On Saturday, September 10, a dozen of us gathered for a combined in-person and Zoom chapter meeting held at the Middletown Library. After a short business meeting, Miki Reilly-Howe gave an excellent presentation on the second half of Chapter Five from Janet Burroway’s classic craft book, WRITING FICTION. One of the things we especially value about Miki’s presentations is the outstanding examples she chooses to illustrate her points.

Following Miki’s presentation, we heard from our guest speaker, chapter member Carol Preflatish, author of the Nathan Perry mystery series, who provided us with a plethora of handy tips about how she stays organized as a writer. She shared her novel “bibles” in which she keeps track of everything she may need to refer to, ranging from character descriptions to research about her setting and subject matter, to her submission records. She advised developing a writing process and method of organization that works for each of us as individual writers. Carol shared lots of tricks she uses to remember plot or character ideas she thinks of at random moments, including a tiny recorder and A LOT of post-it-notes! And she reminded us of the importance of backing up our work.

Our October 8^th chapter meeting will be another combination in-person and Zoom meeting which will be held at the St. Matthews Library in Louisville. Our featured guest speaker will be private investigator Susan Spaulding.

MEMBER NEWS

Elaine Munsch is happy to announce the publication of her latest Dash Hammond adventure, A HAUNTING AT MARIANWOOD. Mystery & Horror LLC, the fantastic publisher of MYSTERY WITH A SPLASH OF BOURBON, will be publishing the book in October. She looks forward to sharing the cover with you soon.

 

 

Carol Preflatish appeared on the Star Chamber Show Blog Talk Radio on Wednesday, September 14. To listen to the recording, go to: Star Chamber Show

 

 

 

Lynda Rees reports that she’s submitted queries for FLIP OR FLOP, MURDER HOUSE, to a couple of publishers. One asked for the complete manuscript, stating it scored really high on their rating system. All fingers are crossed!

 

 

 

 

Lynn Slaughter’s novel, LEISHA’S SONG, received the Silver Falchion Award for best juvenile/YA mystery. On September 29 and 30, she’ll be at the Heartland Book Festival where she’ll do a Friday student workshop, “Let’s Cook up a Mystery,” and a Saturday presentation, “Intro to Writing Young Adult Fiction.”

All for now. We hope to see you on October 8^th at our next chapter meeting.

 

 

On Saturday, August 13, nine of us gathered via Zoom for a brief chapter meeting and a lively presentation by Miki Reilly-Howe on Burroway’s Chapter Five from Writing Fiction, followed by a fascinating and informative guest speaker, Judith Turner-Yamamoto, interviewed by Miki.

Judith, an award-winning author, poet, and journalist, spoke to us about her journey to publication for her debut novel, Loving the Dead and Gone, a finalist for the 2020 Petrichor Prize, due out in September from Regal House. You can view the recording of Judith’s talk here: 

Judith Turner Yamamoto

After sharing a riveting excerpt of her beautiful novel, she spoke about how in this past year, she’s devoted herself to publicizing her novel and ensuring its successful launch. This has involved multiple steps, including:

 

 

• Having a professional website (https://turneryamamoto.com/)
• Making a list of everyone in her network
• Securing blurbs from noted authors
• Garnering reviews from major industry publications such as Kirkus Reviews and Publishers Weekly
• “Mastering social media”
• Arranging events with bookstores
• Setting up giveaways on Goodreads

She highly recommended that we take advantage of the many resources offered by Dan Blank on his website, https://wegrowmedia.com/

A key takeaway from Judith’s presentation was that after a writer has typed “The End” and secured publication, the work continues. In today’s publishing world, the vast majority of authors are expected to do the lion’s share of marketing and publicizing their books. She’s a wonderful example of someone who has put the work in to ensure a successful launch. We’re so grateful to Miki for arranging for Judith’s visit with us.

As for what’s coming up, we’re delighted to return to a combined face-to-face/Zoom chapter meeting on September 10 at the Middletown Library. Our very own Carol Preflatish will speak to us about “How to Be an Organized Writer.”

MEMBER NEWS

Carol Preflatish did a super “Meet and Greet the Author” session at the Jeffersonville Indiana Library on August 6.

She talked about the research involved in her latest book, WITCH HUNT, the third book of her Nathan Perry Mystery series.

 

 

Lynda Rees‘ middle-grade mystery, Freckle Face & Blondie, is now in audio. The second book in Lynda Rees’ middle-grade series, The Thinking Tree, Freckle Face & Blondie 2 , just launched in audiobook as well.  Lynda is anxiously awaiting news from a couple of publishers who asked for full MS after reading three chapters of her work in progress, Flip or Flop, Murder House.

