November 11th, 2014 → 7:44 pm @ Robin Donovan
Is it Still Murder Even if She Was a Bitch? by Robin Leeman Donovan. Published by WriteLife
or just read it below:
When one of Donna Leigh’s ad agency employees is killed, she decides to become her own investigator. Because she like the deceased so much? Hardly. Donna hated the old bag, but she figures the cops will be knocking on her door, ready to pin the murder on her if she doesn’t find the real guilty party. What follows are Donna and her friends somewhat less than successful attempts at investigating the murder.
Just plain funny. I love love Donna’s caustic wit
July 29th, 2014 → 2:35 pm @ Robin Donovan
Janice Hardy invited me to guest blog on her Fiction University site. Check out my column here:
By Robin Leemann Donovan
Characters have a way of evolving in a story, sometimes for the better, sometimes to the utter frustrations of their creators. Despite those hair-pulling moments, though, a character who comes to life on their own often turns into a star. Please help me welcome Robin Leemann Donovan to the lecture hall today, to share the story of one such character.
Robin is president of the advertising/communications firm, Bozell and 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. Her first book in the Donna Leigh Mystery series: Is It Still Murder Even If She Was A Bitch? won an AMA Pinnacle award.
Robin was born and raised in New Jersey but lived and worked in Connecticut for a number of years before moving to Nebraska in 1999. Starting her career as a high school English teacher, Donovan moved into advertising in the early 80’s. In 1999 she accepted a job offer from Bozell. Donovan lives with her husband and three bulldogs, Jasmine, Roxi and Sadie (Sweet Pea).
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Take it away Robin…
When I started writing my first comedic murder mystery, Is It Still Murder Even If She Was A Bitch?, there was no Clovis Cordoba Seville character. All of my characters were utilitarian. I had a murder victim, some amateur sleuths, and some cops.
Having loosely based the murder victim on a less-than-favorite acquaintance, I had plenty of opportunities for humor in my ability to mock her. Early in the process I began to realize that too much focus on mocking the murder victim would make my protagonist really unsympathetic.
I had characters that could give me some slapstick and some playful co-worker banter but I was worried about too much of the same type of humor over and over again. I was short on diversity and range in recurring comedic characters.
That’s when I introduced Clovis.
She is loosely based on a former co-worker with a stunning ability to make herself the center of absolutely everything. How had I forgotten about the importance of narcissistic humor – the backbone of any creative enterprise – in the mix? So Clovis was born.
Throughout the writing process I was able to introduce Clovis as the “irrelevant logic voice of reason,” a role the deranged woman who inspired her had mastered. The beauty of this was that I didn’t have to make fun of her – she took care of that all by herself!
One fairly typical comment by Clovis causes Donna Leigh, the protagonist, to ruminate, “I was really beginning to think that the only thing that would satisfy her would be to make her the murder victim, and it was getting more tempting by the minute. But, of course, being the second murder victim just wouldn’t do.”
Initially, Clovis was nothing more than an outsider looking to insert herself into the action, making her the antithesis to most characters in a murder mystery who labor to distance themselves from any possible suspicion and/or danger. The complexity of her character is based on the fact that fulfilling her self-centeredness is the main driving force in her existence trumping every other basic need. How many of us have not known someone like that?
Further along in the plot, her thoughtless selfishness (in her case this is not really redundant) causes the protagonist to contemplate murder, “At that moment the thought of killing her and spending the rest of my life behind bars seemed like the only logical course of action.”
Ultimately, Clovis proves to be more integral to the plot than I’d initially anticipated. As she moves deeper into the plother character’s sense of triumph grows palpably.
Clovis is ridiculous. One of my editors questioned whether or not anyone would believe such an impossible to believe character. Ironically, the very aspects of Clovis that are so ridiculous are behaviors I have absolutely seen her inspiration exhibit on a quasi-daily basis. Honestly, I couldn’t make this stuff up!
I take great pride in the believability of all my characters. They are all based on real behavior patterns plugged into a fictional story. Unfortunately, for many who are not in a creative profession themselves – these characters can be a stretch of the imagination. I cringe whenever I see that my work has been reviewed by a scientist, knowing that they’re generally surrounded by logical, orderly minds on a daily basis, and that they don’t easily suffer fools. My work is not for them.
As writing progressed it became clear that Clovis could be so much more than just a comedic figure on the periphery of the plot fighting to get in. Her penchant to project her own self-aggrandizing behaviors onto Donna Leigh in a constant dogmatic tirade enables us to view the protagonist herself through a, probably more realistic but definitely less flattering and far more amusing, filter.
