It’s Conference Time! Can’t decide which? - by Judy L Murray

Are you a conference lover? Or do you cringe at the thought?

I’m just a month away from packing an overnight bag and driving north from the Chesapeake Bay to attend the Edgar symposium in New York City. A week later I’ll be heading south toward Bethesda Maryland to attend the Malice Domestic Conference. There’s a myriad of mystery subgenre choices in the writing world and they aren’t inexpensive. Do you want a large convention type? Think Bouchercon. Perhaps mid-sized? Maybe Left Coast Crime or Killer Nashville. Maybe you want a small hands-on workshop retreat in the Smokey Mountains.

Still not sure? Here are a few tips to help you spend your money wisely, be productive, and enjoy yourself. No doubt, you’ll have ideas and experiences to add to this mix. I’d love to hear back from you in the chat.

First, consider each overarching conference theme. Are you a traditional amateur sleuth author? Or are you a writer of thrillers? Paranormal and vampire leaning? True crimes or police procedurals? Chances are you’ll enjoy panels and discussions that will most mirror the books you want to write. For me, I’d be a fish out of water if I was discussing bodice ripping romance. On the other hand, be open to a conference that might provide you new writing insight. I may love a traditional sleuth detective story, but I’ve got ThrillerFest on my bucket list.

Ask yourself, what is your number one reason for attending? Do you want to socialize with other writers in your genre? Are attending panels to grow your skills a priority? Which subjects interest you most? Perhaps you want to concentrate on marketing, planning a book launch, or social media interaction skills. Maybe you hope to find a literary agent or publisher. Or if you want to improve your writing, you’ll likely want topics on plotting, setting, and characterization. Look closely at a schedule to decide if their panels and events match your expectations.

Costs can range from a basic one-day event within driving distance to those that require hotel and flight expenses. A registration fee may seem reasonable, but the travel costs might make the entire package too expensive. Read the fine print. Are meals included? Decide what works for your pocketbook. If this is your first conference I suggest you find one nearby. Attending may provide a lesson on what you want in your next, more expensive conference. One tip I learned the hard way – make a hotel reservation before the conference room rate disappears. Don’t wait until the last minute. It will cost you.

When you evaluate an agenda, take note of special sessions that may incur extra fees. Perhaps you want your manuscript critiqued or a scheduled time to pitch your novel. One of the best conferences I ever attended was a three-day pitch conference. Authors worked together to rewrite their pitch or query and attend classes. Then we had designated times with literary agents to present them. It was challenging but I thought worth every penny.

Throughout the year zoom and webinar type conference-like programs can be excellent. It gives you a chance to put faces with names. I’ve found these meetups invaluable. They can be very inexpensive, if not free. Still, I look forward to meeting other authors in person. It often provides opportunity to meet not just authors but fans, literary agents, and publishers. An in-person conference gives you a chance to build closer relationships with others. I’ve made friends during panels and mealtimes that are still valuable to me years later.

Pace yourself throughout the day. It’s okay to skip a panel and grab coffee in the dining area. Often I’ll end up chatting with someone I’ve just met and learn valuable info I put to use later. If you’re running out of steam, slip back to your room and kick off your shoes. You’ll attend the next session with renewed energy.

My last bit of advice is to smile, offer your hand, invite a stranger to sit at your table. It can turn a disappointing day into an enriching one. Exchange business cards and bookmarks. You may want to volunteer - a great way to meet attendees you don't know. Writing can be a lonely pursuit. Sharing ideas and struggles over a glass of wine is a great stress reliever. It also sends you home with renewed encouragement and new publishing related friends. You’ll be ready to get those fingers back to the keyboard.

