Last Night at the Library

The Gloucester Lyceum is a noble institution, one that this town can be very proud of. It traces its roots back to the days when mass media was not available and people in towns such as this would gather together to share ideas, listen to speakers in all fields of endeavor, ask questions and talk. When I attend the Lyceums, always held at the Sawyer Free Library here in Gloucester, I always wonder why I don’t go every time. When I am one of the speakers, I am both humbled and proud.

Last night the Gloucester Lyceum presented “Sell That Story”, two of the publishers and two of the authors from Windchill: Crime Stories by New England Writers, in a panel discussion on writing and getting published today. We had a very good audience — especially considering our competition! Last night was the Empty Bowl benefit at the Elks which always attracts hundreds of people. In Rockport the Sandy Bay Historical Society presented a program on the Folly Cove Designers, and, the Sox were playing the Yankees — an event that made one of the members on our panel, Mark Williams, very restless.

But it was all good. In the first place let me say that I am always pleased and proud to be included in any program with Susan Oleksiw and Kate Flora. Both of them are such distinguished writers, with such an impressive body of work that even saying that I know either of them makes me happy.

Susan Oleksiw is the author of the Mellingham Mystery Series featuring Detective Joe Silva. Her recently published book, A Murderous Innocence, is the fifth in that series. In addition, Susan is a distinguished scholar of Sanskrit and her Anita Rey short stories, set in India, are usually my favorites in the Level Best Books anthologies. She was the founder of Larcom Review, a literary magazine that enjoyed high acclaim while it was publishing.

Kate Flora is one of those people who awe me. She just completed an MFA in Writing, is an attorney and a former attorney general for the state of Maine. She is a past international president of Sisters in Crime, has written seven mystery novels in the Thea Kozak series. She is also beautiful, intelligent and very nice. Her latest book, Finding Amy, which she co-wrote with Portland, Maine Deputy Chief Joseph K. Loughlin, about the disappearance and murder of Amy St. Laurent. I bought a copy of her book last night and am looking forward to reading it.

The rest of the panel was Mark and me — both a little stunned to even be there.

Susan moderated the discussion and we began talking about how we came to write the stories that we did. Since I never intended to write crime fiction, I’m always a little baffled by how I wound up doing it. But I shared my story. Mark, who was making his first public appearance as a published writer, talked effortlessly about how he began writing and how he wrote his story. Despite his natural reticence to call attention to himself, you put him in front of a group of people and he turns on the charm and I can never quite believe it is the same guy I see on a day to day basis. It was a good night.

There were a number of aspiring writers in the audience and they asked the most questions. Always the focus is the same, “How do I find an agent, an editor and/or a publisher?” If it is true that everyone has a book in them, and I believe it is, these days more of them are eager to get it out in the world. The answer is always the same — you work and work and work and don’t give up.

So it was a great evening and, also, as always, I am drained today. But it is dark and raining and I have designs to work on and Mark’s book to finalize and send off to press. Things are good.

Thanks for reading.