When Words Can Change the World!

I'm so proud to be a part of this marvelous project. Because words can change the world!

The Gods of Nature
by Tim Hallinan

The most ancient Japanese religion is Shinto.
The name is taken from two Chinese words, shin, meaning "spirit," and to, which is a derivative of tao (as in Taoism), a path or a course of study. So I suppose you could say it's a spiritual path of study. It's sometimes translated as "the way of the gods."

Shinto holds that the natural world is the home of kami, or spirits.

Many of them are spirits of place: stones, trees, hills, bodies of water.
The Japanese reverence for nature has its roots in Shinto.




This is a torii, a gate for the kami to pass through. They stand outside virtually every Shinto Shrine and also provide passageways for spirits of place in spots where their influence is strongest. Many of them stand in bodies of water.

On March 11 of this year, something unprecedented in modern memory rose up out of nature and struck Japan.



Following a massive earthquake, the waves invaded an enormous area in the northeast of Japan. In a matter of moments, both the natural and the man-made landscapes were altered, perhaps forever.

Watching the devastation, all I could think was that writers should be able to pool their talents to raise money as musicians and actors do. And it occurred to me immediately that we can. With the immediacy of e-books, writers can join together to try to bring some small solace in the face of tragedy. People who have lost children, parents, loved ones, friends, communities, livelihoods -- they deserve our best efforts, however humble.

Less than three months after the disaster, nineteen wonderful writers have donated their talent to make this possible.


This is a collection of original Japan-themed short stories, almost all written since March 11, inspired by the desire to help.

The writers who responded with such wonderful stories are:


Brett Battles
Cara Black
Vicki Doudera


Dianne Emley
Dale Furutani
Stefan Hammond

Rosemary Harris
Naomi Hirahara
Wendy Hornsby

Ken Kuhlken
Debbi Mack
Adrian McKinty

I.J. Parker
Gary Phillips
Hank Phillippi Ryan

Jeffrey Siger
Kelli Stanley
C.J. West and
Jeri Westerson.

Another fine writer, Gar Anthony Haywood, designed the cover.

Taken as a whole, these people have won every major mystery prize and sold hundreds of thousands of books.

Two remarkable translators of haiku, Jane Reichhold, whose 2008 volume translating all the haiku of the 17th-century master Basho has been hailed as a new standard, and David Lanoue, who has done beautiful translations of Issa, allowed us to use their renderings without charge.

Kimberly Hitchens and her first-class crew turned the manuscript into a beautiful a-book.

One hundred percent of the writers' royalties from the purchase go directly to the 2011 Japan Relief Fund administrated by Japan America Society of Southern California, which has already sent $750,000 to organizations working on the scene.

You can buy SHAKEN: STORIES FOR JAPAN as a Kindle e-book on Amazon right here http://www.amazon.com/SHAKEN-Stories-for-Japan-ebook/dp/B00556WX9A/

for only $3.99.


If you don't have a Kindle, you can download Kindle for PC here
http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html/ref=kcp_pc_mkt_lnd?docId=1000426311

**********************************

It was all Tim's idea. And each of us is honored to be part of it.

New Photos!

And lots of news....fun photos!

The amazing Lisa Scottoline at Thrillerfest...

With Jason Pinter at the Festival of Mystery--the gala annual event from Mystery Lovers Bookshop in Oakmont, PA. That's Deb Sharp to my left, and Joanna Slan next to her!

Shane Gericke and James Grady...two fantastic thriller writers. Shane's Torn Apart is just out--and Jim wrote (among other things) the iconic Six Days of the Condor.

With Laura Lippman and Mary Higgins Clark--see how Mary gets the good lighting?

Trying to convince Dennis Lehane of something at Crimebake.

Reed Farrell Coleman and I win Macavity Awards at Bouchercon! Thank you so much, Mystery Readers International and Janet Rudolph!

With NYT bestselling Michael Palmer (at the mic) and NYT bestselling Bill Martin at Michael's winterfest fundraiser...

The 3-H girls from Lipstick Chronicles: Heather Graham (left) and Harley Jane Kozak! Come chat on 3-H day at LIpstick!

More photos to come...xoxo

When the student is ready, the teacher appears

In the midst of writing. And found this. Maybe it's time for you to read it, too.


Learning the Characters (Yue Liang — The Moon) by Koeeoaddi

My hand,
stiff as horsehair
falters and balks.

"The moon," he tells me
and draws the lines.
Listen to me.

I grind the ink,
look into the wet black slab
but see no sky.
I worry my hand
across the page
the sun fastened tight
to obstinate dusk.

"Watch" he insists.
His lesson forms
in rock and light.
I retrace his strokes,
and he smiles —
my crude moon
climbs a crumpled sky.

But later
alone at my desk,
I sketch the spiny shadow
of the asparagus fern,
a cat on the sill
looking into the night

And the moon blooms
like an orchid
underneath
my astonished brush.

Take the Challenge!

