Shepherd's Crook Launch to Benefit Rescued Aussies

Shepherd’s Crook, Animals in Focus Mystery #4 from Midnight Ink, is officially launched!

To celebrate the launch  I'm once again teaming up with Pomegranate Books from now through Oct. 20 to benefit ARPH (Aussie Rescue & PlacementHelpline). Two former ARPH dogs, Lilly and Edith Ann, have important roles in the book. In fact, Lilly is pawtographing copies of Shepherd's Crook at the Australian Shepherd national specialty show this week week. But not everyone can go, so we're also offering signed copies online, with 10% going to support ARPH’s efforts on behalf of rescued Aussies. You can order your book(s) here.

Lilly, owned & loved by Jean Becker Inman, was
adopted from Aussie Rescue & Placement Helpline -
ARPH. Last year, Lilly won an ARPH fundraiser raffle
for a role in SHEPHERD'S CROOK, the 4th book
in my Animals in Focus Mysteries

SHEPHERD'S CROOK - Fifty-something animal photographer Janet MacPhail and her Australian Shepherd, Jay, set out to help locate a missing flock of sheep. But when thievery turns to murder, Janet finds herself in the killer's crosshairs. #4 in the Animals in Focus Mystery series by Sheila Boneham. Learn more here. 

Edith Ann was born into Aussie
Rescue, fostered by Kay Marks,
on December 27, 2012. Her
mama was an Aussie, and her
daddy? Who knows? And who
cares? Owner Kathy Glaes writes,
“She is energetic and funny and
loveable, and will fetch balls or
frisbees until the humans are
pooped. Then she will look for a
tuggie or will play with Happy.
She is a very lucky dog, having
won contests, raffle prizes, a spot
 in a calendar, and a turn as a
character in Shepherd’s Crook!”

"Solid writing and unexpected plot twists help make this series a delightfully fun and rewarding read." - Cynthia Chow in King's River Magazine Lite

"Smart characters and intricate plotting."—BOOKLIST

“Janet MacPhail's latest adventure will delight dog lovers, cat lovers, and mystery lovers.” —Susan Conant, author of the Dog Lover's Mystery Series

Sheila Webster Boneham writes fiction, nonfiction, and poetry, often focusing on animals and environment. She is the author of the Animals in Focus Mystery series. Drop Dead on Recall, the first in the series, won the 2013 Maxwell Award in Fiction from the Dog Writers Association of America Award, and The Money Bird was a 2014 finalist. The fourth book, Shepherd's Crook, will be out this fall. She is also the author of 17 nonfiction books, six of which have won major awards from the Dog Writers Association of America and the Cat Writers Association as well as a number of essays, short stories, and poems. Boneham has shown her Australian Shepherds and Labrador Retrievers in various canine sports and participated with them in canine-assisted therapy. She has bred top-winning Aussies, and founded rescue groups for Aussies and Labs. Boneham holds a doctorate in folklore from Indiana University and an MFA in creative writing from the Stonecoast program at the University of Southern Maine. For more information, visit SheilaBoneham.com.

Shepherd's Crook Cover Reveal!

I'll be writing about the making of this lovely cover for Animals in Focus Mystery #4 on June 28, but in the meantime, here 'tis! What do you think?

And in the meantime, check out the making of the Catwalk cover. 

Sheila                         

Animal photographer Janet MacPhail has just arrived at a sheep-herding competition with her Australian Shepherd, Jay, when she learns that two dozen sheep have disappeared. Police think the animals have wandered off in search of greener grass, but Janet sees and hears things that convince her the sheep's owners are right—the animals have been stolen.

Janet knows she should leave the snooping to the police while she attends to her own problems—new living arrangements, her mom's wedding plans, puppy and kitten antics, and extremists bent on keeping people from having pets. But when a livestock handler turns up dead and the sheep's owner disappears, the police and a pair of thugs pay Janet way more attention than she likes. She sets out to find answers, putting herself and those she loves in the killer's crosshairs.

