You’ve heard of dinner and a
movie? Well, here at the Upstate Sisters in Crime, we do dinner and a guest
speaker. This month 19 members and guests met at the Runway Café in Greenville for
an evening of fantastic food, writer talk, and information.
Our president Sally Handley
started the meeting as is our custom, with a quick go-around the room of
introductions. It’s always nice to share the good, the bad, and the ugly of our
writing journeys—especially the good! Sally reminded us of our upcoming 30th
anniversary celebration on June 10th, and also invited any member
with news to share—such as contests, conferences, etc, to e-mail her, and
she’ll be sure to spread the word to the rest of us.
And then, drum roll, please, our
guest speaker took over. Jamie Mason was a hoot! And SO informative and
helpful! Jamie described her books, Three
Graves Full and Monday Lies, as
“why-dun-its” as opposed to “who-dun-its,” and labeled them literary suspense.
She explained that a new trend in publishing is this “blending of genres.” She
also shared quite a few amusing anecdotes that inspired her stories, or at
least got her imagination in gear. One idea: when she is brainstorming for a
new story, Jamie scours newspaper headlines. She DOES NOT read the article,
just the headlines, and asks herself if she can see a plot developing…
Soon Jamie was fielding questions,
and as a traditionally-published author, she answered a lot of questions about
the publishing business. She chose the traditional route because she wanted to
see her books in bookstores and indie authors are less likely to have that
opportunity. Jamie recommended a few websites such as AbsoluteWrite.com and
AgentQuery.com, gave us tips about finding and working with an agent, and some
more amusing and informative quips about the trials and tribulations of both
good and bad reviews and working with a screenwriter. As far as the writing
process, Jamie uses the “8-sequence screeenwriting” approach. She used to be a
pantser, but now is a plotter. Jamie believes it saves a lot of time and effort
and heartache to know where you’re going.
After thanking Jamie for her
wisdom, insight, and humor, the meeting was adjourned until next time. We meet
the first Thursday evening of every month. Come on down!
Respectfully Submitted,
Cindy Blackburn
Chapter Secretary
You can find some writing info at our new website, www.scwritersconnection.com and if you have any news that you want posted on it, just email me at writecarlene@aol.com. After reading the minutes from the April meeting, I'm really sorry I had to miss it. I really wish we could record some of these speakers at our writing meetings and put it on a CD so people that miss it...or just want to hear it again, could order it.
ReplyDeleteCarlene Brown