Oh, don’t get your hopes up. I’m not writing about that first time. I’m talking about the first time I was published. It was April 1990. The magazine was Popular Communications. An article I’d written on ham radio was incorporated into The Ham Column: Getting Started as a Radio Amateur. The article, What’s a Neat …Read More
Archives for June 2009
Colorado Author — Lynda Hilburn
I know some of you folks like vampires. Most of you know by now that I do not. Even so, in the interest of doing a competent interview with Colorado author Lynda Hilburn for the Sisters in Crime — Rocky Mountain Chapter website, I read The Vampire Shrink (Medallion Press, 2007). This novel is the …Read More
Painless Book Promotion — Wishful Thinking?
When I say painless, I’m talking about promotional efforts that don’t require me to get dressed up, get in the car (with a box of books in the trunk, just in case), drive between 10 and 200 miles to a bookstore, tote my books and bookmarks and postcards and bowl of Hershey Kisses inside, sit …Read More
Retiring From Florida
When my husband and I retired and left Florida, we selected half a dozen cities to visit across the United States before making a final decision. We knew we wanted to live in a college town, and preferred a population of 100,000 to 125,000. After eleven years in South Florida, we also wanted interesting terrain …Read More
Killer First Sentences — June 3, 2009
First sentences are hard. Agents and editors give all kinds of conflicting advice on panels and in workshops, on their websites or in books. One says a novel should never open with dialogue. Another says she loves a book to jump into dialogue from the get-go. A writing manual tells us the first sentence should …Read More
A Tough Day
Monday was a lousy day for a lot of people. An Air France flight was lost somewhere in the Atlantic. Turbulence and lightning don’t usually knock airplanes out of the sky. The General Motors bankruptcy was distressing, even though we knew it was inevitable. Another 20,000 workers to lose their jobs. Dealerships to close. More …Read More
Colorado Author — Beth Groundwater
I’ll put the full disclosure information right up front. I know Beth Groundwater very well and consider her a good friend. In 2007, we were two of the mystery authors on the Mystery Through the Ages panels (with Mike Befeler, Linda Berry, and Robert Spiller), and also enjoyed presentations and signings with thriller author Bonnie …Read More