Terry Shames's Blog: 7 Criminal Minds, page 221

Confessions of a mystery addict....by Cathy Ace

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In a nutshell...

This is the second reintroduction week: I've been reading with interest so far. Who are you? and Why the heck do you write? and How's it going?
It's like that first day of class, when the teacher asks everyone to say a little about themselves. I used to freeze up on even this minor challenge, but I've gotten better. Nowadays I say:  "Hi, I'm Rachel".... And then, depending on context, "I'm a writer" or "I need to learn how to format columns in Excel," or whatever. Not very colou...

The backstory

How did I go from being a bossy brat in the 3rd grade to being a not-quite-famous author today?
-from Susan
I have a brother three years younger and a sister six years younger. I remember arranging them under a mulberry tree and writing spelling words on a leaf with my fingernail for them to learn in my writing class. Seriously.
By fifth grade, I was publishing the Wolff Weekly, fortunately only within the family – editions of three papers (two carbons) complete with heds, deks and ledes, a mas...

My Tale Is Somewhat Supernatural

(Psst: due to traveling, this post is a bit more stream-of-consciousness. Hope it's not jarring.)

Back in the day, when I was a teenager before I had status and before I had a pager...

If I had to employ a term to elucidate how I managed to be here, with all of you great folks, writing mystery/crime and being recognized for it, I'd use Homeric. Not epic, because folks ruined that word for us, haven't they? I mean, it'd most certainly be an epic, if epic was still a noun and not a frickin'...

Hello, I’m Alan (Part I)

by Alan

My name is Alan Orloff, and I’m a simple man. (Some might say simple-minded, but … )

I live in Northern VA and have lived in the D.C. suburbs for most of my life.

I have a terrific wife and two terrific kids. And a house. And a yard. And no pets, unless you count the deer (and other critters) who live in the woods behind us.

I try to keep in shape (run, walk, yoga, swim) and eat healthy (cake is a health food, right?). I watch TV (too much) and read in my spare time.

I write fiction....

Feels write

— by Dietrich Kalteis

Back in my teens, I took a stab at writing, filling a shoe box with handwritten looseleaf pages and calling it a novel. I worked on it after school, evenings and weekends, but eventually I couldn’t get it to come together, and I lost interest and gave up. I’m not sure what happened to those pages, but it would be fun to take a look at them now.

During my career of working as a designer and art director in the advertising industry, I pursued something I’d been carrying aro...

A Significant Birthday

By R.J. Harlick
It was a birthday, a significant one, which sent me off on this great writing adventure.  
Like many of my confreres, I followed many different paths before taking up that of a crime writer. Though when I think back, writing was often a part of them, as was reading. I’m a great believer of the adage that to be a writer you have to be a reader. My very first story, written while attending elementary school in Toronto, was a mystery, mainly because I was addicted to Nancy Dre...

Happy New Year

It’s a new year and an especially relevant time for me to introduce myself because my sixth novel comes out TOMORROW, January 3.
I grew up in Texas and the place has a hold on me that I guess most people feel for their original home. When I go back to visit, I have a strange mix of annoyance and happiness. I’m annoyed at the ways in which the worst of the state’s excesses have taken over, and happy to be back where the smell of the air and familiar sights, smells, and sounds take me back to a...

Happy Holidays to All and to All a Good Night!

Made it through another writing year! Are you taking a break or is this prime, quiet, writing time for you?

by Paul D. Marks

A break? Are you kidding? Do writers ever take—or get—a break? There’s blogs to write and stories to flog and novels to finish (I did just finish one). Even when we’re not at a keyboard writing-writing we’re thinking and plotting and figuring out ways to kill you, uh, I mean kill someone in our stories.

Actually, I’m working on several short stories, writing blogs and work...

Hitting the Couch

"Is this prime, quiet writing time for you or are you taking a break?"

By the time you read this I will be done. I'll have finished the first draft of a book, printed it out (dancing around to . . . haven't decided yet, but probably 'All I want for Christmas is You'), and slammed my office door. With me on the outside.

I'm going to move my pile of Christmas reading - carefully curated and then hoarded all year -  to the coffee-table. I'll light a fire, put the kettle on for the first of ma...