AWARD-WINNING WRITER SCARES NANCY PICKARD*

By Paula Matter

*Barry Eisler didn’t look too happy either. However, he did stay in his chair.

What in the world am I talking about, you ask?

After woefully cancelling my registration to this year’s New England Crime Bake con, I became even sadder as the weekend approached.

How could it be that I would miss this fabulous experience? I’ve made the trip to Dedham, MA the past two years for this mystery con. I know many of the attendees, and a lot of them are people I get to see only once a year. My car knows the route. I can drive it in six hours regardless what Mapquest says. I was scheduled to work only one day, and I could easily ask someone to cover half my shift on Saturday morning. If I got on the road by 9:30, I’d have plenty of time.

What could possibly stop me?

Oh. I’d cancelled and they’d been sold out for weeks.

Crap.

Since one of my mottoes is “It never hurts to ask,” I asked.

They said yes! Well, she said yes. Barb Ross, the wonderful lady in charge of registration, wrote back right away saying attending just the banquet would be no problem.

Yay!

But it was a costume banquet. Hmmm. Who here does not know how much I love dressing up for costume parties?

That’s right. I simply had to get a costume.

The theme: Sleuths, Spies and Private Eyes. Nothing simple about it since time was limited. I read further down on the Web site page, and there, there it was! A category for “The Best of the Baddies.”

A villain? Oh, hell yeah.

Here's the photo the fabulous Mo Walsh took. Can you tell who I am?

Here’s a hint: When I told Nancy Pickard I was her number one fan, she jumped out of her chair, and tried to hide from me.

 After winning first place (the judges said they were too scared to not declare me the winner!), Hallie Ephron told me I could now call myself an award-winning writer. (Don’t worry. I’m only doing that today for a title.) Full disclosure: While there were many dressed in costumes for the other categories, mystery novelist Vincent H. O’Neil, and I were the only two  “Best of the Baddies.”

If I hadn’t scared the judges, Vinnie had a good shot at winning as Professor Moriarty.

And just to show y'all the judges weren't really scared, here's another photo:

I have to share one more photo with y'all. Nikki Bonanni (on left) won Best Overall and here's why:

                                               Lisbeth Salander, Harriet Vane & Emma Peel

Thanks to everyone at Crime Bake. See you next year!

"You're Free"

By Pat Remick

During the weekend, I completed my year-long presidency of the New England chapter of Sisters in Crime and my lovely parting gifts were accompanied by a card that showed an open pair of handcuffs and the words "You're Free."

While I laughed at this message, it is true. I am now FREE of a job I volunteered for that has consumed vast amounts of time over the past twelve months. Don't get me wrong -- I loved this task because of the friends I've gained, the unforgettable experiences I've enjoyed, and my great delight at seeing many of my ideas come to fruition, thanks to a supportive and hard-working board that oversees our dynamic chapter of almost 200 women and men spread over a six-state region.


MWANE President Margaret McLean and SinCNE President Me

As president, I also had the opportunity to co-chair the 9th annual New England Crime Bake for Mystery Writers and Readers with the president of the New England chapter of Mystery Writers of America as these groups co-sponsor this amazing event (and profit from it). Crime Bake sold out four months early this year and featured the incredible Charlaine Harris as Guest of Honor and a "nest" (that's Vampire-speak, I've learned) of incredible New England authors led by Dennis Lehane.  Believe me, if it weren't for SinCNE, I would never appear in public in a vampire cape and sunglasses.

The conference, as I noted in a previous posting, required a great deal of time to organize, but was a blast to be part of and an experience for which I will be forever grateful. 

My point here is that serving as President and Co-Chair was memorable, fulfilling and mostly a whole lot of fun. These volunteer positions also were a whole lot of work and consumed a great deal of my time in order to further the cause of my fellow New England authors. Because my first novel is still a Work in Progress, these jobs never were platforms for promoting my books. So what did I gain from these endeavors?

I leave knowing I did the best I could to support my fellow members of Sisters in Crime and Mystery Writers of America, both within our mystery writing community and outside of it. I made wonderful writing friends and had an opportunity to work with incredible people who also love mysteries. In sum: This past year has been a wonderful experience.

