The other morning I was staring out the window at all the leaves on the ground, marveling at how so much come from almost nothing. A bit of water, a bit of soil, a bit of sun, and something exists where nothing did before. I cherish those leaves. There’s no lawn here, just native grasses, so I don’t need to rake the leaves. I let them finish out their natural cycle of replenishing the soil from which they came.

Looking at those leaves, I was reminded of written words, and how they come from almost nothing. A circle, a few lines, a couple of dots, various arcs, and something exists where nothing did before. We never run out of words. We use the same words over and over again, combining them infinitely into ideas, stories, lullabies.

Recycling the very same words you use every day, I wrote four novels (plus that one poor begotten thing that’s locked away never to see the light of publication), hundreds of bloggeries, and thousands of comments. I hope my words live out their natural cycle, replenishing the mental soil from which they come.

Okay, I’m getting a bit over the top here, so I’ll get to the point. Some of those words are now residing on other people’s blogs all over the Internet from Canada to Florida, from Australia to South Africa. Today I’m in the U.S.A. Please stop by to visit me at one or all of these locations. I’ll be glad to rake up a few words of greeting for you.

Murder by 4 — Suspense: More is More

Bookworm — Names Matter

Dragon My Feet — Interview

Also, I am pleased to welcome Aaron Lazar to my blog. Please stop by and mumble, groan, hiss, grunt, expostulate or simply say hi. -- Dialogue Tags.

Click here to find: Bertram’s novels on Amazon

Click here to find: Bertram’s novels at Second Wind Publishing

Pat Bertram’s novels are available in all ebook formats at Smashwords. Also, 30% of each novel is available as a free download. Click here to find: Bertram’s novels on Smashwords.

Tags: leaves, using word, words, writing

One of the guest stops on my Daughter Am I blog tour is the Second Wind Publishing Blog. I talk about a fan letter (well, fan email) I received, and cite a quote by John Cheever, “I can’t write without a reader. It’s precisely like a kiss — you can’t do it alone.”

Many writers don’t consider readers -- they write solely for themselves, or at least they say they do -- but often as I am writing a passage (or more precisely, after I have written it), I wonder what readers will think. Will they understand my references? Will they find the humor? Is my writing clear enough? I like thinking that perhaps someday a reader will share the product of my mind.

Malcolm R. Campbell, author of Jock Stewart and the Missing Sea of Fire responded to my guest post with, “Whether it’s a book, poem, post, review, article or news story, I always hope somebody will say something. One never knows. It’s a slow conversation, so much time having gone by between the moment when something was written and the moment when somebody tells you they found it.”

Such a wonderful description of writing/reading -- a slow conversation. I know I’ve read many books where I felt the author and I were having a conversation, silent though it may be. I read and I think about what I read. It’s quite a heady realization that now I am a writer with readers of my own.

If you’re interested in reading the original blog post, you can find it here: Writing Without a Reader is Like a Kiss Without a Partner.

I am also at the D.C. Examiner today: Pat Bertram speaks about her novels and her writing

Today is the last day for the Clue Game at the Simpson Haunted Mansion

Also, this is your last opportunity to leave a comment to win Daughter Am I from: Book Reviews by Bobbie

Tags: blog tour, daughter am i, john cheever, malcolm r. campbell

I did not come up with that great title for this bloggery, my host today, L.V. Gaudet, did. (Since you are all familiar with the title of my new book, Daughter Am I, I know you get the gist.) I'm hoping everyone goes to pay L.V. a visit. She says such wonderful things about me, that I want everyone to know! And, oh, yes -- she's also posted an article of mine in which I say that it does not matter how long it takes you to write a novel or how many words you write each day. All that matters is . . .

Hmmm. Do I tell you, or do I have you go read the article to find out for yourself? I have an idea -- let's play a game. You tell me here what you think matters, then go to L.V.'s blog and find out what I think: (What Kind of) Writer Am I.

I am also still live at JaxPop in the Haunted City. We are talking about hooks, so stop by and post your first sentence or paragraph. We will be kind, I promise. No criticism. I'd just like to see how you start your book. You can find me and my hook at: That's What Hooks a Reader.

The haunted house is still haunted at the Second Wind Publishing Blog. Not only is the clue game fun, but you might also win the prize: a print copy of Second Wind's Murder in the Wind Short Story Anthology. I even wrote a story for the book!! That alone should make competing worthwhile. So, meet me here: Trick or Treat! Let the Game Begin!