Hope to cross paths with you in 2025. Below is a link to Mystery Writers of America’s list of suggested conferences. Enjoy!

https://inreferencetomurder.typepad.com/my_weblog/upcoming-conferences.html

Judy L Murray, Author of the award-winning Chesapeake Bay Mystery Series Find me at http://www.judylmurraymysteries.com

Easter Eggs, Glimmers, and Surprises in Your Writing 
By Heather Weidner

Part of my day gig responsibilities include managing a software testing team. When I’m knee-deep in a testing project, it always brings a smile to my face when a developer slips an Easter Egg or a surprise message or screen in an application. In the early years, some of the developers would sneak one or two in to see if the testers would notice. 

I try to incorporate these glimmers of whimsey in my writing from time to time. I love pop culture and historical allusions, so many times, I’ll include an amusing reference when I name a restaurant or a minor character. I have a team of paranormal explorers who visit Fern Valley in the Blue Ridge Mountains in the Jules Keene Glamping Mysteries. Several of the ghostly adventurers’ names pay homage to the regulars on “Cheers.” In the same series, my amateur sleuth, Jules Keene is named after Demi Moore’s character in St. Elmo’s Fire and the penname of the Nancy Drew authors. Her boyfriend, Jake Evans, is named after the Michael Schoeffling character Jake in Sixteen Candles. Jules restores vintage trailers, and Jake builds tiny houses that Jules decorates with upscale amenities for her guests. The trailers all have pop culture references that include ones to Elvis, Lucy and Desi, Area 51, Robin Hood, and James Dean. All of the tiny houses have designs based on the works of J. K. Rowling, Beatrix Potter, A. A. Milne, and L. Frank Baum. 

Margaret, the English bulldog in the Delanie Fitzgerald Mysteries, is named for Margaret Thatcher. I also have an Elvis the Chihuahua in the Pearly Girls Mysteries and a Bernedoodle named Fonzie in my current work in progress. 

You’ll find state troopers and police officers in the Delanie Fitzgerald series named for characters in Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventures and for members of Van Halen, Wham!, and Duran Duran. In the third book in this series, Glitter, Glam, and Contraband, Delanie goes undercover as a waitress at a club featuring a drag show to find out who is stealing from the talent. I had fun with the punny stage names like Amber Alert, Ana Conda, Ginger Snap, Nova Cain, and Paige Turner. 

Unexpected surprises are a fun addition to stories, and I love it when I encounter one when I’m reading.

Do you incorporate any little surprises in your writing? And do you have any that no one has noticed yet?

Through the years, Heather Weidner has been a cop’s kid, technical writer, editor, college professor, software tester, and IT manager. She writes the Pearly Girls Mysteries, the Delanie Fitzgerald Mysteries, The Jules Keene Glamping Mysteries, and The Mermaid Bay Christmas Shoppe Mysteries.

Originally from Virginia Beach, Heather has been a mystery fan since Scooby-Doo and Nancy Drew. She lives in Central Virginia with her husband and a pair of Jack Russell terriers. 

Alafair Burke's THE NOTE

 

 

 

By Margaret S. Hamilton

 

“It was meant to be a harmless prank. Not even a prank, not initially. An inside joke, only for the three of them. But now she was locking her apartment door behind two departing police officers.” (p.3)

 

I enjoy Burke’s books about women, their marriages and friendships laced with crime. In her latest, The Note, she pulls off a masterful plot full of twists, dead ends, and recalculations.

 

The book starts, as many do, when three friends who met at a teenage music camp have a reunion at a beach house in the Hamptons. The point of view character, May Hanover, like Alafair Burke, is a former prosecutor turned law school professor. May is eager to please, a hard-working young woman engaged to a decent but unexciting guy. May has been out of touch with her friends for years, which provokes a crucial question: how much loyalty does May still feel for her camp friends?

 

Kelsey Ellis is the heir to a family commercial real estate firm and a widow. While in law school, May was willing to reject important career opportunities to accommodate her friend’s needs. Is May still compelled to do so?

