Building your platform – lessons from the publishing trenches
I had the pleasure to present at PNWA with Katherine Sears of Booktrope - she did most of the work, since she really knows this subject well. We used me as an example, and I shared my warts and all experience as I begin to build my reach and relationships as an...
7 reasons to go to the PNWA Conference, some of them having to do with me
I've been going to the PNWA (Pacific Northwest Writers Association) summer conference since I moved to Seattle, and every year I get something wonderful from it. So I wanted to share 7 reasons why you should go! The conference runs July 17-20 at the Seattle Airport...
Supermarket hips
Just spent two very satisfying days at Susana Miller's workshops, hosted by K'ai and Grant Fu, who were lovely, gracious hosts. It was also great to meet members of the tango community I don't normally see - we dance on different nights. And Susana is one of my...
You can’t keep a good woman down
Lynne Heitman has been my writing mentor and friend ever since I met her in Seattle back in 2000 through a business school classmate. If I remember correctly, I told him I was writing a mystery and he started laughing. I thought he was laughing at me, but no, he was...
Why independent bookstores matter
This week I wrote to the staff at The Mysterious Bookshop to see whether they would be interested in carrying Dead on Her Feet. I have a special appreciation for this book store. I was living in NYC in the early '90's and at the time was very interested in following...
Susana Miller coming to Seattle in July
Susana Miller is coming to Seattle in July. The Buenos Aires daily newspaper, Clarin, calls her one of the top four most important influences on contemporary tango (the other three, in case you were wondering, are Miguel Angel Zotto, Gustavo Naveira, and Gerardo...
Amazon f*cks up
I am so disappointed to read about Amazon's latest tactics - delaying shipments, raising prices, removing "buy" buttons, marking books as "unavailable" - making it harder and sometimes impossible for us to buy books from publishers they are punishing as they...
A friendly game of murder, anyone?
Another mystery writer I got to meet at Malice Domestic was J.J. Murphy, who is a member of the Dorothy Parker Society and (in his words) an award winning health care writer. That should tell you all you need to know about his sense of humor and why he writes. ...
Blood Tango Author Annamaria Alfieri
I had the pleasure to meet Annamaria Alfieri, author of the historical mystery Blood Tango, at Malice Domestic last weekend. I'd previously downloaded her e-book but when I saw her at the conference I just had to buy a hard copy for her to sign, too. Her book is set...
Feeling murderous? Looking for company?
The lovely, lethal ladies at Wicked Cozy Authors are running a blog interview - going live 4 am EST tonight/tomorrow - about Authors Alley which will be taking place at the Malice Domestic conference this weekend in Bethesda, MD. Authors Alley is a sort of speed...