LUCKY CHARMS: Launch Information

by Mary Sutton / @mary_sutton73

Updated launch information below.

If you're friends with a member of the Mary Roberts Rinehart (Pittsburgh) chapter of Sisters in Crime, you'll notice a lot of them changing Facebook and Twitter avatars to this:

Why, you ask? Well, that's because the official launch date has been set for our first anthology, Lucky Charms: 12 Crime Tales - December 2, 2013, Cyber Monday - and it's less than a month away. My story, Batter Down, is included and I couldn't be happier to be among such a talented group of writers.

From the back cover: Inside LUCKY CHARMS you’ll find twelve crime tales from the members of the Mary Roberts Rinehart Pittsburgh chapter of Sisters in Crime, Inc. You’ll dig into gritty police procedurals; enjoy a spangle of suspense; tuck into a cozy or two; and thrill to a cool touch of noir. Each story tells a tale of surprising good luck or of good luck gone sour. We invite you to brace yourself for an entertaining read.

To see a full list of authors and stories, see our chapter website.

As we wind down the publication phase, the marketing and launch activities have ramped up. Read on for more details.

Official Launch Party

The launch party for Lucky Charms is set for December 8, 2013 at 5:00pm at Mystery Lovers Bookshop in Oakmont, PA. The authors will be in the house, signing books and popping the cork on some well-deserved champagne. Come down and celebrate with us, no RSVP needed! There will be books available for walk-ins, but if you want to make sure you have a copy…

Print Copy Preorders

Mystery Lovers is handling preorders for the print version of the book, which retails for $9.99 on launch date. Copies can be picked up at the store, or mailed to you. Want an autographed copy, but you're not in Pittsburgh? No sweat. Here's what to do:

1. Preorder your copy of the book here or call the store at 412-828-4877.
2. On the last screen of the order process, specify that you want a personalized copy of the book, or tell the sales staff you want an autographed copy.
3. Mystery Lovers staff will make sure that your autographed book is sent to you!

Please note that preorders must be placed by November 26 to receive an autographed copy.

Mystery Lovers' ships via USPS media, and charges $5.00 shipping on orders under $25 (and they have a fabulous selection of books, so browse around and support the best independent mystery-centric bookstore in Pittsburgh).

Digital Copies

Ebook copies of the book will be available at all major e-tailers: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, and the iBookstore. See the chapter website for direct buy links on or after December 2.

Like us on Facebook!

Stay on top of all information about the anthology by liking our Facebook page.

This has been a long, hard process - but a true labor of love. If you are anywhere Pittsburgh in December, we would love you to come celebrate with us. And even if you can't be there, pick up a copy in the format of your choice. I promise, you won't be disappointed!

NaNoWriMo and Other Stuff

by Mary Sutton / @mary_sutton73

So, brief update this week.

LUCKY CHARMS: 12 CRIME TALES

Well, I might be jumping the gun just a bit, but a release date has been set for Lucky Charms - December 2, 2013. That's Cyber Monday for all you holiday shopping types (books of all types make superb gifts). The book will be available via all e-book outlets (Amazon, B&N, Apple, Kobo) and in print from CreateSpace. And, I'm sorry, but the cover is to die for (pun intended).

Cover for Lucky Charms

My story Batter Down is included (written as Liz Milliron), along with eleven other fantastic stories. A little bit of suspense, a little bit of police-procedural, a little bit of paranormal. I am so honored to be included in such fantastic company!

My major contribution to the project (aside from the writing) is formatting and compilation of the book files, a task I've been hard at work at all weekend. I'm pleased that we have a pretty solid print file, and only a few tweaks to make to ebook files. It's been quite the learning experience. At the same time, I've learned a ton so I can (maybe) use it for my own writing some day.

Launch festivities are in the works, so stay tuned!

NaNoWriMo Starts this Friday!

So, NaNoWriMo kicks off this Friday. I've got my outline, and I've got my scenes mapped. I'll be drafting the first novel in The Laurel Highlands Mysteries and I'm super-excited to start. I'll be posting weekly word count updates here on the blog, so check back to keep up to date on my progress. And feel free to crack that virtual whip if I'm slacking! To be a NaNo "winner," I need to put down 1,667 words per day, every day from November 1 to November 30.

