Present Tense?

First, apologies. I have been away far too long. My day job got very demanding, leaving me two free hours a day, which I have spent writing fiction –– and becoming delinquent to my Type M commitment. But I am back.

Now onward.

About a year ago, I wrote a post considering when the present tense was suitable for novel-length fiction. I want to return to that topic. Last spring, I was 50 pages into a novel when I started reading "The Maid," by Nita Prose. The novel features the first-person voice of Molly Gray. It is written in present tense. (I had toyed with present tense previously when working on a script, and I love to read the screenplay to the pilot for Breaking Bad.) But I had never written anything in a sustained present-tense voice.

However, Nita Prose got me thinking.

So I went back to my opening 50 pages and reworked them to present tense. Immediately, I liked the writing. I had always heard that present tense asks too much of readers. They can’t sustain it. Yet I liked the voice. Liked the pace. Found it wasn’t too much (for my advanced readers anyway). My agent read it and liked it. So I continued.

One thing I liked immediately: present tense cuts out the fat –– fewer to-be verbs (“had” is almost completely wiped out. I’m 170 pages in (40,000 words), and I think it’s working.

I’d love to hear others’ thoughts on using present tense in fiction.

Welcome Back, Suspense Magazine!

 by Sybil Johnson

You may remember that I did a post a few weeks back about Mystery Magazine ceasing publication after the September 2024 issue. They might not be around anymore, but another magazine that closed down publication of its pdf version is now coming back!

Welcome back, Suspense Magazine!

According to their Facebook page, “...starting in January 2025, Suspense Magazine will be producing a digital magazine for FREE! The magazine will run quarterly. We will have more educational articles from bestselling authors, with tips and tricks to make you a more successful writer. Reviews, features and so much more will be included. Also Suspense Radio is back on the air, interviewing the authors you want to hear from! We post the interviews on our website and also you can subscribe on Spotify, Apple Music and many other podcast sites, simply by searching Suspense Radio!”

They are also open to submissions for short stories and their publishing company, Suspense Publishing, is now open to submissions. For details on submissions and anything else to do with the magazine see their website. They are also looking for reviewers. 

It’s nice to see something coming back instead of going away.

Tell, Don't Show

by Charlotte Hinger

One of the most misunderstood "rules" in writing successful novels is the instruction to "Show, don't tell." Sometimes a story moves more quickly when the writer uses the limited omniscience viewpoint. An engaging narrative voice using descriptive details can jump start mysteries. 

One of my favorite book about the craft of writing is The Successful Novelist by David Morrell. It includes an excellent chapter on viewpoint. He describes his struggles with the beginning of his novel, First Blood. The book is a literary novel, by the way. He warns readers it's nothing like the movie. And it isn't.

He tried limited third person through Rambo's eyes. It didn't work. He tried alternating third person between Rambo and Teasle, the relentless policeman. He still wasn't happy with the beginning. Then he came up with this:

His name was Rambo, and he was just some nothing kid for all anybody knew, standing by the pump of a gas station on the outskirts of  Madison, Kentucky. He had a long heavy beard, and his hair was hanging down over his ears to his neck, and he had his hand out trying to thumb a ride from a car that was stopped at the pump. 

Other best-selling authors begin books with limited omniscience.  

Consider this beginning from Tana French's best seller, In the Woods:  

Picture a summer stolen whole from some coming-of-age film set in a small-town 1950s. This is none of Ireland's subtle seasons mixed for a connoisseur's palate. . . ." 

Of the beginning of Elizabeth George's novel, A Place of Hiding:

Santa Ana winds were no friends of photography, but that was something you could not tell an egomanical architect who believed his entire reputation rested upon capturing for posterity--and for Architectural Digest--fifty-two thousand square feet of unfinished hillside sprawl today. 

In my historical novel, Come Spring, one of my early paragraphs began:

She was a frail watercolor of a woman, very slight, with yellow hair and pale, sensitive blue eyes that could become pridefully unreadable in an instant. In another setting she would have been lovely but the prairie sun was too strong for her. It bleached her out--her hair, her skin, her very soul--with its harshness.  

Morrell recommends experimenting with different points of view. 

One rule that I consider set in stone is this: If something works, it works.  

Do Private Investigators Carry Guns?

