California Crime Writers Conference 2023

I don't know about the rest of you, but I had a wonderful weekend! Saturday and Sunday marked the in-person return of the California Crime Writers Conference, a bi-annual co-production of the Los Angeles chapter of Sisters in Crime and the Southern California chapter of Mystery Writers of America. 

Cool logo, eh? Turns out it was done by the same guy who did the cover art for Entertainment to Die For.

 

In addition to the great panels, I met a bunch of really nice people (for some reason this genre seems to attract fun and funny peeps), and how about this - even though I've never even finished a novel, I had two books in the bookstore:

 

It was really nice to finally be able to attend a conference in person again. This one has the benefit of being in Culver City, the next town over from where I live, so I didn't have to fly in or get a hotel room. Ten to fifteen minutes from my apartment to pulling up in front of the hotel. Easy-peasy.

 

Historic Mysteries panel.

 

I'm already looking forward to 2025!

Awards action

Got some great news yesterday - Crossing Borders, which includes my short story "Like Deja vu All Over Again" is a finalist for the Silver Falchion Award for Best Short Story Collection/Anthology. This award is presented by the annual convention Killer Nashville. 

Come on August 21!

Charmed, I'm sure!

The other day this popped up on my Facebook feed: Celebrating Every Publication by Kate Fellowes. 

What Kate has done over the years is fill bracelets with charms relating to her stories and essays each time she's been published. She's currently on her third bracelet.

I thought it was a pretty cool idea, so I looked at my whopping four published short stories and started thinking about charms. Here's what I came up with. 

1 - "Crime Drama/Do Not Cross", which appeared in LAst Resort, is a Hollywood-based story about a failed actress turned private eye, and who is obsessed with a CSI franchise-type show that is about to end its run. So I figured a Hollywood sign charm would be awesome.

I had a surprisingly tough time finding Hollywood-related charms. In addition, a lot of them are intended to have chains looped through them, while I'm looking for charms with clasps. So far this is the closest thing I've found and I'm not really sold on it. I love the comedy and tragedy masks, but not for this story.

I did find this clapper board, but not happening at that price. Even the charms at Brighton (where I was really hoping to find what I needed to make this happen) aren't anywhere near that, and that is not an inexpensive place to shop.

2 - "Like Deja vu All Over Again", which appeared in Crossing Borders, was based on a nightmare I had years ago about being carjacked. So obviously a car charm is needed here.

Again, I was surprised by the apparent lack of car-related charms. The car in the story is an old Toyota Corolla, so it can't be a fancy car. I might need to brainstorm this one a bit more.

3 - In "The Legend of Bahama Bobby", which was just published in The Fish That Got Away, Bobby is a painter, so something painterly, obviously.

I found the perfect charm here. Is this cute or what?

4 - Lastly we have "Christine Thirteen", which is just now being published in Avenging Angelenos (I'm still swooning over that cover). I don't want to give too much away, but the obvious choice is a disposable coffee cup with a lid.

I was surprised how few of these I could find. You'd think they'd be all over the place. I needed a cup with a lid as opposed to a cup and saucer, and eventually found this.

So far I haven't bought any of these because I don't want the collection to be spotty, but if I can find charms to go with all four stories, it's pretty certain I'll be adding to my jewelry collection. Plus, it would be a heck of a conversation piece, don't you think?

We have a winner!

Crossing Borders, the 2020 anthology from the San Diego Chapter of Sisters in Crime that includes my short story "Like Deja vu All Over Again" was just named Best Anthology by the San Diego Book Awards Association.

This marks another first for me - being part of something award-winning! Such great news!

Recent reading: "Crossing Borders"

Crossing Borders (edited by Lisa Brackmann and Matt Coyle)

A bit of setup: I was at a point where I was partway through four - FOUR - separate books. I also haven't been reading much lately. Not sure why, except that I've been indulging in my two favorite time wasters -  crossword puzzles and playing Scrabble versus the computer on Kindle. So I decided my goal for the next week (or however long it takes) would be to finish those four books.

