Heaven on earth. For a seasoned bookseller like myself, heaven on earth would be the Kentucky Book Festival held November 6 at Joseph-Beth Booksellers in Lexington, Kentucky.

Not only was the store crowded with customers, always a sight to make a bookseller smile, but there were tables upon tables with stacks of books on them and happy authors sitting behind them, eager to tell you about their works. As a co-editor of MYSTERY WITH A SPLASH OF BOURBON, not only was I a spectator, but also an invited guest – double the pleasure. Along with fellow authors whose short stories were features in this anthology, I got to meet and greet the many guests who were searching for the perfect Christmas gift. Of course, that would be our book.

I took time to peruse the other works available, especially the mystery books. Wonderful selection.

I visited with two wonderful authors I had the pleasure of working with over the years: Silas House, one of Kentucky’s premier writers who was celebrating the 25th anniversary of his book, CLAY’S QUILT. And I had a word with David Domine, Louisville’s own, who had a non-fiction crime story featured. A DARK ROOM IN GLITTER BALL CITY is the story of a murder in Old Louisville, David’s haunting grounds.

Along with two other writers, I was on a panel to talk about ‘Writing Communities’ and how they can change a writer’s life.

My own experience with the Sisters in Crime is an excellent example of the gentle (and sometimes not so gentle) nudging to keep writing, finish that story or book. The overall consensus was that no writer writes in a vacuum, however much they might not want to share. A good support group is essential, especially to the novice.

Just stroll around the tables at the festival and you will meet authors who got to sit behind the table because someone had faith in their ability to tell a tale, whether it be fiction or non-fiction.
I watched as crowds of customers walked the aisles around the tables, picking up this or that, leaving with a stack of books in their arms.

The printed word is not dead. It’s just gone to that little bit of heaven called a bookstore hosting a book festival.

In this season of Thanksgiving, I’m feeling very thankful for the wonderfully supportive writing community we have in Derby Rotten Scoundrels!

I have so many folks to thank for the terrific work that’s been happening this fall on behalf of DRS— most especially I want to thank Lynda Rees for her awesome work as publicist, Susan Bell for her beautiful work on the website, and Elaine Munsch for arranging fabulous speakers and programs for our chapter.

Elaine brought us a terrific speaker for our November meeting, Andrew Welsh- Huggins (awhcolumbus.1@gmail.com; https://www.andrewelshhuggins.com),  who spoke to us about his writing career and his process for creating his successful mystery series featuring private eye and ex-quarterback Andy Hayes. Andrew creates, dates, and saves multiple drafts until he is ready to share and submit his work. Along the way, he maintains a separate document in which he makes notes of things he needs to fill in, check on, etc. He is a great example of the discipline involved in being a successful author. He writes for two hours every morning before going to his day job as an AP reporter!  

Meantime, we are still basking in the glow of the tremendous success of Mystery with a Splash of Bourbon at the Kentucky Book Festival. The anthology, co-edited by Susan Bell and Elaine Munsch and featuring the work of several chapter members, had sold out by 2 PM! Rumor has it that Karen Block and Lorena Peter excelled at being sales folks. Elaine also participated in a well-received panel at the festival on “Building a Writing Community.”

Elaine Munsch also inaugurated our Speaker’s Bureau by doing a presentation on “A Brief History of Women Crime Writers” at the Daviess County Library in Owensboro on October 28. We’ve also been invited to present our offerings at Imaginarium coming up July 8-11. (Our chapter will have a table at the conference.) If you know of any clubs, groups, or libraries who might be interested in our free of charge presentations, let them know about our new Speaker’s Bureau. The complete listing of offerings is now up on our site.

Thanks to Lynda Rees, our publicist, we also now have active accounts for Facebook and Twitter:

• • Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/derbyrottenscoundrels

• • Twitter:   https://twitter.com/DerbyRotten

Please go on to our pages and Like, Follow, and Share, so we can help grow our organization.

Chapter members! You’re also invited to contribute blogs to our website on writing (especially mystery writing) and anything having to do with the chapter. Send your blogs (600-1000 words) to Susan Bell, our webmaster, at susancbell@yahoo.com

Our annual elections for board positions are coming right up. As of now, I’m aware that we do have openings for the positions of Secretary and Treasurer. The Secretary is responsible for taking notes at the chapter meetings and disseminating them to the membership, and the treasurer is responsible for keeping track of our finances (writing checks, making deposits, and reporting to the chapter and Board on our expenditures and income). Neither job is hugely time consuming, but they are vitally important to our functioning. Be thinking about whether you’d be willing to step up and assume one of these all-important volunteer jobs—we need you!

At our November chapter meeting, we discussed ways to improve our monthly meetings. We decided that beginning with our January meeting, we’ll start our meetings with an intentional check-in to share writing news, minimize the business portion, do a short writing prompt, and review chapters from the craft book we began several months ago, Janet Burroway’s Writing Fiction, A Guide to Narrative Craft.

As is our custom, in place of our usual December chapter meeting, we will have a holiday luncheon on the first Saturday of the month, December 4^th, at the Olive Garden on Hurstbourne, beginning at 11:30 AM. We will honor Susan Bell, our Volunteer of the Year, at our luncheon. For directions, click  Olive Garden Italian Restaurant .

Member News

Gloria Casale will sign her books at Joseph Beth Booksellers in Lexington on Saturday, December 4^th, from 2-4 PM. Her books include:

• • • SHADOW ROAD: WHERE SHADOWS FIND YOU
• BIOTERROR: THE ESSENTIAL THREAT

Congratulations to Leanne Edelen, whose short story, “Big Freak,” was the first-place winner of the Beartooth Anthony’s Annual Halloween Campfire Story Contest. Check out Leanne’s terrific story at: https://beartoothanthony.com/2021-results-beartooth-anthonys-halloween-campfire-story-contest/ 

Beth Henderson now has three titles out in her cozy mystery paranormal comedy series, Whichur-Wolfe Detection, which include:

• • • • WHEN HARRY KILLED SALLY
  • WHEN CURTSEY KNIFED SAMMY
  • WHEN KENEDY STRANGLED BRISCO

The series has been collecting rave 5-Star reviews! Book Four, WHEN KURT BLUDGEONED RUSTY, is due out on December 15.

Carol Preflatish is doing NaNoWriMo  this month and going great guns! She hopes her next Nathan Perry mystery will be out by Christmas.

Lynn Slaughter’s LEISHA’S SONG was awarded a Moonbeam Children’s Book Awards’ bronze medal in the YA horror/mystery category. The novel also received a lovely review and five-star rating for its entry in the Reader’s Favorite Awards.

All for now. Have a beautiful and blessed Thanksgiving, and Happy Writing!