H.B. Berlow's Blog, page 23

That Post-Conference recap

This past weekend was the Kansas Authors Club’s Hook ‘Em and Book ‘Em Convention. I had the pleasure of being a presenter which offered me a different perspective than my attendance at past conferences.

My presentation on the challenges of writing historical fiction seemed well received. The opening session had about 26 attendees while the afternoon had about 14. There was engaging dialogue and writing prompts using postcards, an idea I got from Jim Potter.

I attended Curt Bohling’s presentation entitled Fiction on Trial. As an Assistant U.S. Attorney, he is uniquely qualified to identify where fiction writers make errors in their presentations of courtroom procedures.

Next there was a session by keynote speaker, Paul Bishop. Bit more on him in a moment.

My friend, April Pameticky offered a unique perspective in her presentation Let Poetry Inform Your Prose. She showed how aspects of poetry could be incorporated into a fiction writer’s work to create new effects perhaps previously unexplored.

Finally, Paul Bishop: 35 year veteran of the L.A. police department; two time detective of the year; master craftsman at interrogation; author, teacher, lecturer. He was engaging, informative, and accessible. These are all the components required to be an effective keynote speaker.

I also attended a post-confenrece gathering at Gallery 1001 in Winfield, KS to pick up more pointers and have a clearer understanding of interrogation techniques. This is an aspect of crime fiction that I find strangely missing from most novels. It is featured in “Lie Catchers” which I bought and had the author sign. It was a great conversation.

As I have commented in the past, writers engage in a solitary art, hiding behind their keyboards, and twisting words into some meaningful tale to present. It is at a conference such as this where authors gather to commiserate and learn. I am grateful to Ann Fell and Sandy Taylor for the invite and their graciousness.

The value of a writer’s conference

As with most arts, writing is a lonely business. You may be involved in a local writer’s group or a critique group. But for the most part, you work on your own. You are either ensconced in a home office (or part of the house you declare “Off Limits” if even for a temporary period of time) or you hunker down in an establishment (typically a coffeehouse per the cliche) and try to avoid eye contact.

The best place to feel validated is at a writer’s conference. I’ve been attending them for about ten years, from the Kansas Writers Association (who no longer have a conference), to the Oklahoma Writers Federation, Inc., and the Kansas Authors Club. Nowhere else can you be around other people that “get it”, understand the frustrations of finding the best words to place in the correct order, filling the gap of plot holes, and fending off those who believe writing is nothing more than sitting at a keyboard and, well, writing.

Beyond that, there are the contest entries, search for an agent, search for a publisher, marketing and social networking, all while trying to work on the next project and, oh yeah, have some kind of a life. It all comes together at a writer’s conference.

My attendance has increased the scope of the writers I have met beyond my local scene. Regardless of genre and marketing success (or lack thereof), I have come to learn how other writers make time for their craft, publish and promote. I have pleasantly discovered we revel in each other’s triumphs and are not challenged by them. I have renewed invigoration at the end of each event, ready to go home and just pick right back up where I left off.

Now, I will have the opportunity to share my experience, struggles, and notions as a speaker at Kansas Authors Club Convention, from October 4 through October 6, here in Wichita, KS. I am grateful for the chance to get feedback on my own opinions and notions about writing historical fiction, about what others have perceived about it in advance of my presentation, and how we can learn from each other.

That’s just it. The person at the podium is not an expert, per se. Just someone with some experience and a few ideas that work for them. It all goes back to coming out from behind the keyboard and interacting. For a few hours, a couple of days, a bunch of writers will gather and discuss Craft. After that, they will return to the small space that is their own personal Comfort Zone until it is time to gather again.

Writing Aphorisms

With the assistance of my wife, I have been redoing my office (painting, new/antique furniture, wall hangings). We were shooting for a Tiki/beach/rustic feel that would also be more functional. In purge and cleaning, I had come across a list I had printed from years ago of writing aphorisms, quotes that are certain to start a conversation.

A good writer is basically a story-teller, not a scholar or a redeemer of mankind. (Isaac Bashevis Singer)

Better to write for yourself and have no public, than to write for the public and have no self. (Cyril Connolly)

It is the function of art to renew our perception. What we are familiar with we cease to see. The writer shakes up the familiar scene, and as if by magic, we see a new meaning to it. (Anais Nin)

Fundamentally, all writing is about the same thing: it’s about dying, about the brief flicker of time we have here, and the frustrations that it creates. (Mordecai Richler)

The life of a writer is tragic: the more we advance, the farther there is to go and the more there is to say, the less time there is to say it. (Gabrielle Roy)

Every writer, without exception, is a masochist, a sadist, a peeping Tom, a narcissist, an injustice collector and a depressed person constantly haunted by fears of unproductivity. (Edmund Bergler)

A writer is someone who can make a riddle out of an answer. (Karl Kraus)

Life cannot defeat a writer who is in love with writing — for life itself is a writer’s love until death. (Edna Ferber)

Writing is a solitary occupation. Family, friends and society are the natural enemies of a writer. He must be alone, uninterrupted and slightly savage if he is to sustain and complete an undertaking. (Laurence Clark Powell)

The poet is the priest of the invisible. (Wallace Stevens)

The courage of the poet is to keep ajar the door that leads into madness. (Christopher Morley)

Of our conflicts with others we make rhetoric; of our conflicts with ourselves we make poetry. (William Butler Yeats)

Talking About a Circle

For the past several years, I have made my own book trailers. They are fun to put together but admittedly don’t help with sales all that much. What is important is not to use anything that will get you in trouble.

