Actually, I hadn’t planned on doing a follow-up to my post from earlier this month, “Coaching Writers: Why I Do What I Do.” But just recently I’ve received so much good news from former and current writers of mine that I couldn’t resist sharing it all.
Dave Putnam
The first bit of news came last month from Dave Putnam, a former workshop student and long-time friend. “Deputy Dave,” now retired from the San Bernardino Sherriff’s Dept., is without peer when it comes to perseverance. He’d written many quality police procedural novels over the course of decades without commercial success. But that all changed when his agent placed one of his latest projects, The Disposables, with a mainstream publisher in Florida. Dave’s book will be out next spring. As Commander Taggert said, “Never give up, never surrender!”
One of my most successful writers—also a long-time friend and practically an adopted daughter—is Michele Scott, who just recently—writing as A.K. Alexander—released her
new mystery/thriller, Blood and Roses. I had the pleasure of editing this one last year, and I have no doubt it will do well.
I worked from beginning to end on a historical novel by Begoña Echeverria titled, The Hammer of Witches, a gripping story of witchcraft in seventeenth century Spain and steeped in fact. Following a good deal of resistance, Begoña—a world authority on the Basque culture—found a publisher for her story. The Hammer of Witches will also be out next year.
I hadn’t heard from writer Bobby Norman in a few years, ever since I’d helped him with his promising novel, Black Water, set primarily in the Louisiana bayou country in the early twentieth century. Then, a few weeks ago, he wrote to tell me that his agent had placed the novel with a San Francisco publisher. Way to go, Bobby!
Finally, a couple of weeks ago I received a Facebook friend request from Suzanne 
Holbrook-Brumbaugh, a writer I had met at a conference a few years back. I had done a twenty-page evaluation for her, and apparently it must have struck a (good) nerve. This is what Suzanne, who writes under the name Suzanne de Board, said:
“You were a great help to me in polishing my first novel, The Gift, and I learned a great deal at the workshop you hosted and taught. Through your encouragement, I now have four books published, and a fifth (book three in The Gift series) due to come out around Thanksgiving. Thank you so much for everything.”
So, do I receive a great deal of pleasure in doing what I do? Ya think!?
SNEAK PREVIEW: I won’t say anything about a forthcoming project, other than you’ll
be hearing plenty about it real soon. But, I will share this cover.