First up is Crossing Borders, which as you know if you've read the blog includes my short story, "Like Deja vu All Over Again". The anthology was commissioned by the San Diego Chapter of Sisters in Crime to celebrate Left Coast Crime being held in their town this year. Unfortunately LCC happened in the middle of March, just as COVID-19 was rearing its ugly head, and ended up being shut down after the first day (one of the casualties was our launch party for the anthology). We were also scheduled to do an in-store event at Mysterious Galaxy in San Diego in April which was also cancelled.

The blurb from the back of the book:

Good stories start with characters crossing borders and finding themselves in worlds filled with hurt, harm, and danger. In Crossing Borders, the first anthology from Partners in Crime, the San Diego Chapter of Sisters in Crime, fifteen stories capture moments before, during and after characters cross borders and find themselves stumbling around strange lands that abound with saints, sinners, and monsters. 

It's always interesting to see how different writers address the assigned theme and the wide variety of the stories that result. There are some good ones here, but my favorites (excluding my own, of course) were "Sandman" by B.J. Graf and "The Crossing" by Kim Keeline. When you start your story with "Malibu, 2041" you've got my attention, plus I'm a sucker for a Hollywood-related story. Graf did a great job of integrating potential technology of the future in "Sandman" without it taking over the story, although it did factor in the outcome. "The Crossing" has its main character attempting to cross the U.S./Mexico border with an unexpected twist outcome to her journey. I did get a bit of a jolt reading it - both "The Crossing" and "Like Deja vu All Over Again" begin with their protagonists being carjacked while driving Toyota Corollas, but go off in very different directions with very different outcomes.

I'm going to be a jerk and quote from my own story:

Just a nightmare. A very vivid nightmare, one of those really realistic ones, but not real. Yet I was uncharacteristically rattled by it and my heart seemed uninterested in calming down. For a split second I'd been there in my car, wide awake, being driven away by a total stranger and no doubt headed for a very bad ending.

Note: This story was based on an actual nightmare I had about being carjacked back when I had my little Corolla and waking up dissatisfied about how I'd handled the situation in my dream.

"Crossing Borders" on Dru's Book Musings

We may have lost out on our launch party when Left Coast Crime was shut down earlier this month, but there's still the internet to help promote Crossing Borders. Today the book is featured on Dru's Book Musings.

The post features a brief description by the author of each story. I really appreciate the effort that's being made to bring attention to this anthology. Despite the restraints created by the COVID-19 crisis (an in-store event scheduled at Mysterious Galaxy was also cancelled) there is a real effort being made to publicize the book and I really appreciate it.

If you're looking for something to help you pass the time during this quarantine, consider ordering Crossing Borders (both trade paperback and ebooks are available) and enjoy!

Left Coast Crime 2020

Early last Wednesday morning, prior to heading to San Diego for this year's Left Coast Crime Writer's Conference, I blogged a rather defiant piece in defense of the conference's decision to soldier on despite the COVID-19 virus, while a slew of last minute author and attendee cancellations and shutdowns were just beginning, including sporting events and the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books.

I did write that I respected that anyone who didn't feel safe traveling to the event (especially those who fall into the high-risk categories - elderly, existing health issues, immunity issues) were absolutely entitled to bow out, especially if they had to fly. I was fortunate that this was one conference I could drive to and I didn't have to worry about being packed into an airport and plane like one of many sardines. But other than that I wasn't about to let a little hysteria ruin a conference that was going to include the launch party for Crossing Borders and my chance to sit on the other side of the table as an author.

About an hour later I deleted the post. It had zero views, for which I'm grateful. Because during the next 24 hours, the shutdown of, well, pretty much everything commenced. Rather than being precautionary or panicky, the shutdowns announced earlier in the week turned out to be just the first of many dominos to fall and in retrospect, while my feelings expressed in the post were well-intentioned, that post could have come across as obnoxious and irresponsible. God knows it wasn't the first time I've used the blog as an outlet to vent, and it is my blog so I've always felt justified using it to express my opinions. But I also put it out here in the public and ultimately I just didn't feel like that post served any good purpose.

Less than a week later, schools, restaurants, movie theaters, gyms, the L.A. Times Festival of Books, Broadway shows and countless upcoming events have been cancelled or postponed. Also cancelled: Left Coast Crime before we could even get through the first complete day. San Diego County issued a statement late Thursday afternoon shutting down large gatherings and that included us.

