Back on Monday I did a phone interview with Lynn Kaczmarek, managing editor of Mystery News. (The interview will appear in the August-September issue, around the third week in August.)
It was fun -- like having a conversation with a friend I hadn't seen in quite a while and bringing her up to date on my so-called writing career. I suspect that Lynn's skills as an interviewer are the reason the time flew -- we talked an hour. And heaven knows, I spoke freely -- I can only hope I didn't say anything I'll regret.
Like many folks, Lynn seemed to find it interesting (perhaps astounding) that, with no more writing background than I had and at the advanced age of 60, I ended up with a contract with Bantam Dell and an editor as renowned as Kate Miciak.
Yeah, I know. I was very, very lucky.
But all this talk sent me back looking through a scrapbook from the beginning of my involvement in the writing thing and I thought I'd share a couple of goodies.
It was fun -- like having a conversation with a friend I hadn't seen in quite a while and bringing her up to date on my so-called writing career. I suspect that Lynn's skills as an interviewer are the reason the time flew -- we talked an hour. And heaven knows, I spoke freely -- I can only hope I didn't say anything I'll regret.
Like many folks, Lynn seemed to find it interesting (perhaps astounding) that, with no more writing background than I had and at the advanced age of 60, I ended up with a contract with Bantam Dell and an editor as renowned as Kate Miciak.
Yeah, I know. I was very, very lucky.
But all this talk sent me back looking through a scrapbook from the beginning of my involvement in the writing thing and I thought I'd share a couple of goodies.
My certificate (suitable for framing) from the class that got me started writing about Elizabeth Goodweather. So it's not an MFA -- the price was right -- $40. And it worked.
And below (the flower - a galliardia -- is just for pretty) is a contract, written by a young man (son of friends of friends) who obviously has an eye for control, if not the economics of publishing. Though if I could get five dollars a book, I believe I could put up with his demanding ways.
I will fire you if I need to -- he got that part right, by golly. That's how publishing works.
No comments:
Post a Comment