ozma914 | Entries tagged with we love trouble

Solve a mystery, fight space battles, talk to ghosts, or even journey to Oz!

Sounds a lot more exciting when I put it that way. Another way to put it is that I’m looking for beta readers who would be interested in reading one—or more—of my four so-far unpublished novels. Count ‘em—four.

All the details can be found either on the newsletter:

https://mailchi.mp/5be1e644a04a/beta-readers-needed

Or on the blog:

https://markrhunter.blogspot.com/2022/07/beta-readers-needed.html

Honestly, I expected more of a response from the blog and newsletter postings. I’m no George R.R. Martin—I don’t have enough middle initials—but I figured more readers would be happy to read a novel completely for free, in exchange for their general opinion. (Now that I think of it, the opinion giving would cost a little time, so it’s not totally free.) But if one of these was a Game of Throne book, they’d have to fork over some dough and, if they got the print version, risk a hernia. I’m offering mine as a Word file, which only weighs me down when I get a rejection letter.

So look me up, and I’ll hook you up! As the kids say these days. I assume.

They're like these ... only unpublished.

http://markrhunter.com/
https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B0058CL6OO
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/"Mark R Hunter"

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It took almost exactly seven months to write the rough draft of We Love Trouble, which totals just over 80,000 words. That's writing part time, of course--plus I took a break to get More Slightly Off the Mark ready for publishing as an e-book. (The print version just came out--you'll be hearing about it.)

Not bad. It's about 15,000 words longer than any rough draft I've ever written, so I'm patting myself on the back ... especially considering how sick we've been this winter. And while there will be, of course, a second, third, fourth, and so on draft, overall I'm very happy with what I have.

In fact, I love the story so much--I'm worried other people won't.

This is the writer's life. I won't give it any more thought until the final draft is finished, and it's read by other people ... or at least, I'll try not to give it any more thought. Another good reason to keep busy.

http://markrhunter.com/
https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B0058CL6OO
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/"Mark R Hunter"

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This was lost in my blog drafts--it was actually written several months ago, then forgotten! It's interesting to me, because in it I speculate on a novel project I'd just started on--but in the real timeline, I just finished the first draft.

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Recently I had some free time and wasn't in a position to go through photos (and didn't feel like doing promotion work), so I jumped to the next project: and wrote a 1,400 word outline for a future humor/mystery book. I'm thinking series! But then, I usually am.

Most of my published novels so far have had something of a mystery element to them, but this one's a full mystery that I gave the working title of We Love Trouble. It's about a wandering husband and wife team and their dog, because everything's better with dogs ... kind of a mix of The Thin Man and Scooby Doo.

And who is the bad guy?

Well, even if I knew, I wouldn't tell you. Sheesh.

Not that I haven't narrowed it down, but I'm thinking about doing the Agatha Christie thing: Write the whole story, then decide in the final chapter who the real killer is.

I figure, hey: If it worked for her ....

(But apparently that's not the way she did it, at least not for every book. It's a mystery.)

The important thing is to have fun with it, of course. So, what do you think? Can these little grey cells handle shaping a comic mystery?

http://markrhunter.com/
https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B0058CL6OO
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/"Mark R Hunter"

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I've already worked into my novel-in-progress three atrocious puns, three references to The Wizard of Oz, two more to Harry Potter, two horses, and ... well, just one dog, but he's an unusually smart dog.

And it just hit 70,000 words, making "We Love Trouble" my longest rough draft ever.

There's also a line of dialogue that makes me giggle every time I go over it, but we'll see whether it's actually funny, or just reacting with my warped mind. Either way, I'm feeling pretty darned good about the story right now.

Two horses .. (not the same horses)

One dog. (Picture this dog, only darker and a little larger.)

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I hit 50,000 words in my latest novel rough draft!

I need to get that thing done, so I can let it cool while I work on my non-fiction project. I'd have them both done by now, if not for all those bills and, on a related note, that pesky full-time job.

But my hands have healed up from the sewer line fiasco, so at least typing isn't painful anymore.

Just for a treat, here's a picture of granddaughter Lilli at Christmas, and an excerpt from the rough draft of We Love Trouble:

"You should be writing."

This is from Chapter One of We Love Trouble, which is narrated by an unusual dog named Wulfgar. Victoria Noble has volunteered herself and her husband, to return a horse to the relatives of a girl who was injured in an apparent accident:

We all watched as the SUV receded into the fog, which was thankfully starting to thin. Then Travis turned to Victoria. “Why …?”

“She was wearing the hat.”

I sniffed the hat. She’d been wearing it, for sure.

“See? Wulfgar agrees. If she’d been galloping through the forest, it wouldn’t have worked its way to the back of her head and stayed there. So she sustained those injuries before the fall.”

“Hm.” Taking the hat from her, Travis examined it. “So … a hat trick, and from this you’ve determined foul play might be indicated. Obviously the deputy has no intention of following up on that.”

“We’ve seen his type of cop—he’s a good guy, but no imagination. We have to stick around long enough to make sure justice is served.”

