Sacrificing Sapphire RELEASE DAY!

The day is here!

Sacrificing Sapphire, the fourth book in the Sapphire Dubois Mystery Series about the heiress who captures serial killers, is finally out and available! The eBook is available for all formats via most eBook retailers (Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, iTunes, Google Play, or Buy Direct.) And the print is available via Amazon, Barnes & Noble (order online or at the store.),

The journey to get here, from staring at the blank page to the book being published, has been as much of a roller coaster as ever. I'd like to thank my agent, publisher, (Diversion Books) and readers for getting me this far. Four books in, one more to go! It's be an adventure, that's for sure.
I'd also like to send a special thanks to the ARC reviewers, who have absolutely exceeded my expectations this time around with their kind words! See HERE!

Here it is guys:

Book 4 in the Sapphire Dubois Series, SACRIFICING SAPPHIRE!

Beverly Hills’ heiress and hunter of serial killers Sapphire Dubois is back in this ferocious, festive, and funny mystery—one where her marriage, her life, and the life of a little girl are at risk in a madman’s twisted sacrament.

Sapphire Dubois is about to celebrate her first Christmas in Beverly Hills with her new husband, Detective Aston Ridder. She has assured him that her days of defying death to save victims from serial killers are over. But after three months of marriage she hasn’t kicked the habit. Sapphire feels compelled to check out a lead—two women with similar descriptions have vanished from the same location. After breaking her promise, the daring crime fighter gets abducted by the very killer she was hunting.

While a distraught Aston scrambles to find his missing wife, Sapphire wakes up in a bizarre reality where she is now the victim, forced to play a part in her abductor’s sick ritualistic game. Soon she realizes she’s not alone; a little girl is imprisoned with her, and Sapphire is her only chance of escape.

Sacrificing Sapphire combines rich L.A. sass and smarts with thrilling psychological suspense.

Xoxo,
Mia Thompson

Sentencing Sapphire Book Club PART 2 up on Wattpad!

With the release of book four in the Sapphire Dubois Mystery Series, Sacrificing Sapphire, happening on  December 12th, I started the Sentencing Sapphire Book Club on Wattpad earlier in November! Part One, half the book, was put up and as of today, Part Two, the second half of the book is up as well! Both Book Clubs for Stalking Sapphire (book one) and Silencing Sapphire (book two) are still open on Wattpad, so if you haven't read them yet, now is a good time.

AND, I'm super excited to say this...at the end of the Sentencing Sapphire Book Club awaits a special announcement exclusively for my early Wattpad readers! Seriously, if you're a fan of the series, you don't want to miss it.

Without further ado, Part Deux...

SENTENCING SAPPHIRE Book Club on Wattpad Part Two!

Sentencing Sapphire Book Club Begins on Wattpad

It's that time again!
With book four of the Sapphire Dubois Mystery Series, Sacrificing Sapphire's December 12th release being just around the corner, I'm starting the Sentencing Sapphire on Wattpad! Yay!
Both Book Clubs for Stalking Sapphire (book one) and Silencing Sapphire (book two) are still open on Wattpad, so if you haven't read them yet, now is a good time.

The Sentencing Sapphire Book Club will work a bit different than its predecessors. This time around, I have divided the full book into two sections. Part One will end with a few food-for-thought book club questions. After a short break, Part Two will be posted and followed by a special treat JUST for Wattpad readers! Stayed tuned for details.

So, without further ado, here it is...
The Sentencing Sapphire Book Club on Wattpad is officially open!

Lessons of Revenge Writing

Revenge writing, it's a thing.
Not quite as gross and well known as revenge porn, or going Carrie Underwood on someone's car, but I promise, it's a thing. Ask the Swift.

I revenge write from time to time. Hell, I've even revenge written for other people (see Sacrificing Sapphire, out on December 12.) As a writer I work things out consciously or subconsciously through my writing, and revenge writing, I suppose is a part of that. It's seems, to me at least, like a very healthy way of dealing with issues that would otherwise have remained unresolved. And, since it's just storytelling, revenge writing, isn't something that ever comes back to bite you in the ass. By all means, it's absolutely bulletproof.

Or so I thought...

The first time I found myself revenge plotting (I always revenge plot before I revenge write, otherwise it leads to too much revenge editing) I had been in a long-running argument with my husband about...actually, to properly tell this tale of love and hate--mostly hate--I have to take you back to its beginnings.

