Category Archives: Events/appearances

December 9, 2013

NaNoWriMo round up

Filed under: Events/appearances,Writing — Tags: Clare Writers' Festival, NaNoWriMo, Writing — PD Martin @ 1:51 pm

It’s official…NaNoWriMo is done for 2013. This was my second time attempting NaNoWriMo and I’m afraid that once again I fell short.

Instead of meeting the 50,000 word target (or my personal target of 30,000-40,000 words), this year I managed only 20,212 words.

I have excuses, of course. Who doesn’t? But the truth is there were two days I had put aside for intensive writing sessions (two full days, the only full days I get each week) and instead of putting my foot on the accelerator I went for the brake. I’m still not sure why. Yes, it’s a crazy busy time of year for me. My daughter’s birthday is on 6 December so there are always celebrations to organise. I also went to the Clare Writers’ Festival from 29 November – 1 December and was busy preparing for that in the last week of November. (The Festival was fantastic, by the way!)

Also, the writing didn’t seem to flow as easily for this book (book 2 in a YA series) as it did for the first and I even wondered if the fact that I actually did some plot planning BEFORE writing made things worse. Instead of writing free-form, I was writing the scene I had designated as the next scene in Scrivener. But surely plotting should help move my writing forward, not hinder it.

The bottom line is I hit the brakes for some reason. But the good news is I got 20,000 words done of my next novel and if I hadn’t been pushing myself with NaNoWriMo perhaps it would have been a much less productive month.

Not sure yet if I’ll sign up in 2014, but I’m determined that one of these days I will do NaNoWriMo and actually finish it. Perhaps not when I’ve got a 2yro at home though

Comments (2)

November 22, 2012

Congratulations to the Boroondara winners

Filed under: Events/appearances,Writing — Tags: Boroondara Literary Awards, short stories, writing short stories — PD Martin @ 10:12 am

On 16 October I posted a blog about how I’d just completed judging the Boroondara Literary Awards – open short story competition. In that blog I talked about the judging process and what makes a good short story. However, I wasn’t able to say much about the winners because it was all hush-hush until the official awards ceremony. Well, I’m just back from that Awards Ceremony so now I can say a little bit more about the entries, and congratulate the winners…

This year’s stories explored a broad range of topics. There were many stories of childhood (particularly coming-of-age stories) and also stories of growing old. Stories of war also featured, ranging from war-time stories to stories of veterans trying to fit in back at home. Important global and local issues that affect us all were also addressed, such as racism, refugee camps and climate change.

A short story competition wouldn’t be complete without touching on the classics of love and death — two incredibly strong emotional drivers that have the ability to create drama when crafted well. Entries also covered other classic genres, such as fantasy, science fiction and crime fiction.

There were also some stories that offered interesting points of view. One told from a tree’s perspective, another a statue, a house, a dog, a ‘simple’ man, and several entries told from a very young child’s perspective.

So, I’d like to congratulate…

The four highly commended stories:

Double Glazing by Kate Rotherham, which took me on an emotional and difficult journey with the mother of an autistic child;
The Angel by Amy Bisset, which offered a refreshing take on point of view, telling a well-crafted story from a statue’s perspective;
Delivered by Sulari Gentill, about a young man who delivered the pink slips during war time (I loved the last sentence of the first paragraph, ‘After all, Gus Merriman delivered death’); and finally
Fighting for Breath by Paul Threlfall, a story with an incredibly strong voice that followed a boxer turned New York taxi driver.

Another story was extremely close to a highly commended prize, so close I wanted to at least mention it. Two Bucks for Living by Jessica Lye was a touching story about a homeless man reunited with his daughter. This story simply needed professional editing for some craft elements to take it to the next level.

Now, on to the first, second and third prizes, plus the Boroondara Prize. These stories were all extremely different, yet each one was powerful in its own way.

The third prize goes to One Day in the Life of a Societal Corpse by Alexandra Coppinger. The writing in this piece is strong, atmospheric and in many ways daring. I’m a stickler for grammar and sentence structure, yet this story’s powerful one- and two-word sentences somehow work. The story gave a moving insight into a protagonist who’s struggling with life, and contemplating death.

The second prize goes to Something was Wrong by Michael Doyle. In this story, the writer has perfectly captured the voice of a five-year-old boy being led to a holocaust gas chamber with his mother. The reader can guess what’s going on, but the child doesn’t. The story is both well-written and touching, and as the highest placed entry from a Boroondara resident, it also wins the Boroondara Prize.

