All Things Writing Interview Today!

Dear friends,

If you get the chance, please visit my friend Kaye George's All Things Writing blog today, where she interviewed ME!  I KNOW, exciting, right?

Kaye was a tough interviewer, but asked questions that really made me think about my work.  And that's a good thing.

http://allthingswriting.blogspot.com/2012/07/interview-of-bobbi-chukran.html

And while you're at it, check out Kaye's excellent mystery series.

Happy trails!

bobbi c.

Sneak Peek! Cover Art for PRINCESS PRIMROSE & the CURSE OF THE BIG SLEEP

Dear friends,

This is the third cover I've done for my upcoming middle grade/'tweens book---PRINCESS PRIMROSE & the CURSE OF THE BIG SLEEP--From the Case Files of R. Rapunzel & S. White, In Service to Her Majesty, the Queen.

Yes, I should win an award for the longest titles in the world!  LOL.

The book is the novelization of one of my award-winning plays that I wrote a couple of years ago.  I couldn't leave those two crazy gals behind, so decided to turn the play into a series of books.  This is the first in the series.

 The artwork has morphed from showing a boring brown office door to a much brighter, colorful illustration featuring the two sleuths---S. White and R. Rapunzel.  In general, I probably need to flip them since I use Rapunzel's name first, but this is just a rough draft of the finished cover.

I can't decide if I love it or not enough to actually use it on the published book.  I'll have to ponder it a bit.  The thing about publishing e-books is that you need a color "cover" that's basically just an image that's used online.  It also has to show up well in black and white, which this one does.

 I'll probably go with this one, maybe with a few tweaks.  Once the cover is finalized, I have a few more edits to do on the text.  I also want to do some black and white line drawings for the inside, basically making it an illustrated chapter book.

From there,  it will go through my publishing committee (which consists of Me, Myself and I).  Bottom line---the book should be available for sale by the end of September, if not before.  I have to brush up (heh) on drawing witches, frogs, elves and other motley creatures.  :-D

Happy trails!

bobbi c.

Taking the day off...

Enough said!  LOL

Happy trails,

bobbi c.

Interview on No Wasted Ink

Check out my interview by Wendy Van Camp that appeared today on her No Wasted Ink writing blog.

http://nowastedink.com/2012/07/18/author-interview-bobbi-a-chukran

Thanks again, Wendy, for having me!

Happy trails,

bobbi c.

LONE STAR DEATH discounted on Amazon

Dear friends,

I was just notified that in their wisdom (and quirky marketing ways), Amazon has discounted my historical Texas mystery, LONE STAR DEATH, from $12.99 down to $9.35 with Free Super Saver Shipping if you buy at least $25 there.

http://www.amazon.com/Lone-Star-Death-Samantha-Emmeline/dp/1477673970

 So if you were on the corral fence, so to speak, about buying the paperback version, this would be a good time to do so.

And no, I don't know how long this price will last.  Wish I did!  Amazon didn't tell me nuthin'.  LOL.

Yeehaw!

Happy trails,

bobbi c.

Don't you hate it when this happens? Dreamus Interruptus!

Peeps!

So, I dreamed that I was in some sort of week-long camp of some kind with a lot of girlfriends.  I'm not sure where it was, but the Queen was supposed to make an appearance, and she invited me to have tea with her.  Not only once, but TWICE in one day.  Of course, this set me all a-flutter with anticipation.

Alas, Husband woke me up before I could actually do that, but I did catch a glimpse of her across the way.  Don't you hate it when that happens?  I call it "dreamus interruptus."  Turns out, it was Queen Floribunda, from my work-in-progress.  I'm pretty sure it wasn't THE Queen. Because well, um, they look a bit different.  I'm pretty sure Queen Floribunda's hat is pointy at the top, and THE Queen's isn't.

