New Novel-In-Progress

Taking a break from the hot, hazy, humid weather here on the gulf coast.

Putting on my writer hat. Working on a new novel.

Four chapters already completed.

Title and details will be announced later.

Our Heartfelt Condolences

April 2011 Tornadoes

To the devastated cities and states in the South where deadly tornadoes and thunderstorms ripped through killing more than 300 people and leaving thousands of people homeless, we are deeply sorry for your loss.

The Mysterious Boo Heron

After lunch today, I had three slices of bread leftover. Wasn't sure what to do with them. The humidity is too high here for them to last long in the bread bin. I couldn't make two sandwiches, and one and a half isn't very filling for two people. So…I decided to use the bread to find out what kinds of fish are lurking beneath the nearby pier.

The last time I took leftover bread to the seagulls I made the mistake of not shredding the slices beforehand. Some of the gulls got too close and caused me to drop a few. They snatched them up and flew off. Whole slices of bread dangling from their beaks and flapping in the wind. This time I shredded the bread into small chunks, then stuffed them back in the bag. Ever wonder how difficult it is to slide your hand into a narrow plastic bag after having slathered on suntan lotion...only moments before heading outside? The temperature was in the upper eighties. Heat and humidity made the lotion on the back of my hands a little sticky. Not the best time to mess around with bread when you have to get it out of the bag fast.

I hid the bread bag in my ballcap and carried it in my arms. Seagulls have eagle eyes, y'know. I strolled to the end of the pier, trying to be as nonchalant as possible. White caps smacked the pilings. I looked around. Nary a gull in sight. I leaned over the railing and pitched a piece of bread to the water. A gull swooped in so fast the bread never hit the water. I ignored him and tried to feed the fish. Within seconds, I heard the incessant yackhammer squawk of the seagulls. Dozens of them. A moment later, a pelican arrived on the scene to see what all the fuss was about. He kept missing the pieces I tossed to him while he was in the air. As if he understood, he landed on the water. I threw a small handful to the far side of the pelican to lure the gulls away, then tossed him a large chunk. What an ingrate. He spit it out! Well, he didn't actually spit it out since pelicans don't have lips, but you know what I mean. Soon as the chunk hit the water, a gull snatched it from him.

A blue heron flew down to the pier. I was out of bread now. The gulls seemed to realize the party was over. They lined up on the railing on one side of the pier. Most of them stared right at me. I swear, I thought they were sizing me up. Not sure if I was about to become dinner. *grin* Suddenly, the heron jumped down off the railing and landed in the middle of the walkway. He honked once at the gulls. No kiddin'. I'm sure it was some sort of a quack, but it came out like a honk. Some of the gulls took off. So did the pelican. The heron strutted his stuff along the walkway toward the shoreline, looking back at me ever once in a while. Eventually, he grew bored with his little game and flew away. I never did find out what kinds of fish are lurking below the pier. Maybe the heron was trying to warn me that I was better off not knowing.

New Book Releases For April

THE SIXTH MAN by David Baldacci
http://davidbaldacci.com/
JERICHO CAY by Kathryn R. Wall
http://www.kathrynwall.com/
AN EVIL EYE by Jason Goodwin
http://www.jasongoodwin.net/
MOBBED by Carol Higgins Clark
http://www.carolhigginsclark.com/
LEECHES by David Albahari
http://www.davidalbahari.com/index_eng.htm

THE FIFTH WITNESS by Michael Connelly http://www.michaelconnelly.com/
THE MEDUSA AMULET by Robert Masello http://www.robertmasello.com/
KNOCKDOWN by Sarah Graves http://www.randomhouse.com/bantamdell/graves/
THE GODS OF GREENWICH by Norb Vonnegut http://norbvonnegut.com/
A DARK AND STORMY NIGHT by Jeanne M. Dams http://www.jeannedams.com/
I'LL WALK ALONE by Mary Higgins Clark http://authors.simonandschuster.com/Mary-Higgins-Clark/6230
THE PHILOSOPHER'S KISS by Peter Prange http://authors.simonandschuster.com/Peter-Prange/65884460/widget

Interesting Blogs

CRIMINAL-E Allan Guthrie
http://criminal-e.blogspot.com/
THE RAP SHEET J. Kingston Pierce, editor
http://therapsheet.blogspot.com/
ROUGH EDGES James Reasoner
http://jamesreasoner.blogspot.com/
SECRET DEAD BLOG Duane Swierczynski
http://secretdead.blogspot.com/
DO SOME DAMAGE Eight Crime Writers
http://dosomedamage.blogspot.com/

MULHOLLAND BOOKS Little, Brown and Company http://www.mulhollandbooks.com/
POETIC JUSTICE PRESS Gerald So http://poemsoncrime.blogspot.com/
THE GRAVEYARD SHIFT Lee Lofland http://www.leelofland.com/wordpress/
THE TRAP OF SOLID GOLD Steve Scott http://thetrapofsolidgold.blogspot.com/
A NEWBIE'S GUIDE TO PUBLISHING Joe Konrath http://jakonrath.blogspot.com/
MURDER IS EVERYWHERE Seven Crime Writers http://murderiseverywhere.blogspot.com/
IT'S A CRIME! Crime Fiction http://itsacrime.typepad.com/its_a_crime_or_a_mystery/

Our Easter Adventure

We spent Easter bike riding. Peddled right on in to the next town. Stopped to rest on a bench along the shoreline. About to sit on the bench, I saw a rubber fishing lure with a deadly 3-pronged hook.

