Kathy Lynn Emerson's Blog, page 31

The Art of Culling

Jessie: Turning up the heat and watching the leaves flutter to the ground.

[image error]As the weather has turned cooler I’ve been spending a lot of time in my office lately. All through the summer I work on a porch where the breezes bring the smell of salt air and the sound of beachgoers to my nose and ears. It is a spare sort of a space with a desk in the chair and a great many windows. There is room for my sticky notes and a pencil cup and one small, slim bookshelf. But come fall, I returned to my entirely indoor office space where the clutter threatens to overwhelm me if I don’t beat it back. There are houseplants and stationary and important files. There are also shelves and shelves of books.

Some time ago I  promised myself I would not increase the number of bookshelves in my home. Under any circumstances. Instead, I decided I would be ruthless in culling my collection. Mostly I feel it has worked out okay. Many books that I read our pleasant the first time through better ones I feel happy to pass along to others without any thought to their return.

Other books are more difficult. Some are reference books which I find I turn to frequently enough to resist releasing them out into the world. I have a fear that they will contain just the nugget I needed as soon as they are no longer in my office. And then, there are those works of fiction that I find I love to re-read.

There are the Agatha Christies, the Mary Stewarts, the EF Benson and PG Woodhouse novels. Books by Alice Peters, Charlotte MacLeod, Annie Proulx, Garrison Keillor, Martha Grimes stared me down every time my hand hovers over their spines considering the unthinkable. Somehow I’ve managed to stick to my rule even though I seem to continually add new books to my home. What I promised myself was that I would not buy more bookshelves. I did not decide to use them in a strictly Orthodox manner.

At this point the  books can best be described as double parked. I’ve managed to convince myself I’m still considering whether or not to keep certain books when I stack them in front of those permanently shelved. Other books I place on top of the neat rows like little hats  or rooves. I always think they look slightly jaunty perched atop the others, like cardinals balancing on bare tree branches.  And much like those pretty winter birds, I find those extra books cheer my  office landscape. I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Readers, do you have trouble culling your books? Do you re-read or immediately pass things along to others? Writers, do you have trouble letting go of reference materials?

‘Tis the Season of Competitive Parenting

‘Tis the season of college applications for our youngest child and so I find myself doing battle again with a foe I thought vanquished long ago when our kids were toddlers: the competitive parent.

Everyone has met this person.  This person’s child always manages to stay one or two rungs above your child on the developmental ladder.  This person’s child was fully conversant at nine months, walking at seven months, potty-trained at six months, crawling at four months, sleeping through the night since birth and writing computer code in utero.  This person’s child has never thrown a tantrum, never wet their pants in the midst of a crowded store, never met a vegetable they didn’t like, sailed through the teen years with nary a squabble, and has MIT for a safety school.  This person’s child does not exist.

Oh, they will put on a convincing case.  They will state that their doctor will testify that she is astounded by the developmental marvel that is their child.  Off the charts, they will intone knowingly.  The likes never before seen by man nor beast.  Then, with a sympathetic nod of the head and a soft “there, there,” they will tell you not to worry, that your child will accomplish the feat in question “soon.”  They particularly like to prey upon first time parents.  More experienced parents tend to mock them and beat them senseless with their fanny packs.

Do not believe the competitive parent.  They are lying.  Deep down, we know this.  Yet we still rush home to our three month old who is lying in a puddle of her own drool, happily chewing on her fingers, and we command, like Jesus to Lazarus:  “Arise and walk!”  Seized by the moment and the clear authority in our voice, our child catches our eye, smiles, and spits up the bottle she just finished drinking. On a roll now, she then begins to emit an aroma reminiscent of two-week old garbage.

One evening, not long after our son, our oldest of three children, was born, I was watching a program where a person was attempting to show how intelligence levels of different dogs could be measured with a couple simple exercises.  One of the exercises involved placing a small blanket over the dog’s head and measuring how long it took the dog to remove the blanket.  I don’t remember which dog won, but I figured my son could beat his time.  I ran into the kitchen and grabbed a hand towel.  After a few words of encouragement, I placed the towel over my son’s face and began counting.  I’m not going to reveal my son’s exact time, but, suffice it to say, the poodle lapped him.

