New Release: Fatal, Family, Album: Book #13 -- Win a copy!

The American Childcare Problem

For most American families, childcare is a huge issue. Finding a reliable, affordable person is critical and difficult. Even when you do find that magic person who’s a perfect fit for your family, keeping her/him can be nearly impossible. We once had a terrific nanny who was lured away by another family who could double her wages. One couple we knew hired a young Mennonite woman. They laughed to us that their secret of retaining her was to pay a huge tithe each year to her church so that rather than find her a husband, that institution would leave her languishing in spinsterhood, and thus playing her role as nanny. (I have no idea if that’s true or if these people were joking, although they did employ the best nanny/housekeeper I ever met.)

Childminding in Other Countries

In many countries, young women get training that prepares them to work as nannies. They learn about child development, toilet training, basic first aid, diagnosing and treating common childhood ailments, and so on. Childcare there is a respected career. Also, working as a nanny provides the perfect mechanism for a young woman with limited English to gain fluency. Many nannies go from childcare to other professions. When we lived in England, many childcare workers or childminders came from Eastern Europe. (Since then, I’ve met a young Brazilian woman who was a lawyer in her country, but who came to the US as a nanny to improve her English.) Their transport to the UK was part of their stipend, as well as regular vacations and transport back home for visits. It was expected that you would give the nanny her own room and regular time off. These young women would supplement their childminding wages by cleaning houses for ex-pats and Brits. One nanny would recruit the next, insuring families of fairly seamless childcare while maintaining a high standard of care. After all, you didn’t want to be the one nanny who “dropped the ball” and disappointed everyone. If you did that, the younger girls waiting in the wings wouldn’t get their chance to work for a nice family.

A Modest Proposal

Being born and raised here, I naturally have a lot of pride in our country. Living abroad I learned that there are things we could do differently that would make life better. Having trained, semi-professional childcare, and holding such workers in high esteem is one of those changes we should make.

Http://bit.ly/KLFFA13

Introducing Fatal, Family, Album--A Hard Labor!

I drew on my experiences as a young mother desperate for reliable and responsible healthcare as I wrote Fatal, Family, Album: Book #13in the Kiki Lowenstein Mystery Series. It’s been such a crazy fall—after repackaging and re-releasing 13 other Kiki books—that I was up against my deadline for FFA. In fact, I did something I’ve never done in my life…I worked for 23 hours straight to edit and revise FFA so I’d meet my deadline. My husband was on a business trip. His absence assured me of no interruptions. I got up at 5 a.m. one morning and worked until 4 a.m. the next, straight through.

Immersion--Highly Recommended

While I wouldn’t recommend it, I have to say there were advantages to pulling that all-nighter. Because I was totally immersed in the book, because I did NOTHING but revise it, I could more easily spot redundancies, inconsistencies, and other problems. I had a trust corps of beta readers who had given me input, as well as several talented proofreaders. I used that input to make changes, but I also totally re-arranged the book to improve the narrative flow, so it’s entirely possible that I introduced new mistakes. As Robert Burns eloquently put it, things gang aft agley. (Stuff happens.)

How I Come Up With This Stuff--and a FREE Book

Every book is a patchwork quilt of ideas, impressions, memories, research, personal observations, anecdotes, and so on. I hope my readers will enjoy Fatal, Family, Album. Right now it’s on sale at an introductory price of 99 cents. Get it at http://bit.ly/KLFFA13  Also, today and tomorrow, Paper, Scissors, Death: Book #1 in the Kiki Lowenstein Mystery Series is free because of a BookBub promotion Go to http://bit.ly/PSDKL1

http://bit.ly/PSDKL1

Questions? Comments?

Did you have any trouble finding reliable and responsible childcare? Are you curious about the penguin on the cover of Fatal, Family, Album? Do you have any questions for me about the Kiki Lowenstein Mystery Series? Comment and I'll choose one lucky person on Tuesday night to win a free copy of Fatal, Family, Album.

Re-Write, and Do Over -- and Save by Acting Now!

That headline seems to be the story of my life right now.

Fatal, Family, Album: Book #13 in the Kiki Lowenstein Mystery Series is now in the hands of beta readers and proofreaders. I've already gotten word that will result in one change. I know there will be many others.

A lot of writers get their backs up when they are criticized. That's not professional. I have learned to listen carefully to readers and proofreaders. They might not always be right, but often they make a terrific point. For example, I like to call Ladue a "tony" suburb. "Tony" means "fashionable among the rich or upscale." However, nearly every beta thought I meant "tiny." So I changed the wording. It's just not worth confusing the majority of people.

