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| Alaska, part 3: October 5, 2007 |
Photo credit Bonnie Cardone
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One of the highlights of Bouchercon this year was being installed as the
president of National Sisters in Crime. The "seal" of office is a stuffed
animal that is passed to the new president with a charm added from the
president stepping down. Now that we've completed a year of celebrating 20
years of opening doors for women crime writers, it's time to look ahead. See
www.sistersincrime.org
for more details.
After leaving Anchorage last Sunday, Lori
Avocato and I drove to the Kenai peninsula. Our first stop was in the
fishing village of Kenai, where we spoke to high school students at an
alternative high school. We were both so impressed with their friendliness,
courtesy, and willingness to engage in our mystery-writing brainstorming
exercise.
If we look a little
washed-out, it's because we hadn't had our cappuccino break yet. (No
kidding, they have coffee and home made cookies every afternoon, part of the
plan to treat the kids like humans policy. And it works!)
After those classes, we drove south to Homer, possibly the prettiest place
in America. We were a bit disappointed in
our wildlife sightings, having heard about flocks of eagles, along with
appearances of bear and moose in the back yard. Nevertheless, the welcome at
Homer High School was enthusiastic.
The teachers seemed so happy at this
school, we did wonder briefly about what's in the water. Not really but the
people who've chosen to live and work here absolutely love it.
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| Visiting Alaska: October 5, 2007 |
Visiting Alaska was a fantastic experience on many levels. I always enjoy visiting with other
writers and mystery lovers at Bouchercon. Here I am on the bike path in Anchorage with Jessica Speart and Lori Avocato.
And here are Marcia Talley, Charlaine Harris, Toni Kelner, and Troy Cook at the Berkley/Obsidian party—mmm, mmm, great food and lots of friends there:
And you always meet new friends at Bouchercon:
I’ll post more later. Still trying to get this new camera figured out.
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| Dizzy: My Head is Spinning! September 20, 2007 |
It's been a busy, busy, busy summer with no summer vacation involved. I
finished the draft of the third book in Rebecca Butterman's advice column
series, tentatively called LINE IN THE SAND. It may be an uphill battle for
that title, as it doesn't have any obvious connection to murder, death, or
mysteries. Now comes the part where my first readers read the manuscript and
I kick back. Or not.
On Wednesday, I'm off to Alaska for the
Bouchercon mystery convention. While
in Anchorage (barring a sudden coup), I'll be installed as the president of
National Sisters in Crime.
I'm very very excited about this organization and
the coming year so lots more to come on that. I'll also be participating in
a program called "Authors to the bush", in which mystery writers are sent to
schools around Alaska to talk to school children about writing. I'm headed
to Homer--lots of amazing scenery I'm told, but not too far into the "bush."
As they say in Alaska...well I don't know what they say in Alaska. I'll tell
you when I get home.
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When Bad Things Happen To Good Characters:
July 6, 2007 |
Several years ago I auctioned off the right to name a character in the first
book of my new series, DEADLY ADVICE, with the proceeds benefiting the
Scranton Library in Madison, CT. On the night of the auction, I described
what I knew about the character and reserved the right to tweak the name if
needed. The silent bidding was spirited. One of the participants, a local
man known for his charitable work in town and property management and
dog-sitting services, hovered around the table muttering. He really wanted
this character and hoped the price wouldn't get out of his range. Only after
he'd won the bid did he begin to worry that he might be pegged as the
murderer.
Since DEADLY ADVICE was in its early stages, I was able to design a
character that fit the man. Bernd Becker, in real life a native of
Switzerland who'd retired from the fast and furious New York City financial
world, became the handyman at my protagonist's condominium complex. Like the
real man, the fictional Bernd was a quiet but utterly reliable presence.
Rebecca Butterman reported this on page 206: "Hiring Bernd had been an
association high point: If the maintenance was left to the condo's
inhabitants, the place would fall down around our ears. Cliché, but he had
our complex ticking like a damn Swiss clock."
I was well into the draft of the second book in the series when I learned
that Bernd Becker had fallen ill. After a hard-fought battle with cancer, he
died in early June. Despite my dismay, I was happy to have captured a little
of his spirit in my book, and grateful that he lived to read it.
Bernd's memorial service took place in an old-fashioned church across from
the harbor in Stony Creek, CT. As Rebecca Butterman has been known to
comment, you can tell quite a bit about the person from the attendance at
their service. Bernd's was standing room only. Though family and friends
will miss him terribly, I'm honored to have Bernd Becker live on in the
series. And I don't THINK he would mind if some of the details of that
beautiful service turn up in a future book...
RIP Bernd
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| No Whine Zone: Writers Take Charge! June 6, 2007 |
The Writers Plot blog invited me as
their guest blogger recently. Here's what I said:
There's an awful lot of griping going on among writers about the publishing
industry lately, and I admit I've contributed my share. Did you see the
recent New York Times article reporting that because no one knows how to
predict what sells, the folks in charge guess madly (sometimes by attending
to a sizzle in their spines) and pay enormous advances to a few lucky
writers? And what about the decline of book review sections in newspapers?
Or the sudden incineration of entire mystery lines by some publishing
houses? And don't forget the article in the Times business section
today--Simon & Schuster will be selecting book proposals based on traders
buying shares with fantasy cash. Finding a publisher "American Idol"-style?
There is a lot of bad news. What's a writer to do?
When I find myself in a whining rut, it helps to remember that there are
thousands of people who'd KILL to be where I am. And when I talk to new
writers, I tell them what I tell myself: the publishing world is tough, so
focus on what you can control. Hone your skills, sharpen your priorities,
and then persist like a mad dog. (And my agent would add, if you can't
imagine how a book idea would be marketed, move on to something else.)
I attended a golf psychology workshop a few years ago in which the
psychologist leading the seminar suggested that our subconscious needs to be
engaged by specific goals. For example, if I dream of talking about my books
on the Today Show, I should pin up a photo of Matt and Meredith on my
bulletin board, maybe with an empty chair between them--for me of course. In
TELLING LIES FOR FUN AND PROFIT, Lawrence Block tells the story of how
Charles Schwab, president of US Steel, consulted an efficiency expert. He
wanted action fast. The expert told him to make a list every day of what
needed to be done, in order of importance. Then he was to work on the top
priority until it was done, then go on to number 2. That's something I can
control: putting my writing at the top of my list. I try to set specific
small goals, like writing 500 or 1000 words or two pages per day. As my
friend Hallie Ephron likes to say, writing 2 pages a day produces a book in
6 months. Doesn't that sound good?
As far as persistence goes, I will always remember a talk that Esther
Friesner gave at my local bookstore well before I was published. She said
lots of people with good ideas or even good books don¹t get published
because they give up. 150 million American adults say they want to write. 15
million begin to write. 1 million, 500 finish something. 150,000 submit
their work even once. 15,000 of those continue to submit until they make a
sale. I don't know where she got the numbers, but the idea makes a lot of
sense.
The most important part of surviving hard times for me is finding a
community that encourages networking and support. Mystery writers are
fortunate to have two strong organizations, the Mystery Writers of America
and the Sisters in Crime. My contacts with these folks have made all the
difference. I didn't know a soul when I started to write, but I've made
dozens of friends. If I whine a little too much, any one of them is happy to
nudge me along: just finish the dang blog entry and get back to work!
DEADLY ADVICE, the first in Roberta Isleib's new series, has been published
by Berkley Prime Crime, with PREACHING TO THE CORPSE to follow this
December. Read more at http://www.robertaisleib.com. Roberta is the national
VP of Sisters in Crime: celebrating 20 years of opening doors!
http://www.sistersincrime.org
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