Praise:

“A woolly tale sure to delight both animal lovers and mystery fans. Shepherd’s Crook knits together a unique setting, likable characters, and a mystery that will keep you guessing.”—SPARKLE ABBEY, AUTHOR OF THE PAMPERED PET MYSTERIES

Sheila Webster Boneham is the author of the Animals in Focus Mystery series. Drop Dead on Recall, the first in the series, won the Dog Writers Association of America Award in Fiction, Mystery, or Humor. She is also the author of 17 nonfiction books, six of which have won major awards from the Dog Writers Association of America and the Cat Writers Association. For the past two decades Boneham has been showing her Australian Shepherds and Labrador Retrievers in various canine sports. She has also bred top-winning Aussies, and founded rescue groups for Aussies and Labs. Boneham holds a doctorate in folklore from Indiana University and resides in Wilmington, N.C. For more information, go to SheilaBoneham.com.

                   

One Writer's Work & Working Process

by Sheila Webster Boneham

Whenever I speak to readers and other writers, certain questions about my work and my work habits tend to come up frequently. I thought I would ask and answer a few of the common ones today.

What am I working on?

As usual, I'm working on several projects. One is novel set in the high desert of Nevada. It's about half finished, and I have worked on it in fits and starts between other books already under contract. I just delivered Shepherd's Crook, the fourth book in my Animals in Focus mystery series, to the publisher -- look for it fall 2015 -- and I'm playing with ideas for possible new series. I also write "creative nonfiction," including a number of essays published in the past year, and I have a memoir about dogs, family, and other things underway, as well as several new essays, short stories, and poems in various states of completion. Writer's block has never been a problem for me!

How does my work differ from others of its genre?

Good question, and the answer depends on which of my works we mean. For now, I'll stick to my mysteries. The Animals in Focus series has (surprise!) animals who are vital characters in the stories. They are not, however, "humanized." They don't solve crimes or answer phones, and I don't presume to speak for them other than through their own behavions. In other words, in contrast to a lot of fictional animals, I strive to make mine as realistic as possible. 

The main human characters in my books are in their fifties and sixties and very active, and that's a little strange in genre fiction, it seems.

Before I turned to fiction and literary nonfiction, I wrote seventeen books about dogs, cats, and animal rescue. Breed Rescue (Alpine Publications, 1998), winner of the 1998 Maxwell Award from the Dog Writers Association of America, was the first comprehensive book about starting and running a canine rescue program, and Rescue Matters! (Alpine Publications, 2009) expanded the scope to include cats and other household pets. 

 

Why do I write what I do?

That is an interesting and, I think, unanswerable question. In creative work, I'm not sure that we entirely choose our subjects or our genres. A psychologist might get to the bottom of some of my reasons for writing what I do, and occasionally I have some deep and startling insight as I'm writing or walking (or dreaming). But all in all, it's all a bit mysterious.

How does your writing process work?

I'm never entirely sure what people mean when they ask this. What I think of as my process, though, is this: I write every morning, and I have done so for years. Now, when I say "every morning," I mean almost, because there are days in which something else intervenes. But for the most part, I do begin my days by writing. I tend to fiddle for the first half hour or so, figuring out what I want or need to work on. Then I get down to it, and if I'm really lucky, I enter the deep, enveloping "flow," a creative place not unlike runner's high. Then I'm no longer in control, and all I can do is set the words down on the screen or, more rarely these days, on paper. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sheila Webster Boneham is an award-winning writer who writes across genres and interacts across species. She is the author of the best-selling Animals in Focus mystery series from Midnight Ink and of seventeen nonfiction books, including Rescue Matters: How to Find, Foster, and Rehome Companion Animals (Alpine Publications, 2009, updated 2013). Sheila also writes creative nonfiction, literary fiction, and poems, and she teaches writing classes and offers individual mentoring for aspiring writers. Find her online at www.sheilaboneham.com, on Facebook, or by e-mail. Sheila runs the Writers & Other Animals blog and the companion Facebook group. Sheila holds a PhD in folklore from Indiana University and MFA in creative writing from the Stonecoast Program, University of Southern Maine. 

