writingthroughhardtimes · to reserve your spot, send a check to: sisters in crime, p.o. box...

By Elizabeth LyonsWhat can writers expect in these uncertain

times?Where should we put our energies? Theeconomic downturn is affecting us all. Yet, be-cause publishersmust publish to stay in business,

they must acquirebooks. The new titlesfor 2009 were pur-chased in ’07 and ’08and will hit theshelves throughoutthe year, but to stay inbusiness, they mustacquire books for2010 andbeyond.The crystal ball is

cloudy. Publishers have always gambled on futureprofits.What books will the public buy 12 to 24months down the road? The industry’s trackrecord for accurate predictions has been less thanstellar.When I beganmywriting career in 1980, Iheard a conference speech by JohnBaker, the edi-tor in chief of Publishers Weekly. He offered thisstatistic: 75 percent of all advances are neverearned back. Twenty years later, I sat next to awhite-haired gentleman in a poolside loungechair at yet another conference. John Baker, noweditorial director. I asked him about this statistic;he confirmed that it is still accurate. This wouldbe a dismal and unacceptable record for any otherbusiness. However, in theAlice in Wonderlandworld of publishing, profitable books, includingmega-sellers, underwrite the losing 75 percent.Statistics never tell the whole story, however.Publishers are also banking on newwriters devel-oping a name, not only earning back their ad-vances but increasing sales with each subsequentbook.I polled six agents, askingwhat theywere expe-

riencing at this time in their critical interfacewith publishing. I guaranteed anonymity to gaincandid responses. Four of the agents work in ornear New York, and two agents have offices inCalifornia. Five out of the six have three decadesof experience in publishing—as agents and/or asformer in-house editors.While their answers differed on some

specifics, they agreed across the board that ad-vances are far lower now, for both nonfiction andfiction. Regarding nonfiction, two reported that

sales were slightly down but not drastically so;four indicated theywere very down.Prescriptive nonfiction, which includes practi-

cal self-help as well as inspirational self-help, andinformation-based nonfiction have always beenthe bread and butter of agencies and publishers.A “good, solid platformmay not be enough,” saidone agent (“platform”meaning developed waysof selling your book). Established authors have afar better chance of making sales than new au-thors trying to break in, they all reported. Thecaveat is that if you are unpublished and have aterrific idea and slant and a convincing presenta-tion about how you can sell a zillion copies ofyour book, the agents definitely want you toquery them. In a way, both agents and publishersare looking harder than ever for the great idea.For representation and sale, memoirs have al-

ways had to show outstanding writing. Now au-thors must convince agents and editors of theirplatform, a developed promotional plan with na-tional outreach. One agent described a quirkymemoir that a year or two ago would havebrought a possible auction and a quarter-milliondollar advance; now, if sold, will likely bring a$25,000 advance— even though the author willstar in a TV series that will debut in fall. In otherwords, the author (not previously published) hasa guaranteed huge platform, and yet publishersare hesitant to buy.We are a nonfiction culture where about 85

percent of all published titles are nonfiction. Yet,by numbers of books sold, fiction wins. In gener-al, the agents reported that genre, i.e., category,fiction like mysteries or romances, is selling asusual. Yet, they agreed that it’s tough to sell liter-ary novels. In fact, one author, a colleague ofmine with two acclaimed literary novels to hercredit, was advised by her agent to hold her fin-ished third novel until better times. I did not askany of the agents specifically about mainstreamfiction, the type of writing that straddles genreand literary. Because mainstream sells by authorrecognition or a specific title, my guess is that ac-quisitions by not-yet-published authors arepresently few. One hopeful category is youngadult fiction, possibly given a boost by bestsellerssuch as theTwilight andHarry Potter series be-fore it.One agent toldme that she recently decid-ed to represent young adult novels.

The public is simply buying fewer books.Bookstore sales are down by 20 percent ormore;many stores are hanging by a thread. Even Bor-ders is reportedly in serious financial straits, andevenAmazonhas taken a hit.So what should you do during these hard

times? If you are published already, or if you getan offer, don’t worry about less pay for shorterworks or a lower advance for a book. The point isto stay in the game.An advance ismerely borrow-ingmoney against future sales— and you knowhow we’re not supposed to be borrowing any-more! And remember the first law of writing :Don’t quit your day job!For not-yet-published orminimally published

writers, you can and should continue writing, re-vising, polishing, andmarketing; yes, evenmar-keting. Sales skills are different thanwriting skills.And another rule of writing is apt: If you don’tmarket, youwon’t sell.From where I sit, seize on this time to build

your “stockpile” of works; write more, not less.Take time to revise, with care and artistry, reallylearning what polishing a work means. Marketyour articles, nonfiction books, poetry, short sto-ries, and novels; developing yourmarketing skillsand a thick skin — and perhaps scoring a fewsales.Writing for publication is an entrepreneurial

venture. Entrepreneurs succeed because they re-main on their toes — flexible, creative, takingrisks, and not by being afraid of failure or badnews.What else can you do to keep your writingskills active if themarketplace isn’t ready for yourpreferred writing? Believe it or not, writing ofany kind cross-pollinates every other kind ofwriting.And you can still earnmoney.To enhance skills and artistry in nonfiction

and fiction, write resumes, business materials ormanuals, how-to or information pieces. I’ve al-ways thought that writing family histories, com-pany histories, and ghostwriting autobiographieswas a solid— and growing—market. Go to re-tirement communities; advertise in Senior-Boomer News. Some churches, associations, orother institutions may want to hire someone towrite their histories for their members. Gigs likethis exist everywhere.

Writing Through Hard TimesVolume XXII • Number 2 June 2009

InSinCInSinCThe Sisters in Crime Newsletter

(Continued on page 7)

WritingThroughHardTimes ...........1

President’sMessage ............................3

SinC IntoGreatWriting....................3

Breakfast at Bouchercon.............……..3

DonaldMaass at SinCWorkshop ......4

TheTruthAboutPsychopaths............4

Q&AwithMary-Ann

Tirone Smith.................................5

CharlaineHarris..........................…..6

Interviewwith anAgent ....................7

LawandFiction ................................8

ChapterNews ....................................8

SinCat SIBA................................…..9

SinCat SouthernFestival of Books ..…9

Chapter Spotlight ..............................9

Conferences......................................10

ReviewMonitoringProject ..............11

TheDocket ......................................12

InMemoriam...............................…12

ShouldYouReinvent

YourCareer? .........................……13

MaliceDomestic ........................……14

Deadlines ........................................16

Send columns, articles, ideas and praise via e-mail.Please send mailing address, phone number,

and e-mail with submissions. If you have an ideafor a story, please query the editor:

Bonnie J.Cardone805/938-1156E-mail: [email protected]

The next Sisters in Crime Newsletter will beout in September. The deadline for all submis-sions is July 20.Members’ publications since the last edition of

the newsletter will be listed in TheDocket. Pleaseinclude publication dates when submitting.Docketmaterial will be due July 15 and should besent to:

PatriciaGulley1743N. JantzenAvnuePortland,OR97217-7849E-mail:[email protected]

Other honors, awards and events of great “pithandmoment” should be written up as short, sepa-rate notices. These can be as short as a paragraph.No publicity/promotion of individual members,please.We particularly welcome reprints from SinC

chapter newsletters.

Promotional materials available to SinCmembers—Have your bookmarks or postcards designed in color orblack andwhite. SinC’s publicitymailing list of 5,000 bookstores, libraries, reviewers, etc. is available via direct ad-dressing through RowanMountain, Inc., P.O. Box 10111, Blacksburg, VA 24062-0111. For more information,writeGavinFaulkner. E-mail: [email protected]:www.rowanmountain.com.Phone 540/449-6178.

Visit Sisters in Crime online at:www.sistersincrime.org

JUSTTHEFACTS •• InSinC Newsletter is the official publication of Sisters in Crime International and is published four times a year. ••Dues and other Sisters in Crime correspondence(membership, orders for booklets, changes of address, etc.) may be sent to M. Beth Wasson, SinC Executive Secretary, P.O. Box 442124, Lawrence, KS 66044-8933; Phone: 785/842-1325;Fax: 785/856-6314; E-mail: [email protected]. •• Information in the Newsletter is submitted and reprinted from sources listed in each article. Where required, permission to reprinthas been granted and noted. SinC does not investigate each submission independently and articles in no way constitute an endorsement of products or services offered. •• Other informationon Sisters in Crime is available from the President, who is the only person who may speak for the organization officially. Send queries and requests to: Judy Clemens, 5859 Road L, Ottawa,OH 45875; E-mail: [email protected]. ••No material may be reprinted without written permission from Sisters in Crime. Sisters in Crime©2009

Moving?Change of address notifications

should be sent to both Beth Wasson,SinC executive secretary, P.O. Box442124, Lawrence, KS 66044-8933and to Rowan Mountain, Inc., P.O. Box10111, Blacksburg, VA 24062-0111.

June 2009 - 2

Get a Clue Sisters in Crime NewsletterThe mission of Sisters in Crime is to promote the pro-

fessional development and advancement of womencrime writers to achieve equality in the industry.

Judy Clemens, PresidentMarcia Talley,, Vice President/President ElectMary Saums, SecretaryKathryn Wall,Treasurer/Authors Coalition LiaisonRobin Burcell,,Chapter LiaisonCathy Pickens, Publicity

Bonnie J. Cardone, InSinC Editor/Graphic Designer

Jim Huang, Bookstore LiaisonMary Boone, Library LiaisonCharlaine Harris,At LargeNancy Martin, At LargeJulianne Balmain, Monitoring ProjectRoberta Isleib, Past President

Peggy Moody, Web Maven

Beth Wasson, Executive Secretary, P.O. Box 442124, Lawrence, KS 66044-8933;Phone: 785/842-1325; Fax 785/856-6314; e-mail: [email protected]

Presidents of Sisters in Crime1987-88 Sara Paretsky; 1988-89 Nancy Pickard; 1989-90 Margaret Maron; 1990-91 Susan Dunlap; 1991-92 Carolyn G. Hart; 1992-93 P.M. Carlson; 1993-94 Linda Grant; 1994-95 Barbara D’Amato; 1995-96Elaine Raco Chase; 1996-97 Annette Meyers; 1997-98 Sue Henry; 1998-99 Medora Sale; 1999-00 Bar-bara Burnett Smith; 2000-01 Claire Carmichael McNab; 2001-02 Eve K. Sandstrom; 2002-03 Kate Flora;2003-04 Kate Grilley; 2004-05 Patricia Sprinkle; 2005-06 Libby Hellmann; 2006-07 Rochelle Krich;2007-08 Roberta Isleib; 2008-09 Judy Clemens

DEADLINES AND SUBMISSION GUIDELINES

June 2009 - 3

By Judy Clemens, SinC President

SinC Vision Statement: “Raising professionalism and achieving equity among crime writers."

