“Tomorrow, tomorrow, there’s always tomorrow.” Does that song from the musical Annie ever run through your head when you think about writing? Not to generalize—well, maybe to generalize—all writers at times fight the urge to procrastinate. The temptation to binge-watch Netflix has on more than one occasion come between me and my current work in progress. Below are my 5 tricks for staying productive. 

1. Make it Routine 

I like routine. If I schedule an hour or two after breakfast and another hour or two in the afternoon to write, it helps keep me on track. Sometimes I even use Netflix (or Britbox or Acorn) as a carrot. If I write for an hour, I can watch TV guilt-free. They say it takes 21 days to form a habit. Silly as it sounds, when I started running, I used to mark on the calendar each day I ran (yes, I used to teach elementary school). I did the same when I started writing. Both activities have become habits.

1. Set Goals

Write them down and be specific. How many books do you want to write this year? Do you want to start a new series or finish writing a series that’s in progress? For me, my goals last year were to create boxed sets for my Susan Wiles Schoolhouse Mysteries and Sugarbury Falls Mysteries, to get all my books made into audio book format, and to complete a third book in The Sara Baron Tuned-In Mysteries (Bad Vibes was just released). Every year (usually around tax time) I set a financial goal for the upcoming fiscal year.

1. Break it Down

Writing isn’t one activity; it has many components. My worst procrastination happens when I’m trying to get the first draft down. It’s hard work! If I don’t have the mental stamina for it on a given day, I’ll edit, revise, or proofread what I’ve already written. Eventually you’ll need to do that anyway. Sometimes I’ll outline the next chapter or chapters, or I’ll go through and highlight the clues or important plot points in the manuscript for easy reference. 

1. Research or fact check

Sometimes I use my writing time to research. Although I write fiction, I’ve spent countless hours researching things like the wine making process, the driving age in Vermont, insider trading, unemployment fraud, lethal and undetectable drugs… you get the idea. 

1. Change the Scenery

Although I almost always write on my laptop at the kitchen table, if I’m outlining or brainstorming ideas, I’ll stretch out on my bed with a gel pen and writing journal. I’ve never gone to a coffee shop to write, but I know successful authors who do. Sometimes I’ll even sit at my desk in my home office (go figure).
Writing is a joy, but it’s also work. Building consistency, setting goals, changing scenery, and matching your mental mood to various writing tasks may help fight procrastination and increase productivity. Happy writing! 

Covered bridges. Lazy days at the lake. Long walks in the woods. That’s what Henry and Emily Fox anticipate when they move to Sugarbury Falls, Vermont. What do they get? New family members, new friends, and mysteries falling like rain at their feet.
            Henry and Emily are a married middle-aged couple. Henry is a physician, and Emily writes true crime books and teaches at the local college. When Emily’s college roommate dies, they become adoptive parents to teenager Maddy. Chester the cat and Spunky the three-legged dog complete the team. The supporting cast includes Coralee the innkeeper, Pat the medical examiner, Pat’s wife Megan (a detective), and a neighbor who knows her way around technology!
            The Shady Course is book eight in the Sugarbury Falls cozy mystery series. It opens at the Outside Inn, where the Fox family is eating dinner. Maddy has a strange encounter in the restroom. A sobbing woman hands her a crumpled list which appears to be written in some sort of a code. On her way out, the woman whispers to Maddy, “keep them safe.” 
When they finish dinner, the family finds a murdered woman draped over Henry’s Jeep. Maddy recognizes her, and it’s not just because the murder victim is a dead ringer for Emily! 
While the primary focus is on solving the mystery, there is an underlying theme regarding the struggle for independence. Emily’s adult sister has Down’s Syndrome and wants to live on her own, become a chef, and marry her new boyfriend. Maddy is about to go to college but drags her feet on getting her applications in under the deadline. And Emily fights to do things on her own while suffering from injuries caused by a hit and run driver earlier in the summer. 
Wait a minute. Injuries caused by a hit and run driver? A murder victim who could be Emily’s twin? If the killer isn’t found soon, the next target could be close to home and this murder may be just the beginning.
 
Available for preorder on Amazon.com
​Release date April 9, 2022

My New Year’s resolution: Get all twenty-one of my cozy mysteries into audiobook format. I’d been hearing about, thinking about, and planning to do this “one day,” and decided 2021 would be my “one day.” So what has the process been like from an author’s point of view?

I started the process by listening to an author speak on the subject at a local Mystery Writers of America luncheon. I took careful notes, spoke to a few authors who had been through the process, and checked out a recommended company,acx.com.The first step was to “claim my books” on the dashboard. To produce an audio book, you must own the rights to your book and upload a square cover.

Once the book is listed, the author has choices to make. First, you must either upload an audio version you have already created, or select a narrator. I needed a narrator, in fact, I needed several narrators, in order to accomplish my goal. This was a fun part of the process. I uploaded a few pages from the book I wanted to produce as an audition script noting what type and style of voice I had in mind.

Then, the fun begins. I received between 12 and 20 auditions for each book that I posted. The first time through, I weeded out the voices that weren’t a good fit; then listened multiple times to those that were. It was difficult to choose. Some narrators made me laugh with their quirky portrayals; others simply had beautiful voices. I wound up choosing both styles. 

After selecting a narrator, the producer makes an offer to the narrator.  Narrators are either paid per hour, or royalties are shared. Then, it goes to the company for approval. 