Excerpt from A Killer Retreat by Tracy Weber

In this excerpt from A Killer Retreat, Kate, Michael, and German shepherd Bella explore the grounds of Elysian Springs Resort and stumble across an area that will later prove to be more important than they could ever imagine….

When I caught up with them, I grabbed Bella’s leash in one hand and held Michael’s fingers in the other. The three of us crunched along the center’s network of interconnecting trails as we explored our new territory in the daylight. Bella weaved happily back and forth at the end of her leash, sniffing for hidden treasures, while I took deep breaths of pine-scented air, which was still redolent with ozone from the prior night’s storm. Golden oak leaves waved from the branches above and peppered the permanent carpet of pine needles covering the ground.

Last night the grounds seemed desolate; this morning, they bustled. Fellow vacationers sipped mugs of coffee and smiled friendly hellos. Maintenance staff scurried by on electric golf carts. Gardeners harvested, fertilized, and planted cover crops in a huge, fenced-in garden. A sign at the gate read, “Welcome to the Garden of Eden. Visitors are welcome, but please keep pets outside.” I smiled at the word play. Eden was the name of Elysian Springs’ organic vegan restaurant. The garden must supply at least some of the restaurant’s produce.

We wandered along the fence past beds of dark green kale, deep purple cabbage, and beige, peanut-shaped butternut squash. A few feet from the end of the garden, we discovered the free range enclosures of several of the center’s happy-looking animal residents. A dozen clucking hens seemed to smile as they pecked at the earth around their whitewashed henhouse. Next door, several ducks splashed happily in a bright blue wading pool, near a pair of fluffy white rabbits who sunned themselves in the corner of a huge fenced-in hutch. We even found a half-dozen floppy eared goats eating their way through a wall of blackberry bushes in an otherwise vacant field.

We hiked on the center’s property for over forty-five minutes, discovering quaint wooden cabins, hidden camp sites, even an old, rusted-out boat that had been abandoned on one of the property’s two private beaches. At the end of the beach, we turned left and continued walking—uphill now—away from the water. The trail ended at the edge of a cliff and a campsite labeled “Suicide Bluff.” Obviously someone’s idea of a joke. A squirrel chirped angrily from above, as if warning us away from his favorite hiding place.

I stood near the bluff’s jagged rock outcroppings, entranced by the view. Greenish-blue water extended for miles and birthed powerful waves that crashed over fifty feet below. The smooth, crescendoing sound was both calming and awe-inspiring at the same time. I moved closer to the edge, as if hypnotized.

“Kate, what are you doing? Get away from there.” Michael pointed to a sign several feet behind me.

“Danger. Cliffs are unstable. Walking prohibited less than three feet from edge.”

As if on cue, a rock broke free and clattered over the edge. I took several large steps back. “Suicide Bluff” suddenly felt more like a warning than a quip. The steep, dark cliffs dared me to come closer. Goaded me. Urged me to jump. An inexplicable chill burned the back of my neck. I couldn’t explain it, but the cliffs felt malevolent—evil somehow. Like they hungered for human sacrifice.

I looped Bella’s leash handle around my wrist and pulled her in closer. Gorgeous view or not, I wouldn’t come back here again. I didn’t trust this place.

“Michael, let’s go.”

The wary look on his face mirrored my own. He laced his fingers through mine and we hurried away, back toward our cozy little cabin, where the three of us would presumably be safe.

***

Tracy Weber is the author of the award-winning Downward Dog Mysteries series featuring yoga teacher Kate and her feisty German shepherd, Bella. Tracy loves sharing her passion for yoga and animals in any form possible. The second book in her series, A Killer Retreat, will be published January 8, 2015, by Midnight Ink.

Tracy and her husband live in Seattle with their challenging yet amazing German shepherd Tasha. When she’s not writing, Tracy spends her time teaching yoga, walking Tasha, and sipping Blackthorn cider at her favorite ale house. 