To use a well-worn cliché, times are tough. In our cover story Elizabeth Lyons spells outmany things we can do to become better writers during this economic crisis, even if thatmeans simply being patient, and knowing that better-selling times will come.

Another thing SinC encourages to help our cause is the wholeidea of professionalism. Sure, many of our lives are filled withrejection, smaller than desirable paychecks, or a sense that ourbooks will never be read by the world or promoted enough bypublishers. These are all compounded by the fact that the mysterygenre as a whole is downsizing. It’s frustrating. It’s demoralizing.It’s almost enough to send you into another career path, whereyour hopes and dreams aren’t dashed against the rocks of the bigmachine. But through it all, as during all hard times, it’s important— no, necessary — to have other people as a support, and to doour part to support others.

During last year’s Publishers’ Summit our team learned many things, but one thing that washammered home to us was the perception of Sisters in Crime as outdated, irrelevant, and, in alot of cases, unprofessional. Talk about a kick in the pants.To counteract and change this view of our valuable organization, the board has been taking

steps toward raising our image professionally. Some of these are practical — we designed ournew strategic plan; we are working hard on a new website, which should soon be up andrunning; and we are creating a new PR list, with which we can reach more people in the indus-try. Some of our actions have been controversial, such as the professional guidelines for theprinted SinC on the Shelf. As an organization we are working to show the industry that we areserious about women being able to make a living through their writing.As individual writers, professionalism couldn’t be more important. Whether it be research-

ing agents and publishers thoroughly, writing a strong query letter, studying the work of otherauthors, or networking through conferences and organizations, there are numerous ways toshow that we are determined to be the best writers we can be, and that our craft is more than“women writing little books.” We are strong women. We are professional. And we want toencourage all of our members to show the world that side of their work. We are always looking for ways to help SinC “promote the professional development and

advancement of women crime writers,” and if you see ways we can do this, the board is alwaysready to hear ideas and suggestions. Please contact us at [email protected].

Judy Clemens may be reached at [email protected].

Raising Professionalism andAchieving Equity

Bouchercon Writing Workshop: SinC Into Great Writing!Sisters in Crime will be sponsoring a writing

workshop on October 14, 2009, at the HyattRegency in Indianapolis, IN, the day before theBouchercon World Mystery Convention be-gins. The SinC into Great Writing! programfeatures seminars by Donald Maass, HallieEphron and Chris Roerden, along with dinnerwith keynote speaker Nancy Pickard. The pro-gram will run from 1:30 to 9:00 pm.

The Program1:30 to 5:30 pm: Writing the Breakout

Novel with New York literary agent Donald

awards, Nancy is the author of 17 novels anddozens of short stories as well as a foundingmember and former president of SinC(www.NancyPickardmysteries.com).

7:15 to 9:00 pm (choose one workshop) Hallie Ephron: Twisting a Mystery Plot:

The Secret's in the Secrets.Plot is probably “the” critical element in a

mystery novel. It has to be surprising, believableand compelling. In this workshop we will talkabout how to shape your novel so it delivers —grabbing the reader at the start and ending withsatisfying wallop as puzzle pieces fall into place,revealing secrets along the way to keep the read-er turning those pages.

Chris Roerden: Don’t Sabotage Your Sub-missionFind out how manuscripts are really evaluat-

ed, why 95 percent are rejected almost immedi-ately, and ways you can beat the odds and makeit through the approval process toward becom-ing published. The cost of the workshop is $50 for SinC

members, $150 for nonmembers, dinner andcoffee break included. The deadline for regis-tration at: www.sistersincrime.org is September22, 2009. NO REFUNDS. Registration will becapped at 200. For questions contact Beth Was-son at: [email protected]. Discounted conference hotel rates are of-

fered through the Bouchercon website at: www.sistersincrime.org.

This workshop supports SinC’s ProfessionalEducation and Career Development goal.

Maass (www.maassagency.com). (Note: See theinterview of Donald Maass on page 4 in this is-sue.)This intensive, hands-on writing workshop

introduces powerful techniques for taking yourfiction to the next level. (For advanced fictionwriters.) Participants must bring themanuscript of a completed novel or novel-in-progress.

5:45 to 7:00 pm: Dinner with NancyPickardFour-time Edgar nominee and winner of

Agatha , Anthony, Shamus and Macavity

Breakfast atBouchercon

Sisters in Crime will hold itsannual breakfast at Boucherconon Friday, October 16, 2009, atthe Hyatt Regency. It will startat 7:30.

The cost for members is $20,nonmembers pay $30.

To reserve your spot, send acheck to: Sisters in Crime, P.O.Box 442124, Lawrence,KS66044. It must arrive on or be-fore October 5, 2009.

Tickets will not be issued, yourname will be on the reservationlist at the door. Please includeyour e-mail address if you wish-to receive confirmation that yourcheck has arrived.

This project supports SinC’s Member-ship Growth, Networking, and Forumsfor Members goal.

June 2009 - 4

Donald Maass is the FeaturedSpeaker at SinC Workshop

ley. To distinguish true psychopaths, he listed acollection of 16 traits, such as manipulative, irre-sponsible, self-centered, shallow, deceptive anduncaring. While on the surface, psychopathsseemed ordinary, Cleckley demonstrated that inthe right context with the right victim, they couldbe quite dangerous.In psychiatric nomenclatures during the 1950s,

“sociopath” replaced “psychopath” and the termswere often used interchangeably. Then, “socio-pathic personality” yielded to antisocial personali-ty disorder (APD). That’s how most Americanmental health experts today label a psychopath.But the terms (and offenders) are not entirelyequivalent. A diagnosis of APD includes peoplewho would not qualify on the PCL-R as psy-chopaths. It’s like losing a pear’s distinct taste bytossing it into a fruit salad.Canadian researcher Robert Hare dismissed

the American approach and used Cleckley’s list todevise a standardized diagnostic instrument —The Psychopathy Checklist (later revised as thePCL-R), with 20 distinct items against which tocompare a suspected psychopath’s traits or behav-iors. Researchers who use the PCL-R view psy-chopathy as a disorder characterized by suchthings as shallow emotions, manipulativeness, ly-ing, egocentricity, glibness, sensation-seeking,episodic relationships, parasitic lifestyle and thepersistent violation of social norms. The hallmarktrait is a complete lack of guilt or remorse. They’renot all killers, or even criminals. Many are CEOs,

By Roberta IsleibSinC Past President

Roberta Isleib: Sisters in Crime is very excitedto have landed Donald Maass as our featuredspeaker at SinC into Great Writing! on October14, 2009, at the Indianapolis Hilton. Don is thepresident of the Donald Maass Literary Agency inNew York City (www.maassagency.com) and theauthor of 14 novelsalong with The CareerNovelist , Writing theBreakout Novel, Writ-ing the Breakout NovelWorkbook, and just re-leased in May, The Firein Fiction. He also trav-els the country offeringseminars on the breakout novel and increasingsuspense. Welcome Don! Would you begin by giving our

readers a short summary of what to expect whenthey attend your class?

Donald Maass: We’ll do character and storydevelopment work designed to lift your currentnovel to breakout level. Bring the manuscript ofyour novel-in-progress. This is a hands-on work-shop. Be prepared for an intense experience. Even

a short version of this workshop can producedozens of ways to heighten your story.

RI:You've also published a number of novels.Did the idea of the breakout novel come fromyour own experience writing? Did you manage towrite one yourself ?

DM: I wrote short genre fiction in the 1980s tosupport myself, everything from romance to YA.

That was not breakoutfiction. The techniquesof breakout writing aresomething I studiedthroughout the 1990s.My book, Writing theBreakout Novel , waspublished in 2001. I’vereceived many testimo-

nials from published authors whose writing, andsales, have taken leaps after applying its lessons.

RI: "Donning" your agent hat for a moment, doyou take on books that don't appear to have break-out or blockbuster potential? If so, what goes intoyour selection process? I suppose I'm also askinghow good you are at predicting future success.

DM: I think we’re pretty good at finding careernovelists. We do take on writers of genre fiction,such as fantasy and mysteries. What we look for

The Truth About PsychopathsBy Katherine Ramsland“He’s a psycho!” This word has become a facile

part of our vocabulary, describing anyone from alunatic to a quirky kook to a psychopath. An un-

fortunate result forwriters is that thenotion of a psy-chopath has becomeboth confused anddiluted. In fact, “psy-chopathy” is a seri-ous character disor-der, diagnosedthrough a detailedexamination by aclinical expert. It’snot about being psy-

chotic or eccentric. To use the character constructwell in fiction requires a grasp of its actual parame-ters.Just a little history, because over the years the

definition has evolved. While psychopathy wasthe first recognized personality disorder in thebudding field of psychiatry, it wasn't initially a pre-cise concept. First used in Germany in the late19th century, “psychopath” might refer to any-thing from a mood disorder to a misanthrope, soby the early 20th century, “constitutional psycho-pathic inferiority” had become a vacuous catch-allterm. Our current concept derives from a 1941 publi-

cation, The Mask of Sanity, by Dr. Hervey Cleck-

politicians, bankers and even housewives. RobertHare suggests that one out of every 100 people is apsychopath.Restoring psychopaths as a distinct category

helps us to sharpen the notion of a “sociopath” anddistinguish it from “psychopath.” Within a cer-tain context, sociopaths are capable of feelingsthat psychopaths either lack or experience only su-perficially — guilt, concern, bonding. That is, so-ciopaths can have loyalties to a specific group —family, ethnicity, gang — while ignoring broadersocial norms. So, on the surface, they resemblepsychopaths in that they might freely lie, con andkill if it suits their purpose. But because they ob-serve a moral code that matters to them, they canfeel genuine remorse over harming someone with-in their group.Does all this really matter? In a practical sense,

yes. For risk assessment, the PCL-R is our best pre-dictor of future criminal diversity, brutality andrecidivism. But there’s a value for writers as well.An accurate motivational structure can make psy-chopathic characters both believable and internal-ly consistent. Psychopaths are not “psychos” whoexperience a disconnect with reality or fail tograsp the nature of their actions; they are in factquite clear-headed about their choices and actions— and they just don’t care. Missing in psy-chopaths are the qualities on which we depend forliving in social harmony. Diluting or confusing theconcept allows these predators to move more easi-ly among us, and it blunts the impact of fictionthat aims to be gritty.

are those who have something special and original.Building bigger stories is something you can workon, but an original story sense usually shows rightaway. Plus, those who are doing something origi-nal tend to prosper. Those following trends mayget contracts but rarely grow.

