An Interesting Time for a Writer, and Women's History Month

Left Coast Crime is over and the Tucson Festival of Books is coming up this weekend. I’ll be teaching a class on writing historical mysteries while I'm in Tucson, as well as participating in a panel with other historical mystery authors.* It’s always a boost to be around other writers. This is such a solitary life that sometimes you wonder if you're not just a voice crying in the wilderness. It's a mystery to me how a book ever gets written, to tell the truth. I've written books in the midst of personal crises that went on for months, but then found myself paralyzed when nothing in particular was going on with the rest of my life. But  however lovely it is to get out in the world, I must say that I’m beginning to get tired. And poor. As authors continually point out, you can’t help but wonder if all this travel and outlay and acting as free entertainment just for the exposure is really worth it. Especially when you can hardly find the time to finish your novel.

Things are changing so fast in the publishing world that nobody can keep up. How can one plan for the future? You can’t predict which of the numberless trends is going to have legs and which is going to fizzle out. We begin to understand the true meaning of the Chinese curse that that you should live in interesting times.

I detect a lot of fear about what’s going to happen, and resentment, because it seems that in the publishing world the authors are way down on the food chain, and no matter what format or delivery system comes out on top, the producers of the primary product will be the last to profit. (Rather like farming. Or the music biz.)

When J.D. Salinger, the famously reclusive author of Catcher in the Rye, died, he left piles, stacks, boxes, rooms-full of manuscripts that he had written just for his own enjoyment, any one of which he could have sold for an astronomical advance. He made the conscious choice to create art strictly for art’s sake. He was able to maintain this philosophy because the first book he wrote made him a millionaire. The rest of us can’t afford the luxury of such high ideals.  Sometimes I wish for the days when artists were supported by wealthy patrons.

I do like to tell stories, though, and will do my best to keep telling them however I may.

On another note, March is Women’s History Month, but since I write a historical mystery series featuring a female protagonist, every month is Women’s History Month for me. According to the National Women’s History Project, “the history of women often seems to be written with invisible ink. Even when recognized in their own times, women are often not included in the history books.”

Women’s lives – and I mean the real, everyday, down and dirty business of women’s lives, past and present – aren’t included that often in fiction, either. A traditional woman’s life has historically not been seen as very glamorous, or held much interest for those who didn’t have to, or choose to, live it.

But considering the things a woman often had to cope with in the past, we ought to be incredibly interested in their lives, if for no other reason than to make sure we don’t slip backwards and lose the rights and respect we’ve earned. Case in point: read Barbara Frandkin’s post, below.
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Check out my TFoB schedule here

Write the Damn Book

It's been a busy winter, and it's going to be busy spring. It feels to me (Donis) that I've been going from one event to another since my last book came out last November. If it isn't a workshop I've agreed to teach, it's a review that I promised to do, or a blog entry, or a book club, or a charity event, or an author event. Left Coast Crime, one of the major crime fiction fan and author conferences, is coming up in a couple of weeks (see Barbara's entry below for an excellent overview). I'm attending LCC, naturally. I can't miss it this year for sure since it's right here in Phoenix, a mere 30 miles from my home. Of course 30 miles is quite a commute, so I'm staying at the conference hotel in downtown Phoenix--rooming, in fact, with Type M's own Charlotte Hinger.

On Friday, Feb. 26, at 1:30 p.m., I'll get to be on a panel called Historical Mysteries: Turn of the 20th Century with, Tessa Arlen, Annamaria Alfieri, and Charles Todd. Quite a company! On Saturday, Feb. 27, from 7:30 a.m.-9:00 a.m. I'm one of the host authors (along with Charlotte and Vicki Delany and 20 others) at the Discover Mystery Breakfast hosted by Poisoned Pen Press, where guests can enjoy a continental breakfast and hear about the wide variety of crime fiction published by Poisoned Pen Press. Giveaways and authors at every table.

After LCC,  I'll have another couple of book club/library events to do before the Tucson Festival of Books on March 12 and 13, where I've agreed to teach a historical novel writing workshop and appear on a panel.

LCC and TFoB and the rest are wonderfully fun (and we hope, useful) events, but they will take up days where, if my previous experience holds true, I'll get to catch up with friends I haven't seen in awhile and meet some new friends and learn a lot, but I won't get much actual writing done.

