How To Write a Book, Or Maybe Just Mix This Cocktail

How Do You Write a Book? Here's Where I'd Start

People ask writers for writing advice. It's a thing that happens a lot on book tour. I think some writers are really vexed by questions about how to start a book, how to finish a book, how to revise a book...I mean, a book is a big complicated thing, and it's hard to boil down the process and explain it in a few minutes at a book event.

But...a woman at one of my Wisconsin events asked me how to start the memoir she wanted to write, and I realized that I do, in fact, have an answer to that question!

If you think you have a book in you, I have an idea about what you ought to do first. And second.

Head over to my website to read the whole thing.

Another Book, Another Book-Themed Cocktail

In Chapter 23 of Miss Kopp Just Won't Quit, divorce attorney John Ward makes a joke about a drink make with ginger ale, and then later suggests a cocktail called The Willful Deserter, which describes some of his clients. I put those two ideas together to offer up this delightful variation on a Moscow Mule.
 
The Willful Deserter
Juice of ½ lime
2 oz pineapple juice
2 oz vodka
4 oz ginger beer (such as Reed’s Ginger Beer)
Sprig of mint for garnish
Pineapple slice or lime slice for garnish
 
Combine the first three ingredients in a cocktail shaker and shake well with ice. Pour into a glass filled with crushed ice, top with ginger beer, and garnish.

And...there's a cocktail for every book in the Kopp Sisters series! You can find them all here.
 

I Made a Piggy Bank to Support a Good Cause.
 

Next to my desk is a dresser that I decoupaged with all the rejection letters I received over the years. (Well, not all of them. This is actually a selection of my best-looking and most prestigious rejections!)

Rejection letters are a thing of the past--not because I don't get rejected any more (I do!), but because it all happens by email nowadays. But if you're nostalgic for the days when a little letter from the New Yorker would drop through the mail slot with an elegant little note enclosed about how your work simply won't do--you can have some of mine!

I've decorated a piggy bank with miniature versions of my own rejection letters. It'll be auctioned off by the Book Industry Charitable Foundation, BINC, starting September 9.

Please go here to see many piggy banks decorated by many famous writers. The proceeds benefit BINC, which is a safety net for booksellers going through extreme hardship due to severe emergencies like a health crisis or the loss of a home. It's a worthy cause, and how cool would it be to own a little handmade literary artwork?

Hey, Are You In Australia, New Zealand, or the UK?

If you are, I'm doing something special just for you!

A couple of months ago, I announced that I'd persuaded my publisher to print 50 extra copies of my next book to give away to passionate Kopp Sisters fans who are willing to help spread the word about the series, both in real life and online.

And now my UK/AUS/NZ publisher, Scribe, wants in on the deal!

So:  If you are in any of these territories, and if you're a passionate reader who likes to review books online, post about books on social media, and generally kick up a fuss about books you love (and, uh, particularly the Kopp Sisters books), You do not have to be a social media superstar! If you're reading this, I really want you to get involved. We only have a few slots open, so please head over there now!

And if this is not your idea of a good time...I hope you'll stick around anyway, because I think we're going to be able to do more giveaways and good things for those of you in UK/AUS/NZ through this newsletter.

Here's a Great Movie You Will Love.

I saw this movie on the plane last month, and it absolutely knocked my socks off. Being George Clooney is a totally charming, funny, fascinating documentary about all the voice-over actors who give their voices to movie stars when American films are released overseas. 

You won't believe how many George Clooney sound-alikes there are around the world, and I think you'll be as fascinated as I was by this world I knew nothing about. It's one of those wonderful gems that lets you peek behind the scenes. I had no idea that some voice-over actors have followed the same star for their entire career--voicing Robert DeNiro for forty years, for instance.

Here's a trailer. You can watch it on Netflix. I hope you will.

Florida, New Jersey, Oregon, Washington, Mississippi, California, Texas, Arizona, Georgia, Massachusetts: I'm Coming to Visit! 

I would love to meet you in person--and I will have a present for you. It's just a small token of my affection, but it's something I'll only be giving to people on this list. So come up and introduce yourself, and tell me that you  subscribe to this newsletter!

St. Petersburg, FL: Sept 6-9 Bouchercon 
Tampa, FL: Sept. 10 Oxford Exchange
Mt. Dora, FL: Sept 11 Barrel of Books & Games
Sarasota, FL: Sept 12 Bookstore1Sarasota
Ridgewood NJ: Sept 17 Ridgewood Public Library
Portland, OR: Sept 19 Powells' Books
Seattle, WA: Sept 25 Third Place Books
Spokane, WA: Sept. 27 Spokane Is Reading
Florence, OR: Sept. 28 Florence Festival of Books
Oxford, MS: Oct 4 Off Square Books
Costa Mesa, CA: Oct 7 Ladies of Intrigue
Scottsdale, AZ: Oct 8 Poisoned Pen
Healdsburg, CA: Oct 10 Copperfield's Books
Palo Alto, CA: Oct 11 Books Inc
Mission Viejo, CA Oct 13 Books Are Better Shared
Atlanta, GA: Oct 18 Cherokee Garden Library
Houston, TX: Oct 20 Murder by the Book
Wellesley, MA: Nov 7 Authors on Stage (details to come)

More tour dates can always be found on my website. Please confirm details with the venue before you head out.

Are You on Goodreads? Win a Book!

Do you Goodreads? So do I! We are giving away 12 copies of Miss Kopp Just Won't Quit on Goodreads, and if you head over there by September 10, you can get in on the action!

As long as we're on the subject of Goodreads...it is super important in the book world. Believe it or not, booksellers, librarians, and publishers all see Goodreads ratings when they log into their own computer systems to decide what books to order and promote. By rating, shelving, reviewing, and even voting books up a list on Goodreads, you are speaking directly to the movers and shakers in the book world to tell them what you value. So please, spend a little time over there and offer up your opinions!

Here's the giveway. Good luck!

What Are You Reading?

Whoa! Here's a serious, well-researched, thoughtful, and also TOTALLY GRIPPING book about the very subject I've been circling in the Kopp novels--the detention of women during the early 20th century for so-called "morality crimes."

I dare you to read the first page and not be completely sucked in. The Trials of Nina McCall is worth a read, friends!

What are you reading? Find me on Goodreads or Litsy and let me know.