I've always been a big proponent of writers networking with other writers to further their careers. I even have an article, Top Ten Rules for Networking as a Writer, posted on the Articles section of my website (accessible via "Beth's Web Page" under "Links" to the right). A big part of that networking can be accomplished by joining writing organizations, both local groups in your community and the national or international professional organizations for your genre. The local organizations I belong to in Colorado are Pikes Peak Writers (PPW) and Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers (RMFW). The national genre organizations I'm a member of include Mystery Writers of America (MWA), Sisters in Crime (SinC), and the Short Mystery Fiction Society (SMFS).
Besides joining the organizations, the best way to meet other writers and forge lasting relationships with them is to volunteer for those organizations. I've been a very active volunteer with PPW, sometimes logging as many as 30-40 volunteer hours a month. As Vice President for two years, I was one of a team of two that organized all the programs except for the conference. Because of that position, I made many contacts with successful published authors, literary agents, editors, booksellers, publicists, and other professionals in the writing community. Now, as a board member of both the local SinC chapter and the local MWA chapter, I'm making even more connections that I can use in my career.
Everyone has to decide for themselves how many hours a month they can commit to volunteering, and I'm sure many of my blog readers volunteer for organizations outside of their writing or reading life. However, I highly urge writers, especially, to find some level of volunteer position that fits your interests and time availability in a writing organization that you belong to. Not only are you giving back to your community, you are reaping huge rewards for yourself. I know for a fact that I would not be as far along in my writing career as I am now without my volunteer work.
Monday, January 12, 2009
Saturday, January 10, 2009
A Busy and Productive Thursday
Last Thursday, I was away from home most of the day. I drove down to Florence, CO for a program with the library's Book Club and Writing Group, followed by lunch, then I attended the dinner meeting of the Rocky Mountain Chapter of Mystery Writers of America (RMMWA) in Denver, CO. Both excursions were interesting and productive.
The Book Club in Florence had read my book, A Real Basket Case, and wanted to discuss it with me at the library meeting. Along with going through the discussion questions I provide on my website for the book, they asked quite a few other questions about the locations (especially the 5-star Broadmoor hotel) and characters in the book, the next book in the series, To Hell in a Handbasket, etc. The writers who attended were interested in my quest for a literary agent, my writing process, my experience with a critique group, etc. We also got on the topic of the history of Colorado Springs and Florence, and I learned quite a few things. Lastly, as usual with my book club visits, I left with a list of books to read! The hour and a half just flew by, and before I knew it, it was time for a lovely group lunch at the Mainstreet Grille. The weather was sunny and warm, perfect for the beautiful drive down and back on highway 115.
Prior to the start of the RMMWA meeting, I had a lovely chat at the bar of the Denver Press Club with two staff from the Canadian Consulate in Denver and my fellow mystery author, Mike Befeler. The Canadians left with information about our books and recommendations about visiting Colorado locales. I found out from Mike that his upcoming geezer-lit mystery, Living With Your Kids is Murder, was given a wonderful review in Kirkus Reviews. Congratulations, Mike!
Our speaker at the RMMWA meeting was Denver District Court Judge Robert McGahey, who turned out to be very engaging. He teaches classes to young lawyers on how to "tell a story" during a trial, because the better a trial lawyer is at telling stories, the more likely they are to win cases. He told quite a few interesting stories to us that evening about his time on the bench. He's a fan of Colorado's boot camp program and wishes it could be expanded. Of the 60 people he's sentenced to serve there, only 3 have exhibited recidivism, which is an amazing statistic. He hates sentencing drug addicts to the penitentiary, because they don't get treatment there. He never gives a sex offender probation, and in Colorado, a felon has to serve 65-70% of their sentence before they are eligible for early release. One last tidbit is that he thinks jury consultants are "snake oil salesmen."
Judge McGahey said what he most dislikes in mystery/suspense/thriller fiction is when the authors get the rules of court procedure or rules of evidence wrong. He told us where we could study these rules to educate ourselves better. At the http://www.courts.state.co.us/ website, on the Media page can be found the useful "Courts At a Glance" summary document. On the "Self Help/Forms" page, click on the "Search Rules and Statutes" line in the Documents window. This will bring up a new page from Michie's Legal Resources, and clicking on the "Colorado Court Rules" directory gives you access to three documents recommended by the judge:
Colorado Rules of Civil Procedure
Colorado Rules of Criminal Procedure
Colorado Rules of Evidence
Now I just need to find the time to study all of these!
