Don’t Cry for Me, Austin, Texas

July 30, 2014September 21, 2016 / Austin Mystery Writers / 8 Comments

Posted by Kathy Waller

*****

On Saturday, Gale and I will leave on a seven-hour drive to Alpine, in West Texas. We’ll attend the Writers’ League of Texas’ 2014 Summer Writing Retreat.

Big Bend National Park. By Kathy Waller.

I’m almost ready to leave. All I have to do is
print out and re-read all email correspondence from the WLT concerning the retreat;
put together and print at least fifty pages of my rough raft, which isn’t too rough considering all the revising and polishing I’ve done, against all the best advice; (putting together the draft entails sorting through the many files I’ve saved under a variety of names, none of which makes sense now);
buy new sneakers (the retreat doesn’t require formal dress) and a passel of socks to replace those the dryer has eaten; buy new khaki slacks if I can find a pair whose legs don’t drag the ground (petites are usually sold out);
pile everything I need to take, and a few things I don’t, on the guest room bed beside the suitcase, which is closed to prevent William and Ernest (big, hulking guy cats) from sleeping in it;
find my favorite novel, Harper Lee‘s To Kill a Mockingbird, for class, even though the book violates the cardinal rule of novel-writing by beginning with several pages of backstory and getting away with it;
buy a notebook, even though I have several, because a week-long retreat merits a new one, and pens in a variety of styles and colors;
make sure the laptop, the cord, the mouse, and my camera are stowed safely inside my
More prizes!

green Austin Mystery Writers tote; make sure my charged cell phone and the charger are stowed safely inside my purse;
confirm with my husband that the car will make it to Alpine and back;
do one last load of laundry; pack;
get up early, load the car, pick up Gale, and head out.

Gale is probably ready to leave now. She is organized.

Some people would say we’re crazy, driving half-way across the state to do homework every night. Before my first retreat, three years ago, I might have said the same.

But at the end of the first day’s class, I was so energized that I couldn’t stop writing. I wrote long emails that made better reading than anything else I produced during the week. (I had a friend patient enough to read them and kind enough to say, “Send more.”) I might even have done some blogging. After all that, I completed my homework.

The person responsible for my sudden productivity was Karleen Koen, novelist and teacher, whose class was titled something like Writing Your Novel, but who actually taught creativity, with activities designed to quiet the internal critic and allow ideas to surface. One of the ten-minute writings I did in class later turned into a thirty-page story for the Austin Mystery Writers’ anthology of short stories.* Anyone who can pull me out of the doldrums and start me on a creative binge, as Karleen did, is an exemplary teacher.

Next week, I’ll spend five days in another of Karleen’s classes: The Damned Rough Draft: Reframing and Reimagining Your Novel in Its Beginning Stages. Gale is registered to take the class, too. I have a vision of two roommates writing busily away every night.

Of course, we’ll also sit on the porch of the little 1950s tourist court where we’re staying (and where I once ran into a lizard in the shower), enjoying the cool, clear, mosquito-less evenings in a town that, every night, turns off all lights and lets the stars shine through.

And there’s the restaurant in nearby Marfa that serves pistachio encrusted fried chicken breast. I hear they’ve added pistachio encrusted steak to the menu.

Some of our Sisters in Crime will be there. We’ll definitely run into them and will perhaps cook up some mischief.

And there’s the extra day Gale and I will spend after the conference roaming around the countryside. Fort Davis. The MacDonald Observatory. Balmorhea State Park, a cool oasis in the high desert. Big Bend National Park. Endless possibilities.

But I’m going out there to write. I’ll do nothing to distract us from Karleen Koen’s class. Based on my experience, it will be too valuable to play hookey, even mentally. But we will play, because Karleen believes that’s where creativity comes from.

And that’s how my August will begin.

English: This is Alpine, Texas with the six-thousand foot plus Ranger, Twin Sisters, & Paisano Peaks in the foreground. (Photo credit: Wikipedia) Public domain. By Rebelcry (Own work) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

So, ‘though I’ll be far away from beautiful Austin, Texas for an entire week, there’s no reason to pity me.

I’ll be in the mountains, doing what I love.

*****

*Have you heard about the AMW anthology? If not, you will.

*****

Kathy Waller blogs at To Write Is to Write Is to Write.

Karleen Koen blogs at Karleen Koen–writing life.

