GRANDMOTHERS, INCORPORATED LAST BLOG POST

Okay Readers, and anyone else who might be interested, we're hanging it up.  We've been blogging for years , but we've decided that we have to concentrate our efforts in other areas that will garner more interest.  So those of you who have read our post, we hope that you've enjoyed them. Anyone else who comes here, please check out the GRANDMOTHERS, INCORPORATED cozy book series on Smashwords.com and Amazon.com, because we will continue writing.  CLICK ON any of the COVERS on this blog and read samples of our work.

Don't forget to visit our website at www.grandmothers.com.   THANK YOU FOR THE SUPPORT.

Evans and Rhodes

A NEW LOOK FOR GRANDMOTHERS, INCORPORATED

We almost missed posting this month, but here it is.  After nearly a decade of strutting our stuff on the same website, we decided to move to another host and a new website design.  The website name hasn't changed.  It's still   www.grandmothersinc.com .  So, we invite you to CLICK ON the website link and check out our new look.  Hope you like it!  

GRANDMOTHERS, INCORPORATED GOES TO DETROIT!

The Cast of Grandmothers, Incorporated (left to right-seated) Carol Wotring (Bea Bell) Marianne Shrader (Chevron Harris), Erin Ann Disante (Hattie Collier), (left to right-standing), Mary Stelmark (Connie Palmer), Patricia O'Brien (Director) and Sheila Wade Kneeshaw (Fanny Collier)


The Theatre Arts Club of Detroit presented Grandmothers, Incorporated, the play, on March 15th and 16th at the Players Club in Detroit, Michigan and it was quite a show. Produced by Lisa Lechniak, and directed by Patricia O'Brien , the play was presented to two nights of full houses and was well received.

The ladies of Grandmothers, Incorporated in action

In the Two Act play, the ladies of Grandmothers, Incorporated go to an isolated cabin in the woods for a  weekend of peace and quiet and, unexpectedly, encounter a notorious drug dealer hiding in the cabin.  The result is less than peaceful or quiet, but it is hilarious.  Grandmothers, Incorporated, written by Evans and Rhodes, authors of the popular cozy mystery novels of the same title, made its debut in  Off Broadway in 2010 at the Billie Holiday Theatre, and enjoyed a successful run.  The Theatre Arts Club (TAC) is a Michigan non-profit organization established in 1910 as an all women's theatre group.  The TAC produces two shows a season, and Evans and Rhodes are glad that Grandmothers, Incorporated was one of them.  We attended one of the performances and had a blast with the ladies.

If you know of a theatre group that might be interested in producing Grandmothers, Incorporated, drop Evans and Rhodes a line at grandmothersinc50@yahoo.com.

2019 - MONTH 3 - Ebook Week Sale March 3-9

The 10th Annual
Smashwords Read an Ebook Week Sale!

March 3, 2019 - March 9, 2019

Welcome to the 10th annual Smashwords Read an Ebook Week sale!  For the these seven days only, thousands of Smashwords authors and publishers will offer readers exclusive discounts on their ebooks.

Evans and Rhodes will offer the newest title in its Grandmothers, Incorporated cozy book series, WHOSE KNIFE IS IT ANYWAY, for 50% Off, that's only $1.50.  So if you've enjoyed the other hilarious books in our book series, be sure to go to Smashwords.com, or better yet simply click on the book cover on this blog and purchase WHOSE KNIFE IS IT ANYWAY?

In WHOSE KNIFE IS IT ANYWAY? the amateur sleuths, Bea, Hattie and Connie become embroiled in a case of "real murder" this time.

When the ladies of Grandmothers, Incorporated are trapped in the woods with a group of feuding church ladies they wonder is a killer lurking in their midst?  It's another round of belly laughs as the ladies embark on a desperate search to discover the guilty culprit in WHOSE KNIFE IS IT ANYWAY?

Of course don't forget the other three books in the series, Grandmothers, Incorporated, Saving Sin City and There's Something Wrong with Miss Zelda.  Buy them if you want to laugh until you cry.

2019- MONTH 2 - A GRANDMOTHERS, INCORPORATED PRODUCTION

Lights!  Action!  But no cameras, not for this production of the stage play Grandmothers, Incorporated, by Evans and Rhodes. The play will be presented in Detroit, Michigan in March 2019.  What a nice way to enjoy the third month of the year.

Grandmothers, Incorporated, the play, features the characters from the Grandmothers Incorporated book series, Bea, Hattie, Connie and Miss Fannie.  Of course the storyline is totally different than that in any of the novels, but it's still funny.  In the Two Act play the ladies go on a weekend outing only to come across a notorious drug dealer hiding in the remote cabin in which they are staying.  The results are hilarious, because as readers of our novels know the ladies back down from nothing!

