Photos with Friends

A roundup of photos from recent events....

With Simon Wood at Book Carnival in Orange, CA, for a dual racing mystery signing!

With my agent, the fabulous Lucienne Diver.

With 3/4 of my writing group.

Running a Book, Writing a Marathon

A strange thing happened to me tonight. I was pounding out words for my work-in-progress (WIP), and I hit a stumbling block. (Note: I call it that because it wasn't about fear of the blank page. I could have put down many words, but I'd have edited them out somewhere down the line, because they weren't what I needed next.) I needed to add a character, a little spice in my stew, if you will.

So I sat there for a few minutes, thinking about my story, my characters. Thinking it was past time for dinner, waiting for my husband to stop noodling around in his office. Thinking of my weekend plans. Thinking about characters. Thinking about not sleeping well last night, again.

Let me digress for a minute. I have occasional middle-of-the-night insomnia. I can go to sleep at the drop of a hat, but sometimes when I wake up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom, I don't go back to sleep for another hour and a half. This is frustrating. I've learned that too much caffeine the day before or not enough exercise in the days before will cause this. But yesterday, I'd had normal amounts of caffeine. I'd even exercised. There was no reason for the insomnia.

Except stress. Because I'm on deadline to finish my WIP. And I have a day job, and a life (well, not lately).

Back to my sitting at my computer, pulling on my hair, wondering how I'd come up with a character. Feeling an idea tickling the edge of my brain like a word tickles the tip of your tongue when you just. can't. remember. it.

And then I realized. I needed to go jogging.

Another digression. I hate to exercise. Occasionally I go out through my neighborhood and run a block, then walk a block for a couple miles. I hate it every time.

Except tonight, I loved it. (Some might see this as a sign of the apocalypse. They might be right.) What's more, I ran my whole route, without stopping to walk. Because four blocks in, ideas started clicking. Six blocks in, I knew who the character was and how he was connected to my protagonist and her world. Nine blocks in, I had his name.

Three-quarters of the way through my run, as I told myself for the eleventh time, "Just get to the end of the next block, and then you can walk, if you really need to," I realized that this run was a metaphor for my WIP. Focus on the next block/chapter, then the next, then the next.

That's when I told myself, "If you can run all the way to the end of the route, you can finish that manuscript." By God, I ran all the way.

Deadline, watch out. I'm coming for you.

April Tradition

For the last five years or so, my father and I have a father-daughter day where we go to one of the very first games of the season. It hits at a good time to make it his birthday present, and we celebrate with all the junk food food groups.

Since he lives near San Diego, we hit Petco Park for some Padres baseball. First and foremost, he's a Giants fan, and often the first homestand is Padres-Giants, which means he's rooting for the Giants and I'm rooting for them both (I don't care a whole lot).

This year we saw the Padres-Dodgers. My father happily votes Padres when the Giants aren't around, and I was more than happy to root for them, loudly, because I (sadly, as a Los Angeles resident) have no love for the Dodgers (five words: Kirk Gibson, 1988 World Series). See, I grew up a fan of the Oakland A's. Enough said.

This Easter Sunday's weather was perfect: not too hot, not too cold. And the game was pretty good, with the Padres winning and Chase Headley hitting a grand slam. When's the last time you were in the park to see one of those?

All in all, it was a good break from what one person termed my hibernation. Now back to the work-in-progress....

Fun at Left Coast Crime

A week ago, I was in the middle of hundreds of mystery writers, readers, and fans at Mining For Murder, the 2012 Left Coast Crime mystery convention in Sacramento, CA. I was there as a nominee for the Eureka!, the award for best first mystery. I didn't ultimately win (that delight went to Darrell James, on the right in the photo of nominees below), but I couldn't have enjoyed myself more at the event if I had.

 

(from left: Rochelle Staab, Sally Carpenter, me, Darrell James)

First thing Friday morning was the New Author breakfast, where 24 of us got a minute to pitch ourselves and our books to a room full of attendees eating a free breakfast. After that, I was on a panel Friday morning with my fellow nominees, titled "I Wish I Knew..." (moderated by friend and fellow Poisoned Pen Press author Tina Whittle), and then took part in another panel for Men of Mystery, where 19 male mystery authors cracked jokes and much hilarity ensued.

(only part of the Men of Mystery panel, note Kenneth Wishnia photo-bombing us in the background)

After my duties were done there, I was free to enjoy the rest of the weekend without stress! I spent as much time in panels as I did in the atrium seating/bar area, chatting with people I'd met before and making new friends. 

This convention was so spectacular because it was the first time I'd attended as a published author with a book on sale in the bookstore. So for the first time, a stranger approached me and said, "I read your book and I really liked it!" And for the first time I really felt part of the author community, not just the writer community and fan community (I'm still a fan though, don't doubt that!).

Saturday night was the banquet, and though I was a little nervous, I hooted and hollered for Darrell when he won, and cheered again when Poisoned Pen author Ann Parker beat out a bunch of heavyweights for the Best Historical award. Even better, I got to sit at a table with my mom, two good friends, and my publisher and (an) editor from Poisoned Pen Press. A great time was had by all, and we looked fabulous!