Concerned that my son had just failed the doggie IQ test, I gingerly broke the news to my wife.  She ignored my concern and yelled at me for covering her baby’s face with a towel.  Mothers are like that.  So my son and I began an intensive training session.  Anytime my wife was in the bathtub or out of the apartment, I would grab two hand towels: one for him and one for me.  And we’d race.  My son’s time didn’t improve much, but, after several tries, I kicked that poodle’s butt.

The competitiveness only worsens as your child begins to play with other children.  A couple we know is the perfect example of competitive parents.  Their eldest daughter was about the same age as our son. Somehow, she was always six months and several developmental stages ahead of our son.  When he first sat up, she had qualified for the Boston Marathon. When he first said “Da-da” (to me, not the couch), she had just finished her first aria. He knew where his bedroom was. She could list all fifty state capitols in alphabetical order.  Losing to the poodle was one thing, but this girl was really starting to tick me off.

Then, one day, our son and this girl played together. We waited for the four-minute mile. Nothing. We waited for the lilting soprano we had been promised. Nothing. Being the loving, caring adult that I am, I began taunting her. “Capitol of North Dakota…go!”  She hit me with her bottle.

Her parents tried to cover. “She’s usually so outgoing,” they said. “We don’t know what’s wrong with her today.”  Their meaning was unspoken, but obvious. Your, shall we say, defective child is obviously having a deleterious effect on our precious prima ballerina/savant.  I could read their thoughts.  Your son’s pedestrianness must be catching. Let’s get our daughter out of here before she becomes a turnip.

But we knew the truth.  We had just discovered the second part of competitive parenting. First, they lie about their child’s unprecedented exploits. Then, when their child fails to live up to the advance billing, they blame your child. Their wondrous gift from the gods was just fine until associating with riff-raff like your children. Not that they blame your children, mind you. Your children are, after all, doing the best they can in their own quaint, limited way.  But if their child is going to associate with yours, they really will need some sort of protective clothing. Or a vaccine.

We thought we had banished this whole nonsense. It’s not that parents became less competitive over the years, but, as our children aged, things were easier to measure and so competitive parenting became more patently ridiculous and easier to ignore.  Yes, I know, your child’s a musical prodigy, but Mozart’s blowing in the wrong end of the tuba. 

But, as we stare into the uncharted future of a graduating child, the same doubts start to creep back in from when they were born and everything was unknown. What will they do? How will they respond? Whom will they become? The competitive parents smell this weakness and soon you’re buried in Facebook posts and Insta-Snap-Tweets of the blazing successes their child achieves with no effort.

And you start to worry again. And I find myself timing that freaking poodle again.

It’s tough to avoid competitive parenting. We want our kids to be bright, caring, loving, funny and successful. And we want them to kick that prima ballerina/savant’s butt. We’re all better off, however, if we just relax a bit. Certainly our kids are. That’s not to say that we don’t become actively involved in educating them and helping them become the best they can be, but we also can’t forget that “kid gloves” are called kid gloves for reason. We need a softer touch than we often see nowadays.

Archimedes, the ancient Greek mathematician, once said “give me a place to stand, and I will move the Earth.” He was speaking of the value of levers and their ability to move great objects, but it’s just as applicable to our kids and this whole competitive parenting thing. If we clear the field for them as best we can and give them a strong base of love and knowledge upon which to stand, our kids will move the earth on their own.  Heck, my three kids are already smarter than me, so I’m just along for the ride from here on out.

So, I am proud to say that, having exposed competitive parents for the frauds they are, my wife and I have completely resisted the urge to measure our children against others and have never belittled the accomplishments of any child, which is very difficult, because our children are so much brighter than theirs.

Nanner-nanner-nanner.

By the way, Bismarck.

