SinC PS This trio of successful series writers shared their tips and experiences on how to write series and problems you might encounter. Cynthia Blair, writing as Cynthia Baxter, covered the nuts and bolts of series writing with a series of colorful slides to illustrate her main points. She included how to make the characters’ world interesting … Read more
Susan McCormick and Michael Erdahl shared their experiences producing audiobooks and starting a podcast. Their PowerPoint highlights their discussion of the pros and cons of various audiobook platforms, audiobook covers, getting a narrator, and production costs. Download their PowerPoint presentation here. In addition, they talked about the joys of creating their podcast with two other … Read more
Alexis Morgan: Death By Intermission, the fourth book in The Abby McCree Mysteries from Kensington Books, is now out in e-book, print, and audio versions. Click here to see the cover and read an excerpt. Alice K. Boatwright’s article “Silver Takes Second” compares the careers of Agatha Christie’s Miss Jane Marple with Miss Maud Silver, … Read more
For twenty-one years Michael Crowley listened to criminals petitioning to be paroled. As a member of the Parole Board of Canada, he met them all: murderers, rapists, young, old, men, women and child murderers. There is no capital punishment in Canada, just life imprisonment. His views are conditioned by that rule. Also, most murderers plead … Read more
The fourth book in Cynthia Baxter’s Lickety Splits Ice Cream Shoppe Mystery Series (Kensington) came out in December. The title is GAME OF CONES. The softcover version of Book 3, LAST LICKS, came out in August.
We began our Holiday party with an inspiring and witty original carol sung by Cynthia Blair: A Writer’s Twelve Days of Christmas. Our Build A Story activity did not end with the identification of a murderer, but it produced some hearty laughter along the way. A monestery in a desert wilderness provided the starting point … Read more
Erica Miner recently released the third in her ‘Opera Mystery’ series, Staged for Murder. A Virtual Book Party event takes place Sun., Dec. 6 @ 2 pm. Sign up at: https://www.ericaminer.com/contact.php, and put ‘Book Party’ in the ‘Message’ section. Marty Wingate’s Murder Is a Must, book two in the First Edition Library mysteries, released on December 1. January 12 … Read more
Based on writing prompts from Agatha Christie novels, members wrote and presented 250 word stories. For example: I was standing at the window… looking idly on the street below… Mrs. Oliver looked at herself in the glass… One story included references to six of Christie’s novels. Some stories were loosely connected to the theme. Some … Read more
‘Tis the season to release a book! And many of our members are launching new books this autumn. Please support each other by buying these books AND reviewing them. As we all know, a good review is a gift that keeps on giving! Alice K. Boatwright published a new story, “No Prince,” in The Blood … Read more
Elizabeth George talked about her process for creating a novel, starting with choosing the unique settings that characterize her novels. Her overview included a discussion of how she researches her book’s location, develops her characters, and turns scenes into a rolling plot that becomes the draft for her novel. She is known for the accuracy … Read more