(from left: Jessica Tribble, me, Annette Rogers)

Why can't we do this every couple months?! Thanks to everyone involved in Left Coast Crime 2012. It was magnificent. See you all at Bouchercon or Left Coast Crime 2013!

A Rock and A Party

A couple weeks ago we had a very silly party here in our corner of Long Beach. They called it "A Rock Party" because there was a very, very large rock in town for the day. Yes, I said that right.

 

You see, an artist was doing an installation at LACMA (Los Angeles County Museum of Art) called "Levitated Mass" that involved a trench people would walk through, some supports that couldn't be seen from underneath, and a 340-ton rock. 

LACMA's official material suggested this was the largest megalith moved since ancient times. Since the pyramids, people. I'm telling you, this rock was big.

So big it couldn't be moved on the freeway, over metro rail tracks, under overpasses, etc. Word was, it took a year simply to secure the permits to move the rock in a very wide loop through a couple counties, from Riverside in the east to the Wilshire District of Los Angeles in the west. Crazy enough, it came through my little corner of town on its way.

The rock only moved at night, when roads could be closed, traffic lights moved, wires cut, and so forth. During the day, it sat still, at the side or in the middle of a road, and waited for night. Except in my town, where residents decided to throw a party. A rock party, of course.

 There were artists painting the rock and its transportation, DJs playing songs with "rock" in the title, vendors selling tee-shirts ("Bixby Knolls rocks!"), LACMA representatives handing out information, hundreds (maybe thousands) of local residents and workers. It was lots of fun, to be honest.

And it was hilarious that everyone came out to celebrate a lump of granite visiting town. I mean, really? Sure, it was the biggest lump of granite we'd ever seen, let alone seen on the move. But still. A rock! Maybe it's just any excuse for a party. And I guess I like a community that feels that way. I even made LACMA's highlights reel video!

If you're interested in more shots of the rock and its transportation vehicle, I've got those posted over at Two For The Road Blog today.

Recent Great Reads

What I've been reading and enjoying lately ...

A Study in Sherlock, Edited by Laurie R. King and Leslie S. Klinger
This is a collection of short stories "inspired by the Holmes Canon" by authors who don't normally write of Holmes. And they're extremely entertaining! What was fun was the diversity of ideas, from stories of Holmes himself and Watson, to stories that told other points of view of famous Holmes cases, to stories of different characters acting Holmes-esque. Loads of fun for the Sherlock fan!

Northwest Angle, William Kent Krueger
The latest in his series featuring Cork O'Conner, a part Irish-American, part Ojibwe former county sheriff in Northern Minnesota. Cork's no superhero, but he's good and just, and you want him to be your friend and champion. Northwest Angle is a gripping story that starts with a natural disaster and ends with a man-made one. It'll have you short of breath and appreciating how Krueger makes you feel part of the action.


The Albuquerque Turkey, John Vorhaus
This is slapstick in book form. Radar Hoverlander has vowed to go straight from his life of cons, but his father reappears in his life and sends his plans and resolutions packing. The ending is grand, hilarious, over-the-top, and totally entertaining (as is the entire book). You'll laugh out loud, roll your eyes, and enjoy it immensely.

Ghost Hero, S.J. Rozan
The latest in her Lydia Chin/Bill Smith PI partnership, Ghost Hero is told from Lydia's perspective and concerns the world of Chinese art. As always, Rozan gives us an excellent mystery to (try to) solve and introduces us to a fascinating world we (probably) didn't know much about. I always learn something from reading her books, both about whatever topic she's covering and about how to tell a great story. Jack Lee, another PI who works with Lydia and Bill, provides a touch of the silly and absurd, while contributing to the resolution of the mystery. A great addition to the series!

10 Things I Learned Along the Way to Publication

I developed this list of tips and lessons for a session I led at the Avondale Writers Conference in Avondale, AZ, last weekend. The concepts aren't original; you'll hear them from other writers. But though I understood some of them intellectually, it took some doing to accept them in practice. I hope they help you learn some lessons and avoid some heartache and/or mistakes.

1. Take every opportunity to talk to people who know stuff. Whether it's stuff about writing, stuff about your special interests, or stuff about life. Talk to people.

2. Write what you want to write. Not only what you know already or what you think will sell.

3. Have an elevator pitch. You'll use it trying to find an agent, trying to get the book sold to a publisher, trying to spread the word about it, and trying to sell it one-on-one. It's indispensable. Practice it endlessly.

4. Find a support group. Online, in-person, whatever. Have a group of writers you can talk to who will eat chocolate or drink wine with you in sympathy and celebration. (A shout-out to Christine, Wendy, Tracy, and Cary, as well as the SinC Guppies!)

5. Get involved in any way you can. You never know what connections you make will help you write or sell a book later.

6. Cultivate patience. Make sure you have to be doing this.

7. The perfect haircut won't make your life unicorns and rainbows, and neither will publication ... but it's pretty great. Writing doesn't get easier, and now you have to learn to promote and spend lots of energy on that. But it's still a gift.

8. Plan your public persona as carefully as you plan your prose. You will be a living, breathing, speaking representative of your book.

9. Accept that you can't do it all. Do what you enjoy and don't bother with what you don't like.

10. Enjoy every step. It really is magic. Don't get so wrapped up in promotion that you don't stop and smell the new-book-smell.