Tomorrow I will be in Australia. How cool is that! (Weather-wise, I bet it's cooler here -- lots and lots of snow! -- so I'm looking forward to the virtual change of climate.) And, as if this weren't enough excitement, tomorrow night at 9:00pm ET, I will be having a live chat at my No Whine, Just Champagne group on Gather.com.

For those of you who are just tuning into my Daughter Am I blog tour, you can find the entire schedule here: Blog Tour 2009. The most incredible thing about the internet is that , in an cyber/quantum sort of way, the past is always the present. So, while I am here, I am also at every stop on my tour waiting to welcome you. So please join me on my journey. We'll have fun, you and I.



Click here to buy Daughter Am I from Second Wind Publishing, LLC.

Click here to buy Daughter Am I from Amazon.

Tags: blog tour, daughter am i, haunted house, internet

Though it is actually night here, it's still day ten of my Daughter Am I blog tour.

The reference to night and day reminds me of one of those standardized tests I took when I was in second grade. The question was, "How many hours are in a day?" I knew, of course, that there were twenty-four hours in a day's span, but for some reason, I took the question to mean day as opposed to night. I knew that there were variable daylight hours -- that was apparent from the way the sun set earlier each evening as it got nearer to winter. So, what was my answer? Twelve. I figured that on the average there had to be twelve hours of night and twelve hours of day. As you can see, I never did quite fit into a standardized world.

What does this way too revealing annecdote have to do with my blog tour? Absolutely nothing, except that it could be considered an example of a hook if, in fact, it did hook you! I am down in St. Augustine, Florida with Dave Ebright, and we're cyberly talking about hooking a reader. I have a hunch Ebright doesn't need any advice from me -- his novel, Bad Latitude, has hooks galore: surfing, fast boats, zombies, ghosts, and pirates. Stop by Ebright's Blog, JaxPop: Haunted City Writer, and tell us about your hook, even if it is only a fishing hook. You can find me and Dave here: That's What Hooks a Reader.

If you haven't yet stopped by the Second Wind Publishing haunted house (hey, there's a theme here! Haunted City. Haunted House. Way cool!) you are missing the fun. You can find the house here: Trick or Treat! Let the Game Begin!



Click here to buy Daughter Am I from Second Wind Publishing, LLC.

Click here to buy Daughter Am I from Amazon.

Tags: blog tour, daughter am i, dave ebright, haunted house, hook, second wind publishing

Day nine of the Daughter Am I blog tour, and I am still going strong. I actually went to bed before midnight last night, and I’m a bit more rested. Good thing -- there is a lot going on today! First, check out “After the Writing Comes the Work.” Great discussion going on at that unscheduled tour stop, and a wonderful compliment about Daughter Am I.

Next, check out “How Best To Procrastinate” on Claire Collins’s blog. It was actually yesterday’s tour stop, but I kept finding other things to do and never got around to telling you about it. (Procrastination humor. Trite, but still amusing. I hope.)

Claire is a guest on my blog talking about “Welcome to the Business of Writing”, and the importance of a mission statement. Mine is: “It is my mission to become so well-known that a traditional publisher will offer me an obscenely large advance. I will turn down the advance because I’d like to show that there is value in being published by a small independent publisher, and because the resulting publicity could be worth more than the publishing contract.” Did you notice that it says nothing about writing? Hmmm.

One of these days I really do have to work on my poor stalled WIP. I’m thinking of doing WriMo -- my own slimmed down version of NaNoWriMo. Instead of National Novel Writing Month, I might do simply a Writing Month. Perhaps try to write a sentence or two each day in November to get back into the habit of writing. I did sign up for NaBloWriMo (National Blog Writing Month) and NaBloPoMo (National Blog Posting Month). Since I’ve already contracted to do a blog post every day for the first three weeks in November because of my blog tour, all I need to do is to finish out the month and I win. Win what? you might ask. Nothing, of course. It’s the challenge that counts.

But I am digressing.

Today I am again visiting Joylene Nowell Butler in Cluculz, this time for an interview. I am at Untreed Reads talking about my Rites of Passage as an author. And I am trick-or-treating at the Second Wind blog.

This is turning into an international tour. I’m in Canada today and Wednesday, in Florida tomorrow, and in Australia on Thursday. In the middle of November, I’ll be in South Africa. You gotta love the Internet!

Today’s schedule recapped:

After the Writing Comes the Work
How Best to Procrastinate
Welcome to the Business of Writing
Interview at Cluculz
Rites of Passage
Trick or Treat! Let the Game Begin!

Have fun. I intend to.



