The LadyKillers

NEWS and Graphic Violence

NEWS

Ann Parker tossed her draft for Book 6 in her series over the electronic transom, and it was tossed back four days later with a shorter title (A DYING NOTE) and a request for smallish changes. She's going to fix what needs fixing as quickly as possible and lob it back.

Ellen Kirschman rates Mystery Week  a big success with a good turnout for Motives for Murder at the Santa Clara library and a packed house (see the photo) at the Latin American Club for Noir at the Bar.  The Santa Clara panel, Left to Right, is Susan Bickford, Susan Wolfe, Ellen, Robin Stuart and John Bilheimer who was thinking hard. Noir at the Bar authors included Laurie R. King, Cara Black, Tony Broadbent, Jacqueline Winspear, Jerry Kenneally, Kelli Stanley and Ellen. Rather than read from one of her books, Ellen interviewed her protagonist, Dr. Dot Meyerhoff. Here’s a link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cMc95N-6aDo

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

HALLOWEEN HI-JINKS

Priscilla Royal: For Hallowe'en, I have a skeleton sitting on my tax papers. As for candy, my favorite is anything chocolate that my internist won't let me eat....

Margaret Lucke: Favorite Halloween candy? Chocolate, of course. Dark chocolate preferred, but if trick-or-treating brings me a treat involving milk chocolate and peanuts -- Reese's PB cups, Mr. Goodbars, peanut M&Ms -- you'll hear no complaints.

Camille Minichino: Here’s a photo of me as a camper one Halloween. A friend dressed me. Those who know me even a little, know how incongruous this is!

Ann Parker: The decorations are going up, slowly but surely. By October 31, I'm calling it done, no matter what.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

GRAPHIC VIOLENCE

So, how much violence can you take in the stories you read? And, if you are a writer, how much do you dish out? We'll be talking about graphic violence and its place in fiction plus more, this upcoming week.

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News and Next Week: Multitasking

News

• Camille Minichino’s story “The Magnesium Murder” (#12 in the periodic table) is included in the anthology Sleuthing Women II, released September 5. She’s now working on The Aluminum Murder, of course.
• Jean Rabe's novel, The Dead of Night, releases September 15th. It is the second in my Piper Blackwell series. ONE WEEK TO GO, then my second Piper book comes out.
• Ann Parker's next in the Silver Rush series, tentatively titled FALL ON A DYING NOTE, is making a ghostly appearance here and there on the web, such as here and and here, which she finds simultaneously thrilling and terrifying.
• Ellen Kirschman talks with San Mateo County Sheriff Carlos Bolanos about her latest mystery novel, The Fifth Reflection:  Wednesday, 9/13, 6:30 PM at the Downtown Redwood City Library. Put it on your calendar. It will be hot and she's not talking about the weather.
• Margaret Lucke will appear with authors J.J. Lamb and Bette Golden Lamb to celebrate the launch of Margaret's new mystery, Snow Angel, and the Lambs' new medical thriller, Bone Slice. When: Sunday, September 17 at 4 pm. Where: Book Passage, 51 Tamal Vista Blvd, Corte Madera, CA. All are invited.
• Michael A. Black is at the C3 (Crimes, Creatures, and Creativity) Conference in Columbus, Maryland this weekend.
• Priscilla Royal's brain is off in frolick mode. It has disappeared, and she can't be held responsible for anything until it returns. 
• Camille Minichino is plugging away at three classes with a total of 67 students. Anyone have an extra red pencil?

Next Week

Multitasking. First they said it was the only way to survive the information revolution, then they said it eats our brains and leads to poor work product. Which is it, People Who Know Things?  Join us next week as we discuss multitasking while drinking coffee and writing our todo lists. Kind of. Not really. What was I talking about?

Seriously, join us. Every writer knows the pain of multiple deadlines, or the penalty you pay when you sign up for a conference but forget to book the flight, or family and pets who can't QUITE remember what you look like. Join the conversation next week!

Starting a new series

Start a new series? Not on your life. I'm still working on my first and only, the Dot Meyerhoff mysteries. But when I'm stuck, wondering what else Dot has to do (plenty is the answer) I can still dream.  My series are set in the Silicon Valley, where I live. While there's much to mine here for a writer, I have friends whose series are set in France, Africa, Italy, and Canada. Not to mention protagonists who go off on cruises to any number of exotic locations. The research for all these books is, of course, tax deductible. I'd love to spend six months in Italy writing a mystery. Maybe Dot should take a trip. If she ever ties the knot (an expression she hates) and marries Frank, I could send them to Fiji on their honeymoon. Or on a cruise. I've never been on a cruise. No reason why I my fictional protagonist shouldn't. You've heard about vicarious trauma? Why not vicarious fun?

On occasion, when Dot tires of counseling cops with  issues like police suicide (Burying Ben), PTSD (The Right Wrong Thing) and investigating crimes against children (The Fifth Reflection) I think I'd like to write cozies. Or cozier books. My mysteries deal with serious subjects, but they are not graphic - all the sex, violence, and harm to victims is off-screen. Way off screen. Dot's pretty funny. So are some of the other characters. Humor is how cops deal with stress. So does Dot. So do I. 

