A Night to Remember
by Danny and Wanda Pelfrey
About A Night to Remember
A Night to Remember An Adairsville Heritage Mystery
Cozy Mystery
2nd in series
Setting – Georgia
CrossLink Publishing (September 14, 2022)
Paperback : 209 pages
ISBN-10 : 1633574229
ISBN-13 : 978-1633574229
Digital ASIN : B09Z1L8YL7
Riley Gordan is back in Adairsville, Georgia anticipating a leisurely vacation from the rigors of law school with her college friend, Trish. Then, as part of a political plot, one of her Sunday School girls is kidnapped. Stumbling upon the abduction, Riley and her friends are drawn headfirst into a search for the girl.
Their probe leads them into a fast paced and dangerous string of encounters that include a Neanderthal named Houston, searches in some of the most hazardous places in North Georgia, a green Kia Soul, an old man with a big gun, and ultimately murder.
It is an adventure that provides some unusual twists and turns and is highlighted by a beautiful relationship between an old baseball player entering politics and a spunky adolescent who are jointly known around town as “Nate and The Kid.”
Author Guest Post
I’ve never figured out why so many people are interested in how long it takes to write a book; however, it is one of the questions I hear most often at signing events. Perhaps those inquiring have ambition to author their own books but are not interested in investing a lot of their time. Maybe they are seriously considering a purchase but only if l gave an acceptable number of days to creating the product. They might measure its value by the amount of time required to put it together. But I suspect most often it’s just plain curiosity about something of which they know little.
When someone does pose that question, my wife is fond of telling them it took me fifteen years to write my first novel. Even though she usually offers that information with a smile and a laugh, she’s not kidding. I wrote articles for various publications for years. Then I put together my first book, a non-fiction work entitled ONE-WAY CHOICES IN A WRONG-WAY WORLD. It was accepted by a traditional publisher, and I decided there wasn’t much to this writing business. It wasn’t nearly as hard as I had been told!
Then I began to wonder if I could write fiction. It couldn’t be that hard. As I saw it, it was just a matter of sitting down and making up stuff. I began to use my spare time to compose what eventually became OUT OF THE DEPTHS. I soon discovered that writing fiction, in this case an inspirational mystery, wasn’t as easy as I anticipated. I was convinced I had a good story, but, at first, I found the whole idea of showing rather than telling came rather hard for an old non-fiction writer. Writing believable dialogue was another challenge that did not come easy for me. To make a long story short, I worked on that little 210-page mystery story for fifteen years, sometimes filing it away for a few months before getting it out again only to become discouraged before returning it to its storage spot. Fifteen years passed before the book, with major help from my wife was finally self-published. Wanda and I continued our collaboration which has resulted in five more cozy mysteries, all those published with a contract from a traditional publisher. Even though that first work of fiction was self-published and poorly edited, it continues to sell well as the first volume of four in the Davis Morgan series that we bundle for marketing.
On the other end of the spectrum, a couple of years ago, I composed a little 127-page non-fiction book in only one month. It was on a subject close to my heart and constantly on my mind. I had for years lived the research. For a month I went into my study early in the morning, came out for lunch and often went back to the computer until dinner time. Giving that kind of time to a subject I knew well made the quick delivery of the manuscript possible.
Most of our cozy mysteries are around seventy thousand words and require three to four months to write. The glaring exception is A NIGHT TO REMEMBER, our most recent project. I took time off from writing in the middle of the process to take care of some other responsibilities. With it out of my mind for several weeks, I had a hard time getting back to it when it was time to write again. The result was that it was almost a year from the time we started the book until it was finished. I think if I had used a tight outline, getting back into the story would not have been so difficult. My approach, however, is to decide on a general story line and then sort of let the story write itself. Once the feel for the story is lost it’s hard to get going again, nevertheless, I think it turned out to be one of our best tales.
I do my most efficient work when I schedule blocks of time for writing and diligently guard that schedule. The reserved time is not used for related matters such as research and marketing, but rather for actual writing. The number of hours scheduled, the number of days per week, and the time of day will depend on my essential non-writing agenda. Columnist Harvey MacKay reminded us, “Time is free, but it’s priceless. You can’t keep it, but you can spend it. Once you’ve lost it you can never get it back.” The wise person will use this precious commodity carefully.
“So, how long does it take for you to write a book?”
My answer: “It takes as long as necessary to do it right.” Speed or quality, which is most important? When it comes to putting a story on paper, with few exceptions, it’s quality of work that matters. A good story is what the reader is looking for. That’s what the successful author strives for, and the amount of time given to accomplishing that is of little consequence.
About Danny and Wanda Pelfrey
Danny and Wanda Pelfrey are graduates of Atlanta Christian College (now Point University). Danny earned a masters from Kentucky Christian University. He spent 45 years in the pastorate. Wanda served as a primary Montessori teacher for twenty-four years. They have two daughters and are blessed with five amazing grandchildren.
Wanda’s career as a writer took off shortly after college, when she started writing curriculum and educational aids for a variety of publishers. Her book, MAKING THE MOST OF YOUR CHILD’S TEACHABLE MOMENTS, published by Moody Press went through several printings and brought her a lot of attention and respect as a writer. However, she put her writing career on hold shortly thereafter to become a teacher.
Danny’s interest in writing was fostered by his wife’s love of the craft. He wrote articles for various publications, a newspaper column, and eventually three non-fiction books. Traditional publisher CrossLink released three of the four Davis Morgan Mysteries co-authored by the couple, as well as the first two books in the Adairsville Heritage Mystery series. A NIGHT TO REMEMBER is #2 in the Adairsville Heritage series.
The Pelfreys live in their little Cape Cod cottage in their small north Georgia hometown of Adairsville, Georgia which serves as the setting for their mysteries with a message. They enjoy a life that is often centered around their five grandchildren and their love for putting words on paper.
Author Links:
Webpage: http://www.pelfreybooks.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/danny.pelfrey.566
Twitter: https://.com/dwpelfrey
GoodReads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/list/14319146.Danny_Pelfrey
*Purchase Links:
Amazon Barnes & Noble CrossLink
TOUR PARTICIPANTS
September 14 – I Read What You Write – CHARACTER GUEST POST
September 14 – My Reading Journeys – REVIEW
September 15 – Brooke Blogs – AUTHOR GUEST POST
September 15 – Sapphyria’s Book Reviews – SPOTLIGHT
September 16 – Celticlady’s Reviews – SPOTLIGHT
September 17 – I’m All About Books – SPOTLIGHT
September 18 – Christy’s Cozy Corners – AUTHOR INTERVIEW
September 19 – FUONLYKNEW – SPOTLIGHT
September 20 – Literary Gold – SPOTLIGHT
September 21 – Ascroft, eh? – CHARACTER INTERVIEW
September 21 – My Journey Back the Journey Back – SPOTLIGHT
September 22 – Lady Hawkeye – AUTHOR GUEST POST
September 22 – Reading Is My SuperPower – REVIEW
September 23 – Baroness Book Trove – SPOTLIGHT
September 24 – Maureen’s Musings – SPOTLIGHT
September 25 – #BRVL Book Review Virginia Lee Blog – SPOTLIGHT
September 26 – StoreyBook Reviews – CHARACTER GUEST POST
September 27 – BookishKelly2020 – SPOTLIGHT
Have you signed up to be a Tour Host?
Click Here to Find Details and Sign Up Today!
Additional Banners
