Sorry for not posting sooner, but Gwen and I have been dealing with confirmed cases of the swine flu. Attending Bouchercon 2009 was great, though!

Working Stiffs gives an excellent account of the con. Central Crime Zone also has a rundown of the Bcon events in Indianapolis.

We had great fun meeting other authors. Here's Gwen with Anthony Award winner Chris Grabenstein!

Post from the Spouse

When this account switched over to Google, Gwen had trouble accessing it. We will see whether she can access it now. If not, I may become her publicist by default.

Agent Search

My first novel is finished. I am incredibly relieved to have the manuscript done, but I know this is only the beginning. The next step is harder to take. So like many authors I have been procrastinating the act of searching for an agent. Nearly a year has gone by now since I finished my first draft. Admittedly, that early draft needed polishing. Thanks to a couple of good readers in the Ohio River Valley Sisters in Crime chapter, improvements have been made.

So what's holding me back now?

It isn't easy to let go of the manuscript. I have done all I can for my brain child, but it is still hard to hand it over to others who will make changes, maybe corrupt the plot, or turn my book into something different from what I have in mind. Part of me is afraid to send my baby out into the world to be judged and yes, possibly rejected by others. Part of me is deathly afraid that the book isn't ready to meet the world. In short, what's holding me back is me. My fears, my insecurities, my ego is getting in the way of my dream of being a novelist.

The result of this paralyzing fear is that I haven't posted to this blog or worked on other stories. Today I am trying to change that. One baby step at a time I am going to get back into my writing. That means I am going to be working on a query letter, and picking out agents to send it to. I refuse to let fear keep me from my dreams any longer.

Veritas "Meet The Authors" Class with ORV Sisters in Crime

The Veritas Society Chapter at Bellamine University in Louisville offered a class in their spring semester entitled "Meet the Authors" and invited Authors from the Ohio River Valley Sisters in Crime to present a session. On April 4, 2997 Low Down and Derby Authors Mike Bradford, Sarah Glenn, Sandra Leonard, Elaine Munsch, Beverle Graves Myers, Brenda Roberson Stewart and I were in Louisvile to meet with Veritas students and talk about our work and the authors that inspire us. It was a great experience and I am very pleased that Veritas has invited us back again.

Link to MotherWise

http://motherwise.us/mugshots/story-post2.html

The results are in and "Interrupted Efforts" is tied for first place in the December MotherWise compitition. Thanks to my grandson's efforts, I have a new mug for my coco and a nice first place certificate to add to my scrapbook.

Indulging my love of microfiction doesn't add much to the bank account, but the contest are fun.

Gwen’s latest prize arrives

Gwen’s prize for winning First Place in the Microhorror.com Halloween Contest has arrived! As promised, she is modeling it here.

The front of the shirt:

Here is the back.

Gwen tells me that she expects never to see it again, now that she’s worn it once. She does know my fondness for black tees well…

Sarah

Us at the Frankfort Book Fair

Here we are at the Frankfort Book Fair. Gwen on the left, Sarah on the right. It was a very large and well-attended event, and we did a brisk business with our anthologies.