Mike Befeler's Blog, page 77

Elders and the Future of Our Country

Given that I write about older characters, I'm always interested in information about the aging population. An article appeared in our local newspaper this week stating that Americans 45 and older now account for the majority of the voting population. The aging populations has grown rapidly with a 43% increase in people aged 55-64 from 2000 to 2010 and a 33% increase in the 85 and older segment. Of even more political interest is the statement based on actual election turnout that people 45 plus represent 60% of the voters in national elections. So in addition to being an increasing percentage of the population, older people actually exercise their votes more than younger people. Let's use this voting power to steer our country away from the polarized rhetoric of the extreme right and extreme left, to vote for and bring into office politicians who forego the distracting symbolic issues of both extremes and focus on the real needs of the economy, jobs, environment and health.

New Mantra

I just finished reading The Albuquerque Turkey by John Vorhaus. It's an enjoyable romp through the world of con artists. One of the characters, Vic Mirplo, has a saying that can be applied to all writers: "procrastinate later." I'm going to adopt that as my mantra. I do my writing in the morning and will stick to it. When I want to procrastinate, I'll do that after I've done my writing for the day.

Writing Discipline

I maintain a regular writing schedule, writing every morning I'm at home and don't have a breakfast event scheduled. Over the ten years I've been writing, I've completed twenty novel-length manuscripts plus numerous short stories. But when I'm traveling, I rarely write. On our recent trip to Iowa to visit kids and grandkids, I didn't write at all, preferring to spend time with our grandsons every possible moment. I view it as a vacation from writing, but once I'm back home, I'm back on my morning writing schedule.

Publishing Options

This new world of publishing presents both challenges and opportunities for authors. This last Thursday we had a panel of booksellers discuss the state of the publishing industry at the Rocky Mountain Mystery Writers of America meeting in Denver. E-books clearly present an interesting change in the industry. Booksellers as well as authors are struggling to sort out the proper role of e-books in the publishing spectrum. Myself, I now have my two published novels out in hardcover, large print, book club paperback, audio book, Kindle, Nook and now Smashwords. Readers are selecting different ways of interacting with an author's work, and my strategy is to offer as many options as possible to meet the varying needs. My wife and I recently went on a Panama Canal cruise and shipboard I saw many e-book readers as well as the various types of paper-based products. Paper and electronic editions will continue to coexist for the foreseeable future.

More About Left Coast Crime

While in Santa Fe at the Left Coast Crime Conference, I tried to attend as many panels as possible. Here are a few of the tidbits I picked up. Nancy Atherton speaking about her Aunty Dimity series said she doesn't do specific research into the location but instead goes to a place to experience it. This hit home as I always like to get a feel for a location in my writing. I go a little farther in that I often take photographs so when I get home, I can bring up visuals images of where I've been.

John Vorhaus spoke about scams and cons. He described the pigeon drop where someone leaves a wallet on the ground and when someone picks it up that person gets conned. As someone aware of this con, he almost fell victim to a variation of this when he was in Russia. He says the problem is with what he's learned, he's suspicious of everyone. Fear, greed or the desire to be a good Samaritan are the typical emotions that a con artist plays upon.

There was a lot of discussion about the expanding e-book market. I came back with a number of ideas I plan to pursue to expand my market beyond my current presence on Kindle and Nook.

One of my favorite quotes heard, "A mule will work with you for ten years for the opportunity to kick you once."

This year's award winners were:
-Louise Penny, Bury Your Dead - The Dilys
-J. Michael Orenduff, the Pot Thief Who Studied Einstein - The Lefty Award
-Jacqueline Winspear, The Mapping of Love and Death - The Bruce Alexander Memorial Award
-Margaret Coel, The Spider's Web - The Hillerman Sky Award
-Craig Johnson, Junkyard Dogs - The Watson Award