2006

I was studying Screenwriting in Los Angeles at the time, and was involuntarily crushing on a guy in my class. It was involuntary because the last thing I wanted at that time was to be distracted by anything unrelated to writing. Nonetheless, I was crushing hard. So hard that I was too mesmerized by his charming smile and bright blue eyes to notice what was on the black T-shirt he wore every once in a while.

2007

I was now married to my crush, and though I was still mesmerized by his charming smile and bright blue eyes, I'd become well aware of what that black T-shirt, with the bold white letters, stated:
I don't take shit. I don't give shit. I'm not in the shit business. 

Not that bad, right? The slogan moderately annoyed me, but it could've been worse; he could've owned one of those FBI - Female Body Inspector shirts.
But the more he wore this shirt, the more it annoyed me. He wore it like it was any other shirt--to the movies, the grocery store, and once to a fairly nice restaurant in Beverly Hills. I'm generally not one who cares that much about how one should look, act, and speak, but this shirt was starting to rub me the wrong way. Every time he put it on I started feeling as if the shirt, along with its now majorly annoying slogan, initiated a Eastwood-like stare down, while singing I'm ba-aaack.
Over the coming years, my relationship with the T-shirt went from dislike, to detest, to hate. And my husband really couldn't see what my problem was.

2009 (maybe..?)

I was in the middle of my initial bout with writing my first novel, Stalking Sapphire, in which the male MC, Aston, starts out in the series as an assh**e. As I sat there typing away, the thought struck me and my fingers froze momentarily over the keyboard. What would an asshole wear, if not THE T-shirt hanging in the closet at that very moment, silently mocking me.
I saw it all play out in my mind's eye. It was top-shelf vengeance. I would write the novel, and one day so many people would read it that when my husband and I walked down the street, readers would stop me and say: "Gosh, that really was one terrible T-shirt in chapter 6."
After which my husband, who may be the most stubborn person on earth, would look at me and say, "Yes. I can see now. It is the second worst T-shirt (the first being the FBI one) since the history of T-shirts. Let's BURN it." 

Yes! I thought and smiled, that was exactly how it would happen. And then I typed.

2012

The T-shirt in question mysteriously (eh...) vanished while I was doing laundry.

2013

Stalking Sapphire got published earlier that year, and had just been put up on Wattpad because its sequel was coming out. For those who don't know, Wattpad=online Mecca for readers and writers. After a few months on there, and right around the time Stalking Sapphire reached a million reads, I decided to shut off my comment notifications to save my email inbox from filling up.

Present Day (-ish.)

A couple weeks ago, I went into Wattpad to check on something and ended up at the beginning of chapter 6 of Stalking Sapphire. That's when I saw them, the amount of comments that had been filling up over the past four years, all centered around this dialogue cluster.

My fantasy had (kind of) come true. I was Thrilled! Ecstatic!  People hated the shirt just as much as I did. Practically radiating with gloat, I clicked on the comment bubble and waited as the page loaded, the way Ralphie waited for the secret code to be revealed in A Christmas Story. The moment the comments appeared I would run up to my husband while pointing and yelling: "See! Seeeeeeee!"
After which he would immediately admit that yes, it was a terrible shirt, and it was a good thing it mysteriously (eh...) vanished in the laundry.
As the comments appeared on my screen, my victorious grin tapered off. The longer I scrolled, the further the corners of my mouth dropped, until finally, I looked like the saddest of all emojjis.
Here are just a few of the comments I saw:

They all loved it. My husband's shirt had not gotten a single negative comment. What else was I wrong about, I wondered. Did red and pink not really clash? Was the ending of Dexter not actually terrible? My way of viewing the world could be completely upside down.

"Oh my God," I said, baffled.

"What?" my husband asked.

"You win..." I said, in shock. "They love your T-shirt. I don't know why, but they love it."

He squinted. "What T-shirt?"

"Come on, the T-shirt. The one that mysteriously (eh...) vanished  in the laundry a few years ago."

No response.

"The one that I hated so much that I wrote about it in my book..."

Still nothing.

"The one that said 'I don't take shit, I don't give shit, I'm not in the shit business!'"

"Haha! Right...hilarious," he laughed, then his eyes grew wide with excitement, and he reached for his phone. "I wonder if I can find it again!"

F*******ck!

So...lesson learned. Will now proceed with revenge writing more cautiously as it appears not all of it is as bulletproof as I once thought. It seems it may actually come back to bite you in the ass after all...even if it's a decade later.

Xoxo,
Mia

SACRIFICING SAPPHIRE Cover

Just received the cover for Sacrificing Sapphire (Sapphire Dubois Mysteries #4) and I am so excited to share it with you all!

