Murderers, as writers

Good day, Murderers!

I hope this finds you doing something that fulfills you.

What is everyone reading?



Yes, reading is a part of being a writer. I am usually reading two books at a time, one electronically and one in paper. At the moment, I am reading The Book of Joy in paper. It is a very good read. It is written by a gentleman who spent time with The Dalai Lama and Archbishop Desmond Tutu as they celebrated one of the holy men's birthday. It is filled with wonderful advice on how to live a joy-filled life. We all could use that, right?

The other one I am working on my Kindle app is Dare to Love by Carly Phillips. It is romance, not something for everyone, but still a worthy read.

I am supposed to be writing a page a day on the next Shannon Wallace book but have some personal family things going on at the moment that is blocking any sort of creative endeavor beyond blogging. I sure hope 2017 doesn't keep going like it has begun. So far, it has pretty much sucked.

But you don't want to hear that do you??

Murderers, as writers, you should be reading something. And as writers, you should be writing something. Even blog posts. EVERY DAY. Don't forget if you do this for 21 days it will become a habit.

Do not do as I do. Do as I say do.

Happy Thursday, y'all.

Happy New Year and what are you doing?

Ahoy, Murderers!

It's a new year and I hope you are writing like mad. I have been working on the next book in the Shannon Wallace Mysteries, and if you didn't catch the promo, you definitely want to read Schooled in Murder. I have a cool new subplot in this book that is carried over into the next two books.

Ah here is the link:

Schooled in Murder by Kim Smith

What are you reading? This year I hope to get more books consumed than ever before. I am reading The Book of Joy by Dalai Lama, Desmond Tutu, and Douglas Abrams and I am also reading Brotherhood of the Wheel by RS Belcher. Both very intriguing books for different reasons.

In my personal life, I have once again begun the annual trek for good health. I was very bad over the holidays and have to rein it in. I am eating veggies and drinking water as a way to calm my inflamed tastebuds. They are still screaming for fudge, and Chex Mix. I hate to tell them that Super Bowl season is on its way.

That's about it for me, you MB4 fiends. Hope your first week back into the world has been one of viral-substance.

What is the latest and happy May!

Good day Murderers! Welcome to another Thursday in May. Well, actually...the FIRST Thursday in May! Ha! And this month I will be releasing the second book in the Shannon Wallace Mystery series. I have Mother's Day, May 8 slated.

If you are not on my email list at Kim Smith, author you should be! You will be the first to know the NAME of the book and the first to get the COVER!

By the way...excerpt coming soon!

Before you get the 2nd book however...you need to get the FIRST one!

DO that by clicking on the link cover below.

Happy Reading, yall!





What is on your summer reading list? I have just finished up three books and am almost finished with the fourth. I am right on track for my reading goal this year. You can see what I have been reading here

I hope you will consider reading something by our little troop her on MB4. We love you guys!

Welcome back Kim Smith! (I've been away, didn't you notice????)

Wow, Murderers- I feel like I have been on the moon for the last few weeks. So much has been going on here in Murder by 4 land that I will be a while just catching up! Not to mention that I just returned from a fabulous week-long vacation - so I feel especially out of touch. Nothing like being in the mountains for a week with limited Internet and so on. It's great to get disconnected for a time.

So- here I am! Back with a vengence and ready to ramble. Er. Rumble. No, ramble works better here I think.

What I would like to talk about is how a new writer can get going today in this overly saturated book market. I think that there are more authors out there in the digital world than ever before and sorrowfully fewer readers! I have just read an article that gave some stats that say that 80% of us never bought or read a book last year. What????? That's insane!

If this trend continues, we may have more books than readers. Wow. Think about that for a second while I prepare a little list for you...okay, are you done yet?

The bottom line is this: there are few gatekeepers of the publishing industry anymore, and even less in the SELF-publishing arena. Can you say EBOOK? Anyone with a computer can publish today-either through Smashwords, or Amazon or Kobo or any number of others. It is not new technology any longer and if you don't believe me, go to YouTube and search for how to create an ebook and just look at the dates of the videos.

Self-publishing in this new world, can be a good way into traditional publishing. Today, publishers (indie and traditional) are trolling the net looking for books and authors that fit their bill. A bill that screams of necessary promotional and commercial zest in order to build their company.

IF you are new at this, a few things to remember are:
1. Build a website
2. Start a blog
3. Get on Facebook
4. Learn how to use Twitter
5. DON'T SPAM.
6. Offer stuff for free
7. Join other writers and use the power of multiplied effort

Okay, that's about all I have for now. My post-vacation brain is empty and I have to do some minor tweaking to get it going again.

By the way, don't forget my podcast! I need listeners! It's called Writer Groupie and you can find it on my website, Writer Groupie page

Happy Thursday, Murderers. I have missed you all!

Books, and how they affect us

When you were a kid -- freedom to read was a given. Your parents probably were thrilled when you flopped down on the couch with a book in one hand and an apple in the other. But did you ever consider how that simple act (reading the book, not eating the apple) affected you today?

I think maybe not only the act of reading affected me, but WHAT I read affected me as a writer.

