Kiss The Bricks Release Countdown: Week 2 Giveaway!

I'm so excited about the release of my 5th book, Kiss The Bricks, that I'm doing 5 weeks of 5 giveaways each week! Lucky you!

This Week's Prizes
This week is for writers and readers. For thinkers who like the feel of pen on paper and want to make sure they capture their thoughts.

• Grand prize: two notebooks (one large and one more portable) for recording your thoughts, a print copy (slightly used) of my 2nd mystery (Braking Points), an advance copy of my 3rd mystery (Avoidable Contact), a book to record who you've loaned your books to, and a bag from Left Coast Crime 2016 (the Great Cactus Caper).
• Runner-up prizes: assorted caps and a commemorative tile from the Monterey Sports Car Championships in 2006 (ALMS race at Laguna Seca).

How to win? 

By 12 midnight on Wednesday, April 12, do one of the following:

• Comment on this post.
• Comment or share my Facebook or Twitter posts.

I'll announce and contact the winners by the end of each week. And if you don't win this week, there are three more weeks of prizes ahead, so stay tuned!

Kiss The Bricks Release Countdown: Week 1 Giveaway!

I'm so excited about the release of my 5th book, Kiss The Bricks, that I'm doing 5 weeks of 5 giveaways each week! Lucky you!

This Week's Prizes
In honor of the Grand Prix of Long Beach (happening next weekend, also the site of my 4th book, Red Flags), this week features a Long Beach and racing theme.

• Grand prize: Long Beach day pack, Long Beach cap, personal cooler, IndyCar Nation seat pad (for those hard stands), a rain poncho (just in case), sunscreen and other track essentials, and an advance copy of my 3rd book, Avoidable Contact, to read between on-track sessions.
• Runner-up prizes: assorted caps and a commemorative tile from the Generac 500 in 2006 (ALMS race at Road America).

How to win? 

By 12 midnight on Wednesday, April 5, do one of the following:

• Comment on this post.
• Comment or share my Facebook or Twitter posts.

I'll announce and contact the winners by the end of each week. And if you don't win this week, there are four more weeks of prizes ahead, so stay tuned!

One Surprise After Another

AKA, Phoenix, Part 2!

The entire weekend in Phoenix was one surprise after another ... and nearly all of them were Kate-themed, which  meant I was both in and out of my element! To explain:

Surprise #1. The presence of Bill Zahren, aka, Pressdog, who came in from Iowa to enjoy the weekend. He gets the "traveled farthest award" and my sincerest thanks for being there. Let me know when I can return the favor, Bill!

Surprise #2. A go-kart party! The Kate Reilly Avoidable Contact 28. There were 10 of us in total, and we had a great time in three sessions of electric kart racing. Sure I looked impressive:

But I'm really not very good (that's how I was out of my element). But we had so much fun, it didn't matter—so much fun that there was even a "turtle" award for the slowest (no, I didn't win).

Surprise #3. There was a pro in the field! (And a couple near-pros, but they're the next item.) Cassie Gannis races in the NASCAR All-American Series and in NASCAR K&N Pro Series West ... when she can get the funds together to do so. As Bill tweeted after hanging out with Cassie—someone get this girl a sponsor! She's got real potential.

So not only did Cassie show up, she brought her parents, and they all brought her racecar, which they showed us around and let us crawl all over. So cool!

Surprise #4. More friends showed up to race and celebrate. Thanks so much to (top row) Barb, Kathy, Jenson, Cassie, and Bill, along with (bottom row) Randy and Lorrie, Allison, and Mary. 

Surprise #5. Kate gets a helmet! Thanks to Barb, Mary, and Steve of Paint by Steve. Be sure to check it out at my next booksigning! Or at Kate's next race....

Surprise #6. We all got Kate-helmet prizes. Yes, those are mini helmets, and we all got one as a prize for our finish in the overall standings. Last place also got the coveted "turtle" award, and I'll not embarrass anyone, but I'll say it wasn't me. Barely! 

After the official awards presentation, I signed everyone else's mini-helmet and, in turn, got everyone else to sign mine, so I had a memory of that fabulous day.

No surprise? One excited author, who's really grateful for all my wonderful friends who made it such a fantastic book event and birthday.

Weekly Tour Roundup

The second week of Avoidable Contact means more blog stops and more chances to win a copy of Dead Man's Switch!

(It's almost over, I promise. Seriously, I'm tired of talking about myself so much!)

