March Writing Method Through the Basketball Madness

by Paula Gail Benson

I’ve been right there with you watching the brackets and speculating on the final four, but this year, I found March was a time to delve into writing method as much as basketball madness.

Sally Handley and Debra H. Goldstein

Early in the month, I had the opportunity to attend the Upstate Sisters in Crime meeting in Greenville, S.C., to enjoy supper with the group and hear Debra H. Goldstein talk about her journey to publication. Debra understands the writing business and has approached it as she did her legal career: thoughtfully, conscientiously, and courteously. I’m constantly amazed at all that she is able to accomplish (including simultaneously being President of the online Sisters in Crime Chapter known as “the Guppies” as well as President of Southeast Chapter of Mystery Writers of America plus promoting her new series and writing/revising the next novel). She is phenomenal.

I’m tremendously grateful that Sally Handley, President of Upstate Sisters in Crime, played host to both of us. Following the program, Sally, Debra, and I went to her condo and spent a good portion of the evening talking. What is more enjoyable than authors being able to compare notes? Well, maybe a musical theater production, but they are close! I’m also grateful to have seen Sally’s garden, which made me appreciate the inspiration for her gardening series.

Maggie Toussaint, Raegan Teller, PGB, Roger Johns, Sasscer Hill,
and David Burnsworth

Near the end of the month, I had the wonderful opportunity to moderate a panel at a local literary festival known as Deckle Edge, after the feathered texture found on pages in handmade books. This year, the festival took applications and I was very pleased they accepted one for a Detective in the South discussion. The panelists were David Burnsworth, who writes two series about Charleston private eyes (and has been recently interviewed here at WWK); Sasscer Hill, the Agatha nominated author of books about the horse racing industry, who has been compared to Dick Francis; Roger Johns, who now lives in Atlanta, but writes about a female police detective based in Baton Rouge, Louisiana; Raegan Teller, from Columbia, whose reporter character Enid Blackwell finds that small Southern towns have their own secrets; and Maggie Toussaint, who combines paranormal abilities with police procedurals in the low country near Savannah, Georgia. With only an hour, we barely had time to scratch the surface, but it was a rousing conversation.

In addition, I had the chance to interview Jo Watson Hackl at Deckle Edge. Jo writes middle grade mysteries that involve outdoor settings. Her own background, growing up in a ghost town and avidly listening to storytellers in her family and community, led her to create a delightfully plucky heroine, Cricket, who goes looking for her missing mother with a cricket named Charlene and a poetry loving dog. I really enjoyed hearing about Jo’s life story as well as how she juggles her writing with a career as an attorney.

Jo Watson Hackl

So, many thanks to my March final four of Debra H. Goldstein, Sally Handley, a fabulous panel on the Detective in the South, and Jo Watson Hackl. I highly recommend their work and encourage you to go hear them if they are speaking near you.

What writer presentations have you seen lately and what are you looking forward to? Tell me more about Sleuthfest, Left Coast Crime, and anticipation for Malice!