BOOK MARKETING GLOBAL NETWORK

            The lock with the doorknob is sitting on my front porch. It’s been there for a very long time. In fact, it was there before the porch sagged at such an angle that the old wicker rocker was tossed into the front yard. That happened after a rainstorm of Biblical proportions. I don’t remember when. The weather events of such proportions seem to occur more and more frequently.

            My vantage point of the front room windows doesn’t give me a close-up view, so I suspect some part of that mechanism is stuck between two floorboards. What this means effectively is that anyone can enter and invade my home. I’m surrounded by a pine and birch forest, well off the main road, on a dirt track. Ivy has been growing all over my chimneys and roof. It makes me wonder if anyone venturing by would even discover a house so secluded and disguised by nature.

            But I do have visitors. They find their way through the large chimney in my front room. I guess the bricks haven’t fallen in to obstruct the flue. There’s not been a fire there since before I developed the ivy problem. It’s begun to pry up my shingles. I worry about a case of rot, and I become squeamish at the thought of termites. Ugh!

            Now, let me tell you about the invaders, I mean visitors. The sun comes up every morning as it should and blinds me, turning the east windows to a fiercely bright gold. I feel the creaking in my various parts, door frames and windows, warped and rusted from disuse. And age. It won’t be long, I think, until I’m a pile of splinters.

            Ah! There she is again, the quivering, glossy red intruder, raising my hopes for some company, stirring those films and motes of dust that coat every nook and cranny of my consciousness, of my being.

            Her nose inhales a breath of air that lies so deep within me, unused. She peers cautiously from the fireplace interior, ever careful of finding safe transit from one perch to another. She enters the room, setting my dust dress in motion, fanning my hopes from a flicker to a flame. Oh, how I wish for someone to inhabit me once more.

            She hops gracefully from chimney to window, its broken smokey panes my eyes to the world. The eyes that search for someone to come and visit. What is she looking for? Her bushy tail is twitching and tight against her back.

            He comes like a spore sprung from its capsule, with an acorn and a sprig of timothy hay, landing next to her on the sill. His sudden appearance causes a wonderful draft, creating another flurry in all this dust, like snow rising instead of falling, sun-spangled in the morning light. The newcomer froze, poised to leap out the window, his amazing faculties sensing a ripple of something a bit off.

            Oh, no. Please don’t go! Suspended in those glittering particles, we three waited.

            Whoosh! With a swish of those gorgeous fluffy tails and another explosion of diamond dust, the couple bound to the hearth. Just then the sun has risen enough to peek through the trees, making my windows wink with the golden reflection of my joy. A nest in my fireplace, at last, the little red creatures making me a home.

            Days and nights flicker across the windows, the two red squirrels coming and going, till one day, one squirrel remains in the nest. What’s wrong with her I worry. But soon, a barely audible squeaking tells me we’ll be having a frisky little family soon. So intent was I on Mr. and Mrs. Squirrel that I miss the goings-on of my tiniest visitor yet, a brown mouse. So quiet and wary, it was easy to dismiss the mice as visitors. They provide little amusement for me, not like the squirrels who are more visible with their feats of daring-do.

            Traffic in the front room increases as the baby squirrels grow, chasing each other in a hilarious, never-ending race to reach every perch in the room. I’m glad all my China ornaments are gone. Mr. And Mrs. S sometimes leave a trail of acorn scraps, too tempting to keep the tiny brown mouse in her hole in the baseboard.

            Brownie, the mouse, her nose and whiskers twitching, scurries across my parlor floor to a board that has warped at the entry to my dining room. Ignoring the scraps, she squeezes her flexible little body through the crevice. I wonder what she is doing in there. I wonder too, where are the six other mice that show themselves when they think it’s safe.

            Varoomph! Varoomph! Egad, what’s that?

            Majestically surveying the room below a hawk has landed on the windowsill recently vacated by a baby squirrel. The hawk is high above the fireplace and the squirrels are nowhere to be seen. Perhaps the presence of the fearsome hawk explains the absence of the six mice. I don’t really like that idea. This is not a hunting preserve, if you please.

