Author: Robin C. Stuart

Having recently returned from a cross-country trip I was reminded of one of the ways I entertain myself on airplanes. I try to figure out which of my fellow travelers are going to the same destination for the same reason I am. Sometimes it’s easy. Flights to Las Vegas in late July or early August carry gamblers and hackers headed to Black Hat/DefCon. The latter tend to stand out – lots of black clothing, tattoos, and laptops with privacy screens. It’s not unusual to see business cards and vendor schwag exchanged among seat mates. The game is more challenging on other trips. The New England Crime Bake, for example. I ended up being the only person on my flight headed to Boston from the West Coast for that purpose although I did spot a couple of other writers. At least, I think they were. One person pulled out a notebook and wrote in long hand, curled up in her seat. The other had a laptop. They both had that faraway contented expression I get when I write, as opposed to the make-every-minute-count scowl of day job business travelers. I sometimes wonder if anyone else plays this game. I know at least one of my seat mates over the last year noticed something I do on long flights. I set aside my Kindle or pause movies periodically, pull out my laptop, make notes, then put my laptop away again. At the end of the flight he finally asked me if I was a writer. On this, one of the busiest travel days of the year, air travel will be stressful for a lot of folks. Making a game of it can help take some of the sting out. So, where’re you going?
 

We’re into the home stretch of NaNoWriMo. Are you storing your manuscript on “the cloud”? You may want to reconsider.  On October 31, hundreds of people reported that Google Drive ate their homework. During a window of 10 hours, documents were deleted or locked. Some people saw a message saying the documents violated Google’s Terms of Service. Other people saw no error, they just lost control of their own work. Google’s official position is the “glitch” (I really hate that word) was due to a code push. See https://www.zdnet.com/article/google-docs-lockout-its-fixed-google-says-but-users-fret-over-creepy-monitoring/ for more. This isn’t the first time such an event occurred and it won’t be the last. It should serve as a reminder to those of us who create content that we need to be mindful of who has ultimate control. If you store your work on someone else’s system, like the cloud, it isn’t you. My preference is to keep my work solely under my control. I also believe in backups, as in plural. Accidents happen but the odds of losing a computer hard drive, a full backup, and 2 or 3 thumb drives simultaneously are small. A virus could wipe out most of them in one fell swoop, of course, which is why all operating systems need protection (I’m looking at you, Mac users). This is also why, out of an abundance of caution, I print out each draft of my works in progress. Paper doesn’t crash. It’s also satisfying to see my accomplishments in a physical form. How do you save your work? 

The writing community has been very good to me. At the suggestion of one of my mentors I began volunteering at conferences. My first stint was a timekeeper at a California Crime Writers event a couple of years ago. Since then, as I’ve gotten more attention I volunteer to speak at conferences, I mentor aspiring writers, and I shamelessly promote fellow authors every chance I get. Volunteerism is in my blood, literally – I gave blood in a hurricane relief drive earlier this week. I also regularly donate time & money for causes near and dear to my heart like Alzheimer’s and cancer research. Volunteering with and for writers is one thing, the other forms of giving back I do are my little candle in the dark, gestures to try to make the world a better place, one humble effort at a time. My question this week is, how do you give back? Susan: I hope you don’t mind if I turn the question around, Robin, but only yesterday I learned that the woman I considered my mentor, died, and so it’s been very much in my heart how blessed I was to be on the receiving end of her guidance. Jane Carter was one of my students, though a far better writer than I will ever be. She revered language and expected, or possibly demanded, the best from me and she did not hesitate to tell me when I was being flippant. At the same time she had such a kind and loving heart and she read everything I wrote and adored it. She loved Nabokov, and gave me a copy of P’nin, which I treasure, though have never enjoyed as much as she did. Toward the end of her life, after a very circuitious route, she wound up in a homeless shelter in Harlem. I went to visit her. You would think she would be bitter and angry at that point and she certainly had cause to be, but when I walked into her room she grabbed me and said, “Susan, come here. You have to hear this man’s story!” She’d talked to every single person there and knew each person’s story and she wanted to set up a writing class, which she did. The last time I saw her was at the Harlem Book Festival, which was a fantastically hot day, and I have to confess I left behind my booth and went off with her to have Cuban food and ices and we talked for hours. I guess I would hope to be