 By Steve Pease, retired PI and writer

  Genre fiction is beset with clichés. Medical shows on TV, cop shows, PI shows. The tropes come with the territory and readers won’t feel entertained if some clichés aren’t there. Here’s one of the biggest PI clichés.

   You know the scene. The PI confronts the bad guy and a gunfight breaks out. The PI has a 38 Colt snubbie on his belt or under his arm; the bad guy has a 45 Auto or a machine gun. I guess that evens things out. The bad guy takes one in the arm or shoulder, but the PI is seldom hit.

   In reality, PIs seldom carry anything lethal, maybe pepper spray.

   What do I do? I have training in firearms, from the military and civilian companies, and I practice at a civilian range where I shoot 25-50 rounds each from several different guns quarterly. I carry a knife in my coin pocket, sometimes others secretly here and there. I have a SIG 9mm and a Beretta 22 off-body, ie not in a shoulder holster or on my belt. They’re in bags I’m carrying. Both are automatics. My 38 Special snubnose revolver (of course I have one!) is at home because it’s too big to carry. I have a coin purse that makes a fine blackjack. Sometimes I carry the small Beretta in an ankle holster or in an in-pants hidden holster. I have a million-volt stunner and some old bear spray – in the bags.

   I meet my clients in a non-advertised office and I seldom carry a weapon when investigating. My assisted-opening folding pocket knife is mostly a tool. I work at my computer where guns aren’t needed and I go to the Courthouse where guns aren’t allowed.

   I have been threatened by Subjects, pissed-off husbands, neighbors, and strangers. My fault for being discovered (burned) in the first place. I’m not sure I want to conduct investigations at a location where I might need the guns. I don’t take jobs in bad neighborhoods at night, but maybe during the day. I don’t drive a car with anonymous plates, but that’s a thought for the future. My office has no sign on the building or on my door. I have a Colorado Concealed Carry Permit. I sometimes carry because of the mass shootings you read about, not because of my business. I am in the information business.

   A PI has NO special legal privileges to carry a gun. Even PIs who have retired Police credentials have to understand they no longer are cops and can’t pull their gun to intimidate or influence perps. The court can take their guns away. And their license.

   PI specialties that call for weapons, like Executive Protection ie bodyguard, are Very specialized. In New Mexico, it requires a special armed PI license, proof of expensive training, and Very Expensive insurance. I had a guy with a problem that wanted protection during a financial transaction. He thought that should cost $100. “You guys do that, right?” I declined, saying I wasn’t trained or licensed and, anyway, the fee would be $5000+.

   Guns are good in fictional action scenes, but I usually use a non-lethal alternative. The alternative works well in real life too.

What Did He Say?>

 I, Donis, have been working as Writer in Residence for Glendale, AZ, Public Library, which as most of you Dear Readers know, entails both private consultations and giving classes on the art, craft, and business of writing fiction. I've been WIR at other libraries before, but this is the first time I've done it since the end of the pandemic, so I've been having to brush up on my oration skills. In a week or so I'll be sharing my hard-earned knowledge on that most elusive concept of voice, and on effective ways to write dialog. One thing I've noticed about beginning writers is their tendency to either use too many florid tags in their dialog. Or so few tags we're awash in a sea of people talking but we've long ago lost track of who said what.

Hemingway said that dialog is not real speech, it’s the illusion of real speech. I’m sure, Dear Reader, that you’ve read Elmore Leonard’s admonitions that one should try to never use a verb other than ‘said’ to carry dialogue, or that one should never use an adverb to modify the verb “said”.

On his website, the great Tim Hallinan suggests that instead, the writer “use body language: Dialogue broken up by description of what characters are doing provides context and also projects an image. When someone other than our protagonist is speaking in a scene, what is our protagonist doing? Are her hands at rest? Does she listen intently? Does she squirm in the chair. Drum her fingers? Twist her hair? We convey a lot without saying a word.”

I like that idea.

For instance,:

"Nonsense," Martha interjected, is a perfectly acceptable sentence, but if I were a fly on the wall, I might see what Martha is doing when she says this. One might try something like, Martha straightened, indignant. “Nonsense."

Rather than "Question?" Beth offered. try Beth held up a finger (or leaned forward, or tapped the table). “Question?"

And rather than "Okay, Beth. Ask it," Joel replied, consider having Joe sigh, roll his eyes, flop back in his chair, then, "Okay, Beth. Ask it."