So, what brought this on, you might ask?  Well, I'll tell ya.  Yesterday I got one of my Wild Hairs that I often get, and decided that I wanted to not only do the cover for my upcoming PRINCESS PRIMROSE & the CURSE OF THE BIG SLEEP middle grade novel, but I also wanted to do some inside illustrations. In essence, it would be turning it into an illustrated chapter book instead of just a book with a color cover.  I spent hours looking at book covers online, working through a  few cartoon tutorials and learned how to draw a puppy, alien, and zombie.  All much needed skills.

This isn't totally outrageous, since I do have an (mostly unused) art degree.  But two years ago I announced that I was retiring from art.  It often takes me a while to process things, and to "get it."  I finally "got it."  I was doing a lot of really different and crazy drawings back then, using simple things like marker and ink, then decided to turn them into ginormous paintings.  That's where I took a wrong turn.  I should have stuck to the drawings, because that's where my absurd sense of humor really comes out.  The paintings were interesting, and colorful, but how many of these can one person really hang in a very small house?  You get the picture.  Yes, I sold a few of them to creative types who appreciate an absurd sense of humor.  (Thank you again, Little Sister!)

So, here's one of them. Yeah, I know it's a crappy photo.  Deal with it.  The point is---aren't those strange?  In an endearing sort of way?   I think at the time I was fighting an infestation of squash beetles in my Earthly Garden. 

So....the point to this is, maybe I can do the drawings for my book.  The cover is the hardest part, because it needs to appeal to adults with money, and the kids who will be reading the book.   (And practically, it has to look good in teeny-tiny size because it'll be an e-book at first.)  But if I can pull this off, well, heck, the sky's the limit. 

Because in those old sketchbooks I also  have a parade of crazy clowns, a whole lot of punkin head creatures, witches, cats with wings, strange and wonderful characters of all sorts who would just LOVE to get out and cavort around in a story of their own.

BTW, PRINCESS PRIMROSE is the novelization of my award-winning play I wrote back a few years ago. It's a hilarious mash-up fairy tale spoof featuring my series sleuths--R. Rapunzel & S. White, In Service to her Majesty the Queen.

Stay 'tooned for further developments.

Happy trails from la-la land!

bobbi c.

Looking for a Christmas Play?

Dear friends,

I just uploaded a long sample of my DOT & the (AMAZING TECHNICOLOR) QUEST FOR THE REAL SANTA CLAUSE on my website.  DOT is one of my family-friendly, award-winning comedy plays that has yet to have a production.  So it's a BRAND NEW, original play.  How about premiering it at your school or theatre?

Click on the title to see more information about the play and to download the PDF file.  I'll be happy to answer questions about royalty rates (affordable!), just e-mail me.

Happy trails!

bobbi c.

How to make a book trailer

Dear friends,

I'm pleased as punch at all the wonderful messages and such I'm getting today about my new book trailer for LONE STAR DEATH.  In general, the reviews are good and I've had quite a few views overnight.  And some even think that the "silent movie" treatment suits the book.  That's great, because I've still to figure out how to put audio with the thing.  Still, it was a first project, is a tad rough, but it did strike a fire in me to do more of them.

I've always loved multi-media projects.  Back in school, I was always the kiss-up who begged the teacher to let me run the film projector.  One of my projects for Speech class was a "multi-media extravaganza" using an opaque projector, cheap tape recorder, a poster and hand-outs.  LOL.  In college, while studying for my Early Childhood Education certificate (before my art degree), I took a few courses in multi-media where I got to play with bigger, fancier equipment.

Then, when I was chosen to set up one of the first Macintosh networks in Austin, I really had fun.  And recently, I've discovered GarageBand, iMovie, iTunes---and it's all multi-media again, just a bit more high-tech this time.

I had sort of forgotten about all this until I started messing around with Powerpoint two days ago.  I worked for Microsoft back when they first bought Powerpoint, and I have to say that it's been greatly improved since then.  It's still buggy as hell (LOL) but still fun to use for slide shows, etc.