irreplaceable in someone else’s life the way she was to me. Paula: Great story, Susan. Everyone needs a Jane Carter in her life.I know this may sound strange, but I try not to talk about it. Not that I do any more or less than anybody else, but it’s that one part of the Sermon on the Mount that I actually took to heart. Mostly thanks to a novel recommended to me by my catechism teacher when I was girl: Magnificent Obsession, by Lloyd C. Douglas. (They made a 1954 movie adaptation with Rock Hudson and Jane Wyman.) This book had a very strong impact on me, a good Catholic girl who like all good Catholic girls of a certain age wanted to be a nun. I outgrew that part, at least. Tracee: Here’s to the Jane Carters. I love that this illustrates the breadth of giving back. Teachers who stay those extra minutes to encourage a student, high school athletes who mentor their younger almost-peers. Children who travel great distances to spend time with parents. I was a professional fund raiser for years, both as director of a non-profit and as an assistant vice president at a university. I spent a great deal of time emphasizing that we really did value time, talent and treasure. Too often people think that if they can’t give cash then they aren’t giving anything of value. Being a mentor is a sharing of time and talent (buying that coffee to spend time over is also sharing treasure). When I was head of a non-profit we depended (that’s an understatement) on the contributions of time by our museum docents, of talent by those who helped curate new exhibits and, of course, treasure to pay the lighting bill. Each of those contributions played an equally integral role. I found that when people give from the heart to something they value then they feel the good they’ve done and want to do more. For some that means a shift in the how (from time to treasure) or an increase in their financial contribution. For others it means that they forgo their financial contributions while on a fixed income in retirement and give the time that they didn’t have while working. A natural evolution is a mutual link that creates goodwill on both sides and is irreplaceable. Perhaps because I was a professional fund raiser I see the many ways people are asked to give today. Sometimes I think that every time I check out in a store I’m being asked to donate a dollar or round up for a charity. I feel guilty when I say no. It is the public nature of these gifts that disturbs me. Why should a person who has just written a thousand dollar check to a local nonprofit feel guilty for not giving another dollar at the check out stand to that same organization that same day? I would like to suspend judgement about “giving” and simply encourage people to be involved. That is a true gift. Michele: To me, the question how do you give back begs a bigger question. How do you live? What I have learned is that the simple practice of kindness is the answer to all things, whether it is by digging into your pockets, volunteering, speaking in a gentle tone, smiling at a scowling stranger, or speaking out on behalf of those without voices. Kindness breeds generosity, which breeds kindness. Kindness is truly the gift that keeps on giving. Alexia: Now that I’m at a point in my life where my income actually has a “discretionary” portion, I’ve tried to increase the “treasure” part of my giving. I’m someone who thinks “social justice warrior” is a compliment, not an insult, but I’m not really a get-out-in-the-streets-with-a-banner type so I make monthly donations to some organizations dedicated to pursuing social justice. I also donate to symphonies and libraries because I believe books and music are vital. I donate to a historical foundation that is making deliberate efforts to portray a more inclusive story–history for all of us instead of the select few. Time-wise, I volunteer on the Altar Guild at church. Not just so I can collect hysterical wedding stories. I find setting up and breaking down the altar to be a peaceful, spirit-filled exercise. Talent-wise, I’ve forgone the prestige and glamour (and, let’s be honest, money) of private practice and opted, instead, for a career in public service. I wasn’t destined to take up arms in defense of the Constitution but I serve the same goal (and actually had to swear an oath similar to the one uniformed officers swear) as those who do–to uphold and defend the Constitution against all enemies foreign and domestic–by providing medical evaluation (at various points in my career) to those in uniform, those who’ve taken off the uniform (veterans), and those hoping to wear the uniform. Alison: Every one of these stories is inspiring, in the textbook definition of the term: to exert an animating, enlivening, or exalting influence on…I echo Paula; donations are not something I feel comfortable discussing. I also echo Michele; I think small kindnesses make a big difference. Something as apparently trivial as holding open a door can change a person’s perception of the day, which then alters the way that person interacts with the next person they encounter. This ripple effect is so cliché, but I have been on the receiving end more than once. The tiniest thing can transform my outlook and my ability to pass on compassion to a fellow human being. I’m raising a glass to everyone who tries each day to pass on some kindness in this world, however they choose to do it, even when it’s hard, perhaps, especially when it’s hard. Cate: I try to give back to writers by blurbing their books when asked because other writers who didn’t know me were kind enough to take time read and comment on my books. It’s the kind of giving back that our community does routinely. I just did this and it fit with the theme. I went to my daughter’s school Thursday and taught for 45 minutes about how to write better stories. I spoke to them about creating a problem and complications to the ultimate solution, rising action, falling action and the all important twist.  