Marilyn's Musings

Tidbits about the series and the book. Tempe Crabtree is a female resident deputy in a small mountain community. Though she works a regular 4 to 11 shift, five days a week, everyone calls her when there is an emergency or something unusual happens. Tempe is based on three women I met several years ago: a female resident deputy who worked in the mountain community where I live; a female police officer, who was a single mom and the only woman on the department, with whom I went on a ride-along; and an Indian woman I had a long conversation with one day who grew up on our local reservation. Tempe ’s first husband died and she raised her son, Blair, by herself until he was a teenager and she married Hutch Hutchinson, the pastor of the local church. By the time of Invisible Path , Blair is in college studying fire science. Invisible Path happens during the days before Christmas. Blair is home from college for the holiday and he’s brought along a friend. Blair is the first to notice a g...

INVISIBLE PATH is only .99 cents starting today after 8 A.M. PST.  https://www.amazon.com/Invisible-Path-Tempe-Crabtree-Mysteries-ebook/dp/B07SD8JBMD/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=invisible+Path+by+Marilyn+Meredith&qid=1638388470&s=digital-text&sr=1-1 Amazon blurb: A popular young Indian man is found near the recovery center at the far end of the Bear Creek Reservation. While investigating, Deputy Tempe Crabtree learns the victim wasn't quite what he seemed, and she crosses paths with a militant para-military group, who pique her curiosity and end up being a threat. But there's a lot more to this book--a look into the reservation, where people live, and the recovery center at the end of the road. Tempe ventures way up into the back country where there are giant Sequoias, also reported to be the home of the Hairy Man.  More insights tomorrow. Marilyn    

Mainly, my busyness comes from creating proposals and program designs for people wanting to start new residential facilities. When there is time, I've tried to squeeze in a bit of writing --but it hasn't been much. If you didn't know already, I'm caring for my husband (3 years older than I am) but he's having a hard time with walking and remembering. Plus, because both of us have decided not to drive anymore, we must rely on our children to take us places we need to go, like shopping and doctor visits.  And to be perfectly honest, I run out of steam much quicker these day. Plus, anything that will take a fresh brain must be done in the morning hours.  Right now I'm planning two promotion deals. The first one will start on January 17th and run through January 22nd. It is a .99 cent sale of Invisible Path. Each day, during the sale, I'll have something about Invisible Path  on this blog. Of course the whole idea is to introduce new people to the Deputy Tempe C...

The Hairy Man, similar to Big Foot, is legendary on the Tule River Indian Reservation. Many sightings have been documented. In a rock cave on the reservation there's a pictograph of the Hairy Man, his wife and child. The Hairy Man makes his first appearance in Dispel the Mist. On the cover is a depiction much like it looks on the rock wall--except there he's 8 foot tall! http://mundania.com/book.php?title=Dispel%20the%20Mist http://mundania.com/book.php?title=Dispel%20the%20Mist and of course on Amazon. He also is mentioned in Invisible Path. http://mundania.com/book.php?title=Invisible%20Path And also on Amazon, of course. River Spirits  is he latest book where the Hairy Man shows up. For all formats: http://mundania.com/book.php?title=River%20Spirits  and on Amazon. Because the Hairy Man is such an important part of the Tule River Indian Reservation, of course he needs to be an important part of the Bear Creek Indian Reservatio...

On the Sisters in Crime listserve, a big discussion has been going on about whether or not to use a prologue. Most authors say, "No, just start with chapter one." Some said they never read prologues. That one I can't imagine. Sometimes a prologue sets the tone for the whole novel. Frankly, the last couple of years, I've been hearing that prologues are no longer acceptable from nearly everyone in the publishing business. On the other hand, one of the authors in the discussion said neither her agent nor her publisher had ever told her not to use a prologue. I guess this is one of those "rules" and you know what they say about writing rules, once you know them you can break them. Have I ever used a prologue? Four times that I can remember. One I did in Wishing Makes it So which is about a really evil little girl. The prologue was from the point-of-view of the girl and sets the stage for the rest of the story. All the rest comes from the POV of her f...

Probably the easiest way to explain it is to let you know what's going on right now with my writing. I'm in the process of writing a Deputy Tempe Crabtree mystery. This one is set in January and has a double homicide of two harmless women, a torrential rainstorm, a river flooding, and a mud slide which isolates the town of Bear Creek--and maybe the murderer. I'm about 3/4 of the way through. I'm reading it to my critique group chapter by chapter. No title for it yet but I do have an idea for the cover. I write as many mornings as possible. In the meantime, I'm still promoting Angel Lost by F. M. Meredith , in the Rocky Bluff P.D. series and Invisible Path , the last published book in the Deputy Tempe Crabtree series. I have a lot of in-person events coming up with opportunities to speak about and sell the books. (All these books can be ordered through a bookstore or Amazon and are available for Kindle and other reading devices.) I've sent off the next b...

