Bouchercon Bound

In less than two weeks, over one thousand crime fiction fans will converge in St. Petersburg, Florida for one of the largest reader fan convention. . . Bouchercon.

Bouchercon is our annual world mystery convention where every year readers, writers, publishers, editors, agents, booksellers and other lovers of crime fiction gather for a 4-day weekend of education, entertainment, and fun! It is the world’s premier event bringing together all parts of the mystery and crime fiction community, and is pronounced [bough’•chur•con].

There are so many people who volunteer their time and effort to put on this massive affair and I thank them from the bottom of my heart. Without this convention, I would probably be a hermit or even a recluse.

Anyway, before arriving at the event, there is so much do to on our, my end to prepare oneself. First and foremost, everyone should enjoy the convention and have fun.

You don’t have to go to all the panels that interest you. . .I did this at the first convention I attended and it nearly wiped me out.

Some of the best times and one-on-ones I have had with authors and other readers is passing one another in a hallway, near an elevator, or standing on the coffee line, was chatting with them and forgetting the panel I wanted to go to. That time was precious and there you are bound to develop a long-lasting friendship.

Wear comfortable shoes and clothing. Walking back and forth from panels to bookrooms to side activities will take a toll on your feet. Also bring a light jacket or sweater as it may get cold in the meeting places.

Because most of us are more likely introverts, it’s okay to go to our room for a recharging session. Too many people, too much noise wipes out my energy quicker than the Energizer Bunny Rabbit.

Don’t be afraid to approach authors and readers that you have met on social media. We are a friendly bunch, even though I’m still afraid to approach some as well.

Because this is my ninth convention, I plan meet-ups with friends I only see once a year, so I try to get my meal and social activity card filled up as much as possible. My first year, I probably spent more time in my room eating my meals. Now, not so much.

As for the panels, again, I pick out the ones I want to attend, of course there are few that are “must-attends” for me such as New Author Breakfast, Author Speed-Dating, Anthology Signing, Opening Ceremony, Anthony Awards and frequent visits to the book room and the hospitality suite. I just have to make sure I attend the panel I’m moderating.

This year is special as my blog, dru’s book musings is a 2018 Anthony Finalist for Best Online Content. I’m so honored for this nomination and congratulates all the other nominees in this category.

So, are we ready for Bouchercon? – you betcha.

I hope to see some of my fellow Stiletto Gang members at some point – hopefully to get a group photo.

So, who is going to Bouchercon? I hope to see you there and again, HAVE FUN!

The Eye of the Beholder --TK Thorne

   Writer, humanist,

          dog-mom, horse servant and cat-slave,

       Lover of solitude

          and the company of good friends,

        New places, new ideas

           and old wisdom.

Some things have confused me for a long time, such as why flowers are beautiful and spiders are not. What is beauty anyway? And is there any importance in asking or answering that question?

Obviously, there are some people who find spiders beautiful (yes, really), so the quality is not inherent in the object. I lost my father recently after a long illness and was thinking about my loss while walking to the mailbox. A crop of slender blue wildflowers on the road’s edge, caught my eye, their beauty an instantaneous salve to my grief.

How? Why?

Somewhere in the heart of a forest, an exquisite orchid is blooming, and no one is there to see it. Is it beautiful? No. Beauty is, indeed, in the eye of the beholder. Without the eye, it does not exist. The orchid exists, of course, but it is not “beauty” to the creatures that see or smell it, even those insects that it is meant to attract. If no human notices the wildflowers and deems them beautiful, they are just wildflowers.

A sense of responsibility followed this thought. Nature is harsh, relentless change. It is “eat and be eaten.” In our stellar neighborhood, two galaxies are colliding, gravitational forces ripping apart whatever life may have painstakingly evolved. Our own galaxy is destined to collide with another, our sun to die, our loved ones, ourselves.

We may learn that whales or elephants or other animals share our awareness of mortality, but, as far as we know now, people are the only creatures to seek meaning to life, perhaps because of that awareness. It is a burden. It is a privilege. In this chaos of change we call life, humans seek meaning, personal meaning.

The concept of beauty may be one of the unique perceptual structures of the human brain. Why did it evolve? Of what evolutionary value is it? Is it just that spiders pose a threat, so we instinctively recoil from them, while flowers pose no threat and may signal a source of food? Perhaps, but some people truly find spiders fascinating and beautiful. There are spider enthusiast groups. Honest.

