If you visit Kyoto, don’t miss the “Kobe beef experience.” I say experience because you’re not just paying $125 for  a meal, you’re paying for an extravaganza.

There are several restaurants that serve Kobe beef. We went to a small one in Gion, Kyoto’s  famous Geisha district. We arrived at the restaurant at about eight p.m. Our dining area consisted of four long tables set in a square around a large central food presentation space. Several other diners sat around the tables. There was one other American couple and the rest were Japanese. However, language was no barrier as we all partied together.

One non-English speaking Japanese family was celebrating a birthday. We spent time toasting them. Everyone took turns buying drinks for one another. I learned to like sake. By the time we’d eaten and drank our way through several courses consisting of salad, grilled shrimp, and fried potatoes, all around the table were feeling pretty jovial.

After we finished the melt-in-your-mouth Kobe beef, the chef appeared. As he entered the presentation area we all applauded him then gave him a drink. He danced about and sang a little Japanese tune. We thought he might keep a little nip next to his cook stove in the kitchen. We found out later that traditionally, every time a group finishes a meal, the chef comes out and joins them in a little liquid refreshment. Since we were the last group of the evening, the chef had already had a few drinks. He frolicked with us until closing time. Before leaving, we shook his hand and praised his expert culinary skills.

That was our Kyoto “Kobe Beef Experience.”

Photo: Kobe.com

More About Japan:

Kyoto: Celebrated for its Geishas

As an author you need to decide how much emotion to write into your love scenes. You will base this decision on your characters and the type of book you write. In pornographic novels characters will concern themselves with explicit engagement in the physical side of coupling. In these novels, emotions are usually secondary if present at all. In romance novels, which can be heavily erotic or emphasize courtship, the plot usually orbits around the “twitterpated” couple. Depending on the kind of romance novel, emotions may play an important or diminished role. In a novel in which romance is secondary to the basic plot, such as a mystery, the love scenes may be brief. So, in order to impact the reader, they must be packed with emotion.

As a mystery writer, I think the best love scenes are really about character emotions. How do you write emotion into love scenes? Here are some points to consider:

• Let your characters get to know each other a bit before the big scene. Let him appreciate her intelligence as well as her sensual curves. Let her admire his passionate devotion to a cause as well as his lean muscular body.

• Throw up emotional roadblocks to their romance that they need to overcome. He can’t allow himself to fall for her because he has already had an unfaithful wife. She can’t allow herself to fall in love because she can’t bare the thought of giving up her hard-won independence.

• Create conflict that almost prevents the characters from coupling. He can’t get involved with her because their worlds are too far apart both physically and culturally.  She knows he would expect her to give up her career and that she would never do for any man.

• Increase internal battles. “I’m not ready for this,” she said, but her body begged him to take her.

• Use the “more concealing than revealing” strategy.  Imply rather than graphically describe the coupling. A heat, like whiskey, surged through his veins when she unbuttoned her dress, and let it slip to the floor. He caught his breath as her inviting body filled his senses. When she slid into his arms and returned his kiss, his body jerked as the sensation shot through him. She let herself fall back on the couch, her breathing deep and uneven. He pressed himself against her, kissing her neck and shoulders; tasting, touching, exploring…

Involve the characters’ five senses He smoothed his big hands over her warm shoulders and nuzzled her perfumed hair. She could hear his rapid heartbeat when he cradled her head to his chest and whispered, “I’ve never felt this way about any woman before.”

Let your characters help you write emotion into your love scenes. They will be your best guides.

More writing tips:

The Romantic Heroine in a Mystery Novel
How to Write Love Scenes that Generate Emotions Not Giggles

photo: ze.nl

I’m excited to announce that  my new novel, Murder Down Under, will be available soon. Set in Australia, it is the third novel in the Lysi Weston series. Here’s a brief summary of the story content.

When Lysi Weston attends a conference on sexual harassment in Australia, g’day turns into a very bad day after her Harlem-born colleague, Grace Wright, stumbles on the battered body of a childhood friend. Determined to sniff out the murderer, Weston embarks on a labyrinth of trails that lead her to suspect a womanizing cop, a suave Black businessman and a voyeur who videos his victims. What Lysi does not anticipate is Grace succumbing to the charms of a prime suspect. A second homicide leads Lysi to an unexpected rendezvous with the murderer who is set on eliminating the last piece of incriminating evidence—Lysi Weston. An Aussie detective adds a romantic spark.

I’ll keep you updated on the publication process.

More of my novels:

Murder in a Teacup

Lethal Lesson

A bit of romance can spice up a mystery story. A couple of well-written love scenes will certainly appeal to most of your readers. As a mystery writer, you must remember to emphasize your mystery puzzle and keep the love strands as subplots. That said, here are some points to remember about writing love scenes.