You can come up with better examples, but you get the picture. Of course the "rules" are really suggestions.

As far as the current popular idea in publishing of only using "said"... I use "noted" and "agreed" and "asked" and the like plenty of times myself. But I do think that the take-away points are: 1) don't use descriptors that draw attention to themselves, like, "he asservated", because that puts the author in the picture, and 2) if you can describe the situation, body language, etc., in lieu of a dialog tag, that's the best way to let the reader see what's going on and draw her own conclusions rather than having the author tell her. 

Pre-release planning

 What an exciting series of posts Type M has had recently, several from new members who bring fresh perspectives and new energy to the group. I hope readers are tuning in and enjoying the variety. Often I get ideas for my own posts from the others, but this time there are so many good  ideas that I don't know how to choose. I enjoyed Catherine's post comparing her writing preparation and process to her long-distance running; lay the foundation, set goals, be consistent, always reach higher. I also liked Thomas' post about critiquing groups, I am a huge fan of them and have gathered with the same group for over twenty years. Through thick and thin, through life changes, even deaths, we've become the best of friends. And Sybil's superpower - worrying. Asking what's the worst thing that can happen? What if, what if? And using those disasters to create plot twists. 

I'd also like to extend a warm welcome to Steve Pease (aka Michael Chandos), who will now become our resident expert on all things PI, whether he likes it or not. Writers are a supportive, collegial community, and I believe we crime writers are the friendliest of all. Maybe it's something to do with letting out dark side loose on the page.

My own post today will be mundane by comparison. Mundane and short. My latest book, SHIPWRECKED SOULS, is at that pre-release stage where I have to start thinking about promotional events and activities. The book is going to land with a thud into the middle of January, when potential purchasers are staring at their credit cards in horror, and readers can barely see over their newly augmented TBR piles. Christmas is over and the next big "sales opportunity" - probably Mother's / Father's Day - is months away. Valentine's Day doesn't count unless you're a romance writer. It's difficult to entice a would-be Romeo with a nice little spot of murder.

So my first task is to order bookmarks for the new book and set up a few signings in my favourite independent bookstores in the month before Christmas. Those signings are announced on Facebook and Instagram (with a graphic). While signing my existing books, I will tell customers about the new book and slip a bookmark into any book they buy. My second task is to plan my book launch, probably in early February. That involves first booking the venue; I love pubs, ideally with a separate party room. Then figuring out the program and finding someone to act as MC or moderator. Next, designing the invitation and updating my contact list. I send out emails, Facebook invites, and general social media posts. 

I usually have two launches, the main one in Ottawa and another in Toronto, which is about a four and a half hour nightmare drive down the infamous "401." 

There are two other tasks that happen before the release– ARCs and pre-orders. Right now, Advanced Reader Copies are available through Net Galley, so interested reviewers can go to Net Galley to sign in. Reviews on sites like Goodreads, Amazon, and other book sites are increasingly important for authors to gain any visibility in the crowded book world today. 

As well, SHIPWRECKED SOULS is now listed for pre-order on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Chapters/ Indigo, and most other book sites. Pre-ordering has also become increasingly important to sales because some complicated algorithm calculates how successful the book will be and gives it greater prominence.

This is as far as I have got in thinking about the new book's release. Stay tuned for more details on the launches as I figure them out. 

Building Your Base

 by Catherine Dilts

The annual Ultra running event 24 Hours of Palmer Lake began at 8:00 the morning of September 28. But preparation began long before racers crossed the starting line.

An Ultra is a footrace that exceeds the marathon distance of 26.2 miles.

I registered months before. My younger daughter says her puppy is a food motivated dog. Will behave for treats. I’m a goal motivated runner. I need a running event to work toward, or I start slacking off on my training.

In Sue Grafton’s alphabet mysteries, Kinsey Millhone simply dashes out the door for a three-mile run when she can squeeze it in between solving crimes as a private investigator. That’s the way many folks approach their running. Catch as catch can, and the same workout every time.

At my older daughter’s urging, I joined the Women’s FIT Team in 2016. Coached by accomplished runner Judy Fellhauer, this club changed my running life. And those changes spilled over into the rest of my life.

Judy’s Principles of Training involve building a base, a concept echoed by Sakyong Mipham in Running with the Mind of Meditation. This foundation requires gradually increasing time and distance, followed by recovery periods. Consistency is essential, but not the consistency of doing the same thing over and over, like Grafton’s heroine. Training is progressive, followed by a recovery week of less running – but not no running!