While looking for a safe place to put the lure a seagull spotted it. The gull nose-dived toward us. Seconds later, several other gulls arrived. They must've thought it was a real fish, and they all wanted a bite. We tried to hide the lure in the tall grass, but the gulls were watching. Closely.

We tried to hide it in a rope hole drilled through a wooden post. A gull swooped down and tried to get it. We tried hanging it on one of our bike baskets. It wouldn't stay put. The hooks were too sharp to hold onto while steering the bike. We worried it might bounce off the basket and flatten a tire. *smile* We ended up walking all around the area until we found a trashcan...with a lid.

I can't believe how careless some people are. It was probably on accident that it was left behind, but I'll never know. I do know the harm the hook could've caused if a seagull had tried to swallow it. That's as bad as people not cutting up the plastic ring holders around six packs of beer and soda before discarding them. Sometimes those holders end up in lakes, streams, rivers and the ocean. Ducks, for instance, get their neck caught in the rings. Litter is a bad thing, no matter how you look at it.

Otherwise, it was a very nice day. We found several quaint restaurants and sidewalk cafés. Did I mention we're in south Texas?

Driving to a new location today. Will have new places to explore with the bikes.

Coffee Break

~April~

Well, I've been on the road for a month and a half now. I really love this lifestyle. The ordinary life is not for me. Whatever time I have left in this world I don't want to spend it staring at the same four walls.

I've been thoroughly enjoying the warm weather. We left the Midwest as soon as our twenty-two inches of snow melted.

While on the road, I managed to finish Fire Flicks. I was a week or so late putting it on Amazon, though. At some of the places where we stayed we didn't have hookups for electricity. Other places, we either didn't have WiFi or the signal was too weak to stay online long enough to upload everything to Amazon.

I'm two chapters into a new story. This time, I'm not going to make a big announcement about when I intend to be finished. I gave myself a deadline with Fire Flicks mostly just to see if I could meet it. The story was written by March 31 as promised, but not uploaded [for reasons already stated].

I'm Twittering now. I signed up last fall but at the time I was trying to get Serial Quiller and Smoke on the Water ready to put them on Amazon Kindle, so I didn't have a lot of free time to tweet. After a while, I forgot all about it. There are a few things I haven't learned about the service. I'm sure I'll figure it out.

Top Blogs In Screenwriting

SCENAS DE GUION
http://scenas.wordpress.com/
BREAKING IN Gregor Schmidinger
http://www.gregorschmidinger.com/
BLOGGERY-POKERY Jason Arnopp
http://jasonarnopp.blogspot.com/
FILMMAKING STUFF Jason Brubaker
http://www.filmmakingstuff.com/
DAVIDMELKEVIK.COM David Melkevik
http://davidmelkevik.wordpress.com/


SOFLUID Confessions of a screenwriter http://www.michellegoode.blogspot.com/
WRITE HERE, WRITE NOW Lucy V. Hay http://www.lucyvee.blogspot.com/
ANDY CONWAY UK writer and filmmaker http://www.andyconway.net/
SHEIKSPEAR Scriptwriter Gareth Michael Turpie http://sheikspear.blogspot.com/
UNINFLECTED IMAGES JUXTAPOSED Will Dixon http://www.uninflectedimages.blogspot.com/
T.R. LOCKE ONLINE Life behind the Hollywood sign. http://www.trlocke.com/
LAURA ANNE ANDERSON A girl who lived in stories http://missread.blogspot.com/
SCEENWRITING FROM IOWA -and Other Unlikely Places http://screenwritingfromiowa.wordpress.com/
ECHOES OF DUSK Reflections and reverie by C.D. Bennett http://echoesofdusk.blogspot.com/
SHOUTING INTO THE WIND Saying my piece in a windy world http://shoutingintothewind.com/
THIS SAVAGE ART A steady diet of obsessive cinema and screenwriting in the dark http://www.thissavageart.com/
FLYING WRESTLER Thoughts on the screenwriting life from Erik Bork http://www.flyingwrestler.com/
GO INTO THE STORY The craft of screenwriting, movies, Hollywood, and the creative life http://www.gointothestory.com/
NOTES FROM UNDERDDOG On writing, screenwriting, films, music, and the political landscape http://underdog.typepad.com/
HOLLIEWOOD When you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it http://www.holliedoeshollywood.blogspot.com/
MATTHEW 13 BLOG One man's journey to go from being an aspiring, to a real live, honest to goodness, filmmaker http://matthew13blog.blogspot.com/

Fire Flicks Now Available

It's official!

Fire Flicks has gone live on Amazon Kindle. [linked in right column]

In Fire Flicks, the intense sequel to Smoke on the Water, Reddfield news reporter Kyle Barstow furthers his budding career as a crime scene photographer by filming new construction being set ablaze by his older brother, Stan, who has a dark secret of his own.

Determined to protect the natural beauty of Eagle Rock Lake from homebuilders, while also protecting his lucrative meth lab and pot farm, Stan Barstow sets fire to newly built lakeview homes to scare away prospective buyers. To gain fortune and fame, he films the wanton destruction with the intention of making a docudrama to sell to Hollywood.

Kyle very much wants to relocate to Chicago, and become a part of a forensics task force as a crime scene photographer. He offers to make a recording of the burning buildings in order to hone his skills in film and digital photography. To finance the expensive move to Illinois, he becomes involved in Stan's drug business, without his knowledge or consent.

When one of the brothers is shot and killed, the other moves quickly to think up a new get-rich-quick scheme, unaware that someone knows his secrets.

Copyright 2011 Sharon Austin All Rights Reserved