Perhaps the concept of beauty is just an odd byproduct of the complexity of our minds, our thought processes. Or perhaps not. Perhaps it came into being to give us something we crave—meaning. I have occasionally been told that my book, Noah’s Wife, was “beautifully written.” This puzzled me. It is written in tight third person from the perspective of a young woman with what we now call Asperger’s Syndrome. She sees the world in literal terms. Looking at her straightforward words on the pages, I was befuddled at how they could be considered “beautiful.”

Le Rêve- Picasso

Woman with Mandolin-Picasso

But perhaps it is not the words themselves, but the fact that they create meaning for some readers, truths about being human, and that renders them beautiful, in the same way that Picasso’s art is beautiful to some eyes.

His paintings force us out of our typical perceptions, whispers in ways we may not be able to voice, even disturbs, but speaks the language of meaning and (some) find that beautiful, even in the harshness or starkness of his lines, just as some find beauty in abstract art or different types of music . . . or spiders.

Beauty is observable by all our senses, including our ability to see a beautiful act of kindness or a beautiful scientific formula. If we are uniquely capable of determining beauty, then we have a responsibility to see it, to open our eyes to it, to find meaning in it, our uniquely human meaning.

A retired police captain, T.K. has written two award-winning historical novels, NOAH'S WIFE and ANGELS AT THE GATE, filling in the untold backstories of extraordinary, yet unnamed women—the wives of Noah and Lot—in two of the world’s most famous sagas. The New York Post’s “Books You Should Be Reading” list featured her first non-fiction book, LAST CHANCE FOR JUSTICE, which details the investigators’ behind-the-scenes stories of the 1963 Birmingham church bombing case. Coming soon: HOUSE OF ROSE, the first of a trilogy in the paranormal-crime genre. 

She loves traveling and speaking about her books and life lessons. T.K. writes at her mountaintop home near Birmingham, Alabama, often with two dogs and a cat vying for her lap. More info at TKThorne.com. Join her private newsletter email list and receive a two free short stories at “TK’s Korner.”

Crime, murder, mystery, evil in my hometown. By Juliana Aragón Fatula

Juliana at Red Canyon in Southern Colorado

Today I’d like to tell the story of the curse of Devil’s Tower in my hometown. Crime, murder, mystery, evil live in abundance in my hometown. Perhaps small towns with high crime rates appear to be more evil than large cities like Los Angeles, Chicago, Detroit, Atlanta, Miami…. but my hometown seems especially evil to me. I know the history, the sins of the men who founded this community.

2018 Tracy Harmon Investigative Journalist Southern Colorado.

My best friend works as an investigative journalist; she shares with me the details she uncovers about the corrupt Sheriff’s Department who taint the evidence and ruin the ability to prosecute and sentence the villains. I call the criminals, villains, because they do more than commit crime; they perpetuate evil against humanity.

As the Christian era began, the Shoshonean speaking peoples migrated to the Southwest U.S.

In 1670, the first treaty between Utes and Spaniards changed history and began the war between the Spaniards and the Utes of breaking promises and treaties.

In 1806, Lt. Zebulon Pike arrived in Ute territory in Colorado. The Ute are the only indigenous people from Colorado. They lived here and fought other tribes for their land.

In 1870, the Meeker Incident began the push to remove the Utes from Colorado.

In 1899, the Southern Ute Reservation opened to Anglo settlement.

In 1924, the American Indians became U.S. citizens.

In 1937, the Restoration Act returned 222,016 acres to the Southern Utes of Colorado.

In my research I discovered a legend about the Ute who lived near my hometown and the battle at the Devil’s Theatre in Temple Canyon. The same place where kids go hiking and party in the summer. The legend tells of a curse: anyone who tries to stay overnight at Devil’s Tower will go insane.

The sacred burial grounds of the Ute were desecrated. The Anglo settlers dug up the bones and artifacts and destroyed the graves of the Ute warriors. This curse set off an evil that remains to this day.

I learned in the Family History Center about the Legend of Devil’s Tower in Temple Canyon and the curse. I also learned about the men who founded and organized the Ku Klux Klan that built the town and the evil they perpetrated against anyone of color and Catholics. They hung African Americans who came here after their freedom from slavery looking for work and a place to live after the Civil War. The Klan harassed and murdered the black men and women and drove them away. Today many of those Klan descendants live here and although they no longer wear their white sheets; they hang onto their racism and hatred.