The other day I picked up a Nancy Drew mystery. Such innocence. I can't imagine writing a mystery where the central crime was stealing vegetables from a neighbor's garden. But a gang of kids tracking down a child molester, now that has some appeal. Or rescuing their trafficked school chum? A few not-so-small things keep me from trying.  I have no children of my own, no nephews or nieces. My psychology practice was adults only. I'd have to spend hours in the library, reading young adult novels, which is not a bad assignment. Unless I get a chance to go to Fiji.

 

 

 

 

DIY/Crafts

In the last millennium, when I was still in the 9to5 world, the business model for productive work was The Team. The individual contribution might have been welcomed, but it had to be blended into group decisions or lost entirely as “a bad idea”.

My experience with The Team concept was generally positive. When it works as it should, the team is able to take ideas from all ranges of experience and perspective, and come up with one that allegedly works better, for all its flaws, than the extremes from any one individual. To be honest, the Steve Jobs and Bill Gates of commercial business are pretty rare birds.

So that brings me, believe it or not, to craft.

There is something in most of us that may be willing to blend into the background, for the good of the whole, but also longs for individual expression. Being the human robot in a repetitive job or constantly blending (or having ideas frequently rejected) can deaden the soul.

Enter the concept of craft. Whether it is sewing or woodworking, writing or painting, this is one thing that is utterly individual. Yes, I have to learn the techniques of carpentry or painting, but once the rules are down pat, I can let my imagination go. I can see where my own ideas lead me. I can be my own boss. I can just have fun.

Craft is often denigrated, maybe because the Industrial Revolution put paid too much of it as volume became the lodestar of industry. But it retains a significant purpose in the arts as well as those quiet minutes when we can finally take time to refresh our spirits. Or, said another way, it lets us be ourselves with no harm done to others.

This time spent being ourselves is just as important as building a thousand Mercedes or coming up with yet another Mission Statement. It may be more so. If we lose ourselves so totally in becoming the human robot or The Team, I suspect those functions suffer too.

Time to start thinking about another book…

NEWS and DIY Crafts

NEWS

Mar Preston is speaking in the Golden Pen Writers Club at the Newhall Library on Sliding Backstory into your fiction.  Her EBook on the same subject will be available at Amazon June 30^th. 

Ann Parker's WHAT GOLD BUYS is nominated for a Macavity Award, for the Sue Feder Award for Best Historical Novel! Winners are announced at the Bouchercon opening ceremonies in Toronto in October.

Ann is also up in Leadville, Colorado, today, doing a reading at the Matchless Mine with author Donna Baier Stein for "A Day with the Tabors" celebration. Burro and mule demonstrations included. And a beer tent. And music. Should be fun!

Camille Minichino reached the halfway mark on a novella, “The Magnesium Murder," the 12th installment in the Periodic Table mysteries. It will appear in the second volume of the 10-writer anthology, Sleuthing Women, due out in November. 

Priscilla Royal is back from Portland OR and the Historical Novel Society Conference. She has also sent off Wild Justice, the 14th book in series, to the Editor at Poisoned Pen Press for yea or nay. She would be grateful for any libations to the book gods! They like all formats...

Ellen Kirschman went to hear the amazing feminist writer Roxane Gay speak at Kepler's and came home with Gay's latest book "Hunger." Gay is an engaging speaker-direct, funny, genuine and very present. Her kindness towards others was incredible, considering the years of judgment and abuse she has endured.

Get Your Glue Guns Ready...

Next week is do-it-yourself and crafts week! Have a craft to share? A special do-it-yourself project/hobby? Be sure to check out our posts this week and chime in!

NEWS and Gadgets and Gizmos

NEWS

Priscilla Royal is in Portland OR for the Historical Novel Society Conference. When she gets back, next book goes to editor. A libation of choice to the editing gods gratefully accepted!

 

Margaret Lucke is putting the finishing touches on her mystery novel Snow Angel, with an eye to an August publication date. She is glad that the coming week is supposed to cooler than the past one.

 

Ellen Kirschman is putting the finishing touches on edits for the second edition of I Love a Cop. Good news is that her editors loved the changes, almost 100 pages of new material. When she’s not writing, she's reading and loving Laurie R. King’s new standalone, Lockdown.

 

Ann Parker is still plugging along on Book #6 of her Silver Rush series, which has a strong musical motif (cue dramatic background melody...).

 

GADGETS AND GIZMOS

This coming week, the LadyKillers will be dabbling in gadgets and gizmos. Gadget, as in "A small mechanical or electronic device or tool, especially an ingenious or novel one." Novel, you say? We're on it!

NEWS and Tools of the Trade

NEWS

Priscilla Royal will be at the Historical Novel Society Conference in Portland, Oregon, next week. She is also trying to get her next mystery, Wild Justice, ready to send to editor verrry soon...

Michael A. Black is busy working on the Public Safety Writers Conference, which takes place in Las Vegas July 13-16. He will be teaching the pre-conference workshop along with LadyKiller Mar Preston and Marilyn Meredith. Michael has also been invited to be on a panel at the San Diego Comic Con (July 20-23) by virtue of being one of the finalists for the Best Original Novel Scribe Award given by the IAMTIW.