Love scenes should emphasize feelings. Describe what characters are doing but perhaps even more important, what they are feeling. Reveal feelings through dialogue and actions.

Dialogue helps suggest action without physically describing it. It’s better to understate the sexual action than to graphically depict it. Whispered endearments can give a love scene more emotional impact than an anatomical tour. Show passion through voice tone, breathing, and interior thoughts.

Use sensory words to show physical need. Your reader needs to know what your characters are seeing, feeling, hearing, smelling and tasting.

Clichés can turn love scenes into laughable satires. Words like: swell, throb, pulse, ache, writhe, flush, and pant will draw giggles from your readers not emotion.

Avoid flowery purple prose that is silly or overly poetic. These over dramatic terms are another way to tickle your reader’s funny bone rather than stimulate her emotional response.

Write love scenes in one point of view rather than switching back and forth between the two lovers in a confusing mixture of thoughts and actions. Stick with one person’s perspective. You can share the other character’s perspective in  later scenes where he thinks about his fabulous experience.

Finally and perhaps most important, each love scene must relate to, connect with and advance the plot. The plot being the solution to the mystery.

Other writing tips:

The Romantic  Heroine in a Mystery Novel

photo: featurepics

 

The Spasskaya Tower is a Russian treasure. The Gothic-turreted Tower is one of several impressive towers that grace the walls of the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia. Built in the fifteenth century, the Spasskaya or “Savior Tower,” topped by an illuminated ruby-red star installed by the Soviets, is famous for its Kremlin Clock.

A clock has been on the Spasskaya Tower since the 15th century. The clock has suffered serious damage during many catastrophic events: The Great Fire of 1626, the Moscow fire of 1812, the Bolshevik storming of the Kremlin in 1917 when the clock was stopped by a bullet. Muscovites have restored it several times.

The Spasskaya Tower clock chimes have played everything from religious melodies, a German tune to revolutionary music. Today it plays the New National Anthem of Russia.

Russians have a great deal of respect for their Kremlin Clock. Legend has it that magic dwells in the clock. Russians often cross themselves or acknowledge the clock in some way when entering the Kremlin through the Spasskaya Tower gate. One story tells of Napoleon entering through the gate without demonstrating respect for the clock. His horse reared and his hat fell to the ground. Whether the legend is true or not, there is no doubt that the Russian people treasure their Spasskaya Tower and its famous clock.

More about Russia:

Mastering the Moscow Metro isn’t Murder

Berlin’s Charlottenburg Palace: A Trip Back in Time

The sign on the Kindl-Schultheiss-Brewery in Berlin, Germany, reads “Berliner-Kindl-Schultheiss-Brauerei Herzlich Willkommen”—“Kindl Schultheiss Brewery Offers Welcome.”

What a welcome it is! In fact, Kindl Schultheiss Brewery is a beer drinker’s paradise. Not only does Kindl-Schultheiss-Brewery offer a wide variety of wonderful beers, it also offers visitors a comprehensive tour of the facilities. In other words, you see how beer is brewed from the first hop drop to the final sparkling bottle of  this nectar of the Gods.

That’s not all. After the tour you join the tour leader in a spectacular copper-plumbed bar where you can drink as much beer as you like.

Wait, wait! That’s still not all. You can sit down to a delicious meal of wiener schnitzel with fluffy mashed potatoes smothered in mouth-watering gravy and a side of buttery peas and carrots. And, of course, more beer.

If you plan to visit Berlin and you’re a beer lover or just curious about the brewing process, book a tour of Kindl Schultheiss brewery. It will make your trip truly memorable.

Address: 13053 Indira-Gandhi-Str. 66-69 Phone: + 49 30 96090

More Travel Tips:

 

Egyptians in Cairo have their own style of fast food restaurants—street carts. Not too far from Tahrir Square near a Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurant we discovered an Egyptian street vendor selling hot ready-to-eat grilled sweet potatoes from a wooden cart. The cart held what looked like an old oil drum. He had turned the drum into a charcoal oven. We used hand signs to question the vendor about what he might be grilling. He opened the oven door and showed us a stack of sweet potatoes still in their skins. The aroma that wafted from the open oven was truly tantalizing. We ordered two steaming hot potatoes. The vendor pulled them out of the “oven,” slit them down the middle and handed them to us. They were hot and delicious.

We saw other fast-food vendors selling things like Corn on the cob, popcorn, and chewy pita breads. Since their overhead is not too high, their prices were very moderate.

If you can set aside stringent sanitation standards, I recommend you try some Egyptian “fast food.” At least try the sweet potatoes. Few bacteria can survive in a hot charcoal oven.

