Nancy Martin: Just sayin'

JUST KEEP READING AND NOBODY GETS HURT!

HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: It was great fun, but it was just one of those...no, it wasn't. It was a ground-breaking mind-altering , consciousness-raising fabulous chaos of sisterhood, togetherness, empowerment and fabulousness.

Who didn't love the Lipstick Chronicles? The mother of all blog was so much a part of our lives for so long--its storied beginnings and its thriving and vital years of "Just saying" and "INCHFTS" and "Just keep reading and nobody gets hurt" and a no-holds-barred look at the mysteries of the world (and the world of mysteries.)

And then, one day recently...the tarts packed their belongings and emptied the supply room and with one last glass of champagne, went our separate ways. Leaving many memories and much nostalgia..and, because we are all who we are, some questions.

Now, we welcome the Lipstick alumns here to Jungle Red with a raised glass and a cozy quilt and some fish-net stockings and painted fingernails and a love of life and reading and each other.

Today, we also welcome one of the brains of the operation, Nancy Martin.


Who--no matter what she insists--still has more than a few things to say. And she's here to share and spill..and reveal the latest.

Surrender, Dorothy!
By Nancy Martin

Is blogging over? That’s the question we began asking ourselves at The Lipstick Chronicles water cooler about a year ago.

Can I admit this to you, trusted friends? The amount of time it takes to manage a blog finally overwhelmed me. Sure, most of it was fun. Some days, the blogs were hysterical. And my blog sisters had become almost as close to my heart than—well, anybody I’d ever slept in the same bed with. (I only wish we could have published some of the email threads we went to each other, but too many computer monitors would have been ruined by splurted coffee.)

Plus the backbloggers became my friends! And over six years together we’d built something big, something to be proud of—one of the first clearly successful blogs in the publishing biz that produced quality reading every darn day. In my 30-year publishing career, building TLC was one of the accomplishments I feel great about. But . . . running it was a marathon.

My blunt, practical, Yankee mother said, “Remember the lifeguard rule. Save yourself first.”

Another friend said, “Surrender, Dorothy.”


Would I be better off spending the same hours every day working on something for—dare I admit this, being as how I flinch from avid self-promoters?-- for me?

Most of my equally drained blog sisters said, “Yes.” Which cinched it. It was time to turn off the lights in the TLC office.

Let me tell you what happened as soon as we stopped blogging:

Nothing.

You know that guy who doing the Amish project? Turning off his technology for a while? That’s just about what happened to me. I climbed out of bed every morning to check the blog (oops! No need for that!) and I opened my email box to find it empty. Empty! The usual hour I’d spend answering emails was suddenly available for something else! And checking the blog three times a day to comment and delete the spam? No need for that anymore. No schedule to fill. No traffic-driving FB posts to make, no emails to write begging for attention.

Running a blog had become a small business for me, I realized.

“If I’d put all this time into selling Avon,” I said to a friend, “I could have retired by now.”

I’d been threatening to put old romances up on e-book market, so I’ve started working on that project. While I pound toward my deadline for a standalone. And while I rev up the Blackbird Sisters mysteries with a few more books.

Because, really? Do readers want another blog post from me? I don’t think so. They want more books. (What’s your opinion on this? Would you rather have more books from your favorite authors? Or more author newsletters in your in-box?)

So that’s what I’m working on now. Books. And I love the total immersion in my own writing again. It’s what I love to do. I’d allowed myself to be distracted.

Is blogging over? Of course not. Readers love blogs. I love reading blogs! The communities fostered by blogs are full of wonderful, fun, thoughtful people whom I will always consider friends. But for me? Yes, it’s over. Except when lovely pals ask me to guest blog when I have a book coming out. Which I do.

Plus something totally new, so keep scrolling down.

The paperback of STICKY FINGERS comes out next week, on Valentine’s Day. And the terrific people at Mystery Lovers Bookshop are offering autographed copies (and free shipping!) if you feel like giving a book to a sweetheart in your life. Here's the link: http://www.mysterylovers.com/index.php?target=products&product_id=60115 It’s a rip-snorting, sometimes steamy comic mystery.

In August, my new Blackbird hardcover will hit bookstores, too. NO WAY TO KILL A LADY. Isn’t the cover fabulous? Perfect for tucking into your summer vacation suitcase.

(HANK: OOH, yes, I LOVE the Blackbirds!)

NANCY: Plus, if you’re a Blackbird reader, I’m e-pubbing a short story/novella that’s a prequel to the series. It’s called MICK ABRUZZO’S STORY, and it should be available online next week through all e-book vendors. It’s priced right—just $1.99. Let me know what you think. Because in the time I used to spend writing blogs, I’ll be writing novellas about more secondary characters in the series.

HANK: Yes indeedy. It sounds like Nancy is REALLY taking it easy, huh? Did you read Lipstick Chronicles? What did you think of it? What do you remember from it? Let's do some Lipstick nostalgia..and if you never met Me, Margie or the cousins...well, there's still the archives. Or--maybe we can get Me, Margie to make a visit here!

And a free copy of Sticky Fingers (with love from Jungle Red) to one lucky commenter!

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Nancy Martin is the author of nearly 50 popular fiction books, including mystery, suspense, romance and historical novels. She lives in Pittsburgh. Every February her husband moves into her office to work on their tax returns, and it drives her crazy. Visit her website at http://www.nancymartinmysteries.com/