Shutdown announcement came at the conclusion of Matt Coyle's interview. L to R: Stan Ulrich and Lucinda Surber (LCC National Committee), Kim Keeline (San Diego Co-Chair along with Lisa Brackmann and Maryelizabeth Yrurralde), interviewer Corey Lynn Fayman, and Matt Coyle.

The Crossing Borders launch party was scheduled for 7:30pm on Thursday, so that became one of the many casualties. The attendees took the news well - not surprising as it's the kind of community that you can count on to take the high road - but my heart just went out to the organizers. For the local crew this represented over two years of work and planning and it was shaping up to be a great conference. I just feel so bad for them. Their biggest problem should have been the rain. Instead, they had to watch all their hard work be brought to a screeching halt.

3+ days later, this still just makes me so sad.

To me the worst part of what happened to LCC 2020 is that I think that when all is said and done, we're going to look back on at least a large portion of the panic and shutdowns as an intentional media and politically fueled frenzy. That's my theory (or conspiracy theory, if you wish - we're all entitled to our respectfully expressed opinions here on the old blog) and until I'm proven wrong, I'm sticking with it. I do understand that all the shutdowns and cancellations (and social-distancing, my new least favorite phrase) represent erring on the side of caution, because what if you don't and this does turn out to be the next black plague? But I've heard enough sources describing it as no better or worse than any other flu epidemic we've been through before and right now that's what makes sense to me, so that's how I'm proceeding. If it turns out I'm wrong I'll be the first to admit it. And also probably die from it, because, irony.

The small portion of LCC that I was able to enjoy was great and I'm glad I made the trek to San Diego. I got to meet Kim Keeline, one of the local organizers who was also our contact during the submission and publication of Crossing Borders, as well as LCC Guest of Honor Rachel Howzell Hall, author of They All Fall Down and who also wrote the forward for Crossing Borders. Unfortunately, I didn't get the chance to meet Lisa Brackmann, my editor on the anthology, but I'm hoping to at a future event.

If you're a fan of the genre and you haven't experienced Left Coast Crime, your next chance is April 2021 in Albuquerque. Hopefully sanity will have been restored by then and we'll get to enjoy what will no doubt be a great conference.

Gorgeous San Diego sunsets from my room, nights one and two:

Bonus points: Spot my car in the parking lot!

Recent reading: "They All Fall Down"

They All Fall Down by Rachel Howzell Hall

I'm already way behind my Goodreads 2020 Reading Challenge. I committed to 52 books (average one per week) and am halfway through two separate books - one a history of the Chateau Marmont and the other a short story anthology. So what did I do? I started a third book, which became the first one I finished.

Hall is the Guest of Honor at next month's Left Coast Crime, and (disclaimer) she also wrote the foreword for Crossing Borders. Since I'll be meeting her next month I thought it might be a good idea to check out her most recent book, the acclaimed They All Fall Down.

I can see why this book has received accolades. One of the blurbs on the back cover, from James Patterson, is a better explanation than anything I could come up with: "The twists start from page one and never let up."

Miriam Macy is heading to a remote island in the Sea of Cortez to participate in a reality show that she hopes will help both her bank account and personal problems. Miriam's life has spiraled out of control. Her relationship with her teenaged daughter Morgan, an aspiring ballerina, is fractured, she has lost her husband to Morgan's ballet teacher, and there's also something going on with another girl who was bullying Morgan, something bad enough that an LAPD detective is calling Miriam, wanting to talk.

They All Fall Down was inspired by Agatha Christie's And Then There Were None, so when Miriam and her "cast mates" arrive at the island, they learn that they were all lured there for different reasons, and then one by one they start dying off. What follows is a combination of Miriam trying to figure out who is committing the murders, how to get off the isolated island alive, and the slow reveal of exactly what happened between Miriam and her daughter's bully.

I rocketed through this book in just a couple of days. It roped me in from page 1 and I felt compelled to keep reading. It's just a terrific story and highly recommended.

Ten minutes.
It had taken ten minutes for the Valium to work.
And now I felt nothing.
Smoothed out. Empty. Void of emotion.
And that hollowness lived solidly next to my heart and my lungs, that hollowness as useful as my appendix.
I took a deep breath, then found my phone in my purse. I took another breath, then reread my daughter Morgan's text message, the same message that had sent my flying into a toilet stall.
It was a short message.
Just three words.
I hate you.