The Book Club in Florence had read my book, A Real Basket Case, and wanted to discuss it with me at the library meeting. Along with going through the discussion questions I provide on my website for the book, they asked quite a few other questions about the locations (especially the 5-star Broadmoor hotel) and characters in the book, the next book in the series, To Hell in a Handbasket, etc. The writers who attended were interested in my quest for a literary agent, my writing process, my experience with a critique group, etc. We also got on the topic of the history of Colorado Springs and Florence, and I learned quite a few things. Lastly, as usual with my book club visits, I left with a list of books to read! The hour and a half just flew by, and before I knew it, it was time for a lovely group lunch at the Mainstreet Grille. The weather was sunny and warm, perfect for the beautiful drive down and back on highway 115.
Prior to the start of the RMMWA meeting, I had a lovely chat at the bar of the Denver Press Club with two staff from the Canadian Consulate in Denver and my fellow mystery author, Mike Befeler. The Canadians left with information about our books and recommendations about visiting Colorado locales. I found out from Mike that his upcoming geezer-lit mystery, Living With Your Kids is Murder, was given a wonderful review in Kirkus Reviews. Congratulations, Mike!
Our speaker at the RMMWA meeting was Denver District Court Judge Robert McGahey, who turned out to be very engaging. He teaches classes to young lawyers on how to "tell a story" during a trial, because the better a trial lawyer is at telling stories, the more likely they are to win cases. He told quite a few interesting stories to us that evening about his time on the bench. He's a fan of Colorado's boot camp program and wishes it could be expanded. Of the 60 people he's sentenced to serve there, only 3 have exhibited recidivism, which is an amazing statistic. He hates sentencing drug addicts to the penitentiary, because they don't get treatment there. He never gives a sex offender probation, and in Colorado, a felon has to serve 65-70% of their sentence before they are eligible for early release. One last tidbit is that he thinks jury consultants are "snake oil salesmen."
Judge McGahey said what he most dislikes in mystery/suspense/thriller fiction is when the authors get the rules of court procedure or rules of evidence wrong. He told us where we could study these rules to educate ourselves better. At the http://www.courts.state.co.us/ website, on the Media page can be found the useful "Courts At a Glance" summary document. On the "Self Help/Forms" page, click on the "Search Rules and Statutes" line in the Documents window. This will bring up a new page from Michie's Legal Resources, and clicking on the "Colorado Court Rules" directory gives you access to three documents recommended by the judge:
Colorado Rules of Civil Procedure
Colorado Rules of Criminal Procedure
Colorado Rules of Evidence
Now I just need to find the time to study all of these!
Friday, January 09, 2009
An Interview with a Gazette Newspaper Columnist
Anita Miller is the new "Book Groupie" weekly columnist at the Colorado Springs Gazette daily newspaper. When her first column extolling Harlan Coben's books appeared in early December, I emailed her to tell how much I enjoyed it. I thought he might enjoy it, too, so I sent him a link to the article. My email initiated a conversation with Anita about possible future column topics, and one thing led to another. She put my book, A REAL BASKET CASE, on her reading pile, enjoyed it, and asked me if she could interview me for her blog. Of course I agreed! :)
She posted the interview yesterday, and you can read it at:
http://anitalaydonmiller.blogspot.com/
If you live in the Colorado Springs area and love books, I suggest you follow Anita's blog and look for her column in the Friday newspaper. I hope both her column and blog are very successful. I'd like to see more discussion of books in the local media.
She posted the interview yesterday, and you can read it at:
http://anitalaydonmiller.blogspot.com/
If you live in the Colorado Springs area and love books, I suggest you follow Anita's blog and look for her column in the Friday newspaper. I hope both her column and blog are very successful. I'd like to see more discussion of books in the local media.
Thursday, January 08, 2009
My First Writing Project of 2009
Tonight I turned in a short story to my critique group for review. This is my first writing project of the year, started on New Year's Day. I finished the rough draft yesterday and did some editing today, and I'm pretty pleased with it. I hope to submit it, after my critique group helps me whip it into shape, to the anthology that the Guppies (standing for the "great unpublished") online group of Sisters in Crime is planning to put together. Though I'm published now, the Guppies still let me hang around, thank goodness, because I've developed so many friendships in the group.
