Hello, friends! I've been trying to post announcements about the recent super deals my publisher has offered on my eBooks. Today (and tomorrow), Mazurka is on sale for 99 cents. Below is a brief description, followed by Chapter One from the novel. If you haven't read it yet, I hope you'll take advantage of this unique and very special deal. ;o)

                                                                                                                        -  Aaron

MAZURKA eBook - 99 cents  (today and tomorrow only)

Gus LeGarde’s brother-in-law is framed for a neo-Nazi’s murder, plunging them into a sizzling cat-and-mouse gamed that chases through Paris and Vienna and lands them in a terrorist training camp deep in the Austrian woods, where they battle a group of radicals training to take over Dusseldorf.

copyright 2011 Aaron Paul Lazar, all rights reserved

Chapter One

We’re going to die on our wedding day.

 

The right wing dipped and the storm raged, battering the massive Boeing 747. Overhead bins snapped open, disgorging travel bags and paraphernalia into the aisle. Cries of alarm filled the air and cold sweat wet my brow.Camille grabbed my arm. “Talk to me, Gus. Take my mind off it.”

Her complexion waxed green and she brushed damp curls from her forehead, leaning back with eyes squeezed shut. A bolt of lightning burst against the window as the aircraft wobbled its way toward Paris.

I forced a smile. “I think we’re over land now. Almost there.”

Her eyes blinked open, searching mine. Hope glinted momentarily until the plane shuddered again, reinforcing her deep-seated flying phobia. I wondered how I’d ever get her back on the plane for the return trip to East Goodland, New York.

I twisted the overhead air vent, letting the tepid air ruffle my hair. With a deep 

breath, I collected myself and tried to sound natural.

“You’ll love Paris, honey. It’s so full of color and motion and … people. An amazing assortment of people.”

Her eyes darted to the window. “Uh-huh. Tell me more.”

Another bolt of lightning flickered, blinding me. I braced myself as the plane rocked. The wing quivered in counterpoint to my heartbeat; its metallic stutter growling in protest.

“Notre Dame is spectacular, dark and mysterious. The view from the bell tower is incredible. It’ll take your breath away.”

She shifted in her seat and shot me a glance.

“You were there with Elsbeth, right?”

I looked into her eyes. No jealousy lurked there.

“Yes. Ten years ago. Our anniversary.”

My throat clogged. Elsbeth, my soul mate, my fiery partner, had been murdered five years earlier—shoved from the cliffs of the Letchworth Gorge.

Camille kissed her fingertips and gently pressed them to my mouth. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to make you sad.”

I flashed a half smile.

“It’s okay.”

She sat up with interest, ignoring the rocking aircraft.

“Let’s talk about Paris.”

I turned to her, taking her hands in mine. “What’s the first thing you want to do when we arrive?”

“Besides kiss the ground?” she asked.

I laughed. “Yeah. Besides that.”

Rain splattered against the window, dancing in parallel conga lines as the high wind smeared it against the glass.

“I want to walk along the Seine and find a café. I was craving fresh croissants and strawberries before my stomach started to flip flop.”

A sudden gust caught the plane, sheering it sideways. I nearly lost my lunch. 

Mopping my forehead with my sleeve, I tightened my seatbelt. Camille froze, plastered against her seat. When the plane stabilized, the captain’s voice boomed over the loudspeaker.

“Folks, this is Captain Wilcox. Sorry for the bumpy ride. I’m going to try to fly above the storm. Meanwhile, please remain calm. Observe the seatbelt sign and stay in your seats. As soon as it’s safe to move about the cabin, I’ll let you know.”

Camille took a deep breath.

“Where’s our hotel?”

“On the right bank. Just around the corner from Notre Dame. Walking distance to the Musée D’Orsay, the Louvre, the Jardin de Tuileries. A perfect location.”

The left wing dropped and the plane pitched. She grabbed my hand.

“If we make it at all,” she said.

Without warning, the jet plunged, diving through the clouds. A volley of flames erupted from the engine outside our window. Camille’s eyes widened and a sob burst from her lips. My head snapped against the headrest and the force of the descent pinned me to the seat.

Oxygen masks dropped and dangled elusively in the air. I pried one hand from the armrest and fumbled for my mask. Reaching for it, I snagged it and stretched the elastic strap around my head. Camille caught her mask, placed it over her mouth, and looked at me. Terror flared in her eyes.

I clutched her hand as a kaleidoscope of images flitted through my brain: Camille in her wedding dress, my grandson’s impish smile, our dogs, Max and Boris, asleep by the fire.