Fresh today! A thorough and interesting interview with Omnimystery News, including my 140-character summary of Avoidable Contact.

A review and a giveaway at Fundinmental, by a NASCAR fan. 

A review and a giveaway at the Community Bookstop, where the reviewer notes, "This book was fabulous and such a difference from many cozy mysteries nowadays."

A review and blog post on Michele Lynn Seigfreid's blog, where I'm talking about a decade of change. Can you believe it's been 10 years since I first went to a race?!

Another peek inside my mind—or at least at my writing space—in a Q&A at Brooke Blogs.

Rhonda at Readalot blog (like that name) gives Avoidable Contact four stars and says I even made her want to watch a race to see if there's really that much drama!

Another interview at Deal Sharing Aunt in which I'm asked if I "have to" travel to research the books. It's a chore, you know....

Over at A Blue Million Books, I'm asking (and answering) the question ... should we be writing what we know? (Hint: I say no.)

One of my favorite quotes comes from Mystery Playground's review: "Whether you’re an actual race car driver, or you just play one at the mall, this book is a fun read."

In my interview posted at Cicero's Children, I talk about sidekicks, beta readers (are those the same thing?), and racing school.

A review from Mommasez, including this gem about Kate, "She's definitely the epitome of a strong female heroine and she's likeable to boot."

And almost the last blog post on my tour: at Back Porchervations I'm confessing that I sometimes ask that question, too. You know, the question that authors don't know how to answer: how the heck do you come up with that stuff? 

I've got one more of each kind of post remaining in my tour: an interview, a review, and a blog post—but this blog post has a twist: it's written by Kate! Stay tuned, and find me on Facebook or Twitter for more.

Book Launch Party!

It was a lovely party yesterday at Mystery Ink to celebrate the launch of Avoidable Contact! Thanks to all of you who attended and listened to me babble on about racing and writing. Thanks to Debbie Mitsch for hosting and providing the book cake! Finally, thanks to Pam Beard (PB Shoots) for capturing the day.

Reminder: I'll be at Mysterious Galaxy next Saturday, August 16, 2 p.m. with Ken Kuhlken. Hope to see you there!

Here I am, talking (action shot!).

Posing with bookstore owner Debbie Mitsch and fellow author (and critique partner extraordinaire) Rochelle Staab.

We even passed the helmet around for everyone to try on.

The cake!

And the books.

Release Day: Avoidable Contact

IT'S HERE! IT'S HERE! (Feel free to imagine me walking around all day with a copy of the new book in my hands ... I guarantee that's what I'm doing.)

As I mentioned in the newsletter that went out yesterday (sign up to receive the next one, though I'll warn you, I'm a very infrequent mailer), someday, I might get over being thrilled and humbled at the sight of a new book with my name on it. I'm so grateful that I get to create Kate Reilly and populate her world with fun people—and that so many of you enjoy reading about her. I can't thank you all enough for your support! (Get all the details on the story.)

If you want to know more about the story behind the book—or if you want to get your hands on a signed copy—you have a couple options:

1. Stay tuned to my social media streams (Facebook and Twitter), because tomorrow I set off on a blog tour, where I'll be posting, being interviewed, and being reviewed—and I'll be giving away a few copies of the first in the series, Dead Man's Switch! 
2. Come see me at a local bookstore! I have two events in the next two weeks, and a longer-term schedule on my Events page (plus more activities to come).
   
   Saturday, August 9, 4 p.m. 
   LAUNCH PARTY!
   Mystery Ink, Huntington Beach, CA
   I've been promised wine, cheese, and cake—join us for the official launch!
   
   Saturday, August 16, 2 p.m.Mysterious Galaxy, San Diego, CA
   Signing with fellow Poisoned Pen Press author Ken Kuhlken

I hope to see you in-person or online—and I'd love to answer any questions you might have about Kate, her posse, and Avoidable Contact. Just send them my way!

Happy reading!

Avoidable Contact: Daytona's Checkered Flag

**5 Days Until Avoidable Contact Launches!**
**Read an excerpt of the book, and posts about the research backstory, the first 10 hours,
and my sleep research**

The 24 Hours of Daytona 2013 wasn't a good race for The Racer's Group. For about three seconds, I wondered if I was a bad luck charm for them, and then I remembered ... that's just racing. And perhaps being there to experience disappointment on disappointment on disappointment was appropriate to remind me that I write happy endings, and they sure don't always happen on the track.