Where are the Maine Crime Writers at Bouchercon 2017?

by Barb, who is already in Toronto happily awaiting her fellow Maine Crime Writers

Four of the Maine Crime Writers, Brenda Buchanan, Dick Cass, Bruce Robert Coffin, and Barbara Ross, will be in Toronto this week for Bouchercon, the World Mystery conference. We’d love to talk to you anytime you run into us at the conference. That’s a big part of the fun of these cons. But you can also find some of us in particular places at particular times. Here they are:

Wednesday, October 11, 1:00 to 6:00, Barb will be attending the SinC into Great Writing, Alex Sokoloff’s workshop, Screenwriting Tricks for Authors, sponsored by Sisters in Crime National. (Pre-registration required.)

Thursday, October 12,

8:00 am to 10:00 am, Bruce Robert Coffin will be Author Speed Dating–that is taking 2 minutes to describe his work to each of 22 tables filled with readers, in Grand Ballroom East.
Noon to 4:30 pm, Barbara Ross will be at the autographing free books at the Kensington Hospitality Suite in the Grand Ballroom Foyer along with many other Kensington authors. They’ll be passing out cool glasses cases and micro-cleaning clothes (see below).
8:00 to 9:00 pm, (or immediately after the opening ceremonies) Bruce Robert Coffin will be signing at the HarperCollins book signing eventin the Grand Ballroom West.

Kensington giveaways: glasses cases and microfiber cleaning clothes.

Saturday, October 14,

8:30 to 9:30 am, Barbara Ross will be on the panel, “A Recipe for Death,” cooking up culinary mystery plots, with Leslie Budewitz, Maya Corrigan, Suzanne Trauth,  and Linda Wiken (aka Erika Chase), and Mo Walsh moderating in Sheraton B, and signing immediately after in the book room.
4:00 to 5:00 pm, Brenda Buchanan will be moderating with panel, “The Reporters,” Enemies of the People or Champion of the Oppressed? with Julia Dahl, Gwen Florio, Christina Kovak, Antti Tuomainen, Rich Zahradnik, in Sheraton E, with signing immediately after in the book room.

If you’re at Bouchercon, please say hello!

Readers: Will you be at Bouchercon 2017? Have you ever been? Would you like to go?

Save

Save

Save

Save

Save

Save

Save

Save

Save

Save

How Important Are Seasons/Weather in a Novel?

[image error]Lea Wait, here. I’ve just finished writing two books, in two mystery series, that I hope you’ll be reading next year: one takes place in a cold Maine February, and the other in Maine’s mud season … early April. And in both books, the time of year frames the story, which wouldn’t be exactly the same if it were set in another month.

My two most recent books are the same. PIZZA TO DIE FOR, which debuted in August, is set about the time you’re reading this book: early October, in the suburbs of New Jersey.  And THREAD THE HALLS, the sixth in the Mainely Needlepoint series, begins the week before Christmas.

Thinking back over my books, mysteries or historicals, I realized that one of the first decisions I make when planning/plotting a book is not only where the book takes place (and the year, if it is an historical) but the month. Before I begin writing I make a list of what happens in the natural world that month, in that place. What birds are there? Animals? Are they mating? Taking care of young? Hibernating? Have winter birds replaced summer birds? What wildflowers are in bloom? Weeds? Gardens? Vegetables? Are there leaves on trees? What trees – what colors? I include insects, fish, amphibians, and how much sunlight there is. When are sunrises and sunsets? What are average temperatures? If there are storms — will they be blizzards? nor’easters? thunder storms? showers? flooding rains?

I consult those notes while I’m writing. They often explain what my characters do – when they do it – what they wear – what they see – and so forth.