We plummeted through a time continuum that blended slow motion with eternity. I struggled to remember the crash position and my heart drummed beneath my ribs. The captain’s voice thundered over the loudspeaker, words muffled beneath the roar of the descent. Craning my head against the heavy force, I faced 

Camille. It was surreal. A dream. A nightmare.

Abruptly, the aircraft stabilized. A stainless steel coffeepot rolled down the aisle and lodged against my foot. The fire in the engine extinguished and the plane ascended as innocuously as it had hours earlier from Dulles Airport.

***

You can read further on my website: LeGardeMysteries.com



P.S.I'm also looking for more reviews of Mazurka - this came out when I was laid off from Kodak and still consumed by finding a new day job. I never promoted it like I should have - and would love some more reviews to be posted up on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Myshelf, etc. etc.  Let me know if you want to do this and we can set it up together. ;o)


Thanks everyone! Hope you have a great Sunday!

Free Ebooks - an experiment

copyright aplazar, 2011

Have you ever considered listing your eBooks for free?

Some writers might react viscerally to this suggestion, horrified by the idea of giving away the product of their hard earned work. I do understand that, having put in countless hours over the past fourteen years writing my own fifteen books. I probably would have felt that way in the beginning, too, we had had the option. But over the past years I've learned that giving away freebies is a great way to invest in future sales. Especially when they're eBooks, which require a much lower cash investment.

I've purchased my own print books since Double Forte' came out in 2004, and I frequently give away 50-100 copies of each title to reviewers, folks I happen to meet who love to read, or if I'm just feeling generous throughout the course of the year. For example, yesterday I mailed a whole set of my print books to the local radio show for their annual auction, another set to a local charity who expressed interest in a possible book signing at their event next year, and one copy to a young friend of my daughter's whose mom just passed away. She's a sweet girl who's having a very tough time dealing with her awful loss. She also has no family left, and we're trying to bring her into the fold. (she came to my birthday party this week.)

But I digress.

I usually find that when I've given away one book, almost everyone comes back, wanting the rest in the series. So, I've seen this "invest in your future by giving away samples" theory work on a small scale.

Over the past year, as I've transitioned from my prior distrust/dislike of eBooks to becoming their most enthusiastic fan, I've learned a lot. My wife and I have fallen in love with the Kindle, and I read books on my iPhone and laptop all the time now.

I've read about other authors who have made substantial sales by giving away or selling their eBooks for very cheap prices. (J.A. Konrath, for example. He's been very generous to share his story with writers, and I've learned a great deal by reading his accounts.)

The idea behind the strategy is this: Who's going to buy the book of a complete stranger for $16.95, unless they've met you (online or otherwise) or have somehow bumped into your book? Why would they necessarily take a chance on you? Or even have a chance to hear about you? But -  if they can get your book for free, there is absolutely no risk on their part. If they do like the book, they'll frequently come back for more, especially if you're writing a series.

There are a gajillion services out there now that troll places like Amazon looking for new "free" eBook deals. They send daily digests to enormous distributions. So, if you can get your book up there on that free list, chances are you'll get a ton of folks downloading your work.

We recently had a chance to experiment with this during Read an eBook week. My publisher, Lida Quillen, offered a few eBooks for free on her website, Twilight Times Books, in honor of the special week. She chose to offer Tremolo: cry of the loon from my of books. I'd been discussing this with her for about six months, hoping to find a good chance to experiment with the concept.

Apparently, an Amazon algorithm picked up on the freebies on our Twilight Times Books website, and they listed the books for free on Amazon. Around March 10th, emailers started sending out updates to their subscribers. All three of the TTB books started climbing up the charts, until most were in the top ten for days.

This continued. Tremolo bounced around from #1 to #2 for about five days. I took screen shots. ;o)

This is a shot from the Amazon Kindle store, their bestsellers list in contemporary fiction. Around March 15th, Amazon changed the price on our free book to $2.75. We don't know why this happened, but it did. Suddenly, we started selling Tremolo, both eBooks and print (but mostly eBooks). We knew folks were were downloading tons for free before that, but for some reason, they started buying them. I believe it's because the book remained on the free list for several days.
Now get this. Publishers only receive 30% of the $2.75 price from Amazon, and I get half of that, so we didn't make tons of money like one might have expected. (if you list for $2.99 or over you get 70% of the price). Anyway, I've been charting it. We switched from $2.75 to $2.99 recently, and sales are still going, but slowing down a bit. (the bars are cumulative sales, and the line is sales rank on contemporary fiction, see the scale on the right for this series.)

