Ready, set, launch!

by: Joelle Charbonneau

Happy July.  I’m not sure how it is already July.  I mean, I understand the passage of time.  Seconds turn into minutes.  Minutes turn into hours.  Hours into days.  Etc… Etc… Etc…  But despite knowing how it happened, I am still protesting the fact we are halfway through this year.  My to-do list for the year hasn’t gotten shorter, which is the reason I’m totally freaked about the turn of the calendar and this new month staring me in the face.

The month of July also makes me feel nervous for another reason.  MURDER FOR CHOIR launches in 2 days.  I’m excited and panicked and thrilled and about ready to throw up.  (Don’t I make publishing sound totally awesome?)  These are all emotions I’m used to feeling on the opening of a new show and thus far every book that I have published has come with its own set of butterflies. 

Launching this series is particularly nerve wracking because it has so much of me in between the jacket covers.  My heroine, Paige Marshall, is a classically trained singer hoping to land her big break.  To make ends meet, she takes a job as a high school show choir coach and finds a rival choir director strangled with a microphone cord—dead. 

Ok—I’ve never tripped over a dead body, but I know what it is like to go to audition after audition and not land that break you have worked so hard for.  I’ve also taught voice to lots of high school students.  So, while Paige is in no way me, I know her.  I know what kind of drive it takes to face those auditions.  To keep hoping and dreaming.  And how frustrating and rewarding it can be to work with the next generation that are looking to take that same career path.

So, while everything I write has bits and pieces of me in it, this one has a great deal of my soul.  (Probably an odd thing to say about a book with a large standard poodle intent on making the heroine go hungry!)  I hope readers pick up the book.  I hope they enjoy the story enough to read the next one. 

I hope.

And now, a word from our sponsors*

By Russel D McLean

(well, sort of)

My internet provider is playing silly games this week, so I don't have the time for a big post. I'll be back up to speed (I hope!) next week. But thanks to the wonderful Joelle for filling in last week: she is a truly talented lady, and as well as her reading her wonderful blog entries you should go read her book, too! Go.

But if you've ever wondered what it takes to be a writer like Joelle (or even a general miscreant like myself), and you live in Scotland, you could learn a lot from this event** being run on 16 July by two of the top Scots crime writers. And I can say from first hand experience that Al Guthrie is one hell of a teacher and knows his stuff inside out. If you're going to attend a course on writing, then one run by these fellas is going to be top notch. Anyway, towit, a press release:

Two of the country's leading crime writers are teaming up to pass their know-how on to the next wave of upcoming authors.  Edinburgh-based Tony Black and Allan Guthrie have had 10 novels published between them. Now they're getting together to present a unique workshop in the Scottish capital, called Writing Your Crime Novel - Seven Steps to Success.  Crime-writing is one of the most popular genres among readers in Britain and beyond, and it remains one of the very few growth areas in publishing. With many new writers eager to turn their hand to this area, the workshop is designed to help authors hone their skills by providing a unique insight in the creative process of planning and writing a crime novel. It covers such key areas as plot development, story structure and characterisation.  Tony says: "The potential market for crime writers is massive these days, but finding a pathway through it is more difficult than ever.  “Publishers are all looking for the next big thing - but are very specific about what they want. This course is aimed at pointing out just what it is they’re looking for, and how to go about delivering it."  Tony will host of the majority of the event, while Allan will present a section dealing with how to go about attracting the interest of a literary agent.  Tony says: "This is probably the most valuable insight you can afford a new writer as without an agent, there’s simply very little chance of being published."  Writing Your Crime Novel workshop takes place at the Royal Over-SeasClub, 100 Princes Street, Edinburgh, on Friday 16 July. For more details, go to www.theideasspace.co.uk 

* If we call them "sponsors" will they give us money? I think the answer is no but it was worth a try.

**full disclaimer - I am associated with the Ideas Space which means that one of these days I'll probably be dishing out my lunatic knowledge on unsuspected students