In PIZZA TO DIE FOR, fourteen year old future chef Mikki Norden wears sweatshirts (usually Seattle Seahawks shirts) because temperatures are chilly, and she misses her home out west. Leaves are falling; they’re slippery after rain, and she falls. Houses are decorated with pumpkins and chrysanthemums. The library displays a (real) skeleton reading Halloween books. When Mikki is kidnapped her well-meaning but bumbling kidnapper wraps her in a quilt so she won’t be cold. I don’t remember if I ever say it is October. But I suspect my readers will know.[image error]

On the other hand, THREAD THE HALLS takes place in a classic Currier and Ives New England Christmas setting. It snows almost every day. Roads can be icy. A bad storm knocks out power. Houses are covered with snow, and decorated with lights and wreaths. When a body is found it is partially covered by snow. Police try to see footprints  covered by continuing flakes. Fires are in fireplaces; people are dressed warmly. Cardinals and chickadees are at bird feeders.

Seasonal details in each book influence the plot directly. Some just set the stage. But without them, the books wouldn’t be the same.

Which, as I now begin a book set in late April in May, I’m very conscious of.

And, I think, so are my readers.

Weekend Update: October 7-8, 2017

[image error]Next week at Maine Crime Writers, there will be posts by Lea Wait (Monday), Barb Ross (Tuesday), Brendan Rielly (Wednesday), Jessie Crockett (Thursday), and John Clark (Friday).

In the news department, here’s what’s happening with some of us who blog regularly at Maine Crime Writers:

On Wednesday, October 11th, Kate Flora will join Gerry Boyle and William Andrews for a mystery evening at Print, 273 Congress Street in Portland from 7-8 p.m.

In case you missed it, the group-written novel about a serial killer of famous chefs, Beat, Slay, Love by Thalia Filbert is free on Amazon Oct. 8-12. So download a copy of this sexy, crazy, over-the-top tale, and share this link with your friends: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B015BQUZCK

Just learned about this: The Obama Inheritance, a story collection Kate Flora has a story in, has been featured in Newsweek:

[image error]

An invitation to readers of this blog: Do you have news relating to Maine, Crime, or Writing? We’d love to hear from you. Just comment below to share.

And a reminder: If your library, school, or organization is looking for a speaker, we are often available to talk about the writing process, research, where we get our ideas, and other mysteries of the business. Contact Kate Flora

Cursing John McPhee

Before anything else, acknowledgements to various places that have helped me launch In Solo Time, the prequel to last year’s Solo Act. More to come as the fall unfolds. In no particular order, many thanks to:

Gulf of Maine Books
Curtis Memorial Library
Letterpress Books
Longfellow Books
Mustard Seed Bookstore

Now, on to the screed. I love John McPhee, regardless of anything I say after this. He’s the consummate long-form nonfiction writer on topics as diverse as  oranges, the pine barrens of New Jersey, and the American shad. I started reading him when I came across Encounters with the Archdruid [image error]in the late seventies and followed his work in the New Yorker and his books, right up to his most recent book, Draft No. 4, which summarizes the lessons of the writing course he’s taught at Princeton since 1975. This last one, I’m afraid, is what’s plunged me into the Slough of Despond.[image error]

In his chapter on Structure, McPhee recounts how his high school English teacher forced him (and presumably his classmates) to outline every piece of writing before he started to write. In the Draft No. 4 chapter, he recounts how he decided on structures for various of his projects, drawing shapes, arrows, mazes, recurring curves, and lines peppered with dots well in advance of the point at which he wrote anything down. Many of these structures are marvels of architecture, reflecting deep thinking about the relationships among bits of information and story he’s picked up in his research travels, how to create the reader’s journey through the arc of the bales of information he’s picked up. All of this thinking he accomplishes before he writes a word.

For me, it usually takes three or four drafts of a novel to decide if there’s even a story in it. I can’t seem to think out the arc of a tale ahead of time, let alone what its ideal structure is, until I’ve thrown some words down on the page to work with. I remember an interview with Calvin Trillin [image error]in which he called his first drafts the “vomit draft.” I’m still heaving three or four rounds in. (I had a conversation with another writer once in which she told me she felt like she had to grow the tree before she carved it into furniture, which may be a more pleasant metaphor.)

