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Showing posts from March, 2008

Visiting With a Book Club and Ghost Writing

The Fresno Newcomer's Book Club ordered a book for each of its members with an invitation for me to come to the meeting where they would discuss the book. The book in question was my latest Deputy Tempe Crabtree mystery, Judgment Fire . The meeting was held in a beautiful home in a newer section of Fresno. The women, for the most part, weren't quite as old as I am, but came close. Several told me they loved the book. They had plenty of questions about the book and about me. I visited with them for nearly two hours and enjoyed every minute of it. Though I have another Deputy Tempe Crabtree mystery about half done, right now I've been busy on a ghost writing project. Though I can't tell you much about it, what I can say is that the book is something I've never attempted before and has required quite a bit of research. I've ghost written other projects, a couple of autobiographys and a fantasy. What's interesting about ghost writing is it belongs to the person

Hanford Branch, Kings County Library

Thursday night I gave a talk at the Kings County Library in Hanford. But let me begin with what happened the day before. I received a call from the librarian telling me that a TV station would like to interview me. I was to go to Fresno (an hour and 45 minute drive from where I live) to the TV station and be there by 6 a.m. It would be locked so I was to knock on the side door. The interview would be 6 minutes long. Did I go? No. If I'd gotten up in time to do that--around 3 a.m., by the time the library talk rolled around I'd have been incoherent. Sometimes I'm smart enough to realize my limitations, and this was one of those times. My daughter-in-law agreed to go with me and drive (I hate driving after dark in places I'm not familiar with). We used the Magellan to tell us where the library was, it did--one of the world's modern miracles--then we found a restaurant to eat dinner before my gig. It was a lovely Italian restaurant--but the prices were a bit high so we

Writers of Kern

Probably by now you've guessed I belong to a lot of writers groups. Three chapters of Sisters in Crime, Mystery Writers of America, Epic, Public Safety Writers Association...and I also belong to Writers of Kern which is part of California Writers Club. I was fortunate to be one of the guest speakers at their conference this last Saturday. Hubby and I got up at 5 a.m. so we could leave by 6:30 to arrive at the starting time of 8 a.m. This was a small group with lots of familiar faces. The first speaker was Mike Russo of Russo's Books in Bakersfield. He described the dismal state of the book business. The next to speak was a poet who talked about creating poetry. My turn came and my topic was "Plot or Character, which is most important in Mystery?" Of course they are both important. I had a great time telling them why I thought each one was important. Last to speak was Steve Mettee, the publisher of Quill Driver Books. We've shared program time more than once. After

Patricia Guthrie Author Interview

Patricia Guthrie, In the Arms of The Enemy , Interview: Tell me something about yourself. Where are you from? What do you do besides write? I'm grew up in the town of Lynbrook on Long Island in New York. We moved out to Smithtown when I was in high school. I spent my college years in New York City and now I live in the south suburbs of Chicago. What do you do besides write? I spend much of my time promoting my book, going to book signings, setting up book signings and networking. I was a music teacher in the Chicago Public School System. Now I'm retired with three collies who keep me busy and a horse who puts me on guilt trips when I can't go out to the barn where he's stabled. I've been dedicated to showing my dogs in obedience, have been an obedience instructor and have done therapy work with schizophrenic patients. I've shown and trained horses to a limited extent. Now, my writing career takes up so much of my time. When I have the time, I love to read. . Yea

Epicon

As usual Epicon was great–even though I didn’t win an Eppie, at least Judgment Fire was nominated. I seem to always be a bridesmaid, never a bride–or maybe I've caught the Susan Lucci syndrome. One of the best things about any of these events is connecting with friends and making new ones. Lorna and Larry who wrote 31 Months in Japan; Lee Emory, publisher Treble Heart Books; John Schembra, a friend from PSWA; Murdock Hughes, who often looks like a werewolf and writes about one too; and way too many more to name. The highlight of the conference for me was hearing Mike Powell of Powell’s Books (Portland OR) speak. While many independent bookstores are disappearing, Powell’s keeps on growing. No doubt the largest bookstore anywhere, there are also four other speciality Powell’s in Portland and two that I saw in the airport! First, he spoke quite positively about e-books, including the fact that 18% of his business was in e-book sales and he expects that to percentage to continually in

Public Safety Writers Association Newsletter

For those of you who are interested in writing fiction or non-fiction about law enforcement or any other public safety entity, you ought to check out the Public Safety Writers Association. A brand new newsletter is up on the website and has lots of information about the upcoming conference. http://www.policewriter.com/newsletters/newsltr.htm Do check it out. I can guarantee that you'll learn something at the conference and have an absolutely fantastic time. Because it's a small conference, there's plenty of time to one-on-one with presenters. Marilyn http://fictionforyou.com