June Shaw's Blog

By Chester Campbell

It hardly seems like fourteen years ago, but it became what I'd chalk up as a most unforgettable venture. Here, slightly edited, is how I described it in a piece I wrote a few years later:


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By June Shaw

I had never written a novel in less than a year--until recently.

The first book I wrote took two or three years, and it collects dust. It was fun. It was exciting. It was awful. It went on and on, and I was having a good time getting it down because I had wanted to do such a thing for so long. Then I discovered most books shouldn't be much longer than 100 pages unless the author was well-known or the book fit into a certain kind of genre, but it wasn't the genre I was wri...

I've always been interested in history and few eras are more interesting than that of our American West. I'm also intrigued by mystery. So what could be better than combining the two?
As trappers, gold-hunters and settlers expanded into the West they ran head on into people they often regarded as less than human but who had cultures as diverse as their own. When conquered, these people were forced onto reservations where it was hoped they might be controlled.
Like most other reservations in the...

I've heard that writing can serve as a catharsis and I'm about to find out if that's true. 

Since last November, I've lost a grandson, divorced my husband of 47 years and moved nearly 1,500 miles to the Texas Gulf Coast. During that period and several months before, I was unable to write although I was in the midst of my 23rd book, a novel set in the Wyoming outback. I also watched sales of my books plummet because I wasn't online promoting them.

Kyle, my handsome, college-educated grandso...

by June Shaw

I am so excited to announce that Kensington's Lyrical Press has just published A FATAL ROMANCE, the first book in my new Twin Sisters Mysteries!

This series is set in a place I live in and love--South Louisiana's bayou country. The second book, DEAD ON THE BAYOU, is scheduled to come out in August--and I'm writing like crazy on the third, SAVING MOM. (The twins' mother lives in a retirement home.)

Writing these books is fun and difficult and so rewarding once they're done. Here...

by Jackie King
I’m a writer, so I write. Sometimes I have to write what’s foremost on my mind. Today that happens to be writing as I grow older.  If you’re a writer, everything is connected with your writing. And no matter what your age is today, one day you too, will be old. So this morning, instead of trudging ahead on my latest Work-in-Progress, I’m talking about my Life-in-Progress.
Arranging your life successfully as you age isn’t as easy as it looks. And I’m one of the lucky ones. I...

by Jackie KingTechnology in printing and the popularity of ebooks have changed the publishing world in ways that have transformed the book industry.

I’ve always been something of a late bloomer, and my entrance into publishing my own books is no different. When I started writing seriously, that was back in the late 1980s, self-publishing was considered to be something that only hobbyists indulged in to bolster their egos. Twenty-first century publishing is a whole new ballgame.

The once shabby...

by June Shaw

This morning I heard footsteps padding around on my roof and had hopes: Maybe it was Santa (I mean it's the coldest day so far this winter in south Louisiana--the low forties last night.)

It wasn't such a surprise, though, when a man came down, a slim man who'd gone up on the ladder I had watched him lean against the house. That was before I felt the wind's chill and pulled my nose back in my snug house.

He came down minutes later and knocked on my backdoor again. "I'm sorry. There'...

by Jackie King
Thanksgiving is the perfect time for reminiscing and for remembering family stories. These generational memories are often centered around cooking and good food, and these special tales of family history should be treasured and never forgotten.


Here is a yarn spun for the pleasure of all gathered at a festive Thanksgiving meal celebrating God’s abundance and goodness. Such true stories cry out to be told and retold.  June Butts with Sofia her Great GranddaugterJune Butt...

November 9, 2016


I have a bad case of the Blues today. Better than last night around midnight, but still feeling sad. In my struggle to avoid a gloomy day, I searched my memory for a happier time.A conversation held at a Malice Domestic Conference sprang to mind. A guy who happened to be another cozy mystery writer said, “My whole day goes better if I write.”
“Really?” I said, “So does mine.” The other authors gathered with us agreed.
So today, in pursuit of a...