That's why I make sure Kate has successes in my books, but she doesn't do everything perfectly behind the wheel every time, and she doesn't take pole and win all the time. Because that's certainly not realistic!

But good race for the team or not, I was there with them the whole time, and I learned a ton. The final two posts from that year:

• To the end.
• Over, over, over.

As research does, it all helped. Going into it (research/races), I never quite know what to expect (see my sleep research post). But I know I'll get plenty of information, and I'll be able to do something with it.

Which is what happened after the 2013 race. I came home, wrote a bunch, did a lot more research by email and video, and then decided to return in 2014 to make sure I had the details right—especially of the brand-new series and the brand-new Corvette. Two posts from this year:

• What I learned at Daytona (2014).
• My favorite Daytona things (photos from 2014).

And there you have it, my on-site, at-race research. Of course, there are bunches of friends, sources, and stories that didn't make the blog posts or the book. But maybe they'll turn up in the future!

Next week, Avoidable Contact!

Avoidable Contact: My Sleep Research

**8 Days Until Avoidable Contact Launches!**
**Read an excerpt of the book, and read posts about the research backstory and first 10 hours**

In the end, I couldn't stay awake all night at the 24 Hours of Daytona. But I thought I could manage if I slept three hours—which was a compromise between as little as I could get away with and as much as I thought would allow me to be functional. And it worked! Therefore, that's how much Kate sleeps in the book.

As a sidenote, when I conceived my brilliant idea of starting the book with the green flag and ending with the checkers, I didn't consider one basic fact that would really mess up my schedule: writing in first person means lost time when Kate can't think about solving the mystery. Driving time and sleeping time weren't sleuthing time! That's when I got a little creative with the book's timeline and my fictional race's yellow flags.

On a different note, one of the wonderful aspects of research—whether it's history, modern technology, physical locations, or races—is when the writer stumbles across a great story or activity that they can include in their books. For me the best moment of my trip to the Daytona 24 was standing on the spotter's platform, high above the track, at 2 a.m. The view was incredible. I had other opportunities to talk with one of the spotters (Dr. Chris Murray, a chiropractor in his real life) before the race, after the race, and again at the 2014 race, and thanks to his information, I gave Kate's spotters a great story to tell in the depths of the night. (So thanks, Dr. Chris! That's him on the right in the photo above. On the left is Bob Dickinson, TRG's COO.)

The morning of a 24-hour race is an incredible time. The teams are past the halfway point, but they're exhausted. The dawn and daylight bring a sense of renewed energy, and there's a sense that if we've made it this far, we'll make it all the way. The worst is over. Two blog posts took me through the night and the next morning:

• Spotting, Sleeping, and Fog.
• Silver Linings.

I'll finish out the race with the last posts....

Avoidable Contact: Racing Into The Night

**12 Days Until Avoidable Contact Launches!**
**Read an excerpt of the book, and read the first post about the research behind it**

Something I knew I had to do, if I was going to write about a 24-hour race, was to convey just how long the race goes on. I mean, 24 hours is a long time to do anything continuously, and I expected that, to the teams, it could feel like an eternity. I wanted readers to feel something of that experience, and so I wanted the race to span the entire book I was writing. In the end, I cheated a little, and the total elapsed time in Avoidable Contact is in the 25-26 hour range. But I think readers will still get the idea!

One of the research experiences I wanted was to sit in the pits for hours on end, just as the crew does. Drivers come and go, and I knew that's what Kate would be doing. But I also wanted to understand what went on to keep the car running the whole time. And so, at the 2013 race, I sat in the pits for hours, listening to the radio transmissions between driver, spotter, and crew chiefs.

At five and then nine hours in, it already felt like we'd been doing this forever! See the posts:

• Five hours down.
• Midnight snacks.

I had one other important research task to accomplish in the depths of night during the Daytona 24: see how little sleep I could get away with! Many people don't sleep at all, or grab catnaps all day and night. I didn't think I'd be able to manage that ... and sure enough, I couldn't! I snuck away in the wee hours of the morning for some shut eye (but not a lot). That's the next post. 

I'll leave you with the panorama from the top of the spotter's stand at 2 a.m. An incredible sight!

The next posts take us into morning of the second day....

Avoidable Contact: The Backstory

Avoidable Contact, the third Kate Reilly Racing Mystery, launches in two short weeks! Have you read the first-chapter excerpt I've posted?!

