The Martha Washington Library in Alexandria, VA, welcomes several members of my long-time writing group on Tuesday evening, May 23, for both a discussion of our individual works and a glimpse at how we work together.
Donna Andrews, Ellen Crosby, Alan Orloff, and I—along with John Gilstrap (not part of the event)—have met monthly for many years now to share selections of our works-in-progress, seeking fresh perspectives, constructive critique, and hopefully a bit of encouragement as well. Along the way, we’ve also celebrated one another’s accomplishments, shared insights into a swiftly changing publishing landscape, and in the process become fine friends.
The May 23 event will offer more glimpses into those monthly workshops as well as insights into our novels and stories, our writing lives generally, and the wider world of mystery fiction.
The Martha Washington Library is located at 6614 Fort Hunt Road in Alexandria, VA, and the library is hosting an event sign-up here; there’s also a Facebook event page at my own FB author page. Hooray for Books! in Alexandria will be co-sponsoring the event and selling books by all the participating authors.
May is Short Story Month
I look forward to seeing folks at the Tuesday, May 23, event, but meanwhile, I’m continuing to celebrate May as Short Story month by reading a short story each day and posting about it on my FB author page. Over the last week, I’ve added the following stories to the list:
The two final finalists for this year’s Arthur Ellis Award for Best Short Story: “The Ascent” by Scott Mackay and “The Granite Kitchen” by David Morrell- “Acknowledgements” by Martin Edwards, a stand-alone, limited edition publication for this year’s Malice Domestic by Crippen & Landru
- “Put Yourself in My Shoes” by Raymond Carver
- “Dreaming of Rain and Peter Lovesey” by Ann Cleeves from the anthology Motives for Murder: Stories by the Detection Club for Peter Lovesey, published by Crippen & Landru
- “No More Waiting” by Helen Nelson from the anthology The Whole She-Bang 3
More stories are ahead. Stay up to date with the series here.