An event strewn week (end)

By Laurie King / October 28, 2005 /

I’e2’80’99m off to Phoenix for the weekend, two events and a chance to see my friends in Scottsdale of the Poisoned Pen, bookstore and press. Back Monday, assuming I survive the sudden climate change. If any of you are within striking distance of San Francisco, you should know that I am doing an evening conversation…

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Newsletters

By Laurie King / October 26, 2005 /

I’e2’80’99m putting together the quarterly newsletter, which will go out some time in November, and in addition to the cover of THE ART OF DETECTION and maybe a photo of me in England, I’e2’80’99m trying to decide what I want to write. Author newsletters occupy one of those tricky areas between promotion and the personal…

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THE ART OF DETECTION in the box

By Laurie King / October 25, 2005 /

That’e2’80’99s TAD done and dusted. At long last, THE ART OF DETECTION is off my desk, all the blue Post Its (notes to self) removed and the brown Post Its (notes to editor) folded neatly along the side of the page; all the copy editor’e2’80’99s mistaken changes of my American English into English English (Mr.…

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Head down, pen to paper

By Laurie King / October 24, 2005 /

You want to know how to become a successful writer? Look at what Ian Rankin has to say on the matter. TO PLAY THE FOOL was the first book I wrote under contract. Sixty pages or so into it, my mother fell down and broke both her wrists. She could do nothing for herself. My…

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Writing (in) a draft

By Laurie King / October 20, 2005 /

Lee Goldberg has some interesting things to say (Oct 19) about rejection’e2’80’94or rather, passes on some interesting takes on his book from jaundiced editorial eyes. Nearly twenty letters turning him down, and the book goes on, when finally published, to great reviews. As I read through the above paragraph, an intriguing thing pops out at…

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Scary things

By Laurie King / October 17, 2005 /

Please turn your thoughts to Ed Gorman, on his way to a scary procedure. Ed is one of the founding members of the mystery world as it stands today, and having him go shaky is frightening for us all. Strength, Ed. And we’e2’80’99re going to miss your blog. *********************And while we’e2’80’99re on grim things. Molly…

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Damp Quills

By Laurie King / October 13, 2005 /

So, what do we think of the Quill awards? On the one hand, any group with the sense of humor to hand not one, but two awards to the Jon Stewart crew is my kind of people. On the other hand, the entire thrust is so commercial, it’e2’80’99s a little off-putting. On the one hand,…

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The face of a book

By Laurie King / October 11, 2005 /

The face of THE ART OF DETECTION was revealed to me, as in a dream’e2’80’a6 Actually, UPS brought it on Saturday in one of those brown envelopes that explode grey fuzz all over everything when you pull the tab. I’e2’80’99ll post it here and on the web site when they finish ‘e2’80’9ctweaking’e2’80’9d it and sent…

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House keeping

By Laurie King / October 8, 2005 /

To everything there is a season, the Good Book tells us, and this week has been my season for housekeeping. Consider: January to June, first draft and first rewrite. A month of touring and conferences, followed by two months of intensive rewrite. Finally in September handing THE ART OF DETECTION over to my editor (to…

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Home again

By Laurie King / October 4, 2005 /

26 September I seem to have had some problems getting Sunday’s posting to link to Left Coast Crime. If your link didn’t work, you can paste in www.leftcoastcrime2006.com. This is your chance to meet all those English writers you’ve admired from a distance for so many years. Cornwall seems a very long way from here.…

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