A writer's journey...

The reviews are starting to come in for ELEVEN.  Here's what some have had to say on Amazon. 5.0 out of 5 stars   An intriguing mystery ,  November 7, 2011 By  Jennifer L. Schubert  (FL)    Eleven delves into the world of a serial killer who's left ten bodies and one final, empty grave. A team of profilers race against the clock to prevent the grave from being filled by one of their own. Excellent characterization and pacing mark Arnold's well-written Eleven. 5.0 out of 5 stars   Suspenseful Crime Fiction ,  November 28, 2011 By  Rosemary Cochran  (Finger Lakes Region, NY United States) Eleven graves have been found, but only ten are filled. What is the significance of eleven? You'll feel like you are right there with the team of FBI agents as they race against time to stop the serial killer from filling the final grave. Their prime suspect is behind bars. Who is killing in his stead--and why? The ending will not disappoint. Carolyn Arnold writes in a quick-paced

Most things in life don't go according to plan.  Sometimes we're lucky and things we strive for are achieved with only slight detours.  However, there may be major detours in our path.  These roadblocks can set us turning around or taking the long route to make it to our destination. We must ask ourselves: do we let these things stop us from making it where we're headed? Think about our writing journey as if it were a literal road trip that is going to take us hours from home.  What issues can come up?  I mentioned roadblocks and whether these be an accident or construction they can have us taking an unexpected direction.  Other times these roadblocks merely slow us down.  As we travel we can also encounter bad weather, car problems and any number of unforeseen circumstances.  Maybe we get into a minor accident. So how does this apply to our writing?  And how does this apply with the title of this post "Tuck and Roll"? We have two choices when we enc

Do you ever find yourself at some point in your writing process scratching out words, adding some in and then repeating the process several times before you end up back to where you were in the first place?  Or do you ever concern yourself over WC - after all, there are preset definitions for the different genres?  Or are you the type of writer who crafts the first draft seaminglessly making forward progress without the need to edit as you go? I'm sure most of us are guilty of editing as we go along even if this means small changes, and honestly I don't see any issue in that.  However, if you're editing every word as you go along you might be hurting your story.  I realize we all have processes that work for us individually and maybe you find this works for you.  I know it doesn't for me. When I write I love the free flow of words.  I'm not saying I never backspace or reword as I go along but I don't allow myself to become compulsive over word choice or count

ELEVEN by Carolyn Arnold Eleven Rooms. Ten Bodies. One Empty Grave. Brandon Fisher never expected this when he signed up as a Special Agent for the FBI.  Working in the shadow of Supervisory Special Agent Jack Harper of the Behavioral Analysis Unit his career seemed set.  But when the team is called to a small rural town where the remains of ten victims are found in an underground bunker, buried in an unusual way, Brandon knows he'll never return to his normal life. With one empty grave, and the case touching close to home, he fears he's become the target of a psychotic serial killer who wants to make him number eleven.  Only thing is, everything Brandon thinks he knows is far from the truth. Buy on  Amazon  for Kindle or in Print A brief bio about me: Carolyn Arnold is the author of several novels in the mystery, thriller and suspense genres.  TIES THAT BIND, the first in a police procedural mystery series surrounding Detective Madison Knight, was her debut novel

The release of ELEVEN is drawing near - mark the official date of 11.11.11 on your calendar.  It will be coming to you in print and for Amazon Kindle. Below is the scheduled list of stops I'll be making on my blog tour.  As you can see there are still a few dates that are available, so if you're interested please leave a comment or email me.  Thank you to everyone for your continued support. 11th November -  Eden Baylee's  blog 12th November -  Celebrating Authors 13th November - Frederick Lee Brooke's  blog 14th November - Shay Fabro's Author Corner 15th November - Sharkbait Writes 16th November - Orangeberry Book Collective Blog 17th November - Orangeberry Book Collective page 18th November - Nikol Purvis'  site 19th November - Barbara's Meanderings 20th November - Lori Gordon's  blog 21st November - A Sense of Fiction 22nd November -  Orangeberry Book Collective  blog 23rd Novemb er -  Tonya Cannariato blog 24th November -  I'

For those of you in the writing community you know right off what NaNo is!  It's the month where everything else in your life gets pushed to the back while you crank out 50,000 words.  For some of us it's a larger feat than others.  Some set higher goals than the 50k requirement. So are you in? Last year was my first time participating, and this year I'm not able to manage it time-wise.  But know I am rooting all of you on! Here's some things I found helped me last year: 1) Budget time - you only have so much in a day.  Allocate when you are going to write and stick to it. 2) Limit the internet.  Log on as a reward after accomplishing your target WC. 3) Let your writing flow. Don't edit as you go along. 4) First and foremost have fun!

Most of us strive to see the best in people, and give them the benefit of the doubt.   Others live as sceptics afraid to trust anyone in case it backfires.   And then of course there are those of us who are balanced in their viewpoint.   We approach things cautiously yet with an open mind. Thinking on these contradictions gave me the idea for this blog post.  Even those who say they would never be taken advantage of sometimes are.  On the flipside of that, those who say people are out to “screw” other people may find themselves pleasantly surprised when their trust is rewarded with an honest friend. I believe in analyzing this aspect of human nature – trust – we can strengthen the characters in our books. Even those who wouldn’t consider themselves trusting, or as they would term it “naive”, human nature allows for inconsistencies.  They may find themselves trusting when they had no intention of doing so. So how does this aspect of human nature effect our books?

Thank you to all that entered to win an ARC Kindle copy of ELEVEN . The winners are: Joseph Rinaldo - who commented on the blog & tweeted Karen - who joined my blog and commented Both of you will be contacted and your copies emailed to you by November 6th.