RI:As you can imagine, our published writersand aspiring writers are anxious about the changesin the publishing industry and the uncertainty ofwhat lies ahead. Where do you see our businessheaded? Any advice or encouragement for authorsalready in the pipeline and those just beginning?

DM: It’s been a wrenching couple of months,hasn’t it? Still, long term I am optimistic. Midlistfiction will continue to get squeezed, but power-ful stories will always sell — and probably sell big-ger than ever.

RI: Before you go, please tell us somethingabout your new book, The Fire in Fiction.

DM: The Fire in Fiction explains the tech-niques of mastery. You know how some novelistsalways write a great novel, while others let youdown? What are those master novelists doing onthe page that others are not? Well, many things.Those things are what The Fire in Fiction is about.In November I’ll be offering a new workshop thatteaches those techniques.

RI:Thanks for stopping in and we look for-ward to meeting you in October!

This article supports SinC’s Professional Educa-tion and Career Development goal.

SSiinnCC IInnttoo GGrreeaatt WWrriittiinngg!!

PPrreevviieeww


June 2009 - 5

terest in a plot where the villain kills because he’sborn evil, or a scenario where the victim is in thewrong place at the right time. Unfortunately, mys-teries revolving around the determination of mo-tivation and careful investigation have beenlumped together via the god-awful moniker“cosy” (British spelling for obvious reasons).There’s nothing cozy about a dozen people liningup in a train to have a turn at plunging a knife intotheir crime victim. Where the “cosy” comes in isthat the setting is cozy. Murder on the Orient Ex-press is revoltingly entertaining, and the authorcomes up with magnificent motivations for eachof the participants in the killing. Quel achieve-ment!Corrigan says that sober mysteries are taken

more seriously than light-hearted ones, and sincewomen supposedly tend to write the latter group(don’t tell Joe E. Hill), nominations tend to go tomen. Personal note: When people at a dinner par-ty learn I’m a writer (always a conversation-stop-per) I’ll often get the question, “Oh. What age do

you gear your booksto?” The first time Iheard that, I was to-tally nonplussed un-til I realized that thequestioner assumedthat since I was awoman I must writechildren’s books. An-other personal note:The Hartford Li-brary system choseThe Maltese Falconfor a communityread last year. I amnot a fan as I can’t

give a book’s era an excuse for being anti-women,anti-Semitic, homophobic and frankly, boring.Dashiel Hammet knew the series was bad schlockso he quit after a handful of them. So I’m on thepanel, and the one fellow among us is raving aboutthe book, saying things like, “Hammet set the barwith such elements as the creation of the femmefatale.” Excuse me, but Salomé was the first femmefatale. Lady Macbeth was second. But never mind.Later, I asked the librarian why they chose TheMaltese Falcon. “To entice more men to take part.”Good Christ! (It’s still a man’s world and I’m get-ting really, really sick of enabling them.)

NM:After interviewing Maureen Corrigan,I’m still looking for someone to define the differ-ence between a literary mystery and a genre mys-tery novel. Can you do it?

MS:There are novels that are literary and thereare novels that are schlock. There are mysteriesthat are literary and there are mysteries that areschlock. Schlock, to me, means brain candy. Read-ers of brain candy are not interested in ideas; inlearning how people tick; in getting a peek intothe complications of human nature. Fine. Gorgeaway. But when we think of brain candy, we thinkof the term “page-turner.” Unfortunately and con-

By Nancy MartinThis new series is intended to kickstart discussion

about our genre. We encourage members to pick upthe discussion on our Listserv, [email protected] Tirone Smith has published nine

books, including a true crime memoir, Girls ofTender Age; a thriller, An American Killing; threePoppy Rice mysteries; and most recently, a collab-oration with her son Jere Smith, Dirty Water: ARed Sox Mystery. She is presently at work on a Civ-il War novel, a fourth Poppy Rice, and a secondcollaboration with Jere. Several of her books havebeen included in the yearly New York TimesNo-table Books list, and her memoir is under optionfor a film. She has lived all her life in Connecticutexcept for the two years she served as a PeaceCorps volunteer in Buea, a town 5,000 feet up theside of the stunning Mt. Cameroon.

NM:Mary-Ann, you wrote a letter to the NewYork Times Book Review protesting the pitifulnumber of women Edgar nominees. Some in ourindustry would hail this move as a brave act, but Ibet you've heard criticism, too. If you had it to doagain, would you?

MS: I’d like to set the record straight. I protest-ed something specific: the near-absence of womennominated in the three most prestigious Edgarcategories last year. I wrote the letter because Iconsider my SinC membership to be more than anopportunity to promote my work and make newfriends though I gratefully make use of that op-portunity. Our organization’s mission statementat the time was one of activism. So here is the let-ter: NYTBR, 2/24/08, “Criminal Neglect” (theirtitle).“As a member of Sisters in Crime, whose mis-

sion statement includes the words ‘to educate thegeneral public as to the inequities in the treatmentof female authors’ I am compelled to respond tothe list of Edgar Award nominees mentioned in‘Inside the List’ (Feb. 3). All five nominees for bestnovel are men; all five nominees for best fact crime(true crime) are men; and of the five nominees forbest first novel, four are men. Inequitable treat-ment. Egregious, too.”Edited out was my praise of the nominees’

work.I wrote an earlier letter of protest to the presi-

dent of MWA informing him of my resignation,hoping for a dialogue. The response I received re-flected the strong possibility that he never saw theletter; someone else who is not a writer respondedto me, and in such a way that I would have to char-acterize as "Go f*** yourself." Considering the gen-der stats on this year’s nominees, I believe my let-ter may have been influential.You (Nancy) interviewed Maureen Corrigan,

who I will be grateful to forever for her generouson-air review of my true crime memoir. In reason-ing with you as to why she preferred mysterieswritten by men, at least in terms of the creation ofher best-of-the-year list, she stressed her interest inevil and random violence. Personally, I have no in-

sequently, page-turning ferment in a literary novelis open to suspicion. The implication is that themystery genre (page-turner implied) is inferior.Hogwash.Note: Loading a book with researched facts

does not make schlock literary. Writers need totrust themselves to make stuff up. The facts of agood story must be believable, not realistic, andwith that, the reader will follow you anywhere.However, in these days of reality shows, peoplehave this need to know that everything is real. Sowhen you’re on a panel and a member of the audi-ence asks (though it’s not a question), “You musthave done sooooo much research!” just say,“Yeah,” instead of, “Nah, I made it all up.” ( JohnUpdike: “Elementary author ethics dictate thatyou at least attempt to imagine technical details aswell as you imagine emotions and dialogue.”)

NM: You're one of the few mystery writers towrite a memoir with a personal brush with crimeat its core. (Girls of Tender Age, now in paper-back .) The book is absorbing , layered andthought provoking. (My own book club talkedabout it for months.) Can you describe your expe-rience writing this book? And do you see otherwriters stretching the boundaries of the crimenovel?

MS:When I wrote the Poppy Rice mysteries, Ideliberately experimented. In the first, Love HerMadly, my killer’s motivation for violence was herbelief that she had the right to snuff out anyonewho pissed her off. In the second, She’s Not There,the killer was a psychopath traumatized in child-hood, who came to kill when an event triggeredmemory of that trauma. In the third, She SmiledSweetly, the killer’s sense of order is threatened andfeels that God and society bestowed on her thetask of protecting that order. Killing became theright and moral thing to do.About the memoir: I found myself thinking of

writing memoir because recovered memories of achildhood friend’s murder kept popping into mybrain. As the memories continued to emerge, Itold myself, “This’ll make a helluva mystery.” Butin the end, converting the tragedy of this child’sdeath into fiction felt immoral. Memoir would al-low me to find out what happened, who did it,and why he killed her. (When I mentioned I waswriting memoir to my agent, she said, “You’d bet-ter have a dysfunctional family.” Mine functionedbut we were definitely outré.)When I told my editor I was taking a break

from Poppy, and described the crime that wasnudging me toward memoir, she pointed out thatthe plot of She’s Not There hinged on children injeopardy and climaxed with Poppy saving a childjust before she’s about to die. The child was thesame age as my friend. “So maybe you’re trying tokeep the murder from happening through fic-tion.” Lucky me to have an editor and agent alwayswilling to try and make sense of what the hell it isI’m talking about.So finally, I would suggest to my sisters that

Letʼs Talk Mystery: Q & A with Mary-Ann Tirone Smith

Mary-Ann Tirone Smith


photo by Marion Ettlinger

June 2009 - 6

Hard Work and a Little Bit of Luck MeanMega-Success for Charlaine Harris

Dracula at an early age, and though it contains alot of inconsistencies, it’s the basic vampire tem-plate – the movies with Bela Lugosi added anoth-er layer of mythology to the tale. I think Ameri-cans, particularly, are interested in eternal life if it’sanchored in YOUTH. When you add greatstrength and seductive qualities to that, it’s a pow-erful thing.”Charlaine also saw the Southern Vampire series

as a way to reinvent her career and take it to a high-er level (for more on that see The InSinC Inquireron page 13).It worked — but not right away. It took her

agent two years to sell Dead Until Dark. It won anAnthony for Best Paperback Original and thebooks that followed have also been extraordinarilypopular. I asked Charlaine when she realized theyhad found a large audience. “I suspected they were doing well when Ace

wanted to sign me to another contract a month af-ter the first one came out,” she said.The work ethic responsible for Charlaine’s suc-

cess has continued. “I write every day,” she said. “Igo over to my office around 8:00 am, check e-mailand my website. Then I work until 11:30 or so. Af-ter lunch, I either work more on the book or onsome other task, like editing short stories or writ-ing my piece for the Femmes Fatales newsletter.”Charlaine joined SinC about 20 years ago and

currently serves as a member at large on the boardof directors. She was also a board member from2001 to 2004.For relaxation she reads and watches her daugh-

ter play softball. “Right now,” she admits, “that’sabout all I have time for.”Charlaine’s advice to new writers? “Read a

LOT. Then sit down and write. The book willnever be written unless you put your rear in thechair and type ‘Page One, Chapter One.’ Thereare many ways to write a book; no way is right orwrong.”For more on Charlaine and a listing of her

books, see her website: www.charlaineharris.com/or www.femmesfatalesauthors.com/.

Bonnie J. Cardone is well known in the scubaworld, where she has worked as a magazine editorand freelance photojournalist. She hopes to become apublished mystery novelist sometime in this century.


