ThrillerFest blog

When I attended ThrillerFest 2008 last July, I had the pleasure of meeting Carla Buckley, whose debut novel OUT OF THIN AIR will be released next year. If you're following the swine flu story closely, you'll definitely want to check out Carla's book. (Just a teaser there . . .)

Carla and I had a conversation over at the ThrillerFest blog today. We get silly as we talk about why we weren't too sure at first that we belonged at ThrillerFest. (ThrillerFest is a conference held in NYC each July for writers and fans of thrillers. If you love thrillers and mysteries, you'd love ThrillerFest.)

Here's the link. Check it out and join in our crazy discussion. ;-)

Lessons Learned, from a Debut Novelist

I've written about Laura Benedict before, and if you look to the left, you'll see her first novel, Isabella Moon, is on my list of books recently read. Her second novel, Calling Mr. Lonely Hearts, above, goes on sale this January, and I can't wait to read it. I instantly liked Laura the first time I read her blog, Notes From the Handbasket, and my initial instincts about her were confirmed when I met her in person at Thrillerfest. She's down to earth and a warm, generous person. She has a wonderful way of expressing certain thoughts about writing and publishing -- very honest and open about the process and the business -- and I find myself screaming "Yes! Yes!" at my computer screen when I read some of her blog posts.

Laura recently guest-blogged at the Fantasy Debut blog about her first year as a published author, and I encourage all writers -- especially those who are unpublished or those who have a contract but whose release date is sometime in the future -- to read what she has to say. These are things to keep in the "Things I wish I'd known" file. It's also a great article for readers and fans who wonder what it's really like to be a first time author . . . :-)

Jungle Red Writers

The wonderfully supportive and award-winning author/Boston investigative reporter Hank Phillippi Ryan has posted an interview of me over at Jungle Red Writers. We talk about how I came up with the idea for Tell No Lies, writing from a male point of view, and other odds and ends. Stop by and say hello, and try to guess the "little white lie" . . .

You'll see that Hank mentions Thrillerfest . . . I'll be posting any day now about my amazing experience at Thrillerfest earlier this month, so stay tuned.