Patricia Stoltey

Author

My Colorado Authors Project — Mike Befeler

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I love the authors of Colorado. Once a week I plan to blog about one or more of those talented and friendly folks in the hopes a few more people take a look at their books.

Today I want to tell you about Mike Befeler, a Boulder resident whose first mystery was published in 2007. Retirement Homes are Murder is the tale of octogenarian Paul Jacobson who suffers from short term memory loss. When he finds a body, and is suspected of being the killer, Paul must solve the murder to save himself. Unfortunately, Paul wakes up each morning with no memory of the events of the previous day. This book is full of humor, a few poignant reminders of what aging can do to folks, and a good mystery with plenty of suspense.

Mike’s new release, Living With Your Kids is Murder, is available now. I haven’t read this one yet, but I trust Mike to deliver a good story. It’s definitely on my buy list.

I like to talk about Mike’s writing experience when I give presentations or workshops because he’s the perfect example of the commitment and time management required to be a productive writer. Mike used the morning pages journaling technique described in Julia Cameron’s Artist’s Way to write while he held down a full-time job. Each morning he wrote three pages of his novels by hand. When he came home from work, he typed his pages into his computer, editing as he worked. Three pages a day, handwritten.

I’m more of a binge writer, creating large chunks of my story in my head before I sit down and binge type. We all do our thing in our own way. Creativity happens when it happens. But Mike helped his along and has produced more pages of fiction than I have. Three pages a day. I keep thinking about that. Maybe I’ll try it. Three pages a day when I first get up . . . but not before coffee.

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Comments

  2. I’m an “every spare moment” writer. Sometimes I write by hand while my students are writing projects in class. I write mostly at night once teaching and dinner are done, but I’ve always been a night owl. Revision is usually a morning or afternoon thing. Jennifer’s right — it’s all a matter of what works.

  3. Excellent post! Sharing your blog with fellow authors is a wonderful way to pay it forward. Kudos to you!

    I may be out of cellphone reach for the next 12 days. I will respond to posts as I am able.

  8. Wow, Mike found this blog fast. I did not give him a heads-up. I hadn’t even tweeted about it yet. But if he’s like me, he has a Google Alert set for his name and for his book title. Those of you who are published should do the same if you haven’t done it already. Hmmm. Another good topic for a blog.

    Patricia

  9. Thanks for the post, Pat. Now that I’m retired to write full time, I spend most of the mornings writing. That’s what’s great about writing. Everyone has their own time and approach.

    Mike Befeler
    Author of Retirement Homes Are Murder and Living With Your Kids Is Murder

  10. Interesting post, I enjoyed learning more about Mark and his writing. I’m also a binge writer – although I tend to write as I think and get inspired in long binges rather than “storing it up” like you and then writing.

  12. Yes, a minimum requirement that has reasonable expectations and is attainable is well-suited to a writer with a full-time job. I’ve read Julia Cameron’s book, as well as Natalie Goldberg’s “Writing Down the Bones,” which for a long time, served as my writing muse. I think we all need to find what works for us and as Nike says, “Just do it!”

    Karen
    http://www.karenfollowingthewhispers.blogspot.com