"A Crushing Death" by F.M. Meredith

I'm thrilled to have Marilyn Meredith visiting with us today as one of the stops on her blog tour for her new release. I've read the other books in her Rocky Bluff PD mystery series and I'm looking forward to reading "A Crushing Death."

Marilyn Meredith (aka F.M. Meredith) and Craig Johnson

Patricia: Marilyn, when did you know that you wanted to be a writer?

Marilyn: Very soon after I learned how to read.  My first long efforts began after reading the Little House on the Prairie books. I wrote my own version of one. And no, I don’t have a copy, it was when I was about 10 or 11. Sometime in that same period I wrote and illustrated a book about a fairy—and I received my first rejection from a publisher. The note told me to keep on writing.

                                          

Patricia: If, for some reason, you couldn’t be a writer, what profession would you have chosen?

Marilyn: I’ve had several other jobs or professions while being a writer and I’ll start with my first:

I had my first babysitting job when I was 10 and it was with 4 tiny tots. I fell asleep and the parents couldn’t wake me to let them in—they had to go to a pay phone and call me. Despite that I continued to babysit until I married and left home.

My first paying job as a married woman was as a telephone operator, information and long distance. I did that off and on for years.

Teacher in a pre-school for developmentally disabled children. I worked there for 10 years and was one of my favorite professions. I also taught in two different day cars in low-income areas, and was also a teacher in a pre-school for disadvantaged and non-English speakers.

For over 23 years I owned and operated a residential facility for 6 women with developmental disabilities. Another of my favorite professions. During that same time period I organized, ran and taught accredited classes for people who wanted to have licensed adult residential facilities as well as required continuing education classes.

I am still writing a newsletter for residential care administrators.

You can probably guess why I’m not doing a lot of the professions I enjoyed. Yes, I’m getting older and don’t have the physical energy to do what is required for those jobs.

Patricia: Do you have a bucket list, things you still want to do and/or places you want to visit?

Marilyn: I no longer enjoy traveling as I once did, so I’ll never be traipsing off to faraway places. I have been to Alaska and Hawaii twice, Mexico several times and visited many of the states. We once tent-camped from California to Maryland and back—and I never tent camped again. I do hope to continue wandering about my home state of California and especially trips to the coast. As far as what I want to do, I hope to be able to continue giving talks to writers groups, going to book and craft fairs, and mystery conferences.

I’m thankful I’ve had such a rich life full of family and wonderful friends, and many adventures.

Some of you who have more exciting bucket lists than mine, share some in the comments.

A pile of rocks is found on a dead body beneath the condemned pier, a teacher is accused of molesting a student, the new police chief is threatened by someone she once arrested for violent attacks on women, and Detective Milligan’s teenage daughter has problem.

Buy link: http://www.amazon.com/Crushing-Death-Rocky-Bluff-P-D/dp/1610092260/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1457618775&sr=8-1&keywords=A+Crushing+Death+by+F.M.+Meredith

Bio:

F. M. Meredith who is also known as Marilyn Meredith is nearing the number of 40 published books. Besides being an author she is a wife, mother , grandma and great-grandmother. Though the Rocky Bluff she writes about is fictional, she lived for over twenty-years in a similar small beach town. Besides having many law enforcement officers in her family she is counts many as friends. She teaches writing, loves to give presentations to writing and other groups, and is a member of Mystery Writers of America, three chapters of Sisters in Crime and on the board of Public Safety Writers Association.

Website: http://fictionforyou.com

Blog: http://marilynmeredith.blogspot.com

Facebook: Marilyn Meredith

Twitter: MarilynMeredith

Contest: Once again, the person who comments on the most blogs during this tour, can have a character named after them in the next Rocky Bluff P.D. mystery. Tomorrow you can find me here:

http://www.auntiemwrites.com/

New Release: Violent Departures

I'm thrilled to have author Marilyn Meredith as my guest today as part of her blog tour for her new release. I'm in awe of Marilyn, who writes two mystery series and is active in her church and in numerous writing groups. Somehow, she manages to juggle all of that and still spend quality time with her family. I've asked her to write about how she keeps track of all of her characters and what's gone on with them in previous books. Here's what she had to say.

 

Keeping Track of Characters and What’s Happened

I know the ongoing characters in my Rocky Bluff P.D. mystery series quite well, including what they look like and what’s happening with them. I know how they will act in certain situations. Actually, I know more about them then I do my own family members—because I know how my characters think.

I must admit, I’m not so good at remembering what kind of cars they drive. Sometimes I have to make a search in other manuscripts to find out.

I’ll make a confession here, after I’ve written the first draft of a manuscript, I always find inconsistencies and ideas that I didn’t complete. (Sometimes I don’t find them at all, and hopefully the editor does. Unfortunately, a few times it’s been a reader who pointed something out to me.)

My ways of doing things have changed through the years. When I’m starting a new book now, I begin by jotting things down in a notebook, including new characters’ names and descriptions. I write down the main plot—at least as much as I know at the time and situations I plan to put my ongoing characters into.

While I’m actually working on the book, I keep a timeline of what’s happening each day. This helps a lot. I started doing this when in one book I wrote, I skipped a whole day—a person doing a pre-pub review caught it—thank goodness.

I know there are all kinds of computer programs to keep track of all this, but at this stage in my life, I don’t feel like learning how to use another program.

So that’s the answer to the question—it may not be the best way, but this is what works for me.

F. M. aka Marilyn Meredith

Marilyn and her husband, Hap, in church

F.M. Meredith, also known as Marilyn Meredith, is the author of over thirty published novels. Marilyn is a member of three chapters of Sisters in Crime, Mystery Writers of America, and on the board of the Public Safety Writers of America. Besides having family members in law enforcement, she lived in a town much like Rocky Bluff with many police families as neighbors. 

Violent Departures:

College student, Veronica Randall, disappears from her car in her own driveway, everyone in the Rocky Bluff P.D. is looking for her. Detective Milligan and family move into a house that may be haunted. Officer Butler is assigned to train a new hire and faces several major challenges.

Buy link: http://tinyurl.com/jvmubw5

Contest:

Because it has been popular on my other blog tours, once again I’m offering the chance for the person who comments on the most blog posts during this tour to have a character named for him or her in the next Rocky Bluff P.D. mystery.

Or if that doesn’t appeal, the person may choose one of the earlier books in the series—either a print book or Kindle copy.

Links:

Webpage: http://fictionforyou.com/

Blog: http://marilynmeredith.blogspot.com/

Facebook: https://facebook.com/marilynmeredith

Tomorrow I’m answering the question, After So Many Books, How Do You Get Fresh Ideas? At  http://lesleyadiehl.com/