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One of my all-time favorite Superman stories is Kingdom Come, by Mark Waid and Alex Ross. I’ve had a trade paperback collection of the story for years, but I’ve always wanted a copy of Absolute Kingdom Come, the deluxe hardbound edition. I could never justify buying it for myself. I also never mentioned it to Sweetie, because she would have bought it for me without a second thought, and I didn’t want her spending money on me. After I finished SHE, however, I decided that I needed a reward. I ordered it and It arrived this week. I’m glad I got it, even though it contributed to a decidedly odd dream, and even though it has fueled a desire to buy even more of Alex Ross’s books. I guess I’d better get cracking on the new novel so I can reward myself again.

Earlier this spring, I entered SHE in the Murder in the Grove contest, more for the professional critique than in hopes of winning. I didn’t win, as expected, but yesterday I got a pleasant surprise in the mail. SHE did well enough to have been a finalist in the contest. It’s getting harder for me not to get my hopes up for seeing it in print some day.

I had a great time at Murder in the Grove last weekend. The class was deeply enlightening, I got re-acquainted with old friends, and made several new ones. And my agent appointment went very, very well.

I learned so much in the master class with David Morrell that it felt like an entire MFA program had been decanted into eight hours. Though the class was on “Writing the Thriller,” the most important thing I learned wasn’t genre advice, but a point Morrell returned to again and again: “Be a first class version of yourself, not a second class imitation of somebody else.” Trying to write like someone else in the hope that you can capture their magic is futile–the odds are that you’ll fail, and you’ll have spent a year of your life on a book that wasn’t what you really want to write. Even if you succeed, you won’t have spoken with your unique voice. But, he said, “If you write the book you always wanted to write, and it doesn’t get published, the book still exists” and you did what you wanted to do.

I realized that I’d been planning to write something that didn’t matte to me. Bullet Catch, as I’d conceived it, was pretty much a Harlan Coben novel with a few minor differences. It wasn’t going to be a Salvatore T. Falco novel. I resolved to put it aside and focus on another idea, one that I was much more excited about. One that matters to me. And I’ll make it the best novel I can write. Later, I’ll take another look at Bullet Catch to see what’s in there that matters to me.

David Morrell and I during a break in the Master Class

That night, after the book signing at Barnes & Noble, I had drinks with D.P.Lyle. I met Doug Lyle at Sleuthfest earlier this year; I enjoyed sitting down to talk with him at length. He gave me several “must read” authors to check out and shared some behind-the-scenes stories of working in television.

D.P. Lyle and I between panels on Saturday

On Saturday, I hit several panels and had my agent appointment. I was pleasantly surprised to hear that she wanted to read the entire manuscript of SHE. I sent it Monday. Of course, because I am who I am, I expect a rejection to arrive in my inbox in a few weeks or months.

Meanwhile, it’s on to the next novel. I’ve been working on foundation material all week. I tackled setting and theme first, and yesterday I started developing characters. I expect to take about a month laying the groundwork. But that’s a subject for another post.

Murder in the Grove is two weeks away and I’m getting excited about it. I’m eager to see some of the people from last year who will be there again, and I can hardly wait to meet David Morrell. I’m sure his class on “Writing the Thriller” is going to be a huge help to me in plotting my next novel.

I entered SHE in the Murder in the Grove novel contest and got my scores back last week. Though one judge gave me 158 out of 160 possible points, the others were low enough that I doubt I’ve come close to winning. However, the comments I got were very valuable, and seeking feedback was the main reason I entered in the first place. The one thing all three judges agreed on was that I didn’t introduce the main villain early enough. Which Carolyn had already told me. C’est la vie. She suggested a couple ways I could insert scenes that would accomplish that. Although I finished the polish draft yesterday, the new material will be easy to write and insert without disrupting anything, so I’ll take care of that before I head to the conference.

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