The Five W's: Diane Burton's Numbers Never Lie, Giveaway

The Five W's of Stories

Hello and welcome to the Focused on Story blog. This week fellow West Michigander author and friend, Diane Burton, shares the 5 W's--who, what, where, when and why--in her brand new release, Numbers Never Lie. I'm thrilled to help her get the word out about her latest romantic suspense. It just happens I love reading and writing romantic suspense, and this book, which takes place in West Michigan, is waitng for me on my Kindle. Sounds like the perfect way to wind up my summer fun.

Be sure to leave a comment for a chance to win Numbers Never Lie or your choice of Diane's books. Deadline for entry is Sunday, August 26, 10:00 pm ET.

Numbers Never Lie by Diane Burton
Romantic suspense

The 5 Ws for Numbers Never Lie by Diane Burton

Thanks for inviting me to your blog, Janet. I love this concept of the 5 Ws. That’s the essentials of a good newspaper story. In fact, I just used that comment in my work-in-progress, a science fiction romance. But today, we’re going to concentrate on my newest release, NUMBERS NEVER LIE, a Romantic Suspense.

WHO

The story has three main characters: Jack, his sister Maggie, and his best friend Drew. The three were childhood friends. Jack only appears in the first chapter, but he’s the impetus for the rest of the story. In her teens, Maggie had a crush on Drew. Because of his friendship with Jack, Drew never followed through on his own desires—hands off his best friend’s baby sister. Both have been married in between. Drew’s ended in the death of his wife, Maggie’s in divorce. Now, they have a second chance at happiness. Their reunion, so to speak, came at the hands of his fourteen-year-old daughter. She begged him to help Maggie chaperone her group of friends on a weekend camping trip. Because he’d been concentrating on work, he thought she meant a little hike in the woods. Wrong. For a man who hates being dirty and sweaty, Drew was in for a big surprise.

WHAT

Jack’s car crash. The sheriff claims nighttime fog coupled with speed, Jack not wearing his seatbelt plus the lack of airbags led to his death. Maggie is certain the crash was no accident. Because Drew is with her when she got the news, and he sees how determined she is to discover what really happened, he’s reluctantly drawn into her quest. More clues that it wasn’t an accident plague Maggie. Break-ins indicate someone is looking for something. The more Maggie digs into Jack’s crash the more someone is determined to stop her. Drew is equally determined to help and protect her.

Lake Michigan

WHERE

West Michigan, from Muskegon to Grand Rapids. Since I live in west Michigan, and have written other stories set in the area, I chose to set this story here, too. Lake Michigan has a powerful influence on the weather. Fog in the summertime is common. I’ve woken up to fog so thick I couldn’t see the neighboring houses. So, fog contributing to Jack’s crash is believable.

WHEN

Current day. I’ve set books in the future. Science fiction romances, always with a mystery and a relationship, are so much fun. And I’ve written a series of cozy mysteries also set in current day (and along the Lake Michigan shore). Although I enjoy reading some stories set in the past, I’ve never had the inclination to set my stories then. The components of NUMBERS NEVER LIE make it a story set in present day.

WHY

At first, I thought the “why” should be the characters’ motivation in the story. But I already answered that above. Then, I thought maybe readers might like to know why I wrote this story. I started writing it over fifteen years ago. Life intruded (as Life does), and I set the story aside. Thinking the story was almost finished, I picked it up this winter. It wasn’t, and it took longer than expected to complete. NUMBERS NEVER LIE (the third or fourth but final title) was originally about the camping trip. I’d been a volunteer with Girl Scouts for many years, so knew about the outdoors. I’ve never been fond of camping, though, so I could empathize with Drew. As I got back into the story, it became obvious that Jack’s car crash was most important. Fifteen years ago, I worked as an administrative assistant and had a lot of contact with accountants. One in particular was of immense help with my learning Excel. He’s the reason I made Jack an accountant. Of course, he wasn’t too happy when I told him the accountant dies in the first chapter.

Janet, thank you again for inviting me to your blog. I enjoyed sharing my story with your readers.
Photos courtesy of Diane Burton.