Finally, the first prize goes to what could be described as a more quirky story. While in many ways the language and sentence structure are ‘simple’, this is a perfect reflection of character and voice. Derek Pickle by Aaron Firth Donato is the story of an intellectually handicapped man whose caregiver, his grandmother, dies. Soon after her death Derek decides to go to his first concert, and because his grandmother always told him not to go anywhere without her, he takes her — her ashes, that is. He even makes sure to get her home on time for bed.

Congratulations again to all the winners and the other entrants. Keep writing, and it’s great to see we’ve got such strong writers in Australia.

Comments Off

August 28, 2012

Salisbury Writers’ Festival

Filed under: Events/appearances,Murderati blogs — Tags: Salisbury Writers' Festival — PD Martin @ 2:10 am

I wanted to talk about the wonderful weekend I just had in South Australia for the Salisbury Writers’ Festival. I think all readers and writers can agree that writers’ festivals are fantastic.

For readers they offer an insight into the writing life and their favourite authors (and characters), and for authors they’re an opportunity to meet fellow authors, meet readers, and generally get out of the cocoon that often surrounds the writing process.

Salisbury Writers’ Festival was no exception!

It’s a smaller festival, one that’s run by a local council about twenty kilometres outside of Adelaide city centre, with many of the attendees being aspiring writers. Whether it’s despite its size or because of its size the event is run incredibly well and I had a ball.

I was lucky enough to be involved in four events over a three-day period. First off, was my keynote address on Friday night. My topic was “The Brave New World for Readers and Authors”. One guess what that focused on! It’s interesting, because here in Australia market penetration of e-readers is very poor. Stats are hard to come by, but when I asked members of the 170-strong attendees if they owned a dedicated e-reader, only about eight hands went up. Like I said, e-readers still aren’t big here, and so part of my address was really about the basics – what an e-reader is, what brands are available in Australia and some of the features. I think they’re like many new technologies, in that people are hesitant to jump on board, especially with something that’s new, something that they don’t see or hear much about. And that’s the case with e-readers here in Australia.

In terms of the author side of things, I talked about the self-publishing revolution that’s been happening in the industry and mentioned some of the bigger success stories, such as JA Konrath and Amanda Hocking. During my research I found a quote from JA Konrath that I absolutely LOVED. He was quoted in a USA Today article as saying: “Traditional publishers are just serving drinks on the Titanic.” Man, I love that quote! So much so, that I wanted to share it here in case you haven’t heard it before.

Then, on Saturday I was on two panels, one titled Pathways to Success, which had four of us sharing our experiences of getting published. Dan McGuiness, who writes graphic novels aimed at 8-12 yro boys, had a very interesting success story. Basically, he went to a pub one night that was an ‘arty’ pub with readings and the like, and showed a woman his drawings. She asked if he could write a book in that style, and he said “sure”. That woman was an editor at Scholastic and she signed him up for his Pilot and Huxley series. Not many authors find success walking into a pub and it definitely makes for one hell of a good story!

I also stood in for a sick panellist for “Pathways to the Future”, and as you’d expect the discussion centred around ebooks, social networking, blogging, etc. It was a lively discussion with one blogger/author, one publisher, a digital publishing expert and little old me.

Although there were other very interesting events on for the rest of the day, the conversation we’d started at the panel was so interesting we continued it over coffee. That’s one of the things I love about writers’ festivals – meeting other writers and people in the publishing industry and just hanging out.

My weekend dance card finished with a master class that I ran from 9.30-3pm on Sunday. My aim when I run any sort of class is to give attendees information about the writing craft that I feel would have helped me get published sooner, if only I’d discovered these pearls of wisdom a couple of years earlier. I think everyone enjoyed the class.

There’s also something kind of nice about staying in a hotel, especially if you don’t tend to travel much for work. So at night I was able to kick back, read a bit on my Kindle and watch a bit of TV. Nice.

Comments Off

October 14, 2011

It’s a wrap

Filed under: Events/appearances,Murderati blogs — Tags: Alison Goodman, Angela Savage, Katherine Howell, Kathryn Fox, LA Larkin, Leigh Redhead, Lindy Cameron, Malla Nunn, Margie Orford, Marianne Delacourt, Narelle Harris, PD Martin, Shamini Flint, SheKilda, Tara Moss, Vanda Symon — PD Martin @ 12:14 am

On the weekend I attended the ten-yearly (yup, not annual, not bi-annual but once a decade) SheKilda. It was actually the second ever SheKilda, to mark Sisters in Crime Australia’s 20th anniversary and the 10th anniversary of the first SheKilda. Happily, they are talking about maybe having another one in five years! I’m going to push for two years.

