Girlfriends Book Club – Guest Blog Post

July 10th, 2012 → 5:15 pm @

Check out my guest blog post and some early comments on Girlfriends Book Club:

Guest Post: Robin Donovan: Why Write a Murder Mystery?

 Why write a murder mystery, make it funny and choose a menopausal businesswoman as your amateur sleuth? Why not?

When you start out as an English teacher with an urge to write humor and you buy into an ad agency where blogging becomes a must, the stars begin to align. Then when you’re cajoled into creating a blog on menopause –  because you’ve become the defacto resource for desperate women who have waited too long to educate themselves properly –  which is eventually republished by Vibrant Nation (a site for women 50+) and Alltop (a general information site) things start to heat up.
Book Cover

Book Cover

The feedback from Menologues, and my partnership with the Vibrant Nation community have taught me some things. Fifty-plus women are vastly ignored and overlooked by the world at large, and many of us lack the confidence to shout loud enough to insist on being heard. Are we less talented, intelligent or relevant than anyone else out there? Hell no!
Then why? Is it because we have typically been the caretakers and the ‘sacrificers?’ Or is it because, in past generations, we’ve never been thought of as amounting to much and we’re now on the downside of the equation?  You tell me. The real question is: what can we do about it? In some ways perceptions have improved, but recent experience tells me it’s nowhere near enough!
Donna Leigh, the protagonist of my first novel: Is It Still Murder Even If She Was a Bitch? doesn’t think of herself as old or even past her prime. She’s just living life to the fullest and dealing with what comes her way.  She’s running an ad agency when a former colleague is murdered. Since it’s a known fact that she and the victim were not on friendly terms, Donna Leigh takes the pragmatic approach and jumps right into the investigation in an attempt to stay off the suspect list. As an ad agency owner, Donna lives in a young world; and while she doesn’t try to fight the natural progression of time, she is clearly influenced by the bright young culture in which she lives.
During the arduous editing process of the first in the “Donna Leigh Mystery” series, one of my female editors noted “women that age don’t talk like that.” I thought, hmmmppphhh, she must be really young to make that stereotypical statement. When I met this editor and realized that she was my age or older, the enormous disparity of lifestyle situations among women aged 48 to 65+ really became apparent to me. We don’t know all that much about each other; how could we expect the rest of the world to know about us?
I can’t single handedly change stereotyping of women my age – some of which even originates from women my age. I have created a character who is menopausal, or even post menopausal, very real and neither old nor trying too hard to hang onto her youth. She is not an aberration, but those who are uninformed often view her as such. She’s a smart lady, but she has her share of flaws.
Although I can’t abolish stereotypes I can depict her as one realistic example of a menopausal woman today: stylish and attractive. As far as what she isn’t: mid-twenties, model gorgeous and reed thin – does that keep us from wanting to read about her crime solving adventures? Only time will tell.
But why shouldn’t women have heroes at every age? We need a reason to laugh and see ourselves through protagonists portrayed as admirable, but not flawless. We need not have to accept the premise that the protagonist must be a very young woman, so it’s too late for us!
And as far as the murder theme goes. As a lifetime Agatha Christie zealot (we already have our octogenarian role model in Miss Marple) I was delighted by two things I learned once my novel was underway; writing is incredibly fun and getting to kill off the bad guys feels damn good – even if it’s only on paper!
Visit Robin at  https://www.rldonovan.com/
Robin Donovan is the author of the blog, Menologues, a humorous yet informative look at the trials and tribulations of menopause by someone who’s been there. Menologues is republished on two commercial sites: Vibrant Nation and Alltop, and has won regional honors for social media at the AMA Pinnacles and PRSA Paper Anvil awards.

Posted by at 7:38 AM

3 comments:

  1. OMG…how have I missed your blog. As soon as I stop pouring ice down my blouse to relieve my hot flashes, I’m headed right there.

    Can’t wait to read this one! At 59.5 years old, I so appreciate you!

    Reply

  2. I absolutely love the title of the book and your protagonist! It feels like a complete breath of fresh air and much needed. I will definitely look this up, right now!

