The Watson Toe

I never thought of my feet as anything but my feet until I heard my nephew talking one day. He announced that one of his daughters has "the Watson toe."

Torn between rabid curiosity and half-afraid this was something bad, I leaned forward to ask more about it. My nephew claimed the Watson toe came to his kids by way of his mother, who is my sister, and we all started out with the maiden name of Watson, hence the Watson toe.

Instead of assuaging my curiosity, that bit of information fired up the dormant scientist in my brain. Were we talking genetics? Could I have it? I ripped off my shoes and studied my feet. Lo and behold, I had the Watson toe as well. (My foot is at 6 o'clock in the photo above.)

Now for those of you who are serious scientists, know that this is a localized term. There is no such scientific designation as the Watson toe, which is what we now call the second toe being longer than the first toe.

I found a study online in a scientific journal Ergonomics which measured toes in Caucasians, Koreans, and Asians. And if I understood what they said, Caucasians have a more rounded toe extension pattern than Koreans or Asians. Click over for yourself and have a gander at the phrasing: http://tinyurl.com/833myw5

Did you know there was such a thing as toe cleavage? That's the gap of toes that shows above the covered toe of a shoe, like a pump. I don't often let my toe cleavage show - do you?

Getting back to toe length - is your big toe or your second toe longer? Is that really determined by genetics?

Here's a point of view which says maybe. http://tinyurl.com/7sgej8e The upshot of this more readable article: genetics may play a role, but more than one gene is likely involved. Thank you, John MacDonald from the University of Delaware for thinking about this in such detail!

So much for toes.

I've had two smashing guest appearances elsewhere for my recent releases. If you haven't stopped in at Pat Stoltey's place to see my interview and my gardening hat, check it out at this permalink: http://bit.ly/GEXpRf . Also, Jane Richardson kindly hosted me for a One-Link Lowdown at her place and there's lots of great intel and dirt there. Here's that permalink: http://tinyurl.com/6mntyz7 This coming Friday, I'll be hanging out with Caroline Clemmons at her place(http://carolineclemmons.blogspot.com/)

Always a pleasure to see you at Mudpies. Y'all come back now, ya hear?

Maggie Toussaint
www.maggietoussaint.com

Ketchup is more than a vegetable

When my kids were little, we used to joke that ketchup was a vegetable. It's chock full of tomatoes, so it has to be healthy, right? Fast forward a few years and we move to the deep South. At one of our fav eat-out spots, they have a list of veggies in big letters right on the back of the cash registers. Get this, macaroni and cheese is a vegetable. So is rice. You gotta love the South!

Anyway, I have some catching up to do, hence the ketchup blog.

For anyone that missed the announcement, SEEING RED, my sweet romance about the bed and breakfast that's a huge money pit, is FREE this week/month at Smashwords as they promote reading e-books. Free, that's right. But you need a coupon code, so here it is:

MD44L and here's the link: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/41338 

In this book, Emma Heartly is desperately trying to get out of her dead end job, but her boss and sisters won't let her. Contractor Quentin Stone likes old Victorians and he's keen about the redhead too, so he volunteers to help her when her loan falls through. Expect construction mishaps and family drama in this full length book.

As the wheels of publishing turn at unequal rates, my "February" release of my hardcover title from Five Star / Cengage, DEATH, ISLAND STYLE, actually becomes live at Amazon and B&N on March 7. That's this Wednesday. You need to read this fun-in-the-sun book. It's gotten fab reviews from Publisher's Weekly, Kirkus, Library Journal, Romantic Times and more. MaryBeth reinvents herself as a craft store owner after the deaths of her husband and her mother, but her past isn't done with her. It catches up with her in the form of a dead guy in the surf, a guy the cops link to her. Yikes! She has to work fast to prove her innocence.

Besides 3 of the Big 4 reviewers taking a shine to this mystery, read this from a trending author:

"On the surface, Maggie Toussaint's "Death, Island Style," is a well-written, intricate, and satisfying cozy mystery with a charming setting and well-developed characters. Below the surface, it's an emotional but no less satisfying look at a woman's journey from heartbroken widow and grieving daughter to self-confident business woman and kick-ass heroine. It delivers on both counts, and will hopefully not be the last we see of MaryBeth Cashour and the people of Sandy Shores Island." Jennie Bentley, New York Times Bestselling Author

Thank you, Jennie Bentley. You are truly a Rock Star in my world.

And the publishing wheels revolve again, this time to my zany cozy mystery, MURDER IN THE BUFF, an ebook-only mystery from Muse It Up which releases this Friday, March 9. Holy Murgatroid, Batman. Two books releasing in one week! What was I thinking?