From Writer to Author

July 16, 2014August 25, 2014 / Austin Mystery Writers / 1 Comment

Are you writing a novel? Hoping someday to be published?

For most of us, writing, revising and polishing a manuscript is the work of many months or even years. But there are a number of things you can start doing right now, while you’re finishing your book, to improve your chances for making the leap from writer to published author.

Study the craft of writing fiction. It’s never-ending. Read books, take classes, attend workshops and conferences, explore the internet.

Here’s a list of some of my favorite books on writing:

The Art of War for Writers, by James Scott Bell
Characters & Viewpoint, by Orson Scott Card
Immediate Fiction, by Jerry Cleaver
How to Write a Damn Good Novel, by James N. Frey
The Art of Fiction, by John Gardner
Writing Mysteries (MWA), Sue Grafton, ed.
On Writing, by Stephen King
Bird by Bird, by Annie Lamott
The First Five Pages, by Noah Lukeman
Manuscript Makeover, by Elizabeth Lyon
Writing the Breakout Novel (or The Fire in Fiction), by Donald Maass
Story, by Robert McKee
Don’t Murder Your Mystery, by Chris Riorden
Techniques of the Selling Writer, by Dwight Swain
Description, by Monica Wood
Beginnings, Middles, and Ends, by Nancy Kress

Classes and workshops are available in the Austin area from UT Informal Classes, Writer’s League of Texas, and Sisters in Crime. Margie Lawson offers intense online courses and excellent lectures for download.

A good list of resources for writers can be found on Kimberly Giarratano’s website (Kim is the author if a great YA book called Grunge Gods and Graveyards).

Join the writing community, locally, nationally, and online. It’s worth the investment to join associations like Sisters in Crime, Writer’s League, Romance Writers of America, and the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators. Make friends at those classes, conferences, workshops!

Find a crit group or critique partner: You need beta-readers who are writers, not just friends and family. But be careful to work only with people who help and support you. Walk away from negativity. Learn to give and receive feedback. Sisters in Crime recently gave a great workshop on etiquette for critique groups–you can read about it in next month’s SinC newsletter, Hotshots.

Enter contests: Writer’s League, Houston Writer’s Guild, Southwest Writers, RWA, and even Amazon all have annual contests. If the judging is good, you’ll win! 😉

Read in and out of your genre, but especially in your genre. Some say you need to read 300 books published in the last five years in your genre! That’s a tall order. I can’t say I’ve done it.

Begin thinking about your brand (Google that!), your website, and (maybe) your blog. I believe that a good photo is an important investment—especially for those of us who are habitually camera-shy. So much of the book business is conducted online. You need a face.

Use social media like Facebook and Twitter to support your writing. Don’t wait until your book comes out to start. Remember that agents and publishers—and eventually your fans—will Google you.

Start preparing now to step out as the next hot best-selling debut AUTHOR!

Elizabeth Buhmann is the author of Lay Death at Her Door.

The One Question that Changed My Approach to Writing

July 12, 2014August 25, 2014 / Austin Mystery Writers / 2 Comments

By Laura Oles

What’s the answer?

While attending a recent Writer’s League of Texas course, Karleen Koen, the talented historical novelist and our instructor, asked a question so simple yet so important, it changed my approach to writing.

“What is the one thing you wish you had known earlier about writing?”

After sitting silently with the question for a few minutes, the answer came to me, and its appearance brought with it contrasting pangs of relief and sadness.

“I wish I had understood earlier the importance of touching my project every day.”

Like many working on a novel (or two), I have several legitimate reasons for not connecting with my work each day. We’re all juggling jobs, kids (who play a maddening number of sports!), community activities and the daily grind of household chores. We have a hundred reasons why we can’t get to our novel in progress, and these are darn good reasons, too.

But…

These excuses offer little comfort when we realize our page count remains in the same stuck location each week. I know– I’ve been there–carrying the disappointment of wanting to create and yet unable to figure out how to fit it into my daily routine. I struggle with this issue and I’m a working writer in the photographic industry, so I do write each day.

I write a lot.

But not fiction.

And therein lies the problem.

I would lump my writing time into the same space, not realizing that fiction writing and nonfiction writing each needed to have a distinct time slot, a specific area in my mind and in my day. My client work always takes priority, because it has to, but I would then fail to figure out how to protect a separate space for fiction.

