Guest Post by Author of The Case of the Yellow Diamond-Carl Brookins

I would like to introduce you to Carl Brookins. He is the author of The Case of the Yellow Diamond which can be found here on my blog along with a giveaway until 1/25. The book can be purchased here. I have a feeling a lot of author's feel the way Carl Brookins does--being a writer these days is a lot more then just sitting down and writing a novel--a whole lot more!!


Random thoughts on one writer’s journey. OR a writer’s rant.

I wrote a novel, you see. I’ve always written, since I was a small boy. I discovered early on that I got better grades if I did the essay questions rather than multiple choice tests. I think that’s what led to my interest in writing for radio and television.

I’ve always had jobs or careers with a heavy component of writing. So when I got older and returned to my interest in novels which I also invested in heavily, my wife urged me to take a class, learn if I could write a novel and I did that. I now have written several, the latest is titled “The Case of the Yellow Diamond.” You can learn more about it elsewhere. I know that mid-list authors like me are expected to spend a good deal of energy and time promoting their books. But most of us have additional lives as well.

Until I retired, I did. I had a career as a college counselor and teacher. I liked it. I also helped my hard-working wife raise our two lovely daughters. So when I retired and our kids left home I thought I’d have a lot more time to write a bunch of novels, because I have several characters with stories hanging around my basement office, waiting for me to notice them.

Great, I thought. Long hours at the keyboard Just one “Crime and Punishment” after another. Words would be my world. Well, yes but then my first publisher came with a question. First, he pointed out that Dostoyevsky beat me to C&P a long time ago. His question was, what’s your plan to promote this book? Thus I entered the world of promotion and marketing.

There came trips to libraries and book stores. There are middle of the day calls to radio stations and early (very) morning sojourns to local television stations for three-or four minute interviews. Arrangements must be made. Press releases and publicity materials must be created and supervised through the process until after they have been distributed. Travel arrangements must occur.

Maybe you’re contemplating a book tour. I’ve done a few, over 400 at last count, including those with buddies in the Minnesota Crime Wave, Ellen and Kent. Blog tours, advertising and oh, don’t forget the conventions and our social media. Networking can be very important, but it all takes time, time away from writing, sleeping, eating and that next book or story.

And now, due to digital advances, we have new opportunities for something called self-publishing. Now there’s a time suck. Even if control is your thing, it all chips away at that ideal of writing for four hours every day, then relaxing, reading, playing with the kids or the cats. Except the other day when I got four emails from my excellent publicist requesting blog articles for sites she has contacted.

So what’s the point of this? Many points are (or is) the point. Being a writer is far more than spending one’s life putting words on paper (or a screen). Have I mentioned editing? If you want to be a successful writer of fiction, be prepared to be a multitasker. Learn to spread yourself thin, like mayo on a slice of fresh bread, like the gossamer threads of a newly spun web stretched between swaying green twigs of the apple tree outside your window.

No, you can’t go to the swimming hole just yet. First you have to finish that next chapter.

Do I wish I was selling more books? Of course, but am I happy with my life? You bet!

More about the Author and where else he can be found!

Before he became a mystery writer and reviewer, Brookins was a freelance photographer, a public television program director, a cable TV administrator and a counselor and faculty member at Metropolitan State University in Saint Paul, Minnesota. He is a member of Mystery Writers of America, Sisters in Crime, and Private Eye Writers of America. He can frequently be found touring bookstores and libraries with his companions-in-crime, The Minnesota Crime Wave.

He writes the sailing adventure series featuring Michael Tanner and Mary Whitney. The third novel is Old Silver. His new private investigator series features Sean NMI Sean, a short P.I. The first is titled The Case of the Greedy Lawyers. Brookins received a liberal arts degree from the University of Minnesota and studied for a MA in Communications at Michigan State University.

He is married with two grown daughters and lives with his wife, Jean, a retired publisher and editor in Roseville, Minnesota.

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