Visit her at TracyWeberAuthor.com

Excerpt from Murder Strikes a Pose by Tracy Weber

In this excerpt, Kate is at home late at night after finding her homeless friend George’s body. She has taken Bella, the victim’s dog, home to stay with her until the police locate his family. Kate feels guilty over a fight she had with George earlier that day.  

I looked at the clock and almost cried. It was one-thirty, and my early morning class started at six. I’d never felt so bone-weary in my life. My head still throbbed, and my stomach ached from hunger. But all I could think about was sleep—deep, dreamless sleep. “Come on, Bella. It’s bedtime.” I showed her the bedroom. She hopped on the bed and flopped down, lying squarely on my pillow.

“Sorry, pooch. This is where I draw the line. I sleep on the bed. You sleep on the floor.”

I grabbed a blanket from the closet, laid it on the floor and pointed to it. “For you.” It took some convincing, but Bella finally relented. I collapsed on the bed and closed my eyes.

Huge mistake.

Images of George’s body, sounds of sirens, the smell of blood, and the full knowledge of the evening’s horror invaded every crevice of my being.

Bella paced the room, panting and whining. I tried to coax myself to sleep with “Kate’s Sleeping Pill,” my favorite breath practice for insomnia. No good. The horrible memories refused to leave. But at least now the room was quiet. At least that infernal whining had stopped.

My mind froze. My eyes flew open. Why had the whining stopped?

I rolled over and locked eyes with Bella. Her accusing glare scolded me. We stared each other down for what seemed like an eternity. Finally, I realized what was bothering her. Bella was used to sleeping on the ground, but not alone. She and George had lain next to each other every night for as long as she could remember. Changing that now seemed cruel.

“OK, you win. Come on up, but only for tonight.” I slapped the bed beside me.

Bella hopped up, turned a quick circle, and sank down next to me with a heavy sigh. Her brow furrowed, her ears drooped, and her head hung low. I could tell she knew something had changed. She didn’t know what or why, but she knew it was bad. Frighteningly bad. Life-changingly bad.

I suspected Bella couldn’t understand me, but she deserved an explanation nonetheless. So I told her that George was gone, but that he had loved her more than anything. I also promised her that, although I couldn’t keep her, I would make sure she was safe until I found someone who could.

I owed that to George.

You see, I firmly believed that George’s death was at least partially my fault. That if I had listened more and judged less, I might have prevented this awful night. I deeply regretted my stubbornness in not apologizing. I regretted suggesting he euthanize Bella. I even regretted not buying that damned paper. No one else would have blamed me for what happened, but I definitely blamed myself.

