The 100 Club

My 100th blog post published on April 1, my writing and retirement anniversary.

I began writing in 2017, and my first blog post hit the big time (i.e., my newly created website) later that year in September. I was so proud seeing that first post. Posts published irregularly at first, then eventually settled into a twice-a-month routine.

My favorite post is Character Rights, which discusses whether literary characters can file complaints for the treatment they receive from an author.

It’s been five years since I began writing. I’m nearly finished writing my third Detective Scott McGregor mystery, and I’ve plotted over a dozen more mysteries. Recently, I decided to write some of those as short stories, some without McGregor, and I’m even playing around with cozy mysteries. In my spare time, I’ve written children’s books, short stories, and various short pieces for anthologies and an online magazine.

What will I produce in the next five years?

Mystery Writer Requirements

I love reading whodunnits, and I try to identify the killer and solve the murder before the amateur or professional sleuth does.

But loving to read mysteries isn’t the only requirement for writing them. In addition to all the imagination, inspiration, plotting, writing, rewriting, editing, and revising, an author also needs ‘guts.’ Guts to imagine horrific crimes and commit them to paper or an electronic document.

I may not be a natural-born mystery writer. At least, not a ‘murder’ mystery writer. Characters have died in the creation of my books, although none of the deaths – so far – have been intentional. (Are murder-less murder mysteries a thing?)

Perhaps murder just takes practice. The plots I’ve developed for future books have become progressively more violent. The plot for the final book in the detective series is so violent, though, I may not write it.

The next mystery (#4) is the first to have a real (i.e., intentional) murder. It’s also the first in which Detective Scott McGregor isn’t the main character. Instead, his girlfriend, Lynn Carter, takes the lead and will have her hands full trying to solve a murder to clear one of their friends.

Good luck, Lynn. You and I will both be learning on the job. You’ll learn how to find clues and follow leads. I’ll (hopefully) learn how to write a cozy mystery.

 

Book Signing

It’s awkward misspelling a fan’s name but imagine signing a book incorrectly.

A local author of national acclaim wrote her first series under a pen name. She chose a different pen name when she published her second series. She admitted during a book tour she had occasionally written the wrong series author name at signing events.

I guess that’s a side effect of success.

I haven’t misspelled fan names (to my knowledge), but I have misspelled my own. And I must admit, it was my legal name.

Dog Days of Winter

I live in a semi-arid region of SoCal. It doesn’t usually rain, but when it does, my dogs don’t like going out in it. Instead, I play inside games with them to burn off enough excess energy so I can have a somewhat productive writing session.

I have two pups: a sedate and well-trained senior female, and a young adult male who’s full of energy. He’s supposed to be in training under the female as a watchdog, but he’s learned that people who visit fall in love with him, so he welcomes all comers.

My ranch-style house makes a good playground. The thirty-five-foot straight stretch from my tea mug in the kitchen to the end of the hall could be the world’s narrowest bowling alley, but I use it to exercise the dogs. The dogs chase the tennis ball down the hall, catch balls and dog frisbees, and jump through a hula hoop. We also practice tricks and off-leash obedience. Finally, the dogs get to eat breakfast, and I can write for a few undisturbed minutes while they relax at my feet.

Writing Snacks

Sisters-in-Crime recently ran an online poll asking about authors’ favorite writing snacks.

Other than copious amounts of black tea with lots of milk, snacking while writing hadn’t occurred to me. I usually write first thing in the morning when I can easily focus on my story – before I clutter my mind interacting with the world through email and the internet. I don’t eat until later.

This morning I tried an experiment. I had cooked for a small, socially distanced birthday celebration last night (we celebrated everyone who has a birthday this year), and there were a few leftover sausage balls (sausage, cheese, Bisquick). I microwaved a couple of them for fifteen seconds and delighted my taste buds with this Southern comfort food. Then I polished off the rest of the sausage balls.

I have to reject this experiment. I foresee gaining five pounds and getting no further with my writing.

Back to School

To support my writing goals for this year, I signed up for more online classes offered through the Guppy Chapter of Sisters in Crime.

A few days ago, I watched the second webinar in a four-part series on short stories because I suspected a short story wasn’t the same as an unfinished novella.

I also signed up for next month’s Writing Humor class. I obviously need it.

The subplot class begins in a few weeks. I want to add a subplot to my current work-in-progress to increase the intrigue and conflict, but my efforts so far have been clumsy. I know which characters are involved, the actions that make them look guilty, and the effect it has on the main character, Detective Scott McGregor.

I’ll add the subplot during the draft’s revision phase – after I take the class.

 

Happy New Year!

I set writing goals for the New Year rather than the usual personal resolutions (that I ignore).

• Finish and publish Forever After, the third Detective Scott McGregor mystery
• Complete and submit a short story for the Sisters in Crime Guppy anthology Hook, Line, and Sinker
• Complete and submit a short story for the Omni anthology From out of the Shadows
• Start writing my next book, a “cozy” mystery

A “cozy” mystery is told from the point of view of a character who isn’t a crime solving professional. Lynn Carter, Detective Scott McGregor’s girlfriend, will solve a murder for which Scott’s best friend is accused. Scott can’t work on the case because of a conflict of interest.

Lynn kept hogging the spotlight in Forever After, so I decided she needed to be the main character in a story of her own.

Wishing you the best in 2022.