Vol. 2_No. 9 Carmel, Indiana March 24, 2007
Speed City typically meets on the 4th Saturday of the month.
NEXT MEETING:
April 28, 2007
10:30a.m. critique group -?-
11:30a.m. business meeting
1:00p.m. guest speaker: TBA
FUTURE MEETINGS AND EVENTS:
April 28, 2007
10:30a.m. critique group
11:30a.m. business meeting
12:00p.m. guest speaker: TBA
MEETING LOCATION:
The Mystery Company
233 2nd Avenue SW
Carmel, IN 46032
317-705-9711
800-643-6737
CRITIQUE GROUP
SinC members who have not joined the critique group but are interested in doing so need to contact Pat Robertson at:
TO JOIN SPEED CITY SINC:
You must be a member of the National Sisters in Crime Local chapter dues are $15.00, due on or before October 15, 2006 and payable to SCISinC. You can mail your application and check to:
Pat Robertson
554 Miami Street
Ellettsville, IN 47429
E-mail Pat Robertson if you need an application or additional information.
INDIANA SISTERS IN CRIME CHAPTER OFFICERS
(January 1, 2007 - January 1, 2008)
Brenda Robertson Stewart, president
317-831-1566
Andrea Smith, vice president
Pat Robertson, membership chairman, 812-876-7772
Jim Huang, program chairman
Vicki Stewart, treasurer
Kit Ehrman, secretary, newsletter editor
Mark Zacharias, communications chairman, (webmaster)
Sheila Boneham, critique group chairperson
CALL FOR GUEST SPEAKERS
Give Jim a hand in finding interesting guest speakers by providing the following information:
GUEST SPEAKER CONTACT INFORMATION
•
name, job title
name, job title•place of employment
place of employment•address
address•phone
phone•fax
fax•e-mail
e-mail•website if applicable
website if applicable•suggestions for topic(s) the speaker is qualified to speak about and that the group would find interesting
suggestions for topic(s) the speaker is qualified to speak about and that the group would find interesting•list of published works if applicable
list of published works if applicable•your connection to the speaker—how you know him/her
your connection to the speaker—how you know him/her•permission to use your name in the initial contact
permission to use your name in the initial contactSend your information to Jim Huang
Put SinC Possible Guest Speaker in the subject line.
WEBSITES OF INTEREST
If you’re a chapter member with a mystery website, and you would like it listed here, e-mail Kit Ehrman.
WEBSITES OF INTEREST TO WRITERS
NEWSLETTER ARCHIVES
Want to see what happened at an earlier meeting? Visit the newsletter archives page.
MYSTERY / BOOK CONVENTIONS:
03/21/07 - 03/25/07
Charlottesville, VA
04/25/07
New York, NY
04/26/07
New York, NY
04/28/07- 04/29/07
Los Angeles, CA
05/04/07 - 05/06/07
Arlington, VA
05/24/07 - 05/27/07
Omaha, Nebraska
06/01/07 - 06/03/07
New York, NY
06/08/07 - 06/09/07
Boise, ID
06/15/07 - 06/16/07
Boise, ID
06/15/07 - 06/17/07
Victoria, BC, Canada
06/21/07 - 06/27/07
Washington, DC
06/29/07 - 07/01/07
Parsippany, NJ
07/12/07 - 07/15/07
New York, NY
09/27/07 - 09/30/07
Anchorage, AK
Email: aksinc@alaskasinc.com
10/9/08 - 10/12/08
Baltimore, MD
MEMBER NEWS:
Kit Ehrman's latest release in the Steve Cline
Mystery Series is a Great Lakes Book Award
nominee.
~~Speed City members, share your news.~~
E-mail news releases to Kit Ehrman.
SPEED CITY
Indiana Chapter of Sisters in Crime News
SPEED CITY
Indiana Chapter of Sisters in Crime News
compiled by Kit Ehrman
I'd like to extend a special thank you to Vicki Stewart for recording this meeting. ~ Kit
Brenda Stewart opened the meeting with the following updates and announcements:
The Anthology:
Proofreading will be completed during the next week; then the manuscript will go to the publisher, Cardinal Publishers of Indianapolis.
The tentative title for the anthology is RACING CAN BE MURDER.
Chapter Business:
The Speed City, Indiana Chapter of Sisters in Crime must get a Federal Tax ID number identifying our organization as a non-profit organization. Brenda is checking on this. The cost may be around $300.00.