As a lead-up to that day, I thought I'd revisit the experiences I had doing research for the book—namely, what I learned while I embedded with a race team for the 24 Hours of Daytona 2013.

At the end of 2012, I'd started writing Avoidable Contact, only it didn't have that title yet. It was a story I'd plotted out and set at the 24-hour race, but I wasn't yet comfortable with the idea of writing it ... because I knew I needed an insider's look at the event. That's when I contacted my good friends at The Racer's Group, who I know from my first year involved in racing, and asked for a favor.

Kevin Buckler, the team owner, and Bob Dickinson, my former marketing/communications contact at the ALMS and current TRG COO, came through for me. "Sure," they said. "Happy to have you embed with the team. Come on out!" They hooked me up with a credential, and I prepared to take a lot of notes (and plug their team whenever possible!).

I wrote eight blog posts that weekend, and took dozens and dozens of pages of notes. I'll spare you the notes, but I'm reprising the blog entries (they're all short) to give you a flavor of the research experience that went into my new book. Here are the first two:

• The race start.
• The first hours.

And here are two panoramas, one looking back at the pits from the front straight and the other looking at the front straight and the stands, all during pre-race ceremonies ... my experience there was peaceful and sunny, unlike Kate's!

More posts and tidbits to come soon....

Kate on Pinterest

If you'd ever like to see some of the visuals that go along with my books, I invite you to check out my Pinterest boards. I use the book boards to collect ideas, photos, images, and video links while I'm working on the book, and then later I flesh them out with site photos ... so they're a jumble, but they'll give you a flavor of the locations!

And the Team Kate board is open to anyone who sends a photo of someone in a Team Kate shirt in a notable location or with a notable racing- or book-world person. Join Team Kate!

Avoidable Contact: (Kate #3) set at the 24 Hours of Daytona (Florida) endurance race

Braking Points: (Kate #2) set at Road America (Wisconsin) and Road Atlanta (Georgia)

Dead Man's Switch: (Kate #1) set at Lime Rock Park (Connecticut)

Team Kate: photos of team Kate members around the world

My Weird Startup Process

I'm starting to plan my next book (book 4 in the series, tentatively titled Hot Lap), and I have to admit my process looks a lot like complete inaction.

Mostly I'm thinking of a new idea, jotting some notes, and then living with it a couple days to see if it holds together. Then I'm adding another idea to the mix and repeating the process.

Think of it this way: I'm making a quilt. I don't have a pattern, and I'm not sure what material I'm using. All I I know is I want it to fade from light to dark to light again across the entire piece.

That's it. So I'm starting to figure out some of the details.

Partly I let the universe talk to me. I have a conversation with someone who asks a question about a character ... and I think, "I should use that character again." Someone else asks about a method of death in a previous book ... and I think, "I should have someone do the opposite next time."

And so forth. I build my pile of notes, discussing ideas with myself (every page is titled "ideas," as if I'll feel committed something later?) and thinking through implications of different decisions.

An example. When do I set the next book? Book 3 (Avoidable Contact) is set in January 2014, the first year of the new, combined sportscar series (I don't mention the date, but if you know the racing, you know that's when it is).

The next book will be set at the Long Beach race, which is in April. I can set it in the same year, three months later, or I can set it a year and three months out. Both have advantages to do with how relationships (family, romantic, business, and sponsor) might have developed. A year later means I worry I might be aging Kate too fast in the series. But staying in the same year means many people could be reading a book about "the new combined series" at the start of the series' third season.

Yeah, I think I'm going with a year and three months later.

So that's how the process goes. Thought by thought. Note by note. It might not look like I'm doing much, but I promise, I'm thinking!

Photo Roundup: LBGP

Photos ahead!
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But first, a book and writing update: The big news of the weekend is that Kate book #3, Avoidable Contact, is finally DONE! And by done, I mean, proofed, checked, double-checked, comma-checked, and so forth. Next step: printing! I keep telling myself ... of course, I caught every single mistake! (Leave me my illusions, OK?)

And before I turn my thoughts to Kate book #4 or to plotting terrible deeds at the Long Beach Grand Prix, I wanted to share some of the other great memories from the race weekend this year.
_______________________

First, my main partners in crime this year: Barb Kreisel, Scott James (photographer extraordinaire!), and Mary Lascuola. This was us after a long Saturday at the race and a long, fabulous conversation over dinner. Same time next year, team?