Consequently I take my own photos or use old photos as well as the royalty-free music available from the incomparable Kevin McLeod at Incompetech. As far as the photos go, it gives me a chuckle when my family members are portrayed as possible criminals largely because (a) the photos I have are old and (b) I write historical crime fiction.

In my recent trailer for Lost in the Plains, it was chock full of family photos. I got a message from a cousin through my web page who wanted to know if I had any other photos. It seems my sister has been in touch with him through the years and eventually he found me online.

It’s really fascinating how things come full circle. We have no indication in our youth how we just might come back around to where everything started. I am pleased to reconnect with my cousin and to learn of his life. I am pleased my family photos have come to such good use.

Lost in the Plains – The Book Trailer

I am pleased to present to you the book trailer for “Lost in the Plains: Book Three of the Ark City Confidential Chronicles” available on Amazon on September 16, 2019.

Follow here for the link.

To get caught up on the series, check out Ark City Confidential and Secrets of the Righteous.

I welcome your feedback, comments, and support.

Cover Reveal – Lost in the Plains: Ark City Confidential Chronicles, Book Three

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It’s 1943 and World War II rages on overseas. However, for Baron Witherspoon, beat cop, his sole concern is keeping his city safe. Yet that seems impossible when two FBI agents show up, claim a German POW soldier has escaped and is on his way to Arkansas City, Kansas.

The threat is no longer “over there”. And the stakes rise when the agents accuse one of their own as an accomplice. Now everyone Baron encounters, even old acquaintances, could be a Nazi sympathizer. It will take a lot of digging to get to the truth.

Lost in the Plains: Ark City Confidential Chronicles, Book Three will be released September 16, 2019 on Amazon. In the meantime, get caught up in the story of Baron Witherspoon in Ark City Confidential and Secrets of the Righteous.

And look for the book trailer with personal vintage photos right here next week.

Excerpt – Lost in the Plains, Ark City Confidential Chronicles, Book Three

In this scene, Baron and his task force are having lunch at Daisy Mae’s and try to consider who among the citizens could be a secret German agent and what exactly the escaped POW might be targeting:

Daisy Mae’s became our secondary meeting location. As busy as it could be at times, there was a certain degree of privacy. When you’re hunkered down in a conference room in the station, it appears a tad too obvious. However, no one thought much of four policemen having lunch. Even Marcus couldn’t refrain from devouring a bowl of chili or a club sandwich just like Dave, who was a notoriously loud eater. Ralph Houseman seemed to be waiting tables more than bussing them. After all these years, he had become a true asset to Dixie.

“The FBI guys seem to think someone who has been here for a while is Hammerschmidt’s contact.” I went into detail about the passing conversations I had when encountering them at the Elmo.

“Hey, I know this is going to sound strange,” Evan interjected, “but isn’t it all circumstantial that Hammerschmidt is a saboteur?”

“Come on, Cobb,” Dave mumbled with a mouthful of food. “An ordnance man just walking away from a place he might call home in the future? What else would he be up to?”

“No, I get all that. But, just for argument,” Evan continued, “what if he actually is trying to make his way to Tulsa to be with his sister? Maybe wait out the war there in hiding? You said she didn’t appear as forthcoming as you would have preferred. So if that was his plan after all, she would be harboring a fugitive and could get in big trouble. Naturally, you kind of understand why she wouldn’t be jumping up and down and admitting everything. I know it doesn’t make a lot of sense, but it could.”

Shaking his head and squeezing his eyes until he had almost shut them, Marcus responded, “A guy with that kind of smarts knows he’d be a fugitive as well as risking his sister’s life.” He had a point. “Now, she, on the other hand, might think he’s coming down her way but it’s entirely doubtful.”

“While he may have other motives, we have to assume he is on a mission of sabotage of some kind,” I continued, agreeing with Marcus. I recognized other possibilities existed, but we had to prepare for the worst case. We were policemen. That’s what we did. We would leave the fairy tales to writers.

Lost in the Plains, the Ark City Confidential Chronicles, Book Three, will have its worldwide release on September 16, 2019. Next week, on this blog, we will have the cover reveal, another magnificent offering from the graphic design team at The Wild Rose Press. The following week, look for the book trailer, here and on YouTube. Many of the photos are from my personal collection.

To get caught up on the series, consider buying/reading Ark City Confidential and Secrets of the Righteous.

Be Virtuous (Part 2)

The title, of course, is a reference to the notion of Patience. As I get older I am convinced it develops with age. Then again, I am almost certain I considered myself patient in my twenties.

