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Tag: Intent to Hold
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A victory…from Las Vegas
By Thonie Hevron
I’m baaaack!
This was my first trip to Sin City. It won’t be my last. Although the glaring grandeur had little appeal for me, I will say I thought it fun to cruise down the Strip. However, because I was tired, I was more than ready to be at the hotel. Silly me, I’d gone cheap and hired a shuttle instead of a cab. Live and learn.
The truth is that I only booked this trip for a Public Safety Writer’s Association Conference. Vegas has zero appeal to me. Give me a redwood grove or a sandy Southern California beach any day. I’d submitted my unpublished manuscript, Intent to Hold to their annual writing contest. In 2012, I’d submitted and won third place for By Force or Fear. I was hoping history would repeat itself for Intent to Hold.
At the conference, I met many with whom I’ve corresponded through the years. Meeting people in person after developing an online relationship can cause some shifts in perspective. Thankfully, they were all very positive shifts. I met some terrific people.
During the months before the conference, the call for help went out from conference chair Michael A. Black. Like a dummy, I volunteered. While I used to hate getting in front of people, I’ve made strides in getting over the fear. Knowing that
I’d have to speak in front of people to sell my books nudged me onward. Two years ago, I volunteered to co-chair the Redwood Writers Conference in April of 2014, to help de-sensitize myself. Month after month, I got up in front of the general membership and announced conference news. When that day came, I was a little nervous but my co-chair Sandy Baker was super-supportive and all went well. Here’s how PSWA shook out: I was a “contestant” on CSI-Jeopardy, a game played twice every day except the last (only once). I clowned my way to a pithy third but had a lot of fun. I sat on a panel of five discussing setting and dialog. Then, I was the moderator of a panel on wounds and forensics. Since I know nothing about the topic, I contacted the panelists in advance and culled questions from them. A well-rounded and very knowledgeable group that included an EMS/fire training consultant, and ER doc, a forensic scientist, a psychologist, a biology professor…and me!
Thank God, I only had to ask the questions.
The crowd was so responsive and attentive that we all had fun. In fact, when our time was up, many said they wanted more time with the panel. I’d say that was a success. Success for the panelists, audience, and me. I didn’t faint! In fact, I got one glowing compliment on my presentation voice.
And, I won third place for unpublished novel award for Intent to Hold. History did repeat.
I’ll be back in Vegas next year, only I’m bringing my hubby next time.
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Ad for my new book
Oak Tree Books just sent me an ad to put in the Redwood Writers From Pen to Published 2014 Conference.
Check out the conference here.
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A Tease
I have a soft target of mid to late November to publish my next book, INTENT TO HOLD. The title refers to a criminal element in the California Penal Code 207PC Kidnapping.
Here’s the story: Nick’s estranged wife calls him from her parents’ home in Mexico, asking for help negotiating the ransom for her kidnapped brother. When his partner, Meredith, volunteers to help, the criminals don’t stand a chance. The two Sonoma County Sheriff’s Detectives operate outside of Mexican law and their own law enforcement code of ethics to rescue Nick’s brother-in-law. Chased by crooked cops, federales and two cartel armies, this story has wall-to-wall action, suspense and a touch of romance.
To whet the reader’s appetite, I have photos of items I used in the story. The first is a bus that Nick and Meredith used to escape from cartel goons, from the fictional area in the jungle between Sayulita and Bucerias on the west coast of Mexico. Here’s a description from the book:
With a squeal of brakes the bus pulled to a stop. Relatively new, the one side was decorated with a vibrantly painted mural of the Virgin Mary, her peaceful face and outstretched arms rested under a film of dust as thick as a finger. Above the tailpipe, graffiti in red and black showed the Norteno star.
Our intrepid travelers use back packs for their personal items. Meredith Ryan’s is similar to my own: a Kelty Bender Day Pack.
She wears Keen shoes in addition to her usual jeans and tee-shirt. These workhorse shoes make it easier to travel from the ocean to the beach to the mountains.
Nick has a duffel/backpack modeled after one my husband had years ago. I found an updated version that is the model for our
hero’s.
One of the more tasteful gangsters drives a blue and gray primered 59 Chevy Impala with tuck and roll upholstery.
More teases to come!
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Intent to Hold progress report
The second draft of Intent to Hold is done. However, this doesn’t mean my work is finished. It’s been edited, read by beta readers and re-edited. I still have a few manuscripts out to readers and when they return, I’ll do the editing all over again. Invariably, someone will see something that I didn’t, didn’t see something that I did, or the story needs fixing here or there. This is the way of it.
Next comes the cover. I am working with Bob Crosby on that. He’s a Santa Rosa photographer and Picasa whiz who in his former life was a photo-journalist. His work is wonderful. I’ll also have to get blurbs for promotion, write my own short teasers for the cover, and so on.
I’m considering a print copy this time. My ebook will be out first, by the end of November, if all goes well. I hope to also have a book available in the next months, as well, but that is a lesser priority. I am also fer sure going to set up a deal where a reader can buy By Force or Fear for .99 cents if they buy Intent to Hold. I expect to retail it (ebook, anyway) for $3.99.
It seemed to take a long time to get this book out (actually just over a year) but I think you’ll like it. My readers have said it has delves deeper into the two main characters, Nick Reyes and Meredith Ryan but is still packed with action and adventure. Intent to Hold is about the two Sonoma County Sheriff’s Deputy investigators who go to Mexico to help Nick’s estranged wife ransom her brother where they get caught in the middle of a cartel war.
I hope I piqued your interest.
Thonie
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Resetting Goals
I spent more than one sleepless night trying to figure how I was going to write 1,000 words every day-7 days a week for 45 days, plus keep the blog going, PLUS have a life (husband, horse, pooches, etc). The goal was to have a body of work to submit to a contest. Well, not just any contest: Public Safety Writer Association (PSWA) Writers’ Contest. My manuscript, Probable Cause, came in third last year in the unpublished novel. This was a national contest so understandably, I was excited. That book has been subsequently renamed–By Force or Fear–and published as an ebook by Amazon. The first draft of my new book, Intent to Hold, is now just over half completed. Calculating writing, beta readers, editing, then re-writing, meant I could only squeak by with 45 days of actual writing.
Here’s the kicker: those who have read Intent to Hold say it is a better book than the first. Maybe I’ll do better than 3rd place…
Sitting in church this morning, wobbly from lack of sleep, it came to me. There are other contests. I can still enter my first draft if I want to PWSA, or I can wait until next year when it will be completed and polished.
Damn right. So that’s what I’m gonna do. Keep writing at my “normal” pace for now. When the PSWA deadline draws closer, I’ll decide which options to chose.