I am well on track to having all books available on audio by the end of the year. Check them out on audible.com or choose audio format on the amazon.com product page.

www.audible.com/search?keywords=diane+weiner&ref=a_pd_An-Ear_t1_header_search
 

 
 

I'm proud to announce that my New Year's Resolution of getting all my books on audio is shaping up! I'm using 4 different and all wonderful narrators, each with their own style. Here's the latest
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www.audible.com/pd/Murder-Is-Medical-Audiobook/B092YTFMBH?source_code=AUDFPWS0223189MWU-BK-ACX0-251583&ref=acx_bty_BK_ACX0_251583_pd_us&fbclid=IwAR2Gyj8SfmKUfKmJXkFF3FZyG7qD9ofvVZ7m_f0N6ndQVXThLyxi8J2Fcjo

Hope you all had a nice Thanksgiving. I did. My younger son got engaged over Thanksgiving weekend and I am thrilled. He and his fiancee live in St. Louis and visited over the holiday (both being doctors, didn't remove their masks until they confirmed their negative Covid test results). For those who read the Susan Wiles series, you might note that Evan and Kara (Eric and Katie) got engaged a book or two ago. Glad real life finally caught up! Susan will have a wedding mystery to solve in an upcoming book!

The cover of The Sinister Course, book 6 in the Sugarbury Falls series, will be released any day now! The new book will be available this month! I am halfway through writing the first draft of book 7 in the series. I usually flip back and forth between writing my series, but when you finish The Sinister Course, you will want to plunge right into the next one. I wanted to play fair. I won't say any more:)

Winner Winner Chicken Dinner!!
Crystal Stewart has won her choice of an autographed copy of any one of my books in the November write a review contest. Congratulations! Please contact me with your choice of book and mailing address and it will be in the mail ASAP.
Same contest runs in December. Write a review of one of my books for a chance to win.

Sign up for my newsletter if you haven't already:)

    

www.goodreads.com/giveaway/show/315565-the-muddy-course
​
​Enter a Goodreads Giveaway to win a copy of The Muddy Course, book 5 in the Sugarbury Falls Mystery Series.Book 6 will be available later this month so you have time to catch up on the series if you hurry:)

My recently released An Ear for Murder features an oboist who goes home to upstate New York and winds up solving her friend's murder as well as helping her family get their oboe making business back on track.What's an oboe? Besides being an often used crossword clue, it's a slender woodwind instrument which looks most similar to a clarinet but uses a double reed.Think the duck in Peter and the Wolf. How did I come up with this story? For starters, my husband is an oboist. 35 years ago when we went back to my hometown for our wedding, we made a stop at a small oboe shop in Peekskill, New York. Laubin Oboes is one of a small handful of places where you can purchase a handcrafted oboe (though the wait is at least 10 years from the time it is ordered). The shop was founded in 1931 by Alfred Laubin, an oboist who played in the Hartford Symphony and experimented with oboe making in his free time before turning it into a full time occupation. His son, Paul Laubin, worked in the shop after school alongside his dad. In 1976 upon Alfred Laubin's death, Paul took over the business. Each of the 47 oboe keys is hand crafted and each hole hand drilled to precise, secret dimensions. In my story, Sara Baron discovers secret measurements to aid in her family's business (while solving a murder, of course). While not the main plot, I chose to incorporate the family oboe business into the first of my Sara Baron Tuned-In Mysteries! An Ear for Murder is currently on sale in ebook format from Amazon and is always free to read on KindleUnlimited!

I hope you are all well and holding up okay. As much as I love working from home, I'm finding myself getting emotional over the smallest things, or perhaps small things that meant more than I realized. I miss going out to eat at our favorite Chinese restaurant, going to the mall with my daughter, family game nights with my grown-up kids, mystery writer lunches and conferences...I even miss wearing real clothes and putting on make-up. And when I hear stories on the news about a retired doctor driving across country to help out in New York and dying, or a young doctor who recovered form the disease and then commit suicide, it breaks my heart.

Meanwhile, I'm almost through writing the first draft of Murder is Universal. I am trying to decide after that whether to write the next Sugarbury Falls book, or the next Sara Baron Tuned-in Mystery. Please give me feedback if you have read An Ear for Murder (and I'd very much appreciate a review on Amazon and Goodreads—it looks so lonely with its 2 reviews right now). Murder in the Middle ebook is free this week. Pass it along if you have friends who might enjoy a light cozy. I'd love to hear from you–

Sincerely,
Diane


https://www.amazon.com/Murder-Middle-Susan-Schoolhouse-Mystery-ebook/dp/B00UCN3MD2

Happy Spring!​

Hope you are all doing well during this unusual quarantine and that your families are well. This is a quick note to let you know that I have a new release out! The protagonist is a symphony musician (oboist) in her late thirties who returns to her hometown in upstate New York to attend her grandfather's 80th birthday party and to cat sit for a friend. Of course, she finds her friend has been murdered and together with the mysterious neighbor (yes, a touch of romance in this one...just a touch) to solve the case. I'd really appreciate feedback on this new series. Let me know your thoughts and if you'd like to see the series continue. I'm running it at a promotional price this week only of $1.99 for the ebook. This is the price internationally right now as well. I'm also keeping my other two series going and am closing in on finishing the first draft of Murder is Universal.

All the best,
Diane

An Ear for Murder
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08716ZSSX