I can't believe the fourth book in the series is about to come out and that there's only one more book to go! Despite the fact that I wrote the first book when I was 22-23, and that I'm now 29 + 1 (this is the proper way of writing 30 because, as everybody knows, 30 is basically still 29) it feels like Stalking Sapphire just came out yesterday. 

For anybody interested in an ARC (Advanced Reader Copy), you can contact my publisher, Diversion Books via FACEBOOK or TWITTER and request a free copy of Sacrificing Sapphire in exchange for a review.

And so, without further ado, here it is, the official cover for SACRIFICING SAPPHIRE!

Xoxo,

Mia

SACRIFICING SAPPHIRE Release Date & Description

I'd like to thank all my readers for your patience while waiting for the release date of book #4 in the Sapphire Dubois Mystery Series, SACRIFICING SAPPHIRE.

I know it has been a long time coming and, I promise you, I will do everything I in my power to make sure book #5, the final Sapphire Dubois installment, will reach your hands at a more rapid pace.

As of right now, the release date for SACRIFICING SAPPHIRE is scheduled for December 12 2017.

For the full details, pre-order of the paperback, and the mini description, go HERE!  

Xoxo,
Mia

The Playlist

For every project I've ever written, I've had a playlist.
When I wrote movies back in the day and was working on a spy thriller, my writing playlist, which is not the same as my regular playlist, was jammed packed with every Bond soundtrack I could think of to get me into the right mind space. When I was working on a kids movie, I listened to songs from my childhood to get me to remember what it was like to be ten. And, when I was working on Sapphire #3, I listened to Glenn Miller and Hozier (I think a Glenn Miller song might actually be mentioned in the book) to get into Sapphire's father's two personalities--the social one, and the dark one.

As for Sacrificing Sapphire, the latest book in the Sapphire Dubois series, and soon-ish to be released (nope, sorry, don't have a date yet) I made this playlist.
While I know it not easy to decipher a story through a playlist, here's a small preview of what is to come in Sacrificing Sapphire...

Xoxo,
Mia

Time Management

So...time management.

Once upon a time, I had 10, 12, even 13 hour writing days. This was not my atypical schedule, I'm not that ferocious, but it certainly happened...especially during deadlines. The only things to ever interfere with my writing day back then, were walking and spending quality time with the dog, getting more coffee, and bathroom breaks, a side effect from all the coffee. Looking back at my old self now, I see how spoiled with time I was. I was SO damn time-spoiled that I sometimes wrote a scene, then rewrote it twice, then rewrote it back to its original state. This was before I started saving my deleted scenes in a separate folder, and clearly I didn't need to; I had time coming out the ying-yang. I was Joffrey, sitting on my iron throne of time. I was Scrooge Mcduck, doing back strokes in my pool of spare minutes. DuckTales, anyone? I was that dude at the strip club, swiping 20 dollar time-bills out of my hand like they were nothing.

Fast forward a few years and add a baby, a strict schedule, and general life that you a) didn't care about when you're 22. Or b) opted out of because the time-fairy would soon return with a fresh bag of more time, just for you. Back in the day, I made a conscious decisions to not have a life outside of writing. If I had the option to hangout at the pool with friends, or write, I chose writing every time. Now that I have a child and have to lead by example, I can't do that anymore...unless, of course I want to raise an asocial recluse with agoraphobia.

So, here we are...time management.

There are 24 hours in a day and my baby naps about 2-3 hours if I'm lucky, spread out through the day. That's what I have. So, what do you do when your writing day is cut from 8-13 hours and down to 2-3?

One: Acceptance.

You cry a little, because you realize life is now different and there's nothing you can do but accept it.

Two: It's not how much time you have, it's how you use it.

The time you don't spend writing--e.g. changing diapers, doing spread sheets, going, Hi! Hello! Bye-Bye! Toodeloo! If you're a Walmart greeter--spend it thinking, plotting, and planning out your scenes. I've always been a big plotter, but I've generally let the scenes write themselves, only knowing the scene's opener, closer, and the plot point. I always liked the surprise of not knowing every event of every story-line before it was written. Sure, it took a few passes to get it right at times, but it was worth it for the chance to strike gold.

Well, luxuries like that are for people who bathe in time, which, again, I no longer do.
Also, because I know I'll have less time for rewrites later, I now need to feel sure about the direction of the scene before I start it.

Three: What can go?

Dinner? In order to live one supposedly needs to eat, so probably not.

