25 Things about MBTA

Needed another post and decided to share 25 things about Murder by the Acre that you might not know or don't know or would surprise you or would fill space.
1. It needs more reviewers on Amazon.com. I have three and would like to have more.
2. The plot for Murder by the Acre changed drastically from the original draft. As first written, it had two murderers who teamed up to off some of the folks in Ryton. But that proved to be too confusing and complicated.
3. Also in that first draft, the first victim had a scene from his viewpoint in which he died. It was cut because it added nothing to the book and slowed down the action.
4. It is available for purchase on Amazon.com and Lulu.com. Yes, I know you probably already know that, but I thought I'd mention it anyway.
5. The story frequently went places I didn't expect or revealed things I didn't know. An example: The chief and Maggie's son. I didn't know he even existed until I started writing that scene, and there he was.
6. My subconscious must be smarter than me since what I talked about in number 5 often answered questions that I hadn't thought of asking.
7. I originally planned for Murder by the Mile to be second book. Things change.
8. I acknowledged Holly Lisle in both books (along with others) because her constant inspiration, but no, she didn't proof or edit it. In fact, I don't even know if she read either one. (I suspect not due to her horribly busy schedule.) That wasn't the point of the acknowledgments.
9. The book had to be republished because I accidently got the ISBN number wrong on the copyright page. The cover ISBN is correct.
10. MBTA is being recorded for the Oklahoma Library for the Blind, as was Murder by Dewey Decimal. These recordings are free of charge to people who qualify. MBTA and MBTA may be submitted to the National Libary. I should know in the next couple of months.
11. The murderer was one of the victims in the original story.
12. I had two playlists of selected music when I wrote MBTA.
13. One playlist featured slower music while the other had only faster songs. Depending on what I was writing, I would select either slower or faster.
14. I can't bear to listen to either playlist now because I listened to them so much while writing the book.
15. Murder by the Mile will get its own playlists.
16. If you'd like to enter a drawing to win a Murder by the Acre large coffee mug, tell me so in the comments on this post and you'll be entered. One person will win. I will have the drawing next week. I have only two entries (Trixie and Adam) so far so your odds are good.
17. I have nearly 40 titles written down for The Measurements of Murder(tm) series. It's unlikely I will write all of them, but who knows?
18. I've thought of making MBTA and MBDD into plays, but haven't done more than write a few lines.
19. I have been thinking about another murder mystery series featuring different locations and different people. Here are few titles: Murder at the Witch's Cottage, Murder at the Pirate's Palace, Murder at the Hangman's House, Murder at the Maniac's Museum, etc.
20. I wrote a play named Murder at the Witch's Cottage, and I really like the title. However, the book couldn't feature the same people or plot.
21. Jean pointed out something that I didn't notice myself until after she did: the books have no children in them. No mention of them at all. But yes, Ryton does have children in it. They will be at least mentioned in Murder by the Mile.
22. Since the original Murder by the Acre was written nearly 25 years ago, it had no mention of cell phones or the Internet in it. I changed that when I revised it for publication.
23. I use several baby books and phone books to get the names of my characters. I pick names that none of my friends or acquaintences have, unless, of course, they have agreed to let me use them for minor, non-speaking characters.
24. My brother-in-law Phillip Owens is the only real person whose name is featured in both books.
25. I have huge changes planned for both Lisa and Bernard in the next few books. They have to grow and change to keep my interest, and I think they will.

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