Excerpt #2 from Summer Magic

March 10, 2015March 10, 2015 / Marcia Meara / Leave a comment

For those of us here in central Florida, where the temps reached into the 80’s today, this isn’t so far away. For those of you still suffering from frostbite and chilblains, maybe this will give you hope that summer will come again. 🙂

The Sound of Dreams Coming True

Side by side,
They recline,
Deckchair wood
Warm against their
Shoulders.
Eyes closed,
Almost dozing in
Late afternoon shade,
The humid sounds of August
Sluicing over them
Like warm water
On even warmer skin.
Old Summer is singing.

Listen, he says,
Do you hear it?
Um-hmm, she answers,
As a bird pours
Liquid notes into the
Emerald and ochre of the garden.
What is that, he asks.
It’s the cardinal, Love,
Calling his mate.
They’ve built a nest in
The mock-orange,
This year.
Ah.

Listen, he says again,
As a soft hum
Grows around them,
Swelling into a
Chirring rhythm,
Which fills the air with
A noise as familiar
As summer, itself.
What is that, he asks.
Katydids, she says,
Reaching for his hand,
They’re singing songs of
Love just for us.
Ah.

Listen, she says,
Kissing his fingers,
As a little girl laughs,
Chasing fireflies
With her big brother.
Do you hear it, Love?
Do you hear the sound of
Dreams coming true?
I hear our children,
Playing late on a summer’s eve,
He says, turning to
Look at her soft smile.
Yes, she replies . . .
Exactly.
Ah.

***

Summer Magic: Poems of Life & Love is available on Amazon for download to Kindle

Excerpt from Swamp Ghosts

March 10, 2015March 11, 2015 / Marcia Meara / Leave a comment

You guys have been warned. If nobody else is posting excerpts (and maybe even if they ARE), I’ll fill in the blanks for the whole week. I’ve got 3 novels and a book of poetry out, plus a new work in progress. I have LOTS I can share. Creepy stuff, like this prologue, romantic scenes, funny scenes, scenes from the 60’s, scenes with no redeeming social value at all…you get the picture. And without further ado, here…in its entirety, because there’s really no good place to break this one…is the prologue from Swamp Ghosts. When someone else posts today, I’ll split it to take up less room. For now, it’s all right here on the main page. 😀 Enjoy! Shiver, if you like. It’s encouraged. (And you have my permission to buy the book to see what else happens. 😀 Link is at the bottom.)

…

THE CAR BUMPED and rocked as he drove down the rutted dirt road, steering by a wash of silver light from the gibbous moon. Only a few more nights until it was completely full, making the road nearly as bright as it would be by day, but there was still enough light tonight to see that the way ahead was clear—except for the tall grasses and weeds, indicating no one had driven the road in a long time. That was all the visibility he needed. Not much chance of meeting anyone along such a remote stretch of river, anyway, especially since the state had bought this entire tract of land a few years ago, and chained off all the roads, posting No Access signs everywhere. Still, he wasn’t going to tempt fate by turning on his headlights. Not with what he was carrying in the back on this summer night.

Should be nearing the old canoe launch any time now. Continue reading →

Excerpt #2 From Wake-Robin Ridge

March 9, 2015March 11, 2015 / Marcia Meara / Leave a comment

Just so you know that Wake-Robin Ridge isn’t ONLY about the creepy moments, though there are definitely some of those, here’s an excerpt from Chapter 3. Sarah Gray has recently quit her job as a librarian and moved from Florida to the North Carolina Mountains. This is shortly after moving into her new cabin, and she’s spent the morning unpacking and setting up house. Like me, Sarah often suffers from an excess of enthusiasm. 😀 Tomorrow, I’ll share one or two from Swamp Ghosts…and maybe another poem, depending on how many posts come in from you guys!

Enjoy!

****

…I lugged the empty boxes out to the front porch to be disposed of later, and decided I had earned a break. Fixing a cup of my favorite Earl Grey tea, I walked out my back door, and began a stroll around my property. It was pretty early yet, and the morning was surprisingly cool, at least by the standards of someone who knew what August in central Florida felt like. Walking down to the edge of the creek, I stopped in the deep green shade of a redbud tree, watching the way the rush of water slowed as it poured into one of the deeper pools. I wondered if there might be trout hiding in there, and for one, insane minute I pictured myself fishing for my dinner. Then I came back to reality.

As if, Sarah! It’s all you can do to swat a fly. You’d feel sorry for the fish and turn it loose, apologizing for interrupting its day.

I laughed at my foolishness, and continued to walk around the yard, taking note of how high the late summer grasses were. Might have to get a riding mower to handle the yard. And then there was all the overgrowth along the edge of the creek. Kudzu vines and wild blackberries had run amok. I’d definitely have to hire someone to clear that out at some point. But other than that, it was all perfect, with slow, sleepy bees bumbling among the wildflowers, and the sound of birdsong coming from the woods.