(it has 1,670 students today) only 20 minutesnorth of Tunica in Memphis. She majored in En-glish and Communication Arts.Except for the years she took off to start a fami-

ly, Charlaine has been exceptionally productive,sometimes writing two or three books a year. Allof her books, including two standalones and 25books in four series, are in print. The series com-prise: Eight Aurora (Roe) Teagarden mysteries, pub-

lished from 1992 to 2003. Their protagonist is aformer librarian/amateur sleuth who inherited alot of money and lives in Lawrenceton, GA. Five Lily Bard mysteries, published between

1996 and 2001. Their protagonist is aweightlifter/karate expert who cleans houses for aliving and solves crimes while she works. Lily re-sides in Shakespeare, AR, and became a self-de-fense expert after being raped (something thatCharlaine also experienced) and stabbed.Nine Sookie Stackhouse/Southern Vampire

books, published from 2001 to 2009 (Charlaine isworking on thetenth). Their protag-onist is a telepathiccocktail waitress wholives in northernLouisiana and likesto hang out withvampires. The booksare available in 25languages. Three Harper

Connelly mysteries,published between2006 and 2009 (lookfor the fourth in

November). Their protagonist can find dead peo-ple and diagnose their cause of death. Harper’sspecial abilities are the result of being struck bylightning.You’ve probably noticed the series overlap.

Charlaine has worked on three at the same time.You’ve probably also noticed the protagonistshave unusual, unforgettable names. I asked Char-laine how she came up with them. She said:“A protagonist’s name is very important. I

might pick the names of other characters by flip-ping through the phone book, but not my protag-onists’ names. For Aurora, I wanted a silly namethat would be an insult to her; her life has nevermet her expectations. Lily, who is grim, practical,and strong, needed a tender name. Harper was thekind of gender-neutral name an upscale lawyerlike her mother would pick, and Sookie needed anold-fashioned name since she’s an old-fashionedgirl.”None of Charlaine’s heroines are the slightest

bit conventional — but a telepathic cocktail wait-ress with a fascination for the undead? I asked:“What sparked your interest in vampires?”“I’ve always been interested in vampires, or at

least as long as I can remember,” she said. “I read

By Bonnie J. CardoneInSinC EditorCharlaine Harris is a shining example of the

adage that if you work hard, success will come toyou. Mega-success has certainly come to her. Andshe did work hard to achieve it.But there was a little bit of luck involved, too.Charlaine’s career started auspiciously — she

sold the first book she wrote. It was published in1981, the year she turned 30. Twenty-six years and25 books later (not to mention a novella and nu-merous short stories), one of her four series wasoptioned by HBO. True Blood, based on theSookie Stackhouse/Southern Vampire series, pre-miered in September 2008. By November it had6.8 million viewers. In January 2009, Anna Paquinreceived a Golden Globe for her portrayal ofSookie. The success of True Blood fueled the sale of the

books it was based upon. The first Sookie Stack-house book, Dead Until Dark, was released in2001. Yet there it was, seven years later, on theNew York Times Bestseller list. It and other booksfrom the Southern Vampire series would spend 17weeks there. They also spent 19 weeks on Publish-ers Weekly’s Mass Market Paperback BestsellerList. According to Publishers Weekly, 502,456copies of Dead Until Darkwere sold in 2008.From Dead to Worse, the eighth book in the se-

ries, sold 145,000 copies in 2008. Twelve episodes of True Blood have aired and

the series has been renewed for 12 more, purport-edly to begin airing this month. The Stackhouse series had been around for a

while when Hollywood discovered them. I askedCharlaine how that happened. And this is wherethe little bit of luck comes in.“Alan Ball [producer of the award-winning

HBO series Six Feet Under and an AcademyAward winner for the script of American Beauty]was early for a dentist's appointment, so he wentinto a Barnes & Noble to pass the time. He pickedup Dead Until Dark because he thought it lookedinteresting, then stayed up all night reading it.Then he found out there were more books in theseries. He got his agent to call my agent,” Char-laine said.

How It All BeganCharlaine was born and grew up in Tunica, MS.

It didn’t have nine casinos then, it was an agricul-tural area. Her father was a farmer for many yearsbefore becoming a teacher and then a principal.Her mother was a librarian. Charlaine had onesibling, an older brother who died about 15 yearsago. As a child, Charlaine read a lot of Edgar Allen

Poe and wrote ghost stories. She says she also “readJane Eyre about 50 times, and a lot of other moodybooks. But I read Nancy Drew, too, and my firstpublished book [Sweet and Deadly] was a conven-tional mystery.”Charlaine graduated from tiny Rhodes College

Charlaine Harris

DDoonn’’tt mmiisssstthhee SSiinnCC bbrreeaakkffaasstt aatt BBoouucchheerrccoonnSSeeee ppaaggee 33 ffoorr ddeettaaiillss..

June 2009 - 7

Katherine Ramsland is a writer, professor offorensic psychology and former therapist. Among her34 books are True Stories of CSI, The CriminalMind and The Devil’s Dozen. She has also writtenmore than 900 articles, mostly about forensics orcriminal psychology.


Interview with an Agent: Rich HenshawBy S.W. Hubbard

Rich Henshaw’s agency — Richard HenshawGroup — represents commercial fiction and non-fiction with a specialty in crime fiction. His clients

include mystery au-thors Dana Stabe-now, James D. Doss,Margaret Coel, andLea Wait. For moreinformation visitwww.richh.addr.com.

SH: Publishersseem committed toan "all-blockbuster-all-the-time" philoso-phy. Is there any hope

for moderately successful books and the au-thors who write them?

RH:Although many major publishers nowexpect higher profit margins than they oncedid, the true culprit seems to me to be that salesare down across the board in the paperbackmarket, which is what often sustained midlistmystery publishing. Cozies, whodunits, P.I.and police procedural novels all seem to havebeen particularly hard hit. There are fewerbookstores and fewer distributors who stockfewer titles and they tend to favor the mostpopular titles, so fewer midlist books are get-ting out there. When a client’s sales went flat Iused to be worried about their future but I’vehad several editors tell me that flat paperbacksales are a positive thing in this market. There iscertainly hope for the “moderately successful”author, but what exactly constitutes moderatesuccess may be changing and it is gettingtougher to stay in that category. If you slip intothe marginal category, look out.

SH:How much time is it reasonable for anauthor to expect her agent will spend preparingand selling her manuscript? Is it worth it to youto pursue deals with low advances?

RH: It takes much more time than I thinkmost authors imagine to read, critique, pitchand compose pitch letters and process submis-sions. Time is money, but if I dwell too muchon the risk/reward ratio of a debut novel Iwould never take one on. I do not expect to seea reasonable return on my initial investment inplacing a mystery until the author has a fewbooks under his or her belt. If I fail to place abook with a major publisher then it may be thebest option to seek a smaller publisher, but ifyou take the long view, sometimes it is a betterstrategy to set the work aside with the hope thatyou will make a splash with your next. If yourgoal is not simply to see the book in print but tomake a career out of this, then pursuing a dealwith a small publisher can be limiting , or atworst, a dead end. On the other hand, if instead

you set the book aside and subsequently placeyour second effort with a major publisher andit succeeds commercially, then your career is ina better place and there may be renewed inter-est in that book on the shelf. Incidentally, many authors think that there is

a whole universe of small publishers out therefor their work. However, these publishers’ listsare small and they often target a very specificsub-genre.

SH:The publishing world is littered withauthors who got contracts to write one or twobooks, then can’t make another sale. What’syour advice to authors in this position?

RH: If a writer’s sales were dismal enoughthat their track record would likely cause fewerorders of a new book, then a name changemight be a good idea. On the other hand, if thebooks were critically acclaimed and the newone is different enough and the sales were okaybut not special, then sticking with your ownname might be okay. That decision does nothave to be made at the time of submission. Should you change agents if you find you are

in a slump? If you are taking your career in a dif-ferent direction and your agent has no under-standing of that market, or if your agent has lostconfidence in your work, then it is worth con-sidering. But if in spite of everyone’s best effortsthere are not any quantifiable results, then itmay seem that the only way to change course isto fire the agent. Writers can’t fire themselves,so if someone’s got to go there’s really only onechoice. But before considering that option,have a heart to heart talk with your agent.

SH:Can midlist authors reasonably expectto make a sale on a proposal, or do they need towrite the entire manuscript?

RH: If the author is not really doing some-thing different and they are hoping to changepublishers after a history of modest or declin-ing sales, it is tough. If they are one of those“moderately successful” writers and expecta-tions are in line with their sales history, then itis certainly a possibility. If they are writing a"breakout" book, then a really great proposalmight do the job, but it is usually a better ideato do the whole book on speculation since theagent ends up with a whole lot more leverage inthe deal when he/she has the completedmanuscript to show. Obviously how to proceeddepends somewhat upon a particular author'sfinancial needs as well as other considerations.

S.W. Hubbard has written a police proceduralseries and ghostwritten a thriller to be publishedthis year. Her short stories have appeared in Al-fred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine.

This article supports SinC’s Professional Edu-cation and Career Development goal.

Looking for an agent or help

with your manuscript?Check out the Guppies

www.sinc-guppies.org

Memoirists can build their portfolios, to proveand improve their professional writing, by submit-ting short personal essays to publications any-where. All writers who hope to sell a nonfictionbook can use these leaner times to learn how towrite proposals. From nonfiction writing you canlearn conciseness and “bling.”What about fiction? Now is the time to take

your polished short fiction (or to create excerptsthat stand alone from a novel) and enter everycontest in creation. Submit to e-zines. Accumu-late credits and when you return to querying foran agent and sale to a publisher, you’ll stand out asa professional writer ready to sell. Join organiza-tions and hone your networking skills. Build awebsite and develop internet savvy that will im-press publishers that your platform is so high andbroad that you can sell fiction, nonfiction, orIOUs for Countrywide toxic mortgages (okay, Icouldn’t resist). Enter NaNoWriMo, NationalNovel Writing Month, accepting the challenge be-tween yourself and yourself to write a novel in themonth of November. Follow Ray Bradbury’s ad-vice to write one short story a week for a year: toparaphrase him, he said, “Out of 52, they can’t allbe bad.” Be ready. Write so much that you wear out a

couple of keyboards. Be ready when the doors ofpublishing open wide again. Which they will.

Elizabeth Lyon has been an independent bookeditor since 1988. She is the author of six books onwriting and marketing novels and nonfiction books.Her most recent is Manuscript Makeover: RevisionTechniques No Fiction Writer Can Afford to Ig-nore.


