Spring 2025

 I won't hesitate to tell people that the secret to my success as a writer was joining Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers, where for the first time I met published authors, who freely shared writing advice and the trials and tribulations of their journeys to publication. But key to that success was belonging to a critique group, but not just any group, but one that offered the necessary writing smarts with members pushing one another forward. I was fortunate to be invited into such a group by its moderator, the late Jameson Cole, who ran critique like boot camp. Strict rules. Leave your ego at the door. Reading assignments. Incisive questions about craft and story telling. Three in our group eventually got contracts with big NY houses. Jeanne C. Stein, Jeff Shelby, and me.

Over the years, people came and went. The group sat dormant for a while, then emerged from hibernation stronger than ever. The imbibing of specialty cocktails helped. When the pandemic hit, we like most everyone else, migrated to Zoom. But with so much of our lives on Zoom, critique lost its unique appeal and fell to the wayside. I focused on ghostwriting projects, and the work pace was such that I didn't have the opportunity to ask for critique. Besides, after more than a decade as a published writer and creative writing instructor, I was sure that I had a good enough handle putting words on paper that I thought my work didn't need another set of eyes besides mine and the client's. 

Late last year I had dinner with Samantha Cohoe and Angie Hodapp. Samantha's critique group had disbanded and she asked if Angie and I were willing to start one. Angie looked at me, Well? I hesitated, feeling not only that I didn't need a critique group, but it would represent yet another imposition into my time. But I couldn't back down. The next step was inviting members, which became a challenge. Many of our previous members had moved on, literally, having relocated to other states. Others were writing different genres or had pressing work demands. And others were no longer writing. Over the course of several weeks we found enough writers, scribes with years of writing and publishing experience, willing to meet on a regular schedule.

 For many months now I've been working on a WIP. I brought the opening chapter to critique, and what impressed me the most about that initial meeting, was how good I felt about the process. I not only enjoyed critiquing the other members' work, but getting feedback on mine. The comments help hone my prose and narrative to the point that I consider my critique group as a SECRET WEAPON.

 The sharp-eyed among you may notice that they're all women. At the moment, other than me, our men have had to bow out because of other commitments. So here you are, clockwise starting at top left, Angie Hodapp, Samantha Cohoe, Sue Duff, and Carolyn Kemp. Don't mess with them.

 

 

Winter 2025

I've got several irons in the writing fire, so stay tuned for news.

In the meantime, I want to share some of the books I've read recently. One of my teaching mantras is: "If you want to be a writer, then you'd better be a reader." Fortunately, as a writing instructor I found that my students were avid readers and well-versed in their genre. Mostly. Although I write fiction, I've always read non-fiction for inspiration and to better appreciate the world we live in.

 

 

One book that's been on my TBR pile and I finally got around to reading was Truman Capote's classic, In Cold Blood, his telling of the horrific 1959 slaughter of the Clutter family in rural Kansas. As one who appreciates crime stories, I followed the account with keen interest, wondering how I might apply some of the details in my own work and how the police investigation lead to the arrest of the killers. In today's belief that forensics and DNA are the ultimate tools that decide a case, in actuality, what leads to the apprehension of suspects is motive, circumstance, and a tip off. In this case, motive was hard to determine as little was taken. Turns out the killers thought there was a safe full of cash, and finding none, to get rid of witnesses, proceeded with sadistic zeal shotgunning their four victims in the face. As with most serious crimes, the big break was a timely lead, in this case provided by a former cellmate of one of the killers, who recounted hearing how this exact crime would take place. Of equal fascination were the interrogations of the two suspects. Pop culture leads us to believe that police, especially back then, would bring out the rubber hoses and beat out a confession. Instead, the detectives interviewed the suspects separately and let them talk, eventually tripping over inconsistencies, and then ratting on each other.

What drew me to In the Garden of Beasts were that the author, Eric Larsen, is one of my favorite writers, having penned The Devil in the White City and Dead Wake, and the story covers a period of history that I especially enjoy studying, the years leading to World War Two. The narrative is told through William L. Dodd, the American ambassador to Germany. We learn about the personal machinations inside the US State Department, often driven by petty concerns, the Dodd family dynamics, how his very social daughter cultivated dalliances with social climbers of various nationalities to include a Gestapo officer and a Soviet spy, and how Hitler and the Nazis seized power through terror and murder. The city of Berlin is a character in itself: cosmopolitan, modern, splendid, and it pained me knowing that this remarkable place would be blasted to apocalyptic ruin.

In this country, one of the driving references in our culture is the American Revolution. Like most of you, I'm aware of the events in broad strokes and what hooked me to read this book was the title: Our First Civil War: Patriots and Loyalists in the American Revolution by H.W. Brands. Violent revolutions are in fact civil wars, pitting the new against the status quo. In our history, we see our revolution as a fight against the Redcoats when there was a large contingent of colonists who felt they would be better off as subjects of the British Crown. This narrative was primarily a character study, mostly about George Washington and Benjamin Franklin, although with plenty of other personalities given time on center stage. My takeaways: George Washington deserves his accolades as father of this country. The sacrifices of the Continental Army and the militias were brutally punishing. I can't imagine winter combat in the clothing of that period. What deepened this examination of history were the often overlooked contributions of Native Americans and the slaves pulled into the conflict.

During the year, I contribute a monthly post to the blog Type M for Murder. Most recently:

November 2024

December 2024

January 2025