I’m so pleased to welcome back one of my favorite authors,
Marilyn Meredith.
Marilyn Meredith’s published book count is nearing 40. She is one of the founding members of the San Joaquin chapter of Sister in Crime. She taught writing for Writers Digest Schools for 10 years, and was an instructor at the prestigious Maui Writers Retreat, and has taught at many writers’ conferences. Marilyn is a member of three chapters of Sisters in Crime, Mystery Writers of America, and serves on the board of the Public Safety Writers of America. She lives in the foothills of the Sierra, a place with many similarities to Tempe Crabtree’s patrol area. Webpage: http://fictionforyou.com Blog: http://marilymeredith.blogspot.com/ and you can follow her on Facebook.
Lessons Learned Along the Way About Writing
To be perfectly honest, there have been many.
Don’t throw anything away. I threw away finished manuscripts that I couldn’t find homes for. I’m sure that with time and rewriting I would have found a publisher. (This was before I had them on my computer.)
Learn as much as you can about the writing process. I didn’t do enough of that before I tried to get published. As a result it took 30 submissions and much rewriting before that first book found a home. (One excuse—this was in the days before the Internet.)
Keep good records about where and when you’ve sent something off. In general, keep good records about everything! I still don’t do it as well as I should.
Don’t be intimidated by others. When you’re in a room with other authors who may be famous—remember, they all started at the bottom just like you.
Be friendly to everyone no matter how they look. You’re the writer, what you want is readers and people who will be helpful along the way. There have been times I’ve sold books to the most unsavory looking people just because I was friendly. The old saying “You can’t tell a book by its cover” really fits here. Sometimes the most unlikely will be the one who invites you to a big event or events.
Keep a time line as you’re writing your book. Once I forgot a whole day—fortunately the editor caught it. It meant having to shift things around a bit.
Don’t have too much happen in one day—make sure what does happen is possible in that amount of time. (I’ve read too many books where I said, “Really? I don’t think so. Did this person never sleep, eat, go to the bathroom?”)
Take time out to experience life—after all that’s more fodder for your stories. Plus, you need to enjoy yourself too.
Marilyn
A Cold Death:
Deputy Tempe Crabtree and her husband answer the call for help with unruly guests visiting a closed summer camp during a huge snow storm and are trapped there along with the others. One is a murderer.
Anyone who orders any of my books from the publisher ‘s website: https://mundania.com can get 10% off by entering MP20 coupon code in the shopping cart. This is good all the time for all my books, E-books and print books.
On Kindle:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B074XNP87Z/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1503149760&sr=1-1&keywords=a+cold+death+by+marilyn+meredith
Marilyn and I would love to hear from you, so please feel free to leave a comment.
