(This is Memorial Day when we all should be thinking about and thanking those who sacrificed their lives for us and our freedom in many wars. Photo is of hubby, a Vietnam Vet.)

Many authors are off on tours, visiting various book stores in their general area or some of the big names are heading around the country.  I’ve never done that, nor will I in the future. Two reasons, I only visit some favorite book stores for signings, and I don’t travel as far as I once did.

My first book event this spring was giving a talk to the nearest chapter of Sister in Crime that I belong to about where I got the ideas for some of my books. It was great fun and well received.

(A tip about book talks–if you can make your audience laugh, you’ll sell books.)

Next was participating on a panel at a one day writing conference put on by the Central Coast chapter of Sisters in Crime—the panel topic, Finding Time to Write. I love going to the coast and seeing my friends over there, so it was a good time.

(Authors are usually readers too. )

I was asked to give a short talk about my books at a local women’s club. A small group but they were a great audience.

(Yes, I made them laugh, and they did buy books. )

Two events are scheduled for June. The first, I’m going to give a talk about the importance of editing to the Tulare-Kings writers group, and I am heading back to the coast to participate in the Cambria Book Fair. This will be my second book fair this year. I love them.

(With talks to writers, give them something they need to hear. Believe it or not, there are some self-pubbed authors out there who aren’t getting their books edited.)

In July, I’ll be Las Vegas for the Public Safety Writers Conference—which is my favorite. In some ways it’s like a big family reunion, except the family consists of mystery writers, people in all sorts of law enforcement, fire fighters, EMTs and other public safety professions.

I’ll be speaking to the Nightwriters in San Luis Obispo in August and I’m going to give the presentation about where I got my ideas for my books.

In October it’s the Great Valley Bookfest in Manteca and in November, a boutique in Yosemite in Coarsegold.

(Tip about any kind of book or craft fair. You can’t just sit behind your table and expect people to rush up an buy your books. You need to get on your feet, smile at folks, and engage them in conversation.)

That’s it so far, but I’m sure other events will trickle in.

Do I sell a lot of books at these events? It depends, and you never know. But I always love meeting people and talking about my books with them.

Fellow authors, what are you favorite type of events?

Readers, do you attend many of these kind of events, and if so which ones do you enjoy?

Marilyn

Recently I participated in a large outdoor book festival put on by the Visalia Library with lots of help from Leadership Visalia. It was their first annual and one of the best organized of these events I’ve attended. Besides many authors and other vendors, lots and lots of people came and it’s one of these people I want to talk about.

Near the end of the event, a young man came up to my table and looked over my books. “I see you write a lot about law enforcement.”

I launched into my usual spiel about my son-in-law being a police officer who came to our house after his shift to tell me about his adventures. I added that he took me on a ride-along, and when I moved to Springville, I also went on a ride-along with a female officer in the town of Porterville.

He asked, “Do you remember the name of the officer?”

I didn’t and he told me the name of his aunt who had been the first female office in Porterville. And it was the lady cop I did the ride-along with! I told him how great she was, she let me follow her around on every call she made, including all the bar checks. The only time she told me to stay in the car was for a domestic dispute. Her sergeant came to check on her and only listened at the door of the house.

He came back and told me that she was the best at calming volatile situations—which she did this time too.

The young man was pleased to hear all this about his aunt.

I also told him that from 3 a.m until 6, she didn’t get any other calls and as we patrolled the streets of the city, she told me all about being a single mom and the only female in the department. Through the years I’ve used so much of what she said in both my Deputy Tempe Crabtree series and my Rocky Bluff P.D. series. He promised to let her know how valuable her information had been to me.

I did sell a lot of books at the festival, but this was definitely the highlight of the day.

Marilyn Meredith

This month is zipping by so daggone fast, I didn’t realize this was the last Monday until just a few minutes ago.

I suppose at this stage in my life I ought to be slowing down, but it seems I’m as busy as ever. One reason is because my family keep growing, and of course there are always special occasions to enjoy. Most recently was the wedding of one of my great-grandkids. Yes, that makes three of them married–the rest are so  young I probably won’t be around to see them walk down the aisle. This wedding was beautiful despite the fact my great-grandson proposed this last Christmas. The date of the wedding was set for when the bride’s brother could get leave from the Marines to give her away.