 

Lauren Berry is older than the others, an accomplished musician and music director of the Houston Symphony, involved in a long-running affair with a wealthy married symphony supporter. At music camp, May was an excellent, though not outstanding, pianist. Lauren was her instructor and role model.

 

In addition to their shared music camp experience (which includes a dead counselor), the three friends have all been publicly “canceled” on social media for different reasons. Each has a negative reputation, which is revealed as the events of the narrative unfold.

 

In The Note, after several rounds of drinks, the three women leave a snarky note written on a cocktail napkin under the windshield wiper of the car driven by the guy who stole their parking place. All hell breaks loose. Nothing is as it seems. Past history returns to affect present reality.

 

Add a body, missing witnesses, and the demanding mother of the victim. Social media runs rampant, attacking the three women and revealing their perceived misdeeds, past and present.

 

Burke’s insights as an attorney shape the last half of the book, as the county prosecutor builds a murder case against a suspect. Including the courtroom drama lifts the book from the traditional prep school friends/sorority sisters summer reunion into a story about life choices with potentially devastating consequences.

 

With the cooperation of May and Kelsey, the police gather enough evidence to close the case.

 

Readers and writers, do you enjoy summer camp/sorority sisters’ reunion beach reads?

 

Margaret S. Hamilton’s debut traditional amateur sleuth mystery, What the Artist Left Behind, is on submission.

 

Home - The Official Website of Margaret S. Hamilton

 

 

Killer Questions - The Celebrity We Most Want to Meet

Killer Questions – The Celebrity We Most Want to Meet

Every writer, or for that matter every person, has someone that they would love to meet. Today, the WWK members share our secret dream persons to meet.

K.M. Rockwood - Can I use a historic figure? I’d love to meet Abraham Lincoln.

Heather Weidner - I would love to meet Dolly Parton. She is such an inspiration, and her gifts have benefited so many. 

Martha Reed - I’d love to meet Late Show Host Stephen Colbert because of his intelligence and wit, and because he doesn’t take himself too seriously.

Connie Berry - Princess Catherine, the Duchess of Wales, because I think she's a real person whose personal experiences have taught her what's important in life. If I got a chance, thought, I'd ask her to tell me the scoop about Meghan Markle.

Grace Topping - Jacqueline Winspear. She is the internationally bestselling author of the Maisie Dobbs mystery series. Maisie is a wonderful character that I admire immensely. Since there is so much of an author in their characters, I'm sure meeting with Jacqueline Winspear would be like meeting with Maisie. 

Paula G. Benson - I’d like to eat some barbecue with Jason Suedeikis and ask him about how he developed Ted Lasso. Even better, if we could have a conversation, Jason, J.K. Rowling, and I, aboard her yacht, discussing creative inspiration.

James M. Jackson - I think it would be a hoot to have an evening with Taylor Swift to discuss how she finds time to be creative while managing a huge financial enterprise.

Sarah Burr - Although there's a distinction between celebrity and royalty, my ultimate dream is to meet Catherine, Princess of Wales. I've admired her ever since she was thrust into the public eye during her college years.

Annette Dashofy - Robert Downey Jr. because…he’s Robert Downey Jr! And Ironman! Seriously though, the videos I’ve seen of him just being himself have been charming and entertaining. He’s had such an interesting life, I’d love to sit down and have coffee with him.

Kait Carson - There’s two I’d love to meet. Chef José Andrés to talk to him about World Kitchen, what inspired him to develop it, and what’s next. This guy always ends up in places where only angels don’t fear to tread. He’s fearless and committed. The other is Liam Neeson. Tough guy on camera, but wacky third grader off set. I’d love to spend a day and figure out how he reconciles the two very different parts of his personality – or persona if it’s all created.

Lori Roberts Herbst - Stephen King. What a fascinating and sometimes frightening mind he has, and what fun it would be to delve into.

Margaret S. Hamilton- Ann Cleeves. She stated that when she starts a new book, she opens a new word file and starts writing. That's it? No character sketches and plotting maps?

