The Editing Process

I don't know how familiar all y'all are with the editing process, so I'll walk you what I've done so you can see how it goes.  First, of course, you write the book.  And it starts out something like this:

Then you take a pass at it to make it better:

Then you take another pass which pretty much looks the same because you focused elsewhere, and then your beta readers get ahold of it, but they don't mess with these paragraphs (just loads of others.)

When your editor gets ahold of it for the first time, it comes back looking like this:

So it ends up like this before it goes to her a second time:

Well?  What do you think?  Personally, I think this snippet reads much better, but what do I know - I thought the first passes were pretty good, too.  ;o)

True Crime Friday - Murderpedia

The other day as I was researching a murderer for Wicked Wednesday, I stumbled across a website I'd never seen before:

Murderpedia - The Encyclopedia of Murderers

From the site: "Murderpedia is a free online encyclopedic dictionary of murderers and the largest database about serial killers and mass murderers around the world."

Looks like it separates killers by gender and then either alphabetically by last name or by country.  And when you scroll down to the United States, it has them by state.  Pretty cool stuff - if you're into that (which I am). 

BTW, not everyone in there is a mass murderer or serial killer.  Some of its just single homicides.  Still, a neat resource for writers and true crime buffs alike. 

Wicked Wednesday - Rural Myth

When I was a little girl, I was told a story about a horrible crime someone had committed outside a little town not very far from where we lived.

It seems two boys went out fishing one day and never went home again.  Their bodies were found mutilated and tied to a tree.  Their killers were never found.

The story always came with the spoken (or unspoken) reminder: And this is why we don't talk to strangers.

The rumor was never confirmed, but I grew up knowing it as truth.  Researching it now, I wonder if there was any fact behind the rumor, or if someone had picked up the story of the Oakland County Child Killer, and morphed it into something more grisly and dramatic and local.  (As rumors and myths will often morph - especially in the days before internet.)

I know it sounds awful to tell a little girl a story like that, but honestly, I wasn't scarred by it.  Unless you count my fascination with true crime stories and fictional suspense.  ;o)

Have you ever had someone tell you a story about the area where you live that you think might not be true?  Have you ever tried to research it online?

(BTW, my parents weren't the ones who told me this story.  I'll have to ask my mother if she remembers ever hearing it and who might've told it to me.  Probably one of my older siblings trying to scare me into being more careful about who I talked to.  Lord knows, I talked to everyone when I was a kid.)

Updated: I talked to Mom and she confirmed that this did happen, gave me a last name of one of the victims, and I found a write up of it online.  The killer(s) were, in fact, caught and they all pointed the finger at the one 'slow' kid in their midst, so he was the one tried for it.  (Although how one teenager did all those things to those two boys is beyond me.  Methinks justice wasn't quite served in this case.)  And although it happened around the same time as the Oakland County Child Killings, and it happened just north of Oakland County, this crime was unrelated to those.

And the Winner Is

First off, thank you all for entering.  And thank you all for following the blogs.  I really appreciate your being here.

As of contest close, there were 88 entries in the contest.  I took each entry, plugged it into an excel spreadsheet, then scrambled them up a little by sorting on the entry reason in Z-A order and the name in Z-A order.  Then I used Random.org to give me a number that would correspond with a cell in the spreadsheet.

The number was 47.

Which meant the winner is NATALIE MURPHY (aka Natalie Murphy-Nicholas).

Congratulations, Natalie!  Please send me your address and let me know what kind of kringle you want. 

For everyone else, remember to check back here from time to time as I'll be holding other contests along the way. 

Thanks again everyone who entered by following the blog.  :HUGS:

Today's The Last Day

Okay, folks, today's the last day to enter the contest and get a chance of winning a Danish kringle pastry!  Tell your friends!  Cuz who doesn't want a ooey gooey, buttery rich, breakfast treat? 

And hey, you get the added benefit of following this blog - where you'll find out upcoming news from my publishing journey, learn neat facts about evil people, and just generally have some fun.  (I hope.) 