As I finished the story, Bella rested her chin on my belly, closed her eyes, and fell asleep. The warmth of her body on mine felt oddly comforting, and I finally relaxed enough to do what I’d needed to do for hours. I broke down sobbing as I held Bella and allowed her rhythmic breathing to rock us both to sleep.

~~~

Murder Strikes a Pose introduces Kate Davidson, a feisty Seattle yoga instructor who’s more interested in savasana than solving crimes, until she stumbles over a body in the studio’s parking lot. The police dismiss the murder as drug-related street crime, but Kate knows that George—a homeless alcoholic she had befriended—was no drug dealer.

Kate stretches herself and takes on two new challenges. First, solve George’s murder. Second, find someone—anyone—willing to adopt his intimidating, horse-sized German shepherd, Bella, before Animal Control sends her to the big dog park in the sky. But with Bella’s time almost up and the murderer hot on her trail, Kate will have to work fast, or the next time she practices corpse pose, it may be for real

MURDER STRIKES A POSE is available now on Amazon, http://www.amazon.com/Murder-Strikes-Pose-Downward-Mystery/dp/0738739685/ and wherever books are sold.

Tracy Weber is a certified yoga teacher and the founder of Whole Life Yoga, an award-winning yoga studio in Seattle, where she currently lives with her husband and German shepherd. Weber is a member of the Pacific Northwest Writers Association, Dog Writers Association of America, and Sisters in Crime. She loves sharing her passion for yoga and animals in any form possible. Murder Strikes a Pose is Weber’s debut. For more information, visit her online at http://TracyWeberAuthor.com  or friend her on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/tracywe

Plotting a Series & Launching a New Book!

by Sheila Webster Boneham

Happy launch day to me! Catwalk, Animals in Focus Mystery #3, is now available! (Please see some purchase options at the bottom, or ask your local library to get all three Animals in Focus mysteries!

"I love the series because it is well written and the mystery is well thought out and plotted. The book works perfectly as a stand alone if this is your introduction, but I always add the caveat, start from the first and work your way through the series, it makes for a much richer experience. Once again, Sheila has brought us a winner with ♥♥♥♥♥" -- Kate Eileen Shannon, author of the Brigid Kildare mystery series 

Developing the plot of a book is one thing. Developing an ongoing “plot” for a series is something else entirely. Each individual book needs to have its own story arc and each major character needs to develop in her own way, but each book also needs to fit into a longer story that progresses through the sequence of books.

There are many ways to structure a series. In the case of my Animals in Focus mysteries, I see three driving forces behind the individual books and the ongoing series “story”—characters, animal-oriented activities, and critical issues.

I have no idea who these handsome
fellows are, but they could be Tom
and Drake from my series!

Let’s start with the characters, because to me they are the essence of the stories. Fifty-something animal photographer Janet MacPhail, her Australian Shepherd Jay, and her orange tabby Leo are at the heart of the series right from the start. Other essential characters include a good-looking anthropologist, Tom Saunders, and his black Labrador Retriever, Drake, who are both “persons of interest” to Janet. The progress and pitfalls of their developing relationship begins in book one, Drop Dead on Recall, develops in book two, The Money Bird, and hits a wall in book three, Catwalk. And in book four….well, I can’t tell you what I’m planning next!

The real Leo.

Another story line involves Janet’s relationship with her mother, who is battling dementia. In book one, Janet has to move Mom to a nursing home, and she isn’t going quietly. The nursing home that Janet moves her mother to is a good one, though, using several innovative approaches, including therapy animals and a therapy garden, which may be of interest to some readers. In book two, Mom is reasonably settled into her new life, but not so much that she can’t raise an occasional ruckus. And in Catwalk—something happens, but I don’t want to give it away. I guess you’ll have to read the book to catch up with Mom’s latest.

Janet’s neighbor and best friend, Goldie Sunshine, has ever more prominent roles as the series develops, and as so Janet's brother, Bill, and his husband, Norm. And then there’s Giselle Swann, who is on a trajectory even I didn’t see coming when I wrote the first book. (Understanding such characters’ stories is one reason to start at the beginning of a series, although each of my books can stand alone.)

The real Jay.