Korina Moss - Perhaps Stephen King since he was influential in my desire to become a writer.

Nancy Eady - I would have loved to have met Jimmy Buffett.  He brought, and still brings, a lot of laughter and good music into both my and my husband's lives.  We've shared a love of his music for years. 

Debra H. Goldstein – I would enjoy sitting down with Hillary Clinton and Louise Penny. Knowing they are friends, I’d like to explore politics and literature with them.

Mary Dutta - Chris Evans, AKA Captain America. I would invite him to visit the class I teach on the Marvel Cinematic Universe. I think he would have an interesting perspective on the character, and he’s very pretty.

Molly MacRae - I don’t necessarily want to meet this person, because I’d act like a blithering idiot, but somehow I’d like to visit inside Richard Osman’s brain and watch it writing more of the Thursday Murder Club books. Why? The guy’s a genius.

Shari Randall/Meri Allen - If we're talking about people who are alive, I'd say Taylor Swift, because I'd bring my little nieces along and then forever I'd be the coolest aunt ever. Or...I'd love to meet the Librarian of Congress, Carla Hayden. Once a librarian, always a librarian!

Do We Agree? Stylistic Choices by KM Rockwood

We all make stylistic choices as we write.

Stylistic choices refer to the decisions (usually deliberate) made by a writer regarding language, tone, and structure used to convey meaning and achieve a desired effect.

What are some examples of stylistic choices? (Asking a rhetorical question is a stylistic choice. As is a word echo—repeating the same word or phrase in close proximity. Often for emphasis. Also the use of sentence fragments.)

For example, when we have a character who verbally expresses acquiesce, stylistic choice can tell the reader quite a bit about both the characters and circumstance.

“Certainly, sir,” agreed the crisp, professional bell captain in a luxury hotel when asked to fetch a guest’s luggage.

“I guess,” said the reluctant roommate asked to share his quart of milk.

“No problemo.” The teenage server asked to bring ketchup for the fries.

“Soon as I can get to it.” Same server when asked for the ketchup the third time.

“’Atta boy.” Youth sports coach encouraging a timid player who has stepped up to the plate.

“If we must.” Elderly ladies sitting in a disabled car when told that the only way home is to walk.

“’Fraid so.” Yard jockey asked if he’d just driven over scrap metal and torn up the tires of a truck.

“Indubitably.” Professor asked if an excellently executed extra assignment might improve dismal semester grades. (Alliteration can be a stylistic choice, too.)

“¿De verdad?” When one of the guides realizes a tourist in the group understands enough Spanish to have caught all the running commentary among the guides.

“Yeah.” Tepid agreement between friends.

“Sir, yes, sir!” The recruit in boot camp addressing his drill sergeant.

“Hell, yes.” Another beer?

“If you say so.” A doubting friend just informed that the bar where they are to meet opens at 8 am.

“I suppose.” The elderly aunt asked to welcome her nephew’s new girlfriend to a family celebration.

“Tsk. I suppose.” The same aunt when it’s the sixth new girlfriend this year.

“If you think it’s safe.” Reluctant fellow ice fisherman asked early in the season to bring his chainsaw out on the lake.

“You don’t say.” Bored passenger on an airplane whose seatmate babbles on.

“Yep.” Self-satisfied inventor watching a success trial run of his new contraption.

“Cool.” The hippie’s approval of almost anything.

“Agreed.” At the conclusion of negotiations.

“Uh huh.” A worker trying to finish a project despite verbal distractions.

“Should work.” A skeptical participant contemplating a questionable scheme.

“So be it.” The pastor’s affirmation after calling a blessing for his flock.

“Amen.” The congregation’s response.

What additional ways can we use stylistic choice to enhance our writing?

Where Has Your Book Taken You?

 Hello from Shari Randall!