Anyway, having attended Bouchercon once, I was hoping that SheKilda would follow a similar format and, of course, be as wonderful and successful as the US convention. And I was NOT disappointed. It was an amazing weekend. A time for authors and readers to talk, exchange ideas and in the case of the authors complain that our partners don’t understand what we do and how tough it is.

One of the key differences between SheKilda and Bouchercon is that SheKilda was conceived and produced by Sisters in Crime and so all the authors were women. In terms of the audience, I’d say it was probably about 95% women too, but then again most crime readers are female.

The main difference between SheKilda and most of the other writing events I’ve attended (except Bouchercon) is that it was set up as a convention rather than a writers festival. The sessions and activities were centred almost entirely around the hotel venue (Rydges in Carlton, Melbourne). To my knowledge, this makes SheKilda the only one of its kind in Australia. They even served morning tea, lunch and afternoon tea in a common area near the venues, so we didn’t have to stray too far from the action or pound the pavement in the search of lunch.

The weekend kicked off with the Friday night gala opening. It was a chance for all the authors and attendees to mingle (with free champagne, red wine, white wine and beer – oh, and soft drinks too). There was also some extra yummy finger food! Then it was into one of the rooms for the official opening. MCed masterfully by Sue Turnbull (she’s an amazing interviewer and MC), it kicked off with a traditional welcome from Joy Murphy Wandin, who’s an elder of the Wurundjeri indigenous people. Then it was on to the entertaining (funny) City of Melbourne Councillor Ken Ong, then Mary Delahunty of Writing Australia and then the keynote address from Margie Orford, one of the three international guests for the convention. She gave a stunning speech about the setting for her novels and hometown (Cape Town). Apparently the murder rate there is so high that forensics will only be called if they think the murder might make the TV news. There have even been cases of people travelling to Cape Town to specifically arrange murder – hoping their victim will simply go into the massive pile of unsolved murder cases on some homicide cop’s desk. Margie’s police contact will often have 200 files on his desk.

Saturday kicked off with a joint session with all the international guests, Margie Orford, Shamini Flint and Vanda Symon. It was a great opening to the day’s events and was followed by Tara Moss launching Scarlet Stiletto: The Second Cut, a collection of award-winning short stories by women crime writers.

For my other morning session, I attended Drawing the Line: Whatever!, which looked at how the line is drawn between a young adult novel and an adult novel. YA authors Marianne Delacourt, Karen Healey and Nansi Kunze were led by Alison Goodman. It seems violence was one key determiner, but sex was a more important one. For example, editorial notes removing the word “straddled” were discussed!

After lunch, I was on a panel with Narelle Harris, Marianne Delacourt, Alison Goodman and Kim Westwood, chaired by Tara Moss. The panel looked at bending the rules in terms of genre — mixing genres, moving genres, etc.

After my choc-chip cookie at afternoon tea it was time for my second panel of the day, Conquering the World: Heroes Abroad. This panel was chaired by Angela Savage and together with Lindy Cameron, Malla Nunn and LA Larkin we all explored setting our books overseas. Angela’s are set in Thailand, Lindy’s Redback is set in several locations, Malla’s are set in South Africa in the 1950s and Louisa’s first book is set in Zimbabwe and Australia and her second in Antarctica. And then of course mine are set in the US.

Saturday night was the Davitt Awards, which were created to support Aussie female crime writers – who often seemed to be overlooked in our other crime awards. The winners that night were (from left to right):

Best true crime: Colleen Egan
Best YA crime fiction: Penny Matthews
Best fiction honourable mention: Leigh Redhead
Best fiction: Katherine Howell (who was my guest here in July)

There was also a reader’s choice award for fiction, which went to PM Newton (not in pic).

I kicked off Sunday morning with a panel called Brave New World: Or Death of the Book. As you can imagine, we spent the hour talking about ebooks in Australia and around the world. A recent stat for Australia is that the current $35million ebook market will increase to anything from $150 million to $700 million in the next three years. Big numbers!

After morning tea, I was an audience member for In the Face of Evil: Encounters with the Guilty, where true crime writers Rochelle Jackson, Robin Bowles and Ruth Wykes talked about their interviews and encounters with real-life crooks and murderers. And then I sat in on Them that Really Do it, which featured authors who used their past/present careers in their writing. Katherine Howell (ex-paramedic), YA Erskine (ex-cop), Helene Young (pilot), Kathryn Fox (ex-doctor) and PM Newton (ex-cop) were on the panel.