So, this morning everyone's asking me HOW I made my book trailer.  Here's the short version:

It's not that hard to do--unless you want music in it.  Let's just say I'm a bit balder today from that audio thang.

Write a short script for the text, distilling your story into as few words as possible.  Mine is a tad long, but nobody's complaining much, yet, so I'll leave it for now.  The longer, though, the more memory it gobbles, so that's one consideration.  Audio also gobbles a LOT of memory.

Use Powerpoint and make a slide show, adding text, photos, pictures, whatever.  Then save it as a movie, and upload to YouTube.  That's the simplified version.

The long version-----insert where needed---pull at  your hair, go find some snacks, open a bottle of wine, drink a little, eat a little, drink some more, go yell at the cats who are scratching at the door wondering what all the strange noises are, go gobble down dinner, drink a little more wine----repeat.  Oh yes, and there was cursing.  Lots of cursing.

 The only step I didn't take, and should have, was to ingest massive quantities of chocolate. 

Maybe I'll try that today. 

Happy trails!

bobbi c.

Lone Star Death Slide Show

Lone Star Death by B. A. Neal

More PowerPoint presentations from bobbi chukran

Little Red Riding Boots is a Winner!

I'm pleased to announce that my LITTLE RED RIDING BOOTS & COOTER COYOTE, MASTER OF DISGUISE play won FIRST PLACE as well as AUDIENCE FAVORITE in the recent production in Williston, ND. 

The Summer Shorts 7: Animal Antics Festival, sponsored by Youth Education On Stage was directed by Jack Dyville.

LITTLE RED BOOTS is my Texas-style, insane crazy adaption of the Little Red Riding Hood story, except with a wiley coyote, a talking horse, fried chicken and an armadillo Sheriff ("Matt Dillo" natcherly).   As they say about most of my fairy tale mish-mashes, this ain't yo mama's fairy story!


Thanks to Jack Dyville, Director, and all the wonderful cast.

By the way, LITTLE RED BOOTS is available for productions right now.  Just e-mail me for details.


Happy trails!


bobbi c.

Now available in Print! Lone Star Death

For lovers of horse mysteries with feisty young female sleuths!

https://www.createspace.com/3910806

Now available in print

Self-Publishing is a whole new thing!

I'm publishing printed copies of LONE STAR DEATH for sale to libraries, schools, and of course, anyone who wants one. :-)  It's been quite an education going from a very old Word document, to a Kindle e-book format, to a Nook format, and now to a printed digital printed-on-demand format.

I published the trade paperback book through Createspace, Amazon's print-on-demand company.  Over all, it was a very easy process, and I'm still blown away by the idea that I can submit it today and get a finished paperback book next week.  WITH full color cover.  Amazing.  Technology has finally caught up to me.  Now all those finished books and manuscripts sitting in my drawer can see the light of day.

 I had to scramble around and design a logo to put on the cover, and came up with this simple design:

Publishing the first e-book is always the most complicated.  If I did dozens everyday, I could do it a lot faster.  But I've learned so much in the last month, I feel like my brain has been stretched.  
Next thing, I'm teaching myself to do book trailers.  Piece o' cake, right?  LOL!

The whole field of digital publishing  has given many authors a new way to get their writing out there.   And with print-on-demand, there are no returns, no wasted paper, no books sitting around in cartons collecting dust.

Amazing stuff, this e-publishing!

Oh, by the way, as soon as I get a copy of the printed cover, I'll post it.  It's different from the e-book cover, but still has that familiar horse on it.  :-D

Happy trails from Texas! 
bobbi c.
Lone Star Death
Available in Kindle, Nook and Printed editions (coming soon)

Featured on Literary Austin

I was pleased to see that I and my new book, Lone Star Death, are featured this week on Literary Austin. Thanks to Allyson Whipple for having me!