At any rate, the fact that McPhee can create these elaborate structures and write to them amazes me, though I know it probably shouldn’t. The more time I spend with writers, having those tentatively weird and revealing conversations about process and procedure, the more I realize that everyone’s process is a unique collection of quirks, myths, prejudices, amulets, and incantations that works, mostly. If there were an easy way to get it done, someone would have patented it and be living on a yacht by now.

So I’ve calmed myself down. Temporarily. Yes, I cursed McPhee when I read Draft No. 4, until I realized my own strange process works in its own way. Of course, he has published a few more books than I have . . . I wonder if I took up drawing . . .

On Having Solitude to Write

By Brenda Buchanan

[image error]

Backshore, Peaks Island, on a late September morning.

I was blessed to have the opportunity in late September for a writing retreat on Peaks Island, where I lived year-round for a dozen years a decade ago, and where, incidentally, my first protagonist Joe Gale came into being.

[image error]

Every writer needs a good dictionary.

I was in need of a deep dive into Big Fish, my book-in-progress, a head-first immersion to tighten, clarify, sort out, button down, amplify, sharpen and better describe a hundred (maybe a thousand) details. And revise a scene or two. Or maybe eight.

[image error]

The ferry landing.

Thanks to the good people of the Illustration Institute (for more about this amazing organization founded by my friends Scott Nash and Nancy Gibson Nash, go here: http://www.illustrationinstitute.org/) I was able to stay for an entire week at a marvelous, century-old cottage in the heart of a forest glen tucked above the backshore.

Chock full of art and books, the cottage was an inspiring space that offered several possible writing nooks. I chose a spacious table in front of two huge swing-up windows that overlooked the peaceful (except when a rafter of wild turkeys sashayed past) woods.

[image error]

My writing space for the week.

Once settled, I wrote. All day, every day. After an early morning walk along the shore or through the woods, a quick shower and a cup coffee, my hands were on the keyboard by 7:30 a.m.

[image error]

Dawn on Peaks – beauty everywhere you look.

When my stomach growled at midday I wandered downstairs for a sandwich and a cup of tea. Then it was back to the writing desk to take apart each chapter of Big Fish, then each scene, each paragraph, and finally, each sentence.  I worked until well after nightfall, stopping only when the dark fully enveloped the house and the night insects hummed outside the screens of its only illuminated windows.

When I had no more words to write or reconsider, I sat on the screen porch and recharged my brain listening to my beloved Red Sox on the radio. Later, my characters showed up in my dreams, blurring the line between sleep and wakefulness when the day’s first light filtered through the surrounding trees each morning.

[image error]

The morning sun illuminating the woods.

I was following in the steps of some of my MCW colleagues who’ve found opportunities to get away for periods of intensive writing. Kate Flora spent two weeks at a prestigious writing center a couple of springs ago. Barbara Ross, Jessie Crockett and several of their Wicked Cozy Writers blog mates hold a group retreat each spring. Most recently (maybe even the same week I was on Peaks) Maureen Milliken was holed up at a friend’s lakeside cabin.

I’m sure they agree it’s a gift beyond measure to have the time, the space, and the solitude to immerse oneself in the imaginary but very real world that is your book, and to stay there for hours on end. Stepping away from routine allows a level of focus that’s increasingly elusive in our busy lives.

In another measure of grace, the Illustration Institute and the Friends of the Peaks Island Library organized a reading for me one evening at the beautiful Fifth Maine Regiment and Museum.

[image error]

Stained glass windows commemorate the Fifth Maine Regiment, which fought in the Civil War.

[image error]

Friends old and new at the reading.

I enjoyed having the opportunity to introduce Neva Pierce, my protagonist in Big Fish, to talk about writing and creativity and about how the island is the kind of place one can slip into the magical zone and stay there all day and into the night.

My time on Peaks was extraordinary, and I thank all who made it possible.

Writers and other creative types who read this blog: Does it help you to get away when you need to do a significant piece of work?  For the non-writers, do you seek out a retreat for other reasons? Please share your experiences in the comments.