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UPDATE September 29,2018--MY REVIEW of Numbers Never Lie

Diane Burton's romantic suspense novel, Numbers Never Lie, has just the right mix of romance, mystery, and humor for me. As I looked back on the story, I saw where she foreshadowed the ending and added red herrings. Truly a great storyteller's technique. Loved her depiction of Maggie as a mom dealing with a 14-year-old and as a sister mourning the loss of her brother. I live in the area where the story took place, so it was fun and easy for me to picture the locations because Ms. Burton painted the scenes so well. If you're looking for a great read this fall when you are wrapped up in your afghan with a cup of hot chocolate, choose this cozy mystery. J.Q. Rose

NUMBERS NEVER LIE

A Romantic Suspense

By Diane Burton

Release Date:  July 9, 2018

Length: approx. 80,000 words

Click Amazon to download a sample or order Numbers Never Lie.

Free with Kindle Unlimited

Back of the Book

A shocking secret brings danger to Jack Sinclair and his sister Maggie.

As kids, they were the fearless threesome. As adults, Jack's an accountant; Drew, a lawyer; Maggie, a teacher and camping troop leader. Upon returning from a weekend camping trip, Maggie receives horrifying news. She refuses to believe her brother Jack’s fatal car crash was an accident. If the police won’t investigate, she’ll do it herself. Convincing Drew Campbell to help is her only recourse.

Drew Campbell was too busy to return his best friend’s phone call. Too busy to attend a camping meeting important to his teen daughter. Too busy to stay in touch with Jack. Logic and reason indicate Jack’s accident was just that--an accident caused by fatigue and fog. Prodded by guilt, he’ll help Maggie even if he thinks she’s wrong.

A break-in at Jack’s condo convinces Maggie she’s right. Then her home is searched. What did Jack do that puts Maggie in danger?

Excerpt:

Slinging the laptop case/briefcase over his shoulder, Jack checked the room assigned to him for the audit to make sure he hadn’t left anything out. He shut off the lights and locked the door behind him. He still had much to do. Sure, Ben said he would finish the audit. That wasn’t the way Jack worked. When he started something, he always finished.

“Working kinda late, arncha, Mr. Sinclair?”

Startled, Jack looked over his shoulder.

The janitor leaned on his mop. “It’s after midnight.”

“No rest for the weary, Max.” Jack pocketed his keys.

“You be careful going home, Mr. Sinclair. Fog was rollin’ in off the lake when me and the missus drove in to work.”

“Thanks for the heads-up.” Jack saluted the affable worker and headed down the hall. The doors to the other offices were closed. Only the cleaning crew remained.

Hazel, Max’s wife, stopped dusting the receptionist’s desk. “’Night, Mr. Sinclair. You best be careful. Noticed you parked all the way down at the end of the parking lot. The light there is out. Saw that when we came in. The company that takes care of our lights won’t come out ‘til Monday. You want Max to get a flashlight and walk out with you so’s you can find your car? What with the fog and all?”

Jack forced himself to smile. In the five days he’d been auditing the books at the plant near Muskegon, he often worked so late that he ran into the older couple. “I’ll be fine.”

“’Night, then. You be careful, now. Ya hear?”

Even before he pushed open the heavy glass door, he saw that Max and Hazel were right. The solitary light at this end of the parking lot barely penetrated the fog. Maybe he should have taken Hazel up on the offer of a flashlight. He wasn’t worried about finding the Blazer in this pea soup. It would be a wonder he didn’t trip on the curbs.

The flashlight on his cell phone. Duh. He should’ve thought of that. Jack clicked it on, but it only shone a foot or so in front of him.

He heard a soft skitter near the dumpster. Rats? He shuddered and clicked his remote. From fifteen feet away, his head- and taillights barely penetrated the mist.

It would be a slow drive back to Grand Rapids. He should get a motel room for the night. Finding a vacancy anywhere along the Lake Michigan shoreline would be next to impossible in the summer and even more so late on a Friday night.

Weary beyond belief, he dragged himself to his car. He needed to return tomorrow—make that later today. He had to do more digging in the company’s files. He couldn’t believe what he’d discovered so far. This went way beyond anything he imagined. The implications—

“Jack.”

Startled by the familiar voice, he dropped the keys. His phone slipped out of his fingers and skidded away. The fog gobbled up the light, and he lost sight of it. He peered in the direction of the sound. The figure stepped away from the dumpster’s hulking shape.

“We need to talk.”

Numbers Never Lie is available at Amazon.

Giveaway:
Be sure to leave a comment for a chance to win Numbers Never Lie or your choice of Diane's books. Deadline for entry is Sunday, August 26, 10:00 pm ET.

About Diane:

Diane Burton combines her love of mystery, adventure, science fiction and romance into writing romantic fiction. Besides writing science fiction romance,

Author Diane Burton

she writes romantic suspense, and cozy mysteries. Diane and her husband live in West Michigan. They have two children and five grandchildren.