Jerry Seinfeld, when asked in an interview about he managed to write so much material in a short period of time, stated that it’s not how much you write but how often. I think this advice stretches across all forms of writing. It’s better to touch your project for fifteen minutes than not at all because each tiny effort creates a modicum of momentum, and momentum is a powerful force in getting to THE END.

I can’t profess my mastery of this skill because, although I’ve been far better at fitting in fiction, I still have off days (sometimes several in a row) and it takes me longer to find that groove. Once I find it, I am more resolved to keep going. And then real life intervenes once again.

For me, smaller steps are best. When I have ideas of cranking out 2,000 words in a stretch, I set myself up for failure. Some random event will conspire to cut into my writing time so that finishing 500 words feels like a failure. My goal for the remainder of the year is to be small but consistent in my efforts, and I mark an X on my calendar for each day that I’ve worked on my fiction. Seeing those Xs add up is a cheap trick to help me keep that momentum. I’ll take whatever I can get during those days when kids are going all directions and work is piling up. I remind myself that small steps matter, they all add up to a finished draft. I know because I’ve done it.

What about you? How do you make time to write when daily life seems destined to keep you from creating?

Where Do You Find Hope?

June 23, 2014September 21, 2016 / Austin Mystery Writers / 3 Comments

Posted by Kathy Waller

*****

“This isn’t a kindergarten for amateur writers. I’m sorry, Mr Kipling, but you just don’t know how to use the English language.” ~ Rejection from the editor of the San Francisco Examiner to Rudyard Kipling

*****

What makes a successful writer?

Aside from a working knowledge of the language and a certain amount of talent, answers generally include persistence, organization, initiative, professionalism, practice, vision, confidence, tolerance for criticism and rejection, vision, confidence, self-discipline, resilience, motivation, creativity, empathy, patience, courage, flexibility . . . Well, it’s a long list.

But Ralph Keyes, in The Writers’ Book of Hope, says aspiring writers need two basic things: a knowledge of how the publishing industry works, and hope.

Publishing has changed considerably since Keyes’ book was published just over ten years ago, and the Internet has made it easier to find what beginning writers want to know.

Hope is a different matter. There’s plenty of pessimism and discouragement out there. Where does a writer seeking publication acquire hope?

In my experience, much of it comes from other writers.

Last month I spent a Saturday morning in a class sponsored by the Writers’ League of Texas and taught by novelist Karleen Koen. I first met Karleen three years ago, when she taught at the WLT Summer Writing Retreat, and I’ll see her again at the WLT retreat this August. Last month’s class was a “sneak peek” at the August class: “The Damned Rough Draft: Reframing and Reimagining Your Novel in Its Beginning Stages.”

I’m not the only one of Karleen’s students who keeps coming back for one more course. She’s a good teacher. What she knows, she shares. She also acknowledges both the highs and the lows of her own writing life. (The title of this year’s class–“The Damned Rough Draft”–is evidence of her empathy with students.)

Karleen doesn’t promise the people sitting in her classes will become novelists, but she makes the possibility come alive. She is generous. She offers hope.

Who are other hope-givers?

Members of Austin Mystery Writers, and similar groups, who read and critique thirty to fifty pages every week. Beta readers, who go through entire manuscripts–hundreds of pages–to offer criticism. Strangers who read blog posts and Like or Reblog or Tweet or leave comments. All readers who tell the truth–both positive and negative–in a way that says, “I believe in you. Keep writing.”

It’s your turn now, writers: Who gives you hope?

Writing to Music

June 16, 2014August 25, 2014 / vpchandler / 4 Comments

I think the writing process fascinates writers and non-writers alike. There seem to more questions asked of writers about it than anything else. “Where do you get your ideas? Do you have a writing schedule? Do you have a special workspace?”

When writers congregate over the communal coffeepot, we talk about these things too.

One of the questions I like to ask is, “Do you listen to music when you write?”

I asked file3551243435174 this on Facebook and Twitter the other day and here are some of the responses I got. I was curious to see what the answers would be, and if they were similar for writers within the same genre.

Mystery/Thriller –

Gale Albright – I don’t listen to anything if I can help it. I prefer quiet when I’m writing. I am writing EVA in a definite time period, the Great Depression in East Texas in the early thirties. I have thought that maybe I should get some music (probably from the library) of popular songs played on the radio during the Depression, plus old-time church music, etc. I could listen to set the mood. I don’t know if I could write with it on. I haven’t done it, so I could try it as an experiment.