I'm also very happy to be writing fresh fiction again after many months of editing past projects to ready them for publication. My new year's resolution to set aside the mornings for fresh writing and to avoid getting online until after lunch seems to be working so far. This story had been knocking around in my brain for awhile and was just busting to come out. Hopefully, it blew open a door to creativity for the rest of the year!
I'm also very happy to be writing fresh fiction again after many months of editing past projects to ready them for publication. My new year's resolution to set aside the mornings for fresh writing and to avoid getting online until after lunch seems to be working so far. This story had been knocking around in my brain for awhile and was just busting to come out. Hopefully, it blew open a door to creativity for the rest of the year!
Wednesday, January 07, 2009
16 Random Things about Me
Both Jess Lindsley and Evelyn Whitehill have tagged me on Facebook for this "game." Here's the rules:
Once you've been tagged, you are supposed to write a note with 16 random things, facts, habits, or goals about you. At the end, choose 16 people to be tagged. You have to tag the person who tagged you.
I have Facebook set up to snag my blog entries into notes on my profile, so I figured I would list the 16 random facts here, wait for the note to show up on Facebook, then see if I can figure out how to tag folks from there. This will be another learning experience for me! Anyway, here's the random facts.
1. I was a software engineer in my former life, but I've been writing fiction seriously since 1999 when I retired.
2. I'm an avowed chocoholic, the darker the better.
3. I obtained a BS degree from William & Mary in 1978, a double-major in Computer Science and Psychology (I use the psychology in my fiction writing).
4. My masters degree in software engineering was completed in 1983 from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University.
5. 1983 is also when I married my husband, Neil.
6. Neil is my website and email newsletter guru, bless him!
7. I have two children, both in college now.
8. I am interested in keeping fit, so I exercise at least five times a week: lifting weights/elliptical at the local Y, swimming, hiking or walking the dog, bicycling, skiing, using the Nordic Trac at home, or finding some other way to keep the pounds from piling on.
9. I love to eat (hence the need for #8), especially ethnic foods.
10. I'm the author of the gift basket designer mystery series with protagonist Claire Hanover who lives in Colorado Springs, my hometown. The first is A REAL BASKET CASE and the second to be released in May is TO HELL IN A HANDBASKET.
11. My TBR pile includes lots of mysteries, but also some literary, women's fiction, romance, and short story anthology books.
12. I'm in a book club that meets monthly to drink wine, eat dessert, gossip, and discuss that month's book.
13. I took a speed-reading class in elementary school, so I can read pretty fast.
14. My favorite children's picture book is Possum Come A Knockin'. My kids tired of it long before I did. It's hilarious!
15. I did indeed read Nancy Drew when I was young, but my favorite mystery writer in my teenage years was Edgar Allan Poe.
16. I enjoy cooking and learning new recipes, especially from the vegetarian cookbooks that my vegan sister sends me.
Once you've been tagged, you are supposed to write a note with 16 random things, facts, habits, or goals about you. At the end, choose 16 people to be tagged. You have to tag the person who tagged you.
I have Facebook set up to snag my blog entries into notes on my profile, so I figured I would list the 16 random facts here, wait for the note to show up on Facebook, then see if I can figure out how to tag folks from there. This will be another learning experience for me! Anyway, here's the random facts.
1. I was a software engineer in my former life, but I've been writing fiction seriously since 1999 when I retired.
2. I'm an avowed chocoholic, the darker the better.
3. I obtained a BS degree from William & Mary in 1978, a double-major in Computer Science and Psychology (I use the psychology in my fiction writing).
4. My masters degree in software engineering was completed in 1983 from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University.
5. 1983 is also when I married my husband, Neil.
6. Neil is my website and email newsletter guru, bless him!
7. I have two children, both in college now.
8. I am interested in keeping fit, so I exercise at least five times a week: lifting weights/elliptical at the local Y, swimming, hiking or walking the dog, bicycling, skiing, using the Nordic Trac at home, or finding some other way to keep the pounds from piling on.
9. I love to eat (hence the need for #8), especially ethnic foods.
10. I'm the author of the gift basket designer mystery series with protagonist Claire Hanover who lives in Colorado Springs, my hometown. The first is A REAL BASKET CASE and the second to be released in May is TO HELL IN A HANDBASKET.
11. My TBR pile includes lots of mysteries, but also some literary, women's fiction, romance, and short story anthology books.
12. I'm in a book club that meets monthly to drink wine, eat dessert, gossip, and discuss that month's book.
13. I took a speed-reading class in elementary school, so I can read pretty fast.
14. My favorite children's picture book is Possum Come A Knockin'. My kids tired of it long before I did. It's hilarious!