Click here to buy Daughter Am I from Second Wind Publishing, LLC.

Click here to buy Daughter Am I from Amazon.

Tags: blog tour, cluculz, daughter am i, interviews, mission statement, procrastination, virtual book tour

I made it through the first week of my blog tour!! I’m getting to the hard part, though. I have several interviews coming up, and it’s challenging to keep from making identical responses to identical questions. There really is only one story behind the writing of Daughter Am I -- I wanted to use the true tales of the Syndicate an historian friend used to tell me, and I wanted to do a mythic journey, so I combined the two ideas into the book -- but I don’t want to bore people by continually talking about that not so very interesting inception. So, I wait until very late at night when my defenses are down, and I write what ever comes to mind.

Yes, I know -- I keep talking about how words don’t come easy to me, but that’s only when it comes to fiction. When it comes to late night stream of consciousness, well, the words do come. I just hope they are worth reading. I guess we’ll find out. My first interview is today on Visual Arts Junction. Click here to find it.

I must have used up all my words last night for the interview. I’ve been sitting here for the past ten minutes trying to think of something witty to say, or perhaps pithy, but my mind is a total blank. Not good. I have a live chat in a couple of hours on Reviewers Roundup to talk about blog tours, and I need at least a few words for that. Maybe I’ll go take a walk. See if I can find a few words among the fallen leaves.

Click here to buy Daughter Am I from Second Wind Publishing, LLC.

Click here to buy Daughter Am I from Amazon.

Tags: blog tour, interviews, virtual book tour

My blog tour is really starting to heat up! Lots of activity, more than I'm used to, that's for sure. To start out, I am a guest at the blog of my good friend Joylene Nowell Butler author of Dead Witness. We first met when she submitted a character interview to my Pat Bertram Introduces . . . blog. Usually I have to twist people's arms to get them to send me an interview to post, but she voluntarily responded to a link I left on a discussion on Facebook -- which impressed the heck out of me -- and now here we are, a year later, virtually visiting in Cluculz.

Where is Cluculz? you might ask. Good question. It's 67 km west of Prince George and 32 km east of Vanderhoof, in central BC, Canada. I had to Google it, which was fun since it fit right into the theme of my guest post -- writing about places you have never been. So, come to Clucluz, listen to the loons, and don't forget the mosquito repellent. Click here to find the guest post at Cluculz Lake.

As if that weren't excitement enough, today is the debut of my writing column -- ASK PAT. Way cool! Since it's in an ezine, there's no place to leave questions and comments, so I've set up a special blog post for that purpose. You can find it here: questions and comments for ASK PAT. If you have a question you'd like me to include, be sure to let me know. If you have an answer you'd like me to include, let me know that, too. I certainly don't presume to have all the answers.

And there's more excitement! (I'm trying to sound like an info-mercial.) Tomorrow I am a guest at Reviewers Roundup on Facebook. Glenda Bixler, you, and I will be having a live chat about blog tours, my books, writing in general. So if you are a member of facebook, please pop in to the discussion between 3:00pm and 5:00pm ET tomorrow. It should be a lively chat. What's it called? What else: Blog Tour 2009.

Don’t forget, my books are available in all ebook formats at Smashwords. Even better, you can download the first 30% of each book free. And speaking of free downloads, stop by Second Wind Publishing for a free sampler or two. One sampler includes the first chapters of all Second Wind’s romances, the other sampler includes the first chapters of all Second Wind’s mystery, adventure, maitstream novels. The first chapter of A Spark of Heavenly, More Deaths Than One, and Daughter Am I are in the Mystery Sampler.

If you'd like to do a character interview for my Pat Bertram Introduces . . . blog, you can find the instructions here: Character Questionnaire.

Tags: ask pat, blog tour, cluculz, joylene nowell butler, smashwords, virtual book tour

The Internet is such a wonderful place. Today, day five of my blog tour, I am in Florida with author Nancy J. Cohen talking about dialogue. Virtually speaking, that is. Physically, I am in Colorado, listening to leaves falling like rain. In Florida, it's a sunny day at the beach. At least I hope it is. I sure would hate to get caught in a hurricane while I'm visiting!