After lunch was Body in the Pool, which gave the SheKilda attendees an insight into how things would really happen if/when a dead body is found. The body had been on display by the pool all weekend and the experts included someone from police (actually our ex-assistant commissioner, Sandra Nicholson), a bug expert Mel Archer and a forensic pathologist. Timing (real versus that portrayed in crime fiction and crime TV) was also considered. At least 6-8 weeks for the entomology report and 10 weeks for the autopsy report.

It was an amazing, amazing weekend. A chance to talk to other authors, share stories (often complaining about how badly we’re paid!!) and expose ourselves to some great authors who are new to us. I kept my hand in my pocket over the weekend, but only because I’m sure Santa is bringing me a kindle for Christmas so I’ll wait and purchase the many fabulous books now on my ‘to buy’ list as ebooks!

What authors have you ‘found’ at a convention and then bought their books?

Comments (2)

September 29, 2011

The photo shoot to kill for

Filed under: Events/appearances,Murderati blogs — Tags: Angela Savage, Leigh Redhead, PD Martin, publicity — PD Martin @ 12:02 am

Part of an author’s life is publicity. And, let’s face it, for the most part publicity is fun! You write in a cocoon for many, many months and then you emerge and get to flap your wings and show off all the pretty patterns. Well, it’s kind of like that.

For many authors, I know publicity can be a drag. For the shy, retiring type of author, publicity can be daunting and scary. Then there are the really, really big authors who do world tours and get a few weeks taken out of their writing schedule each year. They’re shepherded from city to city, country to country and plane to plane. I can see that after the first world tour (or maybe the tenth) that might get a little old.

For most of us, the publicity rounds are more sedate. And it depends on your publishing house and publicist too. My five books are released in Australia through Pan Macmillan Australia. They assigned me a fabulous publicist and for the two weeks around the launch of each book I’d block out time for media interviews. Lots were over-the-phone radio interviews, but then also some print stuff with the occasional photo shoot. However, in the US I didn’t have a publicist and so the publicity and media stuff was pretty much non-existent. The other weird thing about publicity is that by the time a book is released, you’re already well into writing the next book. So you have to get your head out of the current WIP and back into your last book.

But that’s not what this blog is about…today I want to talk about the best photo shoot of my career to date. And it’s not to publicise an upcoming novel. Next month, 7-9 October, I’m part of an Australian crime convention called SheKilda. It’s only the second of its kind (the first/last one was 10 years ago) and I’m hoping it’s going to be like Bouchercon for Aussies. It’s being hosted by Sisters in Crime Australia, so it’s only female crime writers (authors, journalists and TV writers) but there are still over 70 authors on 35+ panels. Needless to say, I can’t wait!!!! I’m using the pun – a killer weekend.

But I’ve digressed again. So, a couple of weeks ago, as part of the publicity for SheKilda, I was asked to take part in an interview with two other Melbourne-based authors, Angela Savage and Leigh Redhead. First I went into city and talked to the journalist over coffee, then the next day we met at the Victorian State Library for the photo shoot. The theme: modern-day Cluedo. The three of us had to pick a colour – my first difficulty. You see, like many Melbournians about 90% of my wardrobe is black. Anyway, I managed to hunt out some purple and so I was Professor Plum (in the library – literally).

The first pose was on a Chesterfield with magnificent lights in the background. Angela Savage lay on the lounge with a dagger, Leigh Redhead had the gun and I had a magnifying glass. The second pose was Leigh lying on the lounge, me lying on the top of it (balance was required, people!) and Angela behind us, looking a little too excited to be holding a rope in her gloved hands. This one made it into the article and I also got a way less slick pic on my little camera.

Next we were near an old marble staircase. I was sitting, magnifying glass in hand (I sooo wanted a gun) and Angela and Leigh were behind me, backs against the wall like they were about to kill each other (or maybe me). That one made the front cover of the Melbourne Times Weekly and is also the pic featured in the online version.

Then we did a Charlie’s Angels style pose. Again, I got one on my camera. This was a special moment for me, because I was able to play out one of my childhood fantasies — I was one of Charlie’s Angels! Sad, but true

I don’t know if you can see it in the pics, but it was a seriously fun shoot. Angela, Leigh and I were like excited school girls – with fake guns, knives, etc. And while most photo shoots take 5-15 minutes, this one went for nearly two hours!