If I recall my bookshelves of yore, there were many tomes of fantasy. J.R.R. Tolkien, Stephen R. Donaldson, Terry Brooks,and the occasional Stephen King- all kept me company. Then as I aged into more variety, I collected a ton of romance. Harlequin produced romances with historical places and interesting characters that were from the real world, facing real problems.

But it wasn't until I began to delve more into adult fiction that my tastes truly matured. I branched off into mysteries, and suspenses, more horror, and thicker meatier fantasy.

I have never loved reading more than I do today, however. I mean, think about it. You can read a book from a paperback during the day when the sun is shining bright, and by an electronic device in the darkness of night. (I mention that because the other night I actually took my Kindle with me to read from as my hubby drove since it was nighttime and I couldn't see to read a paperback)-- you can even read on a PHONE. Wow. I am sure the sci-fi peeps dreamed of this day way back when! Think about what we are reading today? Wonder when those ideas will happen in the future?

There has never been a better time to read, and really? Nothing has changed about how it affects us-by enlightening us, broadening our horizons, and making us imagine. The difference now is getting people to want to read.

It is important to encourage our young ones to read, too. More youths of today DON'T read for fun than ever before. This was made evident to me when I spoke to a group a few weeks back. Most in fact, never crack open a novel. The only reading they do is what they HAVE to do for school. And, I might add, they are not really interested in that. The ones who DO read are into romances. The ones with kids like them. With issues in life like theirs.

It's a great time to be a writer. I hope you are reading as well!
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Kim Smith is an avid reader, you can find her reading list on her website at: http://www.kimsmithauthor.com - and find out about her latest publications, books, and radio show there as well.

Post Christmas blues

What can we do on the Thursday after Christmas besides shop? READ! We can dive into those books we got as gifts, or those we have on our Ereaders that haven't been touched yet.

For those of you bored out of your mind now that the festivities are over...here's a little fun for you...post your answer in the comments.

Grab a book
Turn to page 26 (it is the 26th right?)
and give us the twelfth line (or the 12th and 13th since this is the 12th month and the 13th year of the 2000s)

Here is mine:
From The Well of Ascension by Brandon Sanderson
"If not for the form's persistence, she could have dismissed it--like the shape of an animal seen briefly in the clouds."

This is a great book for anyone who hasn't read it...and I hope to read the entire Mistborn series because I am enjoying it a lot.

Okay, happy Thursday y'all, give us your lines and list the book, too, so we can find out what it comes from...I am about to hop off here and try to get some more reading done!

An Unexpected Performance by Kim Smith

I am very proud to present to you my latest book, and it's cover art reveal. I worked really hard on this artwork, let me tell you. My good friends here on Mb4 and family members all gave opinions and ideas.

I have never done cover art before so this was a real chance to figure out how it is done. It is also the best way to find out what looks good and what doesn't BEFORE it is set in stone.

I also have now broken ground as a self-publisher. I have this book and a serial short story (YA) up at Amazon (THE FIRST INSTALLMENT IS FREE THIS WEEKEND!!) and finally have all the info available on "how to do" it. Believe me, it is NOT as easy as some would have you think. But honestly, it shouldn't be easy. It should be RIGHT, and there is a clear difference.

Thank you to all my fans and followers who have been with me through the entire deal, and so here now, I present to you, An Unexpected Performance.

go buy it here : Amazon Kindle and in print

And don't forget, I have an Amazon author page, if you want to go out and read about me, the books, etc. I would love it if you buy the book if you would leave me a review. It helps so much for ranking on the site. 

Easter season writing

image by Kim Smith
As I sat down to write this blog post this morning, it occurred to me that it is Easter this Sunday. Many people will be leaving town right after work today for the long holiday weekend, (if you get Good Friday off, which I do NOT).

So in lieu of something profound to say about writing today, I am just going to talk about it.

As writers, we have to put down in some form the miracles that make us alive. Be they fabricated or real. We put down people that we love, and those we hate, and even a few that we think make good victims.

We write about places we have seen and places we only hear about, wish we could be a part of and sometimes these places are a bit of both.

The stories that come out of us are something that holds our interest, and we hope will hold other's as well.

So in the spirit of this holy season, may I encourage you to read a good book? For me, reading is the beginning of all writing. I cannot pen anything that didn't come from a reading experience. If I read good suspense, I want to write better suspense. If I read good romance, I want to write better romance.

And when I read the Bible, the best of all good books, I want to write something worthwhile. I hope it is the same for you, if you are a writer. I also hope it is true of you if you are a reader. The Bible can be many things to many people, and the least of these is as a history book. If you want to know how to write a good story, rich in historical accuracy, read the Bible. Even in the Easter story we get a good glimpse of the times.

We learn that Jews buried their loved ones within 24 hours of death. And that they used aromatic oils and spices and wrapped them in linen, and placed them in caves or tombs hewn from rock with a massive stone placed over the mouth to keep out thieves or wild animals.

In my most humble opinion, that is a great (and terrible) place to dig into for a sit-down of reading, rich with setting, plot, and people. That story alone would want me to read more. I hope it is the same for you.


Happy Easter, bloggers!