Ann Parker submitted the first 100 pages of Silver Rush Book #6 (aka the Book-With-No-Name) for an eyeball by the editor. Nervous chewing of fingernails begins.

Ellen Kirschman is deep diving into the run up to the launch of The Fifth Reflection. Lots of blogging, newsletter creation, and email. Stay tuned to LadyKillers for more launch news.

Tuesday, June 20, is National Ice Cream Soda day and Camille Minichino will be observing that. Come to Loard’s ice cream shop in Castro Valley, California, to help celebrate!

Tools of the Trade

Look around a writer's office. What do you see?

Reference works? Books for new writers? Desktop/laptop/pencil+paper?

Every profession has its tools. Few writers pick up quill and ink bottle any more, so drop on by this coming week when the LadyKillers reveal their favorite (and maybe most hated) tools and rumble through their own private toolboxes for inspiration!

 

 

 

NEWS and Getting Published: Challenges

NEWS

Jean Rabe's The Dead of Winter, her first Piper Blackwell mystery, has just been released as an audio book. Jean says the narrator is soooooooooo good. Check it out here.

Priscilla Royal will be visiting the Rossmoor mystery book club on May 1 at 4pm. She also took a break from The Draft to watch another form of draft: NFL. Cheese and baguette were present to celebrate the occasion.

Ann Parker says the 100-pg mark for the unnamed Book #6 of the Silver Rush Series is in sight...

THE ROAD TO GETTING PUBLISHED

Is it a "climb every mountain and ford every stream" process, with rejections papering the walls? Or is it an easy cruise down the freeway, a combination of connections, luck, and being in the right place at the right time with the right manuscript?

Come on by this week and we'll provide our views of the challenges to getting a foot in the door of the publishing world...

NEWS and Foolin' Around

NEWS

Camille Minichino re-released her stand alone “Killer in the Cloister” on smash words.com. A Lenten read, she says. And she’s almost ready to upload a flash fiction piece featuring a sniper, one of her favorite jobs for a character.

Priscilla Royal is pulling her hair out over getting adequate number of words for first part of book to send editor. She has cancelled all hair appointments for next six months, which means she now has more time to find enough words to reach minimum word limit...

Ellen Kirschman is giving a presentation to the International Association of Women Police on Tuesday. Her topic is Getting Through Troubled Times. You only need to read the newspaper to know these are tough times to be a cop.

Jean Raab turned over her second Piper Blackwell book to her publisher. This one is called: The Dead of Night...and that would be because her young sheriff discovers somebody dead at night! Her first Piper Blackwell book, The Dead of Winter, is being released soon as an audio book.

Mar Preston is frantically trying to learn playscript software to adapt a short story to a 10-minute skit for our local theater group. Her most recent book The Most Dangerous Species is available as an audible edition.  We’ll see how that goes.

NO FOOLIN'

Given that April 1 has just slipped out the back door, we're turning our attention to the next topic: Just Foolin' Around. No practical jokes, we promise (or maybe we don't)....

News and Getting Started on a Series (with an "irritating reads" mid-week interlude)

NEWS

Ellen Kirschman and Marla Cooper will be interviewed by LadyKiller alumna Penny Warner  at the Alta Mira Scholarship Mystery tea. Monday, 2/20, at 12:00 noon in the historic Alta Mira House, 561 Lafayette Avenue, San Leandro. $15 supports the scholarship fund. For reservations contact [email protected] or call her at 510.483.1018. 

Margaret Lucke is speaking about POV to the Fremont Area Writers, a branch of the California Writers Club. Her talk is called "Whose Head Am I in, Anyway? Mastering the Fine Art of Point of View." Saturday, February 25, 2-4 pm, at DeVry University, 6600 Dumbarton Circle, Fremont, CA. Free and open to the public. More details at http://cwc-fremontareawriters.org/.  

Michael A. Black is heading to Ventura, CA, this week for a board meeting to plan the upcoming annual Public Safety Writers conference, scheduled for July 14-17, 2017, in Las Vegas. NV. With Mike involved, we know the conference will be fabulous!

Priscilla Royal is back from Scottsdale, AZ, and working on the 14th book. The cats quickly reminded her that sleep is overrated and getting back to earning cat food money is obligatory. 

Ann Parker got the "go-ahead signal" from Poisoned Pen Press to dive into Book #6 of her Silver Rush series. She's got to hit the lap lane fast and swim quickly. She's thinking "discord" might work well somewhere in the title... but time will tell.

Creating a Series: Getting Started

This next week, should they so choose, the LadyKillers will talk about putting it in first gear for a series. It's a different kind of journey!

We invite you to drop by with your favorite cuppa and join the conversation!

A Special Treat on Wednesday...

Also, this Wednesday, Michael A. Black steps in for a special post. He follows in Camille's footsteps of a couple weeks back to take a swing at "Irritating Reads." Mike delivers a knock-out punch, so be sure to check it out!