But now, it's time to move on -- and back to where I belong. The closing words of the card thanking me for my hard work and inspiration were: "Now get back to writing!" And that's what I plan to do.

But this has been my dilemma over the past year: The more time I devoted to SinCNE and Crime Bake, the less I had for my own writing. However, my thank you card reminds me that I'm "FREE" to return to it once again, with my life much richer because of my experiences.

I'm sure many of us have faced this conundrum -- wanting to support the writing community but knowing it could interfere with our own writing. Which choice did you make -- and why? 

Two Out of Three Ain't Bad

By Paula Matter


As some of you know, I along with fellow Stiffs Pat Remick and Ramona Long attended the Crime Bake conference in Dedham, MA. Awesome conference and I hope to see a couple more Stiffs attend next year. Hint, hint.

Two highlights for me came on Sunday when I won prizes. A new event this year was the Scavenger Hunt which I believe was sponsored by the New England SinC chapter. Attendees were given a sheet of paper and had to go around collecting signatures from people who matched the description. Such as: First Time At Crime Bake which Ramona signed; NE SinC Board Member which Pat signed. Twenty-five blocks and I had a ball meeting new people and talking with others I already knew. Hank Philippi Ryan signed Anthony Winner, and the bookseller signed Grandfather. A great way to interact with other attendees.

To top it off, I won a book by Margaret Maron!

The other prize I won Sunday morning was as one of four winners of the Flashwords contest.

Contest Description: Use at least ten of the listed “Title Words” from novels by Charlaine Harris in a flash fiction story of no more than 150 words. Include a crime or suggestion of a crime. Keep it clean. Write in English.

Title Words: Bedroom, Bone, Club, Corpse, Counselor, Dark, Dead, Family, Fool, Grave, Heels, Ice, Landlord, Living, Pick, Scene, Secret, Surprise, Trollop, Worse

Dead to Me and Worse, I Paid for Law School

I didn’t have to pick the lock, thanks to the foolish landlord. Grateful he didn’t know about Vinnie recently dumping me for that trollop at the VFW club, I moved quickly through my ex-fiancé’s living room and into the bedroom. I grabbed Vinnie’s revolver, then hurried to the VFW.

Now, crouched over her corpse, the gun resting against my hip bone, I pictured the scene outside my cramped, dark hiding place. Vinnie’s family--the rotten heels--had decided to go through with the unnecessary-but-paid-for bachelor party. An excuse to celebrate Vinnie winning his first case.

I had five bullets left. One for each of them.

I waited for the secret signal--what would’ve been Trollop’s cue to jump out of the cake.

“Grave situation, Counselor, we’re out of ice!”

I put a smile on my face, my finger on the trigger, pushed the hinged lid up and yelled, “Surprise!”

Mo Walsh, the woman in charge of the Flashwords contest, read the story beautifully, perfectly. Winning this prize two years in a row tells me I need to stick with short stories! My prize was a bottle of Vampire wine, a nice Merlot. Other choices were mugs or T-shirts.

 And with Crime Bake over, so is the 2010 conference season for me. I'm thinking of attending Malice Domestic and Pennwriters next year. And Crime Bake, of course.

How about you? What will you be attending? Do you have a favorite annual conference or writerly event you can't miss? What do you look for when attending these events? What's your most memorable moment?

Giving Thanks for Crime (Bake)

By Pat Remick

In this month of Thanksgiving, I must say how thankful I am that a year of work will (hopefully) come to successful fruition this coming weekend at the New England Crime Bake for Mystery Readers and Writers.

While it has been exciting and stimulating to be co-chair of a conference totally run by mystery-loving volunteers, it also has been challenging and required much effort, as those of you who have been involved in similar ventures well know. It also has eaten up a great deal of writing time and I will be extremely thankful to get that back as of next Monday. 