I can't wait to do another trial of this. Of course, both my publisher and I did a whole week's worth of blogging and mass correspondence to let everyone we could think of take advantage of the freebie. We worked very hard behind the scenes. Next, we're thinking of offering Mazurka for free the month leading up to FireSong's release in July. I'm excited about the possibilities, and hoping it works out the same way.

(Has anyone else had experience with this? I'd love to hear from publishers who list their books for free with Amazon, because so far we haven't found an option to purposefully put our books up on Amazon for less than 99 cents. Any info would be appreciated!)

Well, it's time to get back to writing. Hope you all have a great Sunday, and remember... take pleasure in the simple things...

- Aaron

Hi, folks.

My publisher and I have been trying a very cool experiment recently. We've offered one of my LeGarde Mysteries, Tremolo: cry of the loon, for free on Amazon last week and through this Thursday, St. Patty's Day.



Much to our delight, Tremolo has been at the top of the list for Amazon's free eBooks in Contemporary Fiction, as well as bouncing around in the top ten for all free eBooks including fiction and nonfiction. Pretty neat, eh?

I'm not sure if or when this will happen again, but please be sure to tell everyone who loves a good old fashioned mystery set in the Maine Lakes in 1964 to get over to Amazon and get their free download. There are NO strings attached and there is absolutely no cost at all.

One more topic - if you know Barb Carlson, a wonderful Gather member, come on over to Murderby4 to see the critique my colleagues and I provided for her piece, Cat Scratch Fever, or What? It was great fun, and Barb says it was useful. ;o) Remember, if you want to get your own critique, just check out the submission guidelines on the home page of MB4.

That's all for now! Hope you are all doing great on this mid March Monday!

Warmest regards,

Aaron Paul Lazar
www.legardemysteries.com

 A Romantic Writing Room

 

copyright aaron paul lazar, 2011

I think I deserve it.

After a year of giving up my newly renovated antique house to my dear daughter, beloved-but-unemployed son-in-law, four grandkids, pregnant mother cat, one hormonally challenged male dog, and a still-chewing everything puppy…  (while being unemployed myself during much of that time..)

After looking the other way when antiques were scratched, lamp cords were chewed off, couch skirts were peed on, satin fabric was clawed apart, our new Oriental rug was destroyed…

After having to search for a single fork in a sink full of dishes almost every day (“We’ll do them in the morning, Dad!”), dealing with a sore back from bending over a thousand times a day to pick up casually tossed cheese stick wrappers and toys, and wondering if I’d ever get into the laundry room to do laundry for my wife and me…

After all that – I think I deserve this new room of mine.

 Okay, those of you who know me realize I’m exaggerating, because I adore my daughter, son-in-law, grandchildren, and animals. Since they moved out to their own lovely little Cape Cod just two miles down the road a month ago, I’ve been filled with conflicting with feelings of terrible despair-filled longings for their company... mixed with blessed relief. I call them constantly, with any little excuse. And I ache to see the kids every second of every day.

But there is a bright side to all this, and it’s the reclaiming of our home. It’s clean. Oh, is it clean. Organized. Tidy. Polished. Shiny. Dust-free.

This is the 200^th anniversary of our 1811 house, and in the spirit of giving ourselves a little reward, I decided to redo the boys’ bedroom. We gave the kids all the furniture, anyway, so it made sense to change things around a bit.

I’ve never had a writing room. I’ve never had a home office. I never even had a corner of a room that could be mine, where I could write in quiet and focus on getting my characters into trouble, and finagle the plot so they could be saved again. I always had to clamp headphones over my ears to drown out the television, or get up at 4 AM to find some quiet time to write.

My usual typical writing spot is my comfy leather chair in our bedroom. It’s too close to the TV, though, and my wife enjoys have it on all the time. But I like to be with her, so I hang out in the bedroom in the evenings. But that means I'm always tuning out whatever sit-com blasts from the darn thing. 

Sometimes, for an hour or so in the freezing cold dark winter mornings, I sit in the living room downstairs while the fire takes hold in the woodstove. But I'm often distracted by the need to let the dogs in and out, clean the cat pan, put a load in the washer or dryer, make my lunch for work, take out something to defrost for dinner, load up the wood rack by the woodstove, etc. You get my drift, all the usual pre-work morning stuff. So unless I got up, again, at 4 or 5 AM, I don’t get much time to focus on writing.

Okay, so all this is leading up to me trying not to feel guilty for spending too much money on what I’m calling my “zen* room”. It’s a romantic writing, reading, thinking, quiet room. I thought of my wife when I designed it, and have also referred to it as her “sitting room”, because I made it kinda girly-pretty and put her Keurig coffee maker in there.