An amazing event is happening on Jungle Red, my group blog. It's the brainchild of Jan Brogan, who has thrown down the gauntlet to all of you writers out there. It's a fantastic idea, and I have signed right up! Come join us!

Tweet about it using the hasthtag #JRWriteFirst --see you there!


JAN: If you are a writer, the Internet is both your best friend and your mortal enemy. Need to find an expert or see what a Glock looks like?? The info is only minutes away by Google.

But sometimes, all that time you save goes down the drain in lost productivity. In terms of writing (not promotion) that would be Email, Facebook, Twitter, etc.

Here's the challenge:For six weeks, starting tomorrow, you must write one, full page every day -- even Saturday and Sunday -- BEFORE checking email or visiting anywhere online. That's the critical part. You can get online as soon as you finish your one page, but no sooner. If you have to check email at work in the morning, the challenge can start as soon as you come home. You are not allowed to go back to the Internet for ANY reason until you write that one page.

Why one page?
Because if you only wrote one page a day for an entire year, you'd have a novel.
Because when I gave myself a five-page-a-day quota, I found myself writing drivel, just to get the pages done.
Because with with a one page quota, you have time to go back and revise earlier pages.
Sometimes they bulk up, lengthwise, to create an extra page. (and yes, that counts as a new page.)
Because one page is eminently doable.
Because even on the weekends, you can get yourself to sit down at the computer if it's ONLY one page. And the consistency of a writing every day enhances productivity in terms of story structure.
Because one page often leads to another. In other words, one page is the minimum, not the maximum.

Why now?
Because for many of us, August is the least productive month of the year. (hey, and I'm even going to do this on vacation)
Challenging yourself in January when is snowing outside is no challenge.

Why six weeks?
Because after six weeks, we'll all have 42 pages. If you are starting a novel, that's about where you'd end on a hook, so you'll have enough material to send it to the agent/editor with a query.
If you are writing short stories -- that's at least two of them.
Because I host the blog every six weeks.

Why do you really want to do this?Aside from becoming a more disciplined writer and an all around superior person, we're also giving away prizes.

No cheating:

One page is defined as the FULL page, double spaced.
If, by any chance, you are writing a screenplay, you can still do the challenge, but that's TWO AND HALF pages a day for you.

How to enter?

Sign into the comments page on Jungle Red (www.jungleredwriters.com) any time through Sunday (okay Monday for you procrastinators).
Report in (via the comments page) every Sunday.
Tell us anything, your obstacles, your solutions, your progress, the best sentence you wrote, or any tricks you've learned along the way.

Prizes:If you post at least three times (on different weeks), we enter your name in raffle and the winner gets a signed copy of Hallie Ephron's Writing and Selling Your Mystery Novel. I will also read and critique your work, if you want. (you can forgo that prize if the idea of critique stunts your productivity. It's your choice.)

There's also second and third prizes, as well as a prize for the most inspired, insightful or helpful comment.

In no particular order, those prizes will be signed copies of:
Teaser (Jan Brogan)
Dead Head (Rosemary Harris),
Air Time (Hank Phillippi Ryan) (Agatha and Anthony nominee!)
Asking for Murder (Roberta Isleib)

JAN: The challenge technically ends Saturday September 18th and you have all weekend until 5 p.m. Sunday on the 19th to post your comments. I'll be drawing and deciding winners one minute after 5 p.m.
I'll announce winners on Jungle Red September 20th.

So get started and good luck!!

The Women of Jungle Red - Jan Brogan, Hank Phillippi Ryan, Hallie Ephron, Roberta Isleib, Rhys Bowen and Rosemary Harris.

The Latest

Wow--can you believe summer is almost half over? I prefer to look at it as--we have another whole half of summer left! Right? Half-full. Not half-empty.

Talk about full--the Festival of Mystery in Oakmont this year was beyond standing room only. (Yes, it was in May. So, it takes me a bit longer than you might predict to post photos. La dee dah.)The folks at Mystery Lovers Bookshop went all out--and mystery authors and readers flocked to get books signed. (I must say the whole thing was irresistible. And I bought waaay too many books. Wait--is there such a thing?) Anyway: it looked like this:

And here's me. You can see what fun it was. (Thanks to the wonderful Steve Bucci for these photos!) Hope to see you there next year--click here for all the info on MLB.

And soon after--oh wait--was it before? (Some days I'm not quite sure what day it is, doest that happen to you?( Anyway, I was chief judge for the Mary Higgins Clark Awards, part of the prestigious Edgar Awards from Mystery Writers of America. (Got that?) Here's the awards party: with Laura Lippman , me in the leopard skirt, and in the middle, Mary Higgins Clark herself. A perfect gorgeous classy and talented lady. A true star. (You can see, somehow she got all the light. I think that's the Mary magic.)

More pictures to come! See you soon...And I have new luggage tags in honor of AIR TIME! If you'd like me to send you one, click on contact in the blog header--and let me know! Keep cool, you all. It's about a million degrees here in Boston...