Wish me luck - should be a wild month!

Growing and stretching

by Mary Sutton / @mary_sutton73

Last weekend, I went to my annual writing retreat with my fellow Sisters in Crime. It was my third retreat and, as always, great fun. Our weekend instructor was Tim Esaias, and he provided not only tons of useful information, but made me laugh so hard Saturday night that my sides hurt. And he let me help with an impromptu self-defense demo Sunday morning, which is always fun.

As I always do, I returned home full of energy and holed myself up in the den to work on the story I'd submitted for critique (that was fairly well-received). And after the weekend, all sorts of things started jumping off the page. I thought I'd gotten rid of them. But suddenly, I wondered why people weren't falling over all of the eyeballs rolling around, and why someone hadn't reported a hurricane with all the sighs blowing through the rooms.

It was eye-opening - and awesome.

Later, as I was still bouncing around about this, I was talking over imagery with my husband, who has read all of my stories. I was looking for the metaphor for the series. And he just said, "Duh, it's the dog, dummy." But isn't that too obvious? "It doesn't have to be rocket science, dear. I'm your target audience. It's fine."

And much later, when I reported completion of the revisions, my husband said, "It's really exciting to watch. You've moved from gifted amateur to a real professional."

The comment caught me off guard. There are days when I really don't feel like a professional. After all, while I've garnered a few publication credits, I still have a day job. I still don't get to get up and spend all day playing with my make-believe friends. I'm still so far away from where I someday want to be.

But when I go back and look at what I wrote three years, a year, or even six months ago, I can see the difference. My first Laurel Highlands story, An Idyllic Place for Murder, was published this month at Mysterical-e. I had to professionally edited, and I know the editor liked it, so it's a good story - and readers have told me they like it. But while I re-read, I found lots of places where, if I was writing the same story today, I'd change things, craft a sentence differently, go for a different visual.

And, in that sense, I guess I am further down the road, a professional. An amateur just writes. A professional studies the craft. She enjoys her publication, but never stops learning, looking for yet another tool for the box. I spent part of the weekend reading Structuring Your Novel, and light bulbs went off as I finally had words and techniques for the things I always sort of "felt" rather than "knew."

Even reading the book is a change. Three years ago, when I wrote my first novel, the word "structure" was a foreign concept. Structure? I don't need no stinking structure. I'm going to wing it! And man, does it show.

So on a rainy Monday morning, I am making a conscious decision. I will not lament where I am not, I will celebrate how far I have come, all while I acknowledge that there is much more to learn.

And maybe that's the sign of a true professional.

Goals for 2013 - at halftime

by Mary Sutton / @mary_sutton73

It's hard to believe, but 2013 is half over. The weather is warm, the kids are out of school, and it's time for me to review how far I've come with my goals for this year.

As with any year-long plan, there have been some adjustments, but I think that's a good thing, right? Shows that I'm flexible and willing to change to meet new priorities. So, here's where I stand.

Submit my second Laurel Highlands story.

This is done. I sent it off earlier in June. Now it's just waiting to hear whether Mysterical-e will accept it (they accepted the first, so I'm hopeful).

Complete and submit my Black Orchid Novella Award contest entry.

This is done. There was some nail-biting ("Is it good enough?"), but I finally stuck it in the mail. The confirmation postcard is hanging on my fridge. Now to wait until December when the results are announced.

Read at least one craft book per month.

I don't know if I've done one per month. Well, that's a lie. I do know, and I haven't done one per month. But I've continued to read and I'm in the middle of a class on short fiction. So I'm making good progress. Right now I'm still in Plot and Structure; I think Donald Maass' Writing 21st Century Fiction will be next.

Complete the SFD of Hero's Sword 4 by May 31 and first revisions by July 31.

Because of the other commitments, this one had to be reset. Target for completion of the SFD is now July 31 (I am doing Camp Nanowrimo to help make that reality). And since I let things sit for a while post-completion, I probably won't get to first revisions until late August/early September.