I know, I know. You’d expect a guy to want a MAN cave, right? Something with lots of leather, dark wood, heavy curtains, beer posters, big screen TV, sports trophies, and the like. Well, I have something sort of like that in our living room already, with my nice dark antiques and brown leather couch and club chair. Ahem. Minus the beer posters and sports trophies.

But this time I departed from that model. I guess I figured I wouldn’t feel so guilty for spending the money if I designed it with my wife in mind.

So in spite of the fact that it’s kind of a feminine room, I must state that I consider myself a regular guy in some aspects. I love to do handyman projects around the house, can’t wait to play with the snowblower and lawn tractor, adore chopping down acres of brush and clearing land, and have a list a mile long of outdoor brick-laying type projects I can’t wait to start.

But I’m also a guy who loves some not-so-typical things. I’m a great deal like my character, Gus LeGarde, who is frequently referred to as a Renaissance man. Gus and I love antiques. We love Chopin. We love to cook. We love French Impressionist art. We love nature. We love to hike. And, we love to cross-country ski.

So, that was my lame attempt to prove to you that I really am a semi-regular guy in spite of how pretty this room is. Ha.

What inspired this? My hairdresser.

Yeah, really. The lady who cuts my hair was running late last month. She offered to let me sit in her new little new-age-comfy room with the water fountain and a foot bath. It was so darned comfortable I almost fell asleep several times, and I realized that I wanted one, too!

So, let me show you what I did over the past month.

I asked my wife what color walls she wanted, and she chose a pale, pale orange sherbet color. On an impulse, I checked out a Ruby Gordon’s annual half off sale, and found a cream-colored leather loveseat and comfy chair/ottoman in the clearance section. This sort of set the tone for the rest of the room, which really is quite romantic. (And DANG, is it relaxing and comfortable...)

I ordered this trickling wall mounted water fountain. Still waiting for a pump to be sent that isn't LOUDER than the trickling water sound, but it's enroute, so they say. 

I found turquoise pillows and a throw at Pier One, a vase thingie that holds apple blossoms, or whatever fake things my wife my want to stick in them during the winter, and then I went nuts and ordered a glass lamp to match the turquoise color that had ended up being so prevalent in the room. 

I haunted my favorite antique stores to find a perfect – I mean made for this room – antique lamp with the exact same colors that we’d already chosen.

I ordered a cherry wall cabinet to store some of my Young Living Essential Oils, an Aria oil diffuser to set the scene, a foot bath and all the good smelling stuff that goes with it, and some gorgeous photos from a wonderful photographer friend. 

 Here are a few images that will eventually be hanging over the loveseat and chair, in large format.

 

See how they miraculously match the room colors? It’s like it was meant to be.

It’s almost all put together. I’m waiting for the ottoman, so I can put up my feet while I write. The essential oil diffuser arrived yesterday, and I set it up this morning. My wife wanted curtains, so I got those last weekend – sheer, romantic type curtains. (I won’t dwell on the fact that my cat, one of the seven kittens my daughter’s cat had last year, keeps climbing up them and messing them up.) I’m waiting for the prints to frame and hang. And then, I’ll be ready to write in style. Wonder if my characters will have any more romance in the next few books? I do feel some love scenes coming on...

Here are a few shots of my writing room - a work in process

The "Aria" my new Young Living oil diffuser that also has soothing natural sounds and beautiful colors within its clear glass globe. Highly recommended! (and you'll know why when you read Essentially Yours, my fifteenth book scheduled for release early in 2012.)

 One corner of the room that's pretty much "done."

This is wear my wife sits when she joins me and reads on her Kindle.

And here's wear I sit, minus the wall art that's coming. Like I said, pretty darned comfy.

And so, as the project comes to a close, it's just in time for the next adventure of either Gus LeGarde, Sam Moore, or Marcella Hollister. Haven’t decided what’s next yet, but I’m itching to start something new.

Tell us about your writing space. Do you have a home office, like Marta? Do you write on trains in a notebook, like our past MB4 colleague, Sonya? Do you send out emails from your iPhone, like Kim? We haven't yet heard about our new friend Ron's writing space, but I'm sure he'll weigh in! 

Let us know how your characters emerge, because of, or in spite of, your writing space. 

And by the way - Happy Valentines Day! 

Do something extra special for your sweetheart today. You'll brighten up their day, and you'll feel all mushy inside. Who knows? It might inspire you. Maybe you'll end up with a girl-cave all your own. 

 

Aaron Paul Lazar

www.legardemysteries.com

www.mooremysteries.com

*Zen – a teaching that contemplation of one's essential nature to the exclusion of all else is the only way of achieving pure enlightenment.