Happy trails!

bobbi c.

And the Doctor said...

Quote for the Day

"You want weapons? We're in a library.  Books!  Best weapons in the world!  This room's the greatest arsenal we could have. Arm yourself1"

--Doctor Who

One Little Thing---A free mystery short story

Mystery writers can be strange.  It's just the way we're drawn.  On one of my online listservs, we've been talking about the logistics of how to hide a body in a septic tank, a landfill or some other not-easily-located place.  On another list, we're talking about amateur sleuths and what bugs us about them.  I can't help myself sometimes; I just have that Inner Spoof thing going and this stuff has gotta come out!  When a member of the group mentioned the time worn idea that the amateur sleuth finds way too many bodies, this short story came to me.  Enjoy!  And yes, it's a spoof, and yes, it's the brand new, unedited version.  :-)

Happy trails y'all!

bobbi c./b.a. neal

http://bobbichukran.com

 -----

One Little Thing

By  B. A. Neal

“Aren’t you the one that found that body last year?  The one stuffed into the septic tank at that old farmhouse?” the Sheriff asked her.

“Well, yes, Sheriff, as a matter of fact, that was me,” she answered, modestly.

“And here you are again—right in the middle of another big mess!  How do you explain that?” he asked.

“I just have the knack, I guess.” She shrugged.

“Either that, or you’re the killer!”  He looked her up and down, suspiciously.

She smiled. “Who, me?  I’m just a little old lady who loves to knit.  I saw all the lights and thought I’d come over and check it out.  I’ll go back home now, if you don’t need my help.  I need to get two more rows finished on this damned afghan before bedtime.”

“No, we don’t need your help. Please go home.  We're the experts here."

She started to walk away, then stopped. “There is just this one little thing….” 

The End

--------------

Animal Antics! in Williston, North Dakota

Anybody near Williston, ND on the 19th through the 21st of this month?  That's coming up soon, folks!

If so, go see my LITTLE RED BOOTS & COOTER COYOTE, MASTER OF DISGUISE play at the Old Armory Theatre.  Wish I could be there, but I can't! 

Summer Shorts 7: Animal Antics, Youth Education On Stage, Williston ND June 19-20-21, 2012, directed by Jack Dyville.

LITTLE RED BOOTS is my Texas-style, insane crazy adaption of the Little Red Riding Hood story, except with a wiley coyote, a talking horse, fried chicken and an armadillo Sheriff ("Matt Dillo" natcherly).   As they say about most of my fairy tale mish-mashes, this ain't yo mama's fairy story!

Good luck to the cast, and break some legs!  :-)

Yeehaw!

bobbi c.

Writing is not a linear activity.

An oldie but goodie, reprinted from my previous writing blog......

Being a writer doesn't feel like you think it will...

When I was ten years old, writing my first poetry and submitting them to contests, I'm not sure what I thought the life of a "real" writer would be like. All I knew was that I loved to write, and wanted to do a lot of it. I don't really remember a lot more of how I felt back then.

But as I got older, perhaps a starry-eyed teenager, I guess I formed a picture in my mind of what it would be like when I finally became published, became well-known, or at least, well-read by intellectual types. Maybe I would sit at a wonderful old oak roll top desk, with a little lamp on the corner sporting a cheerful green glass shade. I thought I'd be sitting at that desk all day with an old typewriter clacking out page after page of wonderful Stuff. Or I'd be sitting by a crackling fire, sipping cognac, pondering Great Thoughts.

When it came time to go to college, I decided to major in art. To this day I wish ONE person had said “You have talent. You should write.” It took years of frustration trying to sell my artwork before I started writing about it instead and stumbled onto a whole new path.

Well, you know what? I finally got published. And it was NOT the way I thought it would be. My first desk was a fold-up, rickety card table in the corner of my bedroom in a low-rent apartment. I had an electric typewriter by then, but produced a manuscript using plain white paper and a lot of White-Out.