Our Guests: SIX WRITERS IN SEARCH OF A PUBLISHER -- Six Local Authors Discuss Their Personal Road to Publication.
Susan Crandall: BACK ROADS (2003), a Warner Books mass market paperback original.
Leigh Mitchell is the sensible, responsible, dedicated sheriff
of her rural Indiana county. It's a position that sets her
apart in ways she'd never expected. She's facing her
thirtieth birthday and feeling restless. On a moonlit night,
driven by a desperate need for change, she indulges in an
innocent flirtation with an intriguing stranger. When a
teenaged girl goes missing, everything Leigh holds dear,
her loyalty to family, devotion to duty and her trust
in love are tested to their limits. For the first time in her
life, steadfast Leigh must let go of the clear cut rules that have always guided her and travel the uncertain back roads of the heart.
Susan Crandall's BACK ROADS (2003) was published as a mass-market paperback original by Warner Books, now part of Hachette Book Group, among the largest trade book publisher in the US. Susan has published five subsequent novels, most recently A KISS IN WINTER, published in January by Warner Books.
Susan started writing with her sister. They've co-authored five books. Her first success was her first solo book. It was a “Rita” winner. She did sign with an agent who sold her first book to a publisher that had previously rejected the same book. One of the most difficult things was to cut part of the book that had been the impetus for the book.
Susan’s advice:
1.Educate yourself about the craft and the industry. You need a knowledge base of both in order to be successful.
Educate yourself about the craft and the industry. You need a knowledge base of both in order to be successful.2.If you are going with an agent find one who is “over the moon” about your book. “No one wants you to succeed like you want you to succeed.”
If you are going with an agent find one who is “over the moon” about your book. “No one wants you to succeed like you want you to succeed.”3.Get involved with a group such as a critique group or writing group.
Get involved with a group such as a critique group or writing group.4.Keep up with other writers. What are they writing, who are their agents?
Keep up with other writers. What are they writing, who are their agents?5.Don’t get discouraged!
Don’t get discouraged!Brandt Dodson: ORIGINAL SIN (2006), a Harvest House trade paperback (CBA publisher based in Oregon)
Emma Caine, a high school guidance counselor, didn’t have
an enemy in the world, except for her murderer. In Original
Sin, Indianapolis private detective Colton Parker is hired
to investigate Emma’s violent death. Along the way,
he tangles with everyone from organized crime figures to
highly-placed police officials as he discovers the dark
truth behind the slaying -- a truth that threatens to pull
Indianapolis apart. "Crisp. Wry. Honest. P.I. Colton Parker is
as unexpected as a bullet hole in a brand new Brooks
Brothers suit. You’re gonna like this gumshoe!"-Clint Kelly, author of Scent
The most recent novel in the Colton Parker series, ROOT OF ALL EVIL, was released in January. All three in the series are published by Harvest House.
Brandt wrote for 12 years before he had a book offer. First, he received form letter rejections, then they moved up to “nice” rejections where the publisher liked the story, but it wasn’t for their publishing house for whatever reason. Brandt learned that most publishers have a five or six member committee that reviews prospective manuscripts. If only one person says no; then the manuscript is rejected.
Deadlines help Brandt stay on track. He doesn’t outline beforehand, but he has mulled the story over sometime before he starts putting words on paper. He enjoys the adventure of seeing where the story will take him. This allows him to write massive amounts first and then he is able to cut whatever isn’t needed for the story.
Brandt was at a writing conference when he received an e-mail for his first offer, a three book-publishing contract. Since he was away from family and friends, he celebrated by going to McDonald’s and getting a Cheeseburger Happy Meal and eating it in the car.
Brandt’s advice:
1.Stay flexible. Be able to kill your “little darlings,” to cut unnecessary portions.
Stay flexible. Be able to kill your “little darlings,” to cut unnecessary portions.2.Go to writing conferences.
Go to writing conferences.3.Network with other authors. If you want to contact Brandt you may do so through an e-mail link found at his website www.brandtdodson.com.
Network with other authors. If you want to contact Brandt you may do so through an e-mail link found at his website www.brandtdodson.com. 4.Writing is a craft. Learn the craft.
Writing is a craft. Learn the craft.5.Be prepared for the conference with an “elevator” pitch. This is a pitch for your story that you can make in the time it takes an elevator to travel four floors.