Coach Judy retired last year to spend more time with her husband, and their growing and far-flung family. I’m grateful I was able to receive Judy’s coaching. Her lessons soaked in.

What does my running journey have to do with my writing?

When I first had the dream of being a fiction writer, without knowing I was doing it, I built a base. A college degree in English literature, joining writing groups, and reading how-to books. In critique groups, I read others’ writing, and had my own reviewed by peers. This led to my ultimate goal: publication.

Like running a race, crossing that finish line left me with a “what next” feeling. A runner doesn’t simply enter one event, then walk away, never to run again. Nor does a writer complete one novel, then walk off into the sunset. (Okay, there are exceptions to every rule.) 

I applied Judy’s principles to my writing. Consistency – working on a regular writing schedule. Progressive stress – trying new projects and genres. Recovery – giving myself permission to slack off on the hours I work – but only for a limited time.

Now back to the 24 Hours of Palmer Lake. The stats: the first place male runner completed 123 miles, and the first place female 110.7 miles. The least miles accomplished was 1.64. Very few people participated for the entire 24 hours. My daughter and I left at 3:30 am (19.5 hours after the start of the race).

In my first Ultra event success, I completed 32.81 miles. This was my daughter’s fourth Ultra. She completed 42.64. Neither of us trained properly for these distances, but had a solid base due to Coach Judy’s influence. And both of us are amazed we could do those distances.

I’m not a sprinter. I’m a distance runner. In my running and my writing, I’m in it for the long haul. Both require building a strong base.

Critique Groups

 By Thomas Kies

In my creative writing classes, I often suggest that the participants join the North Carolina Writers Network and the local organization, our Carteret Writers.  It’s good to be in the company of people with similar interests. 

In addition, I suggest that they join a critique group.  Indeed, when my last class ended last spring, everyone asked if I would stay on and lead a critique group.  They even offered to pay me.  I told them that I would do it, but not for money.  I was working on a book at the time, and I wanted them to critique chapters as I wrote them.  

I loved it.  Plus, I finished the book. Oh, plus plus, we held the group in the side room of a cozy wine bar called the Club at the Webb.  It's in a historic old building that used to be a library and now is a meeting place and a coffee shop (and serves some of the best wine in the county).  See the photo above.

Writing is a lonely activity, but humans are social animals, and we crave community. We want to be part of a supportive environment.  As we write, we need feedback.  That’s why I strongly suggest that if you’re a serious writer, you join a critique group. 

When I teach a class, I try to be as positive as possible. Maybe, overly so.  My success is when a participant continues to write even when the class ends.  But in my critique group, the participants wanted me to be more forthright, less positive.  A good critique group should be honest but should offer constructive feedback.  It’s meant to help writers improve their craft.  

Sometimes that feedback is difficult to hear, but hopefully, it’s offered in a way that’s not hurtful but helpful. 

Different people offer different insights.  There were occasions when I thought certain pieces that were read in class didn’t work.  Not everyone would agree with me.  And that was okay.  Writing is an artform that’s subjective. 

A critique group forces you to write.  I know that life can get in the way and it’s easy to let your writing slide.  But if you have a meeting scheduled on a weekly basis, it makes you make time and that’s important if you’re going to succeed as a writer. 

A critique group can help you become more critical in your reading and your listening skills.  You’re spending more time thinking about the words and the context and how they’re put together.  

Yes, critique groups can be scary.  After all, you’re sharing your baby with the world.  You are asking people in the group to tell you what they like…and what they don’t like.  That’s not easy.  But one thing I tell my class when I teach, if you want to be a writer, you’d better have a thick skin.  Not everyone is going to like what you write. 

So, the bottom line is if you’re a writer, spend time with other writers and, of course, readers.  I can’t recall ever meeting another writer that wasn’t helpful and friendly.  

A Writer's Superpower

 by Sybil Johnson

I believe that every writer has a superpower. It might be the ability to craft clever dialog or describe a scene so well the reader feels like they are there. Awhile back, on the Chicks on the Case blog, I talked about my superpower. This originally was posted a little over a year ago on that blog. I thought it worth reposting here. Enjoy.

When Worrying Pays Off

I am a worrywart. I worry about pretty much everything.

