As authors, we need to master the skills required to write our stories. These days we also need to market our books in order to sell them. One of the effective ways to promote book sales is to accept speaking opportunities at clubs, conferences and other venues. Public speaking requires a set of skills quite different from those we used to create our novels. Here are 10 strategies

1.    Know your material. Pick a topic that you know about and that interests you. For example as an author a natural choice might be writing tips.

2.    Be aware of your audience. Acknowledge your audience right away by making eye contact with as many as possible. Throughout your talk, watch for audience behavior cues. Smiles and nodding are good; fidgeting or confused looks may mean that you need to adjust what you are doing.

3.    Capture your audience’s attention and interest. Open your speech with a quick story or an interesting statistic or quote.

4.    Stay on your topic. At the beginning of your talk, tell your audience what you’re going to say. Say it. Close your speech by telling your audience what you said.

5.    Speak slowly. If you think you’re speaking too slowly, you’re probably speaking at just the right speed. Pause after important points.

6.    Use visuals. For focusing your audience, clarification and aesthetic appeal, nothing is better than visuals. You may choose slides, charts or handout sheets.

7.    Interact with your audience. Pose questions and wait for responses. Accept audience input and show appreciation for their information and advice. Answer questions as they come up providing they relate to your topic. If a question is off the subject, give a very brief response and get back to your topic.

8.    Use body language effectively. Stand up straight. Move around a bit if possible. Look people in the eye. Use gestures to engage the audience.

9.    Use your voice to enhance your presentation. Your voice needs to model enthusiasm for your topic. Your voice should show confidence and an eagerness to share what you know.

10. Smile. Smile at the whole group. Smile at individuals. A smile says: I want to be here. I appreciate the opportunity you’ve given me to present to you. I respect that you’ve taken time out of your busy schedule to listen to me. I like you.

More Tips:

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Over 900 years ago William the Conqueror chose a site, high above the river Thames on the edge of a Saxon hunting ground to build the great Windsor Castle. It became the home of generations of Royals and is still the weekend retreat of Queen Elizabeth II. In fact, Windsor is the largest occupied castle in the world—and it’s a good thing because word has it that this huge castle houses ghosts of past kings and queens. Yes, Windsor Castle is a bit scary.

The first famous Windsor ghost was King Henry VIII. Buried at Windsor Castle, King Henry has been heard moaning over his ulcerated leg as he limps through the Cloisters. One of his wives, Anne Boleyn, has actually been seen peering through the Cloister window.

If this sounds like a ghostly Tudor family affair, it is. King Henry’s daughter, Queen Elizabeth I, hangs out at Windsor as well. She favors the Royal Library.

King Richard II had a favorite huntsman who actually saved him from being trampled by a stag. Herne the Hunter is often seen following his pack of hounds in the Castle’s Great Park. They say he has giant stag antlers protruding from his head.

Herne’s antlers is a good segue to another scary Windsor resident—the demonic horned being whose appearance brings misfortune to anyone who has the bad luck of coming upon him. He seems to prefer the garden to the castle.

Scary or not, Windsor Castle is an official residence of Queen Elizabeth. As a child, Elizabeth with her sister Margaret Rose lived safely at Windsor during World War II. These days Elizabeth stays at her Berkshire castle often.

Windsor may be scary, but it is still worth a visit. You can tour the State Apartments (each reflects the tastes of the 39 monarchs who occupied them), the Great Kitchen, the lavishly decorated Semi-State Rooms and the beautiful gardens. A special highlight of your visit is Queen Mary’s Dolls’ House, the largest and most famous dolls’ house in the world. Don’t miss St. George’s Gothic Chapel. It is the spiritual home of the Order of the Garter, the highest order of British Chivalry.

Be brave, Windsor may or may not be scary. Go and find out.

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Hampton Court Castle: A History of Mystery, Drama and Intrigue

One of the fun parts of writing my new novel, Murder Casts A Spell, was learning more about some of the traditional South African foods I’d tasted while visiting Cape Town. Three foods in particular interested me so much that I wrote them into my story—Rooibos tea, Umbhako and  Hertzog cookies.

Most of the characters in my book had occasion to sip a cup of steaming Rooibos tea, also called red bush or bush tea. Rooibos tea comes in several fruit blends and is high in healthy antioxidants. You can drink it with milk and sugar or with a slice of lemon and some honey. The Rooibos plant grows in a small section of the western coast of Western Cape province in South Africa. It grows in a symbiotic relationship with local micro-organisms, and past attempts to grow Rooibos outside this area have all failed. It is and apparently will remain truly South African.