            Brownie appears through the crevice in the floorboards again. What’s that in her mouth, a pink little something? Why, it’s a baby! The hawk has made the same deduction. He is probably thinking two for the price of one.

            Mother Brownie is running, hell bent for leather, with her precious cargo toward the hole in the baseboard. The hawk flexes her wings, eyes laser focused on Brownie. Body tensed, wings flapping, her talons detaching from the sill, a shriek from outside stops her. With an agile turn, she is gone. Brownie disappears into the baseboard.

Two sets of shrieks vibrate in the air outside. They are growing fainter. A mated pair headed for their nest?

The sun is dropping toward the horizon. Another day. The red squirrels have abandoned their nest for now, leaving a mess in the fireplace. Squirrels’ nests hardly ever make it to those home improvement magazines for the “after” pictures.

Fallen leaves on the once pathway to the porch crackle and rustle. I feel the weight of someone on the porch. There is a screeching sound as if something is being pried loose. The door opens and I cannot believe it. A man stands just inside. The doorknob and lock rest in his hand. He has a large hump on his back, which he detaches somehow and places on the floor.

I haven’t seen another human in some time. He fills the door jamb, so he must be tall. He has a dark beard and a woolen cap pulled down over his ears. His eyes are shadowed. His clothes look well-worn but clean, dark in color. He would blend well in the surrounding woods.

The man comes in, looking around, nudging at the mess in the fireplace. He moves down the hall to check out the other rooms. Water begins to run through the unused pipes, and it is a strange sensation. I chuckle to myself. Hah, the water still works.

He comes back to the open front door. I hear him call into the twilight. “C’mon. It’s okay. No one lives here.”

A young girl and a little boy, dark like the man, come in, wary and wide-eyed. They are dressed like the man, dark clothes, not the colorful ones children might wear. They look frightened. I wonder why. What brought them to this desolate place?

“Oh, Daddy, can we stay? I worry if a bear will eat me. Please?” The young girl holds the little boy’s hand, and he says nothing, just looks around, eyes still huge.

“There’s a big kitchen in the back with an old wood stove. I think I can get it going. We can spread the blankets. And there’s water,” the man tells the children. As he offers this promise of warmth, the two young ones sink to the floor.

“There is a fireplace in this room,” the girl says.

The little boy pipes up. “No, no. You can’t use it. Look. There’s a nest in it.”

The man smiles a tiny smile as if he is unused to doing so. “Ivan is right. It’s bad enough we don’t have a home.”

Well, I think to myself, maybe being here might change that.

The man continues. “The stove is safer anyway. I don’t know if the chimney is blocked. Maria, look around. Maybe some blankets were left here.”

“Ivan, come with me. I am scared to go alone.”

The man goes to get wood and lights the stove. I hold my breath, but in a little while the house is not on fire, a surprise, and a blessing.

“Look what we found!” Ivan says in his little boy voice. The girl, Maria, is clutching an armload of blankets.

“I found them in a chest, one like Mamma had. They smell like something nice. I don’t know what it is.”

“Cedar,” the father says. “That’s why they are still in one piece. Cedar repels moths that eat blankets.”

How nice it is to feel warmth in me again. I wonder if they will stay. By now it’s dark. The squirrels have taken up residence in their nest. The family makes little noise in their own kitchen nest.

I hear the man say goodnight to Ivan and Maria. All is quiet and I revel in it. I whisper my goodnight to my three visitors. “Rest easy,” I think.

In the distance a large boom rumbles, vibrating and rattling the same windows I welcomed the dawn with. Could it be a thunderstorm on the way? Before closing myself down, I gaze at the moonlit sky. There is a faint red glow on the horizon. I have never seen that before.

I gathered my ivy cloak around me and settled for the night; the third step creaked, the spare room door shut, and one of the roof timbers let out a snap.