Steve Freeman – Not usually. If I do, though, it has to be instrumental or it’s too disruptive. I usually listen to Hans Zimmer.

Fiction:

Brianna Soloski – I have a play list of songs I never get tired of hearing. As for type…Billy Joel, Carly Rae, Jepsen, Train, and more.

Romance:

Michelle Hughes: If it wasn’t summer I would. Right now I get to listen to screaming. LOL

History –

Jeff Kerr – No

Historical Fiction –

Jeri Westerson – Yup. I like to listen to medieval music or soundtracks to medieval-themed movies while I write… Some of the worst movies have produced some great soundtracks.

Kim Bullock – I have to have silence. This is not always easy to come by.

Fantasy/Sci-fi –

Tonia Marie Harris – I listen to certain music when I’m writing or revising. For my current book, I’ve found myself listening to … post-industrial like Tool or Portishead, but I like classical pieces like Lakme’s The Flower Duet….Living in a tiny house with three kids, three animals, and babysitting full-time, playing music on low helps me focus, rather than detract from my work.

Vaughn Roycroft – Three words. Dead Can Dance.

JC Cassels – I listen when percolating. I use music to set the mood… I bought some royalty free soundtrack music that I listen to while plotting. It helps with pacing the action scenes.

Marta Pelrine-Bacon – Often, but not always. I listen to music appropriate for what I’m writing as if the scene is a movie.

Freelance/Essays/Other –

Katherine Wolbrink- Never. I find it way too distracting. But I have the attention span of a toddler, so…

Patrick Thunstrom – …I listen to trance, techno, metal, or some form of rock, with the occasional foray into classical. I have a “get pumped” list that is fun.

Joel B. Matuszczak – I write about things that happened to me, so I often listen to the music that I listened to during whatever phase of my life that I’m writing about. My taste in music, like the rest of my life, has changed a lot over the years…

Roberta Schirado – Instrumental jazz. The beat seems to focus my attention.

Kit Frazier – Yes, and sometimes I have a movie playing in the background…

I used to listen to movie soundtracks while writing. I found I couldn’t listen to anything with lyrics, especially if I was writing dialogue. I even created a personalized station on Pandora I named, Music for Writing. It’s composed of movie/video game soundtracks. Most are by Hans Zimmer (I love HZ!). It’s great for setting the mood when I’m thinking and plotting tension and action. When I’m thinking about my Texas historical fiction, I listen to the soundtrack to Lonesome Dove. It works for me every time. But once I sit down to write, I have to turn it all off. I’ve found I need to focus on the words and I already have too many other things swirling around my head.

So there you have it, a totally unscientific survey of a few writers and their music/writing habits. My conclusions? I guess it depends more on the individual’s personality and not the genre. That and, I feel old because I don’t know who some of these groups are or even the type of music!

Thank you to my writing friends who answered my questions and let me use their answers.

VP Chandler

A Good Time Was Had by All

June 2, 2014August 25, 2014 / Austin Mystery Writers / 5 Comments

By Gale Albright

There was much happiness on display at the tenth annual Barbara Burnett Smith Aspiring Writers Event (BBSAWE) on May 18 at Recycled Reads in Austin. People were talking, laughing, eating, exchanging e-mail addresses and phone numbers, eating, reading out loud, giving gifts, taking pictures–did I say eating?

The BBSAWE was created in the spring of 2005, after the tragic death of Ms. Smith, who was a published cozy mystery author. She was past president (International 1999-2000) of Sisters in Crime and was known for her helpfulness to other writers. Dynamic, energetic, and talented, her loss was greatly mourned by her family and the Austin writing community. To honor her memory, the Barbara Burnett Smith Mentoring Authors Foundation was dedicated in her honor to support and provide a mentoring community for aspiring mystery writers.

Every year Sisters in Crime: Heart of Texas chapter calls for submissions of the first 500 words of a mystery story or novel from unpublished authors. The aspiring writers are then matched up with published mystery authors for mentoring.

This tenth BBSAWE was a joyous occasion. Six mentors and seven aspiring writers were introduced to the audience. The writers read aloud the synopses and first 500 words of their submissions. We were treated to a diverse and imaginative display of literary talent.