Left Coast Crime Conference

Over the weekend I attended the Left Crime Coast Conference in Santa Fe. This is my fifth LCC, and I enjoyed catching up with old friends and attending interesting panels. I moderated a New Writer Introduction breakfast with an excellent group of debut mystery writers including the following authors with the title of their books:
Avery Aames - The Long Quiche Goodbye
Wayne Arthurson - Fall from Grace
Joel Fox - Lincoln's Hand
Susan Goldman - Hollywood Forever
Patricia Gulley - Downsized to Death
Reece Hirsch - The Insiders
Darynda Jones - First Grave on the Right
Andrew E. Kaufman - While the Savage Sleeps
Rob Kresge - Murder for Greenhorns
Jeanne Matthews - Bones of Contention
Patricia Morin - Mystery Montage
Colin T. Nelson - Reprisal
Kath Russell - A Pointed Death
Cindy Sample - Dying for a Date
Susan Shea - Murder in the Abstract
Valerie Stocking - A Touch of Murder
I also moderated a Unusual Crime Scene panel with Deb Baker (Hannah Reed), Ruthie-Marie Beckwith and Margaret Tessler. We had fun sharing how dead bodies appeared in our books as well as other locations we had heard of. At the conference there was a lot of discussion about e-books with more authors going the electronic route. Next year the conference will be in Sacramento, and I'm already signed up.

Panama Canal Cruise

We just returned from a fifteen-day Panama Canal cruise. The only downside—I got no writing done for almost three weeks. The highlight of the trip was going through the canal and seeing how the locks operate. I remember learning about the Panama Canal in grade school, but it only hit home when I saw it from a ship being lifted and lowered. We entered from the Pacific side and the ship was raised to Gatum Lake and then we sailed about eighty miles through the lake until we reached the Pacific locks and were lowered back to sea level. Going from the Atlantic to the Pacific through the Panama Canal actually entails traveling from West to East. This is hard to believe, but if you look at a map, you'll see this is the case since the Isthmus of Panama is curved. We also swam with the dolphins in Cabo San Lucas. The experience of touching these graceful animals and holding on as they pulled us through a salt water pool was incredible—something everyone should try once. Now it's back to reality—catching up on three weeks of email.

Waiting for Superman

I watched the documentary movie, "Waiting for Superman," last night. It's an excellent treatment of what's wrong with public education and some of the solutions that are emerging. The United States used to be a leader in public education but we have fallen behind numerous developed countries. One particular fact mentioned struck me. When kids drop out of school they are more likely to commit crimes and go to prison. The cost of incarcerating someone in prison for four years is more that the cost of twelve years of private school education. Another comment in the film was that kids in the middle get hurt more. I've seen this. The top students have gifted, advanced placement and International Baccalaureate programs, and the bottom students often have remedial or special education types of programs, but the kids in the middle often get left behind. The main theme of the documentary is that the problem is the adults—too much fighting over turf and pet programs rather than doing what's right for the kids. Some of the successful charter programs in the country provide excellent teachers, forward thinking leadership and longer school time (more hours during the day and more days of education during the year). I recommend watching this documentary.

Chaos

We're still dealing with chaos in our house after a fire. We're living in half of the downstairs with no kitchen or family room. Things are slowly being repaired and new cabinets will be installed in the kitchen next week. I've become used to cooking with a microwave in the dining room, getting food out of the refrigerator in the entry way and going upstairs to wash dishes. In all this chaos I have been trying to get some writing done. Right now I'm rewriting a cozy mystery I started over a year ago. Some days I get in no writing, and others I'm able to break away for several hours to work. I don't have to worry about writers block. I have home repair block.

How We Cope

As we are getting our house back together after a fire, I have discovered I cope with the situation erratically. Sometimes, I'm resigned to how long it takes to get repairs completed and sometimes I get frustrated at the seemingly slow process. I was dealing pretty well with things until last night when, while fixing dinner on the microwave, the power went out. It took several phone calls to track down what to do, but finally we got power back on. I had visions of being in the dark with our furnace out on a cold winter night. Our cat has her way of coping. Whenever anyone besides my wife or me enters the house, she hides under the bed. I can identify. There I times I want to hide under the bed, but being a "responsible adult," that's not in the cards.