Another local curse began when the community chose to build the State Penitentiary instead of a State College. Today the nine prisons surround the area where the Utes once lived. Not all the men incarcerated here are evil men, but the murderers, rapists, and violent offenders reek hatred and an aura of darkness.

Today the community suffers from drug addiction, alcoholism, and homelessness. The crimes committed here remind me of the evil that built this town. The removal of the Ute, the Klan, the prisons, the murders of innocent people in the pursuit of land and greed. 

Royal Gorge Bridge

This place of my birth and childhood sits on the river in a canyon near the Royal Gorge Bridge, the highest suspension bridge in the world. For years people have driven here left a suicide note in their car in the parking lot and leapt to their death off the bridge. Every summer kids swim, and some drown in the river. There are car chases, police shoot outs, and police shootings. The rape and murder of women and children continues in quiet neighborhoods. Recently the gun violence has increased, and young men have been prosecuted for execution style killings in the name of greed. Evil still resides here.

I live in a beautiful town with beautiful people, but the curse continues, and the deaths of innocent victims tells a story of hate and evil that began with the removal of the Ute and the Legend of Devil’s Tower in Temple Canyon. I pray someday the curse will end and only beauty will remain in our little town in Southern Colorado. This research led me to write my first mystery about the history of the Ute and greed this country was built on. 

Nurturing Patience

by J.M. Phillippe

Summer has never been my favorite time of year, as I am not someone that does well in the heat (and the summers keep getting hotter). But I am also working on several projects at once...and struggling. My progress has been slow, my motivating waning, and my desire to just get to what I'm trying to accomplish building.

So, of course, this blog is about patience, something I am trying to cultivate (with a lot of deep breaths) this summer.

Patience is not something I have ever had in much abundance. A hard core procrastinator, I never really had to deal with waiting for something to click in my writing (since waiting for the last minute put me in adrenaline-induced flow). But working on multiple projects at once means that I am actually having to practice writing discipline. Being patient with myself and my process has not been easy.

What I know about patience is that it is a necessary part of life. Worrying and waiting anxiously has never made anything happen any faster. Fussing and trying to force something has been equally unhelpful. Instead, I have been trying to make space for my feelings of frustration, and assuming that the pace things are happening at are happening at that pace for a reason. I have been trying to trust my back brain to come up with the answers, and trust the universe that those answers will come in time.

Patience is ultimately about keeping the faith. It is hope coupled with action, a plan put into motion that with luck with bear the fruit you have been waiting for. I suspect farmers and gardeners have more advanced patience skills than I do. They understand that whole "a time for every purpose" thing.

And I am sure there are writers who are more patient than me as well.

Somehow though, I bet they weren't as worried about meeting their deadlines.

***

J.M. Phillippe is the author of the novels Perfect Likeness and Aurora One and the short stories, The Sight and Plane Signals. She has lived in the deserts of California, the suburbs of Seattle, and the mad rush of New York City. She works as a clinical social worker in Brooklyn, New York and spends her free time binge-watching quality TV, drinking cider with amazing friends, and learning the art of radical self-acceptance, one day at a time.

Meet the 2018 Anthony Short Story Author Nominees!

by Paula Gail Benson

 

What a true pleasure to host the 2018 Anthony nominees for best short story! Here for your reading pleasure is the list with links to each story. [Please note: You’ll need to scroll down at some of the links below to get to the stories.]

 

“The Trial of Madame Pelletier” by Susanna Calkins, Malice Domestic 12: Mystery Most Historical: http://www.susannacalkins.com/short-stories.html 

 

“God’s Gonna Cut You Down” by Jen Conley, Just to Watch Them Die: Crime Fiction Inspired by the Songs of Johnny Cash: https://www.jenconley.net/ 

 

“My Side of the Matter” by Hilary Davidson, Killing Malmon:

 https://downandoutbooks.com/bookstore/malmon-killing-malmon/ 

 

“Whose Wine Is it Anyway” by Barb Goffman, 50 Shades of Cabernet:

 http://www.barbgoffman.com/whose-wine-is-it-anyway-.html 

 

“The Night They Burned Ms. Dixie’s Place” by Debra Goldstein, Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine, May/June 2017: http://www.debrahgoldstein.com/otherwritings/night-burned-ms-dixies-place-alfred-hitchcock-mystery-magazine-mayjune-2017/ 

 

“A Necessary Ingredient” by Art Taylor, Coast to Coast: Private Eyes from Sea to Shining Sea: http://www.arttaylorwriter.com/books/a-necessary-ingredient/ 

 

Thank you to the nominees, Susanna Calkins, Jen Conley, Hilary Davidson, Barb Goffman, Debra H. Goldstein, and Art Taylor, for taking the time to answer a few questions and share their nominated stories!