An astute beta has a background in banking, and he noticed a big flaw in my plot. I am thankful that I have his expertise to help me. I had done research. I had asked experts for help, and they gave me assistance, but that's different from reading the book and seeing how I used the information.

I am all for anything that makes my books more accurate, more readable, and more enjoyable. That's why I have more than a dozen people weigh in before the book is published.

Of course, the longer I write books, the higher my own standards are. I keep adjusting my expectations upward. That means I am more likely than ever to spot my own weaknesses and want to make changes.

It's the same with my miniatures. I didn't like the chandelier in the Steinway room box. I had wanted the light to stream through it. I had purchased Swarovski crystals, but I didn't think my design used them to full effect. So...down came the chandelier. That made try #4 or 5, I think. I looked at images of chandeliers again, and I started over. I really like the newer version.

Now the light shines through the chandelier. It also streams through a hole in the bottom so that it shines through the Swarovski crystals.

 

I've taken down the flat screen TV because I want to improve the trim around it. I'm going to replace the floor. I've actually ordered real wood parquet in a pattern that I think echoes the panels. I still want to put a trim around the zebra rug, but you might notice the tiny needlepoint pillow on the chair.

 

Last night we had a Facebook party to celebrate Happy Homicides 6: Cookin' Up Crime. Each author had a time slot. I watched what the other author guests as I stitched the pillow. I got so excited as I saw the Steinway logo taking shape that I stayed up to finish it. This morning, I turned it into a pillow.

 

Today is the last day that you can buy Happy Homicides 6 at 99 cents. It's also the last day you can get Shotgun, Wedding, Bells at 99 cents. I'm posting the two links below because I hope you'll take advantage of this chance to save money. Better yet, why not "gift" a friend and send her/him a copy of the books? You can't buy a card and mail it for 99 cents!

 

Be sure to tell me what you think of my dollhouse improvements.

 

All best,

 

Joanna

 

Shotgun, Wedding Bells: Book #11 in the Kiki Lowenstein Mystery Series

http://bit.ly/SWBKiki11

 

Happy Homicides 6: Cookin' Up Crime

http://bit.ly/HH6CookinUpCrime

The Backstory: St. Louis Zoo -- You Could Win a Polar Bear!

Joanna Campbell Slan's Note: I have always been prone to asking inopportune questions. "The Backstory" blog posts illustrate my endless quest to satisfy what Rudyard Kipling would have called my 'satiable curiosity.


Voted Best Zoo and the nation's Best Free Attraction, the St. Louis Zoological Park is a leader in animal conservation.

It's one of my favorite places on earth--and it figures prominently in FATAL, FAMILY, ALBUM: Book #13 in the Kiki Lowenstein Mystery Series (Nov. 13 release).

I've written a poem to this fabulous spot, and it appears below the photo of Kali, the polar bear.

One lucky person who comments on this post before Friday will win Kali, a stuffed polar bear, direct from the St. Louis Zoological Park.

Kali, the polar bear

Ode to the St. Louis Zoological Park
by Joanna Campbell Slan

In St. Lou, it is taboo
To call this space,
A commonplace "zoo."
We think it vulgar, we find it crass,
Others might call it a pain in the asp,
But the word "zoo" is strictly low class,
So if you wish, to do as we do,
You'll never, ever call it a "zoo,"
When founded back in 1910,
Animals lived their lives in a pen,
But today they frolic, their lives are a lark,
In fake natural environs,
Green and lush like a park,
In 1960, Marlin Perkins' TV shows,
Taught his viewers what St. Louis knows,
That our  animals must be preserved
So that all humanity is well served
By contact with the Animal Kingdom,
To this end, conservators bring them,
The rare and endangered, the few, and the weak,
With hooves and scales and even a beak,
Our keepers encourage the shy to breed,
Supplying privacy, hormones, whatever they need.
Even enrichment with balls and toys and more
When Fred the gorilla was feeling sore,
The keepers took him to a hospital
Where he could get care
Indeed, he got an MRI there,
Arthritis caused a pain in his neck,
They prescribed painkillers,
And what the heck?
He was better, happier too,
See? This is really more than a zoo,
It's a place where we care for our animal kin
For it seems the more we learn about them
The better we know our place on this earth,
And we protect our species by attending the birth
Of other creatures great and small
The Zoological Park tends to them all.


Do you have a favorite zoo?  Or a favorite animal in the zoo? You have until Friday to tell me about it. I'll choose one lucky comment at random and send that person Kali, the stuffed polar bear.