Brenda Buchanan’s Joe Gale mysteries feature an old-school reporter with modern media savvy who covers the Maine crime beat. The first three Joe Gale books—Quick Pivot, Cover Story and Truth Beat—are available in digital format wherever ebooks are sold. She’s now working on a new series featuring a Portland lawyer named Neva Pierce.

Brenda can be found on the web at www.brendabuchananwrites.com, on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/BrendaBuchananAuthor and on Twitter at @buchananbrenda

A Recent Interview

Recently I had the pleasure of being interviewed by Peter Bollen for a piece in the Bridgton News. Pete was gracious enough to allow me to repost the unabridged interview here on the Maine Crime Writers blog.

Q: You had a distinguished career in law enforcement. Are you now retired and do you write full time?

Thank you. I was very fortunate to work twenty-eight years with some phenomenal people, and I had some amazing opportunities. I retired from police work in 2012 with the dream of becoming a full time author. My dream has been realized.

Q: When did you decide to become a writer?

Always a tough question to answer. I often wonder if the decision was truly mine. Sometimes it feels as though these things pick us. I loved reading and having stories read to me as a youngster. I can still remember sitting cross legged on the floor at my grandmother’s house listening to Peter and the Wolf on the console record player over and over. And I remember my third grade teacher Mrs. Dunham reading Roald Dahl’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory to the class. I think the true turning point for me was when I read Stephen King’s Salem’s Lot. It was King’s storytelling really made me want to pen my own tales of fiction. In 1976 I was writing a paper about Stephen King and wrote to him with a few questions. I still have the typed and signed letter that he wrote back to me.

Q: Has any particular writer influenced you?

There are many. King obviously, for the reasons stated above. Robert B. Parker’s Spenser hooked me early on. Dennis Lehane and James Lee Burke have captured my attention as of late. I’m trying to catch up on all the mystery reading that I never had the time for as a police officer.

Q: What individuals have influenced you in life?

New England writer Kate Flora has had a huge impact on me. As prolific as they come, Kate has penned several different mystery series as well as true crime books. I met Kate when she was writing a book about a murder case I helped work on, Finding Amy. Many years later, Kate became my writing mentor. I don’t believe I would be where I am today without her guidance.

[image error]

Q: What books do you have on your bookshelf? Any particular genre you prefer?

I think horror, mystery, and true crime interest me the most. But really anything well-written that captures the imagination or evokes emotion is my go to. I recently finished Ordinary Grace by William Kent Kruger and I highly recommend it.

Q: Would you say in your current book that parts of it are autobiographical?

Many people think so. In truth, the books I write are filled with things that I or my former colleagues have experienced. I try to insert as much realism as I can in each book, this means I draw heavily on personal experience when writing certain scenes. So in that way I guess the answer to your question is yes.

Q: Are you working on a new book or project?

I am currently working on the third novel in the Detective Byron series, tentatively titled Beyond the Truth. There is no question that the third novel has been the toughest to write. I have found myself digging deep into my own well of personal experiences and emotions on this one.

Q: Do you have a particular writing regimen?

I normally like to write first thing in the morning. I find that my brain and typing fingers are a bit more in sync at that time of day. Most times I will sit down and begin by editing some of the previous day’s work. Editing acts as a warm up and stretching exercise for the brain. I write anytime the mood hits me, but earlier in the day seems to suit me best.

Q: I always ask writers about Writer’s Block. Do you experience this? If so, how do you deal with it?

I’ve never experienced anything like the full blown writer’s block described by some scribes. There have been times when the scenes aren’t coming to me or I’m stuck on some plot point. When that happens I either head to the gym and punish myself on the elliptical or go down to the basement and work the heavy bag until the fog clears. I’m not sure why this works for me but there is something about getting the blood pumping that opens the creative floodgates.

Q: Do you have any advice to an aspiring writer who wishes to publish?

Be prepared to work your butt off and to be disappointed. Landing a traditional publishing deal is hard. Finding an agent is hard. Writing a novel is hard. But if you really enjoy the writing then you’re halfway there. The goal can be publication, but the love should always be the writing. If you want it bad enough and are willing to take criticism and improve your writing skills, publication is an achievable goal.