The online photos hadn’t lied. The cabin was lovely in its comfortable, solid simplicity, and the yard and garden, with its big, tilled beds, offered a chance to let my famous green thumb run wild. Well, okay, I didn’t really have a famous green thumb, having never owned a house with a garden, but I had always loved plants, and on this morning, I felt sure I could develop a garden that would be celebrated far and wide. Visions of sunflowers and roses, carrots and cabbages, and luscious pink and blue hydrangeas danced in my head.

Oh, I felt very lucky, all right. And filled with an optimism I hadn’t felt in ten years of cataloging endless mountains of manuscripts and dusty documents. But no more of that for me. Now, I was free to unleash the writer’s spirit I was sure had been caged deep within me all this time.

I’m going to put pen to paper—or fingertips to computer keys—and words are going to pour forth. I will send them out into the world to multiply, and become books. My words will be erudite, yet pithy. Evocative, but always grounded. Poetry presented as prose. Or maybe it would be prose presented as poetry. Heck, why not both? Who’s to stop me? Continue reading →

You Guys Better Get Busy…

March 9, 2015 / Marcia Meara / 6 Comments

…or you’re gonna be reading a LOT of excerpts from ME this week! 😯 Here’s a short one from my book Summer Magic. It’s the final poem in the book, wherein I get the last laugh over all the naysayers I’ve known through the years. Some of you might recognize this scenario.

Attitude Really IS Everything

No!
Yes.
You can’t!
I can.
Why?
Why not?
It’s all wrong!
It’s all right.
You shouldn’t!
I should.
You won’t!
I will.
It could be bad!
It could be good.
It’s too late!
There’s time.
You’re too old!
I’m still here.
You did it!
I did.

Summer Magic is available for download on Kindle

Excerpt From Prologue of Wake-Robin Ridge

March 9, 2015March 9, 2015 / Marcia Meara / 6 Comments

FRIDAY, JANUARY 22, 1965
WAKE-ROBIN RIDGE, NORTH CAROLINA

…Packing up his small knapsack with beef jerky and a couple of granola bars, he clipped a canteen of water to his belt, then selected two of his sharpest knives from his duffel bag. He tucked those inside the knapsack as well, and grabbed a deadly looking machete to carry along.

Might need this baby for hacking away vines … or limbs. Yeah, limbs. That’s a good one. Sniggering to himself, he hid everything else inside the little tent, then pulled on a warm pair of gloves. Just as the dim shapes of tall pines became faintly visible, he set off through the woods, following the same route he had checked out when he arrived at his hiding place late the day before. Continue reading →

My Fabulous Day Yesterday!

March 6, 2015March 6, 2015 / Marcia Meara / 23 Comments

The Naiad, Inspiration for the Undine in Swamp Ghosts
I swiped this photo from the St. Johns River Eco Tours FB Page
Go there to book a tour for yourself, and see how much fun it is.

You folks who know me best, know I’m very seldom out of the house these days. In a frenzy to tell my stories while I still remember what words are, I mostly spend my days at the computer, writing or researching. But yesterday, they LET ME OUT! Woohooo! The wonderful Captain Jeanne Bell of the St. Johns River Eco Tours and her wildlife photographer husband, Doug Little, invited me to go along on TWO of their tours. And what a great time it was!

The weather was sunny and beautiful. Okay, I was hot, since it was well over 80 degrees out, but you can’t go by me. I haven’t been cool since 1972, and I mean that in every sense of the word. But most people were very comfortable, and the blue skies and brilliant green spring foliage made the trip simply breathtaking. And we saw it ALL, folks. Lots and lots of alligators, from some no more than a foot long, to a few truly big, big boys, and every size in between. All the usual wading birds were out–white ibis galore, little blue herons, great egrets, snowy egrets and quite a few giant wood storks. We even spotted a purple gallinule on the morning tour. But the highlight of the trip for me was when Doug called up several barred owls who came when he whistled, and put on a show for us. It was spectacular, and something I’d not seen him do on any of my earlier trips.

And of course, because they are so supportive and understand the benefits of networking to each other’s mutual benefit, Doug did his spiel about how he and Captain Jeanne were the inspiration for my book, Swamp Ghosts, and I had a chance to address each group and talk a bit about my book, and my experiences in tackling writing and self-publishing at my age, with no prior training in either. We had a drawing after each tour, and the winners got a copy of my first book, Wake-Robin Ridge, plus an assortment of my custom tea blends I’ve been making up and naming for characters in my books. I sold and signed some books, and all in all, consider the day to have been everything I hoped for, and more!

We’ve been chatting a bit about building local readerships, and I just wanted to share one way to make it work. Here are a few pictures of things we saw, though these weren’t taken yesterday. If I get any that were, I’ll pass them along. (I was too busy having fun to take pics myself.)

THINGS WE SAW

Lots of these.

A few of these.

Even a few of these…

But none of these! (Read Swamp Ghosts, and you’ll find out why not.)

Some of these.

More of these

Kajillions of both of these…

But only ONE of these.