Grandmothers, Incorporated, the play, made its debut in 2010 Off Broadway at the Billie Holiday Theatre, and it was a hit.  It was even held over.  There's no doubt that a good time will be had by all at the Detroit production. 

2019- MONTH 1 - NEW YEAR, NEW DETERMINATION

It’s a new year and with it comes a new effort to write at least a blog a month.  Maybe it doesn’t sound like a big deal to most, but when you’re busy writers with multi-projects going on, then finding the time to keep up with a blog can be a Herculean task, but it’s nothing the creators ladies of the Grandmothers Incorporated cozy mystery series can’t handle--we hope.

Last year was a major one for Evans and Rhodes.  L. Barnett Evans successfully produced a play she wrote.  C.V. Rhodes won a national Play Festival contest with a new play she wrote and earned a trip to Florida.  Yes, 2018 turned out to be quite a year for both of us and this year looks as though it will be just as exciting.

The year 2019 will open with a production of the play, Grandmothers, Incorporated, written by Evans and Rhodes.  The play will be presented in March in Detroit, Michigan.  Evans and Rhodes will begin a speaking tour this year, touting their success in turning the characters in their cozy mystery novels into stage characters, and encouraging everyone to follow their dreams and to live their best lives.  In addition, we will be turning our writing talents to developing another mystery series which should be released in the near future.  We may provide more information on that development in this blog over the next few months.  We’ll see.  Meanwhile, we continue to collect new ideas for the next adventure for the ladies of Grandmothers, Incorporated.   Yes, 2019 should be quite productive.  We’re looking forward to sharing it with you!

2018 - MONTH 12 - Mission Accomplished!

We did it!  Evans and Rhodes completed all twelve months of this year with blog posts.  The time seemed to just fly this year, or maybe so much has happened during this time that everything was a blur.

Earlier this year L. Barnett Evans produced a One Act play for a Fringe Play Festival.  She wrote the work, titled Take My Hand ,and it enjoyed a successful run even during a snowstorm.  C.V. Rhodes wrote a Two Act play titled, The Diary of Annie Mae Franklin.  It won the American Stage Theatre’s 21st Century Voices New Play Festival for 2018.  The work will get a staged reading and a chance for a regional production.  Meanwhile, the latest cozy mystery by Evans and Rhodes, Whose Knife is it Anyway, continues to sell.  Our Grandmothers, Incorporated cozy mystery series does especially well on Smashwords.com, particularly outside the United States.  Perhaps we’ll explore the reasons for this in an upcoming blog.

Evans and Rhodes are in negotiations now with a theatre in Detroit, Michigan for the Midwest debut of our Two Act play, Grandmothers, Incorporated.  So the year 2018 ends on a high note.  It pays to be versatile writers..Let’s see what we come up with in 2019!

2018 - MONTH 11 -GRATITUDE FOR ACCOMPLISHMENTS

Often when writers are working we have tunnel vision.  All we see is what’s in front of us until its completion.  We want to get our creation written, completed and out to the public.  After that it’s about promoting the work so that it sells.  After that, it’s on to the next project.  That’s how it has been with Grandmothers, Incorporated.  Over the years, we’ve written four books in the series and we’re proud of that fact.

There have been other areas of which we should be proud, but more of less have taken for granted, not reveling in the accomplishments.   Maybe we’ve been too busy to acknowledge them.  Characters from the Grandmothers, Incorporated novels have been featured in two plays, the Two Act, aptly titled Grandmothers, Incorporated and in the One Act play, Stakeout.  Both productions were successful.

The titles from our book series have received great reviews.  When the book Grandmothers, Incorporated was released years ago, it received two on-line awards as best cozy mystery, but as busy authors we didn’t take the time to savor those honors.  We simply moved on to writing the next book.  We’ve spoken at Book Clubs, at Conferences and we’ve conducted Workshops and the positive reception has always been heartening.  Yet, we as authors rarely took the time to enjoy the compliments, because the next book was on our minds.

Now, in this 11th blog of the year--the month in which we celebrate Thanksgiving— the writing duo of Evans and Rhodes is taking the time to review all of those accomplishments and blessings that have come our way as the result of the Grandmothers, Incorporated cozy mystery series, and we are grateful. 

2018 - MONTH 10 - Grandmothers, Incorporated goes Women's Lit

We've added another label to our categories for the Grandmothers Incorporated cozy mystery series.  That label is Women's Lit.  According to a definition on Google "Women's fiction is an umbrella term for women centered books that focus on women's life experience that are marketed to female readers, and includes many mainstream novels. It is distinct from Women's writing, which refers to literature written by (rather than promoted to) women."