My latest writing project has been set-aside as I’ve taken care of other business, like income taxes, and few jobs that actually bring in money, spending time with my hubby and other family members. Though I have four chapters done I really need to go on a field trip to check out the setting I’m using this time. I’ve decided to send my heroine, Deputy Tempe Crabtree and her hubby off on a trip to Tehachapi mainly to deal with a ghost and some Indian spirits. I know Tehachapi, but there are some details I need to check.

I have sent off my latest Rocky Bluff P.D. to the publisher, but have no idea when that might be available. Frankly, I’m too busy to worry about it right now.

Hubby, daughter and I have a trip to see family coming up next week, and I’ve signed up for a first-time book festival in our local area that will happen in April. So things are not slowing down.

Because photos are always great, here’s one of the bride and groom.

I took it from where I was sitting.

So tell me, what are all of the rest of you up to?

Marilyn

It’s hard to believe we are almost done with the 2^nd month of 2018.

This has been a busy one for me.

Much of my writing time has been spent re-editing all the books in my Rocky Bluff P.D. mystery series for republishing by A & K. Not only will they be re-edited, the plan is to have all new covers—covers that will be easy recognizable that this is a series.

While working on these books, though I have found errors: typos, a few inconsistencies, and ways to write things better. Overall, I’ve been pleased.

The first day of February I joined three of my fellow Sisters in Crime, San Joaquin chapter, for a panel on mysteries at the Fig Garden Branch Library in Fresno. We were all delighted with the crowd who came to hear us.

I spent four days in Ventura attending the Public Safety Writers Association’s Board Meeting. I can tell you that the annual conference in July will be great. www.policewriter.com/  This is definitely the best little conference going and mystery writers are welcome.

While there, we also toured the horrible devastation of the Thomas Fire. 900 homes were burned down. So sad.

We took one of our granddaughters and her hubby out for an anniversary and Valentine celebration—their choice of restaurant, a Chinese Buffet. Good food and wonderful conversation.

And just to let folks know, I once in a while do something just for fun, I went to a paint class. Fun and so relaxing. I used to do a lot of painting, but decided I need to choose between painting and writing—I chose writing.

A big highlight to end the month was visiting a 7^th and 8^th grade class to talk about the importance of editing. What a great group of kids—so attentive and they asked great questions.

I wonder what March will bring.

How was your February?

Marilyn

Because the entire Rocky Bluff P.D. mystery series is now being re-published by a new house, I’ve been re-editing each book. In the process I’ve found some interesting tidbits and errors, besides the usual typos and repeated words.

(My new publisher’s logo)

The overuse of ellipses: I could have been called the Queen of ellipses. Why one of many editors didn’t call me on this I have no idea.

Because the first book, Final Respects, was written long ago, most of police officer characters sport mustaches. They don’t come off until about the 5^th book in the series. In the first two books, there’s a lot of smoking, even in the police department. In California, is it no longer legal to smoke in a public building. My new publisher wants this to stay as is.

One big error I found was that in No Sanctuary one of the lead female character is made a Vice-Detective, which she still is in the next book—but not in the one after that or any of the later ones. I figured out how to correct it.

I’ve found that I’ve changed the hair color of at least one of the characters—but that will be an easy fix.

Actually, though I am making changes along the way, I’m pleased with the writing and the plots.

One big thing that influenced how I wrote these books was having my cop son-in-law tell me that the police never work on one case at a time. Because of that, there are many things going on in every book..

I’m sure as I continue to work my way through the editing of the rest of the novels, I’ll find other errors. This has been an interesting process.

Though the first book, Final Respects, has the same cover used when it was first published, the subsequent books will have a new look.

And yes, I’ve written this series under the name F. M. Meredith. Why I used that is a whole other story.

If you’ve never read this series, once it’s all available once again, I hope some of you will try it.

Marilyn