And therein lies the rub. Last Friday I had an author event in another town that took the entire day, and then I rushed home and spent the evening and all of the next day finishing a review and writing an article, both due immediately, and corresponding with people whom I had PROMISED to get back to right away, and I ended up not writing a word on my WIP for the whole time. This is not good. It's nice to be popular and in demand, but sometimes I have to pause and wonder if I'm missing the point of all this activity.

A few months ago there was a cartoon going around Facebook that showed a stick figure sitting at a desk, and another stick figure behind him holding a gun to his head and saying, "Just write the damn book!"

I want to write my stories. That's the thing I want to do and the thing I really enjoy doing. My mother taught us that in order to reach our financial goals, we should always pay ourselves first. In other words, put money aside for yourself before you even pay your bills. My mistake lately has been not doing the same thing with my writing. Do the writing first. It doesn't even have to be good, just get some words down on the page before you do anything else. That's my job, to do the writing. All the rest is gravy.

On the wing

Barbara here. In exactly two weeks I will be in the air, winging my way to Phoenix to participate in Left Coast Crime, a conference for all lovers of the crime and mystery genre, whether they be readers, writers, reviewers, librarians or other book business professionals. Left Coast Crime is a mid-sized, four-day get-together held every spring somewhere on the western side of the country. The city differs every year, as does the organizing committee, but the informal spirit of inclusion and welcome does not. Most of the time the location is in the United States, but I once attended one in Bristol, UK, and there is talk of Vancouver hosting one. New hosting cities are always welcome!

I have been to quite a few conferences over the years, but Left Coast Crime is among my favourite. It is small enough to allow everyone the chance to meet and chat with new people– for readers to find new authors and authors to find new readers. Its informal, egalitarian style respects both newbie authors and well-known authors alike, rather than creating a tiered system of privilege. And it provides plenty of different programs through which authors, many of whom have travelled a long way and spent quite a hefty portion of their modest royalties, can connect with readers and other book people.

I also love the cities it chooses. In addition to Bristol, have been to Monterey, California, El Paso, Texas, Santa Fe, New Mexico, and Portland, Oregon. All cities of charm and novelty to this Canuck writer. When I can travel to an intriguing new city, get a glimpse of the countryside, connect with other writers and readers, and still manage a business tax deduction, that's a bonus!

This year, I am participating in quite a few events at Left Coast Crime. First of all, on February 24, before the conference even begins, I will be part of the International Fiction Night at the famed Poisoned Pen Bookstore in Scotsdale, AZ. I will be there with some of my Canadian writer friends as well as some overseas writers. It should be a wonderful evening, hosted by mystery woman extraordinaire, Barbara Peters, who not only owns the highly successful independent bookstore but also Poisoned Pen Press.

The conference begins Thursday, February 25, and I start off with a bang at 9:00 a.m. by participating in the author speed dating event, where forty authors get two minutes each to pitch our books to successive tables of interested attendees. By the end of an hour, authors will have lost their voice and won't remember their own name, but hopefully some one else will!

Friday night at 5:30, Crime Writers of Canada will be hosting a Meet the Canucks reception in conjunction with Left Coast Crime, during which there will be refreshments, games and prizes, wonderful authors to talk to, and a cash bar.

Sunday morning at 9:30, I will be participating in a panel discussion entitled Heroes with a Badge about sleuths in law enforcement. I am with three other panelists, Peg Brantley, Tyler Dilts, and my friend and fellow Canuck Brenda Chapman. We will be put through the wringer by moderator and real life cop Neal Griffin. Expect the secrets to writing a good cop and a good series, perils and pitfalls, and more. Immediately after the panel, there will be a book signing.

In addition to these appearances, I am also entering a basket in the silent auction, which raises money for children's literacy in Arizona. I am auctioning a signed Advanced Reading Copy of my upcoming book Fire in the Stars, along with some nifty, as yet undetermined, Canadian trinkets (maybe a Mountie, a moose, or maple syrup, the latter genuine, former two replicas only), and as a special bonus, the chance to name a character in my current work in progress, the second in the Amanda Doucette series, entitled The Trickster's Lullaby. The winner of the bid may opt to have their own name used in the book, or select another name (as long as it's not outrageous). I hope the attendees visit the auction and bid often. KidsReadUSA will thank you!

If you're attending, please come up and introduce yourselves. I know quite a few of us Type M bloggers will be there!