Q: If you could have an evening with three individuals dead or alive, who would you invite?

My first invite would go to novelist Robert Peter Tristram Coffin, a distant cousin, won the Pulitzer Prize for poetry and taught at Bowdoin College. My second would be Charles Carleton Coffin, another distant cousin and novelist. Charles was perhaps the best known reporter to cover the civil war. He interviewed Union generals and was present for many of the battles, including Bull Run, Antietam, and Gettysburg. My final invite would probably be Stephen King, for it was his storytelling that hooked me in the first place.

Q: Anything you wish to add to this interview, please feel free.

Prior to becoming a full-time writer I was an award-winning artist. In 2008 I was commissioned to paint a portrait to commemorate the one hundredth anniversary of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The portrait I created was of Special Agent Edwin C. Shanahan, the first agent to be killed in the line of duty when he was shot in Chicago while trying to apprehend a car thief on October 11, 1925. The painting titled Fidelity, Bravery, Integrity is on permanent display in the Boston Field Office of the FBI. Of all the pieces I was commissioned to paint, this is one of my favorites.

[image error]

Your Dimensions May Vary

Kaitlyn Dunnett/Kathy Lynn Emerson here. Back when I worked in the circulation department at Mantor Library at the University of Maine at Farmington in the 1980s, part of my job was re-shelving returned books. We used to joke that the job would be so much easier if they were all the same size. I found myself remembering that last week, when the paperback reprint of the tenth Liss MacCrimmon mystery, Kilt at the Highland Games, hit stores.

[image error]

Bala inspects the newly arrived box of author copies

We don’t have to contend with oversized books in the mystery genre, but there are three distinct print formats. Despite dire predictions about the changes wrought by the e-book revolution and the decision by some publishers to eliminate mystery imprints, I don’t see that changing anytime soon.

It isn’t always clear to readers (or writers, for that matter) why one book is published in hardcover first and then, about a year later, as a mass market paperback, and another comes out only as a trade paperback or only as a mass market paperback original. From the publisher’s point of view, there are financial considerations to do with printing and distribution. I’m not going to get into those. I’m not even sure I really understand them. What I will ramble on about for a bit is my own experience with all three formats.

[image error]Back in the 1990s, when I was writing category romance and historical romantic suspense, my books were published as paperback originals. Decades later, when I wrote my “Secrets of the Tudor Court” novels, they were published in trade paperback. To distinguish between historical romance and historical? I truly have no idea, nor did I have any say in the decision. Trade paperbacks are nearly the size of a hardcover but are easier and lighter to handle and cheaper to produce. The three books in my historical Mistress Jaffrey Mysteries, came out first in hardcover, but also in large print, e-book, and trade paperback. The hardcovers are expensive, making the trade paperback look like a much better deal to the average reader. There is no mass market option.

[image error]

The Liss MacCrimmon Mysteries are published in what’s called a hard/soft deal. Hardcovers are what libraries want, and libraries, even in difficult financial times, still buy books. Hardcovers, however, are expensive to produce. Full price tends to be $25 or more. The e-book editions that come out at the same time are also more expensive, as in over $10. The good news for cash-strapped book lovers is that there will eventually be a paperback reprint. Once that is in stores, the price of the e-book also drops.

It’s hard to make generalizations about book publishing, but what seems to be the norm in the mystery genre is that series in hardcover or trade paperback publish one new book in that series per year while series that are mass market paperback originals have a new entry every six months or so. An aside: I’m talking about books from traditional, royalty-paying publishers here, not books produced by the authors themselves. Indie publishers can bring out as many or as few books a year as they choose and price them however they like as well. Most of them, if there is a print edition, choose the trade paperback size.

To make a living at writing, most writers have to write two or more books a year. A deadline every six months can be grueling, whether the book is supposed to be 70,000 words or 100,000. It doesn’t allow much leeway for ill health, family emergencies, or anything else. I admire writer friends who manage two books in the same series year after year and still manage to keep the plots and characters fresh. I regularly write two or three novels a year, but not in the same series. I need a break in order to recharge my batteries and rekindle my enthusiasm.