 

(1) Where and when does your nominated story take place?

 

Susanna Calkins

Susanna Calkins: “The Trial of Madame Pelletier” is set in Tulle, a town in central France, in 1840. It focuses on the court trial of a “Lady Poisoner,” a woman accused of killing her estranged husband with rat-paste and truffles.

 



Jen Conley: The story takes place in Ocean County, New Jersey, present day. Ocean County is considered central-south New Jersey, known for its Jersey Shore beaches, but mostly it’s a blue collar/middle class county on the edge or in the Pine Barrens.

 



Hilary Davidson

Hilary Davidson: “My Side of the Matter” is set in and around Minneapolis. I’ve only had the pleasure of visiting that city once, but I felt compelled to set the story there because the story is part of the KILLING MALMON anthology — and Dan and Kate Malmon live in that area.

Barb Goffman: “Whose Wine Is It Anyway?” takes place in the litigation department of a large Washington, DC, law firm. I don’t specify when the story takes place. I expect the reader will assume it is a contemporary story.






Debra H. Goldstein

Debra H. Goldstein: “The Night They Burned Ms. Dixie’s Place” is set in Birmingham, Alabama in the 1960’s, in a house where they change the sheets more than once a night. The story reflects Birmingham’s racial, civil, and political strife and their impact on a particular night on a boy coming of age.

 

Art Taylor: “A Necessary Ingredient” was published in Coast to Coast: Private Eyes from Sea to Shining Sea, which covers (as that subtitle suggests) a pretty wide geographical area. I was assigned my home state of North Carolina, and instead of choosing an actual town, I created a fictional one, a mid-sized Southern town drawing on several places I’ve lived or known in Eastern North Carolina—Goldsboro, Kinston, and Richlands, among them. The story takes place loosely in the present, but the main character, Ambrose Thornton, has immersed himself in some ways, in a mythical past—the world of the hard-boiled detective stories he lives to read—and the present of this small town is also steeped at bit in some of that atmosphere, if only because of Ambrose’s own perspectives driving the story. 

 

(2) What was the biggest challenge you encountered in writing your nominated story?

Susanna Calkins: I adapted this story from a real poisoning case that I had read about when I was working on my doctorate in history. At the time I had focused on the media accounts of the case, which were all in French, because I loved the notion of the woman being on trial in the court of public opinion as well as in the courtroom. Unfortunately, I had not kept my notes, so I had to go back to the original source materials, only to realize that my reading knowledge of French has considerably diminished over the last twenty years. Fortunately, I found a very detailed contemporary description of the trial in a British medical journal, in which the authors—both physicians—focused on the details of the poisoning and the forensics they were able to use. Except for a few interesting details, I completely changed the story, the characters, and of course provided a twist...

 

Jen Conley

Jen Conley: The biggest challenge for me was writing a first-person male character. This choice can be difficult to establish when you’re the opposite gender. Readers see the name “Jen Conley” and assume the first-person narrator is female. It’s just natural for any reader to do--assume the first-person narrator is the gender of the writer. I must’ve re-written the first few lines of the story about twenty times. I also found it challenging to create empathy for a murderer, especially a murderer who killed my main character’s sister in a horrific and vile way.

 

Hilary Davidson: The premise of KILLING MALMON was that Dan Malmon had to die in every story. (Before you decide that we’re terrible people to do that to such a nice guy, you should know that Dan was co-editor of the project, and it raises money to benefit the National Multiple Sclerosis Society.) After I got over the idea of “killing” my friend in print, I realized that the biggest challenge was building suspense when the reader already knew that Dan was going to die. How do you keep the reader intrigued when they know what’s going to happen? I solved that by turning the story on its head, so that the man who killed Dan — and got away with it — suddenly starts writing a confession. The suspense builds around what led him to commit the crime, and the mysterious reason he needs to reveal the truth.

 

Barb Goffman

Barb Goffman: Plotting. Plotting is often a big challenge for me. I’d been asked to submit a story to 50 Shades of Cabernet, so I knew my plot had to involve mystery and wine. Consequently I did a lot of wine research, hoping to come across an idea that awakened my muse. I can hear the “research” jokes now, but my muse isn’t a drinker. I learned there’s a spa in Japan that uses red wine in its hot tubs. I thought for sure I’d get a plot out of that, but no. I also learned about festivals celebrating wine and chocolate. Surely, you’d think I’d devise a plot from that. But no again. It wasn’t until I learned that people can be allergic to the sulfites in wine that things really started clicking. Thank goodness!