Psychopaths(Continued from page 4)

Writing Through Hard Times(Continued from page 1)

June 2009 - 8

By Leslie BudewitzAs writers, we want to get the facts right – while telling a good story. This new column will help

Sisters in Crime members do both.What is voir dire?Said “vwahr deer” or “vwahr dyer,” the phrase means “to speak the truth.” I think of it as

show and tell. The first phase of jury selection, voir dire is the process of questioning potentialjurors. Lawyers meld the responses with other information andtheir own gut reactions to decide whether to challenge or accept apotential juror. Voir dire is also the jurors’ first glimpse of the facts of a case. The

judge (or lawyers) introduces the case with a brief summary. Thelawyers’ questions reveal some of the anticipated evidence and is-sues. A skillful lawyer selects the facts given to subtly influence thejury, using the doctrine of primacy — we tend to remember and be-lieve what we hear first. Voir dire has two core purposes:

• To root out prejudgment that prevents a juror from giving a case a fair hearing; and • To detect beliefs and perspectives that may affect how a juror views the evidence. Naturally, each side wants jurors likely to sympathize with their position and tailors ques-

tions accordingly. In a vehicular homicide case fueled by alcohol both the prosecutor and de-fense counsel will ask if potential jurors have been convicted of alcohol-related driving offens-es or have lost friends or relatives to drunk drivers — but phrase their questions differently.Prosecutors look for a sense of indignation and anger. Defense lawyers often remind jurors ofreasonable doubt and the presumption of innocence. Either side may engage jurors in a con-versation about beliefs and attitudes. Potential jurors may be sent questionnaires with their summons for jury duty, asking gener-

al information or questions customized for a specific case. This is more likely for complex orlengthy trials, such as the trial in the U.S. District Court for Montana of five former W.R.Grace executives charged with environmental crimes stemming from asbestos contaminationfrom a vermiculate mine in Libby, MT. Trial started in March and is expected to last threemonths. Other examples include a products liability suit, where questionnaires asked aboutpotential jurors’ experience with plumbing failures and insurance claims, and a class actionsuit involving an employee stock ownership plan for an aluminum plant, where jurors werequestioned in advance about their knowledge of the dispute.In recent years, some judges — especially federal judges — have taken more control of voir

dire. Judges often ask general questions themselves, leaving the lawyers to follow up on indi-vidual responses. The move is both an attempt to control the length of trial and to prevent in-vasive or wandering questions.In many cases, voir dire is complete the first morning of trial. In complex cases, jury selec-

tion takes longer. Pretrial publicity affects length — the more attention a case receives, themore jurors have to be called and the more closely they have to be questioned about theirknowledge of the case. The goal is not to find jurors who know nothing about the case, but tofind jurors who can keep an open mind until they’ve heard all the evidence and seen all thewitnesses. And if a trial is expected to be lengthy — as with the W.R. Grace case — alternatejurors must be chosen in addition to the regular jury panel. The term voir dire is also used to refer to a short Q&A conducted by the judge or counsel to

determine a witness’ competence to testify. For example, before a witness testifies about some-thing she saw, opposing counsel may be allowed to ask foundation questions about where thewitness was standing, the lighting and her sight. Before a young child testifies, the judge mayask questions to determine his ability to understand and tell the truth. Voir dire can be daunting to conduct, but fun to watch, and fascinating for a writer who

wants to get the details right.

Leslie Budewitz is a practicing lawyer and a fiction writer. For more columns and help on get-ting the law right in your stories, visit her website, www.LawandFiction.com.

This article supports SinC’s Professional Education and Career Development goal.

Tell us what you’ve been doing! Submit news ofyour chapter’s activities (300 dpi photos are wel-comed, too) to [email protected]. The dead-line for the next issue (September) is July 20.

Mavens of Mayhem (Upstate New York) Mavens of Mayhem is now meeting at the Or-

chard Tavern in Albany, NY. In addition to havinga private room, we get to feast on excellent pizzaand assorted yummies before our meetings. Andwe can easily feed our guest speakers! How’s thatfor convenience? Marie Corcoran (FayeRownell), Mavens’ PR chair and speakers’ bureaucoordinator, is lining up all sorts of appearancesfor us in the upcoming months. Mavens’ secretary,Julie Lomoe, posts our upcoming meetings onFacebook, which has increased our guest atten-dance. Brother in Crime and chapter president,Bob Knightly, is working on creating a Mavens’mentor program for local writers.

Northern CaliforniaTwenty-five SinC NorCal members turned out

for a "Poison" Tea at the Secret Garden Teahouse

in San Francisco on April 4, 2009, to hear memberTim Maleeny read his poison-filled short story"Death Do Us Part" and to discuss research onpoisons.

SinC NY/Tristate Area Last December, chapter member Kathy Ryan

put together a gift basket that was raffled off at theholiday party at Salmon River. In it was something

related to each sto-ry in the chapter’santhology, MurderNew York Style—for example, a to-do list from Cyn-thia Baxter's "PickUp Dry Cleaning ,Commit the Per-fect Murder ;"chocolate, almondsand a Starbucks cupfrom RandyKankel's "Name

Tagging ;" a shoebox and a black plastic garbagebag from "Death Will Clean Your Closet" by Eliz-abeth Zelvin; plaintain chips, chocolate cupcakesand a can of soda from R.M. Peluso's "La Bruya delBarrio;" pretzels from Terrie Farley Morgan's

Chapter NewsLaw and Fiction:Getting the Facts Right

June 2009 - 9

When founded?1988.How many members?We currently have

about 100 members. I believe we are the thirdlargest chapter.

What area does it cover?The State of Illi-nois. The majority of our active members livein the Chicago metro area, with several down-state and out of state members.

Website:www.sincchicago.comWhat's special about it?Margot Justes, presi-

dent: From my perspectiveas a mystery reader and writ-er we’re unique in that weoffer programs for both fansand writers. We scheduleevents from plays and semi-nars to morgue visits —something for everyone.

Annie Chernow, VP/program chair:Our mem-bers, of course! We have awonderful mix of publishedauthors, aspiring writers,and avid mystery readers.We try hard to meet theneeds of all members andare currently in the processof re-energizing and re-growing the group. One way we are doing this is by scheduling

more frequent events and meetings in 2009.The level of interest has grown, as demonstrat-ed by the noticeable increase in attendance ateach of our events since January.We’ve also made efforts to improve member

communications and now send at least one e-mail SinCC News Brief per month that in-cludes news from and about our author-mem-bers, advance announcements of forthcomingactivities to all members, etc. Four times a yearwe produce a full-color newsletter, CorpusDelecti, with feature articles, photos from ac-tivities, a crime calendar of mystery-relatedconferences, and progress reports. We’re alsoworking on a redesign of our chapter website.

What activities are upcoming?

Annie: In the first four months of this yearwe have had meetings on: How to Get AnAgent; Detecting Crime (with a forensic doc-ument examiner from the Illinois State PoliceCrime Lab); a bestselling romantic suspenseauthor discussing trends in crossover genre fic-tion; and an SRO open chapter meeting at theLove is Murder conference, with special guestspeaker Sharan Newman.For the remainder of the year programming

will tentatively include: aDorothy Sayers play theaterouting (a popular activitywith our Chicago group!); amorgue facility tour withthe deputy coroner of LakeCounty (IL); an author-reader event with panels,mini-workshops, presenta-tions, and book signings inconjunction with theSchaumburg Public Li-brary ; a presentation onDNA/Human Genome,and legal-ethical issues; aforensic weapons expert; amarketing expert; and ourannual holiday Greek Is-lands luncheon with a spe-cial program.

Anything else you’d like to add?Margot: There is an independent book-

stores store I’d like to mention, Centuries &Sleuths in Forest Park, IL. Owner AugieAleksy is a great supporter of Sisters in Crimeas well as new authors. He packs in the best-sellers but always makes room for the newbies.

Annie: Starting last summer, the chapterheld bi-monthly critique day sessions at anorth suburban library. We continue in our ef-forts to assist our members with networkingopportunities and by providing assistance tothose who wish to form their own local writergroups.

This article supports SinC’s MembershipGrowth, Networking, and Forums for Membersgoal.

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www:sistersincrime.org

Don’t Miss Out! Join the SinC Listserv:http://groups.yahoo.com/group/sistersincrime

Sisters in Crime/SEMWA to ShareBooth at SIBAThe Southern Independent Booksellers Al-

liance will hold its annual trade show September25 to 27, 2009, in Greenville, SC. The GreenvilleChapter of Sisters in Crime, in partnership withthe Southeast Chapter of Mystery Writers ofAmerica, will host a table at the event. Attendeeswill include more than 500 independent book-sellers and their associates from all over the southand a limited number of participating authors willhave the opportunity to place books directly intotheir hands. In addition, those published mem-bers who are unable to attend may send up to 50pieces of promotional material for distribution atthe show. Books must be provided free to the booksellers

as there are no sales at this event. Members whoare not published authors are welcome to volun-teer to help organize and assist at the booth.Interested author members should contact

Kathy Wall at [email protected] or Patty Sprin-kle at [email protected] to request asigning time, to volunteer, or for additional infor-mation.

Sisters in Crime at Southern Festival of BooksThe Middle Tennessee Chapter of Sisters inCrime will host a booth at the Southern Festival ofBooks in Nashville, TN, October 9 to 11, 2009. Inaddition to promoting SinC, the booth will be uti-lized as a signing venue for up to 20 SinC authors,with one-hour time slots assigned on a first-come,first-served basis. Travel expenses are the responsi-bility of the author. All SinC authors who are un-able to appear in person are invited to send book-marks, postcards or other promotional materialsfor distribution to festival attendees (limit 100pieces).The Southern Festival of Books is a free, three-

day event that annually attracts nearly 30,000book enthusiasts to downtown Nashville. Formore information on the festival, visit www.humanitiestennessee.org/festival/current.php.Contact SinC-MidTN chapter president

"Strike Zone," as well as a photocopy of the JournalAmerican from the 1950s; a lottery ticket fromMeredith Cole's "Out in the Cold;" tea bags andbottled water from Peggy Ehrhart's "Family Mat-ters;" and a chocolate chip muffin and popcornfrom Nan Higginson's "Casino Gamble." SueYellin was the lucky winner.


Chester Campbell at [email protected] request a time slot assignment or for any addi-tional information, or check the website atwww.sinc-midtn.org.

These events support SinC’s MembershipGrowth, Networking and Forums for Membersgoal.

CALIFORNIA CRIME WRITERS CONFERENCEPASADENA, CARobert Crais and Laurie King will be the

keynote speakers for the inaugural CaliforniaCrime Writers Conference, co-sponsored by Sis-ters in Crime/LA and SoCal MWA from June 13to 14, 2009, at The Hilton Pasadena. The eventwill include an agents’ reception, forensic track,craft workshops, query and synopsis seminars,manuscript consultations, and classes for estab-lished authors on book contracts, e-publishing,presentation tips, online marketing information,and film/television opportunities. For more information, see www.sisters

incrimela.com/ccwc.htm or e-mail [email protected].