2011

 copyright 2011 Aaron Paul Lazar

While we celebrate and ring in the new year, I'd like to thank each and every one of you for your support here on Murder by 4 and everywhere we happen to run into each other.

I often tell folks that my favorite part of being an author is connecting with my readers. It's the truth. I love you guys. And I'm humbled that my stories seem to inspire, comfort, thrill, or entertain. Armchair traveling can be a great escape, and let's face it, we all need a break sometimes, right?

I take great pleasure in the fact that you relate to Gus LeGarde, to Siegfried Marggrander, to Camille, and now to Sam and Rachel Moore. And for the first time in a long time, I might actually have one book of each series to give you in 2011, plus a few more books in my NEW series.

Yep. Another one. I know it's nuts, but I couldn't help myself. Having that laid-off year off between "day jobs" gave me the chance to get reacquainted with the Adirondacks, and to fall in love all over again with the majesty and beauty of the region. It was just natural that a new series based on the Sacandaga River, in Hope, NY, would be born. There are already two books under contract and scheduled for release in 2011/2012 in the new series featuring Marcella and Quinn Hollister, antique dealers from Honeoye, NY, whose lives spin out of control when secrets from the past catch up with them.

Up Next

The next book on the docket is FIRESONG, the novel that brings Gus LeGarde back to East Goodland to face some of the most tangled and baffling mysteries of his life.

The cover is done and I'm working on the final polish. Fingers crossed that we'll have it out in print soon.

Honors for Healey's Cave

"To Aaron Paul Lazar for Healey’s Cave. A mystery has never made my Nobel list before but this one deserves the description “literary mystery.” It’s been called “lush,” “lyrical,” and “absorbing.” It is a fine example of how genre fiction can cross the line from entertaining to fine art."                                                                                      - Carolyn Howard Johnson

VE

I don't enter many writing contests. I know, I know. I probably should. But all these extranneous things I do for promotion or awards take away from writing time, and it kills me. I need to write. I need time with the characters in my parallel universe(s). So I avoid the stuff other than pure writing more than I should.

This year, though, at some prodding from my publisher, I sent out HEALEY'S CAVE to a few places. It seems they liked it. ;o) The book made it to the top two finalists for the Allbooks Editor's Choice Awards Mystery category. The winner will be announced in January.

I'm pleased to say award-winning Carolyn Howard Johnson also seemed to like the book, and picked it for one of her top choices for her Back to Literature column 2010 on the Myshelf.com site.

Thanks to Allbooks and Carolyn Howard Johnson for these honors.

Coming Soon - the second Moore Mystery

The next Moore Mystery has been titled. It's called TERROR COMES KNOCKING  and was named by a great friend and supporter of my books. Thanks to Don Harman, from Charlotte, North Carolina, for suggesting the title. TERROR COMES KNOCKING puts Sam and Rachel Moore through more heartstopping trials. The green marble is back, Billy hasn't gone off to visit the angels yet, and daughter Beth goes missing. It should be out in 2011, as long as I continue to make good progress on the final polish. You can read an excerpt from it soon. Stay tuned to the website devoted to Sam and Rachel, at www.mooremysteries.com.

Introducing Tall Pines Mysteries

Two new mysteries are due in print in 2011/2012 - FOR THE BIRDS and ESSENTIALLY YOURS. These mysteries are set in the gorgeous Adirondack Mountains, and have just a touch of the paranormal entwined in the plots. They're full of humor, nature, terror, and I've been told they're a little bit sexy. For the first time in my life, I'm telling a story from a woman's POV! Hey, I figured it would make me a better writer.  And it's good to get inside a woman's mind once in a while. Or so my wife tells me.

Stay tuned for more about this new contemporary series. I think you'll like it!

Call for Beta Readers

Got time? Like to read? Have an eagle eye?

Does it drive you nuts when you spot an error in a finished book?

Me, too. But it's nearly impossible for me to catch all my own errors without the help of my Beta Readers. My brain just integrates the words into what they're supposed to say, and I miss mistakes all the time. Plus there are those little inconsistencies that drive me insane. Like when I left the duct tape on Billy Moore's mouth in one scene, and he started talking in the next. Or like the time I called Sam "Gus" in Healey's Cave. Gheesh.

I could use some help. I'm looking for the average reader who can breeze through my books in efile format, find the occasional typo or inconsistency, and get the manuscript back to me within a month or so. In return, you'll get your name in the acknowledgements and a free copy when it comes out.

Interested? Email me so we can see if you fit the profile!

New Q&A - Ask the Author!