Murder is about wronged Molly Darter, a reporter who caught her husband doing a tonsil check of her sister. Her boss makes her go to the nudist colony for a story and the nudists insist that one of their own was murdered. Molly doesn't want to help them, but certain photos push her into sniffing around. There's a slobbery dog, a precocious boy-child, a determined husband, a boss with secrets, and a whole lot more. Plus this book very affordable. Here's a link you might find useful on Friday (to buy) or today just to nose around. Muse It Up Publishing

I've got two signings coming up this month. One on Sunday, March 18 and another on Saturday, March 31. Local folks will get postcards with more info. If you aren't on my mailing list - you need to be! Email me for more info maggie@maggietoussaint.com

In the upcoming weeks, I have guest posts to promo the books, and I'll post a link at mudpies in case folks want to click over. There are excerpts for all my books at my site www.maggietoussaint.com.

Whew! That was a lot of Ketchup. I've fulfilled my vegetable requirements for the week.

Maggie Toussaint

all formatting errors are mine and mine alone. blogger hates me.

What's in your newsletter?

A key part of becoming a brand name is regularly sending out information of interest to customers. In the realm of authors, a newsletter is an essential tool to connect with your readership and to keep them apprised of news in your world. Here are ten easy tips to get you started.

1. Use a template. Having a standardized format for content delivery helps ensure you don’t omit important information. Select a name for your newsletter that is recognizable. It can be as simple as “News from Maggie Toussaint” or you might take a different slant like my friend, JL Wilson, whose newsletter is titled, “As the author learns.” Decide upon a font and determine the number of columns. For longer newsletters, page numbers and table of contents are helpful features. Images engage readers, so sprinkle them liberally throughout the newsletter.

2. Start with a brief personal message. A greeting at the start of a newsletter sets the tone, personalizing the message and engaging the recipient immediately. Seeing their name in the newsletter gives you another moment of reader interest and creates the impetus to keep  reading. Many utilities offer this personalization feature, or you can create a simple macro to plug the names into the space after “Dear”. Alternately, a global word such as “friends” might be employed for the less technologically savvy.

3. Deliver your news. Tell what’s new in your world. If you have a new book coming out, announce it here. Engage the reader with details and heighten the anticipation. Provide an update on your current books to ensure readers have a second chance to learn about them. Highlight any recent success of former books, such as a contest win, which helps readers feel good about their purchases.

4. Announce your appearance schedule. Booksigingings, talks to local groups, conferences, online activities (blogs, chats, workshops) are of interest to your readership. Remember to point out any media appearances on radio or TV. Provide links to interviews in print media and ezines. If you have an upcoming blog tour, mention stops on that tour and provide links.

5. Expand your focus to the larger picture. Provide a value-added bonus for your readers by sharing interesting insider information. Topics might include market news, bookstore news, e-readers, an interview with an industry professional (agent, editor, bookseller), etc.

6. Offer your opinion. This could be tied in with the larger picture, but it should be clearly labeled as your opinion. By taking a stand on a market-related issue, you have another chance to connect personally with readers and become viewed as an expert. The goal here is to win readers and not alienate them.

7. Include an article about author’s life. Readers want to know how authors get their ideas, how they write, how much they write and so on. You might illustrate a point of research or highlight a marketing hook on your upcoming book release to keep the focus on your new product. Alternately, this section might list your recent blog subjects with permalinks to the original posts.

8. Offer a glimpse into the products you use/read. If you’ve read or reviewed a good book lately, let your readers know. This helps further establish you as an expert in your field.

9. Share an unrelated interest. If you actively help a cause, such as Brenda Novak’s work with multiple sclerosis, a brief mention is appropriate. Alternately, if you have an amusing pet or hobby or love to cook, this is a good place to mention it in an engaging way. The idea is to continue to engage the reader, to further establish you as a friend.

10. Provide contact information. Make sure you give readers a way to connect with you. You could limit this to an email address, but in this day of social connectivity, providing your user names for Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Goodreads, and other social media will help you stay connected to readers between newsletters. At a minimum, include your website and blog addy.

Above all, your newsletter should reflect who you are as a writer and a person. Keeping in mind that no one has time to read an encyclopedia, ensure your content is written in an engaging style and is to the point. There is no gold standard for length in newsletters, though shorter is perceived as better from the sense that readers will read the whole thing. If you find you have ten pages of content for a quarterly issue, consider putting out a one-pager every month.

Your goal as a newsletter writer is to provide value and drive product interest. A good newsletter will appeal to the senses and keep them coming back for more.

Maggie Toussaint

mystery and romance author

Death, Island Style and Murder in the Buff coming in March

www.maggietoussaint.com