March 2019 - Miss Demeanors

Influential Women

March 29, 2019 Robin C. Stuart Uncategorized

As Women’s History Month winds down, I’ve been reflecting on the women who have influenced me. My mom, in particular. She showed me what it meant to grab life with both hands and commit to goals with enthusiastic abandon. There would be times when I would hear “no” along the way, but she taught me that “no” isn’t lethal and, heck, sometimes all it means is “not yet.” Try a different approach. Learn from the experience. Most of all, keep going. The only way to truly fail is to give up.

The Not-So-Lonely Part of Writing

March 28, 2019 Robin C. Stuart Uncategorized

One of the best parts of writing crime fiction is getting to meet my heroes. I’ve mentioned this before but it’s still true – crime fiction authors are the nicest people. At last year’s ThrillerFest, I spent time with Lisa Gardner. Her books scare the crap out of me in all the best ways. It was therefore an absolute pleasure when Lisa asked if I’d be willing to talk to her about the technology pieces of her then-work in progress. I jumped at the chance.

Writing What You Know

March 27, 2019 Robin C. Stuart Uncategorized

I’m en route to the Left Coast Crime Conference where I’ll be on a panel to talk about law enforcement research. This brings to mind the oft-debated topic of writing what you know. You know the one, whether writers should write based on their own experiences versus stories based on research. You might expect me to favor the “write what you know” camp, given I’m a real-life cyber crime fighter who writes cyber crime fiction. And you’d be right. But not in the way you expect.

The “Right” Way?

March 26, 2019 Robin C. Stuart Uncategorized

People ask me for advice on getting published more often these days. I love mentoring but it’s not a simple question to answer. My response is to ask questions of my own to figure out the person’s goals. The path I’m on may be wildly different from the one another writer wants to follow. The first topic of discussion is usually about agents.

Comfort zones

March 23, 2019 Susan Breen Uncategorized

Earlier this week I was traveling around Monterey with my daughter. She’s a lot of fun, and very energetic, but she firmly believes that I should not get stuck in my comfort zone. She’s always trying to nudge me out of it, whether by pushing me to hike longer than I might have, or encouraging me gently to climb a fence. I’ll catch you mom! (I should note that we were climbing the fence because we realized we were on private land and were trying to get on to public land.) Or even to talk to people that I might otherwise be intimidated by. So, I asked my fellow Miss Demeanors: When was the last time you got out of your comfort zone? This is what they said:

New York Pitch Conference

March 22, 2019 Susan Breen Uncategorized

Today was the first day of the NY Pitch Conference. I’ve been a workshop leader there for ten years, and it has a very special place in my heart because that’s where I sold my first novel, The Fiction Class.

And more pitch tips!

March 21, 2019 Susan Breen Uncategorized

Last night (or possibly last week–I’m not sure. Still on California time) I spoke to the Central Coast Writers meeting in Pacific Grove. A truly lovely group of people who made me and my daughter feel very welcome. My daughter was there to assist me in my talk, which was about how to use pitches to help you sell your book, but also how to use them to diagnose problems with your novel.

Pitch tips

March 19, 2019 Susan Breen Uncategorized

The first question I always ask when I’m helping someone write a pitch is: What is interesting about your book? Usually the answer falls into one of four categories: character, plot, setting or voice.

The Joys of Pitching

March 18, 2019 Susan Breen Uncategorized

Some months ago I was invited to speak at a writers’ meeting in Monterey, California. I was delighted, for obvious reasons. One of them being that I had been planning a trip with my daughter. On our last mother-daughter adventure we’d gone to Costa Rica, where I almost collapsed after she persuaded me to ride a zip line through the jungle. Monterey seemed much safer.

Public Speaking Pro Tips

March 15, 2019 Cate Holahan Uncategorized

In less than a month, I will be speaking at a country club about the stories behind my stories. The engagement is a benefit to support services for seriously ill women at Englewood Hospital. I’m the entertainment. In exchange for speaking for an hour, the hospital is giving everyone a copy of The Widower’s Wife.