Ever wonder where writers get their ideas? Where I came up with Siegfried? Why he's German? How I seemed to know a bit about Paris or Vienna? How my grandkids model the children for my series? How big my real gardens are?

Now you can find out! Just email me at aaron.lazar@yahoo.com. Next issue, I'll pick a few questions to answer in this newsletter. Maybe it will be yours!

Since it's the season of giving...

I meant to make a special offer on books before the holiday season flew by. But I guess I had a pretty good excuse for not getting to it sooner - my eldest daughter just tied the knot with our new son-in-law, Geoffrey Hall on the night before Thanksgiving. That weekend, daughter Melanie accepted a proposal from new fiance' Jay Carbonneau, and shortly thereafter, Allison said yes to her honey, Jason Wolfanger. Life has been hopping!

So, in celebration of my three daughters finding their soulmates and agreeing to a lifetime together, I'd like to offer a book deal I've never done before.

BUY ONE BOOK, get the next FREE.

That goes for DOUBLE FORTE', UPSTAGED, TREMOLO, MAZURKA, AND HEALEY'S CAVE. This is a one time deal that I don't intend to repeat any time soon. So if you have Christmas money that's burning a hole in your pockets, or want to get started collected birthday gifts for family while the price is hot, email me and we'll get this done!

Happy New Year!

email: aaron dot lazar at yahoo dot com

Christmas on a Shoestring Budget

  

Here we are, just a few weeks from Christmas. I've just returned home from a five day business trip in freezing cold Kentucky and Virginia. Although I had envisioned balmy temps in the 40s, it wasn't so bad. I'm a cold-hearty Northerner, and my friends call me Nanuk of the North 'cause I walk outside no matter how frigid it is. The southern field mice actually decided it was too cold to live outdoors while I was there, however, and one of them greeted me in a hotel bathtub. Quite a sight! It was actually twenty degrees colder down south than it was in Rochester, New York on Tuesday. While it was a good trip from a business point of view, and I did finish the edits on my second Tall Pines mystery in the "down" time, I lost a whole week getting ready for Christmas.

The day after I arrived home, my wife's two brothers called to say they'd be arriving a day early for their four day visit. I love seeing them, and I'm glad they came early to avoid a storm that's been forecast, but I wasn't ready for them, either! I hadn't cleaned, shopped, or planned the menus. 

My son-in-law saved the day by doing the cleaning. Phew. So, off I went to Aldi's, Walmart, and Wegmans (I shop the cheapest place first, then move to my favorite more expensive store last for the real gourmet goodies. I LOVE Wegmans!) to buy stuff for my cooking adventures. 

One of the dishes I made was Sonia Martinez's Fricase de Pollo Estilo Cubano (Cuban Style Chicken Fricase - actually very easy - a one pot meal) with a side salad inspired by travels last week. I chopped cooked beets mixed with a balsamic glaze, set on a bed of finely chopped fennel. Mmm. A new favorite. And now as I write this, I'm kicking myself for not taking a picture of it. Anyway, here's the main dish, and if you want a copy of the recipe, just let me know. Sonia shared this and others on Gather a few years ago (her mother's recipe!) and my family has enjoyed it often.

 

So while I've been virtually busy as a bumbling bee, I don't have any presents ready, no Christmas lights up, and haven't done Christmas cards for the zillionth year in a row. I did manage to buy a teensy little tree while shopping at Wegmans the other day - a small Austrian pine that we can plant next spring when it's warmer. It's still not decorated. Sigh.

 

My family decided that this year, since the economy's so bad and we're all pretty darned broke, we'd do handmade gifts all around. Actually, it was little Gordie's idea - he is such a sweetheart. Only seven, he realizes the importance of putting thought into gifts. We all jumped at the idea. Okay, I'll admit finding the time to do it is tough, but the benefits are huge.
 
So, in the spirit of Kim Smith's article on great gift ideas for writers, here are some ideas that writers and or other creative types might like to consider making for their loved ones. All you need is a printer, some paper, and plenty of ink!


A Family Recipe Book 
 We're creating custom books for each of our three daughters. Thankfully, I don't think they read my blogs, so hopefully they'll be surprised! 

I think everyone has the blogging blues, like Marta mentioned this week. In her article, she referenced always giving something back when you blog, so I thought I'd share this with you.

Here's what my wife and I are doing - we've collected up all of the family favorites, whether they be written on old frayed recipe cards or scraps of paper. We scanned them, including some from the girls' great grandmothers. My wife has written special notes to each child on some of the printouts, referring to memories she has about the traditions that went with the food. I've thankfully taken lots of pictures of our tables laden with goodies over the years, so I'm mixing and matching these with the recipes. 
The neat thing is you can write little stories or poems for each occasion, if you wish, using your creative side while creating an heirloom that your children will hopefully cherish and add to over the years. 