If you go to this page, you can click on the video for Invisible Path. http://fictionforyou.com/Invisible_Path.shtml I really enjoy all these book videos. I hope you do too. A big part of the plot is about a young man who has just graduated from a rehab program on the reservation being falsely accused of murder. There is a rehab program like this one on the reservation near our home. There has never been a murder near there that I know of. It's another one of those "What if?" moments. And as for the paramilitary group, I used to see Jeeps and trucks that looked like they belonged to the Army heading up the highway to the mountains--hubby said they weren't official and probably belonged to some idiots (his word) that were playing pretend military. In this book, they are up to no good. Marilyn

http://www.amazon.com/Invisible-Path-ebook/dp/B004SRG9PQ/ref=sr_1_cc_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1306168977&sr=1-1-catcorr That's the link to the Kindle version of Invisible Path .  Of course this is also a trade paperback of the same title. If you liked the fact that the Hairy Man was in Dispel the Mist the legend continues in Invisible Path. One young Indian man's belief in the Hairy Man indirectly leads to his death and the false accusation of another. The setting includes the Bear Creek Indian Reservation and the recovery center and the mountains above the reservation. The story deals with recovery from alcoholism, Indian legends, misplaced loyalty, and a paramilitary group. Marilyn http://fictionforyou.com

When I began working on my latest Work in Progress, a Deputy Tempe Crabtree mystery, it was winter and we were having an unusually rainy season. The novel is set right after Christmas so all the rain and the havoc it was causing for real I reflected in what I was writing. I definitely knew how it felt to drive through a downpour so I could write easily about Tempe not being able to see through the sheet of rain. The earth was so saturated, roads were blocked by rivers of mud, making it particularly hazardous for night driving. In places parts of the hillsides slid down bringing boulders along with the saturated earth. Trees fell, taking out power lines causing the loss of electricity. In some places, people were without lights and water for three and four days. All of this was great fodder for my story. But I'm still in the middle of it and guess what? The weather has changed. Instead of being dark and gloomy, rain threatening every day, it's bright and sunshiny, colorful w...

It was suggested on one of the lists that I'm on, that others go to a person's book on Amazon.com and agree to and/or add tags. The tags are at the bottom of the page, and you can add more by going to the ad spot and click on T on your computer and the place to add will pop up. I've put short URLs for some of my e-books here to make it easy to do. http://tiny.cc/dg9ea for An Axe to Grind http://tiny.cc/1i4ub for No Sanctuary http://tiny.cc/qezqy for Lingering Spirit   http://tiny.cc/0tlyi for Invisible Path  If your haven't read my books, you might just agree, if you have read one see if the tags fit or if there are more that you think might fit.  I'd appreciate you doing this and we'll see if it really helps sales. You could do the regular books if you'd prefer. Thank you, Marilyn http://fictionforyou.com

People often wonder how I get so much done. Frankly, I never do as much as I hope to do. I make lists, not formal lists, just lists on post-its and tablets that are sent to me in the mail or I've picked up at hotels or conferences. I love checking off tasks I've completed. And yes, I write down almost everything I plan for the day--though sometimes I just do it without making a list. Woke up on Sunday to an order for Deadly Omen from Amazon Advantage. Once I was up and at the computer, I just went ahead and fulfilled the order and got it ready to be mailed on Monday. I didn't put it on a list. However, from yesterday, I had a note to send Trail to Glory , my first book published, off to a place to be scanned in PDF and Word format. I no longer had it on my computer and I only had one copy left--except for the copy I autographed to my hubby. I'd like to see this one have a new life. I also want to send Bad Tidings there too for the same reason, though I have about ...

On one of the many lists I'm one there was a big discussion as whether or not to use prologues. There are those who are adamant that there never should be a prologue, even if it's a back story, the book should begin with Chapter 1. There are even editors at publishing houses who frown on Prologues and might even reject a book because of it. A few readers said they always skipped the prologue. Those in favor of prologues felt that it could set the tone of the book. In case of a historical period that it could give the background of that time and make it easier for the reader to get into the book itself. Others felt it was a good way to introduce something important to the story that had gone on years prior to the beginning of the book. In the end, my feeling it all depends upon what you as the writer thinks works. In my latest Deputy Tempe Crabtree mystery, Invisible Path , the first chapter could easily have been a prologue, but I chose to have it be Chapter 1 even tho...

