September Issue, 2010
O R A N G E
H E R R I N G
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
________
PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE
Do you social network? Facebook? Twitter? How
important are these online ways to connect to people
to the writer, to readers?
Well, as a writer, the tough truth is that you have
to be involved in these social opportunities to sell
books, connect with readers, and other authors. This
in conjunction with your blog and all the other
things you are doing. But why? you may be asking.
It’s because authors may think they are writing in a
vacuum but they don’t sell books in them. You have
to talk to booksellers (like our own Debbie Mitsch),
and librarians, and other authors to get the skinny on
good agents as well as bad, on great publishers as
well as bad, on e-publishing your backlist (many
authors are seeking to do so now once their
publisher isn’t printing those books anymore and the
rights revert back to the author). Oh yes, we need to
ask questions, hear advice, and connect with readers
in ways blogs and websites don’t and can’t. We are
lucky to have these new social networks that don’t
require our hopping on planes or driving across
town. But they can be a trap, a big time waster if we
are not careful and limit the time we spend on these
new sources. Otherwise, that writing we are
supposed to be doing won’t get done.
But what of readers? For those of you who are
readers, there are oodles of opportunities to reach
out online to other readers. Besides “friending” your
favorite authors on Facebook (and in my case, it’s
my character who has the Facebook page) you might
try Goodreads and Library Thing for others who
comment and review books you might be interested
in reading. I know there are far more out there than I
have found (some devoted entirely to mysteries) and
some just about any books. I usually stumble across
them when a Google alert comes up about one of
my novels. Or you could start your own forum. The
important thing is to maintain outside contact with
others who love books, chat about them, get
recommendations. Joining Sisters in Crime was the
first big step. Don’t stop there!
Your President,
Jeri Westerson
SISTERS IN CRIME
MISSION STATEMENT:
To promote the professional development and
advancement of women crime writers to achieve
equality in the industry
SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 19TH
2 pm: WRITER'S FORUM, Research: how do you
do it and why is it important? Also, Sisters Share.
3 pm: Paul Tayyer, editor for World Parade Books,
an independent literary press in Humtington Beach,
is dipping his editorial toe into publishing more
crime novels. Dave Newman’s gritty Please Don’t
Shoot Anyone Tonight is being released this fall;
World Parade’s most recent hit mystery was Tyler
Dilts’ A King of Infinite Space. Tayyar, an
accomplished poet, is an avid fan of crime novels.
He’s sharing his advice and expertise with mystery
fans and writers
OCTOBER (DARK)
SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 21ST
2 pm: READER'S FORUM, TBA
3 pm: Member authors who have books coming
out in 2010. They will read and discuss their work.
with authors Loni Emmert and P. I. Barrington.
Upland Library
450 N. Euclid Ave., Upland, CA 91786
*Tuesday, September 21, 6:30-8:00 pm
Reading/Signing
Palms-Rancho Park Library
2920 Overland Avenue, Los Angeles, 90064.
*Saturday, September 25, 10 am to 4 pm
I’ll be a speaker!
Mission Viejo Readers Festival
Mission Viejo Library
100 Civic Center, Mission Viejo, CA 92691
www.cmvl.org
*Sunday, September 26,
West Hollywood Book Fair–look for me at the
Sisters in Crime booth from 10 am to Noon
West Hollywood Park
647 No. San Vicente Blvd, Los Angeles, CA.
Contact: westhollywoodbookfair@gmail.com
*Tuesday, September 28,
Serpent in the Thorns is out in paperback!
*Saturday, October 9, 10:30 am to 2:30 pm
”She Writes” Salon and Luncheon
Montage in Laguna Beach.
http://www.jeriwesterson.com/video
*Tuesday, October 12,
The third Crispin Guest Medieval Noir, The
Demon’s Parchment, is in bookstores!
*Thursday through Sunday, October 14-17,
Bouchercon (mystery fan convention)
Hyatt Regency San Francisco 5 Embarcadero
Center, San Francicso, CA. 94111
888-421-1442
MEMBER EVENTS:
D.P. Lyle:
*November 2-4, 2010
Murder, Mystery and Microscopes Panel
3rd International Conference on Criminal and
Environmental Soil Forensics
Long Beach, CA
https://www.acsmeetings.org/
Jeri Westerson:
*Saturday, September 18, 2 pm
”Meet the Experts: Writing Mysteries and Thrillers”
*Saturday, Oct 23, 5 pm
Launch Party for The Demon's Parchment
Vroman's Bookstore 695 East Colorado Blvd.,
Pasadena, CA 91101, contact: 626-449-5320
MYSTERY INK EVENTS
*Saturday, October 2, 1:00 p.m.
Wendy Hornsby signs The Paramour's Daughter
*Saturday, October 9, 1:00 p.m.
OC SinC member Jeff Sherratt signs Detour to
Murder: A Film Noir Mystery
Thanks goes out to our members John
Kim, Patricia Wynn and Diane Hemme
for attending Aileen Baron's Launch Party
at Mystery Ink and helping to make it a
success. Aileen's food tidbits also helped
to entice people to the signing.
*Saturday, October 6, 11:00 a.m.
President Jeri Westerson's Orange County Launch
Party forThe Demon's Parchment
*Saturday, October 13, 1:00 p.m.
Marion Moore Hill signs Deadly Design published
by Pemberly Press
Mystery Ink
Goldenwest Plaza
7176 Edinger Ave.
Huntington Beach, CA 92647
(714) 960-4000
contact Debbie at mysteryink@hotmail.com
UPCOMING EVENTS:
*Sunday, September 26
9th Annual West Hollywood Book Fair
West Hollywood Park
647 N. San Vicente Blvd.
West Hollywood
www.westhollywoodbookfair.org.
