When I got a two-book contract after having written only a single book in my romantic suspense series, I found myself presented with several problems. First: a deadline. After all, I’d taken forever to write the first book, and I couldn’t do that with the second. And second, I had to remember everything from the first book so that I […]
We all know that in a mystery the most obvious suspect, the first “person of interest,” isn’t always the culprit. The same is true of pretty much every aspect of publishing. There’s a lot—and I mean a lot—of debate, acrimony, and bad information out there about what you can or should expect, or what you’ll be doing as an author
If you’re not checking your chapter website regularly, then you’re not MWAing the right way. But you’re here now, so that’s good. If you’re not also following your chapter on Facebook and Twitter and Yahoo, then you’re not MWAing the right way. If you’re not taking advantage of as many organization benefits as possible (see this list here), then you’re
You probably figured it out in grade school: Hey, waitaminute, Ms. Prisco only works ’til three in the afternoon. And then she’s got summers off. Ain’t that swell! Teachers sure got it easy. Then when you attended college, this idea was magnified: Say, wouldn’t it be peachy just to teach for an hour or two a day — you’d have
I’m sure all the writers out there have been asked some variation of this question: Why did you become a writer? And I’m sure we’ve all given thoughtful answers. I know I’ve given my share of what I believed were honest answers and hoped were interesting ones, too. But when I really think about this question, the most honest answer
Recently, and for no particular reason, I tried to remember the first crime or mystery book I ever read. Since I am a woman of a certain age, it was, of course, a Nancy Drew book. I couldn’t recall which book, but I did remember my childhood thrill at being on a dark and stormy adventure with the girl sleuth.
Beatdown: 1.) an emphatic or overwhelming defeat 2.) a violent physical beating Last week the Internet surged with stories of a young adult book that mysteriously hit the Number One spot on the sacrosanct New York Times YA best-seller list. After an investigation pursued by young adult authors and bloggers, the New York Times book review staff removed the suspect
True confession time: I recently read A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, by Betty Smith, for the first time. That’s kind of embarrassing for a writer whose whole series takes place in Brooklyn neighborhoods and has an underlying theme of “What changes in Brooklyn and what doesn’t.” I don’t know how I missed it in my bookworm youth and I’m not
You can’t sell Lord Peter Wimsey to a classroom full of millennials. I’m sorry. You. Just. Cannot. Even A.C. Doyle’s “Silver Blaze,” with which I begin my survey course on mystery fiction, is met with cries of “What’s in it for me?” and “It’s just not relatable” (the latter a neologism I cordially despise). Or as Edmund Wilson would have
For most of us, it’s hard enough to squeeze in writing time. Participating in a writing workshop may seem like an extravagance that distracts from our writing output, but the occasional workshop can yield interesting insights.