15. I did indeed read Nancy Drew when I was young, but my favorite mystery writer in my teenage years was Edgar Allan Poe.
16. I enjoy cooking and learning new recipes, especially from the vegetarian cookbooks that my vegan sister sends me.
Tuesday, January 06, 2009
A Daily Blogging Challenge for January
I'm in over thirty yahoogroups, most of which I have set on Daily Digest so I can skim the email subject lines and decide whether or not to read each individual email. All of the groups are related to aspects of my writing career. Some are mystery fan groups, some are adjuncts for the writing organizations that I belong to, some are advice-sharing groups for writers. An example of the last is "blogbooktours" which serves as an incubator for authors preparing for their first book blog tour. I hope to do my first online tour in May to launch the second in my Claire Hanover gift basket designer mystery series, TO HELL IN A HANDBASKET.
As part of the learning process, the moderator of blogbooktours has challenged those of us who were ready to blog every day on some topic during the month of January to establish a regular pattern of blogging. We're also supposed to check the others' blogs and make comments when we can. Yesterday, Monday, was the kickoff day for this challenge.
Boy, did I learn a lot! I found out about all these other great authors who signed up for the challenge. I learned how to post comments using different kinds of blogging software. I learned how to schedule a blog post for later (which I'll need to do the second half of the month, when I'll be vacationing in Mexico).
Lastly, Morgan Mandel blogged about how set up the "Followers" gadget on your blogger page. Wow, I had to try to do that! But, when I followed Morgan's directions, I discovered that first I had to update my ancient template, and one thing led to another... So, you'll see some slight changes in my blog format and some new gadgets along the side. I can't wait to see what I'll be learning today!
As part of the learning process, the moderator of blogbooktours has challenged those of us who were ready to blog every day on some topic during the month of January to establish a regular pattern of blogging. We're also supposed to check the others' blogs and make comments when we can. Yesterday, Monday, was the kickoff day for this challenge.
Boy, did I learn a lot! I found out about all these other great authors who signed up for the challenge. I learned how to post comments using different kinds of blogging software. I learned how to schedule a blog post for later (which I'll need to do the second half of the month, when I'll be vacationing in Mexico).
Lastly, Morgan Mandel blogged about how set up the "Followers" gadget on your blogger page. Wow, I had to try to do that! But, when I followed Morgan's directions, I discovered that first I had to update my ancient template, and one thing led to another... So, you'll see some slight changes in my blog format and some new gadgets along the side. I can't wait to see what I'll be learning today!
Monday, January 05, 2009
A Productive New Year's Resolution
On January 2nd, I posted the following new year's resolution on my Facebook page:
Beth's new year's resolution is to set aside mornings for writing and not get online until after lunch.
I did this publicly so if I failed in my resolve and got online or sent emails to friends before noon then maybe they would remind me of my resolution. Knowing that, I might be more likely to stick with it. The reason I made the resolution is that I've been neglecting my writing lately in favor of communing with friends online. I didn't quite expect the flood of comments I received:
"Good luck with that!"
"Impressive. Let us know how it goes, but not before noon."
"that sounds painful"
"I want to have that same goal, but I don't know if I'm strong enough to do it."
"You're an inspiration, Beth. I resolve to do the same as soon as I stop procrastinating."
"That's a great one, and a tough one!"
It sounds like a lot of people might have the same problem as me, with online social networking eating up so much time that it's interfering with their other life goals. What do you think? And, what are you resolving to change about your life in 2009?
Beth's new year's resolution is to set aside mornings for writing and not get online until after lunch.
I did this publicly so if I failed in my resolve and got online or sent emails to friends before noon then maybe they would remind me of my resolution. Knowing that, I might be more likely to stick with it. The reason I made the resolution is that I've been neglecting my writing lately in favor of communing with friends online. I didn't quite expect the flood of comments I received:
"Good luck with that!"
"Impressive. Let us know how it goes, but not before noon."
"that sounds painful"
"I want to have that same goal, but I don't know if I'm strong enough to do it."
"You're an inspiration, Beth. I resolve to do the same as soon as I stop procrastinating."
"That's a great one, and a tough one!"
It sounds like a lot of people might have the same problem as me, with online social networking eating up so much time that it's interfering with their other life goals. What do you think? And, what are you resolving to change about your life in 2009?
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