Be prepared for the conference with an “elevator” pitch. This is a pitch for your story that you can make in the time it takes an elevator to travel four floors.Phil Dunlap: THE DEATH OF DESERT BELLE (2004), an Avalon Books hardcover (small, library-oriented New York publishing house)
In the dusty Arizona hamlet of Desert Belle, a mysterious
explosion levels half of the adobe jail. It appears the
notorious Bishop brothers have made good on their threat
to escape before they could be brought to trial. At least it
had looked that way until two bodies were found crushed
beyond recognition beneath the thick slabs of adobe wall.
While the sheriff says good riddance, others aren't so sure
the Bishops are really gone for good. Meanwhile, not far
away, two teenage boys inadvertently come face-to-face
with a gunslinger who demands they leave town or get shot. The mis-
adventures of the two boys eventually cause them to cross paths with Marshal Piedmont Kelly. The boys and Kelly will have to trust each other and work together in order to save themselves and the town of Desert Belle.
One subsequent novel, CALL OF THE GUN, is published by Avalon Books in hardcover and by Leisure Books in mass market paperback. His third novel, FATAL REVENGE is coming this fall from Avalon.
Phil's first novel was a western mystery. He sent a query letter to an agent who accepted him as a client. After six months and an expense of $100, the agent sent Phil a mimeograph sheet with check marks indicating which publishers he had sent the manuscript to and check marks indicating the rejections. Another agent sent the book to the top four publishing houses and all rejected his manuscript. After his rejection of this western/mystery novel, he put it in a bottom drawer and wrote seven more novels. None were westerns.
He took the advice on what someone else thought he should write instead of writing what he wanted to write. He sent one of these other novels to a publisher that had published a book Phil thought was awful. They rejected that novel but mentioned that they were looking for a western. Phil said that he had a western, and that was his start to his road to being a published author.
Phil got his publishing contract without an agent and currently doesn’t have one.
Phil’s advice:
1.When submitting, check the publisher's website. These are more current and accurate.
When submitting, check the publisher's website. These are more current and accurate.2.Ignore list of agents in the back of popular writing magazines.
Ignore list of agents in the back of popular writing magazines.3.Be careful what advice you take. Phil feels he listened to those he shouldn’t have.
Be careful what advice you take. Phil feels he listened to those he shouldn’t have.Terence Faherty: DEADSTICK (1991), a St. Martin's Press hardcover
The Edgar-nominated debut of the series finds Owen
Keane, ex-seminarian, working as a researcher for a
New York law firm. His routine existence is interrupted
by a strange assignment: compile all available infor-
mation on a forty-year-old plane crash that claimed
the lives of a playboy and his fiancee. The request is
made by the playboy's brother, a reclusive millionaire.
Keane soon learns that the crash was once rumored to
be murder and that his client was the chief suspect.
Stranger still, Keane realizes that no one wants him to
finish his report, not the millionaire's employees, not Keane's own firm, not even Keane's girlfriend, who hopes he'll swear off metaphysical mysteries forever.
Measured by the number of titles produced per year, St. Martin’s is the largest publisher of mysteries. Terry is a winner of two Shamus Awards, nominee for a third; two-time Edgar Award nominee, nominee for the Dilys Award, winner of a Macavity Award, and nominee for a Derringer Award.
Six more novels in the Owen Keane Series were published by St. Martin’s, plus a short story collection, CONFESSIONS OF OWEN KEANE, published by Crippen & Landru.
Terence started his writing career by publishing short stories. He had an agent who read Dead Stick but declined to represent Terry. However, he did recommend St. Martin’s Press which lead to publication.
Terry got an agent with his third book.
Terry's advice:
1.Writer workshops – even though these can be painful. You get the feedback needed to improve.
Writer workshops – even though these can be painful. You get the feedback needed to improve.2.When attending a workshop have a manuscript that is ready. Not a first draft – but a polished manuscript.
When attending a workshop have a manuscript that is ready. Not a first draft – but a polished manuscript.Michael Koryta: TONIGHT I SAID GOODBYE (2004), a St. Martin's Press hardcover that won the Private Eye Writers of America best first PI novel contest
When investigator Wayne Weston is found dead of an
apparent suicide in his home in an upscale Cleveland suburb,
his wife and five-year-old daughter missing, Lincoln Perry
and his partner Joe Pritchard are hired by Weston's father
to bring some resolution to the high-profile case. The
investigators quickly discover there is much more to the
situation than has been described in the prevalent media
reports: rumors of gambling debts and extortion, a
millionaire real estate tycoon, and a group of Russians
with ties to organized crime who don't appreciate being
investigated.