Below is the same group, plus Patsy White, who does production work in IndyCar's pit lane for the pit lane reporters.

Then two photos with other Women of Pressdog(r): Sarah Fisher top, and Pippa Mann below.

And then two people who were very important to Avoidable Contact. The first is Chris (Christine) Syfert, a longtime member of the racing community who primarily compiles statistics for teams or the Series (her role with ALMS and now IMSA). Chris and Tommy Kendall (yes, the racer/announcer) got together on a winning auction bid last year, to benefit the Austin Hatcher Foundation, for their names to be used in the book. I was telling her about her role....

And last, but certainly not least, the wonderful Oliver Gavin, Corvette Racing driver, who took the time to make sure Kate's racing lines, curb usage, gearing, and driver change process were correct. Phew! Such a relief to know it's all correct (I think).

Lastly, one of my favorite photos, a selfie with Barb as we were signing paperwork for our two-seater ride. Don't we look like we're about to have a fantastic time?! Joy, that's what it is.

Find these and more photos of Team Kate all over the world (mostly at races) on the Team Kate Pinterest board. And feel free to send me more photos to post!

Here Comes the Circus

That's right, it's race week in Long Beach! The trucks should start rolling in mid-week, and by Thursday night, the key players—drivers, teams, media, and fans—should be here. Which means I've got to get prepared!

My husband and I have a saying (I think he coined it): The business of racing happens at the track.

You can arrange and plan and make deals for months, but everything will come together at the race track during a race weekend. Or some new deal will be formed. Or you'll meet the contact you never dreamed of meeting. Or I'll get 27 questions answered in a 20 minute period, which otherwise would have taken three weeks and 15 emails.

It's happened over and over. Like when I ran into Dr. Don Panoz (founder of the American Le Mans Series, at right) in the Atlanta airport and handed him a book (come to think of it, he never did write to tell me what he thought; maybe I'll see him this weekend and ask). Or when I met Harlan Charles (project manager for the new Corvette Stingray) and handed him a book. There's a theme here.

So here's my to do list:

1. Hand a book to anyone important!
2. Meet IndyCar driver Pippa Mann for the first time.
3. Interview my friend Pattie (and maybe other women in racing) for the Steel Ovary Nation site.
4. Check in with Corvette Racing driver Oliver Gavin to see if he's reviewed my racing scenes in Avoidable Contact.
5. Bother Corvette Racing Manager Doug Fehan (at right) just because he makes me laugh.
6. Ask someone at The Racer's Group a question about the brake-light system in a Porsche.
7. Hang out with super-crazy race fans Barb and Mary.
8. Run into all the people I'm not thinking about yet but will be excited to see.
9. Figure out where to kill someone for Kate's book #4, Hot Lap!
10. Hang out with my friend, former co-blogger, and Bouchercon 2014 toastmaster, Simon Wood.
11. Agree with all my race friends who live in the Midwest and South that yes, LA is a little nuts.
12. See if I can spot the porn stars in the paddock this year (really). 
13. Figure out why someone might need to die for Hot Lap.
14. Give away some Team Kate gear?! (Who wants some?)

I'm sure there's more. Fortunately I have four days to finish the list....

Avoidable Contact: The Cover Reveal!

The cover for Kate's third adventure is here! And it's gorgeous! How's this for evoking the mood of the 24 Hours of Daytona?

And to whet your appetites, here's the summary:

Racecar driver Kate Reilly is suited up and ready for the start of the legendary 24 Hours of Daytona. But what’s ahead will test her will and nerve more than any other endurance race.

Even before the green flag waves over Daytona International Speedway, Kate receives word her boyfriend Stuart is fighting for his life after a hit-and-run earlier in the day. Still reeling from that news, Kate must absorb other shocks in the race’s opening hours, including an on-track accident with tragic consequences and an eyewitness who claims Stuart was run down deliberately by someone from the race paddock.

Alternating stints behind the wheel of her Corvette racecar with stretches of quizzing colleagues and searching for clues, Kate taps every possible source—friend, foe, and family—to find out who’s after Stuart and why. As the race clock counts down to zero hour, Kate must come to terms with her own fears about the past and decide who she’s willing to trust. Only then can she identify who’s willing to kill to keep a secret buried—and stop them before they lash out again. 

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Avoidable Contact will be released in August 2014. Pre-order on Amazon or Barnes & Noble (I know it's got the old title, we'll fix it).