What I Learned from Mary Burton's Writing Process

The Virginia Romance Writers recently invited our SinC-CV group to attend their February meeting to hear Mary Burton's presentation on writing. Here's what I learned...

1. Write your first draft and finish it. You can edit at another stage.

2. Set daily page or word count goals. You will stay on track if you have deadlines.

3. When you start to edit, check the last word of each sentence to make sure that it's strong.

4. Create a list of overused or weak words. When you're editing, go through and search for each one. Get rid of the dead weight.

5. If you're bored with your manuscript, your reader will be too.

6. Pay attention to your work's setting. Know your location. GoogleMaps can help.

7. Know where your work fits in with the market and be able to explain it. But don't write to the market.

8. Make sure that you have escalating conflict.

9. Don't make your heroes and villains flat. They need to be well rounded and interesting.

What Makes Our Critique Group Work

I love my critique group. I learn as much from the discussion of others' works as I do from when they review mine. Our background, genders, age groups, and life experiences are varied, and that's an asset because of the breadth of knowledge. The group shares resources, reads, and provides reviews for published works.

Here's Why Our Group Works...

1. No one knew each other before we started the group, and there were no predetermined alliances.

2. We set the rules/procedures up front, and we review them to see if they need to change.

3. We have one standing facilitator and a backup if she can't attend.

4. Participants don't have to provide materials for each review at each meeting. It's up to the submitter to determine when he/she has items to review. I don't submit every month, but it keeps me motivated and provides deadlines for writing.

5. The comments/feedback aren't personal. We all have a common goal to get our work published, and we want to make our manuscripts as strong as possible.

6. We mark typos, punctuation, and grammar issues, but we don't spend the group's discussion time dwelling on these types of issues.

7. In the discussion, if more than one person agrees or disagrees with a comment, we pipe up when it's mentioned instead of repeating the same things over and over.

8. We commit to reading and providing feedback each month as part of the group. It takes time, but it is worth it.

I have learned a lot from this group. If you are serious about writing, you need a good, strong writing partner or critique group.

Saying Goodbye to an Old Friend...

The City of Virginia Beach is going to tear down the Kempsville Recreation Center in order to build a new one. I'm all for progress, but it's a little bittersweet. It's like losing an old friend.

In the fourth grade, my mom signed my sister and me up for swim lessons in the almost Olympic-sized pool. A tornado or straight winds came through and ripped the roof off of the pool. We had to have swim lessons in a neighborhood pool while they were repairing the REC. Everyone was excited about the new center, but the pool was out of commission for a while.

I also landed my first part-time job there in November of 1983. I was a tenth grader and the new part-time receptionist on Saturdays, Sundays, and Monday evenings. My first Saturday was during one of the Santa's Stocking craft shows. It was chaos, but I wouldn't have traded it for the world.

It was the best job ever. Don't tell Parks and Recreation. I would have done the job for free. Every teenaged boy came there to play soccer, basketball, and racquetball, and we had a skateboard ramp in the summers. I kept that part-time job through high school and college. I also added extra hours by working in the Teen Lounge and the ID Office.

I learned a lot of life and work lessons there. The staff was great. I honed my customer service skills because on weekends we were one of the only city offices open, and we got a lot of strange phone calls.

I also met a lot of characters and had adventures there. And that's always great fodder for a mystery writer!

This is me in my staff golf shirt at the 10th Anniversary Party.

Upcoming Events...

Sisters in Crime - Central Virginia are guests of the Virginia Romance Writers for their February 14 program. Come and hear Mary Burton's presentation, "Writing Your Novel One Draft at a Time." The event is at Gayton Library in Henrico, and starts at 10 AM. There is a "Dutch Treat" lunch and an afternoon workshop.

I will also be doing a reading and book signing with the Sisters in Crime - CV at Chop Suey Books in Richmond, Virginia on Friday, February 20 from 6:30 - 7:30. Come by and see Maggie King, Fiona Quinn, Mary Burton, and me.

Mary Burton

Fionna Quinn

Heather Weidner and Maggie King

Maggie King's MURDER AT THE BOOK GROUP

Maggie King's Murder at the Book Group isn't your sweet, cozy. Her debut novel, set in and around Richmond, Virginia is made up of a quirky group of book lovers. When one of the organizers dies at a meeting at her home, members of the group start looking at each other and pointing fingers. And that's when the gloves come off and the secrets come out. What appears to be a middle-aged tea-and-book-loving group turns into political rifts and sexcapades. No one's tawdry secrets are safe.

Her protagonist, romance writer, Hazel Rose, works with her cousin Lucy and a former police detective to put all of the pieces together and uncover the murderer.

I love the tagline on the cover, "Someone's about to turn the last page."

Check out Maggie's new novel. I look forward to seeing where her characters go in the next novel.

l-r: Maggie King, Fiona Quinn, Rosemary Shomaker, Jayne Omereod, and Heather Weidner at the MURDER AT THE BOOK GROUP launch party.

More Book Events. . .

I had the pleasure of being a part of the Virginia is for Mysteries panel at the Poe Birthday Bash and the Poe Museum on January 17. It's located in the Old Stone House in Richmond, Virginia. We enjoyed talking with mystery and Poe fans. And the Embalmers were on stage after us. We enjoyed signing books to their retro 60s surf sounds.

I also had fun signing Virginia is for Mysteries at Barnes and Noble Short Pump with the Lethal Ladies of Sisters in Crime Central Virginia. Maggie King signed her debut novel, Murder at the Book Group. Mary Miley signed The Impersonator and Silent Murders from her 1920s series set in Hollywood. And Ellery Adams signed books from her Book Retreat Mysteries and her Books by the Bay series.

Maggie King - MURDER AT THE BOOK GROUP

I had the pleasure recently of attending Maggie King's book launch for MURDER AT THE BOOK GROUP. I'm about half through with her novel, and I look forward to finding out what happens in that interesting group of women. Stop by and see Maggie's blog.

L to R: Maggie King, Fiona Quinn, Rosemary Shomaker, Jayne Ormerod, and Heather Weidner - VIRGINIA IS FOR MYSTERIES authors

What I've Been Reading

I'm on vacation, so it's okay to stay up past my bedtime reading. Here's what I've finished recently...

Check out Brad Meltzer's The Tenth Justice. This is one of his earlier thrillers. In this one, a young, ambitious Supreme Court clerk gets himself mixed up in an extortion plot. He learns quickly that you can't trust anyone in Washington, DC.

I also finished Bill Crider's Too Late to Die. This was the first in his Sheriff Dan Rhodes series. I've read quite of few later ones, but I'd never read the beginning of the story. I love his small-town Texas characters.

I enjoyed Nancy J. Cohen's Permed to Die. This was a fun, fast read. Her amateur sleuth is a hair stylist. This is also the first in this series.

Right now, I'm reading Maggie King's debut novel, Murder at the Book Group.

Happy reading!