The Second Mountain

I just finished reading a thought-provoking book that I highly recommend: The Second Mountain, The Quest for a Moral Life by David Brooks. The second mountain refers to moving past the first mountain in our life of focusing on the self to an emphasis on others through service to the community. Brooks makes a distinction between a tribe (emphasis on the exclusiveness of us vs. them) to a community that is inclusive.

Brooks points out that the first mountain is the building of the self while the second mountain deals with four major commitments: vocation, marriage, philosophy and faith, and community. His paradoxical conclusion is that true freedom is not going it alone but abandoning the self in service to others.

Mystery Conferences 2020

Each year, mystery authors and fans have a choice of a number of excellent mystery conferences. In 2020 I plan to attend two of these: The Left Coast Crime Conference and Bouchercon.

Both will be held in California so I can drive to them. The Left Coast Crime Conference will be in San Diego March 12-15, 2020, and Bouchercon will be in Sacramento October 15-18, 2020.  At both of these conferences I will be hosting the Meet the New Authors Breakfast and potentially participating in one or more panels. The Left Coast Crime Conference typically has between 400 and 500 attendees, and Bouchercon is the largest mystery/crime conference with attendance exceeding 1500.

See you there.

Using Reality in Fiction

How much reality should be used when writing fiction? As a fiction writer, I try to make my scenes credible and often mix reality with fiction. In the historical fiction I’ve written, I portray actual events and people but in a fictional context. Since we don’t know what people actually said, I invent dialogue relating to what I think they said. Typically, the main plot, often a mystery, is fictional but my intent is to keep the time and setting as real as possible.

As fiction writers we need to make our stories credible enough so the readers can suspend disbelief. When we read fiction, we know that things are made up, but they need to be made up in a credible way.

One of my recent mystery novels, Death of a Scam Artist, is available in trade paperback and e-book editions. In September it will also be released in a mass market paperback edition by Harlequin Worldwide Mysteries. This mystery is set in a fictional retirement community populated with a number of quirky characters. One of the main themes is dealing with a scam artist who is taking advantage of the retirement home residents. Some of the examples of his scams are based on actual scams. Likewise, the opening scene is loosely based on an actual event described to me by a friend who is the CEO of a retirement community.

I enjoy testing the line between fiction and reality.

Vacation on the California Coast

We had an enjoyable short vacation with kids and grandkids in Pismo Beach, CA. This is the first time in about 40 years that we’ve gone north along the coast from the Los Angeles Area. Lots of good food and scenery and happy times with the new generations.

Grandkid Visits

We’ve had the pleasure of seeing all of our grandsons over the last week. Our son and his family from Iowa have been visiting us, and we’ve also gotten together with our other two grandsons.

This is what keeps us young.

 

Reversion of Book Rights

At the beginning of my writing career, I worked with Five Star who published nine of my mystery novels (six in the Paul Jacobson Geezer-lit Mystery Series, a theater mystery, a historical mystery and a sports mystery). Then Five Star decided to exit the mystery publishing line, so I found a new publisher, Encircle Publications. Recently, all rights to the nine Five Star books were reverted to me. Seven have been republished by Encircle as trade paperbacks and we’re discussing republishing the remaining two.

Originally, Five Star didn’t ask for e-book rights, so I published four e-books myself. With the final reversion of rights I have now republished the five remaining Five Star books as e-books.

My goal is to keep all of my books available in print and e-book (eight are also available as audio books). This way readers can choose their preferred way to read my books. Also, when I give talks to service organizations, libraries and book clubs, I always hand sell print copies so it’s important to me to have all of these still in print.

Aging Gratefully

I’ve given a presentation titled “How to Age Gracefully” about my experience writing books featuring older people. Earlier this week I was struck by an article titled, “Why I Learned to Age, Gratefully,” by writer, Rachel Moscovich, in the Los Angeles Times. As a multiple-time cancer survivor, rather than dreading aging, she has come to look forward to become older.

I share Rachel’s perspective. After surviving a heart attack in 2013, I’m grateful to be alive and to have the opportunity to age. As my stepdad used to say, getting older isn’t all it’s cracked up to be, but it sure beats the alternative.