What I Love About Crimespace

[Peg Herring]

I would admit that it's not helping me sell books. I admit that I spend more time than I should posting 5 days/week and responding to others. And I'll admit that we hammer at the same old questions over and over: Should I...? Can I...? Why do they...? And so on.

What I love about it is the half-ghoulish, half-frantic picking of each other's brains, trying to find out if we're normal writers, whatever that may be. Here we compare experiences, observe and comment on the oddities of the business, and celebrate with each other when good things happen.

I'm on several other sites: chat groups like DorothyL, publicity ops like Author Central, but Crimespace is where the mystery writers are, where we bemoan and dissect, satirize and vaunt. (How are those for author words?) It's almost like going to a mystery writers' convention, only I can stay in my robe and slippers. People here really understand the angst and effort it takes to create a story a person can be proud to publish, whether the literary giants recognize mystery as an art or not.

So thanks, Daniel, for creating the spot where I start my day. And thanks to those who open their minds and let the rest of us pick at them. I love it...and where else would I have learned about the new conservative-friendly Bible? I really need to get that on my Christmas list before the Fox News people get them all.

[Jon Loomis]

And people say I never post anything worth reading...