W.D. Smith, son of Barbara Burnett Smith and head of her foundation, presented certificates to mentors and aspiring writers, as well as copies of his mother’s mystery novels. Russ Hall, prolific mystery writer and all-around Sisters in Crime volunteer, spoke about mentoring, calling on his long-term experience at the job.

“In life, you will realize there is a role for everyone you meet. Some will test you, some will use you, some will love you, and some will teach you. But the ones who are truly important are the ones who bring out the best in you. They are the rare and amazing people who remind you why it’s worth it. I’m not telling you it’s going to be easy. I’m telling you it’s going to be worth it.”

After readings were completed and gifts awarded, we adjourned to enjoy a bountiful feast of fresh fruit, raw vegetables with dip, lovely finger sandwiches and wraps, crackers, cheese, and hand-crafted desserts.

It was inspiring to see people socializing after the program, doing the aforementioned laughing, talking, conferring, and eating. Writers were networking and making plans to start critique groups.

The event took several months of work and planning to put together, but to echo Russ Hall, it was worth it. I’m looking forward to the eleventh annual BBSAWE.

Following is a list of mentors, aspiring writers and their biographies:

Elizabeth Buhmann mentored Sue Cleveland and Dixie Evatt for Shrouded.

Elizabeth Buhmann is originally from Virginia and lived several years abroad while growing up. She graduated magna cum laude from SmithCollege, Northampton, Massachusetts, and has a PhD in Philosophy from the University of Pittsburgh. For twenty years she worked for the Texas Attorney General as a researcher and writer on criminal justice and crime victim issues. Her first novel, Lay Death at Her Door, (Red Adept Publishing) reached the Amazon Top 100 bestseller list (paid Kindle) in 2013. She is currently working on her new mystery, A Monster in the Garden. Elizabeth now lives in Austin, Texas, with her husband, dog and two chickens. She is an avid gardener, loves murder mysteries, and has a black sash in Tai Chi.

Sue Cleveland was born in a hunting lodge in England. She is a widely traveled writer and award-winning artist. A member of SCBWI, Mystery Writers of America, Sisters in Crime and Writers’ League of Texas, Sue is eagerly awaiting the publication of her short story, “Decoy,” in Minerva Rising Literary Journal. She hopes to find a home for several manuscripts: Shrouded, which she wrote with Dixie Evatt, and two middle-grade mysteries.

Dixie Evatt has more than 35 years professional experience in news reporting and public relations, including experience in political and government affairs. Dr. Evatt also taught at Syracuse University, Baylor University and The University of Texas at Austin. Her academic publications include a book about communication practices of small enterprises called Thinking Big. Staying Small. Although they’ve yet to be published, she and her writing partner, Sue Cleveland, have completed two mysteries and are working on a third. One takes place in Egypt, one in Italy and another in the Southwest. They make it a point to travel to each location for research.

Susan Rogers Cooper mentored Lindsay Carlson for The Origami Murders.

Susan Rogers Cooper has been a published mystery writer since 1988 and has had a total of 26 books published. She’s garnered rave reviews and was nominated for an Edgar. Her newest E.J. Pugh mystery, Gone in a Flash, is available now, and a new Milt Kovak will be out in the fall, entitled Countdown. Her back list is now being uploaded to e-books.

Lindsay Carlson currently splits her time between being a legal drug dealer (aka pharmacist) and a writer. In her “free time,” she feeds her fortune cookie addiction and collects books to add to her to-read pile, which currently is taller than she is.

Helen Ginger mentored Shelby O’Neill for Truth or Dare.

Helen Ginger is an author, freelance editor, and book consultant. Her first fiction book, Angel Sometimes, won a USA Best Book Award and her new mystery, Dismembering the Past, is coming out soon. Actively involved in the writing community, Helen was the Executive Director of the Writers’ League of Texas from 2003-2005. Currently, she serves as a Committee Chair for the Texas Book Festival. In February of 2012, Helen took over as the Coordinator of Story Circle Network’s Editorial Services.

Shelby O’Neill is a writer and editor who lives in Austin, Texas, with her husband and their two pets. Her first novel is currently a quarter-finalist in the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award contest, and she is hard at work on her second book, a teen cyber-stalking mystery.

Jan Grape mentored Jane Shaughness for The Invisible Detective.