As for publishing news, I got the edit notes from my editor. One step closer to publication!  For those of you who've been patiently following me all these years, you'll finally get a chance to read one of my stories!  You have no idea how excited I am to be able to share this with you. 

Just for kicks, and because I love the fact that you're here with me, anyone who comments on today's post before midnight tonight (central time) gets an extra entry in the contest. 

Best of luck to all of you!

Last, remember there will be contests in the future, so it pays to follow.  You could be a winner, but only if you're in the game.  ;o)

Wicked Wednesday - Death by Oatmeal

I'm very interested in genealogy, so I occasionally spent time doing Google searches on various family members to see what I can turn up.  Sometimes I find something worthwhile, sometimes I find nothing.  Occasionally, I find something that has nothing to do with anyone actually related to myself or my husband, but that is worthwhile anyway.

Case in point: While looking for some of Hubs' relatives, I searched some old newspaper archives using the keyword Sanderson.  In the archives, I found some curious information about the case of Rudolphus Sanderson (no relation as far as I can tell) who passed away in his bed.

1898:  It seems Rudolphus had been an infirm older gentleman with a younger wife.  While he lay in his sick bed, she was fond of entertaining - usually men other than her husband.  But she always made sure she took care of old Rudolphus - right up until the day he died.

Afterwards, the coroner discovered something amiss.  It seems that perhaps old Rudolphus had gotten some help shuffling off his mortal coil.  In fact, it appeared that somehow he may have been ingesting ground glass.

And since his loving wife brought him his food...

From what I managed to glean out of old newspapers that often aren't transferred well, the ground glass was in the oatmeal she brought his for breakfast every morning. 

Since I can't get the PDF's of the newspapers to load as I write this post, I really can't tell you whether she was convicted or not.  I think I remember reading she got away with it.  But I can't be sure.  (I may be thinking of another old murder I found.)

Think about it, though.  She fixed his meals, she brought him his meals, she stood to profit by his death - both by inheriting everything he owned and by gaining the ability to carouse without hindrance.  And it's not like ground glass is hard to come by.  Hell, you can make your own.  Means, motive, opportunity.  She had it all.

And after he was dead, she really did have it all.

What do you think?

Update 11/26/14 6:52am:  I finally got the newspaper archives to work this morning.  I couldn't find the end of the trial - which ran into early 1899 - but it seems like there was conflicting testimony from two different medical examiners.  One said Rudolphus had ground glass in his stomach at the autopsy.  The other said he died of natural causes.  The defense seems to have tried to explain away the presence of glass by asserting the glass - if it was there at all - fell off the jar the stomach was placed in when it was removed from the deceased.    Additionally, they tried to shift blame for the man's death from the wife to the prosecution's primary witness - the maid.  I still don't know if she was convicted, but as of January 10th, it was looking like the defense might've inserted enough reasonable doubt to get her off.

The Thing That Shall Not Be Named

I'm in the grips of the thing that shall not be named.  To put name to it feels like I'd be giving it power.  But not naming it doesn't mean it isn't still there, waiting to swoop in and end me.  Like Voldemort.

Melodrama much? Why yes, I will.  Thank you for asking.

I know that this thing I'm trying not to acknowledge won't end me.  Not really.  It will merely sneak out and make me stumble.  It halts my forward progress when I acknowledge its presence.  And yet when I don't, it still creeps into my brain and makes it hard for me to sleep or think or write.  (It doesn't stop me from eating, though, the dirty bastard.) 

It whispers in my ears at night.  Horrible, nasty, crippling things.  And it laughs when I try to defend myself. 

Even now, as I type this post, it's trying to gain a foothold.  To stop me from writing even this.

But I can't let it win.

Still if this thing and its horrible whispers turn out to be true...

I've said it before and I'll say it again - Self-doubt is a killer.  So I just have to shut it out, pretend it isn't there, and move forward.

Except it's always there.  And it always will be. 


(Don't forget - there's still time to enter the contest for a gooey, yummy Danish kringle pastry!)