Alright, we'll buy that.  The Grandmothers, Incorporated series focuses on three women--four if you count Miss Fanny.  Each of the women in the series is "sixty something"-- again, except for Miss Fanny, who is "eighty something"--so they definitely have experienced a lot of life.  Women's Lit is marketed to female readers.  There's no doubt that mostly women purchase the books in our series, but we accept greenbacks from any gender.  We don't discriminate.  We've sold our novels to quite a few men, young and old.  As for the words mainstream novels. back to Goggle for a definition.

"Mainstream Fiction Is Any Novel That Sells Well. According to this first definition, any novel, whether genre or literary, which attracts a wide audience and sells in large numbers is a mainstream novel."  

Bingo!  So we're making it official.  Mini Musings is proud to announce the addition of the Grandmothers Incorporated cozy mystery series as  part of the Women's Lit label.  Now all that remains is to see what's next for our ladies!

MONTH 9 - TRYING TO KEEP UP

Okay, so we tried to upload a video on this blog promoting our latest title, WHOSE KNIFE IS IT ANYWAY? Guess what? No such luck. Yes, we're disappointed, but what can you do? Either you're tech savvy or you're not. There is a way readers can see the Grandmothers, Incorporated videos.  Go to YouTube and type in Grandmothers Incorporated Adventures.  All of our book promotion videos are there including the latest one for WHOSE KNIFE IS IT ANYWAY.  Who knows, maybe we'll become savvy enough to put one of them on the blog in the near future.  We keep trying.

Meanwhile, we're busy gathering material for a new mystery novel  Everywhere we go we come up with ideas that could put our ladies in hilarious situations.  Mackinac Island, a quaint island in Northern Michigan looks like it might be the next candidate for one of their adventures.  It's isolated.  The only way to get there is by ferry.  No motor vehicles are allowed on the island.  Either you walk or ride a bike to get around,  and rumor has it that there are areas  on the island that might be haunted.  Sounds like the perfect place for a Grandmothers, Incorporated Adventure, doesn't it?

Mackinac Island, Michigan

MONTH 8 - GRANDMOTHERS INCORPORATED SERIES SALE CONTINUES

The July Summer Sale on Smashwords.com went so well for the Grandmothers, Incorporated book series that we decided to celebrate! For the rest of 2018 Grandmothers, Incorporated, Saving Sin City and There's Something Wrong with Miss Zelda will be on sale for .99, as well as From the Stage to the Page.

Of course we can't give all of the books in our fabulous cozy book series away.  Our latest novel  Whose Knife is it Anyway will still be the same low price, but click on any of the links below and read a sample of the book you want to purchase.  Happy Reading!  

 

Grandmothers, Incorporated

www.smashwords.com/books/view/85519

 

Saving Sin City

www.smashwords.com/books/view/111068

There's Something Wrong with Miss Zelda  

www.smashwords.com/books/view/344422

 Whose Knife is it Anyway

  www.smashwords.com/books/view/720349

AND 

From the Stage to the Page

www.smashwords.com/books/view/535997

 

2018 - MONTH 7: GRANDMOTHERS, INCORPORATED Titles on SALE at 50% OFF THROUGH JULY

The 10th Annual Smashwords Summer/Winter Sale Runs July 1-31

The biggest sale of the year at Smashwords has begun!

From July 1 through July 31, you'll find deals on all of the GRANDMOTHERS, INCORPORATED titles in the 10th annual Smashwords Summer/Winter Sale.

ALL TITLES FOR .99 cents

Including 

THE 4th BOOK  

in the hilarious
 GRANDMOTHERS INCORPORATED
Book Series!

  

by L. Barnett Evans and  C.V. Rhodes 

That's what Bea, Hattie and Connie want to know as the amateur sleuths become embroiled in a case of "real" murder this time. 

When the ladies of Grandmothers, Incorporated  are trapped in the woods with a group of feuding church ladies, they wonder is a killer lurking in their midst?  

It's another round of bell laughs as the ladies embark on a desperate search to discover WHOSE KNIFE is it ANYWAY?

 READ A SAMPLE and PURCHASE 

at

www.smashwords.com/books/view/720349

 

Visit us on the web at: www.grandmothersinc.com

2018 - MONTH 6 - busy! Busy! BUSY!