Former owner of Mysteries & More bookstore in Austin, Texas, Anthony and Macavity Award-winner Jan Grape’s first mystery novel Austin City Blue was nominated for best first novel at Bouchercon 2002. Dark Blue Death is the second in her Zoe Barrow mystery series set in Austin about a female police officer. Found Dead in Texas is Jan’s first short story collection. She wrote a stand-alone called What Doesn’t Kill You and co-edited two anthologies with R. Barry Flowers, American Crime Writers League, Murder Here Murder There and Murder Past Murder Present and has a short story in each. She is currently finalizing her books for Kindle and Nook.

Jane Shaughness retired from the University of Texas at Austin in 2013 where she had worked for almost thirty years in the areas of student affairs, architecture, and most recently, compliance and ethics. Last fall, after giving herself six months of “free” time in which she entirely overscheduled herself with volunteer work, Jane began to work seriously on her mystery novel. In addition to writing fiction, Jane enjoys writing for her blog “55 AND COUNTING . . .” where she highlights free events in Austin of interest to the literary autodidact. Jane lives in Hyde Park with her husband, her two dogs, Jake and Champion, and her cat Pumpkin.

Russ Hall mentored Alex Ferraro for Ramona.

Russ Hall is author of more than a dozen books and co-author of numerous other books, as well as short stories and articles. He has been an editor for major publishing companies, ranging from Harper & Row (now HarperCollins), Simon & Schuster, to Pearson. He lives in Lago Vista, where he hikes, fishes, and tends a herd of deer that visit daily to peep in the office window and help with the writing.

Alex Ferraro was born in Denver, Colorado. At the age of five, he stole a horse and rode to Texas, where he has lived ever since. In 2011, he graduated from The University of Texas at Austin with a dual degree in business and drinking. When he isn’t writing or watching entirely too much TV, he performs standup comedy in and around Austin. He also co-hosts a podcast about writing called Do the Write Thing, which can be found on iTunes and at WriteThingPodcast.com

Caroline Shearer mentored Eileen Dew for Invisible in Austin.

Caroline A. Shearer is the creator of Absolute Love Publishing. A bestselling author, Caroline’s popular books include, Dead End Date, the first book in the Adventures of a Lightworker metaphysical mystery series. In addition to her own projects, she founded Spirited Press, an assisted self-publishing imprint that operates under the umbrella of Absolute Love Publishing. Spirited Press supports authors in sharing their own messages with the world.

Eileen Dew is a former English teacher who writes about mother-daughter relationships which are unique and yet the same, regardless of the time or the location.

Whispers of Memories

May 14, 2014May 14, 2014 / vpchandler / 2 Comments

I recently took a trip to Huntsville, Texas, and everything I saw at every turn stirred up old memories.

– Right behind the hotel where I stayed was the apartment complex where my cousins had lived. A few blocks away was a second place they lived.

– I passed a street of good friends of many years. They hosted a wedding shower for me.

– I passed the fancy restaurant where my grandmother lived for a while when she was a child. I remember that when she told us, we had no idea!

– I saw the nursing home where my other grandmother spent her last years.

All of this within a short drive just to get a burger! My mother’s family has been in the Huntsville area since the mid 1800’s so we have a lot of stories. A couple of my favorites:

– Sam Houston was a friend of the family. He used to come and visit.

– My great-grandfather was sheriff for a while and lived in the jail.

Neither of my parents grew up there, but my father moved there after my parents got divorced. He was offered a job at Sam Houston State University as a Criminal Justice professor. So I have a personal connection to the place through my mother and my father.

Besides the personal connections, there is something that draws me to the place. Maybe it’s something about the vines growing in the pines, maybe it’s because I love history and old things, maybe it’s because of my “writer brain”, but when I pass old houses, I imagine children playing and grannies rocking while shelling peas. I love browsing through the old stores. I sometimes look at what they’re selling, though I’m more likely to be looking at the tin ceilings and wondering what the original store was.

The history of a place just calls out to me. I look at the red leather seats in the booth at a diner and remember when not everyone was welcome as a customer. I look at the young, happy families and wonder if they hear or feel the negative things that happened. Can they even imagine it? I pass the prison walls and know the prison has been there since 1849. Lots of famous and infamous people have been in those walls.

At the university I think of my great great aunts who attended when it was a Sam Houston Normal School. We’ve had a graduate from there in every generation. My grandmother went to kindergarten at Old Main, which has since burned down.