Crime Bake, now in its ninth year, takes place in "DEAD"ham, Massachusetts, and is co-sponsored by the New England chapters of Sisters in Crime and Mystery Writers of America. Traditionally the co-chairs are the presidents of these two organizations, which in my case means not only presiding over an active SinC chapter that spans six New England states, it also requires heading a committee of 20 people who hail from three of them -- and with someone I'd met only once before. In addition, this is just my second year on the Crime Bake Committee and it is MWANE President Margaret McLean's first so some of it we've been making up as we go along.

The rest comes from a strong cadre of dedicated fellow mystery writers who deeply love this confab, which is known as a writer's conference. Sure, there have been issues, false starts and some mistakes, but I am so grateful for the hard work of each of them because it has been vital to this venture and responsible for us selling out at the beginning of August.

Our guest of honor is the incredible Charlaine Harris (four, count 'em four, mystery series including the Sookie Stackhouse "Southern Vampire" books on which the HBO series True Blood is based). We will be joined by SinC National President Cathy Pickens and national MWA EVP Larry Light. Our lineup includes best-selling New England authors Dennis Lehane (personally invited by yours truly after stalking him at my local chain bookstore), Julia Spencer-Fleming, Hallie Ephron, Sheila Connolly and so many others, as well as exciting debut authors like Barb Ross and Steve Liskow. Our schedule of fascinating panels also features fabulous forensics experts, as well as 10 agents and editors from New York and New England. How can we not succeed?

This conference is always stimulating and energizing because the rooms are filled with so many enthusiastic mystery writers dedicated to improving their craft and talking about it. Let's face it: there also aren't many conferences where people can legitimately allow themselves to be excited about discussing murder or ways to dispose of a body. I'm also delighted to note that fellow Working Stiffs bloggers Paula Matter and Ramona DeFelice Long are attending this year, providing an opportunity for us to meet somewhere other than the virtual world and also pose for a photo at the Red & Black Banquet and Vampire Ball that we can share with you later.

As Crime Bake approaches, I realize how blessed I am to have found my way to the mystery genre and to now be part of such an amazing community of writers. And I'll be giving thanks for this experience throughout the entire weekend, both when I'm wearing my vampire cape and fangs -- and when I'm not.

I can't conclude this without thanking the entire Crime Bake Committee (in alphabetical order): Sybille Barrasso, Jan Brogan, Sheila Connolly, Sharon Daynard, Michele Dorsey, Hallie Ephron, Kate Flora, Janet Halpin, Rosemary Harris, Kathleen Hart, Roberta Isleib, Toni L.P. Kelner, Carol Lynn, Margaret McLean, Paula Munier, Ang Pompano, Ray Salemi, Mo Walsh, and Leslie Wheeler.
  

Magical Mystery Weekend and Sue Grafton on Writing Groups

By Pat Remick

This past weekend was beyond magical for me as a mystery writer, highlighted by a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to escort a rock star in the mystery world who is also an inspiration to women writers in this genre -- the incredible Sue Grafton.

Her acceptance of the invitation to be guest of honor at this weekend's 2009 New England Crime Bake conference for mystery writers and fans is credited with helping us sell out for the first time despite tough economic times that led to the cancellation of other mystery conferences.

As many of you know, Sue Grafton's books featuring private investigator Kinsey Milhone have been published in 28 countries, 26 languages and have a readership in the millions. She expects to conclude her alphabet series -- which began with "A is for Alibi" in 1982 and will see its 21st installment,"U is for Undertow, on Dec. 1 --  by 2015 with "Z is for Zero."

You can imagine how thrilled I was to be the Crime Bake organizing committee member assigned to escort her during the weekend conference. But you cannot imagine my embarrassment over what happened just minutes after I proudly informed her that we arranged for an executive car service to transport the two of us from the airport to the conference hotel because we were so pleased to have her as our guest of honor. Instead of the black town car I anticipated would drive up, the vehicle from American Executive Car and Taxi was from the "taxi" side and had seen better days. I was mortified then, but can laugh about it now.