For now, someone is home. I hope they can stay for a little while at least, until they must leave, to go who knows where, to find another home.

Short Story Submitted 05/24/2024

Author’s Page At Book Marketing Global Network:
https://bookmarketingglobalnetwork.com/book-marketing-global-network/author-linda-maria-frank/

Recently I was privileged to do a Mystery Writers Workshop for a fifth-grade class on Long Island. The students read my three Annie Tillery Mysteries and wrote me letters I will always cherish. The students are lucky enough to have a teacher who has developed a Literature Circle in her classroom. The school hosted an Author/Illustrator Night through Long Island Children’s Writers and Illustrators, and the students got to meet me. Later I visited the class, and we did a mystery writing workshop. When writing for any audience, it can be helpful to know what readers are curious about. I found the kid’s questions most insightful.  Here are some of the questions and comments from the students. What fun!

1. What does Annie, your main character look like. “I was wondering how you pictured Annie looking like and was it like the illustrations?”

2.”I love all these books because they have a lot of action.”

3.”I was wondering how you got the idea for mysteries.”

“The only way I can snap out of it (reading a good book) is if somebody takes the book, does something physical to me, or I simply look up to see what is going on.”

4. “I like the book because it reminds me of Indiana Jones and I also like how Annie has a lot of adventure.”

5. “Why do you have the same format for your book covers?’

6. “Why do you have the same characters in your books?”

7. “Why did you pick the name, Annie, for your main character?”

8. “Why did you choose the series to be mystery books?”

9. “Why did Annie not like her father?”

10, “I am reading your book, Secrets in the Fairy Chimneys, and I absolutely love it. The setting is fantastic, the plot is out of this world, and I can’t even tell you how good the characters are. I think the book has excitement, mystery, friendship, and romance all throughout the book. Where in the world did you think of such a good story?”

11. “I must ask you how you came up with the characters’ names? I myself am writing a story, and I am struggling with finding names for my characters. Are they based off of real people? Or did you just randomly pick names. My second question is did you include real facts about ghosts in the book? Or did you make them up? For example, in the story it said, ‘Don’t ghosts run on some sort of energy?’. When I read that, I felt more interested in ghosts. Also, besides the questions I really admired how you put many advanced words. It helped me with my vocabulary, and it helped me become more of an advanced writer.”

12. “What inspired you to be an author?”

13. “Why do you write about ghosts?”

14.”I was wondering if you have any children, and what part do you live in?”

15. “When did you start being an author?”

16. How do you come up with your ideas for books?”
17. “What is your feeling about writing?”

18. “Is writing a story hard?”

Some of the questions were about specific plot choices I made.

I loved this comment too. “I think you chose the right job to be an author.” For those of you who write, it sometimes takes a long time to get that validation.

Author’s Page At Book Marketing Global Network:
https://bookmarketingglobalnetwork.com/book-marketing-global-network/author-linda-maria-frank/

One of the surprising outcomes of being an author was my entrée into the world of Local Access TV. I produce and host a show called “The Writer’s Dream”. I interview authors. After nine years of this venture, I’ve discovered that the two questions that evoke some of the most intriguing answers are these:

1. Authors take a journey when they write a book. What is unique about your journey?

2. When all is said and done, what do you want out of you writing experiences and creations?

It got me thinking about my own journey and this year I am about to publish my seventh book, a fictional memoir about a group of eighth graders on an island of the coast. It’s called “The Buccaneers of St. Frederick Island”.

Soon after I published the first book, “The Madonna Ghost” I started to do book talks, and the participants asked many questions about plot, characters and setting. Answering those questions, I learned more about the novel writing process than I would have imagined.

The following paragraphs represent the most common questions and what I learned about my own writing.

“Where do you get your ideas from?

This is the hardest question to answer, and I would give the most unsatisfying answer. “They just come.” With my science background, I found this answer inadequate for that very important question.

Note: I taught introductory forensic science for 20 years.