Am I going to be late for an appointment or meeting? Did I forget an appointment or meeting? If I’m driving someplace I’ve never been before, will I get lost? Will I make a writing deadline? Did I forget to turn off the stove, iron, etc.? When I blow out the candles on my birthday cake, am I going to set my hair on fire…again? (Go ahead, laugh. I’ve done this twice. My hair was longer then.)

The list goes on.

Being such a worrier, my mind often goes to worst-case scenarios. When I was managing software projects, I wondered what I’d do if someone in my team quit, got really sick or even died. The software still had to be written, the project completed. We did a lot of cross-training so there’d be someone to pick up the slack if the worst happened. That allayed my fears enough I could push them to the back of my mind and get on with my work. Thankfully, none of these things happened to anyone on my team, but I was prepared if it did

Construction projects on the block are a particular source of worry. There have been a lot of them over the years. We’re talking nine and a half years of continuous construction. I kid you not. One project would end and another immediately begin.

It’s been quiet for a few years now but, with a new project starting soon, I’m remembering all those concerns that filled my mind. All those what ifs. What if…something crashed down on our house, our car tires were stabbed with stray nails, something fell on a car that’s parked on the street and the person in it. You get the drift.

Worrying so much is not a good thing. Or so I thought. Turns out, when you’re a writer, being a worrywart comes in handy. It’s my super power. I can take all of those worst-case scenarios that flit through my mind and create stories around them.

This applies to any story I’m working on. When I’m stuck and can’t figure out where to take the story next, I think about what’s the worst that can happen at that point. If it’s plausible enough and I can figure out a way to make it work in the story, I’ve got my next step.

With all that construction going on, my mind is full of ideas for stories. Besides the scenarios I mentioned earlier, here are a few more. What if a body is found in the Porta Potty on a construction site? What if, when they’re removing an old house, a skeleton is found? (I actually used this one as the basis for my book, Ghosts of Painting Past.) Or maybe the body is found inside a wall? What if tools and equipment are stolen from the site? What if two neighbors fight over a construction project? (I’ve got this one partially worked out as a short story. I just need to write it.)

I have a lot of fun coming up with these scenarios. Plus it makes me feel better. 

That’s how I use my worrying ways in a productive manner.

What’s your superpower?

Well Shut My Mouth

 by Charlotte Hinger

Years ago, a lady I think the world of--a dear, dear friend, a native Kansan like me, scolded me after a talk I had given. She said "You really don't like Kansas, much, do you." I was dumbfounded and stricken with remorse. What had I said that gave her that impression?

Anyone who knows me and reads my books knows I'm plumb silly about my native state. I've always loved Kansas.

 In fact, when I was in the fourth grade and a little girl moved to town from Oklahoma, I greeted her with infinite compassion because she would never be quite right. She would never be a little sunflower. She had not been born in Kansas! The poor little thing.

After my talk when I was so obviously distressed, another friend told me "Charlotte, not everyone gets your sense of humor."

A light bulb went off. I changed. My correcting friend was right. Humor can easily be misunderstood. 

I became much more circumspect about my presentations. Talks are a two-way interchange. Individuals attending can easily be distracted. All it takes is fumbling for a dropped program, a waitperson coming around with the coffee pot, a delayed urge to use the rest room and phoof! There goes the wittiest punch line since the Marx brothers made their debut. 

For that matter, late arrivals often miss the whole point of a carefully structured lecture. Cell phones ring at the most opportune times. 

I've also become aware of how lines taken out of context can be miscontrued. Is there anyone today who is not conscious of the importance of political correctness? Woe to the naive speaker who uses the wrong word when referring to an ethnic group. 

And while I have your attention:

What does a Kansan do when he wins the lottery?

He buys a second tractor.

That's all folks!

Introducing Steve Pease

 by Steve Pease (Michael Chandos)

Thanks for the invite to join this most interesting writer’s blog. I am Steve Pease and I live in Colorado’s Black Forest. I write mysteries and science fiction under the pen name of Michael Chandos. Why a pen name and why that one will be a future blog. My education is aerospace engineering, astronomy and criminal justice. I spent 34.5 years as an USAF officer and then a Senior Civilian doing intelligence analysis on foreign space technology. I have experience in most intelligence disciplines including double agents and the three-letter agencies.

