Tag Archive for: San Joaquin Sisters in Crime

Making Me Think About My Priorities

Both Susan’s last post and the following one about Malice made me mull over what I’m doing.
Sometimes I think I’m a bit crazy to spend so much time writing, promoting, traveling etc. in order to further my career as a writer. I’m such small potatoes compared to so many big-names, is it all worth it?

Yes, I do have a small following of fans. This past Saturday I spoke to the San Joaquin chapter of Sisters in Crime (I was one of the founders). We had a much smaller crowd than the week before when the reformed gangster Henry Hill (Good Fella fame) appeared along with Denny Griffin, a retired cop who writes about gangsters and crime in Las Vegas.

The ones who came though, came to hear me. They’d asked that I answer questions–some of which they’d given me ahead of time. Of course I did and talked about my two latest books, No Sanctuary and Kindred Spirits. After I was done, those who so desired bought books. I sold 19–more than the people in attendance because some bought a copy of each book.

When we got home I did a few writing chores then we had to go to a spaghetti dinner put on by our youth group. Food was great and the kids worked their fanny’s off. They’re hoping to get enough money to go to camp this summer. Camp is expensive and most of our kids come from poor families.

I have other priorities–hubby is # one. I took him with me to the SinC meeting and he took care of the selling. He’s also very popular and has his own fans. Good for his ego.

I teach Sunday School and attend church every Sunday that I’m not off somewhere. Last week our eldest daughter and hubby visited and I did no writing. We just had fun together. They’re both retired and travel in a big motor home and love it.

So where are my priorities? My family has to come first, then the writing and all that’s related to it. Most of my friends are other authors who I see at various functions.

Not sure any of that helped. I do know that I love to write and I have fun promoting, so I guess that counts for something.

Marilyn a.k.a. F. M. Meredith
http://fictionforyou.com/

Blogging, Promoting, Random Thoughts

I’m writing this blog on Saturday because I know I’ll be busy next week and may forget. Things have been wild around here. First, the bathroom is finally done, but next we want to do some remodeling in the two bedrooms next to the refurbished John, which means moving lots of stuff around. When you move things, cleaning follows.

We’re expecting our eldest daughter and her hubby on Monday. They’ve been traveling all around in their motor home–to Kansas to a family reunion, South Dakota for sight seeing, back to Omaha for the Jr. Olympics because a granddaughter was competing, more sightseeing on the way to our house. I want to spend as much time with our visitors as possible. When they leave on Wednesday, we’re heading to the Angeles National Forest to a church camp where we’ll be spending time with my sister and my cousins and various other relatives until Friday noon. We’ve been to this camp before and it’s notorious for its bear visits.

From there we’re headed to San Luis Obispo for a Creative Women all day event on Saturday in the Mission Plaza where I’ll be selling my books. Also the members of the Central Coast Sisters in Crime will have a booth there and so I know I’ll be seeing a lot of my SinC sisters there. The whole point to this is I need to do my blogs ahead of time because I’ll be away from my computer. I will have my Blackberry so will be able to read my email. (I love my Blackberry. I used to have to look for computers in hotels where I could rent computer time.)

I have one other book selling event this month but will spend most of this month promoting on the Net. I’m gearing up for September when I’ll be doing one event after another because I’ll have a new Deputy Tempe Crabtree out.

My promotion begins with a talk at the San Joaquin chapter of Sister in Crime. I love this chapter and am one of the founding members.

I’ve only planned three booksignings at book stores and these are at independents, and at two of them I’ll be giving talks–which I believe works the best. I will be having a blog tour in September also. I’ll be presenting at two writers’ conferences–something I really enjoy.

As for my random thoughts, I’ve had a great time with the promoting part of being a writer. My husband and I have traveled to so many places we’d never have seen in order to attend mystery cons and other writing conferences–from Maui to Florida and lots of places in-between. On my own I’ve visited Alaska twice, and went to the Edgars in New York with a good writing friend–great experience. We’ve made wonderful friends all along the way. All-in-all, it’s been a most rewarding experience and I’m looking forward to even more.

Marilyn Meredith
http://fictionforyou.com