book “Marred”, you can pick up here.

The change required a Redirect Upgrade that costs only $13.00 per year. That was necessary to keep all my old posts connected to the new URL. Once I made the name change, I had to export all of my old blog content, which had migrated to the new URL, to my desktop, then import three files back to the old address one at a time, wait for processing to be complete, (a few hours) then perform the simple redirect. I had guidance from the happiness engineers.

I’m feeling pretty confident that I’m prepared for Sleuth Fest as best as I can be. Now I’m going to keep practicing and go shopping for clothes.

Any suggestions?

Have I overlooked anything?

I have three more books in the series outlined and one is fully fleshed out, so my next step is to get busy writing up the next book in this series. I have big plans for new characters in the series and Richard and Brandi have just gotten a taste of what’s in store for them. What fun!