Sue, however, was exceptionally gracious. She also is extremely funny and irreverent (no surprise to her readers) and was extrordinarily generous with her time and advice to the nearly 300 authors and wanna-be writers at Crime Bake. Not only did she sign every book and additional object pushed in front of her, she surprised everyone by offering to critique the first 20 pages of one attendee whose name she selected in a random drawing.

I also became aware of another example of her generosity, though it was far less public. An unpublished writer showed Sue a book she had signed at an event 21 years earlier. The woman told Sue then that she was writing a mystery. Sue offered to review a few pages and added her contact information. The woman never sent them, and finally finished her manuscript recently. "Then I'll read them now," Sue told her Saturday. The woman got in her car and drove home to retrieve them -- and later enjoyed the manuscript review of her life.

It's difficult to convey the energy at Crime Bake, but everyone was excited about the opportunity to meet Sue Grafton and hear her speak, although I suspect that some of what she said during her luncheon address was not easily accepted by many in the audience.

I'm not talking about her urging her listeners to delete adverbs and avoid words like glare and stomp. Or her suggestion that writers refrain from having women characters square their shoulders or blow their bangs up off their faces. I'm also not referring to her belief that the trick of a successful mystery is to fool the reader without making him or her angry. 

I'm talking about the point where she said that perhaps writers should not join writers' groups. Did I just hear a collective gasp out there? I did in the ballroom of the Dedham Hilton.

In her view, writers' groups can make you feel too comfortable. They tell you your work is great, even when it's not. She believes writing involves isolation and creating in a pressure cooker. In her view, joining a group where you share your work also means you give away energy -- energy that would be better put into your manuscript.

It's a point worth considering. I never joined a writing group because I do not think there is enough time for me to be part of such a group, keep up with my everyday life and finish my novel, too. However, I have many writer friends who say their writing groups are what keep them going and they could not continue this difficult endeavor of writing without such support.

What do you think? Do you agree with Sue Grafton's point about writing groups?

To read more about the Crime Bake experience, click here. The photo is the same, as are some of the words, but there are  more details about the weekend. One important element is missing, however: Our very own Working Stiffs blogger Paula Matter won the Crime Bake Flash Fiction Contest! Hopefully she'll share her creation soon. Yay Paula!

By Pat Remick

There were two "fun" things on my list of 2009 goals: seeing a moose in the wild and meeting author Dennis Lehane. I figured that fulfilling either would be fascinating – and I was correct.

I met goal No. 1 in June when, using the “but it’s my birthday” excuse, I dragged Husband No. 1 and Son No. 2 to northern New Hampshire to find not one, but four, of the magnificent creatures in their natural habitat. (Click here for the recap.)

I figured tracking down Dennis Lehane would be more difficult. Although he lives part of the year in the Boston area, which is about 50 miles away, I don't believe he's made many public appearances since the 2008 publication of “The Given Day,” his epic set in Boston around the time of the 1919 policemen’s strike. One presumes that’s because he’s been at his desk writing or in Florida teaching.

Many people are familiar with the films made from three Lehane books: the incredible “Mystic River” with Sean Penn and Tim Robbins; “Gone, Baby, Gone” with Casey Affleck and Morgan Freeman; and the upcoming “Shutter Island” due out in February and starring Leonard DiCaprio, Mark Ruffalo and Ben Kingsley.

I am a huge fan of most of Lehane’s work. I was blown away by “Mystic River” and hated “Shutter Island.” But I have never wavered in adoring his gritty mystery series featuring smart-mouthed Boston Private Investigators Patrick Kenzie and Angie Gennaro. “Gone, Baby, Gone” is the fourth of five of those books. When he decided to end the deliciously dark string, I was devastated. I blame my grief for not previously reading “The Given Day” or “Coronado,” his short story collection.

So you can imagine how thrilled I was recently to learn that not only will his next book resurrect my favorite series, he was going to sign the new paperback version of “The Given Day” at my local chain bookstore. That night I lined up with about 45 other fans -- plus camera-toting Husband No. 1. To my dismay, store management was so apprehensive about the potential size of the crowd that it downgraded his “reading” to a “signing.” Nonetheless, I was still going to meet Dennis Lehane – and my goal.