I love doing blog tours. They are a lot of work. First you have to write something interesting for the places you are going to be blogging on, then the day each blog comes out you need to promote the blog at least on Facebook and Twitter and any other social networks you might be on and also any of your listserves. This takes a lot of time. It is also important that you check the blog during the day so you can answer the questions commenters asks, plus acknowledge each one who asked a question. One way to see if the blog tour is working is to check your stats on Amazon. One day while on my blog tour for Invisible Path I checked during the last blog tour the stats for the trade paperback were 728,581. The lower the numbers the better. I know that doesn't sound low but it's a lot better than the million plus that the books began with. The Kindle version was even better at 201,739. How this will play out in sales I have no idea. What I do know is when I do nothing, the numbers rem...

Thank you for stopping by my Blog! Please explore all this Blog has to offer, then jog on over to http://www.quildonwrites.blogspot.com/ . If you would like to visit a different Blog in the jog, go to http://blogjogday.blogspot.com .” I'm the author of the Deputy Tempe Crabtree mystery series and this month have been busily promoting the latest in the series, Invisible Path . Besides talking about my book(s) and what I'm doing, I also give writing tips. You can scroll back through this blog and find them. I've been writing ever since I was a kid, but didn't get a full-length novel published until 1981 after many, many rejections. The two books that were published were historical family sagas. Then I switched to writing mysteries and ran into more rejections. My publishing path was littered with obstacles from two of my publishers dying, a couple of crooks along the way, and agents who couldn't find homes for any of my works. I've published with several small in...

This is the beginning of my blog tour for Invisible Path. My first stop is Lori's Reading Corner: http://www.lorisreadingcorner.com/ How would you like your name to be in one of my Deputy Tempe Crabtree books? It's easy. The person who leaves a comment on the most blogs on my tour will win the privilege of having their name used for one of the characters in the book that will come out next fall. Follow the tour and post a comment on each of the blogs. If I have more than one winner, I'll draw a name. Marilyn http://fictionforyou.com

On Saturday, October 23rd I planned to have a book launch for Invisible Path , the latest in my Deputy Tempe Crabtree mystery series. Oh, yes, they were ordered in plenty of time, but I learned on Monday that there was a problem with the bar code on the back cover and had to be re-done. I learned from my publisher on Tuesday that there was no way he could get books to me on time. Am I disappointed? Sure. But it's not the end of he world. I've sent a message to the book store and to the newspaper. Fortunately, I hand't sent out any flyers yet. I also need books to send out for review to people who need to read them before my blog tour in November. The publisher has promised to take care of that for me. Sadly, this happens a lot in the book business. Planning has to be done for a book launch and I thought I did it in plenty of time since September is the usual time for a new Tempe book to come out. I am not faulting my publisher as a lot has been going on in the publishing bu...

My book launch for Invisible Path is schedule for Saturday, October 23rd--yes, this Saturday and I learned on Monday that there had been a problem with the bar code holding up production of the books. I ordered 50, I've got reviewers waiting for copies to read before my blog tour in November. Time is running out. This happens too often and certainly makes me nervous. The last word is some of the books will be delivered via air transport, so I'll at least have some for the launch. I've sent a notice to our newspaper already and of course a poster for the bookstore, Books Off Main in Porterville, they have hanging in the store. I'll be there at 2 p.m. with books or not. All of you who read my blog posts, pray and think positive thoughts that my books arrive in time. Marilyn, who hates when this happens.

Here's the cover for the new Deputy Tempe Crabtree mystery, Invisible Path . The book itself is due out in September. I'll certainly be telling you a lot more about it was time goes on. Marilyn http://fictionforyou.com

Yep, won't be long now. Invisible Path is the name of the Tempe book that will be out maybe in September. I say maybe because we never know about the exact time of a book's arrival. Kind of like a baby. This one takes place near Christmas. Her college son and a friend come home to visit. A psuedo military group surfaces in Bear Creek and piques Tempe's interest. A popular young Indian man is murdered on the reservation and the only suspect is another Indian, an outsider named Jesus. Tempe is asked to help with the investigation and must protect Jesus from those who want to see him banished from the reservation--or worse. I've seen the cover which definitely displays the mystic of the book. I'll keep you posted. Marilyn http://fictionforyou.com