by jphilo | Oct 10, 2024 | Mystery Update, See Jane Dig!, See Jane Ride!
An update about See Jane Dig! launch week is most certainly in order, so here’s a quick recap:
- The publisher reports that almost 5,000 books in the series (most of them for See Jane Dig!) were sold.
- At its height, its Amazon rank reached #2 in Cozy Mysteries, #2 in Amateur Sleuths, and #4 in Women Sleuths. Way to go, Jane!
- So far the book has received thirteen 5 star rankings and one 4 star ranking.
- Seven reviews have been written and posted so far. Special thanks to those who have posted reviews. They are so valuable as many potential buyers read them before making a purchase. You can post a review any time. After a book gathers 50 reviews, Amazon increases its promotional efforts.
Now on to See Jane Dig! fun on the docket for this fall:
- Chocolaterie Stam in Ames (230 Main St, Ames, IA) is once again hosting Jane’s book launch party. It will be held on Saturday, November 2 from 10:30 AM until noon. There will be a book signing, a reading of the first chapter, free chocolate, door prizes, a gift basket silent auction, live music, and The Stam may be hosting a wine tasting that morning. How fun is that? It would be great to see you there.
- Twin Cities friends, mark your calendars for November 16. I’ll be one of four mystery authors participating in a book signing at the Once Upon a Crime Bookstore (604 W. 26th Street Minneapolis, MN 55405) from noon until 2 PM. My sister lives in the area and will be attending, so you can meet her too!
One more thing that’s not really an update about See Jane Dig! launch week, though it did happen during launch week.
Drum roll please,,,,
The first draft of the next book in the series, See Jane Ride! is done. Can you hear me shouting wahoo? That’s because finishing a first draft means this author has her life back.
But wait! There’s more…
The cover for See Jane Ride! is finalized, and I’m in love with it. That’s all the excitement I can stand in one blog post, but stay tuned as the cover will be revealed in an upcoming post very soon!
by jphilo | Jan 25, 2024 | Mystery Update, See Jane Dig!, See Jane Ride!
A West River Mystery progress report is in order, so that’s what you’re getting today. Check out these small things about See Jane Dig! (Book 5) and See Jane Ride! (Book 6) that are making my heart go pitter pat.
- My editor reported that she’s read most of the See Jane Dig! manuscript. She said it’s not terrible. Whew!
- See Jane Dig! should be released in October of 2024.
- The See Jane Ride! plotting workshop with my editor has been moved up to January 29. I had to cancel a vacation and several speaking engagements while waiting for my hip/leg/back issues to resolve. As a result I’m ahead of schedule on research and brainstorming and want to turn recovery time into writing time as well.
- I started my research by reading Rally Rewind: 75 Years of Sturgis and paying special attention to accounts of details about the 1978 rally. That’s the year when See Jane Ride! takes place, and I want it to be as authentic as possible.
- Next up was an interview with my cousin who started attending the rally in 1977, an event he and his wife still participate in. He contributed several colorful memories that I can’t wait for Jane to experience too.
- Monthly calendars for June, July, and August of 1978 have been printed. The rally dates for that year, along with those for the Tipperary County Fair and Jane’s teacher inservice are on the calendar and ready to be consulted during the plotting workshop.
- Last but not least, you all came through with biker name suggestions. Here’s the complete list: Gunner, Rooster, Sweetie Pie, Tiny, Mouse, Crankshaft, Knucklehead, Loser, Skid, Smoke, Lifter, Flywheel, Flathead, Wanderer, Spoke, Burnout, and last but not least, Stryker the Biker and his sidecar sidekick, Hitch the Hiker.
Which one (or two) do you like best? Leave your favorites in the comment box. That’ll make my heart go pitter pat too.
by jphilo | Jan 11, 2024 | Mystery Update, See Jane Ride!, Sturgis rally
Do you want to help name a few characters who will appear in an upcoming West River Mystery? To be clear, I’m not talking about See Jane Dig!, the next book in the series which will be released in October of 2024. The characters in Dig! already have names and the first draft of the manuscript is with the editor. What I am talking about is the fifth in the series, See Jane Ride!
I know, it’s confusing. Thank goodness I like working ahead. Here’s the scoop on progress so far:
- Brainstorming for Book 5, See Jane Ride!, is underway.
- When brainstorming, ideas matter more than spelling. Be gentle regarding the brainstorming clip above.
- See Jane Ride! takes place in July of 1978.
- The Sturgis Motorcycle Rally will be woven into the plot. So will a few bikers.
- Sturgis rallies from the mid-seventies to mid-eighties were in the tens of thousands rather than the hundreds of thousands the event now boasts. Tens of thousands are still a lot of people in a town of under 10,000. Believe it or not, rallies were wilder and crazier back then than they are now.
- Some of those tens of thousands meandered into Harding County when we lived there. A few will wander through Tipperary County in See Jane Ride! also.
You’re invited to suggest names for the bikers who show up in the story. They’ll be big, beefy people (perhaps two men, though a man and a woman would be more interesting.) They’ll wear leathers and bandanas. That’s as far as my imagination will go until the two bikers are named. It’s hard for me to fully envision them until then.
They need names soon so I can write their character studies before meeting with my editor on February 14 to workshop the plot. (In honor of Valentine’s Day, a cherry pie will be in the oven. Dessert is good motivation for any task and the best way to celebrate a holiday.)
So I ask you again, do you want to help name a few characters for Book 5 in the series? If so, you can leave them in the comment section or click the contact button at the top of the page and send your ideas via email by February 1. I can’t wait to read your suggestions!
by jphilo | Dec 15, 2023 | Mystery Update
“Bud and Rachel have to be in your book,” my Harding County friend said as we sat down to coffee several years ago.
“But they sold their company to the West River Telephone Co-op the year before we moved to town,” I said.
“That’s a minor detail,” she said. “Besides, you’re writing fiction, right?”
“Okay,” I agreed, “tell me how their phone system worked.”
She didn’t need to describe Bud and Rachel because they and their mule lived in Camp Crook when we did. We saw them from time to time, the most notable being the night before we moved to Iowa in 1985 to be closer to hospitals where our son could be treated for his rare medical condition.
Hiram answered the door and invited Rachel inside.
“Me and Bud wanted to tell you goodbye and to give you this.” She handed us a back issue of the county paper, Nation’s Center News. “There’s an article about me and Bud in there. So you don’t forget us.”
“Thank you,” I said, noticing that she had written “Please look on page 3” above the masthead in spidery letters.
Next she gave Hiram an envelope. “It’s a little traveling money. For emergencies.” She smiled at our son, who’d had lots of medical emergencies since his birth three years ago.
Rachel and Bud were no strangers to childhood medical emergencies. Rachel was born with a cleft lip and palette in 1910 and was spoon fed Carnation canned milk during her early months. Eventually the people in the small Montana community where her family lived raised money so her mother could take her by train to Mayo Clinic for surgery. Bud lost his vision in a 1928 dynamite explosion when he was eleven.
Rachel’s surgery was successful but not elegant. Her speech was difficult to decipher, especially on the phone, but she never stopped talking or connecting calls. Bud’s decades-old scars were visible, but he climbed telephone poles and installed phones confidently.
I can’t imagine the West River Mysteries without Gus and Betty Yarborough, for whom Rachel and Bud were the prototypes. Betty is a vital communication (and gossip) hub in a time before cell phones. Gus and Betty exemplify the essential roles people with disabilities can play when given the opportunity to use their abilities.
As for the $35 Rachel and Bud gave us, it was the exact amount needed to pay for a new prescription medication our son needed on the trip to Iowa.
As for the newspaper article, it lives in a file in my office along with my most prized South Dakota memorabilia from our years there.
As for Rachel and Bud, you are remembered.
by jphilo | Dec 31, 2022 | Mystery Update, See Jane Dance!, See Jane Dig!, See Jane Run!, See Jane Sing!
Introducing the See Jane Run Advisory Board gives me great pleasure. The board’s formation came about when the 7 and 4-year-old grandchildren were back seat passengers in our car a few days after Christmas, 2022. Hiram was driving so I directed all my attention to the following conversation. It began when the 7-year-old became curious about the box on the seat between him and his sister. It contained copies of See Jane Run! and See Jane Sing!. The 7-year-old opened the box and used his burgeoning reading skills to read the titles, emphasis on burgeoning as you’ll see below.
“Is Seejane the girl on the front of these books?” he asked.
“Yes, but since there’s a space between ‘See’ and ‘Jane’ it’s pronounced ‘See Jane.'” I explained.
“Oh, I see. Jane is the girl. Why are there different covers?”
“Because they’re two different stories. The first is See Jane Run! and the second is See Jane Sing!”
“What kind of books are they?”
“They’re mysteries. Jane catches bad guys.” I added a bunch more, but all of you have heard the spiel, so there’s no need to subject you to it again.
The 4-year-old piped up. “Are you going to write more of these books?”
I told them about the upcoming titles, See Jane Dance! and See Jane Dig! With that the floodgates of their imaginations burst wide open.
“Grammy, you should write See Jane Christmas!” said the 7-year-old.
“That’s a great idea, and there’s actually a Christmas program in See Jane Sing!”
Back to the 4-year-old. “How about See Jane Halloween! instead?”
“I have a better idea,” said the 7-year-old. “See Jane Underground! where they go to London and catch bad guys in the underground subway.”
“Or See Jane Invisible Hole! where they dig a hole and it’s invisible and Jane jumps in and the bad guys don’t see it and they fall in…”
The 4-year-old went on and on, but I missed the gist of her plot line because my mind was on how anyone would see Jane do anything in an invisible hole.
“Grammy,” interrupted the 7-year-old. “You could make Jane statues to sell. And tee-shirts.”
“And earrings,” added the 4-year-old. “And you could give Jane a sword and a shield and a gun to shoot bad guys,”
“Jane doesn’t like guns. She doesn’t own one.”
The 4-year-old gasped and after a dramatic pause proclaimed. “You could write See Jane Freeze! and Elsa from Frozen could freeze the bad guys.”
“How would you two like to be members of the See Jane Advisory Board? I’ll serve treats at meetings.”
“Yes,” they shouted as my husband pulled into the garage.
That, dear reader, is the humble beginning of the See Jane Advisory Board. Leave a comment if you’d like to join the team. I’m not sure how much we’ll get done at our meetings. However, I can assure you that our gatherings will be entertaining and there will be treats!
by jphilo | Jul 28, 2022 | Mystery Update, See Jane Run!
See Jane Run! is gaining steam, and today’s post provides an update of what’s heating things up, what’s going on behind the scenes, and fun stuff to come.
Amazon reviews and ratings. Look at those numbers––25 Amazon reviews! That means Jane is halfway to 50, the magic number that will make Amazon algorithms sit up, take notice, and promote the book to a wider audience. See Jane Run! also has 52 ratings. While ratings don’t influence the algorithms like reviews do, they show that the book’s being read. That’s good news!
If everyone who rated See Jane Run! could be persuaded to write and post a review, it would reach the magic number in no time. And if there were reviews from everyone who’s read the book, imagine what that would do. I’ll tell you one thing that would happen. I’d record myself doing a happy dance and post it on social media. You heard it here first.
See Jane Run! audiobook is in production. How cool is that? I met with the voice artist a few weeks ago to discuss pronunciations, dialects, and such. She happens to be my niece who has speech communication and drama training. She teaches drama and directs plays in a large high school in the Des Moines Metro. Not only does she have the same midwestern speech patterns as Jane, she also has the teacher voice. I can’t wait to hear what she does with the narration.
The Harding County Fair. In a previous post, I wrote about our plans to attend the Harding County Fair this summer. (See Jane Run!’s Tipperary County is modeled after Harding County.) Those plans are complete, and we are looking forward to seeing old friends, meeting new ones, and showing off See Jane Run!. We’ll take oodles of pictures to show off the amazing beauty of the place where we once lived. I’ll be recording audio of people in the area to share with the voice artist and doing research for future books. It’s gonna be so much fun!
See Jane Run! is gaining steam and so is the entire West River Mystery Series. Stay tuned for updates about what’s happening with future books in the series.