PUBLIC SAFETY WRITERS CONFERENCELAS VEGAS, NVPSWA’s annual conference will be held in Las

Vegas from June 18 to 21, 2009, at the SuncoastHotel and Casino. Presenters include a forensic scientist with

more than 30 years’ experience in law enforce-ment, a long-time fireman, and mystery authorSheila Lowe, a court qualified forensic handwrit-ing expert.The special guest is Betty Webb, who’ll be

talking about moving from hard-boiled to darnnear cozy.For more information and to register, visit the

Public Safety Writers Associations website atwww.publicsafetywriter.com.

NASHVILLE MYSTERY ANDTHRILLER CONFERENCEFRANKLIN, TNThe Killer Nashville Mystery and Thriller

Conference will be held August 14 to 16, 2009,at the Cool Springs Marriott in Franklin, TN.The program will feature more than 40 panelsand discussions on mysteries, thrillers and gener-al writing and promotion techniques applicableto any genre. Editor and agent appointments willbe available.For more information and to register for the

conference, see the website : www.killernashville.com.

MIDWEST MYSTERYFESTSAINT LOUIS, MOJoin the Greater St. Louis Chapter of Sisters in

Crime at the 5th Annual Midwest MysteryFest

from September 25 to 26, 2009. The conferencewill take place at the St. Charles CommunityCollege, 4601 Mid Rivers Mall Drive, Cot-tleville, MO (just outside St. Louis). Keynotespeakers will be Carolyn Hart and Kent Krueger.On Friday a workshop, “Screenplay Tech-

niques for Your Novel,” will be conducted by Es-ther Luttrell, Hollywood screenwriter, TV pro-ducer and mystery author. An optional Fridayevening get acquainted dinner with the authorsand speakers will follow.On Saturday, three tracks will be offered: The

Business of Writing, the Craft of Writing, andForensics. Programs include: an ATF firearm ex-pert, law enforcement officers, Sheriff GaryToelke discussing the kidnapping case of ShawnHornbeck and Ben Ownby and latent finger-print expert/forensic artist Dr. Jean L. Curtit,along with panel discussions on market-ing/promoting your book, plotting, setting thescene, secondary characters, editing, and bookselling from the bookstore owner’s POV. You willalso have an opportunity to sign up for a one-on-one pitch session with an agent.A continental breakfast and buffet lunch on

Saturday are included in the conference price:$85 for SinC members, $75 for students 18 orolder, and $110 for walk-ins at the door on aspace-available only basis.Sisters wishing to be on a panel will be accom-

modated on a first-come first-served basis. We re-gret we do not have space for everyone wishing apanel/speaking assignment.Please e-mail [email protected] for more in-

formation.

SINC INTO GREATWRITING!INDIANAPOLIS, INSisters in Crime is sponsoring a workshop,

SinC Into Great Writing!, on October 14, 2009,at the Hyatt Regency in Indianapolis, IN, the daybefore Bouchercon begins. The program runs from 1:30 to 9:00 pm and

features seminars by Donald Maass, HallieEphron and Chris Roerden, as well as dinnerwith keynote speaker Nancy Pickard.The deadline for registration is September 22,

2009, and can be done on the website :www.sistersincrime.org. The cost is $50 formembers, $150 for nonmembers. NO RE-FUNDS. Registration will be capped at 200.

BOUCHERCON 2009INDIANAPOLIS, IN“Elementary, My Dear Indy,” will be the theme

of Bouchercon 2009, to be held in Indianapolis,IN, October 15 to 18, 2009. Michael Connelly

will be author guest of honor; S.J. Rozan will betoastmaster; and Kathryn Kennison will be fanguest of honor.For more information and registration, see the

website: www.bouchercon2009.com.

THE MIDWEST WRITERSCONFERENCE COLUMBUS, OHJoin Sisters in Crime of Columbus, OH, for its

first ever mystery conference, Bodies and Buck-eyes. It will be held November 7, 2009, from 8:00am until 6:30 pm at the Embassy Suites Hotel,2700 Corporate Exchange Drive, Columbus,OH 43231.The keynote speaker will be crime scene inves-

tigation and police procedures expert, LeeLofland. Lee and other published authors, in-cluding Karen Harper, Craig McDonald, JudyClemens and Beverle Graves Myers, among oth-ers, will speak on craft and industry-related top-ics. Agents Christine Witthohn and Judith AnnMiramontez will address Queries, Synopses andthe Perfect Pitch and will offer one-on-one pitchsessions. Published authors will participate in abook signing at the end of the day. Space is limit-ed. SinC authors are invited to send bookmarks,postcards or other promotional pieces for distri-bution to attendees. There will be a raffle, goodiebags, give-aways, education, networking, fun andfriendship. The cost is $100 if registration is postmarked

on or before September 23, or $125 if registra-tion postmarked after September 23. The confer-ence is limited to 90 people and registration mustbe received by November 3. A continental break-fast, buffet lunch and afternoon snack are includ-ed in the conference price. For more information, go to www.sicco

writers.org ; contact us at [email protected]; or call Carolyn Melvin at 740/246-4794.

NEW ENGLAND CRIME BAKEDEDHAM, MASue Grafton will be the guest of honor at New

England Crime Bake, to be held November 13 to15, 2009, at the Hilton Hotel in Dedham, MA.The conference is sponsored by the New Eng-land chapters of Sisters in Crime and MysteryWriters of America.For more information see the website :

www.sincne.org.These announcements support SinC’s Profes-

sional Education and Career Development goal.

June 2009 - 10

Coming up: Conferences& Happenings

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June 2009 - 11

By Julianne Balmain (Nadia Gordon)Monitoring Project LiaisonEach year, Sisters in Crime volunteers monitor nearly 50 newspa-

pers and magazines across the country for their coverage of the mys-tery genre by gender. As the number of book reviewers shrinks, the

amount of book coverage diminishes, andcompetition for editorial space grows fiercerfrom coast to coast, it’s important that wecontinue to monitor who makes the cut. Thenumbers for 2008 have been finalized, andthey’ve yielded some interesting statistics.Overall, 63 percent of reviews were of mys-

teries written by men and 37 percent coveredthose written by women. Based on the sub-mission list for best novel for MWA’s 2009Edgar Award, approximately 59 percent of the

new hardcover mysteries published in 2008 were written by men.Of 47 publications tracked, only six reviewed more books by wom-

en than by men. Two of those six, Mystery News and the OmahaWorld-Herald, reviewed just slightly more women, with totals of 51percent. The Seattle Times & Post Intelligencer (still under their jointoperating agreement in 2008) covered 53 percent women. The mostenthusiastic contributor of reviews of mysteries by women was Ro-mantic Times, which devoted 82 percent of its review coverage tobooks written by women. Next came the Contra Costa Times (SanFrancisco Bay Area) with 73 percent coverage of women and the Bal-timore Sun with 61 percent of mystery reviews covering women’sbooks.The Missoulian and the Indianapolis Star each reviewed 11 myster-

ies in 2008. In both cases, 91 percent of the books were written bymen.Three important publications — the Wall Street Journal, the Los

Angeles Times, and the San Francisco Chronicle — all covered 74 per-cent or more books by men. In the case of the LA Times and theChronicle, the data suggest part of the heavy skew toward books bymen may be due to end-of-the-year roundup coverage. That is, thenumber of reviews overall jumps up at the end of the year, with themajority of those reviews covering men. (This was also the case for theContra Costa Times, whose numbers skewed toward women in thefourth quarter.)In coming weeks I will be following up with the reviews editors at

these publications to let them know about our monitoring project,and the results for last year. Our goal is to raise awareness in order toencourage gender parity in the world of professional mystery writing.If you would like to suggest a news outlet you would like to moni-

tor as part of this program, please e-mail me at [email protected]. We urgently need a new USA Todaymonitor, and alsoneed volunteers to help with our pilot program monitoring featuredtitles at Barnes & Noble and Costco. E-mail me if you’d like to help.

*I’ve included three publications for which one-quarter of data wasstill missing at press time, marked with asterisks.

This project supports SinC’s Advocacy, Monitoring, and Reportinggoal.

Review Monitoring Project: Men Garnered 63 Percent of

Mystery Reviews in 2008Percent of Reviews of

Books by Men and WomenPublication Male Female

Authors AuthorsArkansas Democrat-Gazette 86 14Baltimore Sun 39 61Contra Costa Times 27 73Crimespree 67.5 32.5Daily Press, Newport VA 69 31Dallas Morning News 57 43Detroit Free Press 69 31Ellery Queenʼs Mystery Magazine* 72 28Entertainment Weekly 68 32Hartford Courant 58 42Houston Chronicle 67 33Indianapolis Star 91 9Kansas City Star 66 34Kirkus Reviews 51 49Knoxville Sentinel 66 34Library Journal 56 44Los Angeles Times 75 25Missoulian 91 9Mystery News 49 51Mystery Readers Journal 67 33Mystery Scene 50 50New Orleans Times-Picayune 55 45New Yorker 100 0New York Times Book Review 61 39NPR Radio 65 35Omaha World-Herald 49 51Orlando Sentinel* 60 40People Magazine 50 50Powell's Daily Reviews 75 25Publishers Weekly 54 46Romantic Times 18 82San Antonio Express-News* 87 13San Francisco Chronicle 74 26San Jose Mercury News 69 31Seattle Times/Post Intelligencer 47 53St. Louis Post-Dispatch 69 31Star Ledger, Essex NJ 69 31Star Tribune, Minn MN 65 35Strand 59 41Sunday Oregonian 62.5 37.5Toronto Globe & Mail 63 37USA Today 59 41Wall Street Journal 87 13Washington Post 68 32Winston-Salem Journal 59 41

Sign up for SinC’s pre-Bouchercon writing workshop. You can do it online at: www.sistersincrime.org

By Patricia GulleyAnnouncements for new books (please, no

reprints), short stories, articles and plays (all relat-ing to mysteries), also nominations and awards,may be sent to Patricia Gulley via snail mail to:1743 N. Jantzen Avenue, Portland, OR 97217-7849 or e-mail to: [email protected] be sure to put Sisters in Crime, The Docketor InSinC in the subject line — otherwise your e-mail won’t be opened.

The deadline for the next The Docket is July 15,2009.