    Reply

  3. Excellent post. Looking forward to book two.

    Reply

http://girlfriendbooks.blogspot.com/2012/07/guest-post-robin-donovan-why-write.html

 

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A Big Thanks to Erin Reel: The Lit Coach

June 21st, 2012 → 2:47 pm @

Check out the wonderful post that Erin Reel, The Lit Coach, wrote on her blog after interviewing me last week: http://thelitcoach.net/from-blog-to-book-with-robin-leemann-donovan/

From Blog to Book with Robin Leemann Donovan
by TheLitCoach | on June 21st, 2012 | 0 comments
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I love book titles that really get to the heart of what the book’s about. I also have a penchant for humor. When I was invited to attend a book reading/signing event for author Robin Leemann Donovan, I was only too glad to go – with at title like, Is It Still Murder Even If She Was a Bitch?, how could I not be entertained? And I was! In the decade I’ve been working with authors and their books, I don’t recall laughing quite so hard at a book reading. Totally refreshing.

The Lit Coach Interview

The Lit Coach Interview

Donovan, a Managing Principal at Bozell, one of the top advertising agencies in the country, understands the vital importance of hook. At the urging of a friend, Donovan created Menologues, a blog devoted to helping women stumble less blindly through menopause. Her hook? Clearly humor but also authenticity – Donovan blogs, writes and speaks off the cuff, from the heart and with authority not just about menopause but about topics important to women 50+, who have largely been ignored in publishing and other media. That organic combo works for her. From my perspective, she’s on to something.

I asked Donovan for her three most important, need-to-know tips about writing and blogging. Here’s what she shared.
On Writing

Prepare for nothing happening as you would expect it.
Take notes on every chapter so you know where you’re going, where your loose ends are and when to tie them up (very important for mystery writers).
Get your work professionally critiqued and proofread. Friends and relatives are not your best beta readers, except my mother and I’ll loan her out.

On Blogging

Be specific. Stand for something.
Be relatable. Be authentic.
Be prepared. Do your homework. Discover and understand your market. Don’t touch on topics that everyone’s touched. Know what’s important and what isn’t.
Be open to the realities of the people around you and their unique experiences. Avoid stereotypes.

If you’ve had success creating a book from your blog, share your tips (and links!) here.

TLC

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Exciting Feedback from a Literary Agent

June 7th, 2012 → 7:17 pm @

I felt extremely fortunate to have had a professional literary agent attend my talk at the Millard Branch of OPL. The fact that she sent me the following note was more than I could have hoped for:

Dear Robin:

It was a pleasure to meet you Tuesday night – I thoroughly enjoyed myself. In over ten years in the publishing industry, that was the first time I laughed so hard and so frequently at an author event. You’re a breath of fresh air! You’ve got it.

As I mentioned, I’d love to get together and hear more about your blog/book experience. I’ll be a guest speaker at the Los Angeles chapter of RWA (Romance Writers of America) in August and I think they’d love to hear about your experience. My workshop is “From Blog to Book” where I discuss what it takes to make an editor/publisher take notice of an author blog.

Would you have any time available next week to meet for coffee or drinks?

Looking forward to hearing from you.

Best Regards,

Erin Reel

The Lit Coach

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Huge Thanks to the Millard Branch of the Omaha Public Library

June 6th, 2012 → 9:13 pm @

Great audience at the Millard Branch!

Great audience at the Millard Branch!

Last night I had the distinct honor of kicking off the Millard Branch’s Authors Series. Attendees were wonderful and supportive! They asked some excellent questions and gave me some feedback that made it difficult to fit my head through the door as I exited the building! Every “talk” should be so much fun – for me!

I also appreciate being able to trot out an excerpt from the second book in the Donna Leigh Mysteries series, I Didn’t Kill Her, But That May Have Been Short Sighted! It really helped to be able to share my plot and characters with a new audience, and hearing the laughter was music to my ears!

I want to thank all of the wonderful folks at the Millard Branch for being so welcoming and supportive!

I recently had an acquaintance laughingly ask me if I really felt like a “celebrity.” And to his surprise, I was able to respond that there are actually a few people who treat me as though I’m a celebrity. I count the great folks at the Millard Branch and their wonderful audience as some of those few!
Authors Series

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I Didn’t Kill Her, But That May Have Been Short Sighted 2nd Donna Leigh Mystery!

