My Secret Life as a Romance Writer

In addition to writing geezer-lit and paranormal mysteries, I’m now a card-carrying member of Romance Writers of America. This is only natural since I have geezer romance and paranormal romance in my mystery novels. My writing friends, Lynda Hilburn and Karen Graffenberger, have been encouraging me to join RWA, and I finally succumbed and also signed up for Colorado Romance Writers as well.

This last Saturday, I made my first foray into the world of romance writers by attending a mini-conference put on by CRW and Heart of Denver Romance Writers. Lo and behold, I found fellow mystery writers and online mystery critique partners, Becky Martinez and Darla Barton, attending.

And another surprise—one other attendee of the male persuasion, a brave soul who joined me in the group of fifty plus (number not age) romance writers. I was not alone.

The conference was terrific. Speaker Kristen Lamb wowed us with her insights and recommendations into the effective use of social media. I took copious notes, including a full page of to-dos, and came home to immediately update my blog site. I’ve also vowed to finally use Twitter (groan) effectively. Yes, I’m officially twitterpated. 

What Were Your Fantasies As a Child?

When I was young, I had two wishes. I wanted to be able to fly and to become invisible when I wanted to. I remember dreams of flying over field in Hawaii where I grew up, soaring above the ocean, dipping and diving. This gave me a sense of complete freedom. Even as an adult I still have dreams periodically of flying.

Then to be invisible. I was a shy child, and the idea of being able to turn myself invisible and to sneak up on people and listen to conversations appealed to me. This desire has played out in my novel, The V V Agency, where one of the characteristics of my transvictus shape-shifter is invisibility. I guess that idea percolated in my writer’s brain for over sixty years before appearing in a story.

What were your fantasies as a child?

How have these changed now that you’re an adult?

Why I Write

Why do I write? I’ve given this some though recently in all the flurry of completing a manuscript, releasing a new book, signing a contract for another, and, oh yes, trying to promote existing books.

So why do I write? For me the answer is that I have stories to tell and I enjoy communicating with readers. I like writing and allocate every morning I’m not traveling or doing an event to working on my next manuscript. This plus editing other manuscripts and participating in an online critique group fill out my writing priorities.

Then it’s on to promoting, an endless task that always requires more time than I have to put into it. I like giving presentations, doing library events, attending reader conferences and conducting signings, but I must say I’m not a fan of all the social media tasks that bombard me. Facebook isn’t bad, I participate in three blogs including this one, but Twitter has never made much sense to me. I tweet periodically, but don’t have time to read the barrage of tweets that come my way.

I’m writing because I enjoy it and not focused on trying to make as much money as I can. The money thing becomes more of a measure of the acceptance of my books. But here’s the rub. I always feel there is more I can be doing to promote my books. Then I become frustrated in the circular aspect of social media. Example: post on a Yahoo group that I’ve blogged, so people will read my blog and then go to my website, find information about my books and buy them. This seems inherently convoluted to me. I guess I’m old school. I like meeting with readers in person at events and chatting with them. That may not be the most efficient way to build awareness, but I certainly find it more enjoyable.

Writing and the Creative Process

Like many authors when I give talks, an inevitable question I hear is: Where do your ideas come from? I always answer that ideas can come from anywhere: the newspaper, television, an overheard snippet of a conversation, a dream, a scenic spot, a person I’ve know, an experience from my life or something that just pops into my head.

In my most recently published book, The V V Agency, I have invented a new type of shape-shifter called a transvictus. I was recently asked where the idea for this came from. To be honest, I can’t exactly remember. I know this. At the time I started writing it. I had an agent who suggested I read a specific paranormal mystery. As I read this book, the idea struck me that I could write something similar. That got me thinking and somewhere as I began brainstorming with myself for an idea for a paranormal mystery, the concept of the transvictus emerged.

My first published novel, Retirement Homes Are Murder, was inspired by people I met when my mom and stepdad lived in a retirement community. The idea for the current historical novel I’m writing occurred when I read an article about Athanasius Kircher, a seventeenth century Jesuit priest who claimed to know everything and wrote on a vast number of subjects.

All I know is that when I take walks, I carry a small notepad, because weird ideas are always occurring to me, and if I don’t write them down, I lose them. 

Northern Colorado Writers Conference

Amid all the hustle of the writing life, it was nice to spend two days at the Northern Colorado Writers Conference in Fort Collins this last Friday and Saturday. I conducted two workshops titled, “Rejection Is Not a Four Letter Word,” and “The Art of Balancing Writing and a Full Time Job.” When not teaching, I attended as many other workshops as possible, and as I’ve always found at writers conferences, I came up with new ideas as well as additions to my to-do list. I also enjoyed seeing writing friends and making new ones. I’m very loyal to writers conference since I sold my first published novel through a pitch session to Deni Dietz of Five Star at the Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers Conference in 2005.

In our world of negativity, Mary Roberts put up a board where attendees could write something positive. Here’s a picture:

Pass it along. Everyone think of something good.

The V V Agency

I have a new mystery novel that has just been published by Oak Tree Press, titled The V V Agency. This is something new for me, a paranormal private investigator mystery. Here’s a little bit about it:

Imagine a dash of Philip Marlowe wrapped in an urban fantasy. The V V Agency is a paranormal mystery that spoofs the PI subgenre and introduces the transvictus—a unique shape shifter.

Van and Vanna run a detective agency, but clients never see them together for a simple reason. A sexual encounter transforms one into the other, and nudity renders them invisible. This presents some interesting dilemmas for his and her love lives, but gives them a distinct advantage when doing detective work. In this, the first book in the series, Van and Vanna take the case of a woman suspected of killing her husband.

Enjoy!

Conference on World Affairs

Every April there is a wonderful conference at the University of Colorado called the Conference on World Affairs (this was its 60^th year). It goes from Monday through Friday and is free for all attendees with a wide variety of panel discussions. Yesterday, I attended a program titled, Growing Old: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. Panelist Robert Egger described how we have three options: 1. Look at the now, 2. Look at the future and do nothing, or 3. Look at the future and do something about it. One of the striking statistics he cited: in the United States we throw away 40% of the food we produce. Steve Sauer stated that too often people get wrapped up in a perspective that can be summarized as: Life’s a bitch and then you die. He described an 85-year-old who lamented that when she was young elders were revered but now she feels they’re only tolerated. Lillian Boutte stated we’re never too old to dream. Feargal Lynn said we learn from the wisdom our parents gave us, and as we age, we don’t have to keep messing with the small stuff. One suggestion from the panel was to hold Skype parties for shut-ins so they can stay socially engaged. The bottom line: as we get older we can retool ourselves and become older but not old. I can identify with this as I retired from a career in business into the fiction writing world, something completely different from what I had done for 39 years.