First Royalty Check

I just deposited my first royalty check in the bank today. It arrived along with a royalty statement for January-June, 2007 showing my sales figures during that time period for A REAL BASKET CASE after its March release. The check meant I earned out my advance on royalties in spades and in three months, with more income to come for continuing sales on the hardcover edition and on the January release of the large-print edition. The advance a publisher gives you is an indication of their expectation of your sales, and it's always nice to beat expectations!

A Visit with the FBI

Yesterday twelve members of the Rocky Mountain chapter of Sisters in Crime visited the Denver Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation for a tour. We scheduled the tour weeks in advance and had to submit names, birth dates, etc. so they could check us out beforehand. We were not allowed to take any electronic devices, including cell phones and cameras, on the tour. After receiving a visitor's badge to get into the federal building and going through the metal detector and purse-sniffer, we headed up to the 18th floor, where we relinquished our photo IDs at the FBI reception desk in exchange for a second visitor's badge for just the FBI portion of the building. All the check-in procedures took about 45 minutes.

We were escorted by three FBI employees, all support personnel versus field agents, but they had secondary duties that involved evidence collection at crime scenes and so on. One had visited the Body Farm in Tennessee, which started an impromptu discussion of decomposition in different soils. One of our escorts always took the rear position to make sure none of our group wandered away. They were all very friendly, though, and tried their best to answer our questions. Susie, the main guide, said we were the most inquisitive bunch she's every escorted through the office. That's a characteristic of writers!

The tour included an explanation of the 10 Most Wanted List, the memorial board of fallen agents, and the bureau seal, all of which were posted in the lobby. Then we visited the gun vault, where the weapons instructor gave us an overview of all the weapon systems and body armor used by field agents and SWAT teams. He also discussed the weapons training requirements. All field agents must retest every two months and SWAT members even more frequently. We saw the polygraph room, an interrogation room, the radio room, the fingerprint room, the offices of the "Special Agent in Charge", and the situation room, which will be manned during the Colorado Rockies-hosted World Series games and the Democratic National Convention, among other events. A very exciting and informative tour, all-in-all, and one we were disappointed to end.

Who knows, there may be a spate of mysteries involving FBI agents produced by Colorado mystery authors in the near future!

My First Craft Fair Signing

Today I shared a table with Kathy Brandt, author of the underwater diving mystery series, at the Wilson United Methodist Church's annual craft fair. Many folks who stopped by our table were surprised that the actual authors who wrote the books were there in person to sign them. Who else were we supposed to be? Weren't the crafters behind their tables the one who had made their quilts, vases, soaps, statues, paintings, and what not?

Anyway, I was on my home turf, Wilson being my church, so the large majority of buyers were folks I knew. But I'm still immensely pleased with the result. I brought 15 books with me and sold out! Should have brought more... I had a good time catching up with Kathy on what's happening in her writing life, visiting with friends who stopped by, and buying a few craft items myself. All in all a pleasant way to pass a Saturday, and a nice first "outing" at a craft fair.

Trying Audio Books

Usually I share long car drives with my family or, if I'm heading to a conference, with another author or two. I pass the time with conversation. However, on the drive from Colorado Springs to Manhattan, KS and back for the Great Manhattan Mystery Conclave, I was on my own. So, I tried two books-on-CD and thoroughly enjoyed both. I picked light, humorous stories to keep me awake on the long drive, and they did the trick! They were BLUE SHOES AND HAPPINESS by Alexander McCall Smith and TISHOMINGO BLUES by Elmore Leonard. Not only was the text of the stories terrific, but so were the readers and all the character voices they could portray. However, I realized that a large fraction of my attention went to following the story versus what was happening on the road. So, I only listened to the CDs while on the highway and turned them off when I was in towns/cities and needed to focus on looking for street names, making turns, stopping for red lights, and such.

The Great Manhattan Mystery Conclave

I returned last night from a friendly little mystery conference, the Great Manhattan Mystery Conclave in Manhattan, KS. With less than 100 attendees, we all could chat and get to know each other. Diane Mott Davidson was the Guest of Honor. She had us howling with laughter at the banquet with tales of horrid folks who wound up being treated to such-deserved deaths in her novels. The well-planned dinner featured delicious recipes from her novels. I was honored and so pleased to serve on a panel with Diane, since I'm such a fan of hers and she has provided me with great promotion advice.

Will Thomas, the manly librarian who writes mysteries and studies the self-defense arts, was a smooth and competent toastmaster. And local Kansas notable mystery author, Nancy Pickard, was her usual charming and gracious self. Susan Smily, with her beautiful bald head resulting from breast cancer chemo treatments, and her writing partner Honora Finkelstein were great fun as usual, even in the midst of this health challenge. They are such a friendly, upbeat pair that they make everyone around them smile. And Patricia Stoltey made for a wonderful roommate. I'm looking forward to sleeping with you again, Pat, at Left Coast Crime! :-)

I could go on and on about the friendly mystery writers and fans I met at the conference, but I'll end with saying that if you missed it this year, you should really try to make it next year. Many thanks to Marolyn Caldwell and her energetic committe for a great weekend!

New Review at Over My Dead Body

When I was working on my September email newsletter, I realized I forgot to post news on my blog about the new review for A REAL BASKET CASE written by Shirley Wetzel and appearing at the Over My Dead Body website. My favorite two sentences are, "Claire is an endearing, kinda klutzy, amateur sleuth, and her gift basket business is a fresh and interesting facet of her character. A REAL BASKET CASE is Beth Groundwater's debut mystery, and a fine one it is." To read the whole review, go to www.overmydeadbody.com/basket.htm .

The September newsletter should be going out in the next day or two, so look for it in your email. If you haven't signed up yet, go to my website, www.bethgroundwater.com , click on Newsletter, and fill out the form. You'll automatically be registered for the contest for free mystery books.

10,000 Goggle Hits

Back in January, I was impressed when a search in Google on "Beth Groundwater" produced 1,000 hits. Now, it produces over 10,000! Back then, I would occasionally search for my name to find reviews I may have missed. Now, I'm trolling for the many author/mystery community websites in which I'm registered, to make sure my appearances lists, etc. are up-to-date. I also enjoy finding recommendations for my book on reader's blogs and in library newsletters--gives a little lift to my days. I have a Google alert turned on to tell me when a new reference to my name and my book title appear, but it doesn't find everything, and it won't alert me when I need to make updates to existing references. Thus, the need to go trolling. Darn! :-)