The plot of each book in the series sees Janet focusing on one or two of the animal sports or activities that she enjoys with Jay and Leo. In fact, each of the titles comes from the sport that’s in the spotlight. Luckily , Janet’s beau, Tom, is also active in dog sports with Drake, so they go to a lot of events together. In Drop Dead on Recall, we begin at an obedience trial and see Janet at training sessions and a rescue event. The title comes from an exercise in open-level obedience compeition called the “drop on recall.” In The Money Bird, Tom and Drake are training for an advanced retriever hunt test title, and Janet tags along to take photos. That title comes from a term used in field trials—the “money bird” is the last bird a dog retrieves, without which there is no money, or prize.

In Catwalk, Janet’s lovely cat, Leo, gets to show his stuff in feline agility. He’s already proven himself a hero in book one, but not he gets to play. And Jay, too, is running with Janet in dog agility, plus doing a bit of tracking. The next book, which is in progress at the moment and scheduled for fall 2015, finds Jay herding sheep and Janet doing her best to keep up. Across the course of the series, Janet continue to train in all her favorite sports, so the level at which she and Jay and Leo are training increases as we move forward.

Each book in the series also has a mystery, of course, and a murder or two, and those are linked (or not!) to a real-life issue. In Drop Dead on Recall, breeder ethics, animal rescue, and runaway competitiveness all come to the fore. In The Money Bird, the larger issue is illegal trafficking in endangered birds. The title, then, extends beyond retriever trials to the dirty money made by smugglers. In Catwalk, Janet finds herself drawn into the politics of feral cat colonies and trap-neuter-release programs as well as uncontrolled land development. I try not to beat my readers up with too much information, but I do hope that the books may lead some people to learn more about the issues.

Now I’m wrapping up book four. I won’t say much about it at this point, except that Jay gets to do what Australian Shepherds are bred to do—herd the woollies!--and there may be a two-legged varmint in the flock. And, of course, all the other series threads continue to continue!

Catwalk

Click to learn how this
photo became a book cover!

Animal photographer Janet MacPhail is training for her cat Leo’s first feline agility trial when she gets a frantic call about a “cat-napping.” When Janet and her Australian Shepherd Jay set out to track down the missing kitty, they quickly find themselves drawn into the volatile politics of feral cat colonies, endangered wetlands, and a belligerent big-shot land developer. Janet is crazy busy trying to keep up with her mom’s nursing-home romance, her own relationship with Tom and his Labrador Retriever Drake, and upcoming agility trials with Jay and Leo. But when a body is discovered on the canine competition course, it stops the participants dead in their tracks—and sets Janet on the trail of a killer.

"Animal photographer Janet MacPhail's latest adventure will delight dog lovers, cat lovers, and mystery lovers. Janet is excellent company, and although Leo the cat plays a starring role, I'm happy to report that Leo does not eclipse Jay the Aussie, who has become one of my favorite fictional dogs. Indeed, if Jay ever needs to move out of the pages of Sheila Boneham's mysteries and into a nonfiction house, he'll be more than welcome in mine. Five stars for CATWALK!" ~ Susan Conant, Author of BRUTE STRENGTH and other novels in the Holly Winter series of Dog Lover's Mysteries

Ancient artifact - Sheila and Kitty
in 1994

Sheila Webster Boneham writes fiction, nonfiction, and poetry, successfully crossing the lterary-popular “divide.” Drop Dead on Recall (Midnight Ink, 2012) won the 2013 Maxwell Award for Best Fiction Book from the Dog Writers Association of American and was named a Top Ten Dog Book of 2012 by NBC Petside. The sequel, The Money Bird, was released in August 2013, and Catwalk is available now (See links below). Sheila is working on the next book in the Animals in Focus series.

Six of Sheila’s non-fiction books have been named best in their categories in the Dog Writers Association of America (DWAA) and the Cat Writers Association (CWA) annual competitions, and two of her other books and a short story have been finalists in the annual competitions. Her book Rescue Matters! How to Find, Foster, and Rehome Companion Animals (Alpine, 2009) has been called a "must read" for anyone involved with animal rescue. Her essay on corvids (crows, magpies, etc.) won the 2014 Prime Number Magazine Award for Creative Nonfiction.

Sheila’s books are available in paperback, ebook, Audible, and large print editions from all the usual sources. Autographed copies can be ordered here: http://www.sheilaboneham.blogspot.com/p/autographed-books.html. You can keep up with news about Sheila’st books, current promotions, and more at Sheila’s blogs/websites: www.writersandotheranimals.blogspot.com and www.sheilaboneham.com. You can also connect with Sheila on Facebook at her personal_page and her  Writers&OtherAnimals_Group.

Why Editors Reject Submissions by Terri Bischoff