When I retired, I wanted to write “medium-boiled” private eye stories, so I studied the profession to make sure I got things right and I became one along the way. I was licensed in both Colorado and New Mexico. I have my own company, Glass Key Investigations, which I am finally shutting down to write full time, in between house chores. In this blog, I’ll talk about the PI business and maybe even the movie business too, and how it affects your writing.

Television and movies do not reflect real life. Surprised? The Private Eye's image in the mind of most Americans (and elsewhere) was formed on the screen and in pulpy mystery novels, and it's mostly wrong. We don't pull guns, beat up thugs, plant or steal evidence, drink whiskey from our desk drawer or take dirty photos thru motel Venetian blinds. PIs rarely get involved in solving crimes. They investigate, privately. I seldom detect clues. Detectives work for the police department. PIs sometimes work for the Defense. Sometimes, they investigate the Detectives to see if they made mistakes to the advantage of the Defendant.

PIs come from everywhere: law enforcement, county government, military, law firms. We're in a tough business, and we need insurance, permits, equipment and coffee. We pay rent, buy health insurance, eat and fight privacy laws in ignorant State legislatures. Oh, and we need good shoes and a comfy chair. We deal with people under tremendous personal stress and sometimes with hidden agendas. We need good people skills. Sometimes, I think I need certification in marriage counseling.

I put it all into my stories. Mostly short stories, so far.

If you want to write about PIs, or any profession for that matter, you have to get the basics right. Authenticity breeds trust in your story. Dan Brown (daVinci Code) and Dr Sir Arthur Ignatius,Conan Doyle (Sherlock) can force two unrelated facts together to make a better story, but most of us are confined to imaginations backed by reality. Hook ‘em with a few properly placed facts and they’ll follow you when you soar. 

Never let the truth...

 ...get in the way of a good story.  Mark Twain

Fiction requires the suspension of disbelief. If we pick up an epic fantasy, we have no problem accepting a world of orcs, dragons, and magic. But it seems the closer the story world is to our own, the more rigid our factual expectations from the author. Years back, I was engrossed in a WW2 historical thriller about a Nazi plot to kill FDR and was especially drawn in when the assassin crept into the US through Juarez. How often does my part of the country get mentioned in any book? Then, as the assassin journeyed north, listing towns along the way, the author made the mistake of writing "Truth or Consequences." That to me was a hard stop as back then, the town was known as Hot Springs. At that point, the author lost me, though in terms of the plot, the error mattered little.

In my current work in progress--a police procedural of sorts--I try hard not to go down the rabbit hole of research, a difficult challenge when digging through police operational manuals, court records, and news articles. I want to get the details right, then I remind myself when watching a show like Bosch, I don't know what's true or made-up. Just have it sound plausible, that's all that I need. It's fiction, not a documentary. 

Recently, I visited Mount Rushmore and naturally, when I returned home, I had to rewatch Alfred Hitchcock's masterpiece thriller, North by Northwest. The climax of the movie is the final chase from the Vandamm House and down the face of Abraham Lincoln. For the sake of the story, the house is located a convenient running distance to the sculpted face of the mountain. Turns out, there was never a Vandamm House or anything like that ever built on top of Mount Rushmore. Hitchcock needed this plot device, and never mind the facts, poof, there it was on the screen. 

Writing fiction is a compromise. Gotta give the reader enough factual bread crumbs to keep them following the story yet not so much that you turn the narrative into a doughy mess. We're writing entertainment and so must focus on the emotional, vicarious journey that readers expect. Never let the truth get in your way.

No Good Tale Should Go Untold

Donis here. Sometimes, we writers wonder about the ethics of using a third party’s actual life experience as a plot line. I use real events, both historical and personal, all the time. When I have used personal events, I either disguise them or ask permission of the individual to whom it happened. I do have the writer’s mind, though, and when I hear an intriguing story, I do not forget it, though I ponder long and hard on whether or not I can use it in book. Sometimes I ponder long and hard for decades. 

The third book of my long-running Alafair Tucker series, The Drop Edge of Yonder, is a book that was thirty years in the making. There are at least two pivotal scenes in the book that owe their existence to newspaper articles that stayed with me all that time. I read the first story when I lived in Lubbock, Texas, back in the ’70′s. Two women, an elderly mother and her grown daughter, were out shopping together, walking down the street and minding their own business, when an insane person ran up and attacked the daughter without provocation. The old mother saved her daughter when she jumped on the  man’s back and pummeled him, and bit him, and basically beat the heck out of him.

