The Organized Mysteries Series
I’ve just sent off an Organized Mysteries short story for a summer anthology project (more about that later), and I’m spending the next couple of weeks finishing up another full length Organized novel (again, more info coming soon). All that organized writing got me thinking about early interviews I did that talked about the series. I’m reposting one of those interviews today, conducted by Mason at Thoughts in Progress. If you’ve already read it, I apologize for the repeat, but when I reread it this morning it was a nice reminder that planning out a series well ahead of time truly has helped me keep all my writing on-track. Interview – April 9, 2014 (Thoughts in Progress–Interview Organized for Murder) Mason – How did you come to write a mystery featuring a protagonist who is an organization expert? Ritter: I was at an author signing once, before I started writing ORGANIZED Read more…
Organizing Cheap and Easy — Part 1
Spring has officially hit the calendar, and that means we’re all ready to dig out from more than just snow under the windows. While some people like to take their Spring Cleaning & Organizing in one big bite, I prefer little nibbles myself, so I don’t get off-track on all of the other to-do lists I have every day. If’ you’re like me, I offer my room-by-room spring cleaning and organizing ideas–but best of all, I don’t bring in anything new and costly to do the job. Look around the house and find amazing ways to re-purpose items for organization by thinking outside of the box. I’m starting today with the Living Room with a Baker’s Dozen of tips, and I will be moving through other rooms in the house throughout the next week or so. So come back in the days ahead, and leave any springtime ideas you already Read more…
I Love Spring Bargains
Since I write the Organized Mysteries, I guess I should be doing a Spring Cleaning post, but here’s a twist instead on how to bypass clutter by filling your ereader instead of bookshelves. I’ve been talking lately about the 99 cent sales on Organized for Murder and the International Cozy Mysteries anthology, but there are so many other wonderful ebooks going on sale at the moment that I had to give a sample. After all, a Kindle doesn’t weigh any more when it’s digitally filled than when it’s empty, right? Here are some great buys you can check out–but these 99 cent sales only last a few more days, so hurry while you can grab a bargain! The links below will shoot out to the Amazon pages, but they’re on sale at all booksellers. I just didn’t want to clutter things up with ALL the links 🙂 Here’s a free one that may Read more…
I’m Blogging on the Run Today
I’m over at Laffeinated Ink talking about quick and easy organization tips to give you ideas for new year decluttering. Love to see you if you have a minute to come by. Here’s the link if you want to read the blog over a coffee break: New Year, New Organization at Laffeinated Ink
I Guess I Have the Bargain of the Week
I have two books coming out soon. The first, Organized for Homicide, is another featuring organizational expert Kate McKenzie as chief sleuth and bottle organizer. To coincide with this September 8th release, my publisher has discounted book#1 in the series, Organized for Murder, to 99 cents for a short time in all ebook formats. And the rest of this week I’ll be posting excerpts of the new book, Organized for Homicide, so everyone can get a sampling of that story as well. In my Organized Mysteries series, Kate and her sidekick, Meg Berman, find that starting a small business sometimes leads to having to do more than your mission statement implies. Sometimes it means figuring out whodunit when someone involved in their business contract gets killed, and law enforcement focuses on the wrong person as the murder suspect. In the first book, Kate is in the hot seat herself, so she is absolutely sure the state police Read more…
Save Those Things You Could Use for Years
We get so busy that sometimes we forget to hang on to things we should–things that could help us avoid stressful situation, buy additional items we shouldn’t, or even keep family members from serious medical issues. Without getting into some of the first arguments hubby and I had, here’s a couple of tips that could save your life and definitely save budget and your relationship. Anytime you buy anything with a manual or a written warranty, file it. Stapling the receipt that shows where and when it was purchased helps even more, but definitely file the item’s paperwork. Here’s why — it will break. Your spouse may be able to fix it, or you can order replacement parts, or one of you realize the kids shoved a plastic piece of toy where it doesn’t belong because the schematic in the manual doesn’t show that piece of plastic ever being a part Read more…
Make It Easy and Organized in the Kitchen — and Save Money, too
Again, these are tips I first posted on my publisher’s FB page a couple of weeks ago when we were gearing up for the launch of ORGANIZED FOR MURDER. If you didn’t catch them then, here’s your second chance 🙂 We have a deep pantry with bi-fold doors, and things can get easily hidden in the shadows of all the other containers. Food can easily go bad if it’s there too long, or I don’t realize I have something and buy more when I don’t need it. For these reasons, keeping the pantry organized helps me save money and time. To combat the design issues, I use box flats or the lids for file boxes – so there’s only an inch or so lip around the cardboard. Then I put all my cans on these flats. I can stand at the pantry opening and slide out a whole flat at one time, Read more…
Easy Way to Organize Bed Linens
In preparation for the launch of my book ORGANIZED FOR MURDER, my publisher invited me to post a few days of organization tips on her Facebook site. I’m going to repeat those tips here for the next few days, in case some fans missed the FB postings. These are not tips I included in the cozy mystery novel, but ones I like will add to future editions to this series. So you’re getting the scoop now, maybe years ahead of time. Read on how I–and Kate McKenzie–keep easy order for our families’ bed linens. What to Do with Linens – One of my oldest and most favorite tips is how to have an organized linen closet even if you aren’t a “neat freak.” I told a friend about this a couple of decades ago, when I still had little kids in the house, and my friend still remarks on the idea and Read more…
More Great Reads, Contest Fun and Prizes
A lot of great new contests and giveaways have started up lately, and this is the third blog I’ve written on this subject in the past week. If you didn’t read the other blog posts, scroll down to look them over as some of the contests mentioned have long entry periods, and the book blogs mentioned have new contests all the time. But in the spirit of new opportunity, here are a few more sites to check out, and these links are the kind that have giveaways pretty regularly. Dru’s Book Musing is a great reading site that offers unique and fun info for fans, and giveaways as well. Features include A Day in the Life, that lets secondary characters in books take the spotlight to reveal more of their personality and voice, cover reveals of new and upcoming books, book reviews, and giveaways provided by authors and/or publishers. All you Read more…
More Ongoing Giveaways
I love when the seasons start to change, and new books come out, and new contests crop up on the horizon. Here are just a few contests going on right now. Some of these sites, like Lori’s Reading Corner, have book giveaways almost every day of every week, so keep these web addresses in mind when you want to check back later. From March 7-21 to Nancy Cohen is offering chances to win one of four signed ARCs of Hanging By A Hair in her Goodreads Giveaway. Here’s the link for that giveaway, http://bit.ly/15SmIi0 or you can to the contest page on her website at http://nancyjcohen.com/fun-stuff/contest/ and click the Enter To Win button there. Lori’s Reading Corner offers a great place for readers to read guest posts by their favorite authors, and get the chance to win a copy of a new release, too. I guest posted on this site last week and Read more…
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