 

 

 

 

Lynn Slaughter’s first adult mystery, MISSED CUE, will be published by Melange Books in the summer of 2023. Her recently released YA novel, DEADLY SETUP, received a lovely review in Mystery and Suspense: https://www.mysteryandsuspense.com/deadly-setup/

She’s also excited to share that she’ll be a participating author at several upcoming events: Killer Nashville, the Heartland Book Festival, the Louisville Book Festival, the Kentucky Book Festival, and Louisville Literary Arts Book Festival.

Hot Off the Press: Update on our August guest speaker!

We’re delighted to announce that Judith Turner-Yamamoto will be our guest speaker at our August 13 meeting.

Her debut novel, Loving the Dead and Gone, comes out on September 6 from Regal House Publishing, Sour Mash Southern Literature series. Chapter member Miki Reilly-Howe will be interviewing the 2020 Petrichor Prize finalist about the long process from writing to publication, as well as the masterful steps she has taken to ensure her novel’s success.

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Judith Turner-Yamamoto’s work has appeared in StorySOUTH, Mississippi Review, Snake Nation Review, and American Literary Review, among others, and in many anthologies, including Walking the Edge: A Southern Gothic Anthology, Show Us Your Papers, and Gravity Dancers. Her awards include two Virginia Arts Commission fellowships, an Ohio Arts Council fellowship, VCCA and Fundación Valparaiso fellowship residencies, the Thomas Wolfe Fiction Prize, the Washington Prize for Fiction, and the Virginia Screenwriting Award. Her article assignments, which include interviews with such luminaries as Frank Gehry and Annie Leibovitz, have taken her all over the world, and she has published more than a thousand cover stories and features on the arts, design, architecture, interiors and gardens, travel, food, fashion, and books in such publications as The Boston Globe Magazine, Elle, Interiors, Art & Antiques, The Los Angeles Times, and Travel & Leisure.  

In lieu of our monthly meeting, several DRSers attended Imaginarium, a lively  convention for “creatives” (authors, filmmakers, composers, visual artists, gamers, etc.) held annually in Louisville.

Susan Bell, Elaine Munsch, Lynn Slaughter, Carol Preflatish, and Leanne Edelen held down our chapter tables.

 

Elaine Munsch, making the rounds, chatting up an author, looking for speakers.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Carol Preflatish, selling her her Nathan Perry Mystery series.

 

 

 

 

Susan Bell, getting a little “Air” outside.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lorena Peter and Lynda Rees also shared a table, and we got to see many friends, including authors Beth Henderson and Pam Turner.

 

 

We managed to sell a few books and talk to several folks interested in our chapter. But as usual, the best part of the conference was meeting and talking with other writers. (Editor’s note: Lynn Slaughter won the Imadjinn Award for LEISHA’S SONG in the young adult category.)

We sat near a delightful Cincinnati crime writer, Trace Conger (I’m currently reading his novel, FIVE WILL DIE- really good!), and our inveterate program chair, Elaine Munsch, wasted no time approaching him about being a speaker at one of our chapter meetings. She also connected with award-winning author and journalist John DeDakis who expressed interest in speaking with our  chapter.

There will be a memorial service for long-time chapter member Debi Huff on:

August 7 from 2-5 PM at St. Paul United Methodist Church in Louisville.

We miss Debi, who was a delight with a terrific sense of humor.

 

 

 

We hope to have a guest speaker for our August 13 meeting via Zoom (last minute speaker cancellation has us scrambling!) but meantime, we’re looking forward to another presentation by Miki Reilly-Howe on a chapter from Janet Burroway’s Writing Fiction. And on September 10 at the Middletown Library,  Carol Preflatish will talk with us about “how to be an organized writer.”

Additional Member News

Carol Preflatish will be speaking at the Jeffersonville Indiana Library on August 6 at 1:30 pm. She’ll be discussing her Nathan Perry Mystery series, and specifically the research she did on her latest book, WITCH HUNT. Seating is limited, and registration is on the library’s Calendar of Events page on http://Jeff.library.org

 

 

 

Lynn Slaughter’s DEADLY SETUP came out on July 5. On July 8, her guest essay, “Beyond the External Plot: What’s Your Book Really About?” appeared on Sarah Glenn’s blog:

https://saraheglenn.blogspot.com/2022/07/lynn-slaughter-beyond-external-plot.html 

Lynn was also thrilled to receive the Imadjinn Award for LEISHA’S SONG in the young adult category. LEISHA’S SONG is also a Silver Falchion finalist. Lynn will be one of the participating authors doing a reading at Voice & Vision: Presented by Spalding’s School of Writing, The Louisville Review & 21c Museum Hotel. The in-person reading event will take place 6:00-7:30 p.m. Thursday, July 21, at 21c Museum Hotel in downtown Louisville. 

 

All for now. We hope to see many of you at our August meeting!

For years my friend Rick McMahan, now a retired ATF agent, has been encouraging me to attend the Writers’ Police Academy, a conference conceived by Lee Lofland to help writers get the details correct. This year the stars aligned themselves and my daughter and I journeyed to Wisconsin to attend this year’s get-together.

