writing life

I  participated in National Novel Writing Month for the second time. Last year, I had the first half of a book written and I used NaNo as a motivation to quickly finish the second half. I was successful in doing that. This year, I had an outline and a first chapter of the next Jackson story, but I’d been out of new-story writing mode for a long time, so I signed up for NaNo as a motivation to write a good chunk of the book. Read more

In a post about how e-books are changing the publishing industry, Timothy Hallinan, author of the highly acclaimed Poke Rafferty series, said: “I’m writing two books I don’t even plan to try to sell through the usual channels; they’ll go direct to readers. I have a list of a dozen more I want to write. It feels as though I’ve been cooped up in a small room for years and the walls suddenly fell down. There’s space to swing my arms. I don’t have to reject exciting ideas because they’re not ideas I can sell.” Read more

I taught my first workshop on Sunday at the Willamette Writers Conference in Portland. And actually got paid. My first paid gig as a speaker! It’s a small thing, yet I feel like I’ve hit a new level as a writer. How it will translate into future success remains to be seen. I got terrific feedback on the workshop, titled Your First Draft Doesn’t Have to Suck and based on blogs I’ve posted Read more

Have you set aside a novel in progress because it was just too hard to write at that point in time? I just did. The futuristic thriller is on hold and I’m back to working on the fifth book in my Detective Jackson series. I feel so relieved.  I still plan to write THE ARRANGER (set in 2023), but I’m not in the right space to do it now.

It’s hard for me to admit something is too challenging, but that’s the truth of this situation. Because I’m still a full-time freelance editor, Read more

I’ve had a terrific couple of weeks as upcoming writer, and I have to make note of the positive things because there can be many setbacks in between. Here’s my feel-good news.

• A  store clerk recognized my name and said, “You’re the author…” Then she started talking about Detective Jackson like he was a real person and went on to quote lines from SECRETS TO DIE FOR. My heart about burst. Read more

And the winner is…Carol M who “loves mysteries.” Congratulations! E-mail me with your address. Thank you, everyone, for participating and for the supportive comments. If you’re curious how authors randomly pick a name from a bunch of blog comments and e-mails, here’s how I do it: I copy and past all the comments into a Word document, then print it, then cut the comments into equal-size strips and fold them into squares. I put all the entrants into a bowl and let my husband draw one. Read more

In the course of writing a novel, you have to come up with at least 15 names, possibly as many as 40, depending on the genre. Police procedurals (my current genre), with lots of suspects and neighbors to interview require an endless stream of names. For minor characters, I often go with whatever pops into my mind. Sometimes, it works out and sometimes not so much. Read more

I interviewed Sergeant Kathy Flynn who supervises the violent crimes detectives in the Eugene Police department. The first interview was interrupted by a homicide scene. (Scroll down for that story!) But I went back later and heard some interesting stories, so I thought  I would share.

Eugene only averages two or three homicides a year, but that doesn’t make the job of the police any less dangerous. Read more

As I opened my e-mail this morning and read through the new mystery list-serv postings, the theme was “July Reads.” At first I thought, I could post about this. Then I realized it wouldn’t be much of an offering. I didn’t actually finish a single book last month. I started several but lost interest and put them down. (More about that phenomenon tomorrow.) But I don’t lack for novels to read. I have a huge TBR pile.

For me, the worst thing about being a novelist is the lack of time to read novels! Before I started writing novels, I read at least one or two books a week. Now I feel lucky if I can read 10 novels a year. And it kills me. Especially when I meet other mystery/crime authors. I’d love to be able to say, “I read your new novel and I loved it.” But most of the time, I haven’t read any of their work.

I don’t know how to get around this. I’ve given up what little TV that I used to watch and that has helped some. But still, working as an editor, writing new novels, promoting my published novel, online networking, and spending time with family uses up almost every minute of every day. And the only one of those activities that I’d give up voluntarily is my editing job. (But then I’d end up homeless.) So not having enough fiction reading time is a painful sacrifice I have to make, and I don’t see that changing any time soon.

As a novelist, I read fiction differently now too. The author’s choices (POV, pacing, foreshadowing, syntax) are always present. It’s much harder to simply be absorbed into a story and transported away for hours the way I used to. Sometimes I think that being an avid reader (back in the day) was more fun than being a novelist. But there’s no going back. I am a storyteller now; it defines me.