Clovis becomes the mechanism by which Donna’s own character flaws are illuminated in a way that enables us to laugh with her more than at her.
Clovis has gone from being a late-to-the-party add on to being my favorite character. She enables me push the envelope of the ridiculous and explore the machinations of a totally self-absorbed individual.
About Is It Still Murder Even If She Was A Bitch?
How does one react to the shocking news that a former colleague has been brutally murdered? Worse yet, you realize that your vitriolic relationship with the victim could land you squarely on the suspect list. That’s exactly what happens to Donna Leigh, the energetic and somewhat sardonic owner of an Omaha ad agency, who jumps right in to the investigation – despite annoying menopausal symptoms – in order to keep the wolves away from her door. She manages to amuse as well as impress with her effective but unorthodox sleuthing.
As Donna and her colorful colleagues work feverishly to solve the case, they leave a trail of unintentional destruction in their wake; from injured police officers to collapsed buildings. Donna and her team stir things up enough to make the murderer nervous; after Donna receives a threat to “back off” things take on a more serious bent for her, but not for her ever vigilant colleagues who continue to animatedly bungle their way through the investigation until the murderer is behind bars.
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http://blog.janicehardy.com/2014/07/character-evolution-dont-restrict-your.html
January 21st, 2014 → 9:27 pm @ Robin Donovan
I feel very fortunate. Being in the ad business I have access to many very talented artists. When it came time to design my book cover, my designer strongly recommended commissioning a photograph by the incredibly talented Scott Drickey. Scott read the book, asked a few questions and then came up with a cover photo that offered mystery and intrigue. It created a visual tension befitting a suspense-filled story about murder, yet it maintained a whimsical posture which enabled it to pave the way for the comedic nature of the book.
And Scott managed to convey all of these things within an extremely sophisticated framework.
It fit the book to perfection!
So many of my cozy mystery colleagues select covers that are exaggerated and cartoonish in nature. I’m not sure how that trend came about – but I knew right from the start that it did not fit my work.
I relied very heavily on my designer, Jill Rizzo, to find a “look” that would convey my brand accurately, and with the help and talent of Scott Drickey – my expectations were far exceeded!
December 30th, 2013 → 6:06 pm @ Robin Donovan
For the first time ever: Is It Still Murder Even If She Was A Bitch? is listed as unavailable on Amazon.com. I emailed my publisher to tell her something was wrong.
She said there’s nothing wrong – it just means that they need to order more copies for their warehouse. Does that mean my book is “sold out” on Amazon? Why do I find this so hard to believe?
I’d love to believe that they just can’t keep it in stock – but I’m having trouble convincing myself. If experience has taught me anything – I’m more inclined to think there’s a technical glitch.
That said, please check out amazon.com and let me know what you find. If my book is truly sold out – I’m going to celebrate more than just the New Year!
June 20th, 2013 → 7:50 pm @ Robin Donovan
In addition to writing cozy mysteries, I spend a lot of time on activities relating to my board position with Alzheimer’s of the Midlands. Last week I had the rare opportunity to attend a small cocktail event sponsored by the association. They were welcoming Erich Hover and Brett Cullen, two Hollywood actors who will be in an upcoming movie about Alzheimer’s being filmed in Omaha late this summer.
Selfless Stars
Hover is an Omaha native who went to Hollywood to pursue an acting career. He has appeared in films such as Moneyball. While pursuing his career Hover learned that his Dad, still living in Omaha, was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. Once he realized the need for both research funding and public awareness, Erich jumped at the idea of creating a film that could provide both.
His experience in the film industry enabled Hover to solicit a script telling the tale of his Dad’s journey and recruit well known actors for the project.
Actor/Filmmaker
Cullen, who was featured in recent film 42 and appears in the weekly program Person of Interest has great enthusiasm for the project, in part because he is currently the primary caregiver of a Mother with dementia, and he is intrigued by the difficulty of the role. He will be playing Erich’s Dad, the Alzheimer’s patient.
It is the hope that this film will significantly help raise public awareness; in addition a percentage of the proceeds will go directly to Alzheimer’s research.
The Alzheimer’s of the Midlands, with their new Executive Director, Viv Ewing and her staff, joined the actors and researcher Dr. Bonasera in celebrating the beginning of a much needed project in the history of finding a cure.