BooksJoani Ascher, VENGEANCE RUNS COLD,

Avalon, February 2009Sarah Atwell (Sheila Connolly), PANE OF

DEATH, Berkley Prime Crime, November2008. Sheila Connolly,

ROTTEN TO THECORE, Berkley PrimeCrime, July 2009Cynthia Baxter,

TOO RICH ANDTOO DEAD, BantamBooks, March 2009Linda Berry,

DEATH AND THECROSSED WIRES,

Five Star, March 2009Rebecca Cantrell, A TRACE OF SMOKE,

Tor Forge, May 2009Judy Clemens, EMBRACE THE GRIM

REAPER, Poisoned Pen Press, May 2009Hannah Dennison, SCOOP, Berkley Prime

Crime, March 2009Robert Goldsborough, A PRESIDENT IN

PERIL, Echelon Press, April 2009Beth Groundwater, TO HELL IN A HAND-

BASKET, Five Star, May 2009Linda M. Faulkner, SECOND TIME

AROUND, ePress-Online, January 2009Karen Harper, MISTRESS SHAKE-

SPEARE, Penguin, February 2009; DEEPDOWN, Mira Books, June 2009Charlotte Hughes, NUTCASE, Jove, Febru-

ary 2009Kathleen Kaska, MURDER AT THE AR-

LINGTON, Salvo Press, June 2009Laurie R . King , THE LANGUAGE OF

BEES, Bantam, April 2009Harley Jane Kozak, A DATE YOU CAN’T

REFUSE, Broadway Books, March 2009Julie Kramer, MISSING MARK, Doubleday,

July 2009Judith K. Ivie, A SKELETON IN THE

CLOSET, Mainly Murder Press, March 2009Kathy-Diane Leveille, LET THE SHAD-

OWS FALL BEHIND YOU, Kunati Books,April 2009Gail Lukasik, DEATH'S DOOR, Five Star,

March 2009Catherine O'Connell, WELL READ AND

DEAD, Harper Trade, April 2009Susan Palmquist. DEATH LIKES ME,

Hearts on Fire Books, February 2009Ann Parker, LEADEN SKIES, Poisoned Pen

Press, July 2009June Shaw, KILLER COUSINS, Five Star,

January 2009Clea Simon, PROBABLE CLAWS, Poisoned

Pen Press, April 2009Alexandra Sokoloff, THE UNSEEN, St. Mar-

tin's Press, June 2009Denise Swanson, MURDER OF A ROYAL

PAIN, Obsidian, April 2009Louise Ure, LIARS ANONYMOUS, St.

Martin's Press, April 2009Kathryn R. Wall, COVENANT HALL, St.

Martin's Minotaur, April 2009

Short Stories/AnthologiesWarren Bull READER OF DREAMS,

Strange Mysteries Anthology, WhortleberryPress, March 2009

Jane K. Cleland. DESIGNED TO KILL, Al-fred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine, June 2009Martin Meyers, NATE DEVLIN’S MONEY,

Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine, June 2009

Non Fiction/ArticlesPegg y Ehrhart, SERIAL MURDERS IN

THE HAIGHT-ASHBURY, Mystery ReadersJournal, Winter 2008-09Beth Groundwater, THE ART OF THE RE-

VEAL, The Writers Journey Journal, WolfmontPress, May 2009Karen Harper, MORE THAN WORDS,

Women of Strength, Harlequin, March 2009

Awards/MiscellaneousG.M. Malliet's DEATH OF A COZY

WRITER was chosen by Kirkus Reviews as oneof the Best Books of 2008, has been nominatedfor an Agatha Award for best first novel and aLeft Coast Crime/Hawaii Five-O Award for bestpolice procedural. The second book in the St.Just series, DEATH AND THE LIT CHICK,received a starred review from Publishers Weekly.Louise Ure's THE FAULT TREE is a finalist

for the Simon & Schuster Mary Higgins ClarkAward.


June 2009 - 12

THE DOCKET THE DOCKET THE DOCKET THE DOCKET THE DOCkET THE DOCKET THE DOCKET THE DOCKET

How to Send Us Your EntryThe format is simple:Name of author, TITLE OF BOOK,

Name of Publisher, Month to be released.Name of Author, TITLE OF STORY,

Name of magazine or anthology, Month tobe released.Awards and nominations should be in

sentences. Always put The Docket in the subject line

of your e-mail. Anything else may be deleted.Don’t send ISBNs, character names, se-

ries names or places to buy the books.Don’t send newsletters, publicity sheets

or website addressess.Don’t send in colors other than black and

white.Don’t send entries older than six months.Editors of anthologies will not be listed

unless they have a story in the anthology.If you are using a pen name, we can add

your real name after it in parentheses. Youmust tell me if youdo notwant this done.

C.B. “Chick” Squires of Asheville, NC,died of natural causes on January 4, 2009, atthe age of 88. An editor, author and corre-spondent, he was the husband of ElizabethSquires, who died in 2001. He is survivedby three sons, J. Hart Squire, Mark M.Squire and Worth P. Squire, as well as sevengrandchildren and four great-grandchil-dren.

Loretta P. Gainor, 59, died February 18,2009, after a heart attack. A Potomac resi-dent since 1985, she was a member ofSinC’s Chesapeake chapter. Survivors in-clude her husband of 33 years, Charles M.Gainor, a son, Michael P. Gainor, as well as abrother, Franklin G. Polk.

Barbara Parker of Lauderdale-by-theSea, FL, author of the Suspicion mysterynovels, died March 7, 2009, at the age of 62.Survivors include her daughter, AndreaLane Prather and son-in-law, Tim Prather;son, James Lane; sister Laura Parker; broth-er Ray Parker and sister-in-law Diane Park-er; and nephew Nicholas Winder and hiswife, Andrea.

In Memoriam

they maybe delve into their pasts. Is there a crimehidden there? Is there a crime you learned aboutas a child that affected you? Or like Anne Perry,were you intrinsic to the crime itself ? Well, if youhave a family full of screwballs or where therecord length of a marriage is, say, six weeks, con-sider taking a break, writing a memoir and let thechips fall where they may.

The opinions expressed in this article are solelythose of the individual interviewed.

Nancy Martin is the author of nearly 50 books,including a new series coming from St. Martin’sMinotaur. She currently serves as an at-large mem-ber of the SinC board.

This article supports SinC’s Advocacy, Monitor-ing, and Reporting goal.

Mary-Ann Tirone Smith(Continued from page 5)

June 2009 - 13

Reinvention is a time-honored career strategyfor professional writers. We asked, “Have youreinvented your career and if so, why?”

Eve Sandstromwrote two different mysteryseries before she learned some bad news over afateful drink with her editor at a convention. “Hestarted the conversation with, ‘Eve, what wasyour maiden name?’ He couldn’t bring out anymore books under my real name. My sales were sobad I’d become bookstore poison.”Changing her name and coming up with a new

idea seemed like the best strategy for Eve’s career,and she jumped at the chance to reinvent herself.She decided to write an even cozier mystery thanever before. “By the time I got home from thatconvention, I had the series roughly worked out.Everyone loved it. My older daughter came upwith a new name for me — combining the mid-dle names of her sister, her brother and herself —and JoAnna Carlwas born. The ninth Choco-holic book — The Chocolate Cupid Killings—will be out in October, and I have a contract fortwo more. So the moral is: If one thing doesn’twork—try something different.”

Victoria Thompson, author of the GaslightMysteries, managed to avoid changing her name.“I had published 20 historical romances duringthe heyday of the genre (in the ’90s) but hadwatched my income drop by half one year. Thenext year it dropped by half again. When my con-tract came up for renewal, my editor said theycouldn’t offer me a new one because my saleswere too low.“Then one day my agent called and said she

just had lunch with a Berkley Prime Crime editorand they were looking for an author to write amystery series set in turn-of-the-century NewYork City with a heroine who was a midwife. Myagent immediately thought of me. I had filled myhistorical romance plots with murder mysteries. Ihad also sent her a lot of romantic suspense pro-posals, so she knew I could sustain suspense andwrite scary stuff. She knew I really wanted topublish again and would do the work necessaryto make that happen. Berkley liked [my propos-al] and gave me a three-book contract. Althoughthey did buy series ideas that authors originated,many of the concepts were created in-house andan author recruited to write them. It’s worked outwell for them, and it certainly worked well forme.” (There are now 11 Gaslight Mysteries inprint — Murder on Waverly Place is the latest.)

Judy Greber, who began writing a mystery se-ries under the name Gillian Robertswhen salesof her mainstream novels didn’t please industrycomputers, cautions, “I've never been happyabout the renaming. For quite some time peoplewould say things like, ‘Oh, you write mysteriesunder that other name and use your real name foryour novels.’ Aside from failing to understandthat a mystery is a novel (I do so wish we'd callthem crime novels) I really was saddened by theidea that I thought less of my mysteries than ofthe mainstreams.

“But as for the idea of truly reinventing yourwriting self — if it means stretching and trying towrite something new and challenging — I'm allfor that. Otherwise, the writing life could be-come boring.” (Greber’s latest book is All's WellThat Ends.)

Nancy J. Cohen, author of the Bad Hair DayMysteries — Killer Knots is the latest — also citesa shift in the marketplace that made her decide toreinvent herself. “I wrote futuristic romance be-cause I was a big Star Trek fan. The paranormalromance market died, though, so I had to rein-vent myself. I had been putting a mystery into myromances and enjoyed reading humorous ama-teur sleuth stories, so I decided to create a newmystery series. I wrote nine Bad Hair Day myster-ies for Kensington until the cozy market deflated.Now I’m back on the reinvention route.”Creative reasons might also trigger a career

makeover. Nancy Martinwrote 35 romance nov-els before deciding she needed a creative change.“I’d written enough sex to last a lifetime. But Iwas afraid to leave the romance income behind.Then I wrote a romance that sold millions ofcopies, which allowed me to take time off and trysomething that would re-kindle my passion forwriting. Good thing I had a steady stream of roy-alties, because it took several years to develop mymystery idea. Once I started educating myself, Irealized how much more complex mysteries werethan I first thought, and it took a lot of work tocreate the world and come up with a suitablycomplex plot for mystery readers. The learningcurve should never stop.”

Charlaine Harris’ revelation came when shewas facing her 50th birthday. “I realized I was inthe midlist, and showing no signs of climbing up-ward. Though I was happy to be a published writ-er, I wasn’t so happy to be one who definitelywasn’t upwardly mobile. Some of the books I hadwritten were the best I could write in the mysterygenre; and since they hadn’t gotten me anywhere,I figured maybe it was time to look at anothergenre. I thought about it long and hard, thoughthis was one of the few times I’ve ever had a long,deliberate think about my career.“I figured if I couldn’t catch fire writing some-

thing I really enjoyed, I’d better think of some-thing I enjoy even more, and hope the sparkcatches. I have always been attracted to the super-natural, so that seemed the way for me to go. Atthe time, there wasn’t a huge paranormal field likethere is now, but that didn’t scare me. Several ofthe writers I really admire — Tanya Huff, Bar-bara Hambly, Connie Willis, Shirley Jackson —had written books that crossed many genres. I fig-ured that should be my goal, a book that had theelements of lots of different genres in it. Theshotgun approach to writing! If I spread the fieldwide enough, I figured I would hit something.“The fact that it was a mixed-genre book ini-

tially made Dead Until Dark very hard to sell —my agent spent two years trying to place it — butit was worth the time and effort, ultimately.”