It’s all in the look
When you’re posing for photos, it can be hard to work out what expression to use. Even though we were having fun and getting into it, do you go for sexy? Serious? Smug? Leigh and I joked about the classic crime writer “look”. Crime authors need to refine a little sexy smirk that says: “I know something you don’t know.” And the thing we know? Whodunit. And that’s kind of important in a murder mystery.

Comments Off

October 12, 2010

More speaking gigs coming up

Filed under: Events/appearances — Tags: crime author, FBI, novelist, PD Martin, Sophie Anderson, vampires — PD Martin @ 2:51 am

More speaking gigs coming up!

I’ve got a few more speaking gigs coming up in the next few weeks. I know only Melbourne-based readers will have a chance to come along, but no matter where you are I thought you might be interested in my “Living Book” gig….it’s definitely blog-worthy.

But first, the events in order:

Readings Hawthorn – Listen to Sue Turbull grill me on my life of crime and the fifth Sophie Anderson novel, Kiss of Death. Thursday 28 October 6.30pm. Free event but bookings essential. Call Readings on (03) 9819 1917 or book via email.
Ashburton Library – Living Book (you can borrow me!). 10 November, 10am-1pm at Ashburton Library.
Hawthorn Library – Living Book (yep, borrow me again). 11 November, 6-8.30pm at Hawthorn Library
Balwyn Library – Wednesday 17 November, 7.30-9pm – come along to hear me talk about all things criminal, including some of my latest research into the world of the FBI and real-life vampires.

What’s a Living Book?

I was contacted by one of my local libraries to ask if I’d be interested in taking part in their Living Library initiative as a ‘Living Book’. What does it mean…authors and other public figures will be on-hand to answer questions, talk about their work, etc. Basically, I’ll just be hanging out at the library for a couple of hours!

It’s all part of the celebrations for 150 years of continuous public library service in Boroondara. The library service says: If you have ever wondered what life is like for people with backgrounds, lifestyles and occupations which differ from your own this program offers you the chance to find out! Come have a chat with Senior Police Constable Lombardi, local crime writer PD Martin, barrister and human rights advocate Julian Burnside and many other intriguing people.

It’s a fascinating idea – having a Living Book available for library members to effectively ‘borrow’. No doubt I’ll be blogging about my experiences as a Living Book next month.

The sessions are free but bookings are essential. For more information please call (03) 9278 4666.

Comments (2)

July 26, 2010

Four days of writers’ festivals

Filed under: Events/appearances — Tags: author appearances, Crime and Justice Festival, Whitsunday Voices — PD Martin @ 11:46 pm

Katherine Battersby and PD Martin at the literary dinner

Last week was a busy one…

Wednesday I flew up to Mackay as one of the authors taking part in the Whitsunday Voices Youth Literature Festival. The event, hosted at Whitsunday Anglican College, is in its seventh year and brings together primary and secondary school students from around the region. I was the official ‘entertainment’ for years 11-12 so I made sure I threw in a few stories about my weird and wonderful research.

The festival kicked off with the Wednesday night launch and a panel with Jackie French, John Danalis, Deborah Abela and Tristan Bancks.

Thursday and Friday were the core festival days, with most of the authors/artists giving 3-4 workshops or sessions each day. And then Friday night was party time, with a literary dinner.

Whitsunday Voices was a blast – a great festival and the other authors rocked! In addition to the four authors/artists mentioned above, I’m also talking about Michael Wagner, James Roy, Ruben Meerman, Gus Gordon, Katherine Battersby and last but not least, David “Ghostboy” Stavanger.

I flew back into Melbourne on the Saturday, and it was time to gear up for Melbourne’s Crime and Justice Festival. I was at a dinner on the Saturday night and then on Sunday was interviewed by Sarah Byrne. The session covered everything from how the Sophie Anderson series started to my recent ebook project, Coming Home.

It was a great few days…but on Sunday night I fell asleep on the couch at 8.30!

Comments (1)

August 29, 2009

MWF – Part 2

Filed under: Events/appearances — Tags: Gary Disher, Melbourne Writers Festival, Ned Kelly Awards, Shane Maloney, Underbelly — PD Martin @ 5:10 am

Late again with my blog. In my defence, I was busy preparing for my part in the Ned Kelly Awards last night. It also marked my last appearance at this year’s Melbourne Writers’ Festival. And I’m well and truly exhausted.