For more info and excerpts from her books, 
click here to visit Diane’s website: 

Connect with Diane Burton online

Blog:  http://dianeburton.blogspot.com/

Twitter:  http://twitter.com/dmburton72

Facebook:  http://facebook.com/dianeburtonauthor

Goodreads: Diane Burton Author

Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/dmburton72/

Sign up for Diane’s new release alert: http://eepurl.com/bdHtYf

Coming Up:
Click here now to go to the Books We Love Insiders Blog to discover the "stoopid" thing I did.--a cautionary tale. 

September 1-3--Labor Day Weekend in the USA

Wednesday, September 5--Insecure Writers Support Group Blog Hop

The 5 W's of Story

Wednesday, September 12--Guest author C. Lee Mackenzie

IWSG: Be Practical When Publishing Your Book

IWSG Blog Hop---the first Wednesday of every Month.

Hello and welcome to the Insecure Writer's Support Group Blog Hop!

What is the Insecure Writer's Support Group?

Founded by author Alex J. Cavanaugh, the Insecure Writer’s Support Group offers support for writers and authors alike. It provides an online database, articles and tips, a monthly blog posting, a Facebook and Instagram group, Twitter, and a monthly newsletter. 

Alex explains the group's purpose is "to share and encourage. Writers can express doubts and concerns without fear of appearing foolish or weak. Those who have been through the fire can offer assistance and guidance. It’s a safe haven for insecure writers of all kinds!" You're invited to become a member of this supportive group.

The group blogs the first Wednesday of every month.  The list of bloggers is always available so you can hop around to the author blogs filled with humor, advice, and thought-provoking topics on writing and publishing. You can find the list of participants at Alex's IWSG page. 

Aug. 1 question 

What pitfalls would you warn other writers to avoid 

on their publication journey?

When your manuscript (ms) is ready to publish, be realistic about how much you can spend to get your book in the hands of a reader. Authors have to be practical. You will take longer to pay for expenses when selling a 99 cent eBook versus selling one for $4.99 because you have to sell a LOT of 99 cent books to earn the cash. The folks at CreateSpace, a POD company, told me to expect to pay at least $400 to get a print book ready. You may have to hire a content editor, a proofreader, a formatter, and/or a book cover designer. Depending on your own skills (or your talented friends), you may get by cheaper. 

I've heard writers say they spent $3000. to get their book published. That may be okay if the expense results in a best-selling book and you have an extra $3000 in your pocket, but foolish if you don't. 

A traditional publisher will never ask you for money to publish your work. They make money by selling books. A vanity publisher is in the business to make money by signing you up to sell you services. Be aware of the difference and don't get caught up in their promises. Be practical!!

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The 5 W's of Story Guest Authors Event

Thrilled to have more guest authors this month and beyond sharing the Five W's of their stories! Come back and discover authors and great reads to wind up the summer. And You may win a book too!!

AUGUST

15	Dr. Bob Rich
22	Diane Burton

SEPTEMBER

12           C. Lee Mackenzie

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 by Email

Reflections on the Blogging from A To Z Challenge by J.Q. Rose, Coming Up in May

A to Z Challenge Badge
Designed by Jeremy Hawkins (graphics) @ Hollywood Nuts
Thank you, Jeremy!

Hello and Welcome to the Focused on Story Blog. Today I'm reflecting on my participation in the A to Z Blogging Challenge during the month of April. In case you are a new visitor, let me get you up to speed about the theme and what I had planned for the blog posts. Then, I'll evaluate the experience I shared with over 600 bloggers!

MY THEME FOR THE MONTH

If you're a Word Nerd, then you'll like my theme for April because I share words that caught my attention (wraith), words that fascinate me (bedizened), words that roll off my tongue (catawampus), words that make a sound (zizz), and words I encountered during my life experience (pulchritude). Many of the words are new-to-me (xenogogy). My vocabulary expanded and perhaps yours did too.

Now, Word Nerds, let me tell you about the hills and valleys and bumps in the road as I journeyed through the month. 

REFLECTIONS ON THE BLOGGING FROM A TO Z APRIL CHALLENGE 

by J.Q. Rose

Calendar for A to Z Blogging Challenge

GOALS

Write 26 blog posts in one month—I did accomplish this! I’ve wanted to participate in A to Z ever since I learned about it probably five years ago. But I hesitated to join because we travel in mid-April, so getting Internet access on the road is difficult.Before we left home, I wrote and pre-scheduled my blog posts through the travel time and finished up the remaining posts when I arrived home. Please indulge me as I bask in the reality that I pulled off this challenge. Thanks.