We created our own story in class about two brothers, Jack and Mack, who have a disagreement while playing chess. Mack, the little brother, loses the game and throws all the pieces on the floor, in full view of the baby monitor that their mother uses to keep an eye on them when they are in their room alone. Jack, the calm, older brother, asks him if he wants to play again and promises to go easier on him. Mack says no and, like a sore loser, tells him that he cheated. Jack tries to convince Mack he played fair, only to have Mack storm off to their mother with his assertion that Jack cheated. Jack convinces the mom that he didn’t cheat. Then, the TWIST, Mack brings in the baby monitor that recorded the whole thing. Jack totally cheated. Jack gets time out and the brothers hug it out in the end and resolve to play fair.  Robin: These are all such great stories. Have I mentioned how proud I am to be a Miss Demeanor? How about you, dear readers? Any stories to share of giving back, whether on the giving or receiving side?   It was giving back, to an extent, but also the most rewarding thing I’d ever volunteered to do for any of my kids’ classes.

When I started taking writing seriously I studied. What I researched was other writers. How did they achieve success? I admit, my definition of success is lofty. I aim high and always have. So what I set about learning was beyond “everything will be rainbows and unicorns once I get an agent.” First, because that’s just not true. Second, I mean this to be a career. There are plenty of career authors in the world, especially in crime fiction. I wanted to know how they got there. What I learned is an “overnight success” takes roughly 3 books in an average of 6 years. Readers generally discover authors around the 3rd book and then go back to the first 2. Authors with loyal fans keep that loyalty by continuing to produce. Some authors are machines who write 2 books a year. Most genre authors put out a book every 12-18 months. So, what I learned is, like anything personally rewarding, it’s a marathon not a sprint.   

Since I’m spilling some of my secrets this week I thought I’d share one that’s on the minds of a lot of aspiring writers, how I got my agent. The short answer is, I just kept going. That’s not helpful so to elaborate, I kept going to workshops on the craft of writing for commercial markets, critique boot camps, and conferences. Then I kept going back to my writing hidey hole to apply the lessons I learned. Along the way I earned a mentor. I say “earned” because I’ve found that no matter the career, there are always people willing to take a person under their wing but it’s a relationship that works only when the mentee acts on the time and effort graciously provided by the mentor. My early mentor, Michael Neff, is the director of Algonkian workshops and conferences, one of them being the New York Pitch Conference (https://newyorkpitchconference.com/). Michael invited me a year before I actually took him up on the offer. Why did I wait? Because I didn’t want to blow it. I wanted to walk in confident that both my manuscript and I were ready.An unrelated aside, you’ll note my fellow Miss Demeanor, Susan Breen, is also on the faculty at the New York Pitch. If you check out the website you’ll see this particular event is something a lot of us have in common 🙂 But I digress…. In the run-up to my trip to NY I studied the faculty that would be there, the agents, editors and authors who would be helping attendees hone their pitches throughout the event. Each genre has a leader and mine was Paula Munier. Something I’ve learned throughout multiple careers is that when someone you respect is willing to give you their time and energy, you listen to what they have to say. In addition to being an excellent coach, Paula has a pedigree that opens doors. I gave her my full attention. As a result, at the end of the long weekend I received read requests from every agent and editor I pitched. Was that all Paula’s doing? In large part, yes, but also it was my approach. I took this event seriously and treated it like a job interview. In essence, that’s exactly what pitches are. Like job interviews, I’m not only hoping someone finds me suited to them. It’s a 2-way street. I look for fit & chemistry, too. It’s not that I had any issues with the other agents I met but Paula and I hit it off right away. When I got her call, I didn’t hesitate. I signed with her immediately. So I guess the secret is, there is no secret. I got my agent through hard work and careful selection. And I just kept going.  

