Connecting with fellow book lovers

 In my blog post two weeks ago, I wrote about the dark place I was in because of the war and the seemingly endless suffering. The bombings in Ukraine were not longer in the news because the public and the media had been captivated by a new horror. 

If anything, the horror is worse now than two weeks ago. Anger and violence is spreading, both in the Middle East and across the globe, where everyone is taking sides whether they understand what's going on or not. One of the advantages of growing old is the wisdom of the long view, and the understanding that the more you know about a subject, the less you know it. In order to restore some measure of balance and hope, I limited my consumption of news to twice a day and only from a couple of trusted professional news sources. I tried to avoid social media, which is a toxic soup, and skip over angry diatribes.

Mostly, it's helping. What's also helping is reconnecting with my normal life. In the past two weeks I've done two in-person talks to community groups about my writing, and both were energizing and restorative. I've done a lot of talks over the years. When I started, I prepared my talk carefully, typed it out, bolded key points to help me remember and stay on track, and faced my audience like the consummate professional. Over time, I learned to talk from a point-form outline, and still later, I had the point-form outline on the side table but only glanced at it occasionally. For the past few talks, I have spoken for over an hour without a single note.

The transformation from formal presentation to informal chat started with my book club talks. These are more informal by nature – small, intimate groups of friends sitting in a circle of comfy chairs, chatting and sharing easily. I too had a comfy chair and sometimes a glass of wine at my elbow. Formality is not a good fit. Often the sessions resembled spontaneous Q&As, with my answers dreamed up on the spot in response to the question, I learned the art of ad-libbing and thinking on my feet. Not quite conversation but certainly not didactic.

In some book clubs, I ended up talking for a half hour about whatever topic or book they wanted, without the aid of a single prepared note. No two talks are ever the same, but over time, I have developed a repertoire of thoughts and observations about my books, my writing process, my approach to research, and so on, and I can pull them up whenever that topic is raised. Sometimes I forget one interesting point but another one occurs to me. Because I know my work and these topics well, I find it easier to relax and be spontaneous, joke, and connect with the audience. I think everyone enjoys the informality. I know I do! 

It also help enormously that the people who come to these talks usually love books and are eager to learn about mine. No scowls or heckling here. That affirmation is wonderful for the soul. How would we writers survive without readers?

Life? or I-25?

All publishers love to have their authors promote books to various groups. I enjoy giving talks and presentations. When people tell me they have read my books and enjoyed them, I am delighted. It makes me feel like a real writer.

Nevertheless, I've become increasingly nervous about traveling the main artery that serves Colorado. I-25 is a real nightmare. In order to go just about anywhere in the state it's necessary to travel on this main interstate.

I had my first highway accident coming back from giving a talk in Kansas. Luckily, I was the only car involved. It occurred during a construction zone. I braked to avoid rear-ending the car ahead, then grazed the concrete barrier on the driver's side. I was able to drive across the lanes and get to the shoulder on the right side, but boy! It was a miracle that I didn't hit someone.

When I got out to survey the damage, there was none to the body. But a back wheel was at a weird angle. Not knowing anything about cars, I thought the wheel could be fixed quickly and easily. Instead, it's complicated. The twist harmed the suspension and that's a major repair. I'm driving a rental that I really like, but I had no idea that scheduling body work, arranging tows, and retrieving belongings would be so time-consuming.

Travel used to be easy. I like to drive and the well-maintained Kansas roads were /are wonderful. But it's occurred to me they are in terrific shape because we don't have a fraction of the traffic we have here in Colorado. This state--and especially the Denver area-- is growing by leaps and bounds. The tech industry is booming. Western Kansas is primarily agricultural and farms are few and far between.

I don't feel safe driving at night anymore. I don't know if this attitude is accurate or fed by the media's reporting of every last grim detail of urban crime.

For right now, I'll keep on trucking. The September meeting of RMMWA is about human trafficking. I would like to know more.

The Built-in Topic

Everyone's mystery is about some particular setting or topic that can be exploited for talks. That little something in the background is much more likely to hold a readers' attention than trying to persuade people to buy your mystery book. Why is your book different from everyone else's book?

I've always known this, but with the advent of social media, I'm just now beginning to realize how much can be done. Recently I received a request to speak at Nicodemus, Kansas on the topic of my new history book. The book is about 19th century Kansas African American politicians. There were hints that I might receive a stipend. We'll see. Considering the state's draconian budget cuts, I'm not counting on it.

To me, it was terrific to have to an unsolicited invitation to speak to people on a topic that they are interested in. I accepted happily with the usual warning, however, that I don't do weather. Eastern Colorado and Western Kansas are famous for savage last minute storms and I often have to cancel plans.

Because the book won't be out until 2016, I'll take my mysteries along and do a little mini-pitch for the Lottie Albright series. I'll talk about the differences between fiction and non-fiction writing.

Between now and time University of Oklahoma Press's catalog comes out, I need to take the time to sit down and think.

For some reason planning marketing comes hard for me. It's not that I can't think. It's just that I don't like to. Oddly enough I love to solve problems. That helps me a lot with my wretched computer wrecks. An ability to solve problems would seem to carry over to futuristic planning, but it doesn't.

To stay afloat in this noisy overcrowded word of mystery writing, we simply have to learn to plan campaigns. Oddly enough, there has been very little written on this subject.

Care to share how you do it. Do you simply respond to whatever falls in your lap? Or plan ahead.?