Sleep? I can hear other parents laughing at this, because, well...it's not like there's much to begin with. But see if you can make it on one less hour of sleep 1-3 days a week, not 5-7. Whether you're a parent, a worker, or like most, both, set the alarm an hour early, or go to bed an hour later. It's amazing how much you can write in 60 minutes.

TV/Reading time? Most of us need to unwind, and it usually involves a TV. Since I love shows, movies, books, hell, I'd take story in pill form it they had it, I don't want to give up all my TV/Reading time, if I even get any. I am, however, willing to cut it down by a half hour to get some extra writing time.

Favorite pastimes?
My favorite thing to do now days is hangout with my daughter. Since she happens to be the cutest baby in the world, it's not something I'm willing to give up. Just yesterday she laughed at her own foot for fifteen minutes, and if that's not worth watching, I don't know what is. It falls under the Life category and it is, as the scientists put it, real friggin' important to body and mind. Writing makes your life better, and life makes your writing better. It's about balance.

Social Media Time?
Sorry, it has to go. Unless you're doing promos or work, cut it down. If you have time to scroll the newsfeed for 30 minutes, you have time to write. FYI: I took me three days to complete this post. Why? Because in times like these, that may or may not go down in my personal history as the Great Time Famine, I chose to write instead of write about writing. Make sense?

That's all I got. It's not much, but every minutes counts. Even if you only have one hour a week to write, and it takes you three years to finish a project, by the end of those three years, you'll actually HAVE a completed book. Yay! Meanwhile, if you instead spend those same three year saying "I don't have time to write." you'll have absolutely nothing. Boo!

As my favorite greeter once said: Thanks for shopping a Walmart. And, Toodeloo!

Xoxo,
Mia

Sapphire Dubois Mysteries: Book 5

With the fourth Sapphire book, Sacrificing Sapphire, turned in for its first round at Diversion Books, I sat down to write out all the plot points for the final Sapphire installment (book 5) today. I've had the main plot of the series set up and ready to go for years, but I always save the detailed plotting for after I'm in the final stages of the latest installment, just in case unexpected plot changes have to be made.

As I wrote out the sheet, very, very tentatively titling it Stealing Sapphire: Plot Points, I was overwhelmed with bitter sweetness. I started the series when I was 22 or 23-years-old. I just now passed 30. These characters have been with me for so much of my adult life that I don't really know what it'll be like without them, entertaining me when I'm bored and torturing me when I want to sleep.
Over the years, the series have taken me on a roller-coaster, from losing ten pounds and nearly my mind during the deadline for Silencing Sapphire, to topping mystery bestsellers lists in both Europe and the US for a beat. In the end, all I can do now is enjoy the hell out of writing Sapphire and Aston's final chapter. I will savor the entire process, knowing I'll miss it all when it's over, nasty bumps and smooth sailings alike.



Xoxo,
Mia

The List

Rewriting is super easy...
said no writer EVER.

The first time I realized the importance of rewriting and notes, I was nineteen and in school for screenwriting. It was my favorite teacher who said the phrase I'd never forget: "writing is rewriting."

The term first draft meant nothing to me back then as I only did one pass before moving onto the next project. I immediately took the wisdom to heart, and the words became a mantra over the years. But just because I understood "writing is rewriting" didn't mean I automatically knew how to execute it.

During the second semester, we had a class dedicated to the subject, and were tasked with rewriting one of our scripts. With my new mantra in mind, I set out to dedicate myself to the rewrite. We had nine people in our class and everyone gave notes on every script. So that was eight people, eight different opinions, with about two-three notes each, bringing the total in somewhere between 16-24. So, what did I do? Eager and inexperienced, I implemented them all. The result, a 200 plus page script (your average movie is about 110) full of nonsense. If the script was a plate of food, it would've been spaghetti with ice cream and relish smothered turducken. Yummy. No?

After I submitted my script and realized my mistake, I vowed I would find a system that worked for me. In the end, and after years of writing, it came down to three ridiculously simple steps.

1. Receiving the Notes

There's a moment when you initially receive the feedback that your gut let's you know if a note feels right or wrong. Go with it. If it feels wrong, it probably is.
That said, don't confuse your hurt ego with your gut. Gut in writing, I feel, is just your subconscious story-logic, while the hurt ego manifests itself through anger or in unjustified refusal. Remember that there's a reason your reader feels the way they do.

If you're dealing with a inexperienced reader, I.e. not your agent, editor, or fellow writer, learn to decipher their message. Let's imagine your gum-chewing friend Lucy says, "I

would totally love it if the guy she likes was named Edward instead... and if he was a vampire."

Your initial thought is probably: Lucy, you suck.