One reason I set my Lobster Shack Mysteries in Mystic, Connecticut (called Mystic Bay in the books) is because the area has so much of that hard-to-define quality called charm. Its combination of historical interest and natural beauty makes it a place people yearn to visit. Over the years I've felt like an unofficial ambassador for not just this area of coastal Connecticut, but for New England, too. Nothing makes me happier than a reader who tells me they enjoyed their "visit" in the pages of one of my books.

Setting is such an important part of a story. In some books, the description of the setting is so vivid that we feel immersed in the place. That's one of the reasons we readers love books, isn't it? We can travel in books without leaving our cozy armchairs.

Where has your last read taken you? 

Let me know in the comments. 

Shari Randall is the author of the Lobster Shack Mysteries  and, as Meri Allen, the Ice Cream Shop Mysteries. The last place she visited in a book? Ireland.

Cozy Mystery Writing Tip: Letting Readers Become Armchair Detectives

by Korina Moss

In each of the books in my Cheese Shop Mystery series, my protagonist Willa and Team Cheese—the three friends she solves mysteries with—always sit at the same hand-hewn picnic table in the kitchenette of her cheese shop to discuss the murder and the suspects. Readers of my series know this is the time when the suspects and their motives will be laid out, helping readers to keep track of what our sleuths have discovered, and allowing them to make their own guesses as to whodunit. 

Cozy Mystery Booktuber, the Beachbum Bookworm

This is part of the fun of reading a cozy mystery—trying to solve the puzzle along with the sleuth. Cozy mysteries play fair with the reader. They lay out clues, weaving in some red herrings. With the clues given, readers may be able to solve the mystery. It all depends on how clever the author is at distraction. Cozy writers need to have a big enough pool of suspects for readers to guess from but not too many to overwhelm them. Readers also need to be able to keep the suspects and their motives straight. Here is the way I help my readers do this. 

• Soon after the murder is discovered, I write a scene cataloging who my sleuth thinks the suspects are. Every cozy should have five to six clear suspects. Your protagonist sleuth may not know who all of them are right away, but you should have a solid list of suspects very early in the book. 

• Then after some investigating (between a third and halfway into the book), I revisit the suspects and what’s been discovered about them. Maybe I’ve dismissed one or added one or maybe the list remains the same. The sleuth may be feeling more strongly about some than others at this point, which can change again based on new evidence. Some suspects may have a strong motive for having murdered the victim, but it appears they didn’t have opportunity or vice-versa. More investigating will reveal new motives and secret opportunities to have committed the crime. 

• As the book goes on, your protagonist’s investigation narrows down the suspect list until he or she is left with stronger suspicions about two or three of them. So, toward the end of the book, I’ll have a scene identifying the narrowed list of suspects and the reasons my sleuth thinks one of them may be the culprit.

Of course, all of these discoveries are also woven in throughout the story but stopping two or three times to write a scene discussing the suspects is helpful for the reader to play along and try to solve the mystery before the big reveal. As long as you’ve plotted your mystery carefully to keep even the savviest reader guessing, helping them become armchair detectives will help you gain a loyal readership. 

Readers: When reading a mystery, do you like to try to solve whodunnit? 

You can be an armchair detective when cozy mystery booktuber, the Beachbum Bookworm, discusses my Agatha Award-winning novel Cheddar Off Dead with her YouTube viewers during the last week of March (exact date to be announced). I'll be there too, so buy and read Cheddar Off Dead, go to her channel, subscribe and hit the notification button. Keep up with me on Facebook, Instagram, and my website so you won't miss it!

Cozy booktuber Sonia with an i

BUY NOW FOR $2.99

KORINA MOSS is the author of the Cheese Shop Mystery series set in the Sonoma Valley, California, which includes multiple Agatha Award nominated books for Best Contemporary Novel and the winner of the Agatha Award for Best First Novel, Cheddar Off Dead. Listed as one of USA Today’s Best Cozy Mystery Series, her books have also been featured in PARADE Magazine, Woman’s World, and Writer’s Digest. Korina is also a freelance developmental editor and book coach specializing in cozy mysteries. To learn more or subscribe to her free monthly #teamcheese newsletter, visit her website korinamossauthor.com.

