Swimming with the Fishes by Susan Van Kirk

I was putting out a newsletter last week about my mysteries, and I came upon the very first newsletter I wrote in September 2014. It was a time capsule. In the few brief details about my non-writing life, I mentioned I was making dresses for my twin granddaughters on my 1968 Singer sewing machine. They were only three then, and now, at age nine, I bought them Nancy Drew books for their birthday. It’s a sweet memory.

In that 2014 newsletter, my first mystery was coming out December 10, 2014, and I was excited. You could hear my enthusiasm in every syllable on the page.

I was already a member of a national organization called Sisters in Crime, a decision that made my publishing route so much easier because I read a blog on their website about how to find an editor, what to expect, and what to ask her. It was written by someone named Lourdes Venard. I contacted her, she became my editor, and I learned about track changes, the Chicago Manual of Style, and why an editor is essential. Still, even now, I can’t paginate a manuscript, and she kindly does that for me. I think I have a pagination block. I had already learned about Writer’s Market, so I researched publishers who might take me in. Lourdes checked out my query letter, and she also suggested I might try a group called the Guppies.

Lourdes and me at Malice 2015

“The what?” I asked. “Fish? I don’t write about fish.”

While there are no fish in my mysteries, that conversation changed my writing life. The Guppies, I discovered, is an online chapter of the national group, Sisters in Crime, and for someone like me, who lives in a small town in west central Illinois, this seemed like a Godsend.

The Guppies began as The Great Unpublished twenty-five years ago. When I joined six years ago, I think the chapter had approximately four hundred members. Now it is approaching a thousand. It is filled with mystery writers who are generous in their advice, empathetic when they hear you’ve stumbled on the publishing road, and always there for you when you have a question or need a good blurb for your book. Jim Jackson, former Guppy president, was the first person to write a blurb for my first book.

I knew so little when I joined the Guppies. I didn’t even know what an ARC was or why it was good to get a review from Kirkus or Publishers Weekly. Come to think of it, I hadn’t heard of them.

Debra Goldstein looking very presidential

I knew nothing about book conferences whatsoever, and I went to my first Malice Domestic in the spring of 2015. Guess who I found there? A cohort of Guppies who were ready and willing to take me in. I met my editor, the exotic Lourdes Venard, in person. (I say “exotic” because someone who lived on Long Island was definitely exotic to my small-town experience.) 

That year, I had lunch with Kaye George and Debra Goldstein, who have helped me immeasurably and become my friends and advice-givers. I met Gigi Pandian, a total stranger before then, who took me under her wing and answered my newbie questions with patience. Because I had written a few articles for the Guppy newsletter, First Draft, I was asked to interview Hallie Ephron at Malice. Big stars in my eyes, I found her gracious, helpful, and generous with my questions and her time. That happened because of the Guppies. Since then, I’ve interviewed many other writers who have also left me in awe. Swimming with the Guppies has been a trip!

Gigi Pandian, answering all my questions

The Guppies offer so many opportunities for authors, even in this time of staying at home. They have superb online classes, a Fantasy Agent project for members who want an agent’s thoughts about their manuscripts, an anthology that helps old and new Guppies find a publishing outlet, manuscript swaps, critique groups, craft discussions, a fabulous newsletter, and many other helpful possibilities for people who want to write mysteries. This organization is so jam-packed with information, it has a subgroup called the Newbies just to help new members figure out the pond. Many of the members are unpublished, and some are published writers who stick around to help.

To join the Guppies, you must first be a member of the national organization, Sisters in Crime. This Guppy chapter is run by a steering committee, and it welcomes all people who share their mystery-writing interests.

I’ve been the Guppy membership person for the past four years, welcoming in hundreds of writers and troubleshooting the software. Yesterday, I became the Guppy President for next year. I’m looking forward to my new role helping to guide the chapter, and I have a fabulous steering committee.

Joining the Guppies was one of the best decisions of my writing life. Six years later, I know so much more about the business of publishing, and I have friends I can call on to solve mystery-writing problems.

In this case, swimming with the fishes is a positive.