Busy is the only word that can be used for all that has happened during the month of June.  Evans and Rhodes have been busy getting ready for a major Book Festival held on June 16th. Both authors were asked not only to sell our novels, but to speak at the event.  L. Barnett Evans ended the Book Festival with the reading of Excerpts from her recently produced play, Take My Hand.

C.V. Rhodes served as the keynote speaker at the Festival.  The title of the speech was "Follow Your Dreams, but Take Care of Your Business".  Since Evans and Rhodes are both authors and playwrights, in that speech important suggestions were made for those who aspire to  become writers. 

If you choose to follow these suggestions, no matter what type of  creative artists one might, remember that your work is valuable.  Know your worth.  Live your dreams, but take care of your business.

    SUGGESTIONS FOR CREATIVE ARTISTS

                                   

·        Copyright your work (own your work in case of future disputes) Go on line to the U.S. Copyright Office Official site and register your work.  It cost $35 to $85.

·        Have an attorney review contracts ask questions regarding what you don’t understand on those contracts (Legal Shield membership will provide such services)

·        Playwrights, you own your work and when a producer wants to put your play up all you are doing is giving permission for that producer to do your work for a limited time.  You should receive rights and royalty monies.  Every time that play hits the stage you should receive royalty money.  Never give permission for a producer to do your work without a written contract.

·        Authors when you get a book contract, even if you have an agent, you should understand every right that you’re giving up, especially your digital rights (ebooks, audio books, streaming of any kind anything to projects your rights for the future ).  Giving up too much for too long can cost you.

·        If you’re an author with a publishing contract, (whether you have an author or not) learn how to read a Royalty Statement (question anything that looks suspicious, be willing to challenge the publisher regarding it)

·        Playwrights and Authors know how much you’re willing to give away to get produced or published

2018 - MONTH 5 - THE WRITING ADVENTURE CONTINUES

L. Barnett Evans' One Act play, Take My Hand,  enjoyed a successful run at the Indy Fringe Onyx Festival. Who knows where it will go from there.  Meanwhile,  Evans and Rhodes are  scouting locations for other exciting adventures  for the characters in our Grandmothers, Incorporated book series. 

Recently, we had the pleasure of visiting Mackinac Island in Michigan, a picturesque island that can only be accessed by ferry or boats and on which the only motor vehicles allowed are for emergencies.  The major transportation on the island is by horse drawn carriages, bicycles or foot.  It's quite a charming place and a perfect setting for our ladies from. Grandmothers, Incorporated to  relax and get into mischief.

The Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island

The Grand Hotel is a stately place for excitement to happen on the island.  Every year the hotel recruits employees from around the world to work for this impressive hotel during the summer season.  What an exciting place this would make for cozy mystery mayhem.  

In doing our research regarding using this island as a possible backdrop  for our next Grandmothers, Incorporated adventure, we took a horse and carriage tour of the island and the tour guide mentioned that there were places on Mackinac that were haunted.  Bingo!  That stoked the imaginations of Evans and Rhodes! Of course we went to the island library to find out more about the spots that might be haunted on the island and the librarians informed us that the whole darn island was haunted.  One of the librarians had even lived in one of the old haunted apartment buildings!  

What more is there to be said? The ladies of Grandmothers, Incorporated more than likely will end up invading Mackinac Island in the near future. We just don't know when!

2018 - MONTH 4 - THE PLAYWRIGHT WRITERS

Most of the readers of our Grandmothers, Incorporated book series may not know it, but L. Barnett Evans and C.V. Rhodes aren't only authors of one of the funniest cozy mystery series around, but both of us are playwrights.  If you check our website out at www.grandmothersinc.com you will see that we've written two plays together.  The first one, Grandmothers, Incorporated, is a Two Act comedy based on the characters from our book of the same name, and it enjoyed a successful run Off Broadway.  The second play we co-wrote was Stakeout, a One Act Comedy.  It was one of the Top Ten Grossing plays in the 2014 Indy Fringe Play Festival.  

Evans and Rhodes not only write the book series and write plays together, but we also write plays and novels separately.  Last year, both of our individual plays, The Diary of Annie Mae Franklin and Take My Hand, were selected to be read at the prestigious National Black Theatre Festival in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. 

During the month of April, L. Barnett Evans' One Act play, Take My Hand,  enjoyed a successful run at the Indy Fringe Onyx Festival. It was a hit!  Here is L. Barnett Evans below addressing an overflow audience!



So, the writing continues for both of us.  Look for the next Evans and Rhodes writing adventure.  Who knows what it will be!! 

2018 - Month 3 - ANNUAL BOOK SALE

We're excited about the 9th Annual Read an Ebook Week Sale!  Starting March 4 - March 10, 2018 each of the books in the Grandmothers, Incorporated cozy book series will be on sale at Smashwords.