FROM IDEA TO AWARDS: Some Thoughts for an Upcoming Keynote Address

 By Lisa Malice, Ph.D.

I’m honored to be giving the keynote address next Friday to writers attending the Venice Book and Writers’ Festival with a presentation entitled, “From Idea to Awards.” The title wasn’t my doing. My initial proposal, “A Writer’s Journey from Idea to Publication and Beyond,” didn’t capture what intrigued the organizers most about my author story. What compelled them to offer me this amazing opportunity was that my debut novel, Lest She Forget, hit the Amazon bestseller list for new psychological thrillers on its launch day, moved up and down the list over the next 30 days (the eBook topped out at #33), then went on to receive award nominations, and a particularly humbling win for Best New Voice in Fiction from the Independent Book Publishers Association.

(Right: I was all smiles the night I won the Benjamin Franklin Award for BEST NEW VOICE in fiction from IBPA. Just being nominated was a thrill. I never expected to win. It was a bittersweet night, as my acceptance speech focused on singing the praises of Sue Arroyo, the brilliant businesswoman, author, and founder of CamCat, who had passed away two months earlier after a fall in her home. She was only 56.) 

I was blown away by this initial success, too. Never expected it. Never really planned my path. It just happened, much like the lack of a definite process for writing my book, taking it one page at a time, seeing where my efforts took me and my novel.

But the award is part of my story, a happy result of a lot of work, so I’m happy have a title that hopefully will draw in authors to hear about my journey and learn from my experience (and buy some books, too!). My main point will be that it takes a village to write, publish, and most of all, sell the best book possible, one that could end up with an award or two.

Sure, at the beginning all writers are alone when that first idea pops into their heads, a kernel of a tale involving a protagonist, a nemesis, and the conflict that must be resolved between them. Spurred to put the story into words, it doesn’t matter how the plot unfolds, whether through meticulous outlining, following nothing more than the words flowing from the brain to the fingertips to the keyboard, or a combination of both storytelling styles. The only goal is to get that first draft done and type “THE END.”

But it is at that point, I posit, that being part of a dedicated writers’ community is the best chance for aspiring authors to see their publishing dreams come true. I can attest that my first draft was nothing anyone would want to read. There was so much I didn’t know about the craft of storytelling, from the very basics, such as using descriptive adjectives and verbs rather than adverbs to convey what is happening, to more complex aspects of fiction writing, such as techniques for building suspense.

The online writing classes I found helped with the basics, but I really didn’t start to learn the craft of crime fiction writing until I met other crime writers, whether our connection emerged from a monthly chapter meeting of Sisters in Crime (SinC) or Mystery Writers of America (MWA) or developed from connecting at conferences. The feedback I received from my author friends on draft after draft of my manuscript was truly invaluable to honing Lest She Forget into a novel worth reading. In fact, my first readers panned the denouement—hated it—so I changed the ending.

I took my involvement in my writers’ groups a step further than most by taking on leadership roles in Sisters in Crime, including chapter president, and at the national level, webinar producer/moderator for the Education Committee. I currently serve my Florida Gulf Coast SinC chapter as Events Co-chair.

(Right: Cedar Key Seafood Festival is one of the many events I've organized over the years to provide my SinC siblings with opportunities to meet readers and sell books. Last year's Hurricane Helene blew away my opportunity to finally sell my own books at the 2-day event.)

Similarly, my offer to volunteer with International Thriller Writers (ITW) led to a sweet gig, writing for their magazine, The Big Thrill. It is my job to read the latest books by crime writers, interview them, and write promotional pieces for the virtual publication that reaches more than 30,000 readers monthly. Great exposure? Of course. But the friendships I make are even more invaluable--and fun!

