Wednesday, June 19, 2013

Meet Marilyn Meredith


Please join me in welcoming Marilyn Meredith, also known as F.M. Meredith, the author of the Deputy Tempe Crabtree series. She first became interested in writing about law enforcement when she lived in a neighborhood filled with police officers and their families. The interest was fanned when her daughter married a police officer and the tradition has continued with a grandson and grandson-in-law who are deputies.

She also serves on the board of the Public Safety Writers Association, and has many friends in different law enforcement fields. For twenty plus years, she and her husband lived in a small beach community located in Southern California much like the fictional Rocky Bluff. She is a member of three chapters of Sisters in Crime, Epic, and Mystery Writers of America.



LA: Hi Marilyn, welcome to My Story ~ My way. Tell us about your current series.

MM: Hi Leslie, Thank you so much for hosting me this week. Dangerous Impulses is number 9 in the Rocky Bluff P.D. crime series. My intentions all along were to show how what happened on the job affected the families and what happened in the family affected the job. In each book the major plot is brought to a conclusion, but the families might have some ongoing problem.

LA: What’s next for you?

MM: I am polishing the next Rocky Bluff P.D. novel and getting ready to launch the next in the Deputy Tempe Crabtree series, Spirit Shapes.

LA: How much time do you spend promoting your books? 

MM: Way too much. Writing posts for blog tours takes a long time because I want the post to be interesting and different from others I’ve written.

LA: What works best for you?

MM: I am partial to blog tours, I’m not sure that works best for me—but it introduces me and my books to new potential readers. I love interacting with readers. And no, I do not have a publicist.

LA: Do you use a pen name? If so, how did you come up with it?

MM: F. M. Meredith is my first two initials and at the time I started using it, it seemed like a great idea.

LA: Which aspect of writing do you love the best, and which do you hate the most?

MM: I like the editing part best—once the book is all done and I am going over it, working to make it better.

LA: Describe for us, if you will, your writing style, as in plotter vs. seat of the pants, and do you put more time into developing characters or plot or are they equal?

MM: I think I’m a bit of both. I don’t set down an actual outline, but I begin with research and an idea for the plot. I begin jotting down lots of notes about what will be in the book, the new characters, etc. Then I start writing. As I write more ideas come and more notes.

LA: What do you do when you find yourself overwhelmed with all the stuff that goes along with writing and publishing?

MM: Hubby and I take the afternoon off and go out to lunch and a movie.

LA: That sounds like a great idea. Make note to self! Any advice you want to offer our readers about the dreaded Blurb writing ?

MM: Keep it to one or two sentences and use something about the book that will intrigue a reader.

LA: Key advice for other writers?

MM: Keep reading the kind of books you like to write—and write, write, write.

LA: Here is a social question. Someone has cut you off in the checkout line. How do you handle it?

MM: I had a friend who would always say quite loudly, “That must’ve been a very important person.” I always think that and may say it not so loudly to the person behind me.

LA: Coffee, tea or other?

MM: Chai latte.

LA: Are you superstitious?

MM: I’m not superstitious, but I like to put scary and weird things into my books. We have some resident ghosts in our home, but I know they can’t hurt anyone, so we put up with doors opening and shutting and weird noises.

LA: Do you have a view in your writing space? 

MM: Yes, the hill called Snail Head and the mountains beyond.

LA: Societal pet peeve … sound off.

MM: I am so tired of politics—politics corrupts and no politician comes is clean. No matter the party, no one has the people’s good in mind anymore—and I’m not sure they ever did except our founding fathers.

 


Blurb:
An attractive new-hire captivates Officer Gordon Butler, Officer Felix Zachary’s wife Wendy is befuddled by her new baby, Ryan and Barbara Strickland receive unsettling news about her pregnancy, while the bloody murder of a mother and her son and an unidentified drug that sickens teenaged partiers jolts the Rocky Bluff P.D.

Find Marilyn at: http://fictionforyou.com/
 

Facebook under my name, Marilyn Meredith

Buy links to your book: http://tinyurl.com/byxomtk


 



 
Don't forget F.M Meredith's (Marilyn's) excerpt on Saturday.
 


10 comments:

  1. Marilyn!! Long time no see. Glad to know you're busy at work. I love your Tempe Crabtree stories. I spotted this blog post on Triberr. Convoluted way to meet again.

    Take care and happy writing!

    Deb Salonen

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  2. Marilyn, it's my pleasure!

    Debra, isn't it great how social media, etc can bring people you've been out of touch with, back into your life? Love it. Sounds like you have a great novel as well.

    ciao
    LA

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  3. Leslie/L.A., by far the best part of the whole social media aspect for me. Hate the time suck, but actually interacting with real people--and real people you haven't seen for ages--is great! Thanks for being so supportive of other authors.

    Deb

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  4. Great interview, Marilyn. Eagerly awaiting the new Crabtree and Rocky Bluff books in the works.

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  5. Thank you for commenting, Cheryl, you are so supportive.

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  6. Excellent entertaining interview, Leslie Ann & Marilyn! Your "Dangerous Impulses" sounds like a complex weave of intrigue--a recipe for great fun and reading into the wee hours of the night. Looking forward to the excerpt on Saturday. Enjoy your journey with it, Marilyn.

    P.S. I'm adding it to my "must-read bookshelf" on Goodreads!

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  7. Thanks, Lisa. I do hope you will get a chance to read Dangerous Impulses.

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