Grandmother's Incorporated, Saving Sin City, There's Something Wrong with Miss Zelda and From the Page to the Stage will each be on sale for only .99 cents!  Our latest novel Whose Knife is it Anyway will cost only $1.50.  Simply go to Smashwords.com, and apply the coupon provided at checkout so that you can purchase your favorite titles.  Better yet, read the entire series!    

You'd better hurry, because the sale only last a week!  Until next time...

2018 - MONTH 2 and COUNTING!

Yes!  we're on top of this.  It's February and we remembered to post this month.  Just for an update Whose Knife is it Anyway is still rolling along.  The authors have a Book Club presentation in March and the discussion will center around Whose Knife is it Anyway?  We're looking forward to that.

The first draft of our mystery trilogy is finished, and it's a good story, even if we have to say so ourselves.  If we keep on schedule the first book in the trilogy is on point to be released later this year.  We hope to give readers of this blog a sneak preview of the heart pounding excitement soon.

The play L. Barnett Evans wrote and is producing titled Take My Hand:  A Blue's Man's Path to Gospel will open in March 2018.  As stated in last month's blog, Take My Hand... is the riveting story of gospel legend, Thomas Dorsey.  Take My Hand:  A Blue's Man's Path to Gospel enjoyed a reading at the prestigious National Black Theatre Festival in Winston-Salem, North Carolina in August 2017 and received rave reviews.

C.V. Rhodes is still busy trying to get her latest play, The Diary of Annie Mae Franklin, produced by theatres, however, she should be releasing Someone Like You, the second book in her Stillwaters Book Series, in 2018.  In addition, she should be releasing the third edition of her romantic suspense novel, Sinful Intentions this year.  February is turning out to be a good month.  Until next time...

2018 Month 1 and Counting!

We're trying to keep our commitment to post every month in 2018 and although we barely made this month, we're here! Whose Knife is it Anyway is doing well. It's available on Amazon.com and Smashwords.com. However things have been crazy for both of the Grandmothers, Incorporated creators ! 

L. Barnett Evans and C.V. Rhodes have finished the first draft of the first book in the trilogy of new mysteries we're working on.  This trilogy will not be a cozy mystery series, or connected with the Grandmothers, Incorporated series.  It's heart pounding excitement this time, but we'll be posting more on that later. 

L. Barnett Evans is producing a play she wrote titled  Take My Hand:  A Blue's Man's path to Gospel.  It's the riveting story of gospel legion, Thomas Dorsey.  C.V. Rhodes is busy trying to get her latest play, The Diary of Annie Mae Franklin produced by theatres and that's an ongoing process.  Finding time for all of this is a miracle, but we manage.  Until next time...

A HOLIDAY END OF YEAR BOOK SALE

Okay!  We confess!  We haven't updated our blog since July 2017 and it's now December.  Our bad.  We truly hope to do better in 2018!  We are still here and the latest installment in our Grandmothers Incorporated book series, WHOSE KNIFE IS IT ANYWAY, is doing well.  Our three amateur sleuths are still kicking butt and solving crimes!  As the year ends we would like to offer Ebook readers another generous discount offer on the SMASHWORDS.COM book website.

The SMASHWORDS 2017 END OF YEAR SALE will run from Christmas Day, December 25 through January 1st, New Years Day.  Three books in the Grandmothers Incorporated cozy mystery book series, Saving Sin City, There's Something Wrong with Miss Zelda and Whose Knife Is It Anyway will be offered at 50% off.

To  purchase any one of the four Grandmothers Incorporated books in the series simply click on the book cover on this blog and it will take you  to Smashwords.com.  Starting December 25, 2017, use the special Coupon Code for the book you want to purchase at discount and receive 50% off your purchase!  The offer ends at midnight on January 1st.

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!  

BOOK SALE IS ON FOR THE SUMMER!!

It's summer in the Northern Hemisphere and winter in the Southern Hemisphere, which can mean only one thing: It's time for the 9th annual SMASHWORDS SUMMER/WINTER SALE!

From JULY 1st through JULY 31st the following books in the Grandmothers, Incorporated Cozy Mystery Book Series: 

Saving Sin City

There's Something Wrong with Miss Zelda

and the latest release

Whose Knife is it Anyway?

WILL BE ON SALE for 50% OFF

Simply go to Smashwords.com, look up any of the books above and type in the code SSW50 to purchase any of the titles above, and remember that the title, Grandmothers, Incorporated, can always be purchased on Smashwords at its usual affordable price.

Until next time...