But first off, and the winners are:

Best first novel GHOSTLINES by Nick Gadd
Best fiction DEEP WATER, by Peter Corris and SMOKE & MIRRORS by Kel Robertson
Best true crime THE TALL MAN by Chloe Hooper
Lifetime achievement award – Shane Maloney

The night was in the very capable (and funny) hands of Jane Clifton – and started with the traditional debate. This year’s topic was Women do it Better. You can read the article on the debate (which I was part of) in the news section of this website. The actual award presentations featured some wonderful acceptance speeches and great banter between Peter Corris and Shane Maloney as Peter presented Shane with the lifetime achievement award.

Last Saturday I also took part in my second MWF panel, X-Rated. In this session, Garry Disher, Philip McLaren and I discussed how far crime writers can go with moderator Peter Lawrance. The session went really well, and brought up some interesting questions on the crime writer’s role in society’s exposure to violence.

During the week I also managed to attend to two sessions – one on digital marketing and one on the US publishing scene. Both were informative and engaging.

Then last night my festival journey came to an end and I collapsed into my bed (from tiredness, not too much wine) just before midnight. I’ve only got the weekend to recover because on Monday Sophie’s back home for another round of edits!

Comments Off

August 21, 2009

MWF – Part 1

Filed under: Events/appearances — Tags: Kerry Greenwood, Lisa Lutz, Melbourne Writers Festival, Murder on a Midsummer Night, Revenge of the Spellmans — PD Martin @ 5:07 am

First off, sorry there was no blog last week – a few technical hitches my end.

Today was my first session at the Melbourne Writers’ Festival. My panel topic – Who knew crime was this sassy? The session was chaired by Elly Varenti and the other panellists were Kerry Greenwood and Lisa Lutz.

Let me tell you, you couldn’t get a more diverse range of authors and leading ladies! Having read both Kerry’s and Lisa’s latest books in the lead up – Murder on a Midsummer Night and Revenge of the Spellmans – I was armed and ready to discuss our work.

Kerry’s heroine, Phryne Fisher, is an extremely modern woman for her era – the 1920s in Melbourne. Who knew people drank so much in the 1920s?? Phryne is a self-funded socialite who also takes on PI cases and is definitely an engaging character. In this book she investigates an accidental drowning on behalf of the victim’s mother, who’s sure her son didn’t take his own life. On the side, Phryne’s also looking for an illegitimate child of a wealthy family. The book is classy and entertaining!

Lisa’s leading lady, Isabel Spellman, is a PI who’s on a career break – but takes on a “small” case of suspected adultery, which turns out to be more complicated than it first appeared. While Isabel’s tailing her mark, she’s also investigating a few family mysteries, such as her brother’s vacation, her sister’s PSAT scores and a mysterious blackmailer. Revenge of the Spellmans is a thoroughly entertaining novel that had me laughing out aloud !

Obviously neither of these women is like Sophie, which made for an interesting panel discussion. We talked about our different settings, our heroines, our research …the list went on. It was a great panel, and lots of fun!

Comments Off

August 7, 2009

Sigh of relief…

Filed under: Events/appearances — Tags: Shane Maloney, Write around the Murray, writers festival — PD Martin @ 5:05 am

It’s official…I can now breathe a sigh of relief. I handed in the edited Kiss of Death on Monday (at midnight!).

Sorry for missing my blog last week – I was locked away finishing off the edits somewhere without internet access. The internet’s a wonderful thing, but sometimes you get more done if you’re not checking emails, Facebook, etc.

Anyway, I am happy with the edits and looking forward to catching up on all the episodes of Criminal Minds and Bones that I recorded in the last three weeks of editing! But first…

Today I’m heading up to Albury in NSW for Write Around the Murray, where Shane Maloney and I will be talking about “The crime-solving spectrum”. Below is the official blurb:

Murray Whelan and FBI profiler, Sophie Anderson are poles apart when it comes to the crime-solving spectrum. Hear from their creators, Shane Maloney and PD (Phillipa Deanne) Martin as they explore the world of crime writing and what makes their characters tick. Shane’s novels include the award-winning and much loved Murray Whelan series — Stiff, The Brush-Off, Nice Try, The Big Ask, Something Fishy and Sucked In and Phillipa is the author of four novels Body Count, The Murderers’ Club, Fan Mail and The Killing Hands.

Time: 6pm
Date: Friday 7 August
Cost: Free
Call 02 6023 8333 to RSVP

I’m sure it’ll be an interesting night and hopefully a good panel – Murray Wheelan and Sophie sure are different!

Comments Off