My first advance for a 250-page book was $500. In those days, that paid about two month’s rent and a few bills. Over the next few years, the royalties weren't much more than that. But I didn't care; I was published!

My first books were dry, dull, resource guides that took hours and hours of research and correspondence. After twenty plus years, even that got old, and my old dream started nibbling at the corners of my mind. To tell stories--that was the dream.

You think you’ll sit down, and begin at the beginning, and write a story from beginning to end. You think that if you have your little stack of color-coded index cards, that you’ll have your plot all worked out, nice and neat. Little do you know that once you put two characters in a room alone, they’ll start a conversation and pass you by so fast your head will spin. You’ll have no control over them, what they say or do. You’ll be freaked out about this, but go with it.

You won’t have set hours to work. You’ll feel like crap all day, have a cup of tea at 5pm, then next you know it’s 4am, you’re freezing, and you have a stack of pages beside you. You have no idea what you wrote, or where it came from.

You feel Out of Control. You are a writer.

You think that you’ll “dream up” the beginning of a story, and if you keep working on it, you’ll work straight through from beginning to end. Nope. Doesn’t work that way. The first inkling you have of a story might be a snippet of conversation you hear over breakfast in the neighborhood diner…”…after my first son was born, I had a flap of skin that hung down to the floor, honey…” Take that and go with it. Turn it into a character. Write about her, then see what she wants to do. Or it might be a news story you hear in passing about a mutant rodent. Go with it.

Here’s the Big Secret that it took me years to learn. You don’t always start at the first sentence. Writing is not a linear activity, it’s more of a spiral thing. It’s organic, it grows, a little this way, a little out that way. You don’t have to know the ending until you get there! Wow, what a mind-boggling idea that is!

I sure wish I’d known this before the age of 50. I think it would have helped me be a little freer with my writing and get to the authentic stuff before now. I would have written more without having to know the first sentence. I would have paid better attention to the folks in the back corners of old diners.

Here’s the other Big Secret…you are not in control. Not really. You are a writer.

Bobbi A. Chukran
Copyright 2010

Now available for the Nook on Barnes & Noble

Less than 2 days later, my novel Lone Star Death went live and for sale on Barnes & Noble, in Nook e-book format.  Click on the links below to be magically whisked away to the Amazon.com or the Barnes & Noble sites where you can read free samples of the book, or to order. :-)

 

Purchase from Barnes & Noble for the Nook

Purchase from Amazon.com for the Kindle

Happy trails from Texas!  bobbi c.

AKA "B.A. Neal"

LONE STAR DEATH for the Nook!

Dear peeps,

After a lot of hair-pulling, cussin' and cursin', I finally got my new mystery novel, Lone Star Death, formatted correctly and uploaded to the Barnes & Noble website (in spite of hours of "technical difficulties" where I wasn't sure if it was something I did, or something really wrong with their system.  Yep, it was THEM. :-) )

Hopefully, within 24 to 72-hours, it will be published and available to buy there for the Nook.  Yay!

It's a minor thing in the grand scheme of things, but a milestone for me.  It's been years since any of my printed (on paper!) books have been for sale in the Barnes and Noble stores.  I'm just glad I'm able to make the book available for the folks who have Nooks AND Kindles.

And since I still love holding books in my hot little hands, AND love seeing my books on library shelves, I'll be signing up with CreateSpace to make that happen.  Soon, very soon.

Ginger Snap Ann says "You can't sit on an e-book, dagnabbit! Whassup with THAT?"

Baby steps, people, baby steps!

Happy trails from Texas--
bobbi c.
http://bobbichukran.com

LONE STAR DEATH--now available!

Now available for sale on Amazon.com, for the Kindle. 
BUY LONE STAR DEATH here.

And remember, you don't have to own a Kindle to read Kindle books.  You can download free reading software on Amazon.com.

Happy trails!

bobbi c.