So you know I went to the South Carolina Writers Association StoryFest Conference recently…

Well, when I was there, I did a pitch session with an agent from Talcott Notch. I was actually pitching a different book–but when she asked what else I wrote, I told her about Outlaw Security and she said she wanted to see the manuscript!

Wish me luck! I might get this project off the ground again…

My chapter of Sisters in Crime is thinking about producing an anthology, so I’m getting in on the ground floor. We’ll see how it goes. So far, it looks immensely complicated and a lot of work…

We’ve met with a few people from other chapters who’ve done anthologies, so we’re getting ideas & starting to put together a rough timetable. Plus, there is a sort-of guideline sheet on the main website, detailing things we must do if we want to make our own anthology.

My job is to research the nitty-gritty behind putting together an anthology, from finding judges & editors & publishers to marketing the finished project. We’ll see how much I can dig up…

I’ve been lucky with my book covers so far. Even with minimal input, they’ve turned out pretty good looking.

This is the latest: Over Western Trails

I like the simple lines of this cover and the pastel colors. The next is Under Western Stars:

This is a fatter book and the addition of our names on the front cover makes it look stuffed full of wonderful stories. I like the horizon line in the middle, too.

I’ve just gotten my author copy of our Western Fictioneers anthology Over Western Trails.

This anthology features Western stories about stagecoach journeys. Devon Day & the Sweetwater Kid — or rather, Kye & Chance! — are on their way to Reno to pick up the train home to San Francisco. You know how Chance feels about “primitive” methods of transportation. As he puts it, “It’s nearly 1870. You’d think someone would have invented better public transportation.”

Edited by our own Richard Prosch, the anthology features stories by Terry Alexander, JD Arnold, Dennis Doty, JL Guin, Gail Heath, Jackson Lowry, Jeffrey J. Mariotte, Edward Massey, Terrence McCauley, Von McKee, Cheryl Pierson, James Reasoner, Charlie Steel, Benjamin Thomas, Big Jim Williams, and of course, yours truly — with an introduction by Doris Gardner-McCraw, our President.

Just got back from a weekend at Litchfield Beach. No, not that sort of weekend–this was the SC Writer’s Association’s annual writing conference. Friday through Sunday with a great line-up of classes and social events.

It’s a 4 and 1/2 hour drive from my house to the coast, but it went pretty smoothly (other than the dearth of rest stops–had to pull into a gas station at one point) and I found the place without much trouble. Got there 30 minutes before it started, which gave me time to get a Flat White from the Starbucks inside the resort (yippee!) and sign into the conference.

The first class, a “Tailgate” session on “How to Pitch Your Book” was great. Leigh Stein is a terrific speaker and she gave us so many concrete directions that helped make more sense of that mysterious ritual of the Book Pitch! I think I may actually have something worth telling people now. After that, I went back to Starbucks for a little writing time (and to wait until my room was ready). Ended up in a huge line of other people checking in, but eventually got my room (third floor way over in the corner). The Seaside Inn is a misnomer: my only view was of the parking lot and the seaside was at least half a mile away.

Friday night, we had hor d’oeuvres and a Mix and Mingle party, with a cash bar I (obviously) took advantage of. Leigh Stein was our keynote speaker and she inspired all of us to work harder at our writing. Saturday morning was her second class “Plotting Begins With Character,” which was just as good as the pitch class.

I then joined two of my critique chapter buddies for lunch on the deck (and promptly got sunburned, of course) before going to a class called “Setting as Structure.” I’ll admit, I didn’t get the speaker’s point at all. We were talking about dreams and memories and I just didn’t see how it all tied in with setting. Maybe the second session made more sense, but I’d planned to skip that anyhow because they offered a “Queryfest” where you sent in your query letter and got it critiqued in real time by an agent. She didn’t tear mine apart, though she did say it was a bit short. I can fix that.

I had a very nice dinner at The Deck (the place we’d eaten our boxed lunch–turns out it’s actually part of the restaurant in the resort) and the bartender made me something called Pawleys Punch (coconut rum, pineapple juice, orange juice, and blue curaçao). After that, we had a Pop-Up Book Sale where we could sell or trade copies of our books, then we did Open Mic Night. I took my three minutes to read part of the latest Devon Day and the Sweetwater Kid story, which seemed to go over well.

Sunday morning was a Town Meeting where we had breakfast and talked business for an hour. Then, we had a panel discussion on “Building a Writing Career in the Carolinas,” which was basically a Q&A session with two authors and the local bookstore owner. It was interesting. Our keynote speaker Sunday was Ashley M. Jones, the poet laureate of Alabama (and the first black poet laureate for that state). Wow, she had some powerful poetry.