It is only recently t
hat the legislature and a small segment of the public have begun to realize the massive toll that Alzheimer’s will take on the medical community as the Baby Boomers continue to age.
April 16th, 2013 → 2:57 pm @ Robin Donovan
Thanks to all the folks at the beautiful new Council Bluffs library for the Author’s Fair on Saturday! I felt very honored to have such a prominent table right in front of the entrance doors! It was a great chance to meet the folks in The Bluffs and get to know them a bit.
Council Bluffs Public Library
I was excited to learn that they may have another Author’s Fair in November for the Christmas shopping crowd!
I met a professional book reviewer and some very talented authors! And the library staff took very good care of all of us!
Author’s Fair location
February 20th, 2013 → 7:38 pm @ Robin Donovan
Last Saturday’s Author Fare at the Omaha Public Library was the best author networking event I’ve been to yet! I met authors, folks connected to libraries, a lovely woman with a radio show she’s willing to use to help promote authors, a student who is blogging about authors who use social media and a whole host of other very interesting folks, some of whom promise to be very beneficial to an author’s career.
Author Fare
As much as I enjoyed last year, when the library premiered the Author Fare event, it could not compare to the beneficial networking of this past Saturday.
I appreciate all of the folks at the library for pulling this event together! A special shout out to my WriteLife publisher Cindy Grady, for being instrumental in making this event happen and in supporting her authors so well!
I look forward to next year’s Author’s Fare – but I’m hopeful that the success of this event will inspire the library to host more author related events before then!
January 28th, 2013 → 9:55 pm @ Robin Donovan
We’ve already addressed three of the four basic categories that new authors tend to fall into: the I have an idea I’d like to share with the world group, typically consisting of business advice – an idea, the I have a story to tell group, often about overcoming adversity, and/or self-help advice and the I want to write a book and give my business, or personal brand, a boost folks. We’ve given these author-types some advice on the best way to get things started.
Let the creative juices flow!
That leaves our fourth and final category, consisting of the I love to write and I’m pretty good so I should probably write a book folks. For them the subject of the book is often secondary to their desire or even need to express themselves in writing.
At the risk of seeming immodest, that’s where I place myself. As an English major and a former English teacher, I have always wanted to write a book and I’ve never been shy about sharing that fact. When I finally got around to actually writing a manuscript there were those who asked “why did you wait so long?” And the answer is simple. I envisioned pouring my heart into my life’s work and spending the next decade receiving one rejection after another from heartless publishers who would ignore and overlook my brilliance, thus shredding my very soul.
Getting to know a publisher gave me the courage to take a shot. Once I’d made the decision to finally write the damn thing – I hadn’t a clue of what to write. A chat with this publisher helped to get me focused.
“What do you love?” he asked.
“I love comedy.”
“Then write your comedy and show it to me,” he suggested.
That was it. Next challenge – decide what funny things to write about. As a lifelong aficionado of murder mysteries – both serious and comedic – the old adage “write what you know” seemed applicable.
Once my genre was set I sat down to write. The first three chapters virtually wrote themselves. I packaged these up and sent them to my “publisher acquaintance” to await his verdict.
A few weeks later confirmation arrived. My chapters were of enough interest to warrant finishing the book. It was a bittersweet moment that juxtaposed the thrill of having a publisher’s interest and the terror of being clueless as to how to write a whole book.
For me, the next step was to continue writing while simultaneously creating a writing process. There are some who would say my journey appears to have been backwards. But it’s what worked for me.
Here are a few pointers for those of you raring to go:
Donovan heads Bozell Books, a division of Bozell designed to help authors and budding authors from inception through promotion of their published work. She has authored a novel entitled: Is It Still Murder Even If She Was a Bitch? www.rldonovan.com, and the second in her Donna Leigh Mysteries series is currently being published. Her next installment of FAQs on Authoring a Book will address the prospective author with confidence in their ability to write and how it impacts their process of “Getting Started.”
December 7th, 2012 → 6:10 pm @ Robin Donovan
Just watched your video. It looks great! Very professional looking. Sounds like a book I’d love to read 🙂 And love your doggies, I have an Old English Bulldog. He’s lying at my feet this very minute. I wish you all the success in the world!
December 7th, 2012 → 3:50 pm @ Robin Donovan
Thank you so much for all the views of my trailer. As of right now – we’ve hit a total of 379 views – the ten million mark is right around the corner!
Robin L Donovan on Facebook