Beth Groundwater's Blog, page 63

Fall Appearances at Writing Events

Since I don't have a book release this year, I've been concentrating more on writer events this year than reader events. That will reverse next year after Deadly Currents is released. If you live in Colorado and are a writer, you may want to come to one of the upcoming events that I've listed below. You're guaranteed to learn something useful, and as a bonus, we can meet and chat with each other. :)

Friday, September 24, 2010, 5-7 PM
Mountain & Plains Independent Booksellers Association Trade S...

Serendipity and Shoeing

Many of my blog readers may know that I am currently writing the rough draft manuscript for the third book in my Claire Hanover gift basket designer mystery series. The first book, A Real Basket Case, was set in my home town of Colorado Springs, Colorado, and the second book, To Hell in a Handbasket, was set where my vacation home is in Breckenridge, Colorado and where I hope to live full-time soon. The third book will return to Colorado Springs, where Claire's brother Charlie moves his trail...

Sell-throughs Explained

I met Denise Little many moons ago at a Pikes Peak Writers conference and have followed her career as an editor, book packager, and now a literary agent with the Ethan Ellenberg Agency off and on during the ensuing years. Recently, she wrote a lengthy article on "Sell-Throughs Aren't Everything, or Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Sell-Throughs But Were Afraid To Ask". This is the best explanation of this complex topic that I've ever read. If you're interested in finding out more abou...

Photos from the RMFW Colorado Gold Conference

What a great time I had at the Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers' Colorado Gold writing conference last weekend! I ate too much at the meals, drank too much in the hospitality suite in the evenings, signed some of my books for folks, and networked with lots of writer friends. My favorite workshops were my own "Agent-Author-Editor Relationships" panel with my agent and editor, "Busted: A Hands-On Workshop on Real Police Arrest Tactics" by Laura Manuel, and "The End is Near! Now What Do I Do?" by ...

Criminal Justice University

I just became aware of a website called Criminal Justice University that serves as a guide to those pursuing a criminal justice career, with information on the types of jobs in the field and their requirements and on universities offering criminal justice programs. This could be a useful resource to any mystery writers whose protagonists or other characters are in a criminal justice career.

The website also has a blog with interesting posts, such as "10 Chilling Serial Killer Books" and "10 La...

Today's mystery author guest: Lisa Bork

As promised yesterday, fellow Midnight Ink mystery author Lisa Bork is visiting my blog today to answer my interview questions and ones asked by my blog readers. To read Lisa's bio and see her photo, please page down to yesterday's post. Above is the cover photo for the second book in her Broken Vows mystery series, For Richer, For Danger, which was released on September 1st.

In For Richer, For Danger, after years of ambivalence about parenthood, Finger Lakes sports car dealer Jolene Asdale i...

Tomorrow's Guest: Lisa Bork!

Tomorrow fellow Midnight Ink mystery author Lisa Bork will be a guest on my blog. Lisa has a B.A. in English and a M.B.A. in Marketing and worked in human resources and marketing before becoming a stay-at-home mom. When her children entered school full time, Lisa Bork turned to writing to fill her days and exercise her mind. The Broken Vows mystery series grew out of her family's love of the Finger Lakes region and her husband's obsession with cars. Lisa is a member of The Authors Guild, Myst...

A Fun Fundraiser Booksigning

Almost two weeks ago, I attended a fun booksigning at the Next Page Bookstore in Frisco, Colorado (shown below). The book being sold was Entertaining! Summit Style!, a coffee-table style cookbook developed as a fundraiser by Applause!, the volunteer fund raising committee of the Breckenridge Music Festival. The second photo below is of me with Nancy Sawvell, the chair of the cookbook committee.



Many of the committee members brought samples of recipes they had contributed to the cookbook, and t...

Guest Blogging at Meanderings and Muses

Kaye Barley recently posted a guest article from me on her mystery fan blog, Meanderings and Muses. I wrote about the challenges of "Being Your Own Boss," which most fiction writers are, since we're self-employed. I had some fun making tongue-in-cheek disparaging remarks about my recalcitrant employee who goes by the name of Beth Groundwater. I hope you'll read it and leave a comment to let me know what you think of it. And, I hope you chuckle at least a little bit!

I'll be mining for "Nuggets of Knowledge" at the Colorado Gold conference

This weekend I will be attending the Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers' (RMFW) Colorado Gold conference in Denver, Colorado. This year's theme is "Nuggets of Knowledge," and I hope to both glean some nuggets for myself and offer some to others. For information about the conference, go to the RMFW website. For those who plan to attend, here's when and where you'll find me:

Friday, September 10th, 1:00 pm: Getting to Know Your Characters Workshop
I'll teach this writing craft workshop that offers oo...