I changed the focus of my answers to “What inspired your story?” Inspiration comes from three major sources: a specific area of forensic investigation, a setting, and an historical event. The inspiration or idea for “The Madonna Ghost” was a wall-sized photograph in the Fire Island lighthouse of the rescue of passengers on a ship that had run aground on a sand bar off the island in a not uncommon storm on Long Island.

Following that initial inspiration came the research into the history of shipwrecks off Fire Island.

That research created the character of the ghost, a grieving mother who survived the wreck but lost her child and ultimately died.

The next part of the idea was how to weave a mystery and a crime around the ghost. Again, Fire Island history came to my rescue, smuggling, bootlegging, a vulnerable seacoast, and proximity to New York City.

Sorry, you’ll have to read the book to find out the rest.

Next Question: “Are your characters based on real people?”

Of course, they are! We are surrounded by people who exhibit lots of characteristics to choose from, to either copy in their entirety, or to mix and match into a new person.

What was more challenging for me was that I needed to make my main character, Annie Tillery, engaging, a young woman you would cheer for, whom you could envision as your friend. I knew from my own voracious reading that a character you can love or relate to can make your book a real success.

The next challenge was to create the “perfect boyfriend”. Why was this important to me? It grew out of my teaching experience watching my female students, and my own life experiences, choosing the wrong guy. This is known as the bad boy syndrome, and Annie’s beau, Tyler Egan, was my attempt to provide a much better alternative.

Here is an excerpt from “The Madonna Ghost”. Ty realizes that Annie struggles with her mother’s addiction. Ty’s father has been institutionalized because of his alcoholism. He takes her to visit which he does often.

“Well, Dad, it’s been great seeing you. I’ll be back soon.” Ty brought the visit to a conclusion, none too soon for me. He stopped at the nurses’ station to ask about his father’s physical condition.

As I waited, I kept thinking about my mother, how she had that same look about her, as if she just couldn’t manage to jump into the fray that people call life. She always seemed to be seeking some refuge, some escape. I used to think that I was the thing she wanted to get away from. But, after seeing Mr. Egan, I began to wonder if what scared them was just anything that made you feel. I tried to imagine not wanting to feel about the things that happened in life. I couldn’t. I just couldn’t imagine the place that Mr. Egan and Mom inhabited. It frightened and disgusted me in turn every time I did think about it.

Finally, Ty came away from the nurses’ station, looking me over, trying to appraise my mood. He looked older to me, shoulders hunched, hands jammed into pockets. What an awful responsibility he had taken on. I only wanted to run away from a similar one.

“Could we go home now?” I asked. It sounded like a big baby even to me. I tried to overcome my embarrassment.

“Okay. I guess this wasn’t such a great idea,” Ty consented, nodding toward the door.

“You’re wrong, Ty. You are a saint. I couldn’t do this. I’m too angry,” I said, trying to smooth over things. “This confuses me terribly. How can you be so good to him after all the grief he’s caused? Help me out here. I don’t understand.”

“Pretend you’re watching a TV show and you don’t know your mother. Look at her as if she is character in a drama. Do you envy her life? Would you want to be her?”

I ran the scene Ty described in my brain’s DVD player. I could sort of see what he meant. “But she has caused so much unhappiness!” I shot back.

“How does she change your day-to-day life, Annie?” he asked quietly. “I see my dad as pitiful. Anyone who has no control over their lives is pitiful. I walk in and out of this hospital as I please. I’m not sure he even knows where the door is.”

The bus came. We retreated into silence. Ty said, “Think about it, Annie. I had to think about it for a long time. I still do have to think about it.”

Suddenly, he put his arm around me. “And I owe you a sail. Will you settle for a frozen yogurt in Bay Shore?” He smiled that dazzling grin.

I laughed, tucking my arm behind him, and hooking my finger in one of his belt loops. The third question: “Why do you write?”

The short answer is that it’s the only way I know to tell a story. I think of myself as a storyteller more than a writer. One of the precious that came out of my marital experiences was being told that I was a good storyteller. I know. That could be taken two ways, but it was sincere, and it got me thinking about putting my stories to paper.