 

Debra H. Goldstein: The biggest challenge in writing “The Night They Burned Ms. Dixie’s Place,” was getting the voices right. Being a white Jewish Yankee middle-aged female, I knew I couldn’t call on my own experiences and dialect to bring to life a nine-year-old black male protagonist, his mother, and a southern madame. Each of these characters had to have a distinct personality and manner of speaking. They also had to reflect southern society in the 1960’s and, in the case of the child, both innocence and the way the world was changing. Consequently, it was important that none of these characters be written stereotypically.  Rather, each needed to be treated in a respectful manner which demonstrated their diversity to the reader. Although the crime is an important element of “The Night They Burned Ms. Dixie’s Place,” nailing the characters’ voices is what ultimately engages readers.

 

Art Taylor

Art Taylor: Balancing that mix of small town and hard-boiled actually posed part of the challenge—but far from a surprise, it was a challenge that I took as central to what I was doing here. When my friend Paul D. Marks, the anthology’s co-editor, asked me to contribute, I almost didn’t do it. I haven’t really written many private eye stories—and none of the ones I’ve written have been “straight,” so to speak. But then I liked the idea of crossing the private eye story—traditionally hard-boiled—with the kinds of regional fiction that have inspired me in other cases. How can you draw on both effectively? What happens when those “mean streets” of Chandler’s famous quote are actually dirt roads dotted with roadside produce stands? And can the class struggles that so often drive hard-boiled fiction be found in equal measure in the hierarchies of proper Southern society? Well, that was a challenge I enjoyed stepping up to, and hope readers have enjoyed as well.

Here’s where you can learn more about these wonderful authors and their work. Best wishes to them all!

 

Susanna Calkins was born and raised in Philadelphia, and lives outside Chicago with her husband and two sons. Holding a PhD in history, Susanna writes the award-winning Lucy Campion historical mysteries as well as the forthcoming Speakeasy Murders, both from St. Martin’s Minotaur. MURDER KNOCKS TWICE, set in Prohibition-Era Chicago, will be out Spring 2019. “The Trial of Madame Pelletier,” her first published short story, appeared in Malice Domestic: Mystery Most Historical (Wayside Press, 2017). Read more about her work at http://www.susannacalkins.com/

 

Jen Conley’s short stories have appeared in Beat to a Pulp, Just To Watch Them Die: Crime Fiction Inspired by the Songs of Johnny Cash, Trouble in the Heartland: Crime Fiction Inspired by the Songs of Bruce Springsteen and many others. She has contributed to the Los Angeles Review of Books, has been shortlisted for Best American Mystery Stories and is one of the former editors at Shotgun Honey. Her Anthony Award nominated story collection, Cannibals: Stories from the Edge of the Pine Barrens, is available now. She lives in Brick, New Jersey. Check out her website at https://www.jenconley.net/

 

Hilary Davidson is the author of the Lily Moore series—which includes The Damage Done, The Next One to Fall, and Evil in All Its Disguises. She also the author of the standalone thriller Blood Always Tells and a short-story collection called The Black Widow Club. Her next novel, One Small Sacrifice, will be published by Thomas & Mercer in May 2019. Visit her online at http://www.hilarydavidson.com

Barb Goffman loves writing, reading, air conditioning, and her dog, not necessarily in that order. She’s won the Agatha, Macavity, and Silver Falchion awards for her short stories, and she’s been a finalist for national mystery short-story awards twenty-two times, including eleven times for the Agatha (a category record). Her book Don’t Get Mad, Get Even won the Silver Falchion for the best collection of 2013. Barb is thrilled to be a current Anthony and Macavity award finalist for her story “Whose Wine is it Anyway?” from the anthology 50 Shades of Cabernet.  She works as a freelance editor and proofreader and lives with her dog in Winchester, Virginia. Learn more at www.barbgoffman.com.

