July 2007 Blog Posts (261)

AND THE WINNERS ARE....

Life has been very exciting since I last posted a blog. First, I had great fun giving my one-day class on creating characters. The small but lively group of writers dug into the exercises with gusto, and seemed to want to hear what I had to say.

I also learned, and can now announce, the winners of the Austin Camacho Beltway Crime Contest! Crime and Suspense editor Tony Burton is a tough audience, but the stories he chose are all gems. Let me send out loud congratulations right now to… Continue

Added by Austin S. Camacho on July 31, 2007 at 11:33pm — No Comments

The Croc of Death

posted by Lorraine Bartlett

One of my hobbies is growing veggies. Thanks to Mr. Bunny, my home bean crop was chomped to the dirt before the plants could even begin to start climbing. Though I planted seven potato "seedlings," only two sprouted. However, my bean crop at the cottage is going strong...with one little problem. Or rather, 100+ of them.

In…

Continue

Added by Writers Plot on July 31, 2007 at 10:40pm — No Comments

Atmosphere

How is it that some authors grab you by the sleeve and won't let you go, while others only provide a pleasant diversion that can be set down at any moment to do something more pressing?

I started my second Laura Lippman book this morning, and already I'm hooked. Barry Eisler does it as well. It could be in Lippman's case that she writes as I think, pulling up details that seem like they came from my own brain, but in Eisler's work I have no frame of reference, being neither Asian nor…

Continue

Added by Peg Herring on July 31, 2007 at 10:39pm — No Comments

DEAD CONNECTION tour - Day 15 - July 30

Ain't no party like a Portland party cuz a Portland party don't stop...

The good readers of Portland turned out the crowd of the tour tonight at Powell's. Unfortunately, you'll have to take my word for it because I somehow managed to erase all of the cool pictures that Sean took tonight.

Hopefully some of the folks who were there with cameras can email the pictures to me.

Duffer took his first…

Continue

Added by Alafair Burke on July 31, 2007 at 5:00pm — 1 Comment

Links to the first two events on my virtual book tour

Here are the links to the first two events on my virtual book tour. Special thanks to Phil Harris and Joyce Tremel. Click on the link dated 7/30 …

Continue

Added by Marta Stephens on July 31, 2007 at 3:18pm — No Comments

Happy Birthday to Me!

Today's a fairly significant birthday - I won't publicize which one, but it's a good one to take stock and do some journaling. I'm delighted that I've finally published a novel within the past year, and look forward to publishing my next, Eldercide, ASAP - not to mention completing another that I've just begun, with the working title Green Burial.

Right now, though, my office is too hot to work in, so I guess I'll give myself a break and go jump in the lake.…

Continue

Added by Julie Lomoe on July 31, 2007 at 12:30pm — No Comments

From Seuss to Spade?

Conversation between Hamlet and Rain Dog at bedtime:

H: Daddy, tell me a story about a bad man.
R: What kind of bad man?
H: Just a bad man.
R: Does he stay bad, or become nice?
H: He stays bad.

Four years old and already thinking noirish thoughts. It's a crime writer's career dream come true.

Added by Christa M. Miller on July 31, 2007 at 12:21pm — No Comments

The Tin Roof Blowdown by James Lee Burke

Every time I read a new James Lee Burke novel, I often ask myself if that book will be the pinnacle of his incredible writing career. I can’t ever imagine Mr. Burke getting any better, but then he surprises me with yet another masterpiece of fiction. This is certainly the case for The Tin Roof Blowdown, Mr. Burke’s depiction of Hurricane Katrina and the calamities of the people of The Big Easy and New Iberia Parrish.

It is unfathomable that human beings would commit acts of murder,… Continue

Added by Gumshoe Carl on July 31, 2007 at 10:17am — No Comments

Just Stuff

I turned in book 3 in the bayou series to my editor. I can't wait to hear her thoughts. The first revision letter is always the scariest. Now, I look forward to hearing her ideas on what will make the story even better. I'm blessed to have an editor who knows what her line's readers like. My mentor once told me that my story isn't anything until someone interacts with it, and my editor is the first one and gives me that feedback. So, I'm anxiously awaiting to hear what she has to…

Continue

Added by Robin Caroll on July 31, 2007 at 8:48am — No Comments

TOP TEN REASONS TO JOIN SISTERS IN CRIME

Have you been thinking about joining Sisters in Crime or just curious about what your dues provide? Here are a few of the high points of the past yearand some things to look forward to as well!

1. Review monitoring project--this is the backbone of the organization and it's aimed directly at the mission statement. Judy Clemens has been heading it up and you can read about it here: http://www.sistersincrime.org/monitor/.

2.…

Continue

Added by Sisters In Crime on July 31, 2007 at 3:02am — No Comments

Making History

Posted by Sheila Connolly

I witnessed history in the making this weekend.

I mentioned in an earlier post that my town was flirting with entering into an agreement with the Mashpee Wampanoag Indian Tribe to support the tribe's opening a casino (or more elegantly, a five-star resort destination) on five hundred or so scrubby, boggy acres on the north side of town. On Saturday, Middleboro took the giant step forward of voting to authorize the five-person Board of Selectmen…

Continue

Added by Writers Plot on July 31, 2007 at 1:45am — No Comments

From Crimespree Magazine

My new thriller "The Pressure of Darkness" is hands down the most disturbing thing I’ve written to date; a novel that deals with bleak universal themes such as the cosmogonic…

Continue

Added by Harry Shannon on July 31, 2007 at 1:07am — No Comments

The Perils of DIY

There's currently a man in my bathroom lying on the floor (and there's no blood covered spanner lying next to him I hasten to add). Pardon me for being excited, but it's been a long time since there's been a man lying on my premises.

He's actually fitting a new bathroom, so I've taken the week off while this feta of modern engineering is carried out (and so I can keep nipping in and annoying him). I thought I would do something useful while he is here, so I am assembling two… Continue

Added by Donna Moore on July 31, 2007 at 12:01am — 10 Comments

Variety

As I read through the posts on several writer/reader forums I've joined, it strikes me that we're different. Now isn't that profound?

Different means that a book I like, for example, Craig Johnson's A Cold Dish, made a reader post that she'd given up on it because it took too long to tell the story, and a book I find corny and in fact irritating is someone else's "brilliant read." If you've read earlier posts you can guess which authors I don't care for in the mystery genre,…

Continue

Added by Peg Herring on July 30, 2007 at 10:38pm — No Comments

This just in...

I just found out that I won a motherfucking Scribe award for Snakes on a Motherfucking Plane.

Added by Christa Faust on July 30, 2007 at 5:33pm — 1 Comment

birthdays

So, my 49th is coming up. And I was wondering what I needed to do to make the upcoming year mean something. Because...the year before you turn 50 should mean something, shouldn't it?

So a couple weeks ago I decided I would lose 50 pounds before I turned 50. It's something I need to do anyway. And I want to look decent for my son's wedding. So Jeff and I developed a lifestyle change. Two weeks in, and we've each lost around 10 pounds.

I don't know how it will go, but hopefully…

Continue

Added by Cindy Daniel on July 30, 2007 at 12:41pm — 2 Comments