A Blog for Readers and Writers of Mystery, Crime, and Suspense Fiction
We can’t let Thanksgiving week go by without a nod to gratitude. All of the Miss Demeanors are involved in the writing community in one way or another – officers of regional or national organizations, podcasters, conference faculty/chairs. It’s pretty clear we each enjoy giving back yet we’re all very busy people. How did you get started down that path?
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I had the opportunity to meet up with my fabulous agent in real life a couple of weeks ago, along with one of my mentors. Paula Munier and Michael Neff provide coaching and instruction at an annual writers retreat on the West Coast that’s within (relatively) easy driving distance for me. I got a later start than I planned which added an extra 45 minutes or so to the drive. That gave me a lot of time to ruminate.
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My dog has been sick for the last few months. It’s been a process to try to figure out what’s wrong. We started keeping a journal to see if we could figure out the triggers to her symptoms. I mention this because, first, it’s extremely helpful for vet visits, and second, because it’s introduced a level of discipline to make sure my partner and I are consistent and diligent in logging what the dog eats, when, and what happens next.
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Last weekend I had the opportunity to meet with Ann Cleeves (at Crime Bake), which was a treat on many levels, one of them being that she has created one of my all-time favorite characters, Vera. Of course, when I tried to tell this to Ann Cleeves I felt like one of those babbling brooks, but I did mean it quite sincerely. Vera has been a good friend to me. So my question is, do you have any fictional characters who you connect to powerfully, and if so, who?
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Please welcome Siri Mitchell to the Miss Demeanors. Siri is the author of 14 novels, but State of Lies is her first suspense novel. I had a number of questions for her about a number of things, and here’s what she had to say.
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This past weekend I had the great pleasure of attending the New England Crime Bake, which is co-organized by fellow Miss Demeanor Michele Dorsey. It’s a wonderful conference because it’s fairly small, and everywhere you sit you run into someone you know or have heard of or are friends with on Facebook. But the very special treat this time was that Ann Cleeves was guest of honor.
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