Rebecca M. Douglass, Author

Those of you who follow the IWSG and especially the IWSG book club may have noticed some helpful posts from Toi Thomas about how to make your books more discoverable. I have long been aware that sometimes my blog barely reflects at all the fact that I write novels. The time may have come to fix that! One of her suggestions was to write articles about your books, your writing process, etc.  I have been trying to raise my profile as a writer by writing most weeks about progress and the process. But that still doesn't bring up my books, especially the ones that are out there to buy as opposed to the ones I'm working on. To address that, I am launching a new series of "Writer's Wednesday" posts specifically about my books, starting with this post about Pismawallops Island, the fictional setting of my PTA mystery series. Everything you wanted to know about Pismawallops Island but were afraid to ask Where is Pismawallops Island located? Pismawallops is an island in the ...

No, I haven't been writing enough to have a new flash for you today. But no fear--I have plenty of re-runs you probably didn't see or don't remember! As a little encouragement to myself as I get back to work (at last!) on Death By Library , I have a short story from Pismawallops Island. Unlike the books, this is from the perspective of the town's police chief, Ron Karlson. I picked it in part because it features a character who plays a larger role in the new book. In the Line of Duty When his radio disturbed him, Ron Karlson was sitting in his police cruiser staring out to sea and thinking. “Chief? You out there?” The Pismawallops Island police force, having precisely 2.5 officers, could be informal. He reached for the handset. “Karlson here.” “Homer’s lost his car again.” The dispatcher sounded like she was rolling her eyes. Homer Roller. The biggest disaster ever to grace a cop car. He had a tendency to leave the car in odd places, forget where he’d parked, and hit th...

R is for Ron Karlson of Pismawallops Island In a nutshell: Ron is chief of police on Pismawallops Island, which means he's pretty much the Law in the Pismawallops PTA mysteries. Biggest secret: Okay, this is really the worst-kept secret: Ron is madly in love with series narrator JJ MacGregor. And he's stopped keeping it secret. Since this is Friday, i.e., Flash Fiction day, Ron gets his own story today, not merely a favorite quote. In the Line of Duty When his radio disturbed him, Ron Karlson was sitting in his police cruiser staring out to sea and thinking. “Chief? You out there?” The Pismawallops Island police force, having precisely 2.5 officers, could be informal. He reached for the handset. “Karlson here.” “Homer’s lost his car again.” The dispatcher sounded like she was rolling her eyes. Homer Roller. The biggest disaster ever to grace a cop car. He had a tendency to leave the car in odd places, forget where he’d parked, and hit the panic button, sure the car had been sto...

O is for Kevin Olsen, of the Pismwallops PTA mysteries In a nutshell: Kevin Olsen is a high school senior who plays a minor role in each of the Pismawallops PTA books. He plays football and gets his heart broken a lot. Biggest Secret: He isn't much for keeping secrets, really. JJ finds it easy to get information out of him, most of the time. Favorite Line: "But man, you know, I really liked her." What do you serve when all you have in the freezer is an ice-cold corpse?  JJ and her best friend Kitty struggle to hold the Pismawallops PTA together, and new volunteer Letitia LeMoine isn’t making it any easier.   But when Letitia’s strangled corpse turns up where the ice cream bars should have been, things get a whole lot worse.   JJ has to shoehorn in a search for the killer along with all her other problems: divorce, a 15-year-old son with his first girlfriend, a desperate race to complete the Yearbook on time, and her own tendency to get all wobbly-kneed around the C...

I'm beginning to conclude I work best under pressure. Every week I read Chuck Wendig's writing prompt , and think I'll jump right on that, have the story written by Monday, and for once have time to post it early. And every week I realize Thursday morning that I've not quite finished a draft (if I've even begun it), and every Thursday evening I end up editing the story at 9 or 10 p.m., barely making my deadline. This week is no exception. We were to start with a knock at the door. Here's the result, another bit of fun for JJ MacGregor of the Pismawallops PTA as she sits working upon a midnight dreary. I ran a few words over my 1000. Knock, Knock Rap-a-rap-a-rap! Thump! I practically crawled out of my skin when the knock—more like a pounding—sounded on my door. I was working late, trying to finish a short story, and the house was both empty and dark, aside from the light over my desk. Brian was at Justin’s house for the night so I was alone. It wouldn’t have been...