THE WRITER’S BOOKSHELF
Laurie Thomas
It’s Wednesday night and you’re off to your
writer’s group with a new story. It needs work, but
the antagonist is your best character yet. So along
with tips on revision, you’re looking forward to
some kudos.
As the verdict is delivered you want to run to the
powder room and drown yourself in the toilet.
Your group opines that the plot is trite, the voices
pedestrian, the description clichéd, the setting
banal, and your bad guy is about as menacing as the
Pillsbury Doughboy. You take all this like a true
Author, nodding politely, mumbling obsequiously.
“Yes . . . I see . . . Thank you for catching that . . .
Oh, that’s an excellent idea . . . I really appreciate
your feedback . . . .” Bitch.
At home, after resuscitating your shredded ego
with Jack Daniel’s, you vow, “I’ll show them!”
And at the next meeting, you do. You finish your
read, then hold your breath during the long, electric
silence. Eventually, the writer next to you mutters,
“Wowwww.”
Amidst murmurs of agreement someone pipes up.
“This guy is Hannibal Lecter meets Norman Bates.
How did you come up with such a terrific villain?”
Your joy turns to cold sweat. You are the mother
of three adorable children under ten. Your husband
is an accountant and thinks you are writing
romances. “Why not children’s stories?” he said.
“Everybody likes Winnie the Pooh.”
Pooh Bear is not your style. But how can you
admit that cannibals and psychos turn you on? You
can’t. “Gosh,” you say. “I have no idea. The
character just took over, you know?”
Everyone nods sagely and you go home, safe in
the knowledge that you had nothing to do with that
monster on the page. It amazes me how many
intelligent writers and publishing professionals buy
this idea. Veteran editor Jessica Morrell claims that
characters can “leap off the page and start talking . .
. surprising us with a joke we’d never have thought
of on our own.”
Really? With whose brain does a fictional
character think?
In his writing text Story, Robert McKee calls this
phenomenon of crediting fictional characters with
the power to write their own scripts, a “charming
self-deception” that is actually the result of the
author’s hard work. That is, do enough research,
and knowledge of the story and its characters is so
thorough that the tale seems to write itself. The
truth is, Dear Writer, that just as you are
responsible for every rotten line you write, you are
equally responsible for every stunning line you pen.
Your characters are not independent, sentient
human beings; they are the product of your
imagination, so everything they do and say is your
invention. Please, take credit. The next time
someone says to you: “That dialogue is fantastic!
How did you do that?” do not put on your “Aw,
shucks” hair shirt say, “Gee, I dunno, somehow the
character just took over.”
If you are guilty of such perjury, please march to
the nearest mirror, fix yourself with a gimlet eye
and say: “Why, thank you. I worked very hard on
that. I’m so glad you like the result.”
Then say it another hundred times, a thousand if
need be, until accepting your strengths becomes as
much of a habit as groveling in the slime pit of
criticism.
the all-day workshop plus dinner. (click here to
register)
2010 CALENDAR
October 17th – No Meeting due to Bouchercon.
November 21st – 2 pm Reader's Forum, 3 pm
member authors reading from their work coming
out this year.
December 12th – Holiday Party
2011
TWO-MONTH ForensicsFest
January 16th – 2 pm Writer's Forum, 3 pm, Jan
Burke talks about the state of forensics in America.
February 20th – 2:30 pm (no forum) Forensic Panel
including D.P. Lyle, Dr. Judy Myers Suchey,
forensic anthropologist, and Michael Streed, police
sketch artist.
BOUCHERCON 2010
It's not too late to plan for this must-do event.
October 14-17, 2010
San Francisco, CA
For further information: http://www.bcon2010.com/
And consider this event.
SinC INTO GREAT WRITING 2010!
*October 13, 2010
1:30 – 9:00 pm Sisters in Crime is holding their
annual SinC Into Great Writing 2010! one day prior
to Bouchercon By the Bay in San Francisco.
Place: Hyatt Regency. (You do not need to be
registered for the conference.) Sisters in Crime has
discounted this workshop for members. $50.00 for
TELL US WHAT YOU REALLY THINK
This is every "Sister's" newsletter. Let us hear
from you if you have events coming up or news that
we'd all like to share. If you have any suggestions
for the Orange Herring, let us know that, too.
Send your contributions and suggestions to:
Linda Smith: softpoet@yahoo.com
Deadline for October newsletter is October 6st.
ForensicsFest 2011
One of the reasons we join Sisters in Crime is to improve our knowledge about mysteries and crime fiction.
With that in mind, the executive board of OC SinC has recruited several forensics experts to talk about their
specialties. At our January meeting, Jan Burke, author of the Irene series, wants to tell us about the appalling
state of death investigations in the US, why what we don't know may be killing us, and how writers can make
use of these facts. In February, we have assembled a panel, including our member D.P. Lyle and, Dr. Judy
Myers Suchey, a forensic anthropologist. Tentatively scheduled are Michael Streed, a police sketch artist, and,
perhaps, a crime scene clean-up specialist.
Join us. January's meeting will begin at our usual time, with a Writer's Forum at 2pm, and the regular meeting
and presentation beginning at 3pm. For February's panel discussion, our meeting will begin at 2:30 pm. (We
will dispense with our usual 2pm forum.) There will be lots of information and time for question and answers.
As always, there will be refreshments served. There is no charge for these events.
Sisters in Crime Orange County – SEPTEMBER 2010 News

UPCOMING MEETING:
September 19th, 2010, 2 pm: Writer's Forum,
3 pm: 3 pm: Paul Tayyer from World Parade Books Publishers
October 17th, 2 pm: No Meeting due to Bouchercon.

Look inside to find out more… or visit www.ocsistersincrime.org
Sisters In Crime
PO Box 53132
Irvine, CA
92619