I'm delighted to have Terri Bischoff, acquisitions editor at Midnight Ink, as my guest today. These points don't apply only to "major submissions," but also to anything we send out that represents us as writers, including blog posts. Thanks, Terri, for letting me repost this - the original ran in August at Hey, There's a Dead Guy in the Living Room.  ~ Sheila Boneham

What makes me reject a submission?

I have been asked at conferences how many rejections I make per each book acquired. I have never actually done the math, but I would guess it’s probably somewhere around 200 rejections to one acquisition. Insane, right? As a writer, what can you do to make your manuscript stand out? What makes an automatic rejection? What makes me stop reading?

Let’s tackle the automatic rejection first. I only accept submissions electronically. When I open up the Word document, I am expecting proper formatting.

• The entire book is saved all as 1 file – a Word document is preferred.
• Font in Times New Roman or something similar, 12 pt font.
• All text is double spaced.
• Please eliminate extra line breaks, spaces, or returns. For example, only 1 space required after a period.
• Please denote intentional white space with a # symbol.
• Do not use the space bar to create the tab that begins each paragraph. Allow Word to do that for you.
• Page numbers are required; please include them in the footer or header.

I have received manuscripts in funky fonts, in 14pt font, single spaced, etc. If I have to do work to make your manuscript readable, well, I’m not going to read it. Also, I am sure you have noticed those green and red squiggly lines under words. Fix those. With the exception of dialect, if a manuscript is full of squiggly lines, it’s an automatic reject. I don’t have time to fix your manuscript, no matter how good it may be. Remember, at all times, this is a business and you need present a professional, polished manuscript.

What makes me stop reading?

This is a little bit harder to put my finger on because there are so many reasons. As a writer, you need to draw the reader in immediately. When I start reading a submission, I want to be compelled to find out what is going on. I read as long as it takes for me to get to no. It might half a page, it might be 250 pages, or it might be the whole manuscript. I need to hear your unique voice. I need you to show me what is happening and where the book takes place. Don’t tell me your protagonist is freaking out and driving fast. Show me how she nearly clips a pedestrian and that she takes the turns with squealing tires. Or show me her quirky, colorful personality. Or immerse me into the scenery so much so that I feel like I am in the oppressive heat of Minnesota when it is 100 degrees outside with 90% humidity and you start to sweat the minute you step out of your office building. You have exactly one page to engage your reader. I am absolutely sure that I have rejected some great books because I haven’t read long enough. If your story really takes off on page 35, you need to cut off those first 34 pages.

No passive voices! And make sure each of your characters has their own voice. By doing so, you not only solidify the character, but you can (and should) drop dialogue tags. Create a character bible, so you know all your characters inside and out. That will keep you from having them do something that is totally against their nature. Develop your antagonist. Why is your bad guy the bad guy? Does he have any redeeming qualities? People are a mix of good and bad so your characters should reflect that. It will help the reader identify with the characters. And at the end of the day, that is what you are looking for. You need the reader to have an emotional response to the characters and the situations they are in. I know I am reading a good manuscript when my heart beats a little faster and I bite my nails to the quick.

Another hint – know your audience and what type of book you are writing. If you are looking to hit the cozy market, you can’t graphically describe the murder scene. If you are writing suspense or a thriller, you need a fast pace and danger around every curve. The tone and the action need to match.

If you can do these things, you are on your way to an excellent submission. That does not guarantee that it will sell though. Every editor has his or her own style. I like my characters to be a little quirky. I want them flawed and interesting. A different editor may be looking for something else entirely. Write your best book. Join a critique group and revise. Polish that manuscript. Knowing you only have one shot at an editor, make sure it is as perfect as you can. Then take a deep breath and send your baby out into the world!

Terri Bischoff joined Midnight Ink as an Acquiring Editor in October 2009.   She leads all editorial directions and creates the seasonal lists.  She has dramatically increased the number of titles per season, publishing 30-36 titles per year, as well as expanded the type of crime fiction MI has published.   Terri has a wealth of experience and knowledge in both mysteries and in bookselling, having been involved for 17 years in all areas of bookstore operations, particularly as book buyer and reviewer.  She has worked at Kramer Books in Washington, DC, and more recently, Terri owned and operated Booked For Murder Mystery Bookstore in Madison, Wisconsin. 

