Catching up

I finished the twelfth draft of The Law of the Splintered Paddle and sent it to agent Gina Panettieri at Talcott Notch Literary Agency. Got my fingers crossed. Meanwhile, I've got queries out at 13 other agencies.

The Law of the Splintered Paddle features Ava Rome, a former military police detective, now private eye in Honolulu. Ava came about because LTDBooks went out of business and I needed a new publisher. From talking to people in the business, I learned that it's difficult to sell an ongoing series to a new publisher. Thus, Splintered Paddle is the beginning of a new series.

Met some great folks at Conmisterio in Austin. Old friends Bill Crider, Leann Sweeney, Randy Rawls, Carl Brookins, Neil Smith, Victor Gischler were there along with some new friends, Peri Noskins Taichert, Libby Hellmann, Keith Raffel, Lono Waiwaiole, Steven Torres and Jesse Sublett.

I spent a terrific Saturday evening with James Crumley where I played the part of Fireball Roberts, the alcoholic bulldog from Crumley's The Last Good Kiss, trying to keep up with him in drinks. With us were authors Keith Raffel and Jane Cleland, Crumley's wife Martha and my wife Mary Fran.

Sadly, Conmisterio will not repeat for a third year.

Had a conversation with Jeff Abbott about plotting mysteries and thrillers. He mentioned Christopher Vogler's, The Writer's Journey as a resource. I heartily concur. In my post on the Da Vinci Code, I draw heavily on The Writer's Journey. I'll have more about that later.

Aloha kakou.