Umbhako, also known as Xhosa Pot Bread, is very nice with Rooibos tea. Umbhako is  a traditional food of the Xhosa people, the dominant tribal group in Cape Town. Mandela belongs to the Xhosa tribe.  Umbhako is called pot bread because it was traditionally cooked in a cast iron pot on top of the stove. In my novel, Sarah, a Xhosa innkeeper in Ikhaya Township, prepares Umbhako for two of my main characters, Lysi and Grace. Umbhako is somewhat similar to cornbread. Sarah served it with jam and butter.

Hertzog cookies, affectionately called Hertzoggies, was named after General Hertzog, who was the Prime minister of South Africa from 1924 to 1939. These were apparently his favorite cookies and for good reason. They are delicious little jam and coconut tartlets topped with meringue. Although South Africans love them all year round, they are traditionally served at Christmas time. The lead characters in Murder Casts A Spell gobble them up as they enjoy a Christmas Sundowner on Camps Beach near Cape Town.
By the way, no Hertzog cookie lover will touch Smut cookies named after Jan Smuts who was leader of General Hertzog’s opposition party.

South African foods are delicious. Look for them in my new novel, Murder Casts A Spell, due out in a few months.

More tips:

Great Cape Town African Restaurant: Marco’s African Place

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Murder and Munchies a Marvelous Mix

Hampton Court Castle, the favorite of King Henry VIII, has a history of mystery, drama and intrigue. The castle originated in the thirteenth century as a great barn used by the Knights of Hospitallers of St. John Jerusalemea for storing agricultural produce. Over the centuries it grew to be one of the most luxurious castles in England.

The intrigue begins with Cardinal Wolsey who purchased the manor and turned it into a fabulous palace. Poor Cardinal Wolsey, unable to manage a divorce for Henry VIII, fell from Henry’s favor. Henry sentenced Wolsey to be executed. Wolsey died before the sentence was carried out.

The infamous King Henry VIII took ownership of the castle and remodeled it over the years spending more than 62,000 pounds ($27 million today). Much of the remodeling related to the drama surrounding Henry’s six wives. He spent three of his honeymoons at Hampton Court and all six of his wives spent time at the castle. Most of them remodeled their quarters. It was at Hampton Court that Henry was told of the infidelity of Kathryn Howard. He had her arrested and executed. Mystery buffs will love knowing that Kathryn’s ghost walks the Haunted Gallery.

Mysterious circumstances surround Henry’s third wife, Jane Seymour. She gave birth to the ill-fated future King Edward VI at Hampton Court. Jane died in the palace two weeks after giving birth to Edward.

Henry continued the drama in his life by marrying three more wives. He married his sixth wife, Katherine Parr, at the Hampton Court.

Hampton Court was King Charles’ palace then prison. In 1647 at the end of the war between the Parliamentarians and the Royalists, the deposed King Charles I was brought to Hampton Court as a prisoner. He was executed in 1649.

One of the most public dramas concerned Frederick, Prince of Wales. He had a long running battle with his parents King George II and Queen Caroline. George II wanted his second son to become king, not Frederick or Frederick’s heir. Frederick went so far as to steal his pregnant wife – Augusta of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg – away from Hampton Court in the middle of the night, while she was in labor. The birth of their first daughter on 31 August 1737, took place at St James’s after Princess Augusta was forced by Frederick to travel to London, simply to prevent his hated parents from being present at the birth.

Hampton Court Castle’s history of mystery, drama and intrigue is certainly rich fodder for writers.

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Details are not simply lists of words and phrases used to describe the physical appearance of story characters and settings. Every detail should have more than one purpose. Details are word pictures that enable a reader to experience sights, sounds, smells of scenes and characters. They should provide insight into a character’s personality and motivation by expressing that character’s thoughts and emotions. Details should move the plot forward.

Here are 10 ways you can use details to spice up your writing:

• Choose details that do double duty. Show what your character is doing and why she’s doing it.
Instead of: She was about to commit suicide.
Write: Her eyes widened and her face paled as she moved closer to the dark water she hoped would end her problems once and for all.

• Use sensory details that convey what a character sees, hears, feels, tastes, and smells.
Instead of: She had to save the child from the house that was on fire.
Write: The burning heat and blinding smoke couldn’t stop her from racing toward the panicky cries of the small child.

