I have completed three novels. They are living quietly on my computer. Here are their blurbs.

Writing History

For years, I wrote technical procedures and speeches of all types. For my first attempt at writing a book, I went big and started on a humorous, fictional, self-help book. If you’re thinking you’ve never heard of one, that’s the same thing the editor I talked to said. Something about a self-help book should teach and that doesn’t really fit with being fiction. He even said that no such thing existed. I knew he was wrong because I had written one, and was holding it in my hand. He pressed the point saying that no bookstore would want it. Apparently, if bookstores don’t have a clear idea of where a book goes on their shelves, they pass. This was the first time I was introduced to how important these folks take stocking their shelves. 

I obviously needed to know more so I took classes on plotting, characters, emotions, sexual tension, and more. I joined the Oconee Writers’ Association, the South Carolina Writer’s Workshop, and the Upstate SC Chapter of Sisters in Crime. I don’t consider myself obsessive, but I may detect a trend. I served as president in all of these. My longest stint was with the Sisters in Crime. This organization, mostly composed of strong, independent women, actually had me as their president for five years. In hindsight, they may have been using me as a figurehead. I also joined the Romance Writers of America, and recently the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators, a truly fun group. 

Of course, I attend writing conferences. All the conferences are fun, and women tend to outnumber man, but the Romance Writers take it to another level. When I attended the RWA National conference in Orlando, there must have been 2,000 women and ten guys. Before the first class, I visited the men’s room. I took my big travel coffee cup with me to class so by the next break I desperately needed a men’s room again. However, when I returned to the facility I’d used, a sign over the silhouette of a man declared this was now a ladies room. I visited four men’s rooms and each one had been reassigned. I wound up back in my hotel room. This bathroom was assigned to me, but required a long walk every time I needed the facilities.

All of the conferences are designed to teach, but they’re all different. You can tell by how the attendees are dressed which writing genre you’re attending. The mystery writers dress practically like they’re there to learn how to kill people—think undercover and grunge. The romance writers, the best-dressed group, dress like they’re out on dates during the day. For evening affairs, the ladies pull out all the stops draping themselves in their high-end attire. The children’s book writers dress as if they’re about to read one of their books to elementary students at the library. They dress for fun.

I must have learned a little from the classes and conferences because I’ve completed three books. I’m a previous Daphne finalist and have a short story published in the anthology, After Midnight: Tales from the Graveyard Shift.