Complete and submit two more Laurel Highlands stories by end of summer.

I've completed the SFD of a third story. But it won't be ready for submission by end of summer, and I won't have another one. So I'm going to have to move this to end of year.

Plan an anthology release of the Laurel Highlands Mysteries by the end of 2013

Another one I'm going to have to reset. This won't get done until Q1 of 2014 at the earliest now, so I'm going to put it on the back-burner for the time being.

And because I forgot yet another commitment...

Finish edits on my Sisters in Crime anthology story by June 24

I hit this one. I'm kind of proud, too. When I submitted the story I was only 6 words under the upper word limit. After receiving revisions from the first round of edits, I needed to shore up the ending, and I went almost 200 words over. But I managed to get it all back under count (by the original 6 words) all by my lonesome. But since I hadn't planned on the work (silly me), that kind of messed with the schedule. But it's all good.

So there I am. 2013 half over and I'm looking pretty good. Stay tuned for another update at the end of September!

Bouchercon 2012

by Mary Sutton / @mary_sutton73

Just when I thought the weekend couldn't get any better, I got to meet Mary Higgins Clark.

The Pittsburgh SinC crew (that's me, second from the right)

When I made my hotel reservations for Bouchercon 2012 last spring, I had no idea what I was getting into. As the conference rapidly approached, I got excited. And nervous. And sometimes flat-out petrified. I had chosen one of the biggest crime fiction conferences to make my "industry event" debut. What had I been smoking? Yes, Bouchercon is primarily a fan event (that is, there were no times set aside for pitching agents or learning craft), but there were going to be some big names there. I joked that while I hadn't yet started dreaming that I was attending a panel stark naked, I was getting jittery. My biggest fear was that I'd be talking to some published author and he (or she) would say, "Honey, give it up."

Hank Phillippi Ryan channels Richard Dawson

I needn't have worried. I'm sure other genre authors will say the same, but the crime fiction community is the best. I knew good things were in store when the first person I saw was Hank Phillippi Ryan. Some poor footwear choices and bad directions had put me in some serious pain - and fortunately my friend Annette swooped in (I mean really - you know you've got a real friend when she literally gives you the shoes off her feet).


I attended some great panels (Family Feud Jungle Red style, and a rip-roaring Sunday event on red herrings top my list). I spoke to great people, other writers and fans (shared a cab with a retired Cleveland Housing Authority officer who insisted on buying me a drink when she learned I was a writer), including a chance meeting with the lovely Rhys Bowen. I drank my first chocolate martini. And no, it won't be the last.

And did I mention that I met Mary Higgins Clark?

Not once did someone say, "Give it up." To the last, everyone was encouraging and friendly. Hallie Ephron (go get her books, now) recognized me from a chance meeting last spring. Hank (go get her books, now) recognized me from Twitter - and may I say she gives great hugs? The message was always, "Don't give up. Keep writing. Keep learning. You'll make it."

The lovely & elegant Rhys Bowen

And that's why I go to these things. I've written before that a writer's life can be lonely. We sit for hours, days, weeks, in front of a screen, pouring out our hearts and souls. Yeah, we can connect with others through email, or Facebook, or Twitter. But somehow, none of that quite compares to a hug, a smile, a conversation.

Nothing on social media compares to hashing out ideas over lunch with a friend. Virtual enthusiasm pales compared to the energy of like-minded others. Yeah, social media introduced me to a lot of people I wouldn't otherwise have met, but to meet them in person? Wow. I came away so energized, so enthusiastic, so ready to jump right back into writing and really make it work.

I'll get more of that this weekend when I attend the "Retreat to the Woods" writers' retreat with my local Sisters in Crime. But after Bouchercon, I really feel confident using the word "sib" to include authors such as Hank. Because the people I met this weekend are my sisters - and brothers - in this wild, wonderful, sometimes hair-pulling, adventure. I'm grateful for all of them and could not be happier I found them. As soon as those hotel accommodations are announced for next year in Albany, I'm there. More than ever, I feel like a writer. This is my community, my "family," my tribe.

And did I mention I met Mary Higgins Clark?