Author: Elaine Munsch

Happy New Year – 2023!

Happy New Year from your 2023 board. We hope this will be an exciting year for all of you with new works-in-progress or finding a home for those completed works.

A few notable changes coming with the new year:

 First, as a result of the survey sent out, we will be changing the starting time of our meetings to 11 a.m. with the program starting at noon. Please note: our January meeting will be at the old time of noon with the program at 1 PM. This was set with the speaker before we changed the time of our meetings.

Second, while we will continue to work on the craft of writing, our format will change. Our sessions will be more interactive. All of you will be contributing as we discuss various topics or dissect various aspects of the craft.

For example, in January, we are going to start at the very beginning, which Julie Andrews in THE SOUND OF MUSIC tells us, is a very good place to start. We are going to discuss Where do you get your ideas? Our published authors will speak to the origin of their stories. Those of you who are still working on a story can tell us where your idea came from. Those searching for ideas can ask questions or relate your ideas for future stories.

In February, now that we have the idea, what is next? Do we outline? How detailed? If not, what is the ‘seat of the pants’ writing?

In March, we sit down and start the process of putting words on that blank piece of paper.

Get the idea? We want everyone to participate. There are no dumb statements. Really, there aren’t.

Programming goals are to have speakers that will teach us something about the writing process or the publishing process. Mixed into that line-up, we want to have some technically savvy presenters so we learn some of the basics of police procedure, private investigator practices and, hopefully, a field trip or two for some in person learning.

Also, each month we want to spotlight one of our Derby Rotten Scoundrels via our web site blog – that is to say, we would like a brief article (about 500-600 words, plus abt 50-word bio), especially from those who haven’t already posted an article, on some topic related to yourself, your writing, your favorite authors – this will be very open and flexible. This will be a good way to meet each other and learn an unexpected thing or two about our sisters. You can volunteer now by emailing Elaine and we will set up the queue.

Thank you for reading all this. We hope to see you on January 14th, at noon, via Zoom. Our speaker is John DeDakis, a former senior editor at CNN and author of several books. The most recent is FAKE, a Lark Chadwick novel. Be sure to register for the zoom when Susan sends out the invite.

Lastly, a big thank you to all who attended the Holiday Book Signing at Barnes & Noble on December 3rd. All of the authors appreciate your support.

New Year, New News. Sit right down and write yourself a book!

Your board: Elaine, Carol, Susan, Leanne, Patience and Miki.

An Arresting Visit – The Writer’s Police Academy in Wisconsin

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.

 

Heaven on Earth at the Kentucky Book Festival

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.