The last class of the conference was a “Slushfest,” where you submitted your first page and two editors and an agent critiqued it. They did not like my science fiction page at all, so my alter ego will be rewriting that chapter for the umpteenth time (sigh). Then, I took a few minutes to drive over to the actual beach and wade in the surf for a short while (remembering I was already sunburned and hadn’t brought any sunblock). They do have a lovely beach. After that, it was the long drive home and back to the old grind.

Have you ever been to a writing conference or convention? What was yours like?

The new Western Fictioneers anthology, Over Western Trails, is available for purchase in e-book or paperback!

Fifteen heart-pounding adventure tales about Western trails and stagecoach journeys. Yours truly has a story in here, and of course it’s a Devon Day & the Sweetwater Kid tale. Get your copy today!

The Official Launch Party for the Sisters in Crime novel Carolina Crimes: Rock & Roll & Ruin will be on October 8 (a Saturday) from 2:00 to 4:00 pm at Fiction Addiction in Greenville, SC

We’ll have snacks & drinks & prizes & lots of fun! Hope to see you there. If you can’t make it, the book will officially hit the bookstore shelves on October 3.

You have to have a goal, especially as a writer.

My ultimate goal is to have the novels published, either with a traditional company or on my own (hopefully the former though). I’d like to do some touring to promote the books, too, even if I have to pay for it myself.

Since the books are based in 1870s San Francisco, the West Coast is the perfect place to start, right? It helps that I adore San Francisco (to visit, that is – wouldn’t want to pay the cost of living there!). After that, I’d have to ponder a good route, because I can’t just peddle historical fiction in the Southwest.

Once I get the science-fiction novels off the ground (hopefully), I can turn my attention back to Kye & Chance, editing those novels again to make sure they’re as action-packed as possible. The more I write, the more I learn about writing, so I’m sure I can find plenty of places to improve.

What are your goals as a writer?

I’ve been writing stories since I could write (which was before I started school). The earliest work I remember (that my parents saved anyhow) was a horrid poem entitled “Silly Mouse.” It didn’t even rhyme. However, as I matured, my writing (I like to think) improved.

When we were in grade school, my sister and I found a nifty new game in one of those Scholastic-type school magazines. It was called “Plot Luck” and the goal was to write a crazy story as you moved your token along the pathway to the finish line. It provided word prompts at various points, which you had to incorporate into your story. My sister and I used to compete to see who could come up with the silliest story, then see if our parents would laugh at it. We cut the pages out of the magazine and mounted the game on a piece of cardboard so it would last longer. We played for hours at a time, exercising our imaginations and creating tale after tale. I wish I still had that old game, just for nostalgia purposes, but it fell apart long ago.

When I was in middle and high school, I kept up my reading and writing, even getting a short poem published in the local newspaper for a contest. Unfortunately, I was convinced by well-meaning adults that writers didn’t make a good living and encouraged to make a career in the other area in which I excelled: science. I have to say that the paychecks have been satisfactory, but there are times I wonder what my career would have been like if I’d taken the leap and tried to become a full-time writer back in the beginning (or maybe took the writing more seriously and tried harder to get published).

It wasn’t until the mid-90s that I began seriously sending out short stories to magazines and getting paid for my work. I even got a couple of stories compiled into two “Best Of” anthologies, which was heartening. Then I found out about NaNoWriMo, where you sign up to write 50,000 words in 30 days. My best friend dared me to do it, and I dug out an old fan-fiction piece I’d done, changed the names and a bit of the scenario, and had a go at it. I ended up with a finished novel. It’s been through a few revisions, but it’s ready to be published if I can just find a publisher who doesn’t think “caper” stories are dead. Like I said, I should have started publishing sooner, like back when those were more popular.

I now have three historical novels written, along with a (now out-of-print) anthology of short stories that sold tolerably well. One of my alter-egos has five e-books at a small press and the other alter-ego is editing our first science-fiction novel. I’ve published several of my short stories in magazines and anthologies. I’m hoping to attract the attention of a sci-fi agent at sometime soon. And, as with Disney, it all started with a mouse.

I am submitting the opening of Outlaw Security to the Jericho Writers “Friday Night Live” contest. You send in the first 500 words without your name on the page and the judges decide on the top three entries. Wish me luck!

My alter ego is working on some science fiction tales for a couple of new anthologies so wish us both luck!

I also need to decide whether or not I should revamp Outlaw Security and cut the word count in half. That would probably require making two separate books out of it, which I’m not sure would work. Maybe I should just write some 45K stories about the lads and try to sell the original novel as is.