Agatha and Anthony nominated Judge Debra H. Goldstein’s is the author One Taste Too Many, the first of Kensington’s new Sarah Blair cozy mystery series. Her prior books include Should Have Played Poker and 2012 IPPY Award winning Maze in Blue. Debra’s short stories have appeared in numerous periodicals and anthologies including Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine, Black Cat Mystery Magazine, and Mystery Weekly. She is president of Sisters in Crime’s Guppies, serves on SinC’s national board, and is vice-president of SEMWA. Find out more about her writings at www.DebraHGoldstein.com

Art Taylor is the author of On the Road with Del & Louise: A Novel in Stories, winner of the Agatha Award for Best First Novel. He has won three additional Agatha Awards, an Anthony Award, two Macavity Awards, and three consecutive Derringer Awards for his short fiction, and his work has appeared in Best American Mystery Stories. He also edited Murder Under the Oaks: Bouchercon Anthology 2015, winner of the Anthony Award for Best Anthology or Collection. He is an associate professor of English at George Mason University. Check out his website at http://www.arttaylorwriter.com/

Running and Writing

       By guest author, Jennifer Klepper

     I love the name of this group of writers: The Stiletto Gang. It’s sexy and fierce, and while the Stiletto Gang probably doesn’t actually wear stilettos while they’re writing their books (do they?), I can easily imagine them traipsing about in their spiked heels and drinking martinis after they’ve put their keyboards away for the day.

Seeing the sparkly stiletto on the page made me think of my own newest pair of shoes--purple and orange (yikes!) Brooks trail running shoes. They have a grabby sole for traversing unfriendly ground cover, they’re sturdy to help keep the ankles from twisting, and they are frightfully clunky-looking. Pretty much the opposite of stilettos.

The reason I even have these trail shoes is my writing. Next week, my debut novel, Unbroken Threads, officially releases. So of course I signed up to run my very first trail race and my very first 10k three days prior to launch. Why in the world would I do that? (I’ve asked myself this numerous times, including the day I sprained my ankle on an errant broken branch.) 

As any writer can attest, you have to sit on your duff to write. Not just that, but you have to sit on your duff an awful lot for an awful long time to write, revise, and edit a novel. Let’s just say my muscle tone hasn’t kept up with my word count.

Scheduling a virgin run right ahead of my launch was tactical. I knew my summer would be nerve-wracking, with the prospect of my book baby being thrown to the wolves--I mean, world--in August. Having a goal, one totally and completely different from writing and publishing a book, seemed a mentally healthy diversion. Plus there was that muscle tone thing.

What I’ve learned in the ensuing weeks is that...running and writing? Not necessarily totally and completely different. Runners on the whole might look better in yoga pants, and writers might be better at Words with Friends, but the process and the experience of each have at least a few important things in common. 

1.     Writing and running are both solitary endeavors. Both activities require you to be in your own head, pursuing your own goal. Neither is typically a team sport. No one can run your hills for you and no one can cut 10,000 words from your draft for you. 

2.     And yet, writing and running both benefit from their supportive communities. Ah, the writing community! I love it so much and have gained friends and knowledge and good vibes. I’m starting to see the same in the running community. Established runners have been enthusiastic in their support and patient in their advice, whether it’s recommending I use bag balm on my feet (since I have to run through a river, of all things) or assuring me it’s perfectly acceptable to walk part of the race (I will).

3.     There’s always a “better." Running and writing start small--first mile, first chapter, but no matter the achievement, there’s always another shiny goal glinting in the distance. Did you finish a marathon? Well, how about winning your age group? How about running fast enough to qualify for Boston? Did you write a complete manuscript? How about getting a multi-book deal with a Big 5 publisher? How about making the NY Times bestseller list? The pursuit can be exhausting and never-ending--the shiny horizon will always stay out of reach.

4.     And yet, just doing the thing--finishing the race, writing The End on a first draft--is a tremendous achievement. I will not forget that. Ever. None of us should. No matter how far you get (qualify for the Boston Marathon or get a multi-book deal with St. Martin’s Press), that first achievement of finishing a race or finishing a draft is what got you there in the first place, and it’s much farther than most people to begin with.

5.     Finally, each activity needs another activity for balance. Any activity that taxes the body or mind needs a complementary activity to keep us fresh. Just as strained muscles and tendons need a break, so do word-wrestling brains. Allowing ourselves to focus on a different aspect of ourselves, to exercise a different aspect of ourselves, permits recovery as well as growth.

            So, within a week (if all things proceed as planned), I will have finished my first 10K and published my first book. And then I will continue working on my second book. Maybe I’ll train for a 15K, who knows? No matter what, though (and I know I won’t be able to run for as many years as I’ll be able to write), I’ll maintain some balance and try to ensure that I always have good shoes while I’m doing it.