(Right: Having fun on a murder mystery bus tour with my Sisters from the Florida Gulf Coast chapter of SinC.) 

My SinC and ITW work does consume precious writing time, but it supports the work and dreams of authors all across the country who are happy to champion me and my publishing dreams in return. Imagine having a USA Today bestselling author help you craft a compelling query letter to attract agents and publishers--that was me in 2017, when I first started shopping my very first novel to agents and editors.

When Lest She Forget was finally picked up by CamCat Books, I was told that my advance was higher than what CamCat normally offered for a debut author. Why? Because I had an amazing network of authors to draw on for promotional help in launching my book. Because when it comes right down to it, all publishers—even the big five—DO rely on their authors to market and sell their books over their own corporate efforts. Ask any author, big name or small, and they will attest to the truth of this statement.

Once Lest She Forget survived a rigorous pre-publication editing process, CamCat started promoting it amongst the industry. But it was my job to get Advance Reader Copies (ARCs) out for blurbs. With only six weeks to get this done, I was nervous. Make no mistake, asking people who are already on tight publication schedules to read and blurb a book is a BIG ask. But I had developed relationships with many authors through meetups at conferences and my work with SinC and ITW, so I gave a lot of thought to who I would ask and sent out the first batch of requests. I was relieved when two internationally-bestselling authors and an award-winning writing professor agreed to help me out, but I was stunned—and filled with gratitude—when they came back with glowing words of praise for my debut thriller.  

Similarly, a good friend and author plugged my book with an award-winning crime fiction reviewer. When I met up with him at Bouchercon, I gave him my book, but he wouldn’t guarantee a review of Lest She Forget unless he loved it. After three months of hearing nothing, I assumed he was less than thrilled with my thriller. I was flabbergasted with the glowing review he published days before the launch of Lest She Forget.

My network of crime authors came through with opportunities for guest blogs, podcast interviews, virtual panel discussions, an article in The Big Thrill, and even a launch day in-studio interview on a Tampa-area TV station. Every author I sent promotional materials to post on social media on my launch day came through for me. All these promotional opportunities would not have been offered unless I had already built personal relationships with these authors.

(Right: My ITW "Big Thrill" assignment to cover local FOX TV anchor Linda Hurtado Bond's first book in her Maria Alvarez crime reporter series led to  a launch day appearance on Tampa Bay Reads.)

My personal connections with family and friends,  their families and friends, helped promote Lest She Forget, too, especially in connecting with book  clubs. My alumni groups connected me with readers across the country. Georgia Tech gave me a quarter page write-up. I got a big, beautiful two-page write-up about Lest She Forget and my journey as an author in the quarterly magazine for my college women’s fraternity (Chi Omega) (see below).

I can’t guarantee anyone award nominations, much less wins, by following my lead. But I attribute the quality of my book to great two developmental editors whose feedback and suggestions made all the difference in turning a mediocre thriller into one worthy of praise enough to win an award. I was referred to the first editor by a publisher I met at Thrillerfest whom I recruited to do a webinar on editing for my SinC chapter. Her guidance helped me rework Lest She Forget into a book worthy of landing an agent. I worked three months with CamCat’s editor-in-chief to further refine Lest She Forget to its praise-worthy and award-winning level of storytelling. So, here again, my connections made all the difference in the quality of Lest She Forget.

All these friendships and their interconnectivity contributed to my sales. In its first six months, Lest She Forget sold close to 1,300 copies, including 532 hardcovers, 430 eBooks, 192 audiobooks, and 80 large print books. Not bad for a debut author for a small independent publisher.

So, there you have it. The gist of what I will convey to the eager writers sitting in the audience next week as I share what I’ve learned about my writer’s journey. At this point, it behooves me to say “Thank You!!” to all my friends, both authors and readers, for their support on this journey of a lifetime.

What advice do you have for aspiring authors to make their publishing dreams come true?