It's here!!!

I ordered Crossing Borders from Amazon as soon as it became available and this being Amazon, it was delivered about five minutes later. I'm kidding. A little. Sort of.

So pretty!

One of the things I got a kick out of is that I made it onto the first page in the Table of Contents. I was on the second page in LAst Resort. I've read that the order of stories in anthologies isn't random - it's an art form. I don't know if I should read anything into it, but it's progress of some sort. Also, it's just cool to see your name in print.

The official launch will be at Left Coast Crime in San Diego in March. If you're there, come by at 7:30pm on Thursday evening and say hi!

I'm officially published again - "Crossing Borders" is available!

The "official" release date isn't until mid-March at Left Coast Crime in San Diego, but Crossing Borders is available for purchase now. You can get it at Amazon or check out the links at Down & Out Books for other vendors.

The foreword is by Rachel Howzell Hall and it looks like they got T. Jefferson Parker to blurb it. Good times.

Submitted for your approval - January 2020 edition

I started out with an entry on New Year's Eve. It was the only December submission, so I decided to count it here. I would have submitted it much earlier except I had a question about the process that wasn't covered in the submission rules. I'd emailed them a couple weeks earlier for clarification, but because of the holidays they weren't able to get back to me until December 31 and since the entry fee was going up effective January 1, I decided to get it in at the last minute.

This is contest is for works (books, plays, and short stories) that have been published. They judge the potential for adaptation into film and/or television. I submitted "Crime Drama/Do Not Cross" since it's the only thing I've had published so far (at least until next month, when Crossing Borders is released). I have no idea if "Crime Drama" is film material, but I thought I'd give it a shot. Unfortunately, the final deadline isn't until August 31, so it will be a while until they announce.

The second and third submissions were existing stories that matched the themes for two upcoming crime/mystery anthologies. I took an editing swing through each one, and one needed a lot more work than I'd anticipated. That one was submitted mid-month, the other one just a couple days ago. The mid-month one will announce by April 1 and I have reasons to have high hopes for it. Even better, it will be published in June, so that would give me two published stories in the first half of the year. I'm not sure if the other anthology will be published this year or early next year. They didn't give announcement or publication dates.

February and March should be busy. There are two more February deadlines, plus a March 1 deadline for what will be a high profile annual anthology. There's also three other markets with March deadlines (11th, 22nd, and 31st) that I'd like to submit to.

Also (as I mentioned here) we received images showing the cover of Crossing Borders, which will be available for pre-order soon. When it is, I'll update the image in the left sidebar to include a link for ordering. Crossing Borders is the first anthology from Partners in Crime, the San Diego Chapter of Sisters in Crime. It will be officially released in mid-March, in conjunction with the Left Coast Crime Conference, which is being held in San Diego this year.

Now, back to my regularly scheduled writing.

We have cover art!!!

Got a pleasant surprise this morning when an email popped up from the editor of Crossing Borders, the upcoming anthology that will include my short story "Like Deja vu All Over Again". It is gorgeous:

The book will be available for preorder soon.

I had a brief jolt when I noticed that they had screwed up my name on the back cover, listing me as "Michael" instead of "Melinda". I sent an email to the editor asking if it could be fixed. Turns out she had already caught the error but accidentally sent us the images from before the fix. So it's all good. All's well that ends well.

But just look at that cover again. IT'S SO PRETTY!!!

Dealing with this year's writing drought and moving forward

This past year was one big writer's block, so I've been going over ideas to move past it. One thing I've decided to try again is submitting as much as possible.

In 2018 my goal was at least two submissions per month. I submitted two each in January and February of that year, but then my Mom died unexpectedly in early March 2018, so March and April were total busts - nothing submitted in those months, which was understandable. There was a lot to deal with suddenly that I was completely unprepared for.

I also moved in July 2018, which was rough for a number of reasons, but I did pretty well with submissions May through September. Then the block seemed to settle in - there were no more submissions for the rest of the year. Still, I had fifteen submissions for the whole year, including five that placed in contests and one that was a winner. On the other hand I didn't get published, so I wasn't thrilled with that. But overall, for a year that was tough I felt okay with my progress.