I think about my father when I sit on the bench outside the CJ building that’s dedicated to him. There’s a plaque with his name on it. He used to sit outside and smoke and talk to students. Inside the building there’s a big picture of him. Next to it are plaques with names of students who have received scholarships named after him.

Sometimes when I’m in town, I visit the cemetery. I look up my folks and browse around. Yep, some people like museums, I like cemeteries. When you’re looking at someone’s headstone, you see when they were born and when they died. You can see if they were married or had children buried with them. So many stories untold.

It’s all a bit overwhelming for me at times. But I guess it’s no surprise that I like to write historical fiction. For me the place is full of mystery, history, conflicts, love, death and birth. Those piney woods have a lot of secrets.

Do you have a place that calls to you?

Opening the Study Door

May 6, 2014August 25, 2014 / Austin Mystery Writers / 1 Comment

By Elizabeth Buhmann, author of Lay Death at Her Door (Red Adept Publishing, 2013)

Writing is a solitary occupation—up to a point. We confront the blank page alone, wresting plot from story idea, populating plot with characters, and putting words in their mouths. But you can’t get from first draft to final draft without feedback from readers.

In his popular book On Writing, Stephen King says, “You take your story through at least two drafts: the one you do with the study door closed and the one you do with it open.”

King’s advice is to finish writing down the whole story—and to let it sit for a while and then revise—before showing it to anyone. I know writers who do very well letting readers’ comments guide them early and often during the creative process, but for me, King’s way is what works best.

For me, it’s a matter of not allowing other people’s input to knock me off-course. With early feedback, I am likely to lose access to what’s coming from within. If the story is still fragile in my mind, showing it around can be like letting someone sit in a chair I’ve just assembled before the glue has dried. The chair gets busted, the reader lands on the floor, and I am left with a pile of broken sticks!

Readers’ reactions are hard to predict. My first novel was pretty smooth, I thought, by the time I took it to a manuscript class. I was completely taken by surprise when no one understood my main character’s reactions to the events at the beginning of the story.

In chapter one, she learns that a man convicted on her testimony has been exonerated. Yet she shows no surprise, no fear, no consternation. She just sort of hunkers down. My first readers said, “She can’t do that! Why isn’t she angry, why isn’t she stunned? Why isn’t she afraid?”

It made sense to me. MY MC didn’t act surprised because she knew all along that the man was innocent. I was keeping that up my sleeve! I wanted it to come as a surprise a little later in the book. I thought readers might wonder why she was acting the way she was. I thought they might have suspicions, or even guess what was going on.

I was wrong. Instead of questioning their assumptions, my readers lost confidence that I was telling the story right. I knew how my character had to act, but my readers couldn’t accept what I was telling them. What a disaster!

Finding a big weakness in a story (especially in chapter one!) can be discouraging at first. But it often leads to much greater strength. This was how it worked for me (to my immense relief, after I got over my initial panic).

Oddly enough, I didn’t even understand what my story’s real hook was until one of my critique partners–Brenda Vicars Hummel, whose wonderful YA comes out later this year!–pointed it out to me. My hook was that my main character had lied. Her reactions in chapter one made perfect sense once I let the reader in on her secret.

And once the readers knew she lied, many of them were very curious about why she would have done such a thing. To quote one five-star review: “This mystery grabbed me from the two-word second paragraph. `I lied’…the lie is the elephant in the room…I want to know why she lied! Why, why, why?!”

I still had a good surprise up my sleeve for the ending, but I might never have gotten my readers past the first chapter without what I learned from readers when I opened the study door.

Two New Mystery Events for May

April 27, 2014 / Austin Mystery Writers / Leave a comment

DENNIS TAFOYA’S SHORT MYSTERY WRITING CLASS AT BOOKPEOPLE

Acclaimed crime author Dennis Tafoya is teaching a short mystery writing class on May 1st, 6:30 PM on BookPeople’s third floor.

It’s a fun way to promote his new book The Poor Boy’s Game. He will teach an hour-long class on the elements of crime fiction using examples from classic and current authors as well as his own work. A fun and informative night for beginning and practicing writers as well as people who are just fans of the genre. Bring pen and paper. Admission is free.

Dennis Tafoya has also authored The Wolves of Fairmount Park and Dope Thief.

To find out more, click on http://www.dennistafoya.com/

BookPeople is located at 603 N. Lamar Blvd., Austin, TX78703.