The Making of a Book Cover

Animals in Focus #1 won the 

2013 Maxwell Award for Fiction

from the Dog Writers Association

of America and was an NBCPetside

Top Ten Dog Book of 2012.

by Sheila Webster Boneham

Forget the maxim "you can't judge a book by it's cover," even if it's true. The fact is that readers do make initial, often subconscious, judgments based on cover art and design. 

Although some book covers fail miserably in their mission, many others tell us a lot about what we can expect when we open a book. Some of them scream genre. Bare-chested square-jawed muscle-bound fella embracing fair maiden? Romance! Smoking gun, shadowy figure in fedora, sprawed body? Noir detective novel. Cowboy on horseback riding into the sunset? You get my point.

Many readers don't realize that authors rarely have much, if any, say about their covers. I've been lucky with my mysteries because editor Terri Bischoff at Midnight Ink has given me considerable input into the covers that wrap the pages of my books, and the artists and designers have taken my ideas and made them work. 



The series now has a consistent look that is, I think, attractive, and that says "mystery, animals, amateur sleuth, sports." Each cover shows the animal activity that is central to the book, and each shows at least one of the animals who take a leading role. The dogs are realistic, and as an award-winning writer of nonfiction about dogs and cats and a long-time rescuer/breeder/ competitor/animal advocate, that was important to me. Are the covers perfect? Of course not. I think the logo (it's the lens of a camera, if you can't tell - I couldn't for a while!) should be bigger. The dogs in the background of Drop Dead on Recall aren't quite right. But I love the brightness of the covers, and don't the dead bodies just howl "mystery"?







Since blogger extraordinaire Lori Caswell was kind enough to reveal the cover of Animals in Focus #3, Catwalk, last Monday, I thought I would tell you a bit about how that cover came to be. To set the scene, here's a summary of the plot....

Animal photographer Janet MacPhail is training for her cat Leo’s first feline agility trial when she gets a frantic call about a “cat-napping.” When Janet and her Australian Shepherd Jay set out to track down the missing kitty, they quickly find themselves drawn into the volatile politics of feral cat colonies, endangered wetlands, and a belligerent big-shot land developer. Janet is crazy busy trying to keep up with her mom’s nursing-home romance, her own relationship with Tom and his Labrador Retriever Drake, and upcoming agility trials with Jay and Leo. But when a body is discovered on the canine competition course, it stops the participants dead in their tracks—and sets Janet on the trail of a killer.

Because Janet will be competing this time with both her dog, Jay, and her cat (her cat!) Leo, I wanted to include both of them on the cover, and I wanted the cover to "speak agility" to my fans who know the sport. Because the title, Catwalk, is a play on "dogwalk," a canine agility obstacle, and because the plot involves feral cats and a feline TNR (trap-neuter-release) program, I wanted a cat on a dogwalk. I also wanted a dead body in an agility tunnel, and a dog sniffing it. But how could I convey my mental image to the artist? 

Clearly, I needed photos. And how do we find the people who can help us these days? Social media! So I posted on Facebook - "Does anyone have a photo of a cat on a dogwalk?" and a mini-minute later, I had a message from photographer Brenna Spencer asking what I needed and offering to stage the photo. She grabbed  Rhonda Calhoun Mullenix, her business partner at Lumos PhoDOGraphy, and here's what they came up with: 

How fantastic is that? Then I needed an image of an Australian Shepherd sniffing at the corpse, so I asked again on Facebook. Voila! My long-time friend Nita Gandara sent me this photo taken by Doug Smith of Wysiwyg Photography in Arizona: 

Jay, the lead dog in the series, is based on my own beloved Jay (with more than a few traits borrowed from other Aussies in my life), so naturally I hoped that the dog on the book would look like the real-life Jay, pictured here:

My beautiful Jay.

Jay competing in obedience.

In addition, Leo, animal photographer and amateur sleuth Janet MacPhail's cat, is an orange tabby, not a tortoiseshell. He's inspired by the cats of my life, especially Leo and Malcolm. 

Real-life Leo.

I sent the images on to Terri, and she passed them to illustrator Gary Hanna, who translated the photos into art, and cover designer Lisa Novak, who did a brilliant job of putting it all together. And, in case you haven't seen it yet, here it is!

Personally autographed copies of Sheila’s books, including pre-orders of Catwalk, are available from Pomegranate Books in Wilmington, NC. Order online at http://www.sheilaboneham.blogspot.com/p/autographed-books.html or call Pomegranate Books at 910-452-1107 to place your order.

Also available online:
Powell’s Books
Barnes & Noble 
Amazon