When it was finally my turn to bring my book to the desk for his autograph, I told him about my goals to see a moose... to which he interjected “that’s cool” … and to meet him, to which he said, “awwwhhh” as if he were truly touched (although maybe he just thought I was “touched,” as in mentally unbalanced).

In any case, it made it easier to issue an invitation for him to make his first appearance at the annual New England Crime Bake Conference for mystery writers and readers, which I’m on track to co-chair in November 2010. However, our conversation continued longer than the store personnel and fans preferred. Out of the corner of my eye I could see Husband No. 1 snapping photos while the manager seemed to be wavering between calling security and tackling me himself. Apparently the manager didn't understand that I had goals to meet.

I finally moved on after Dennis wrote down his assistant’s contact information. A few days later, she e-mailed that next year’s Crime Bake is on his calendar.

With two months still to go until the end of 2009, I am delighted to have already met my “fun” goals and contemplating the 2010 list. It’s much more enjoyable than dwelling on those pesky objectives I’m still trying to meet – like finishing my novel and cleaning my home office. 

Did you set any “fun” goals for 2009? Did you accomplish them? What motivates you to accomplish the not-so-fun goals?

Where Do Your Stories Come From -- Part 2

In Monday's blog "Virtually There," Gina Sestak asked the question: "Where do your stories come from?" Here's one man's answer:

By Frank Cook

Invariably when I go to writer conferences like the New England Crime Bake (Nov. 13-15 in Dedham, MA, with Sue Grafton as this year's guest of honor), one of the most frequently asked questions is “where do you get your ideas?”

And invariably the author’s answer almost always has something to do with some soaring experience or the depth of their soul. Some build their stories around a character they conjure, others fashion them after a recent event.

Those aren’t the answers I’m looking for. When I ask, “Where do you get your ideas,” I literally mean “where are you when you get your ideas?” Are you at the grocery store? In the shower? At the gym?

Whenever I write fiction, I start with the scene. I don’t start with “the character” or “the event.” I start with the surroundings.

The idea for my short story “Liberty” (Seasmoke anthology, Level Best Books) came to me while I walked my dog around my neighborhood. The triggering thoughts were, “What kind of crime could be committed here?” “If a criminal was doing exactly what I’m doing, what kind of crime would he commit?”

Since then, I’ve found that approach has worked time and again. After attending a few author readings at my favorite book store (RiverRun in Portsmouth), I started mulling, “what kind of crime could be committed here?” That question led to “The Greatest Criminal Mind Ever,” which will be published this November in "Quarry: Crime Stories by New England Writers."

Likewise, a spring morning and the annual ritual of cleaning out the basement led to frequent trips to the local recycling center. Those trips ultimately led to the story, “The dump at the Dump.”

My wife Pat Remick’s award-winning story “Mercy 101” (Still Waters anthology, Level Best Books), came from her frequent commutes on Highway 101 from Portsmouth to the state capital in Concord.

Again, first came the scene. Second, came the crime. After that, it’s matter populating the plot with the right characters.

The point here is that story ideas need not come from some grand place or exotic situation. Entertaining ideas come from the most mundane places. And let’s face it, we’ve all considered writing, “Murder at the DMV.”

But, awkwardly transitioning back to where I started, one of the great things about going to Crime Bake is listening to other authors talk about where they get their ideas and, of course, listening to experts suggest how to carry them out.

I have listened to Jeremiah Healy discuss the best way to stab people without getting blood on yourself, and I have learned as Chuck Hogan (Prince of Thieves) taught me how to rob banks. And I have been relieved to hear poison lady Luci Zahray assure, “Don’t worry, coroners almost never test for these things.”

It occurred to me then that the greatest criminal minds in New England aren’t in prison. They’re at Crime Bake.

It also occurred to me that the local SWAT team probably had the building surrounded.

Frank Cook is a short story writer, real estate and business journalist, professional development book author, a longtime mystery fan currently working on two crime novels, and the long-suffering husband of Working Stiffs blogger Pat Remick.