The Missing Medallion

The Speed City chapter of Sisters in Crime plans to publish a basketball anthology next year, with the publication date possibly being during March Madness. When we pitched the idea to the publisher more than a year ago, he jumped on it immediately.

The deadline for the story submission was yesterday, July 15. The deadline was set months and months ago so there shouldn't have been a problem with making it with plenty of time left over.

One would think . . .

I got my story in under the deadline by a little over two hours.

My story is called, "The Missing Medallion", and is the fictional story of an legendary old high school basketball coach who for 40 years held on to a winner's medallion for a player who disappeared minutes after scoring the basket that clinches the state basketball championship. It was a lot of work but I think the end result is good.

Thanks to the five people who braved the first draft and who offered wonderful suggestions for improvements. The suggestions, many of them taken, greatly improved the project.

Now I wait to hear what the editor and publisher have to say. I am ready for any notes they have to offer.

The title of the anthology is Hoosier Hijinx. It will be the chapter's third anthology, following Racing Can Be Murder (2007) and Bedlam at the Brickyard (2010). My story in Bedlam was my first published fiction.

The editors for Racing are serving as editors again.

I contributed factoids for Bedlam two years ago, and this time will help write and edit profiles of prominent basketball personalities with connections to Indiana.

Well, that's it for now. Thanks for reading and keep writing.

Discover Mystery contest, Part II

The winner and four finalists for the Discover Mystery contest of Poisoned Pen Press were named today, and needless to say, my name wasn't among them. I'm a bit bummed, of course, by not winning, though I knew, with nearly 200 entries, it was a longshot. But I'm not hatin'. I'm proud of my novel, An Untidy Affair, and I know there are other publishers. Affair one day will find a home.

The winner is Ronald Sharp, whose novel, Human Pest Control, will be published in October. (That struck me as a particularly short publication schedule but what do I know.) Congratulations Ronald, and best of luck. (I'm assuming Ronald reads my blog, although I have absolutely no evidence that is the case. But I put my congrats out there anyway.)

The other finalists are:

Slone's Last Dance by Bill Butler; In the Market for Murder by Dawn Marie Fichera; Who Killed Julian Emery by Susan Lumenello; and Mortgaged to Death by Bruce Rolfe.

Congrats also to the finalists.

On Poisoned Pen's website, I asked publisher Jessica Tribble whether those who didn't win would have any feedback as to why. Given the likelihood that there'd be a large number of entries, she said no, we wouldn't hear anything from them -- only who the winner was. She wouldn't have the time to provide much of anything else.

So once again, I face rejection and don't know why. But I'm going to keep writing. I enjoy it and know that one day, lightning will strike.

Thanks for reading and keep writing and submitting.

Record

Though only half way through the month, my pageviews have reached a new record. I was close last month, missing a new record by less than 1 percent. But I have just blasted through this month.

Thanks dear readers. I appreciate you, even if you are just re-reading old posts.

Thanks for reading and keep writing.

Oh, so close . . .

March was a good month for viewership for my blog. I had the second highest views since I started nearly four and a half years ago. In fact, I only fell only three views short of my record, set in October 2009.

Oh, so close . . .

It helped that my viewership is up considerably for recent posts -- those in the last two months. I am getting more hits on posts soon after I write them. However, the most views I get are for posts several years old. I don't what that means. Whether the same people keep viewing the same posts over and over again -- for heaven knows what reason -- or whether I am getting new views on the same posts. It's a mystery to me.

Regardless of the reason for things, I will keep posting on the journey this writer is on to becoming a published novelist. Talk to you again soon.

Thanks for reading and keep writing.