We’ve blogged about attending conferences. But we haven’t talked about speaking. Public speaking is a common fear. It’s anathema for most writers. We tuck ourselves away in our writing corners with a laptop or notebook. Maybe there’s a window. But there’s definitely not an audience. And that’s how we like it, right? Not if you intend to sell books.  Once a book is written, a contract is signed, and the book gets published, that’s when the “work” begins. I put “work” in quotes because, to me, writing is fun. Promotion is the part where we need to step out of our comfort zones. One form of promotion that’s never too early to start is building your brand. A great way to accomplish this is speaking at conferences.  It’s no secret I know a lot about cyber crime and technology. Thus, I look for opportunities to share my knowledge. This year, in particular, cyber-y things are a hot topic. I belong to Sisters In Crime, Mystery Writers of America and International Thriller Writers and each of those organizations hosts author events throughout the year. They send out emails and calls on social media for participants in these events. If I see any inkling of interest in educating my fellow writers about cyber crime, I raise my hand and volunteer. Heck, even if I don’t see a specific call for experts I’ve pitched ideas to conference organizers. As a result, I’m on panels at 3 conferences this fall and I’ve been invited to 2 more (so far) in 2018. I didn’t start out comfortable speaking to sometimes large groups. I have my day job to thank for helping me learn ways to get past the inevitable stage fright. I’m not shy among friends and co-workers so I’ve been tapped many, many times to give presentations on a variety of topics. It’s like anything else, the more you do it the easier it gets. I’ve learned a couple of secrets along the way. My first rule – know the subject matter inside and out. At 20 years and counting living & breathing all things cyber, I’ve got that one down. The only variable is whether or not I need to have something prepared or if the format is Q&A. I actually prefer the latter. Then it’s less like “public speaking” and more of a conversation. Some speakers don’t like being caught off guard by doing Q&As but I enjoy directly addressing what’s on the minds of participants. If I don’t know the answer to a question, which happens from time to time, I commit to find out and follow up with whoever asked. If I have to have something prepared, then I adhere to my second rule – make it fun. I’m a storyteller so this part is easy. I try to use animated images in slides rather than words (this is possible with both PowerPoint and Keynote). That probably seems counterintuitive for a writer but wordy slides put me to sleep so I create an experience that I’d find entertaining myself. Since I’m my own toughest critic, if I pass that test, I can feel good about what – and how – I present. The whole idea of speaking at conferences is to make a connection. That’s why we attend in the first place, right? Network with each other, meet agents and publishers, see or even get to meet our heroes. Participating is a great way to reach a lot of people all at once. Speaking of which (see what I did there?), you can see me during the NorCal MWA Mystery Week on October 16 and at the New England Crime Bake Nov. 10 -12 in the “Ask The Experts” session. If you attend either of these, or see me at a future event, please say hi. I’d love to meet you. 

I’m making a slight departure from our usual writing & reading theme today to make a special plea. The last few weeks have brought a nauseating amount of pain and suffering to multiple parts of the United States and the world, between hurricanes, floods, earthquakes and now the worst mass shooting in US history in Las Vegas, NV. Many of us are angry, frustrated or feeling helpless. We’re all looking for answers, or to our leaders. That’s all well and good but, if you’ll forgive me, there’s no time for navel-gazing right now. People are suffering. We, as authors and public figures, have platforms. Please join me in using those powers for good. Given the perfect storm of events emergency supplies are stretched beyond thin. I can’t be the only one thinking “I HAVE to do something.” So I am. And you can, too. Here’s a handful of organizations that need our help to help others: https://www.oneamericaappeal.org/One American Appeal is an organization established by the 5 living former US Presidents. Cash donations ensure the right help reaches the right people to bring aid to Texas, Florida, Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands, all of whom are still reeling and face monumental tasks in providing basic necessities and restoring services to those hardest hit. https://www.redcross.org/ns/apology/disaster_homepage.htmlThere was a nationwide blood shortage before any of these events occurred. Please find a blood drive near you. Giving blood is easy and – I speak from personal experience as a needle-phobe – painless. https://www.crowdrise.com/o/en/team/salmaSalma Hayek has started a Crowdrise campaign to provide aid to UNICEF’s relief effort in Mexico following the recent earthquakes. Ms. Hayek will match the first $100,000 in donations. This is but a small sampling of the number of individual and institutional efforts underway to help the millions, yes millions, of people currently impacted. Please give what you can and help spread the word through your social networks, platforms, and professional networks to address the crucial, immediate needs. 