[image error]

I’ll tell you a little secret. When I wrote Kilt at the Highland Games I thought it was going to be the last book in the Liss MacCrimmon series. I was out of ideas for Liss and her friends, fearful that I’d just be repeating myself if I wrote any more about them. I came up with a proposal for a new series with a different setting, a different (older) sleuth, and a different profession, to be written from a different point of view—first person instead of third. But a funny thing happened during the long process of selling that series to my publisher. Simply by working on something else for awhile, and encouraged by the fact that Kensington wanted more Liss MacCrimmon mysteries, new ideas started popping into my head. I wasn’t finished with Liss after all. Before I knew it, I had a plot for the eleventh book in the series, X Marks the Scot, which will be out in hardcover at the end of November. And the series written about in first person with an older woman as amateur detective? The first book in the “Deadly Edits” series, Crime and Punctuation, will be out in hardcover in June of 2018.

Although I delight in having a “new” paperback in stores, there’s no rest for the wicked. The twelfth Liss MacCrimmon Mystery, Overkilt, is due on my editor’s desk on December first, I need to come up with a plot for Liss #13 by March first, and Clause and Effect has a June first deadline. Whether they come out in hardcover, trade paperback, or mass market, mystery series keep their writers busy!

[image error]Kathy Lynn Emerson/Kaitlyn Dunnett is the author of more than fifty traditionally published books written under several names. She won the Agatha Award and was an Anthony and Macavity finalist for best mystery nonfiction of 2008 for How to Write Killer Historical Mysteries and was an Agatha Award finalist in 2015 in the best mystery short story category. She was the Malice Domestic Guest of Honor in 2014. Currently she writes the contemporary Liss MacCrimmon Mysteries (X Marks the Scot—December 2017) and Deadly Edits series (Crime and Punctuation—2018) as Kaitlyn and the historical Mistress Jaffrey Mysteries (Murder in a Cornish Alehouse) as Kathy. The latter series is a spin-off from her earlier “Face Down” mysteries and is set in Elizabethan England. New in 2017 is a collection of short stories, Different Times, Different Crimes. Her websites are www.KaitlynDunnett.com and www.KathyLynnEmerson.com

Brilliance Before the Dark

Kate Flora: It is one of those days, or weekends, or weeks, when I’ve had a dozen great [image error]ideas for blog posts and cannot seem to choose among them or get organized to write them. So tonight, as I was driving along admiring the full moon after a spectacular day by the ocean, I thought about entering the month of October. October makes me happy, because it is crisp and fresh and gorgeous, with the bluest skies and the bluest water and energizing wind. One of my Joe Burgess mysteries, Redemption, opens on an October day much like today.

October makes me sad because it is followed by the grays and browns and dull golds of November. Therefore, I have to remind myself to seize these beautiful days. Stop bending over the keyboard hour after hour, but get up, go outside, and breathe it in. The smells, the geese honking overhead, the clouds of butterflies and frantic bees.

[image error]One particularly splendid aspect of October is that, for some reason (which a weather person might explain) we have the loveliest and most spectacular sunsets then. Even as I grow cranky at the fact that my days are shorter, they are coming to an end in unsurpassable fashion.

Obviously, October has just begun, so I can’t share this year’s sunsets with you yet. But this weekend, I was scrolling through years of photographs, trying to organize them into categories (including whimsy, abstracts, and signs), and I kept scrolling past breathtaking  sunsets.

I imagine that everyone’s camera rolls (or the current equivalent thereof) are full of [image error]photos of sunsets. We all want to try to capture that magic, though we’re rarely successful. But since I have the luxury of a west-facing view, I have some that for me, at least, still make me draw in a breath and go, AAAHHH! OH! YES! How lucky I am to have seen this.

Let’s see what you think.

[image error]

[image error]

[image error]

[image error]

[image error]

[image error]