“Hopefully after breakfast is served. Well, we were going to stay in the park, anyway.” Travis kissed the top of her head. “How do we get the horse back to the camp?”

We all looked at the horse. “Hey, you want to go home?” I asked it in horse, which is kind of like zebra, only less guttural.

“Yeah. Home.” Picking up its head, it looked up the road. A sign had just emerged from the thinning mist.

“Son of a gun.” It was a little too far for me to read—I traded my long-distance vision for other senses—but from Travis’ reaction it looked like the entrance was just up the road. “You want to lead him, or should I?”

“Lead him?” Victoria already had a foot in a stirrup. “Are you intoxicated, Mr. Noble? I’m riding.”

“Get on,” the horse said, wearily.

Travis didn’t seem so sure, but he stood there with the hat and watched as she mounted. “You know, it’s been a long time since you rode a horse free range, so to speak. You’ve mostly been on trail rides the last couple of years.”

Victoria settled herself in and took the reins. “It’s like riding a bike.”

“Yeah, a bike that giant teeth and iron shoes on its wheels.” Sighing, Travis looked at me. “Wulfie, you want to ride or walk?”

“I’ll stay by the horse and bite him if he hurts Victoria.” Travis didn't understand me, and if the horse heard, he didn't react.

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I spent some time on the internet last month researching the parts of a saddle and bridle, types of horses, trailer hitches, dog behavior, cowboy hats, head injuries, patient assessment, and the topography of Brown County, Indiana. All for one story.

Later I spent more time researching the horse racing industry, handguns, mushrooms, John Wayne, skin glue, and Japanese names.

Yeah, I'm back in that fiction writing game. At least until I get done with the first draft of We Love Trouble, and go back to researching for nonfiction.

I love this job.

Ah--so that's a horse. Thanks, Pokagon Saddle Barn!

http://markrhunter.com/
https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B0058CL6OO
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/"Mark R Hunter"

(Remember, every book that doesn't sell by January 1st has to go to the Island of Mistfit Books.)

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After hitting 28,000 words on the first draft of my new novel, We Love Trouble, I'm calling a halt to it.

Temporarily! Come on, I'm not going to give up on a story that I've described as The Thin Man meets Scooby-Doo. I'm having way too much fun.

But Emily and I wanted to get our new humor book, Still Slightly Off the Mark, out before the Christmas season. It's been so long since I last went over the final draft that I assumed--correctly--that I'd find more mistakes. So, while Emily works on the cover, I've started a line edit.

Emily's trying for a cover that's similar to the one for the original Slightly Off the Mark, seen here. But not so similar people think it's the same book. A lot of juggling goes on in the writing business.

Then I'm going to finish the rough draft of We Love Trouble, and while that cools and awaits a second draft, I'll finally go back to pulling photos together for our Albion Fire Department photo book.

It's like cooking a meal with multiple dishes at the same time. You have to add the various ingredients at the right moment, have them cooking at the right temperature, and keep anything from burning. I've always been exceptionally bad at cooking multiple-dish meals, which is why I make sure my smoke detector batteries are good.

Hopefully I'll be better with the multiple book projects. Although, come to think of it, if I should hear back from an agent or publisher things will get even more complicated.

Remember, if you don't get it all done, tomorrow is another day. Assuming those are early morning clouds, and not a UFO approaching.

Don't forget to find us on social media, including:

Blogger: https://markrhunter.blogspot.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MarkRHunter

Twitter: https://twitter.com/MarkRHunter

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4898846.Mark_R_Hunter

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I'm back!

Not that we went far: we had a two week vacation that was almost all spent at home, largely because of my annual super sinus infection and some family responsibilities. I did catch up on sleep--this is something all third shifters appreciate. We also caught up on some reading and watched a season of Game of Thrones, which is not what I'd call "relaxing" TV.

More important, once I was feeling up to it I got some writing done, and I'm up to 24,500 words on my work in progress. No, not that work in progress, which is awaiting Emily's editing skills. No, not that other work in progress, which I'm holding for cooler weather and involves me going through a LOT of photographs.

The other other work in progress. The one about the two spouses and their dog, and horses, and maybe ghosts, and definitely a murder mystery, and mushrooms. It was supposed to come after the other two, but I started the first scene as a whim, couldn't stop, and just hit chapter fourteen.

I'm having loads of fun writing this story. I don't know if it'll be any good, but working on it sure helps my stress levels.

Sadly, vacation's over and it's time to put some work into promotion and marketing. Oh, and return to my full time job. *sigh*

We did go on some day trips, and in one of them I got high. You can see our car from here!

Find all of our books at:

http://markrhunter.com/

https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B0058CL6OO

And most places where fine books with my name on them are sold.

Tags:

Slightly Off the Mark

Looking For Beta Readers!

That Was a Rough Draft

Scooby Doo meets The Thin Man

Any book is better with horses, and dogs, and The Wizard of Oz

A Writer's Work is Never Done, if All Goes Well

A Writer's Search History Can Be Puzzling

Juggling Book Projects Can Give You a Headache

What I didn't do on my summer vacation

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