It’s summer which is traditionally vacation season. This got me thinking about road trips. Steinbeck chose to travel with a dog. While I see the appeal of road tripping with a good listener, I think I’d rather have someone in the passenger seat who could carry on a conversation. I’m a student of pop culture thus drawn to literary & art history. Zora Neale Hurston is one of my favorites – I’ve read her novels, several of her short stories and the anthology edited by Alice Walker (“I Love Myself When I Am Laughing And Then Again When I Am Looking Mean & Impressive”). Given what I’ve read by and about her she seems like she’d have been a lively travel companion. What about you, my fellow Miss Demeanors? If you could have anyone join you, living or not, who would you want in your car on a road trip across the country? Susan: What a fun question. I suspect I’d enjoy someone gossipy and funny. Dorothy Parker and Grace Paley come to mind. Or Truman Capote. David Sedaris. Clearly, I’m looking for entertainment in my driving. Cate: Totally agree with David Sedaris. I also would love to go road tripping with Gillian Flynn and Karin Slaughter. Not only are both women brilliant writers, they are super funny–judging from hearing them speak at Thrillerfest. Michele: Lately, I’ve been admiring writers who dare to speak out in troubled times. For my road trip, I’d put J.K. Rowling in the passenger seat because, in addition to her commentary, I’m guessing she’s good at directions. Then I’d seat Stephen King with Anne Lamott in the backseat. I love Lamott’s wit, but I figure if she started getting too religious for me, King would shut her up, and then probably Rowling would have to intercede. You can guess what the name of the car would be. I’d just drive and listen. Tracee: I want to go in Michele’s car. I’ll sit very very quietly and you won’t know I’m there. JK Rowling would likely be an amazing long distance traveling companion. If I am able to use her resurrection stone I am tempted to borrow Truman Capote from Susan, however, I suspect he might get on my nerves part way through…all depending on his mood. I am tempted to ask Leo Tolstoy to join me. I doubt he’s any good at directions – but I’ll have a handle on that – however I suspect he will have an opinion about everything. I’d like to have him join me at the mid point of his career before he started to think about leaving society for a life of monastic solitude. The 60 hours of audio War and Peace kept me entranced, I’m sure the author can do as well…or better. Paula: What a fun question! Having just survived a road trip to northern Italy, France, and Switzerland with my kids and grandkids — Grandmama in the middle of the two car seats in the back — listening to Katy Perry and playing the geography game, the idea of hanging out with grown-ups in the car sounds cool. (Which is not to say that a road trip with my kids and grandkids through Europe is not heaven on earth, because it is for this grandmother!)I think I have to go with a very eclectic group in a vehicle that would seat at least eight: Shakespeare, Jane Austen, Georges Simenon, Mark Nepo, Alice Hoffman, Louise Penny, Lee Child, and moi. I’d let Lee drive, directing our route if not our conversation. That way we’d explore the back roads of America while our discourse runs from philosophy and poetry to clues and character and magical realism. Not to mention a lot of bawdy jokes! Susan: It sounds like you drive a big car! Tracee: Wait a minute…how did Paula get a minivan? I wonder if her trip might turn into a movie….. where 8 start and only one survives. Those are some personalities….all crammed in together….keep your phone pre-programmed to 911 and we’ll come bail you out. Paula: I used to have a minivan, back in my carpooling days. But for a trip like this, I’d spring for an eight-seater SUV rental. Maybe a Cadillac Escalade, pimpmobile for writers! Tracee: Fully wired for video and sound recording I hope. Robin: One well-placed phone would do it 🙂 I like how dark Tracee went on Paula’s car. We could call it 8 Little Writers.D.A.: I vacillated between wanting to spend time with a serious thinker or someone who was fun. In the end, I based my decision on the car: a forest green convertible Karmann Ghia. I can’t quite imagine George Orwell or Hermann Hesse appreciating such an automobile. The person who would relish a drive down the Italian coast in this car–provided I was the designated driver and there were plenty of stops for martinis–would be Dorothy Parker. I mean, really, how can you not want to spend time with the woman who said, “If you have