By Tracy Clark Another conference down! Bouchercon 2024 is in the history books. For us writers, the premier world mystery conference is part class reunion, part fun work. It’s panels and meeting lovely readers; it’s signings and a lot of rush, rounded eventually in a non-permanent sleep, but...
OLYMPIC ATHLETES HAVE NOTHING (MUCH) ON US
By Tracy Clark August 21, 2023, Sha'Carri Richardson (Credit Image: © Wolfgang Grebien/GEPA via ZUMA Press) I’m sitting here watching a million hours of Olympic coverage like I don’t have a book deadline or a life to live, it suddenly struck me how writers are kind of similar to Olympic athletes....
MOVING MERCH: BETTER WITH A BUDDY
By Tracy Clark Writing books is fun, mostly. Going out in the world and trying to persuade readers to buy your book, or even pick it up from the library, can be terrifying. Picture yourself at a signing table. One table. One chair. Your books stacked there waiting for someone to care. You’re...
ROGUE FLASH: Tracy Clark Wins A Lefty
Rogue Tracy Clark has been awarded the Lefty for Best Mystery Novel for her 2023 release Hide! The 2024 Lefty Awards were presented at Left Coast Crime, Seattle Shakedown writer's conference. For a complete list of nominees and winners, please click here. Lefty Award Winners Best Mystery Novel...
WRANGLER OR TOSSER?
Dispatches from the Desk By Tracy Clark I’ve heard stories of writers stopping two-thirds into a novel and shredding the whole thing because they weren’t happy with what they’d written. I’ve heard stories of writers who have finished an entire book, submitted it, and then asking their editor to...
NEVER PULL A PEPPER
By Tracy Clark I just checked my latest manuscript for Pepper. I’m good! Remember the old ‘70s TV show Police Woman? It starred Angie Dickinson as Det. Pepper Anderson? I do. In fact, I remember it every time I sit down to write, because there are some things I have to remember not to do, thanks...
THE BUSINESS OF WRITING
By Tracy Clark Hiya! Well, another Bouchercon is in the history books. This year’s Bouchercon, the world’s premier mystery conference and heck of a good time, was held in sunny San Diego, and 1,700 mystery and crime readers, writers, editors, agents, booksellers, and those who love them, came out...
DISPATCH FROM THE CAVE
No Excuses Accepted By Tracy Clark I don’t have anything interesting to write about this time. You see, I’ve been living in a cave, figuratively not literally, for months now. Nose to the grindstone. Shoulder to the wheel. All that jazz. I have a book to finish. A deadline looming. Writing....
MY BRUSH WITH GREATNESS
I'm Still Smiling By Tracy Clark When I was a kid, I often thought how cool it would be if Topps made author trading cards like they made all those ho-hum baseball ones. I would have loved to have opened a pack of Topps to find a small sheet of chewing gum and a cardboard card with Agatha...
THE TALE OF TWO TRIPS TO TUCSON
By Tracy Clark It’s conference season, that busy time of year for writers when they come together with readers and their writing community and celebrate books and writing. It’s like Oscar season, only without Wolfgang Puck’s mini-sliders and that pre-ceremony full-body shellacking Hollywood...