Yesterday someone commented that a virtual book tour seemed like a lot of work and asked if I would do it again. My first inclination was to say, "No way!" It's too much work for such seemingly meager results, yet I am meeting people out of my normal circle of connections, which is always a good thing. I am getting to talk about my books, which is fun. And it's a challenge, not just setting up the book tour, writing the articles, and promoting the tour, but figuring out how to make the same basic comment a hundred times and yet make each time seem fresh and new. So, would I do it again? I don't know. Ask me in six months when my next novel Light Bringer comes out. My goal (silly me!) is to be so well known by then that the book will just fly out of Amazon's warehouse as soon as I announce its publication. It could happen. And oh, by the way, I just bought London bridge. :)

So, please join me in Florida to dialogue about dialogue at: Nancy J. Cohen's Notes from Florida

Don't forget, my books are available in all ebook formats at Smashwords. Even better, you can download the first 30% of each book free. And speaking of free downloads, stop by Second Wind Publishing for a free sampler or two. One sampler includes the first chapters of all Second Wind's romances, the other sampler includes the first chapters of all Second Wind's mystery, adventure, maitstream novels. The first chapter of A Spark of Heavenly, More Deaths Than One, and Daughter Am I are in the Mystery Sampler.

Tags: blog tour, dialogue, pat bertram, second wind publishing, virtual book tour

Mary stared open-mouthed into the hole in the wall. Instead of the dining room, which should have been on the other side of the wall, there was a windowless room not much bigger than a walk-in-closet.

"A secret room," she breathed. "It's like something out of Nancy Drew or the Hardy Boys."

That brief excerpt from Daughter Am I has nothing to do with my blog today. It's a clue for a Halloween contest at the Second Wind Blog starting on October 26. I hope you will play. It should be an interesting game.

What I really wanted to talk about today is time. Or rather the lack of it.

In August, when Second Wind Publishing celebrated its first birthday, Mike Simpson wrote an article called: Ten Lessons I Learned (The Hard Way): A Publisher’s Reflections on the First Year. Number five on the list was: "Everything takes longer than you think." He was referring to publishing, but that line has stuck with me the past two months because everything takes longer than you think. Or at least, in my case, it takes longer than I think it should. I had hoped to be further along in my preparations for the Daughter Am I blog tour, but . . . yep, everything takes longer than the time I've allotted. I worked on an interview last night, which should have been easy. Ten questions about my books. That was it. Yet it took me three hours. (I'll let you know when it's posted. Try to stop me!)

Today's guest post took almost that long, which completely mystified me. It's simply a brief description of my characters -- my seven old fogies. I didn't go into depth about their character flaws, the dreams that drive them, the failures that created them. Nope -- just a simple description. I've been spending most of my words talking about my hero Mary Stuart, lumping her traveling companions into a group: crew of feisty octogenarians -- former gangsters and friends of her grandfather. They deserve better than that. So please click here to visit The Book Faery Reviews and meet Snow White and the Seven Old Fogies.



Click here to buy Daughter Am I from Second Wind Publishing, LLC.

Click here to buy Daughter Am I from Amazon.

Tags: blog tour, bootleggers, daughter am i, gangsters, mystery, second wind publishing

Again I will be at Malcom's Round Table discussing Daughter Am I, but this time we will be focusing on the quest angle. The hero's path, the mythic journey, the quest -- these are all different names for a particular form of story, though the format is so infinitely changeable, that unless you search for all the elements, you might not see the similarities in such diverse stories as Star Wars, Tin Cup, and Daughter Am I. All, however, follow the hero's path.

This virtual book tour is, perhaps, a mythic journey in itself. I was called out of my ordinary world into the special world of blog touring by Malcolm R. Campbell (the herald) when he asked if I planned on doing a formal blog tour. My first inclination was to say no (refusal of the call) but then I decided it was worth a try -- I want to do whatever I can to let people know about Daughter Am I. So here I am (crossing the first threshold). There is much ahead of me in this cyber quest -- tests, meeting allies and enemies (enemies don't have to be human -- they can be missed deadlines, lack of energy, blank mind, all the various ways life has of thwarting us). This quest in itself will be a supreme ordeal -- 70 blog posts in 35 days? Yikes! But I'm sure there will be plenty of other ordeals before I can reap my reward. At the end, I will share what I learned with you, and this too is part of the journey. The hero never keeps the magic elixir of change for himself, but shares it with those back in the ordinary world.

So, please keep me company while I embark on my quest -- I can use all the allies I can get!

Our next stop is at Malcolm's Round Table: Following the quest of 'Daughter Am I.' It will be painless, I promise.



Click here to buy Daughter Am I from Second Wind Publishing, LLC.

Click here to buy Daughter Am I from Amazon.

Tags: blog tour, daughter am i, malcolm r. campbell, mystery, mythic journey, virtual book tour