More Trip Tips:

Abu Simbel: One of the Most Famous Monuments in the World

 

These days authors must market their books themselves. A press kit is an essential tool in your marketing effort. Your press kit is where you will house information about yourself and your books in an easily accessible format that you can send to the media at a moments notice. Here are 8 items you need to include in your author’s press kit:

1. A cover page with your jpeg author photo that briefly introduces you and the contents of your press kit. Include your name, e-mail address and your web page URL

2. A one-page press release that hypes your novel. Include a jpeg photo of your book cover.

3. A short author bio—no more than 150 words—similar to what you might place on the back of your book cover.

4. A book order information sheet that includes the cost of your book and where it can be purchased.

5. A sheet listing your novel’s reviews and awards if any.

6. A set of interview questions interviewers could ask. Add your responses to the questions. This list will make it easier for the media to quickly formulate their own interview questions as well.

7. Add your business card with contact information to your packet.

8. Important: You need to create your press kit in more than one format—hard copy, Dvd and an electronic copy. This way you can provide for any kind of format required by anyone who requests your press kit.

There are other items you may wish to add to your press kit but remember to keep it short and concise. Media people are busy and will not take the time to peruse long drawn-out segments of your press kit.

More Marketing tips:

14 Suggestions for Creating a Marketing Plan
How to Create an Author’s Platform
4 Ways to Use Blogging to Promote Your Mystery Novel 

photo: Digitaljournal.com

One of the most important things a writer can do to promote a writing piece is to develop an author’s platform. I have listed several ways to create one. A writer may elect to use some or all the strategies below. What is critical is that you create your author’s platform. Note that these days it must include a presence on the Internet.

Create a Website on which you include your author’s profile and links to your online social networking pages such as Facebook and Twitter. Add book covers of stories you’ve written with links to purchasing sources. Include your contact information and links to your blog.

Blog both on your own blog and those of others. Create your own blog. Post pieces about your books and about topics that relate to your books. For example, if you’ve written a story set in Australia, blog about everything Australian from Aborigines to Aussi wines to Aussi history.

Find other people’s blogs that relate to your topics. Add them to your blogroll. Comment on those blogs and offer to do a guest post.

Create a Facebook Page and a Twitter account. These two social networks are among the fastest ways to gain presence in cyber space. They provide you access to thousands of people. Use them to gain “friends,” fans and followers. You can also plug your book and connect with other writers. Link Facebook and Twitter to your blog and website.

Create Electronic Newsletters. Send them from your website. Fill them with updated information about your events, books and articles related to your topic.

Find and explore Online ezines in your area of interest. Many accept free articles. Offer to write a couple for them. You’ve got nothing to lose except something you didn’t have in the first place. They may very well accept your article. This is another way to get your name out to perspective fans, followers and buyers.

Add a video to your website. Consider a book trailer or author interview. It may take some time to develop the skills needed to make a video, but amateurs do it all the time on YouTube. You could also pay to have it done professionally.

The author platform is all about name and book recognition. It will take some time and effort, but rest assured it is essential to your marketing plan. The payback for a well-planned and implemented author platform cannot be emphasized enough.

More Marketing Tips:

4 Ways to Use Blogging to Promote Your Mystery Novel 

Market Your Novel For Free

How to Market Your Mystery Novel

 

 

An author no longer just writes. Now she must also market her book. This can be a time-consuming job that steals time away from writing. Here are 14 suggestions for creating a marketing plan that will make your marketing job a little easier.

1. Begin by creating an author platform. I will do a post on forming a platform next week.

2. Solicit writing club support: California Writers Club, Mystery Writers of America, Romance Writers of America

3. Create a Press Kit. I will do a post on what to include in a Press Kit very soon. Watch for it.

4. Hold reading events at places like book clubs, bookstores, Open Mikes and libraries.

5. Volunteer to be a guest speaker at writing clubs, writing conferences and other literary events.

6. Create your own readership. Start with friends and family and branch out from there.

7. Find reviewers. Gently encourage readers who enjoyed your book to take a few moments to review it. They might review it on their own blog, Facebook or even Amazon.

8. Plug your book on your signature line. Every time you friend a new person on Facebook or meet a new Twitter pal, end your greeting to them with a signature that links to your book’s landing page.

9. Create a landing page for your book. Include a brief bio and photo of yourself, an image of the book cover, a short story description and comments from readers who enjoyed your novel. Provide a link to your book’s selling page.

10. Ask your writing club to announce the book to its members and on its website

11. Join online groups related to writing and publishing like “Authors, Writers, Publishers, and Editors.” Join in their discussions and add comments.

12. Write letters to published mystery writers and request that they read and endorse your novel.

13. Donate a free copy of your novel to your local library.

14. Ask your local book store managers to allow you to do book signings at their store or set up a table inside or outside for a meet and greet the author event.

If you have other suggestions for creating a market plan I’d love to hear from you.

Other marketing tips:

4 Ways to Use Blogging to Promote Your Mystery Novel 

Ebook Publishing: A Great Market for Mystery Writers