Tag: Writers

Life

New Book Release: Your Addiction is Deadly

katjorgensen

November saw the release of my 5th book in the River City Mysteries. The series is comprised currently of four full novels and a prequel. The latest full novel is Your Addiction is Deadly.

Here’s the information on what happens in the latest exploits of Becca and her friends. All stories are stand alone novels.

Intrepid amateur sleuth Becca Reynolds believes she is leaving family, friends, and murder behind when she travels from River City to St. Louis, Missouri, to attend her first mental health conference.  But things rarely go as planned, and this trip is no exception.

Instead of instructional workshops with a bit of sightseeing on the side, Becca finds herself embroiled in murder and mayhem when she is discovered alone with a dead body.  To her horror, the police focus on her as their prime suspect. Visions of a prison cell with a mandatory dress code of stipes, or worse orange, and a new best friend named Bertha, forces Becca to launch her own investigation.  If she ever wants to see River City again, it’s up to her to solve the case.  

As the body count increases, she has serious doubts about who she can trust.  But never a quitter, Becca vows she will find the killer and see justice prevail.

Hot men, dangerous suspects, and twisted motives keep Becca on her toes as she works to solve her latest case and clear her name.

Join Becca and her gang of quirky characters in the latest installment of the River City Mysteries, Your Addiction is Deadly.

Buy it here

Several of the quirky things that happen to Becca in the book are actually things that happened to me on several trips to St. Louis over the years. This month in my newsletter I’ll be talking about those real life exploits that fueled my writing imagination. I hope you will join me later this month as I reveal them.

Life

Perfect Pets and Shaggy Sleuths

katjorgensen

On July 16th, I’m participating in a multi-author promotion on Perfect Pets and Shaggy Sleuths. These cozy mysteries all feature pets as an integral part of the stories.

My first book Your Eight O’clock is Dead is one of the featured books. If you’d like to check out my book and the works of the other authors, please check them out here:

https://books.bookfunnel.com/perfectpets/iftad7mnjv

And here’s a brief blurb on my mystery.

Thanks for checking out the books. It’s much appreciated.

Kat

Books, Writer

Small Towns, Big Personality

katjorgensen

I’m doing a promotion with 70 other authors called Small Towns, Big Personality. These books are set either in small towns or have that small town feeling to them. If you enjoyed the feel of Gilmore Girls, you might enjoy the tone of these books. Here’s where you can find the promo: https://books.bookfunnel.com/smalltownbigpersonality/mgem28i56p

I hope you will check out the selection of books available here. Some great bargains. And it’s always fun to find new-to-me writers and the books they write. Great summer reading for a very reasonable cost.

Enjoy.

Kat

Life

The Pandemic Has Turned Me Into Aunt Alice

katjorgensen

Growing up my father told me many times about his mother’s aunt, Aunt Alice. She lived down in the country in a very little place on some family member’s property. Aunt Alice was a committed recluse – I suspect she suffered from some sort of anxiety condition that left her unable, or unwilling, to venture out.

I asked my grandmother about Aunt Alice. She wouldn’t tell me much, but what I was able to piece together was that this poor, sweet woman had suffered a lot of sadness and tragedy in her life.

Each Sunday, my grandparents would pack up my father and his sisters and take a basket of food to Aunt A. They’d leave it on the porch and then go visit other relatives in the area. But all of the kids were cautioned not to make noise or do anything to upset their great aunt.

I write mysteries. Aunt Alice has always been a mystery in my family tree. I’ve done genealogical research, but I haven’t uncovered anything more than I knew before. She died when my dad was a little boy.

When it was announced earlier in the year that those of us at high risk for Coved-19 should shelter in place, I was very concerned. I’m a fairly social person and I was worried that I may not be able to do this. But I have to say somewhere along the way, I have embraced my inner Aunt Alice. I have hunkered down. And I have enjoyed it on some level. Sure, I still miss all of my family and my friends. But I do not miss the endless appointments I had or the many errands I was forced into doing on a daily basis before the pandemic hit.

I have used my time wisely. I’ve rereleased a book that I’d written several years ago. And I’ve just released the second book in that series – Your Time is Up. That book had just been waiting to be revised and published. I’m hard at work on edits for the third book in the series. I’ve been VERY busy. And it’s felt great.

And as I’ve been safely ensconced in my little sheltered world, I’ve often thought how different my self-imposed reclusive life has been from Aunt Alice’s. What would she have done with a laptop and her imagination? How would her life have been different? Would it have made a difference? I really hope so.

But I have no idea and I wish I knew the answer. One thing I do know is that Aunt Alice will turn into a character in one of my books. Loosely based, of course. I’m a writer. It’s what I do.

I hope you’re using your Pandemic time wisely and are getting a lot accomplished.

Kat

Writing

Writing

katjorgensen

If you want to be a writer, you must do two things above all others; read a lot and write a lot.

Stephen King

If you haven’t read Stephen King’s excellent book “On Writing” I urge you to check it out. Originally published in 2010, it’s now out as a 10th anniversary edition. I’ve just ordered it and plan to reread it.

It doesn’t matter in what genre you’re writing, his book has a lot of good information in it for writers of all levels. But it’s especially beneficial if you are a new or aspiring writer, or someone like me, taking up the craft once again.

Years ago, a friend of mine, who is a New York Times Bestselling writer, encouraged me to read widely. And not just in my genre. I’m a firm believer in this and have done it for probably the last twenty years or so. You learn a lot from stepping out of your genre and your writing will benefit from it.

Primarily, I write mysteries and a bit of non-fiction. But I read romance, science fiction, historical, biographies, all sorts of non-fiction, women’s fiction, the classics. Whatever I happen to find interesting at the moment. It not only gives me the chance to study other writers that I would not ordinarily be exposed to, but it keeps me fresh and abreast of what’s being written by other writers. I also read current events and try to stay up on news stories. Being current is important even if you’re writing historicals. As writers we learn from everything we read.

What are you currently reading?