Michael’s third novel is A WELCOME GRAVE which will be released on June 26, 2007. The Mystery Company will be hosting a launch-day event for the release.
His first book was allowed to die. The reason for the death was it wasn’t ready for publication. Michael’s first published work was sold while he was in college. As he was working on his writing, he did some networking, first for input on his writing but this also lead to a referral for his agent. His book was picked up for publication at the same time it was a finalist for the Private Eye Writers of America PI novel contest. It won, and this helped with the promotional budget.
Michael’s advice:
1.Networking is critical.
Networking is critical. 2.Put ego on the shelf.
Put ego on the shelf.3.Continue to learn more about the craft by going to additional workshops.
Continue to learn more about the craft by going to additional workshops.Brenda Stewart: POWER IN THE BLOOD (2005), a Sterling House trade paperback (a smaller independent press based in Pennsylvania)
When curious children discover a human skull in a sinkhole,
forensic sculptor Lettie Sue Wolfe begins a quest that will
lead her into the gravest danger. After reconstructing the
face of the deceased, she is shocked to find the face of
her childhood friend’s sister, who disappeared thirty years
earlier. Lettie decides to investigate and uncovers some
unsavory secrets about local residents. Things go from
bad to worse when Lettie hires a private investigator,
and soon both are wondering if they too will end up in a
sinkhole. For those who love forensic mysteries, Power in
the Blood is a riveting whodunit with a supernatural twist.
Brenda, with one of her sisters, formed a critique group which she found helpful in improving her writing. Her first book was a finalist in the Malice Murder Contest. She feels that it was a first draft instead of a polished manuscript--something she voiced strongly as one of the errors she made on her road to publication. Another caution she had was that her personal life was in turmoil when she signed the contract. Brenda also hired an independent editor to help with the manuscript.
Brenda’s advice:
1.Only send your best work.
Only send your best work.2.Keep writing, if you don’t you won’t improve.
Keep writing, if you don’t you won’t improve.As each speaker took their turn, they voiced agreement with the previous speaker. Some of the authors had agents some did not. The consensus was:
1.Learn the business part of writing.
Learn the business part of writing.2.Learn the craft of writing – only presenting your best work.
Learn the craft of writing – only presenting your best work.3.Join writing groups – get involved with a critique or writing group.
Join writing groups – get involved with a critique or writing group.4.Go prepared to workshops/clinics – keep networking.
Go prepared to workshops/clinics – keep networking.5.KEEP WRITING – don’t get discouraged.
KEEP WRITING – don’t get discouraged.And lastly, if you don't have an agent, you should, at the very least, have an attorney check over your contract before signing. Preferably an attorney who deals with publishing, but at least one who is familiar with contracts.
Meeting Wrap-up:
The meeting ended with Jim encouraging those in attendance to consider becoming members of Sister in Crime. He announced that, on April 14th at 1:00 p.m., Zev Buffman, among America’s most distinguished theatrical producers, will talk about writing mysteries for stage and will speak about his International Mystery Writers Festival during Indy's MWA meeting. Jim has information for a Road Trip to the Festival. He reminded us that Bouchercon 2009 will be held in Indianapolis, and volunteers will be needed for the events success. He also mentioned membership to the Mystery Company newsletter was available to all. The meeting ended with questions from the audience and book signings.
Notes from National:
May 4-6: sinc celebration at Malice Domestic, Arlington VA
September 29, 2007: Closing celebration (Death by Chocolate) at Bouchercon, Anchorage, Alaska
Fall 2007: Release of SinC presidents anthology edited by Sara Paretsky
Directions to the new MYSTERY COMPANY:
It's easy to get to the new Mystery Company from the old location. Leave the old parking lot and turn right, heading north on S. Rangeline Road. Pass beneath a steel Arts & Design District arch that spans the road. Almost immediately, make a left onto 3rd Street SW. Third Street SW dead ends at the Monon Trail. Make a right onto 2nd Avenue SW. Go a half block. The new store is on the right. Additional parking is across the street.
Mapquest Map
The Mystery Company phone # 317-705-9711
| ||||