• Use strong verbs and specific nouns rather than a clutter of adjectives and adverbs.
Instead of: The old car was full of people from the out-of-town.
Write: The jalopy rumbled by crammed with Dust Bowl immigrants.

• Add details that make a character or place unique
The VW bumped through narrow, unnamed streets past unnumbered shacks and shops constructed from whatever materials people could scavenge—tin, wood, cardboard, corrugated steel shipping containers. Paint in cheerful pastel pinks, blues, greens, and yellows covered the sad structures.
The daycare center smelled of sweating children seasoned with scents from their homes and streets—barbecue, kerosene and smoke; urine, dog odor, dust.

 • Choose details that are important to the plot or character development.
It was much darker than she’d expected and she had to use her small purse flashlight to avoid the potholes in the road. She didn’t see people milling around like back home in Harlem. No one on the street. She walked by the Shebeen and noticed a couple of men seated at a table nursing drinks. She ignored their hoots and whistles as she passed.

• Use just enough details to enable the readers to fill in the rest of the picture for themselves.
Instead of: She was hot
Write: She gulped down a glass of water, upped the desk fan speed to high and directed the air toward her face

• Instead of making  narrative a statement, use details to describe behaviors that show emotion
Instead of: He was scared of what he saw in the hut.
Write: He raised one foot over the wood threshold. It froze in midair. The boy’s pupils dilated, a high-pitched gasp escaped his lips and his heart thudded. He reeled as if struck by a blow.

• Make your details unusual
A man stood beside a sturdy wooden table that extended partially into the narrow street. In one hand he wielded a large knife. In the other hand he held a brown-haired sheep head over a rusty drum of steaming water. “It’s a smiley,” he said.

Remember to use details with care. Don’t drown your reader in a flood of descriptive words that leave no room for imagination. Use just enough well-chosen details to spice up your writing.

More Writing Tips:

Author’s Voice: How to find it?

What is Story Structure?

Cardiff, the capital of Wales, has a history that spans 6,000 years. Before the Roman Conquest in AD51, the Silures, a Celtic tribe occupied the region. When the Romans took control of the area they set up a fort in Cardiff on the site of Cardiff Castle. Parts of the original Roman walls can still be seen.

The Vikings and the Normans also made their presence felt in Cardiff. However, within a few generations they had settled into communities around the region and established towns and trading.

At Cardiff Castle, in the heart of the city, you can discover 2000 years of history from the arrival of the Romans, through the Norman Conquest to the Victorian era.

Cardiff Castle was originally built of wood. In the 12th century, the Duke of Gloucester rebuilt it in stone. You can imagine that Roman soldiers slept there, noble knights held court there, and then the castle was transformed into the romantic Victorian fantasy you see today.

For a special night out, you can book a traditional Welsh Banquet in the castle. Enjoy a glass of mead when you arrive, then dine in the 15th Century Undercroft on a four course feast of hearty local dishes—Glamorgan sausage, leek and potato soup with laverbread—a sea vegetable—served with a baker’s roll, chicken breast with potatoes and vegetables and a dessert of Merlin liqueur chocolate mousse with chocolate coulis and seasonal fruit compote. Does this menu tickle your taste buds? One of the highlights of the banquet evening is the entertainment. Traditionally costumed characters perform popular Welsh songs and invite you to join in the fun. The whole evening is accompanied by the enchanting sounds of the harp.

The National Museum of Cardiff houses the largest collection of impressionist art outside of Paris. The exhibit includes works by Manet, Monet, Boudin, Pissarro, Sisley, Cézanne, Renoir, Degas, Rodin and those dubbed the ‘British Impressionists’.

Another interesting site is the Animal Wall in Bute park. It consists of 15 concrete animals. Nine of which have glass eyes. Great photographs to send home to children.

There’s something for everyone in Cardiff, Wales.

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People have loved cozy mysteries for over 100 years for many reasons. On the whole, cozy characters are usually similar to people readers might have known at one time in their lives. They are people readers would like to know or even like to be.

Cozy characters are normal everyday people who experience extraordinary events. The characters don’t seek out these events. In fact, sometimes they are recalcitrant about involving themselves in the role of amateur sleuth. The adventures find cozy characters in their own neighborhoods, usually small, picturesque towns or villages—the kind of homey place readers might want to live with the kind of neighbors or friends readers might want to have.

Cozy characters have common professions such as librarian, teacher, priest, builder. But, they have uncommon experiences that make their lives exciting. Readers can live vicariously through these uncommon experiences.

Although Cozy characters are not detectives, they have many of the skills of investigators. They are observant, inquisitive, thorough, logical, empirical and persistent. Readers envision these skills in themselves.

Cozies don’t usually involve a lot of gory details and every cozy mystery is solved. Cozy mysteries are happy mysteries, quick reads and great for relaxation. These are some of the reasons cozy mysteries have remained popular with people for over a hundred years. Who is your favorite cozy author?

More about mystery books:

9 Popular Mystery Sub-Genres to Explore
Fifty Shades of Mystery

Good Mystery Novels That Make Great Vacation Reads

Steinbeck’s #”The Moon is Down” is a must read for anyone who has an interest in the World War II Nazi occupation of towns in countries like Norway, Italy and France. Steinbeck wrote this novel in response to the U.S. government’s request that he write a propaganda novel. He set his story in a fictitious city invaded by an unnamed enemy. Clearly his invaders were Germans. Steinbeck explored the occupation from the perspectives of both the invaders and the invaded. The result is an in-depth examination of the psychological and emotional impact enemy occupation has on all people involved. The book was an instant hit in Europe and purportedly aided the healing process after the end of the war because the victims believed Steinbeck expressed the true agony of occupation. Though written in the 1942, “The Moon is Down” is written in an ageless style that will suit modern-day tastes.

Founded by the Viking, Ottir Laria, in 914, Waterford is the oldest city in Ireland. The city has a rich medieval flavor. The best way to savor Waterford’s history is to tour the Viking Triangle. Waterford residents say this tour is a thousand years of history in a thousand paces. The Viking Triangle Experience takes you back to the time of the Vikings and brings you up to the Victorian period. Start the tour with the Viking era at Reginald’s Tower, the oldest civic urban building in Ireland, then move onto Christ Church Cathedral where the great liberator, Strongbow and Aoife were married in 1170, changing the course of Irish and British History.
Finish in the Waterford Museum of treasures and The Bishop’s Palace house where you’ll find extensive historical exhibits.

Of course a highlight of a trip to Waterford is a visit to the House of Waterford Crystal. On the tour you’ll see master craftsmen creating wood molds for shaping the molten crystal, handblowing it into various forms, and cutting and sculpting intricate designs into perfect crystal pieces.

After your visit to the House of Waterford, cross the mall to the 350 year old Munster Bar for a great Irish meal of Sausages and Colcannon, Fresh Beer Battered Fish with Chips or Irish Stew. Wash it down with a hearty pint.

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You’ve finished your novel. You’ve labored over the first draft for months. You’ve completed a number of rewrites. You’re ready to send it out into the world. What now?

Here are a few suggestions:

• Decide on the kind of publisher you want—traditional, indie, or self-publish. You will approach each method differently.
-Traditional. For most traditional publishers you will need an intermediary—an agent. This requires a preliminary search for someone to represent you.
-Indie. Small independent publishers often do not require an agent. In a sense, you will be your own agent.
-Self-Publishing. There are a variety of self-publishing companies—some will charge you a fee others are free.

• After you decide which kind of publisher will meet your needs you’re ready to begin your search. In this post I will address the process for locating a small independent publisher.

• One way to begin your search for an indie is an internet search for a publisher in your particular genre, i.e. romance, mystery, memoirs.

• When you’ve made a list, check each publisher out on Editors and Preditors. This will eliminate some names on your list.

• Next, visit each publisher’s website. Locate titles of books they’ve published. Check the date of publication. Their latest books should have release dates of 2012 or 2013. Search out the titles on Amazon or Barnes & Noble. These sites will give you insight into the popularity of the books.

• Now you’ve shortened your publisher list even more. Return to the remaining publishers’ websites and locate their submission guidelines. These will vary considerably but you must follow them exactly.

• Prepare a cover letter, synopsis, author bio and marketing plan based on each publisher’s guidelines. Most small publishing houses will want this info along with anywhere from the first 20 to 50 pages of your novel. Most houses will want you to email the material.

Your last step is to await a response. However, don’t sit idle. Start your next novel.

More tips:
5 Things You Should Know About Print-On-Demand
12 Reasons Mystery Writers Should Consider E-Publishing
Ebook Publishing: A Great Market for Mystery Writers