(Dead and Gone, the latest in the Southern Vam-pire series, was released in May.)

Sarah Strohmeyermade the move out of themystery genre when she departed from her Bub-bles Yablonksy books. But the creative leap intowomen’s fiction seems like a natural progressionfor Sarah. “I don’t feel as if I’ve left Bubbles. Ithink I’m exploring other types of writing whileshe recovers from her latest, uhm, incident. Forme, Bubbles has been a device to explore what it’slike to be a working class woman in a man’s world.It was natural for me to write about other wom-en’s experiences, too, with the same kind of lamehumor. The Cinderella Pactwas about womenbonding together. And The Penny Pincher’s Club( July 2009) focuses on how women can get con-trol of their lives by learning how to control theirmoney.”

Nancy Martin says that in the last couple ofyears, “I could see the sales of my Blackbird mys-teries leveling off and knew the industry waschanging again. Writing isn’t my hobby. It’s a wayto pay the mortgage, so I can’t wait around forsales to greatly improve, or live in fear that my se-ries might eventually be cancelled. So I am writ-ing a new series for St. Martin’s Minotaur imprintwith hopes that the new idea and new publisherwill kickstart good things. The new series com-bines mystery and romantic suspense and leans inthe thriller direction — where the marketplaceseems to be heading right now. I hope to use ev-erything I’ve learned in other genres to make thisseries successful.” (Nancy’s latest book is MurderMelts in Your Mouth.)

Nancy Cohen’s philosophy about reinventionis this: “Now's the time to write the book of yourheart. It will restore your soul for the creative pro-cess. Pour your dreams into the story and don'tworry if it will sell or not until you're finished. Orstretch your boundaries. Explore a genre you'vealways wanted to try. Regard this setback as anopportunity and plow forward. If that bookdoesn't sell, write the type of story you like toread. How will your version be different? Thinkin terms of a marketing hook. Don't jump on thebandwagon of a hot new genre just because it'sselling if you hate to read it.”

Charlaine Harris offers this advice: “There’slots to be said for having a good session withyourself. First, identify what you love to read, andwhy you love it. Then, try writing it. Don’t limityourself to one genre just because that’s yourhome base. Try something different, see if it flies.I have a great time doing this. Mysteries were myhome base, but since I wrote Dead Until DarkI’ve tried a romance novella and a science fictionnovella, and had a super time doing somethingdifferent.”

Eve Sandstrom’s advice echoes Charlaine’s:“I've become the poster child for hanging inthere. So the moral is: If one thing doesn't work— try something different.”


TThhee IInnSSiinnCC IInnqquuiirreerr::

Should You Reinvent Your Career?

June 2009 - 14

Malice Domestic 21May 1 to 3, 2009Arlington, VA

Text and Photography by Bonnie J. CardoneSisters in Crime was well represented at Malice again this year. Elaine Vi-

ets was Toastmaster; Anne Perry was the Lifetime Achievement Award recip-ient; and Nancy Pickard was Guest of Honor. Kate Stine shared the PoirotAward with husband Brian Skupin. When the Agathas were handed out, allbut one went to a SinC member.This Malice was smallest of the nine I’ve attended, with fewer than 400

participants. That, however, made it easier to find old friends and meet newones.The SinC national board gathered on Thursday for the first of 2009’s two

meetings (look for the minutes in September’s InSinC). Later that day therewas a two-hour Chapter Flash Training session attended by 10 board mem-bers and 11 chapter representatives, along with executive secretary Beth Was-son. SinC secretary Mary Saums posted her notes on the FlashTraining session on the Chapter President’s ListServ andwould be happy to e-mail a copy to anyone interested in whattranspired there. Contact Mary at: [email protected] offered numerous activities, along with the Opening

Ceremonies/Reception. The Live Auction that evening gar-nered $6,400 and the Silent Auction added $3,975 on Satur-day, which allowed Malice to donate $10,375 to the John L.Gildner Regional Institute for Children and Adolescents.On Saturday morning it took me several minutes to realize

the elevators weren’t working. I could hear a muffled an-nouncement and alarm bells ringing so I headed for an exit andjoined the stream of people winding their way down the stairs.There had been a sprinkler malfunction and guests on somefloors had been told to evacuate the building. I was ravenous by the time I made it to the New Authors

Breakfast, sponsored by Mystery Scene magazine. Those present enjoyedmuffins, juice, fruit and coffee while listening to 24 new authors describetheir books.Along with various panels, Saturday’s program featured an interview of

Lifetime Achievement Award recipient Anne Perry by her American literaryagent Don Maass (he’ll be a speak-er at SinC’s pre-Boucherconworkshop), as well as an interviewof Guest of Honor Nancy Pickardby Carolyn Hart.Anne Perry has written 60

books in several different seriesand won numerous awards/honors. She has been with thesame publisher for 30 years and allof her books are in print. Perry splits her time between

the U.S. East Coast and Scotland.She outlines her books and thestories conform closely to them.Feedback on her works in progress

comes from her agent and her brother. The protagonists in two of her seriesare men but there are always strong women characters as well. “Strong,” Perrysays, “but not invulnerable.” Maass asked her how she keeps her characters straight. “I’m not sure I do,”

she quipped, “that’s your job.” While her “evil doers do evil, they’re not evil,”she said, pointing out that “nobody is entirely good” and her characters’ flaws“simply magnify failings we all have.” She says that if authors write the plotfrom the villain’s point of view they will learn who that villain really is.Nancy Pickard, SinC’s second president, was interviewed by Carolyn

Hart, SinC’s fifth president. Pickard has written 17 books in three series as

well as a bestselling stand-alone. Sheis also a very prolific short storywriter. Pickard has won nearly everyaward that can be bestowed upon amystery writer, some of them severaltimes. She says she always loved mys-teries but didn’t start writing fictionuntil she was 35. A University ofMissouri journalism graduate, shetried to be a journalist first, withmixed results. She cites an article shewrote about a council meeting ,which was praised for its vivid depic-

tion of what occurred— but got the resultsof the key vote wrong.Her editor told her she was a fiction writer, not a journalist. Pickard is also the author of a non-fiction book, Seven Steps

on the Writer’s Path. She says the most important of the sevensteps is to “let the character go. When you let go you learn thetruth about your story.” (Those attending the SinC Into GreatWriting! workshop will have dinner with Nancy.)With a silver-suited Elaine Viets as Toastmaster, the Agatha

Awards Banquet on Saturday evening moved along smoothly.Viets thanked the mystery community for the support theyprovided after she suffered a series of strokes and said her newhairdo is the result of the titanium screws in her skull. Look forphotos of the Agatha winners and other honorees on the op-posite page.

The SinC breakfast took place on Sunday morning at 7:30, with 84 peoplein attendance. President Judy Clemens welcomed everyone, then introducedthe board members present and Dr. Patricia A. Gouthro, who has been re-searching how SinC supports women and men in the field of crime fiction.The results of her study can be found on her website : www.patriciagouthro.ca. Following Dr. Gouthro, Julianne Balmain discussed thereview monitoring project (dubbed Big Sister is Watching) and asked forvolunteers to help with it.Next on the program was Roberta Rogow, who related how her Central

New Jersey Chapter used a SinC Grant to put on a small conference that at-tracted new members. Chapters can apply for grants ranging from $250 to$500 to help with the expenses of certain events — see the SinC website fordetails (www.sistersincrime.org). An appeal was made for ListServ modera-tors (one or two days a week would be great, contact Sandra Parshall). Thelast person to speak was Liz Zelvin, who extolled the virtues of The Guppies.This internet-based chapter now has 300 “emerging writers” as members,sponsors an annual Queen of Rejection contest (the prize is chocolate) and isworking on an anthology.The interview of Toastmaster Elaine Viets by SinC member Hank Phillip-

pi Ryan took place Sunday afternoon. Author of 16 books in three series, sev-eral nonfiction books and a variety of Anthony, Agatha and Lefty-winningshort stories, Viets is a former newspaper columnist who won two Emmys ashost of a TV news show. She was scheduled to be the Malice Toastmaster twoyears ago but suffered a series of strokes just days before the convention. Dur-ing the Agatha Banquet that year, we reached her in the hospital via a phonecall. It was wonderful to see her in person and fully recovered this year. Malice ended with the Agatha Tea and closing ceremonies. Once again, a

good time was had by all and some of us even got some unexpected exercise.

This article supports SinC’s Professional Career Development and Network-ing goal.

ToastmasterElaine Viets

Guest of Honor NancyPickard (right) and CarolynHart.

Lifetime AchievementAward recipient Anne Per-ry and Donald Maass.

June 2009 - 15

Louise Penny

Dana Cameron

Poirot Award recipients,Kate Stine and Brian Skupin

Chris Grabenstein

Mary Burton

Elizabeth Duncan andfriend.

Peggy Ehrhart

Jane Cleland

Hank Phillippi Ryan

Kathy Wall

Sandra Parshall and Vincent OʼNeil

Dr. Patricia Gouthro hasbeen analyzing Sisters inCrime “as a unique learn-ing organization, dedicat-ed to fostering the devel-opment of of womencrime fiction writers.”

Kathy LynnEmerson

G.M. Malliet

Chapter representatives at the Flash Training session.Chapter liaison Robin Burcell is in the back.

Barbara DʼAmato

Marcia Talley

SinC PresidentJudy Clemensgreeted the 84people who at-

tended the SinCbreakfast on Sun-

day morning.

Fan Guest ofHonor, LauraHyzy

And theAgatha

goes to...

Sisters in theSigning Room

Michael Dymmoch

� JULY 15, 2009 — Deadline for submission of items for the September Docket.Send to Patricia Gulley, 1743 N. Jantzen Avenue, Portland, OR 97217-7849 or e-mail to: [email protected].

� JULY 20, 2009 — Deadline for the September InSinC newsletter. ContactBonnie J. Cardone: [email protected]; phone 805/938-1156. Other InSinCdeadlines are October 20, January 20 and April 20.

� OCTOBER 5, 2009 — Deadline for reservations for Bouchercon breakfast onOctober 16. Send a check for $20, made out to Sisters in Crime, to Beth Wasson, P.O.Box 442124, Lawrence, KS 66044. For more details, see page 3.

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