We saw a whole lot more, but I have to stop somewhere. To see for yourself, check out

St. Johns River Eco Tours. You’ll have a fantastic time!

Building a Local Readership

March 4, 2015March 4, 2015 / Marcia Meara / 7 Comments

DeBary Hall Historic Site
Enterprise, FL

I’ve mentioned this subject briefly in an earlier post, but I wanted to get back to it again, with an update on what’s happening in my world, and to see if any of you are doing the same kinds of things.

First, let me say that I have an advantage over some, in that my second novel, Swamp Ghosts, is set in a fictional town about 30 miles north of where I live. I plopped Riverbend, Florida down along the St. Johns River, because I knew I wanted to write a book set in the habitat I love most in this state. And surprise, that’s not the beach, nor any of the glittery enclaves along our seashores. As a Florida native (yeah, there’s me, and some guy up in the panhandle), I far prefer the mysterious rivers and lakes of central Florida, and the wildlife that lives there. So, I had my setting in mind before I had my story line worked out. I had an idea I wanted a serial killer to be terrorizing Riverbend, but it wasn’t until I was out with the St. Johns River Eco Tour folks that I realized the good Captain Jeanne Belle had the most perfect job in the world, and it would make a great job for the heroine of my book. Her husband & first mate, Doug Little, is a very talented wildlife photographer, too. So, voila. Maggie Devlin and Gunnar Wolfe were born, and my novel was up and running. Or paddling. In a canoe, of course.

The Naiad
My Inspiration for Maggie Devlin’s Boat, The Undine

I’m giving you this back story, because this is how the next part of my adventure began. Jeanne & Doug loved my book, and Doug was pretty sure he was Gunnar Wolfe’s alter ego, and they began to tell folks on their tours about the book they had inspired. One thing led to another, and before you know it, they were selling copies of the book at the end of each tour, and talking to people in the area who had venues where I might be able to do a Meet the Author type of thing. It started with a small group at a local nature center, and then I was at DeBary Hall historic site, doing a PowerPoint presentation on writing a novel using the St. Johns River basin and wildlife as a backdrop. That went so well, I not only sold a lot of books, I discussed future presentations we’d like to do there, including one on my experiences with self-publishing both eBooks and print versions of all three of my novels. There are more in the works, too, plus I believe they plan to carry my books in their gift shop.

Then there’s the spill-over. Because I told the audience all about St. Johns River Eco Tours, one attendee immediately booked two tours on the Naiad, for her group of 40+ folks, and I’ve been invited to go along as a guest on each, and do a short Q & A session, mid-tour. I’ll do a signing afterward, for anyone who wants to buy a copy of Swamp Ghosts. I’m not telling you guys this just to brag, even though it feels GREAT to be having this much fun with my book. I’m sharing because it’s such a super way to build a local readership. There’s a good chance I’ll be doing more of these Meet the Author things at other venues in the central Florida area, too.

As far as sales go, it’s a one book at a time thing, rather than a mass market event, but each one of those sales is a chance to make a personal connection with a reader. And each reader who enjoys meeting you and reading your book is a potential member of your tribe, ready to check out everything you write. And better yet, each one has friends and family they can tell about your book. Word of mouth is still the number one way to sell books, after all.

Bottom line, I may have stumbled into this opportunity accidentally, but it can work for you, too. If you’re lucky enough to have written a book set in your area, you have a built-in sales tool with local businesses, book clubs, book fairs, and libraries. If your setting isn’t local, look for a hook of another kind. If you write murder mysteries, maybe you can offer to do a presentation on famous murders in history, or new forensic techniques (in layman’s language). Be creative. Find something you can build a presentation around, and start looking for places that offer talks to the public. Consider it advertising that doesn’t cost anything, and might actually make you a few dollars. And more importantly, it’s a great way to build name recognition, and add members to youryour tribe.

And best of all: Meeting readers face to face is FUN!

My Favorite Swamp Ghost of All
The Dancing Albino Alligator

Interviewed by Jennifer Melzer (PLS Share, thanks!)

February 27, 2015 / Marcia Meara / Leave a comment

Loved doing this interview with Jennifer Melzer. Some questions really make you stop and think, and my last interview with Caitlin Stern, along with this one, both did just that. Check it out here: Jennifer Melzer Please feel free to share this with all your Peeps! Thanks!

FREE Today! (PLS Share, Thanks!)

February 27, 2015March 3, 2015 / Marcia Meara / 6 Comments

Just a reminder that A Boy Named Rabbit will be available for download FREE today, tomorrow, and Sunday. This is Book 2 of my Wake-Robin Ridge series. If you’ve read Book 1 already, grab this while you can! If you haven’t read Book 1 yet, grab the boxed set, which will also be free over the same period. The boxed set will give you both books of the series, Wake-Robin Ridge, AND A Boy Named Rabbit. And did I mention FREE? What could be better than that? No risk at all! Hope you’ll check them out, and hope you’ll enjoy them!

A Boy Named Rabbit

Boxed Set: Wake-Robin Ridge & A Boy Named Rabbit