But what Lucy said may actually have meant: "I didn't relate to the MC's love interest."

Voila. A note you can work with.

2.  Making the List

'Twas a very average and unspecial day, when I realized I was rewriting in a very hap hazardous, cluster f**k-y way. I'd start at the beginning and work my way through the notes as they came up. If your notes affect nothing but the page you're touching, this system works great. By the time you reach the end, pop the champagne, you're done. However, more often then not, one change sends a ripple effect through the manuscript. So, about 35, 000 K in you're not only dealing with the change coming up on the next pages, but you're simultaneously dealing with all the ripples from previous changes. The result isn't only a cluster f**k, but also something that overwhelms you and makes you feel like you'd rather stick something sharp in the eye than deal with it.

The day I wrote a precise list of changes, along with their ripples, and went through them note by note, my rewriting process from I hate my life to, Meh, this is not so bad. The simple action of numbering the notes, then crossing them off as they were implemented, made the process  ridiculously manageable. I, personally, don't even take them down in order; I just like number them so I can say: "Only number 6 and 9 left. Saucey."

This way, if you're having a particularly draining day (like the time I woke up to a teething baby, a dog with diarrhea, no toner, and a low-on-battery smoke detector going beep.....beep.....beep until I banged it loose with my Swifter) you might want to go with an easier note. If you wake up to the smell of coffee, yawning like a Disney princess, and birds tweeting on your window sill, it might be a good day to reel in that big sucker you've been dreading.

3. The Read

I didn't start doing this until my books came out on audio and I had a listen. Though Elizabeth Norton, who narrates the series, does an amazing job bringing the characters to life, all I could hear when listening were unnecessary words and repetitive sentences. So I started The Read.

No, I don't mean read your manuscript. I know you have, one million times. However, squinting at you computer's bright screen, while you read and fix, fix and read, isn't reading. Print your manuscript, once your think it's ready for the next set of eyes, then get cozy and read it, not like an author, but like a reader. I'll even read it out loud to myself, just to catch odd story

movements, certain adverbs, and other unnecessary words. This part of the process might be my favorite as it involves me, a couch, and a variety of snacks. It's my license to be lazy.





Xoxo,
Mia

The Past Year

I know, I know. You thought I'd died since I haven't posted since the turn of the century. Surprise, I'm alive...clinically, at least.

I've had a bit of a rough, but rewarding year. It all started after my last birthday, when I took a test, one I didn't have to study for, and was graded with two pink lines, a plus if you will.

The nine months (although that's a lie, it's actually ten) that followed were just as "magical" as people claimed them to be. It certainly felt magical spending every morning hugging my new best friend, the toilette bowl. Along with the other "exciting" things that happens to your body, it turned out I lost my ability to write. The computer screen made me nauseated, the thought of cohesive storytelling boggled my mind, and I spent a lot of time bawling when someone mentioned my series, Sapphire, or the color blue. To be fair, I also once cried because I'd put mismatched socks on and realized I'd have to take one back off. Hormones are a b**ch, people.

When I finally started feeling better, I still couldn't dig myself out of the writing block, especially with Sapphire #4. I was burned out on characters I've always loved to write, and a plot I was previously very excited about. As time passed and my brain remained at a standstill, I started panicking. Not only did I have readers waiting for the next installment, but my deadline was approaching.
Finally, I spoke to my agent, who is not only exceptional at her job, but a very lovely person who takes human problems to heart. Long story short, she got me an extension.

Sometime during the end of my third trimester, the token finally dropped and I was able to write again. Between peeing every 30 minutes, trying to roll my whale-like butt out of bed, and eating Gardettos with watermelon, I wrote until my fingers bled. Days before I hit my due date, I got project X sent off to the agent, and was finally making substantial headway with Sapphire #4. I even asked my nurse if I could bring my laptop to the hospital and write while I waited for my little one's debut. She laughed...and laughed...and laughed.
In retrospect, I get it.
Since I don't want to show you a photo of myself at that time, I'll show you a picture of an actual whale and let your imagination do the rest.

I went through an array of highs and lows in the following weeks. Greeting my little girl was at the very top of the best-ever list, while having post-delivery complications and nearly bleeding to death was probably one of the less favorable moments. I'd put the experience somewhere between all my teen years combined, and that time I accidentally drank expired milk.

Nonetheless, you'll be happy to hear (or possibly very sad, depending on how you feel about the series) that I'm back on track and that Sapphire #4, officially known as SACRIFICING SAPPHIRE is

in the middle of its pre-publication process as we speak. Yay!



Xoxo,
Mia