Sure, I’d love to have a best seller. A movie contract would be better, or a TV series. Every writer would like to see their books make a best-seller list. But, to tell you the truth, if you keep in the game, and I mean actively keep in the game, things happen. I spoke about some of them, book talks and “The Writer’s Dream”.

Both have exposed me to readers and writers who have pushed me to think about my writing and clarify what I wanted to say in those books I wrote.

Writing the books inspired me to take the topics in forensic science I am so interested in and do a lecture series.

I’ve become involved in planning book events, especially book and author fairs at schools. Meeting my young readers and talking about the books, giving advice to your writers, and seeing some readers come back for a second Annie Tillery Mystery because they loved the first one, are some of the perks.

One Annie Tillery fan berated me for keeping her up until 4am when she should have been sleeping. Why? She couldn’t put “Secrets in the Fairy Chimneys”, the third Annie Tillery, down until she finished it.

It’s not such a bad way to spend Act III of my life.

Message From Linda Maria Frank: Hello, fellow mystery lovers. As a teacher of forensic science for almost 20 years, I decided to create mysteries around the science I found most interesting. I also wanted to create a smart, edgy, young female detective to solve my cases. The result was Annie Tillery. I like to call my books “Nancy Drew meets CSI”. My books capture, not only my love of mystery and science, but those things I found most exciting in life; sailing, falling in love, and my fascination with New York City.

Currently, I am living on Long Island and working hard to promote my books.

The third Annie Tillery mystery, Secrets in the Fairy Chimneys, revolves around another topic I find fascinating, and that is archaeology. It takes place in Turkey. This story is packed with heart stopping page turning drama.

The latest book, The Mystery of the Lost Avenger, investigates a cold case involving Annie’s great grandmother who was a test pilot for Grumman Aviation during WWII. Go back in time to solve an unexplained plane crash involving sabotage and great grandma, Charlotte Wheeler, and her fighter pilot fiancé.

Stay tuned for more thrilling and dangerous adventures for Annie and that oh-so-sexy Ty.

Author’s Page At Book Marketing Global Network:
https://bookmarketingglobalnetwork.com/book-marketing-global-network/author-linda-maria-frank/

Author’s Page At Book Marketing Global Network:
https://bookmarketingglobalnetwork.com/book-marketing-global-network/author-linda-maria-frank/

Let me tell you, it was really exciting to see The Madonna Ghost translated into Spanish. The idea of making my first Annie Tillery Mystery available to a large and important block of readers made me very proud.

As a member of an authors’ group, Long Island Children’s Writers, and Illustrators, and as a former teacher, I have the opportunity to present and market my books at fairs run by local Long Island schools, where there is a significant Hispanic population.

Our schools offer ESL classes (English as a Second Language) for newly arrived students from other countries. I immediately saw the possibility of offering both paperback, eBook, and audiobook in both, English and Spanish, as a tool to be used in the ESL program.

Besides the marketing opportunities afforded by this translation, it was very satisfying to see Annie Tillery speaking Spanish.

The steps included finding a company or entity to translate your manuscript into another language, an editor to double check the work, a company (could be same as translator) who can produce the audio book files (they are called the producer), and finally a platform to market the finished product.

You don’t have to speak Spanish to offer your book in that language!

Article Submitted by Linda Maria Frank on 04/27/2024.

Author’s Page At Book Marketing Global Network:
https://bookmarketingglobalnetwork.com/book-marketing-global-network/author-linda-maria-frank/

Linda Maria Frank: Inspired by Nancy Drew, Author Creates Her Own Modern-Day Sleuth.

By Linda Leuzzi Posted on March 28, 2024.

Fire Island News Link:
https://www.fireislandnews.com/arts-culture/book-reviews/linda-maria-frank-inspired-by-nancy-drew-author-creates-her-own-modern-day-sleuth/

Author Linda Frank With Her Annie Tillery Series and Fans.

