Please Welcome My Guest, Mystery Author Marilyn Meredith

Under the name of F.M. Meredith, Marilyn Meredith writes the Rocky Bluff P.D. series. The latest is No Sanctuary from Oak Tree Press. She is also the author of award winning Deputy Tempe Crabtree mystery series as well as over twenty published novels. The latest is, Kindred Spirits, from Mundania Press.

She is a member of Sisters in Crime, Mystery Writers of America, EPIC and on the board of the Public Safety Writers of America. She was an instructor for Writer’s Digest School for ten years, served as an instructor at the Maui Writer’s Retreat and many other writer’s conferences. She makes her home in Springville, much like Bear Creek where Deputy Tempe Crabtree lives. Visit her at http://fictionforyou.com/

Blog Address: http://marilynmeredith.blogspot.com/

First on the scene of a traffic accident that turns out to be murder, Officer Stacey Wilbur calls Detective Doug Milligan. Despite her former vow to never date anyone on the Rocky Bluff P.D., she and Milligan are romantically involved. Finding time to be alone together isn’t easy.

The murder victim is the wife of a popular Rocky Bluff minister, and several suspects immediately come to the forefront, the minister himself, his nosy secretary, the choir director, and a nerdy stalker. Stacey helps Doug with the murder investigation, but the Chief asks her to go undercover as a prostitute to expose a pedophile which leads to a surprising job offer.

Stacey must make two major decisions that will change her life forever, and a third that nearly causes her to lose her life.

Here's What Marilyn has to say today:

ABOUT GOING TO MYSTERY CONFERENCES OR CONVENTIONS

Probably everyone who reads this will know the difference, but just in case, here’s my explanation. Conferences are more of the “how to” variety, how to write a mystery, how to create convincing characters, how to make sure you get your forensics right, how to kill someone off in a new and innovative manner, and so on. A mystery convention is geared to fans, those wonderful readers who love to read (and buy) mysteries and actually enjoy listening to authors talk about how they came to write their mystery, or how they did the research for it, or how they created their characters, and so on.

Most mystery writers attend both. At a mystery conference they may be one of the presenters telling how they do all of the above mentioned how-tos and of course, they will figure out how to talk about their own book in a subtle manner so those listening will be curious and want to buy their books.

At the convention, the mystery writer hopes to sparkle and entertain in the hopes that those listening will be eager to buy his or her book.

I’ve gone to lots of both types of mystery confabs. The biggest of course is Bouchercon. This one is held all over the country and has the biggest attendance of both fans and mystery writers. This is the place to see some of the biggest and most popular mystery writers in the business. It can be pretty overwhelming at times too, you might make a new friend and never be able to find them again among the throngs of people.

Left Coast Crime is the second largest mystery con and always held on the left coast (though once that left coast was in Britain and another time in El Paso TX—this year it’s being held as left coast as possible—in Hawaii. It’s a bit smaller than Bouchercon, though many big name authors are always in attendance and lots of wonderful fans.

Then there are other smaller cons and conferences like Love is Murder which is always in Chicago. Some big names attend this one too—just not quite as many because there just aren’t as many people who go. It is also a writers conference as there are lots of opportunities to learn about writing mysteries and there are usually a few publishers and agents in attendance.

Mayhem in the Midlands is one of my favorites—this one is a mystery con put on by librarians, and it’s always in Omaha. This is not a how-to—but a how it was done convention, with a few big name authors and more not as well-known and lots of wonderful fans. What I love about this con is how friendly the fans are. At all the cons I’ve made a lot of author friends, but at this con I’ve made many life-long reader fans. Fans who I look forward to seeing every year.

A new writing conference that is rather unique is the Public Safety Writers Association. The organization was started by a law enforcement officer for law enforcement officers who write or want to write. Over the years it has embraced other public safety fields and people who write fiction and non-fiction about any of the public safety fields and have included mystery writers.

This is the smallest of all the cons that I’ve mentioned, but it has top-notch experts in forensics and all aspects of law enforcement as well as publishers and editors on hand. Because it’s small, there is ample opportunity to network. Anyone who wants to be on a panel is welcomed. To learn more about the PSWA conference go to: http://www.publicsafetywriter.com/

My advice to anyone wanting to go to any convention or conference, if you’re a writer register early. Plan to get to the conference a day ahead of time if possible, so you don’t miss anything. While at the conference, be friendly, talk to everyone. This is the best way to meet people. If you don’t have anyone to go to dinner with, ask someone to go with you. If they already have plans, ask the next person. Hand out your business card to everyone. If you’re fortunate enough to be on a panel, smile a lot, be funny, tell about your book but don’t go on and on about it, and don’t hog the panel.

Go to the panels that interest you the most. Hang out in the bar in the evenings—you don’t have to drink—just get acquainted with folks. And again, talk to people. Find out why they’re at the con—are they a writer, find out what they write, are they a reader? Tell them about your book.

Because I have a new book out, No Sanctuary, I’m heading out to several cons this year: Epicon, which is for electronically published authors—all my books are e-books as well as trade paperback; Mayhem in the Midlands, California Crime Writers (brand new writers’ con), and of course, PSWA. Hope to see some of you at one or more of these conferences. Be sure to say “hello.”

F.M. Meredith a.k.a. Marilyn Meredith
No Sanctuary is number 5 in the Rocky Bluff P.D. series
To learn more about the series visit http://rockybluffpd.blogspot.com/

No Sanctuary by F.M. Meredith is available at http://www.oaktreebooks.com/, Amazon, or an autographed copy from the author’s website: http://fictionforyou.com

Please welcome Marilyn by leaving a comment below.