BARBARA BURNETT SMITH ASPIRING WRITERS EVENT

On May 18, Sisters in Crime Heart of Texas Chapter will host the Barbara Burnett Smith Aspiring Writers Event (BBSAWE) at 2 p.m. at Recycled Reads in Austin.

This event will celebrate the legacy of Barbara Burnett Smith, a published mystery author who helped many writers in the Austin community. Aspiring Writers will meet with their Mentors, who are published mystery authors in the Sisters in Crime Heart of Texas Chapter.

W.D. Smith will speak about his mother’s legacy and Russ Hall will talk about mentorship. Following these remarks, the mentors will introduce their aspiring writers to the membership and the writers will read their 500 submitted words to the audience.

Following the program, a buffet supper will be served and aspiring writers will consult with their mentors.

Jan Grape mentors Jane Shaughness; Russ Hall mentors Alex Ferraro; Helen Ginger mentors Shelby O’Neill; Susan Rogers Cooper mentors Lindsay Carlson; Caroline Shearer mentors Eileen Dew; Elizabeth Buhmann mentors co-authors Sue Cleveland and Dixie Evatt.

Recycled Reads is located at 5335 Burnet Rd, Austin, TX78756.

James Michener Didn’t Object

April 14, 2014September 21, 2016 / Austin Mystery Writers / 5 Comments

By Kathy Waller

Last week, Valerie wrote about why she writes. Here’s my take on that subject:

When I was four years old, I took a pair of scissors and a roll of red, gooey adhesive tape and wrote my name on the inside of the kitchen door. It didn’t occurred to me I shouldn’t, and my parents never said a word. I’m sure they discussed it, but I wasn’t privy to that conversation. The crooked red letters stayed on the door for years. When they were finally removed, a heavy red stain remained.

When I was eight, my father gave me a ream of legal-sized paper. I produced a newspaper, one copy per issue, focusing on the social activities of dogs, cats, and horses in the neighborhood. I reported on the wedding of Mr. Pat Boone, my fox terrier, and Miss Bootsie, my grandfather’s cranky gray-and-white cat. Miss Bootsie was really Mr. Bootsie, but even then I knew the value of poetic license. Mr. Tommy, my cousin’s orange tabby, married someone, too, but I don’t remember whom or what gender. Or what genus and species for that matter.

For years, I loved writing—the paper, the pens, the ink, the facts, the improved facts, and the outright fiction.

The feeling lasted until high school, when I began taking courses labeled English. Writing became torture. What will I write about, how many words does it have to be, I don’t know anything about that, I don’t have anything to say. Through high school and two college degrees–in English–I produced the required papers but agonized over every word.

There were bright spots: writing the junior class prophecy, which made even the teachers laugh when I read it at the junior-senior banquet; composing a satire on life in the teachers’ lounge, issued serially on an irregular basis–whenever the Muse moved me.

Overall, however, my relationship to writing remained conflicted. I did my best to camouflage the discomfort, though. After all, I taught English.

Things began to change when I told a therapist about my early love affair with words. He responded, “I think you’d better start writing.” He suggested I join the Austin Writers’ League.

“I can’t,” I said. “James Michener belongs to the Austin Writers’ League. I can’t belong to anything James Michener belongs to.”

The next day, I joined. James Michener didn’t object. I started taking informal classes at nearby universities. An instructor invited me to a Saturday-morning writing practice group. The next weekend, I drove fifty miles, parked in front of the café where it met, watched people carry notebooks inside, backed my car out, and drove home. It took another week to build the courage to pick up my notebook to join them and become a regular.

The result of all this effort? Once again, I fell in love with writing. I also fell in love with a member of the writing practice group and, after a decent interval, married him.

In my romance with writing, I didn’t live happily ever after. I don’t have a long list of appealing topics. I don’t have a file of perfect first sentences. I still have to write to find out what I know and what I think. I still find myself writing furiously right up to the deadline. (Or slightly after, as I am now.) Starting any piece is difficult. But once I begin, the words flow.

I wouldn’t exchange that feeling for anything.

In fifteen years, I’ve come from, I can’t join the Austin Writers’ League to I’m working on a novel, attending Austin Mystery Writers critique group, writing short stories for publication in an anthology, blogging, writing every day.

And, contrary to the moans I make when asked how the writing is going, I love every second of it.

*****

*****

*****

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

*****

*****

Related articles

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this: