Sleuthsayers

Author's Guide to a Success-Free New Year

Author's Guide to a Success-Free New Year

I spent a stupid amount of time over the holidays consuming advice for authors in the form of articles, podcasts, and videos. Some of it was actually helpful. A lot of it was just nonsense designed to a) make you insecure, and b) spend money on whatever service the person doing the spouting was selling. Since the rise of self-publishing, a LOT of people are marketing courses and software for writers. I jumped for a lot of those things at the beginning, thinking it would give me the edge. But I’ve soured on most of it.

My latest post for SleuthSayers, the mystery writers blog, shows what happens when stuff annoys me…

Gaiman's Sherlock

Gaiman's Sherlock

January is revered by Sherlock Holmes geeks each year because the biggest Sherlock Holmes geek ever—the late William S. Baring-Gould—decreed that Sherlock’s presumed birthday is January 6th. The best-known mystery magazine, Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine, actually pubs a Sherlock Holmes issue each year at this time. And at the top of the year, I too try to do some sort of Sherlockian post at SleuthSayers, the mystery writers blog that I write for…

Rez Mysteries for Kids

Rez Mysteries for Kids

I’ve got a post running today over at SleuthSayers on the topic of indigenous mysteries for kids. November is the start of Native American Heritage Month in the United States, and I’ve wanted to talk about some of the books I picked up when we visited Cherokee, North Carolina, back in summer. The three I’m recommending today…

Meet My Dog!

Meet My Dog!

Today I’m talking about my dog over at the SleuthSayers blog for mystery writers. Writing about one’s pet probably does’t strike you as having anything to do with the mystery genre, but allow me to blow your mind with a few things. The Doberman breed, in particular, has strong ties to the military and law enforcement, in real life and fiction.

That’s one reason I hope you’ll stop by to check out my post.

The other reason is, yay, cute dogs! Ours is just over a year old, which means he is still very puppy-like in his looks and behavior, though growing fast…

Thinking About Short Stories

Thinking About Short Stories

When writing short stories, I focus on the plot, characters, and the setting of the world I’m creating. I tell it as well as I possibly can in the moment, and devote time afterward “polishing” that first draft.

On most stories, it typically takes me two to three days to reach the second draft phase. From there, it depends how much more time I’ll tinker with it.

Am I completely satisfied with it? If yes, then I stop and submit the piece to a market.

If not, more tinkering…

How I Organize My Life

How I Organize My Life

I used to think I could march my way through all my daily to-dos in an orderly fashion. But I soon realized that if didn’t write them down, I’d forget the one or two things I thought were important, and that would slowly drive me crazy. (This is aside from the fact that I never really complete everything on my to-do list. As soon as I cross off three things, another four or five take their place.)

I used to think I could keep track of these tasks digitally. I spent a lot of time and money on software applications. Probably the best I’ve found is called Things, and I still use it, though not as much as I used to.

Then I tried the Bullet Journal thing. That worked for a while, until I got tired of rewriting all the tasks at the end of the month. My wife loves the system, and still uses it religiously. Me, I grew to dislike carrying a large hardcover notebook everywhere I went. At $25 a pop, the price wasn’t doing me any favors, either.

So I regressed—back to the world I lived in the 1990s, when I first went freelance. This is what I use to organize myself these days…

Today on SleuthSayers...and Life

Gee—it is 2023 already?

I really dropped the ball. On. A. Lot. Of. Stuff.

Not gonna lie: 2022 was a shit show. I’ll explain why in the next couple of posts. We dealt with everything from a destructive water leak in the house to a death in the family and personal health crises.

When stuff like that happens, the last thing you’re going to prioritize is keeping up with your blog and updating your website.

Which brings me to today. As most of you know, I contribute a post every three weeks to SleuthSayers, a blog cooperatively written by a group of mystery writers who mostly write short stories. I’ve been good about posting there, but bad about posting the results here.

I’m proud of those posts. Because that longstanding blog has a built-in audience, I tend to spend a lot more time crafting those pieces, and they constitute actual personal essays on my part. It’s a form of writing that comes naturally to me, and I like having a complete record of them in one spot—here—my Internet home.

Today, for example, I’ve got a post running based on a history-based road trip we took this spring. We went to Annapolis for a wedding, then took a circuitous drive back home that took us to Philly, Baltimore, DC, Mount Vernon, and Williamsburg.

Today’s post is entitled The President Who Played Detective, and other adventures. That’s a reference to none other than George Washington. It was cool to stand in the man’s study, but even cooler to see how the estate remembers the 150 or so enslaved and free black Americans who are buried on the property.

I hope you’ll take the time to check it out.

In the next few weeks, I’ll be trying to revamp the site, clean up the links, and catch up with my past SleuthSayers writing in a logical fashion. I’ll also be sharing what’s been going on with my work, and Denise’s. She alone has had a flurry of books pubbed that also need some huzzahs, with a new one pubbing this fall for young readers.

Please stick around. I’m sorry for the long delay. Life was hard, then it got harder. And there was still so much work to do.

But right now, I’m enjoying the summer. The garden is the best we’ve had in a long time. Flowers and veggies growing abundantly that we have never been able to keep pest-free and healthy until this year.

If you like my work, kindly consider bookmarking SleuthSayers.org in addition to my site. Heck, go check the work of my wife, Denise Kiernan.

You can read about my most recent books elsewhere on the site. The two latest that I’m most excited about are the cozy mystery, Murder on Book Row, and the cross-gender Santa Claus fantasy, Sorceress Kringle.

That’s it for now. Gotta scoot. The garden’s not going to water itself.

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Garden image above by little ol’ me.

Catching Up on SleuthSayers (Again)

As most of you know, I contribute a post every three weeks to SleuthSayers, the mystery blog. I’ve been good about posting there, but bad about posting the results here.

So here’s a little catch-up to let you know what I’ve been writing there since late summer.

I offered some ideas about what types of promotional materials every author should be carrying in their wallets.

I talked about the time Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald stayed in my hometown…

I chased down the myths behind the writing of Poe’s Annabel Lee…

I talked about the time I paid a visit to three tragic gravestones in a NJ cemetery…

That’s all, folks! I’ll be up at SleuthSayers again this Friday, but these should catch you up until then.

If you like my work, kindly consider bookmarking SleuthSayers.org.

If you’re looking for reading material during these crazy times, I hope you’ll consider one of my books or my wife’s. If ever there was a time for escapism, it’s now!

Check out Denise’s latest book here: We Gather Together.

The e-book versions of both of my two most recent books, Murder on Book Row and the fantasy novel, Sorceress Kringle, are available at almost every online retailer. You can order print copies at the usual suspects online, or autographed copies from Malaprop’s, the bookstore in my nabe. They’re up and running, and shipping books all over the USA.

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Bookstore image above by @Paulinel via Unsplash.

Catching Up on SleuthSayers

For a host of reasons, I just haven’t been on the stick as well I have in the past. It’s easy to say that it’s Pandemic Brain Fog, but I just don’t know. I do know that I feel as if everyone has checked out this summer—even the people who are supposedly charged with important tasks related to my life and career. A a result, I find myself feeling two inches from INSANE every day.

To keep it together, I’m mostly focusing on trying to hit the deadlines and commitments I’ve made. One of those is the every-three-weeks blog post up at SleuthSayers, the mystery blog. I’ve been good about posting there, but bad about posting the results here.

So here’s a little catch-up to let you know what I’ve been writing there since early spring.

For Mother’s Day, I broke the code of omertà and shared memories of my late Mom.

I cast a gimlet eye at the traditional publishing world’s take on pandemic book sales.

I shared a story about my personal Proustian moment during the pandemic.

I read and recommended a number of middle grade book series to get kids hooked on Sherlock Holmes.

I invited author Terry Roberts to tell us a little about the hard-boiled detective at the center of his new book, My Mistress’ Eyes Are Raven Black.

That’s all, folks! I’ll be up at SleuthSayers again this Friday, but these should catch you up until then.

If you like my work, kindly consider bookmarking SleuthSayers.org.

If you’re looking for reading material during these crazy times, I hope you’ll consider one of my books or my wife’s. If ever there was a time for escapism, it’s now!

Check out Denise’s latest book here: We Gather Together.

The e-book versions of both of my two most recent books, Murder on Book Row and the fantasy novel, Sorceress Kringle, are available at almost every online retailer. You can order print copies at the usual suspects online, or autographed copies from Malaprop’s, the bookstore in my nabe. They’re up and running, and shipping books all over the USA.

Murder on Book Row and Sorceress Kringle, by Joseph D'Agnese

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Bookstore image above by @Paulinel via Unsplash.