Here's a sample page. Some are just plain old black and white copies - they're not all this fancy. But it's the recipes that matter, right?

After printing out each recipe, I'm putting them in transparent sleeves and storing them in colorful binders with extra sleeves at the end so they can add to them over the years.




















Here are a few more ideas for your creative spirits:

For my grandsons, I'm making special books as well. Julian is getting a "story of my life" picture book, where I'll use the same concept as above. Print out photos from his baby years and up, and write little stories beside them telling about our history together. 

Gordie is enamored with Spanish this year. So he's getting a "Spanish" book. I'll print out pictures of various objects with the English and Spanish words above and below. He's just barely reading English now (he's only 7) but he really loves this stuff, so he should be thrilled. 


Here are some more cool ideas:


Homemade Story Books

When you're sitting around with your kids or grandkids and making up stories (come on, I know you do!), type them up either on the fly or later in the day. Keep them in a file all year long, then at Christmas, print them out with some cool graphics or hand drawn designs. 


Special Letters

Buy some of that cool purplish blue construction paper and a silver flair pen. Write Christmas messages to each of your loved ones, mentioning a special event or memory you share. Tell them how much you love them and why you love them. They'll cherish this forever!


Coupons


If you are totally broke - this one is a big hit with kids. At least in my house, where we have four kids to five adults. They're always clamoring for special "one-on-one" time with the adults. Hand print "coupons" where you pledge special time to cash in later - for example: "one half hour of playing in the snow," or "a special trip to the library, just you and me." Give each child a dozen or so coupons that they can cash in later. But remember - unless you're in the middle of dinner or driving them to school or something, don't refuse them if it's not convenient for you. You must drop everything and give the gift when they ask!

I think this is the best present of all, and it doesn't have to be just for children. You can set aside some special time for your honey - offer them a back rub or foot rub, a special winter picnic, or something that will warm their hearts. After all, the gift of your time is far more precious than spending a ton of money on STUFF. Who really needs more things, anyway? All of those material gifts go by the wayside in a year or two. Well, unless your giving expensive jewelry or something like that. (not my style, LOL) But a handmade gift that is laced with your love and special thoughts will be saved and treasured forever. 


So stop the frantic shopping, get out of those blasted malls, come home armed with a few crafty things, and sit before the fire with a cup of hot chocolate so you can create something beautiful for your loved ones!


A very merry Christmas and holiday wishes to all!


Aaron Paul Lazar

P.S. If you're not crafty and you just can't think of anything to make, and you want to contribute to my paper and ink fund, then buy your family wholesome, heart thumping mysteries. Books are great gifts! Here's the link to LeGarde Mysteries - just follow the left pane down the page and you'll see them all! If you want copies autographed, email me at aaron dot lazar at yahoo dot com and we'll get it done in time for Christmas!

I'm Thankful for.... Nature and its Bounty.

Savor the Moment: inspiration for writers

copyright, Aaron Paul Lazar 2010

It’s the last week of November. Winter has already stretched tentative tendrils toward us, chilling the evenings to icy temps and drenching the mornings with heavy dew. Today, as I rounded the top of a hill overlooking the valley, my breath caught in my throat. Before me lay the snaking path of the Genesee River, previously hidden from casual view behind fields and woods. Nebulous clouds of fog hovered above, revealing the river route that quietly meanders out of sight most of the year.

My soul exploded with a sensation of splendor best described by the Japanese philosophy, wabi sabi*. This was indeed a wabi sabi moment, a fraction of time linking nature and man, steeped in intense sensual beauty…so full of wonder it transports you to a moment of spiritual enlightenment.

In addition to the vapor-bound river, the countryside lay punctuated with farmers’ ponds, exposed via banks of fog steaming overhead. Normally hidden by tall fields of grass or corn, the wisps of moisture called attention to the quiet shallows, home to frogs and watering holes for livestock.

Stunned by the beauty, invigorated beyond belief, I continued on the drive that I’d taken thousands of times before. Heading north on River Road, whispers of “Thank you, God,” floated in my brain. Still and amorphous, the words vibrated in syncopation with stirring grasses.

Once again, nature presented a feast so lovely I choked with emotion. There, to the east, clusters of tall grass waved in the sunlight with heavy heads bowed under the weight of soaking dew, their curvatures swan-like as they moved in glistening silence.

The ephemeral nature of this phenomenon is part of the allure. That precise moment of intense immersion, that amazing connection with nature, will never repeat. The sun's rays may not hit the grass with exactly the same angle or intensity. The grass will change tomorrow, perhaps drier, taller, or shorn. This transient moment of staggering beauty must be absorbed and cherished.

What path do writers take to experience this? How do they open the channels in the brain that might have been content to listen to Haydn’s 19th Symphony in C Major, but blind to nature’s offerings? (this was playing on the radio when I delighted in these visions today.)

First of all, one must be a “visualist.” That isn’t a real word, but it describes what I mean. A person who is stunned by physical natural beauty (certainly not at the exclusion of aural, tactile, or emotional stimuli) possesses visual aqueducts to the world through his or her eyes. Infinitesimal flashes of stunning images move him beyond belief. These impressions are captured in his mind’s eye, never to be lost, forever to be savored. And often, when this type of writer is creating, they see the “movie in their mind,” pressing from within, allowing readers to feel intimate and involved in a scene.

What type of a reader are you? Do you soak up scenes written by others? Imagine them for days on end? Find choice gems of passages that affect you for life? Do you want your readers to feel this way about your own prose?

It is this deeply felt appreciation for nature, for life, for wonder, that promotes a good writer to potential majesty. Perhaps not to best-seller status – that illusory fate is in the hands of a publishing industry often not tuned into art, but focused solely on profit. Try to ignore that aspect when you are creating your next masterpiece. In time, if the stars are aligned and you achieve this pinnacle of greatness, it may happen.

Open your eyes. Reel it in. Absorb the beauty around you, whether it is the flash of love in an old woman’s eye, or the fragile petal of a tiny orange cinquefoil. Allow yourself to be in that moment, record it in your soul, and play it back for your readers for the ultimate connection.

And be ever so grateful... for this life of ours is a gift. Don't waste it!

* Wabi Sabi for Writers, by Richard Powell, Adams Media.

Book Title - Voting Results!

Last week we talked about how hard it is to come up with an original book title that hasn't already been used by a hundred authors. I spent a day perusing American phrases, and made a list I thought was original and pretty exciting.

It was only when I did Amazon searches on them to be sure they hadn't been used before that I was knocked down a few pegs - almost all of them had been used, countless times, and by some very famous authors like Agatha Christie and Fyodor Doestoevsky.

What instigated this new title search was a request from my publisher, Lida Quillen. She thinks my original title doesn't quite match the excitement level in my second Moore Mystery (sequel to HEALEY'S CAVE), and so she asked me to come up with some options.

One tip she provided was not to worry about a previously used title. Of course, titles aren't copyrighted, so anyone can use any existing title. And what would differentiate this book, is the subtitle "A Sam Moore Mystery."

I asked my readers, friends, and anyone who was interested to vote on my short list. Here are the results:

• Cat Among the Pigeons   46
• Dying to Meet You            32
• Snake in the Grass           28
• Dark Horse                       28
• Paper Tigress                   25
• The Bluff                           23
• Terror on the Hill               19

There were a few votes here and there for the other titles, but they didn't make the grade, so I left them off.

Now, there were also some "write-ins" on this poll! Quite a few folks had suggestions, and I wanted to thank them by showing them here:

• Terror Comes Knocking                Don H.
• With Cat's Eyes                            Karen F.
• A Time of Terror                            Mary E.
• Regards                                        Ginny S.
• Inquest at the Pyramid's Eye        Jeni E. 
• Inside the Cat's Eye                     Anita S.
• All That and Something Moore    Wesley W.
• Dark Terror                                   Angela A.
• Dark Talisman                              Angela A.
• Pigeon Among the Cats               Greg S.
• I Almost Cried                              anonymous
• Stranger Within                            Larry H.

Aren't they great? We have some creative people who took this poll!

So, Cat Among the Pigeons was by far the favorite (I love it, too!), with actually tons of votes for most of the other choices.

But as I mentioned last week, my publisher has the last word. She's pondered both lists - yes, I sent your suggestions to her! And guess what?

It's a tie!

As I write this, she's still deciding between Cat Among the Pigeons and Terror Comes Knocking, submitted by Don Harman from Charlotte, North Carolina. She wants to take her time to reflect on it, and will let me know when she's ready to announce the next title.

You never know, do you? When I started this list, I really loved Snake in the Grass and Dark Horse, but now I'm open to whatever she chooses. After all, she's been in the business a lot longer than me.

Thanks everyone, for participating, and have a great Sunday!

- Aaron Paul Lazar

www.legardemysteries.com

www.mooremysteries.com