any young friends who aspire to become writers, the second greatest favor you can do them is to present them with copies of The Elements of Style. The first greatest, of course, is to shoot them now, while they’re happy”? Robin: Ooh, good choice. Both the car and the companion. Dorothy Parker is another of my favorites. I make pilgrimages to the Algonquin Hotel as an homage the Round Table. Alexia: I want to go on a road trip in Alison’s green Karmann Ghia with John Steinbeck’s dog, Charley.I freely confess to preferring the absence of other people on road trips. I’ve made trips solo (and with an animal companion) and with other people. By the end of the trip, I liked the other people a little bit less than I did before the trio began. On the other hand, the open road with my own thoughts, a (fairly) well-behaved dog, and some tunes on the radio was pretty close to perfect. Ditto for solo travel by train–except on the train, the dog and music were replaced by books. Tracee: My first car was a British racing green TR-6. Easy to spell and a joy to drive (when you are 16)… I’ve driven one recently and I could use better shock absorbers, power everything and a clutch that doesn’t double as a thigh master. How about you, dear readers? Who would be in your car on a cross-country road trip? 

The Miss Demeanors have previously blogged about whether or not each of us listens to music or other sounds while writing. I’m on the put-your-records-on side. Why? Because it helps me combat distraction. Sounds counterintuitive, doesn’t it? For most of my life, I’ve made my living by dividing my attention. I started out as a paralegal working on 150-200 cases at any given time. Once I mastered that balancing act, I got bored. I gravitated to a career where the landscape shifts constantly, where I’m challenged to keep learning. As a cyber crime investigator I’m required to pay attention to subtle nuances to identify anomalous dew drops in firehoses of information. It’s held my interest for nearly 20 years, a good chunk of which I’ve spent bombarded by distractions. That’s where music comes in. When I’m overwhelmed, frustrated, or having trouble focusing, I put on headphones and fire up my iTunes. At first I thought music helped because it relaxed me. Then someone asked me about my playlists. A lot of the songs are filled with driving beats and heavy guitars. I’ve been known to dance while I work. Fun but definitely not relaxing. So then I thought, aha, it must be a rhythm thing. Makes sense, right? But that seemed wrong, too. I usually shuffle songs. While I’ve noticed algorithmic patterns based on title and genre in iTunes’ shuffling, the beats tend to change from song to song. Because I’m the curious sort (i.e., easily distracted), I recently set out to understand why listening to music helps me focus. That’s when I learned about spatial intelligence. It’s how our brains transform and relate observations that are superficially or overtly unrelated. A growing body of research has found listening to music stimulates the creative parts of our spacial intelligence that help us solve complex problems and heighten situational awareness. Handy skills for my day job. Equally useful when working in reverse, like, say, crafting a mystery. If you’ll excuse, I have a first draft to finish. Now, where did I put my headphones?  

We’ve all heard this tidbit of advice from Peter De Vries. It’s often misattributed to Hemingway. If you want to read about that, here’s a good explanation: https://quoteinvestigator.com/2016/09/21/write-drunk/ This post isn’t about who said it first. It’s about the spirit of the quote, no pun intended.  The advice is meaningful to me right now as I’m writing a first draft of a new novel. That quote says to me to release the shackles of inhibition. Just write. No one is going to see the first draft but me. So do whatever it takes to write with reckless abandon. Don’t worry about tropes, cliches, the amount of profanity, the number of times I use the word “was.” None of that matters in this round. What matters is the second version. And the third. And every revision after that. It’s impossible to edit a manuscript that doesn’t exist. So, while I’m not exactly writing drunk, what I am doing is constantly reminding myself to muzzle the doubts and ignore my internal critic. Instead, I’m writing like no one is reading. I’m reveling in the first-draftness of just getting the story out. Because I love revising. That’s where the magic happens. And I can’t wait to get started. What about you? When you’ve read/heard “write drunk, edit sober,” what does it mean to you?