Connecting with readers at the Rotary meeting

I spoke to the Chaska Rotary club this morning over breakfast, and it was a blast! I talked about how the publishing industry has changed just since my first book in the Birder Murder mystery series – The Boreal Owl Murder – came out in 2008. Tons of changes, for sure, with the biggest challenges in distribution and marketing thanks to the internet. By the time I was done talking, I wondered to myself what in the world I was doing in this business since it is so tough and demanding. But then the Q&A reminded me why I write – to connect with readers. And that makes the rest of the busy-ness of publishing well worth it.

I got some good ideas for future characters and plot ideas, which always happens when I speak somewhere. I like to tell readers that so little of what I write is actually fiction, but no one believes me…as if I could come up with this stuff all by myself! Yes, it’s true – real life is much stranger (and usually a lot funnier!) than fiction.