Although I didn't put a number on submissions for 2019, the year started out with a bang. I had eight submissions in the first three months of the year, then... nothing. April through the rest of the year was pretty much a drought and not only was I not submitting, I wasn't writing much either. The good news was that I did have a story accepted for an anthology, but "Like Deja vu All Over Again", the story that's getting published in Crossing Borders in March 2020, is an old story I had kicking around that just happened to fit the theme for that anthology. I did submit to a short story competition in October that I don't think will place, but the entry fee was minimal and it made me feel like I at least did something, even if it was kind of pointless.

Late October into early November I attended both the Writer's Digest Novel Writing Conference in Pasadena and Bouchercon in Dallas and in addition to being exhausted by the time I got home, it did light a fire under me, both in terms of writing and finally tackling some personal stuff that's been lingering since Mom's death and the move away from the beach.

So the new plan is not to have a particular number of submissions per month, but to really examine the markets and opportunities and try to submit to as many as possible. There are a lot of anthologies coming up as well as other short story markets that I want to be more aggressive about submitting to, and I think that's my best shot at getting published again and seeing some progress in my writing career. I really don't want to have to wait another three years to be published again.

I've also got two other longer projects to work on that will be my A/B projects when I'm not working on short stories. One is a play and the other is one of my ideas for a novel. I've had multiple ideas for novels over the past few years and the difficulty has been focusing on just one while setting the others aside. The play is the A project because it will be quicker to complete, while the novel will be the B project with the goal of at least having a first draft by the end of the year.

Yep, that's the plan. We'll see how it rolls out, but for the first time in a long time I actually feel positive not only about writing, but about a lot of personal things as well. The Brother and I have been discussing this lately and he feels the same way - 2019 was rough for a number of reasons, but we're feeling really positive about 2020's potential.

I hope anyone who is reading this is feeling great about the new year and new decade. May the new 20's roar! And may I also take this opportunity to wish you a wonderful, creative, and productive 2020! Let's succeed together!

Another California Crime Writers Conference is in the books

California Crime Writers Conference is a bi-annual co-production of Sisters in Crime/Los Angeles and the Southern California chapter of Mystery Writers of America. While shorter and smaller than conferences like Bouchercon and Left Coast Crime, it gets a lot of the same writers as the bigger conferences. Plus it was good to spend the weekend on the westside. Cool weather, ocean breezes, even the 405 wasn't so bad.

I got to reconnect with a couple of people as well as my editor from LAst Resort. I also learned who will be writing the forward for Crossing Borders and I was thrilled by the choice. It hasn't been announced yet, so I'm not going to jump the gun here.

My two favorite panels were the TV writers and The Dark Side: Thrillers, Suspense, Noir. From the TV panel I learned that not all TV writing staffs have a room, which surprised me. I thought all shows had a writer's room. I also gained a better understanding of the current rift between the Writer's Guild and talent agencies. From another panel I learned that if you're looking for an agent, Thrillerfest's pitchfest is the place to go. Apparently it's a pitchfest on steroids.

I came home with six new books, although in my defense one was in my book bag and two were from the freebie room.

One of the neat things about CCWC is that lunch is provided both days. Both lunches were pretty good, but it was the desserts that really impressed. The cakes were very rich and they gave us huge slabs. I was only able to finish about half on both days and considering my appetite, that should give you an idea of how substantial the dessert servings were. This was from Sunday:

Objects on plate are larger than they appear.

All in all, a great weekend. Looking forward to 2021.

Submitted for your approval...and acceptance!

It's been too long since I had news like this to share: I'm being published again!

My short story "Like Deja vu All Over Again" will be part of Crossing Borders from Partners in Crime, the San Diego chapter of Sisters in Crime. They decided to do their first anthology in conjunction with next year's Left Coast Crime Conference, which will be held March 12-15, 2020 in their beautiful city.

It's been a long journey since I was first published in LAst Resort, and to be honest it was getting discouraging. I was really starting to feel like a one-hit wonder. Also, "Deja vu" is a story I've had kicking around for a long time, so it's nice to finally be able to put this one to bed. Ironically, it was rejected by a Sisters in Crime Guppies anthology just a couple months before I got the acceptance for LAst Resort, although it also has been edited and tightened up a bit since then. I'm so happy it finally has a home in print and can retire from competition.

Crossing Borders will be published in March 2020.