Somewhere around the same time, I read in an interview with an old British soldier who had fought the Massoud in Palestine after WWII. He described a fighter who came at him tooth and claw and absolutely refused to be killed, even after he shot him and stabbed him and beat him with the butt of his rifle. The fighter finally sunk his teeth in the soldier’s foot and the soldier had to decapitate him to make him let go. The soldier said it was the scariest thing that had ever happened to him in his life. I took both these images and put them together to create one of the climatic scenes of the book.

The opening scene of Drop Edge isn’t quite as old an image in my head as the other two, but it is also a tale that took me a long time to tell. Seven or eight years before I began writing that particular book, I did a family genealogy for my sibs for Christmas, which is one of the things that inspired me to write my Alafair Tucker series in the first place. One of the things I learned while doing research on my family was the story of one of my a great-great grandfathers and three of his companions who were returning from the Civil War Battle of Pea Ridge when they stopped a few miles from home to rob a bee hive in a tree. While they were smoking the hive, they were ambushed by bushwhackers and killed. They were found by their families a few hours later but lay dead in the field over night, guarded from wild animals by their wives until morning, when they were buried where they fell.

The Drop Edge of Yonder came out almost 20 years ago, but I'm still using other people's experiences as plot jumping off points. I'm nearly finished with a first draft of a new novel with entirely an different plot, characters, eras. Yet as I go back and review what I've written, I see that the story is full of disguised events from my own life and the lives of many of my relatives, because no good tale should go untold.

The long journey

 This week, I decided to take up Charlotte's question about managing time and juggling the various aspects of a writer's career. My system has changed immensely over the years. My first novel, DO OR DIE was published 24 years ago, before social media, websites,  goodreads, etc. Many of the readers I was hoping to reach didn't even have email. It's difficult to imagine how we coped, but we did! I developed a database (using D-Base) of all my friends and family who might be remotely interested in reading my books, and I added each new contact and reader to this database. I could generate mailing lists and print address labels from that database. When I released a new book, I printed postcards and mailed them out, announcing the book and, if they were local, inviting them to my book launch. The book launch was a huge way to get the word out. I also connected with bookstores within a reasonable driving distance from Ottawa and tried to arrange signings. Signings had two purposes - to sell books and to make a connection with booksellers. Sybil's advice to treat editors with respect applies equally to booksellers and librarians. They are your biggest ally.

At the beginning I was still working full time and had to find time to write as well as do all this promotional stuff in the evenings and weekends. Exhausting! Once I went down to part-time (and even more when I retired from practice entirely) I could use my off days to write and to travel around to stores, attend book clubs, and slowly learn about the internet. Email was a game-changer. As I accumulated the emails of readers, friends and families, I began to transition to emailing launch invitations and sending out announcements about signings and new books. Many of my colleagues, more savvy than me, developed newsletters and reader contact lists through platforms like mailchimp. I didn't. With my latest books, I did use Eventbrite and Facebook event invites to spread the word as well, but I still relied on group emails. I have come a long way into this technological age, but it's hard to make an old dog like new tricks!

My Facebook author page and my website are two other avenues through which I try to engage people and keep them up to date on my writing career. I cross-post info on Facebook and Instagram about book signings, launches, etc. When I look back, what a long way we've come in twenty-five years.

But the other aspect of my writing career - the actual writing - has barely changed at all. I write my first draft longhand using pen and pads of lined yellow paper. I began by squeezing writing time into the evenings once the family was settled, but since I've retired, I write every morning for three to four hours when I'm writing the first draft, saving the afternoon for the social media and promotional stuff. First I warm up my brain with coffee, social media browsing, and various internet fiddling, and then I get down to work. My goal is a scene a day, usually five to six handwritten pages. At that rate the first draft usually takes about four to six months. I do no editing until I have written "the end", and then my first task is to transcribe the illegible mess onto the computer. Initial editing occurs during this process, as well as creating a fat file of things that need to be fixed, added, changed, or deleted. Then comes all the rewrites to fix those. That process can take two to three months. I find the whole process from the first research to sending it in to the publisher takes about a year. 

Of course, I was usually contracted to one book a year, so this schedule was born out of necessity! Now that my most recent books are spread farther apart, I am enjoying a more leisurely pace, with time for other interests and fun while still getting the book done on time.