Author Linda Maria Frank wasn’t in Sayville’s Tiny Raccoon Books five minutes when some of her fans began pouring in.

Ann McPartlin from Freeport, Mary Lambert from Merrick, JoAnn Krapp from Farmingdale and Karen Bonnett from Oceanside were among the first.

They all knew and supported each other, helping Frank set up her table with the Annie Tillery series as well as the Buccaneer books for her meet and greet.

Growing up, Nancy Drew, the spunky fictional teenage amateur sleuth that was popular for decades, was Frank’s first writing muse and the catalyst for her own creation, Annie Tillery.

“I hated to read, and Nancy made me a lifetime reader,” said Frank of the series. “She was never afraid to meet a challenge. And she took you places.”

Like lighthouses, haunted houses and other interesting spots. Plus, she had a roadster. Quite the independent gal.

Frank, literally, is an accomplished dynamo. After retiring from teaching science to middle school students as well as graduate level students at Hofstra and Adelphi universities, she created her own fearless teen character, Annie Tillery and combined Annie’s forensic investigations with CSI (Crime Scene Investigations) inspired plots.

Voila! A successful new heroine emerged tackling crimes through six books.

“Annie’s mom has a substance abuse problem, and her father works for the state department,” Frank explained. “She lives with her aunt, an NYPD Homicide Detective.”

Her first Annie Tillery book, “The Madonna Ghost,” takes her to Fire Island. Her aunt disappears “but Annie doesn’t know that she’s working on a case,” said Frank.

Besides, writing compelling reading for young people, Frank also offers Lesson Plans for teachers on her website.

“I’ve known Linda since 1989,” said Lambert admiringly. “We worked as consultants at BOCES and we were teachers, me in English, Linda in science.”

“I’m a fan and author,” said Lois Schmitt who was buying “The Buccaneers of St. Frederick Island” for her granddaughter – another mystery series that she launched a couple summers back. “She really writes great books for middle school kids.”

Frank has won Gold and Blue Five Stars Awards, Great Reading for Teens and Young Adults as well as several other publishing accolades. She also has an award from the American Society of University Women for inspiring girls to pursue science studies and careers. Also, she hosts The Writer’s Dream, a talk show on LTV where Long Island-based writers discuss different aspects of the profession. (You can catch it on her Youtube channel.)

A resident of Massapequa Park, Frank’s scholarly background in forensic science was the lead-in to the CSI aspect.

“When I taught forensic science at Seaford High School, I’d give the students a project based on a mystery story, for example about art forgery, and the kids had to figure out how it was done.”

Jerry Cimisi Talks To Author Linda Frank At Tiny Raccoon Books in Sayville.

As a student, you would have wanted Frank as your teacher. She plunged her classes into real science as they studied evidence, tested for authenticity; students became sleuths themselves.

“The Girl with Pencil, Drawing” delves into art forgery, for example.

Jerry Cimisi from Rocky Point was particularly interested in that subject.

“My wife saw this book event and I’m a writer myself,” he said.

They discussed the Nazi pilfering of artwork and “The Woman in Gold,” the story about Maria Altman, a Jewish woman who fled Nazi Germany settling eventually in Los Angeles who reclaimed her Aunt Adele’s portrait by Gustav Klimt. The story emerged in a book and a 2015 film with Helen Mirran and Ryan Reynolds based on “The Lady in Gold” book published in 2012.

Frank is easy to talk to, and interested in those who seek her advice, background, and specific information. Tiny Raccoon Books owner Daniel McGowan said, “She’s one of the more interesting authors we’ve had.”

Writing and promoting her books full time is Frank’s new career. She’s plenty busy. There was a time that Frank would contact bookstores, libraries, and organizations for talks. Now, they reach out her.

“I can’t keep up with them,” she said.

Visit Linda Maria Frank’s website at http://lindamariafrank.com

Author’s Page At Book Marketing Global Network:
https://bookmarketingglobalnetwork.com/book-marketing-global-network/author-linda-maria-frank/