Be entertaining and informative—In other words, don’t bore readers to death. I did warn visitors my blog theme was aimed at Word Nerds. I tried to make learning new words fun for readers and hoped they picked up interesting and probably trivial information that may win them a prize in a word game. From comments I received, the Word Nerds enjoyed the posts.

Increase traffic to my site—According to my Google Analytics information, my traffic increased 90% in April. I noticed a drop-off when we were traveling because I couldn’t promote the event. Now the challenge is to retain all those new users!

Connect with people—I was pleased with the variety of bloggers' themes and the wrters were talented and creative. I had a turnover of new visitors, so maybe I wasn’t as entertaining and informative as I thought. But my regular visitors came back often, and I appreciated them taking time to visit. 

PERKS

Learned a lot of new words and new meanings through research—I broadened my vocabulary by participating in this challenge (and I hope my readers did too). I started collecting the words at least a year before the challenge started. As I wrote the blog posts, I did research on each word and found new meanings and uses and variations of the words. How many of these words will I ever use in a conversation or in my writing? I doubt very few. But hey, it was fun for this Word Nerd.

Meeting new people was a goal and I certainly did meet lots of  interesting folks on the adventure.

SURPRISES

Comments—I wish I had more visitors leave comments so I could connect with them. But I understand. Leaving a comment takes up valuable time. When someone left a comment, I would have appreciated links back to the visitor’s blog so I could return the favor. Very few left a link for me. Perhaps they felt it was too promotional? I don’t feel that way at all. In fact, one of the reasons for my joining the event was to connect with readers and increase exposure to my blog.

Confusion—Even though the admins of the event gave precise instructions, I had to actually write the blogs and post them before I was comfortable with the procedures. I never discovered if I was in the list of daily blogs or even on the master list. I started going through the main list to find my site, but I quit since I felt I was wasting time looking. I trusted the sign-up procedure.

Overwhelming amount of bloggers. Too many to visit actually. Instead of one group of authors or one group of health coaches or one group of educators, all bloggers were on the Master List. The admin explained how to filter info in the Google Doc, but I never felt like I had time to figure it out.

Time needed. I knew I would spend lots of time writing and researching each post, but I was amazed at how much more time I spent on promotion and logistics. The number of words and hours I spent on this project would have probably netted at least four chapters in my WIP. But I don’t feel it was time wasted. I really enjoyed writing and researching words and expanding my world by meeting new folks I woul,d've never met if I hadn’t jumped into this wacky challenge.

THANK YOU

Thank you to the administrators and founders of the Blogging from A to Z April Challenge. Thank you to the vast number of bloggers who I joined for the journey. And thank you to those who visited the Focused on Story Blog. Come back so we can keep the momentum going!

Happy Mother's Day USA to all those Moms and those who have a special child in their lives.

COMING UP IN MAY ON THE FOCUSED ON STORY BLOG

The 5 W's Guest Author Event continues!

The Five W's Event Returns with Guest Authors and prizes. Meet new-to-you authors, favorite authors, win prizes and discover great reads!

May 16--Multi-genre author, Janet Lane Walters

May 30--Romance author, Helena Fairfax

May 23-31--My Birthday Celebration Giveaway!

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Thank you for visiting!

Be sure to return every Wednesday for more fun, discussions, 
and information on writing, publishing, marketing, and reading!

Blogging From A to Z Challenge: Going On and On and On and On and....

Hello and welcome to the Focused on Story Blog by J.Q. Rose. Are you a word lover? You're here at the right place. All this month I'll be revealing words that fascinate me. 

~jeremiad~

a prolonged lamentation or complaint; 

 a cautionary or angry harangue, Merriam Webster Dictionary

Jeremiad is derived from Jeremiah, a Jewish prophet who is known for his lamentations on the hardships endured by a prophet with an unpopular message. He carried on and on about Hebrews and accusing them of false worship and injustice. He also complained about the king and his selfishness and materialism. In the Bible’s Old Testament in the book of Jeremiah, he lamented about the hardships endured by a prophet with an unpopular message. Poor Jeremiah.

Nowadays, English speakers use the term "Jeremiah" to describe a pessimistic person and "jeremiad" for the way these Jeremiahs carry on. Merriam Webster Dictionary

I bet you have heard jeremiads from friends and family on today’s hot topics. How do you respectfully handle someone who goes on and on and on? Please leave a comment below and help us all out with this problem.

