New Book Video for The Beast of Blackbirch Manor

The Beast of Blackbirch Manor will be released in a print edition in April. (Very soon!) It will be available at New Concepts Publishing. It has been my best selling book so far!

How to Write a Book

It seems everyone has an idea for a great book. However, there are a number of people who think that's all they need--just that one fantastic idea. What they do not seem to realize is that someone has to put all the words together before that book can be sent off to a publisher.

It takes a considerable amount of time to put all the words together for a book. Someone has to sit at a computer for hours and hours and hours typing in the sentences. It isn't magic.

I have been approached by more than a few individuals who think I can put their book together for them.

Nope. I don't do that. I use up what spare time I have available to me in putting my own books together. It takes a lot of patience. Then, though I may proclaim it as finished, my editor certainly will not, and I will have to go through all the edits and fix each and every one. Getting a book published can be a tedious process.

There are plenty of helpful references available to anyone who wants to write a book. But if you have an incredible idea for a book, you better get started on it right now. Type out a bunch of sentences and then a bunch of paragraphs until you have perhaps 60,000 words or more.

Make sure you have a decent plot along with memorable characters. Realize that there are millions of other books available on the market and while yours is action-packed and suspenseful, the odds of you becoming incredibly wealthy overnight are rather slim.

In fact, you should definitely keep your day job.

Still, it can be very rewarding to see your book in print. If you have the drive, go for it. If you want to get your book published, don't give up. Sit there at your computer and type for hours and hours and hours.

When your book is finally finished, send it off to a publisher or an agent. Do not sit around waiting for your rejections. Write another book in the meantime because that is the life of a writer. If one of your books does land you a contract, it helps to have another book waiting in the wings.

One more thing. Don't worry that someone will steal your idea. Those of us who are writers have plenty of our own ideas. Besides, there are really only a limited number of plots in this world.

What makes every book unique is the voice of the author.

Okay? Now get to work. :^)

At the Library

Last night at the Middletown Township Public Library, I joined a panel with two other authors, Amanda Matetsky and Jack Getze. Each of us spoke about our personal path to publishing our books.

Those in the audience were very interested in publishing and asked plenty of good questions. It was an great evening. I always love to talk about writing. :^)

The Leprechaun in Me

My last name is Marzec because I married a man from Brooklyn whose parents came from Poland. So while he is definitely an American, he grew up in Greenpoint—which is a lot like being in Poland. He went to a Catholic bilingual school (English and Polish). Marzec translates into the month of March in Polish. You can find it on a Polish calendar.

I’m not Polish. On my mother’s side I’m Czech—or maybe Slovak or both—nobody is quite sure. At the time my mother’s parents left their home country it was part of the Austrian Empire. However, my grandfather said he lived near Prague. I don’t know what town my grandmother’s family came from. My grandparents met in this country and had seven children. My mother was Daughter #2.

My paternal grandparents were Irish and German. This makes me a mere one quarter Irish, but as luck would have it, I resemble the Irish side of the family—except for my height which undoubtedly came from the German genes because my father’s relatives were all rather slight leprechauns.

With the exception of my German grandmother, all my predecessors were Catholic. Unfortunately, my Irish Catholic grandfather could not marry my German Protestant grandmother in the church. They were married in the vestibule. (That was a long time ago. Catholics can now marry non-Catholics in the church.) My Irish Catholic great aunts were responsible for making sure my father received the sacraments.

Genetically, I’m a mongrel. My daughters are even more homogenized since they are half Polish.

Yet, somehow it is the Irish part of me that I feel most at home with—the Irish wit, songs, legends, and myths. That’s why I’ve written three books with Irish themes, Irons in the Fire, Prince of the Mist, and Kiss of Blarney.

Hubby asked me to marry him on the eve of St. Patrick’s Day. Daughter #3’s birthday comes close to St. Patrick’s Day.

Good reasons to celebrate! That’s why we are having a party today with corned beef and soda bread. No kielbasi.

An Adventure in Greenpoint

We visited Daughter #2 in Brooklyn again, but due to the anticipated snowfall on Sunday, we took the train. Daughter #2 met us in Penn Station because we were confused about the subways. Riding the subway is an adventure. Lots of people read books on the subway--or while waiting for the train. It is encouraging to see so many people reading. However, there seem to be an equal number of people listening to their iPods. Those people are in their own world. Some sing along to their chosen tunes. Some groove to the music. One young woman put on quite a dance show on the platform.

A trio of drummers hopped on the subway car at one stop. They brought along small portable stools and sat in the middle of one subway car with their large drums. I enjoyed the music.

We arrived in Greenpoint just in time for dinner. We ate at the small Polish restaurant we had enjoyed so much on our last visit. The food is inexpensive but good. However, I cannot pronounce the name of the place. It doesn't look like much, but it is a popular. I highly recommend it. Last time I had the breaded veal, this time I had veal meatballs with dill sauce. Hubby had Bigos--the traditional Polish hunter's stew. Daughter #2 had stuffed cabbage.