Tomorrow, I will be participating in the Local Author Day featuring close to 60 authors from around Wichita. Yeah, there are a lot of us out here.

I will be a speaker at the Kansas Authors Club Conference from October 4-6. This conference will feature a wide array of writers in a variety of genres, panel discussions, and an interactive jazz and poetry collaborative.

The third book in my historical crime fiction series, Lost in the Plains: the Ark City Confidential Chronicles, has its worldwide release on September 16, 2019.

And, I just got word I will speaking at ANOTHER conference next year, the details of which are still to be finalized. (More information to come.)

This is more than a litany of my literary journey. It is, thus far, the culmination of it. It is truly a testament to the notion of Patience, but with a smattering of Determination and Resolve. All I’ve done since 2007 is to continue to develop my craft, immerse myself among so many other writers, and try to include non-writers in my journey. It has not been easy but what is?

My generation was fond of the notion of “By the time I’m thirty, I will…” There is no problem with having goals yet too often Life intrudes on your plans, you get sidetracked, and you’re forced to get back on the path. To those who succeeded by the time they were thirty, I applaud your endeavors.

I’m 57. I got here. There is still a long way to go. I guess I’ll remain virtuous.

Lost in the Plains: And the countdown continues!

Ok, time to mark your calendars:

September 2, 2019 – Cover reveal.

September 9, 2019 – Book trailer (with some amazing vintage photos).

September 16, 2019 – Worldwide release of Lost in the Plains: Ark City Confidential Chronicles, Book Three

The Ark City Confidential Chronicles follow beat patrol cop Baron Witherspoon, the facially scarred World War I veteran. His injury occurred when a mortar shell blasted behind him and forced him forward into barbed wire. The earliest versions of reconstructive surgery have take their toll of the course of time.

In his twenty plus year career as a police officer in the small Kansas town of Arkansas City, he has dealt with the presence of Chicago gangster, ‘Crazy’ Jake Hickey, as well as investigating a series of gruesome murders in 1935 in Ark City and in 1938 in Wichita. He had the good fortune to meet Eliot Ness and learned a great deal about investigative technique.

Now, it is 1943 and while the war is raging in Europe, it is brought closer to home by the presence of two FBI agents. Having been told that a German POW escaped from a camp in Concordia, KS, some 200 miles to the north, and is headed toward their community gives rise to the high possibility of an act of sabotage. Even more frightening is the notion that a German agent, living for years as a resident, may be a point of contact for this soldier.

In a time of war, ANYONE can be the enemy.

Ark City Confidential and Secrets of the Righteous are currently available through these links.

Excerpt – Lost in the Plains, Ark City Confidential Chronicles, Book Three

In this excerpt, beat cop Baron Witherspoon sits in the office of Chief Lester Richardson. It is right after two FBI agents have come to advise they are investigating an escaped German POW who they believe is heading toward Arkansas City, Kansas presumably to commit an act of sabotage. The bigger problem is they were advised to stay out of the FBI’s way.

I sat in Burke’s seat and stretched my feet out, clasping my hands at the back of my neck. Unless I was mistaken, agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation were intentionally excluding a local police department in its entirety from a search for a possible saboteur, an individual who could potentially cause great harm to the citizens of our city. On top of that, there was an unfounded accusation a resident was a conspirator. I wasn’t sure whether to yell or spit.

“How do you want to handle this, Chief?” I asked, taking the high road. I guess being older had somewhat softened my disposition.

Chief Richardson stared straight ahead at nothing, or at least not at anything I could see. His eyes were squinted and focused, fingertips touching delicately yet looking like he was ready to ball his fists. This didn’t set well with him either. From a night patrolman in ’26 to becoming Chief in ’34, he had worked hard to keep the town clean. While I had been on the force longer, he and I differed in that he was destined to move up the ranks and I was simply hiding. He respected the residents and couldn’t accept such a proposition as low and uninformed as what he had just heard.

“Put together a team of three other men. Morton, obviously. He’s practically been your right hand since those gruesome murders. I’d reach out to Marcus Hayes as well.”

“That old relic?” Hayes was pushing sixty-five, with a face like a saddlebag yet still not as bad as mine. A gruff, tobacco-chewing, no-nonsense guy who survived three shootings, two while with other police departments, he could have been higher up the chain if his attitude would have allowed it.

“He’s tough as nails and loves this city. Take Evan Cobb, too.” Cobb was college educated and married with two kids. He moved to Ark City from Salina on account of his wife getting a job as a teacher down here. I didn’t know him as much, as he’d only been on the force two months. The chief’s recommendation was good enough for me. “Conduct your own investigation. See what you come up with.”

LOST IN THE PLAINS will have it’s worldwide release on September 16, 2019. In the meantime, you can catch up with the series by buying Ark City Confidential and Secrets of the Righteous.

Additionally, I will speaking at theKansas Authors Club Convention. I look forward to seeing you there and talking ANYTHING that has to do with writing.