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Promotional Opportunity at Focused on Story 
We kicked off a new guest author series, The Five W's in Story, in March. I've suspended this event during this April Challenge because I like to allow my guest 6 days of exposure on this blog to reach the largest audience possible. I value the time the guest takes to put together the blog post and their books, so I want to allow readers as much time as possible to meet the person and his/her work.

The 5 W's Guest Author Event

So what are the 5 W's? 
One of the basics when learning to be a writer is to listen to a lecture on the Five W's and the H. The 5 W's, who, what, where, when. and why are the essence of a story.  Since we are focused on story at this blog, we need to realize just how important working out the 5 W's can be in creating a great story for readers.


You'll find this series with my guests informative and entertaining and not a stuffy lecture in a dusty, old classroom with a professor palavering on and on and on. No jeremiads here!

Click here to visit the first in the series by historical romance author Rosemary Morris. Her blog post is an overview of the 5 W's in her romance stories. Then enjoy reading all of the guests' blog posts every Wednesday in March. Return in May to meet more authors and discover their books and the 5 W's in their stories.

If you are a traditional or self-published author of mysteries, romance, and/or suspense, please contact me to be a guest this summer. Email me at jqrose0 at gmail dot com. Thank you!

IWSG Blog Hop: Achieving a Writing Goal, Author Platform

Hello and welcome to the Focused on Story blog by J.Q. Rose. 
It's the monthly meeting of the Insecure Writers Support Group(IWSG) blog hop 

Internet Writers Support Group Blog Hop

First Wednesday of every month.

What is IWSG? Founder of the  Insecure Writer’s Support Group and author Alex J Cavanaugh explains the group's purpose is "to share and encourage. Writers can express doubts and concerns without fear of appearing foolish or weak. Those who have been through the fire can offer assistance and guidance. It’s a safe haven for insecure writers of all kinds!" You're invited to become a member of this supportive group.

The group blogs the first Wednesday of every month.  The list of bloggers is always available so you can hop around to the author blogs filled with humor, advice, and thought-provoking topics on writing and publishing. You can find the list of participants at Alex's IWSG page. I hope you'll take some time to visit the diverse list of bloggers.

IWSG Question for the Month

Question:  How do you celebrate when you achieve a writing goal/ finish a story?
I'd like to say I celebrate with a big party with balloons and cake and music and dancing and... But I don't. I usually share the good news with my writing buddies and that's about it. I didn't even have a launch "party" for my first book. I think my hubby and I went out for dinner and I don't mean at McDonald's. A delightful dinner was probably the extent of it. Do you celebrate?

Insecure About My Author Platform by J.Q. Rose

Catnapping on a platform
Courtesy of pixabay.com

A writer's platform, according to Cliff Dagle, is "basically the group of activities you engage in that get your name and work noticed by the public. It's marketing, not of a specific work, but of you as the author. It's everything you do to build your brand."

I'm insecure about "building my brand." I have fiction and non-fiction books published, so I can't say I'm just a mystery author or I'm known as a non-fiction writer. It's confusing to a reader and very confusing to me as to how to let readers know who I am. 

I'm writing a memoir now and wondering if I can use my pen name, J.Q. Rose, or use my real name as the author because it is such a personal story. But, if I use Janet Glaser, I'll have to start building another platform for that name. Well-known authors write fiction as well as non-fiction like Stephen King's On Writing. However, I am definitely not in that tier of authors.

Do you write stories and/or articles in more than one genre? Can I describe myself, my platform, my brand, as multi-genre? What advice can you give me? I'd appreciate any suggestions you can offer.

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The 5 W's of a Story

Promotion Opportunity--You're invited to participate in my new series with guest authors who write in diverse genres. The series, offered in March and throughout the spring and summer, discusses the Five W's of a Story. Who, what, where, when and why. (I left out How because that may be a spoiler.) Choose one of your books (it doesn't have to be a new release) to tell readers--

• Who the characters are.
• What the conflict is 
• Where the story takes place
• When the story takes place
• Why you wrote this story or why the characters are in the situation, etc.

These are some examples to use, but you're free to figure out how you'd like to fill in the Five W's. We are writers. I know there will be a lot of creative answers.

If you are interested in getting the word out about your book, then leave a comment below or contact me at jqrose at gmail dot com.

I look forward to hosting you on this blog, Focused on Story!

Historical author Rosemary Morris kicks off the event, March 14. Come and join us!

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