May 29th, 2012 → 6:19 pm @

Last night I finished writing the second Donna Leigh Mystery: I Didn’t Kill Her, But That May Have Been Short Sighted. In this second novel of the series our menopausal protagonist gets a major shock; a former colleague from the Northeast has moved to Omaha and is telling everyone she and Donna are going into business together. She does all of this without Donna’s knowledge, and then she gets murdered. What’s worse is that when they did work together the murdered woman went out of her way to damage Donna’s career. Enough motive for murder? You decide. The following is an excerpt depicting Donna’s first conversation with the homicide detective in relation to this latest murder:

This time you brought us our vic from your old stomping ground, eh?  Were you worried that things might get a little boring for the old Omaha PD, eh?” Warren continued.

See, she’s got that lingo down too, though I suppose you’d expect that from a police detective, and eh, what was with eh? I guess the good detective had spent some time in Canada. The mind tends to wander when serious trouble appears imminent. As I thought that, I could feel my damn menopausal furnace starting to crank up in preparation for a full on power surge. Menopause has an uncanny ability to smell fear and ensure, by virtue of turning you into a wet dish rag, that you look even worse than you feel! That old ad campaign about “never letting them see you sweat” – HA! And don’t even get me started about bloating, weight gain, sleepless nights and on and on, but I digress.

Straining to regain focus on the issue at hand, the thought crossed my mind that Warren had a right to be concerned about my involvement.  I certainly was.  I only hoped that this second murder would not cause her to wonder if I were not, ultimately, the cause of all the problems after all.  In our last encounter, she’d been surprisingly adept at sifting through the facts and eliminating elements that only circumstantially appeared incriminating. Not once, in the entire investigation, did she jump to ridiculous conclusions like the clownish TV cops always do.  Her assumptions were always that I should be treated as a resource, a distinction that met with my utmost approval and gratitude. I’d hate for that to change with this untimely second murder cropping up and ensnaring me, in what appeared to be a far more damning way.  No, I wouldn’t blame Warren if she turned on me, but I would deeply regret it.

Look for more excerpts in the months to come!

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Summer Giveaway!

May 18th, 2012 → 4:34 pm @

SummerGiveaway

SummerGiveaway

 

http://www.shmirshky.com/shmirshky-giveaway

 

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Be sure to add Omaha Public Library’s Nebraska Authors Series to your calendar!

May 16th, 2012 → 5:46 pm @

Nebraska Authors Series

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Just got word that I’ve been approved as a speaker at Triconference 2012

May 10th, 2012 → 6:23 pm @

MPLA/NLA/NEMA Tri-Conference

It’s the biggest library ever hosted in Nebraska!

October 19, 2012 → specific date and time TBD

http://nebraskalibraries.org/triconference2012/

LaVista Conference Center
LaVista, NE

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Your book is featured today by 13th Street Coffee & Tea Company and Brainchild Book Store (next door)!

May 9th, 2012 → 9:44 pm @

And there it was: Featured!

And there it was: Featured!

It was such a nice surprise to see this note on Facebook this morning:

Your book is featured today by 13th Street Coffee & Tea Company and Brainchild Book Store (next door)!
Todays featured LOCAL Author is Robin Leemann Donovan. She is the Author of, Is It Still Murder Even If She Was A Bitch. Donna Leigh owns an Omaha ad agency. She is also an energetic and somewhat sardonic menopausal woman. When a former col…See More

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American Marketing Association Omaha Chapter Awards 2012 Pinnacle to Is It Still Murder, Even If She Was a Bitch?

April 27th, 2012 → 8:32 pm @

Is It Still Murder, Even If She Was a Bitch? has earned a 2012 Pinnacle Award. “The Pinnacle Award is all about solid objectives that achieve results, and the judges attested to reviewing the work with lots of creativity, strategic thinking and follow through,” said Kevin Hutchison, AMA event chair.

 

2012 Pinnacle Award

2012 Pinnacle Award

Pinnacle awards are segmented into categories based on size and type of business. Award levels include Gold, which recognizes excellent work; Platinum, which recognizes exceptional work; and the Pinnacle, which the judges consider to be the best work in a particular category.

To ensure objective scoring, Pinnacle entries are always judged by an affiliate AMA chapter (Des Moines handles the 2012 judging). Entries are evaluated not only for their creativity, but also for their effectiveness.

It was a very exciting evening! It’s a thrill to win the coveted Pinnacle Award and receive acknowledgement of this kind! Thanks to everyone who contributed to our success!

Now let’s keep the momentum going!

 

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