 

Writers’ Police Academy

The first event was a firsthand exploration of various vehicles used in police/rescue work.

That  evening we listened to Anne E. Schwartz, author of MONSTER, The True Story of the Jeffrey Dahmer Murders. Schwartz was the first reporter, really just a cub, at the home of Jeffrey Dahmer when the story began to break. She followed the story as the horrific details of what the police found in Dahmer’s apartment became public. Through the years she interviewed Dahmer, finally putting all she learned in a book.

The attendees stayed in Appleton and bussed to Green Bay. The first morning, very early, we arrived at NWTC (Northeast Wisconsin Technical College) for a simulation of an auto collision. We watched as the police arrived and arrested the drunk driver. EMS arrived to tend to the injured driver in the other car. The Fire Department had to extract the other passenger (a dummy), so the firemen cut off the car door. Finally, a helicopter circled the parking lot and landed so the severely injured passenger (dummy) could be taken to a nearby hospital.

All the participants stayed around to answer questions.

We then walked to our classrooms, part of the Public Safety Training Center. In registration we selected various classes of interest: Court Process, Arrest and Booking Process, Armed in America, Firearms, Use of Force Virtual Reality Simulator, Vehicle Extrication, and Tactical Operations – Forced Entry/Room Clearing.

My first class was Court Process where Judge Kevin Rathburn moved us through the A-Z’s of presenting courtroom testimony. I felt like I was back in college, furiously taking notes. At the end of the class, the Judge said he would send via email all the notes we would need.

Then onto Arrest and Booking Process, where the jailer provided a step-by-step guide from the intake at the Sally Port* until the suspect was either turned over for prosecution or released on bond. The minutia of each step examined and explained. The safety of the police, the suspect and the jailers is paramount.

*Per Wikipedia: A sally port is a secure, controlled entry way to an enclosure, e.g., a fortification or prison. The entrance is usually protected by some means, such as a fixed wall on the outside, parallel to the door, which must be circumvented to enter and prevents direct enemy fire from a distance. It may include two sets of doors that can be barred independently to further delay enemy penetration.

My final ‘class’ of the day was Armed in America with Rick McMahan. With over four hundred million weapons in the hands of the American population, and the on-going conversation around gun violence, Rick walked us through the history of firearm legislation, as well as educating us on the different types of weapons out there.

My daughter chose more inter-active classes: Firearms and Forced Entry/Room Clearing. She learned the proper way to hold/fire a weapon and realized that holding a gun with arms extended gets harder the longer you have to maintain that position. Now that she knew how to hold a gun, she and another attendee got to experience how to ‘clear a building.’ Wearing protective gear, they peered around corners looking for the ‘bad guys.’ We’ve all watched this on any number of television shows but to do it yourself is another ballgame. “Look in the corners”.

It was an exhausting day for this old bookseller.

Saturday was another early day. I signed up for Body Cameras, K-9 Operations and finally, Defensive and Arrest Tactics.

The class on body cameras was enlightening and fascinating. The instructor explained what the camera can see and what the police officer sees. With adrenaline pumping, the officer will have tunnel vision rather than the wide-angle of the camera. He showed us various clips of events and then we were able to view what other cameras caught, discussing each video.

Everyone’s favorite class was the K-9 unit. After a classroom session discussing breed choices, training and uses for the canines, we went outside to meet the dogs. Turbo is a German Shepherd and Raven is a Belgium Malinois; those two breeds are the most popular because of their prey drive and their defense drive. The dogs showed their seek-and-find talents. Turbo got the final show: how he would control/contain the ‘bad guy.’

In my final class, the instructors demonstrated how an officer approaches a suspect, beginning with a non-aggressive encounter and working up to the very uncooperative person who ends up on the ground and in cuffs.

 

Again, my daughter chose the more interactive class: Emergency Vehicle Operations, in other words, she got to drive a police car in pursuit of a getaway car.

All of the instructors were police officers, now instructors at the college but still on the force.

The day ended with a presentation by Dr. Katherine Ramsland. Her expertise lies in the process of interviewing serial killers. She walked us through her relationship with the B.T.K. (Bind, Torture, Kill) killer.

The conference ended with a dinner and a wonderful speech by Robert Dugoni, best-selling author. He discussed trying to find the secret to writing. He started with Stephen King’s ‘telepathy,’ added that Diane Gabaldon’s telling of the ‘magic’ that helps her, and finally Charles Dickins, a.k.a. the man who created Christmas, talking about how he struggled for inspiration and then one night in walked Ebenezer Scrooge.

This was one of the best conferences I ever attended and I would highly recommend it to all writers whether they have police officers in their stories or not. Not only will you be able to correctly portray your LEO characters, but you will also come away with a better appreciation of the difficulties faced by our LEO’s every day on the streets.