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PEGGY FIELDING'S NEWSLETTER Vol. 7 Number 9 Oct. 2007 HELLO AGAIN Yes, I want you to go to the archives so you can see what is happening here with pictures and all. Go to www.peggyfielding.com. Sorry, I know. I slipped September. CRIMINAL PURSUITS I haven't done anything criminal recently but Jackie King persuaded me to attend a conference called, "Criminal Pursuits." The affair was for mystery writers. I suppose I can now say I ARE a mystery writer. Both FOXY STATEHOOD HENS AND MURDER MOST FOWL, and SCOUNDRELS' BARGAIN contain dead bodies. That Jackie has much to answer for. She is the crazed mystery reader/writer amongst us. Romance reading/writing was always more my speed. However, Jackie's pressure on me to read mysteries has introduced me to some great books as well as caused me to write a couple of stories about killing. Yeah, she has lot to answer fir. THAT OLD PROMISE Of course I promised Ray Fielding I would write and sell in every field when I left him in the P.I. That leaves Fantasy/Science Fiction and YA books as untried and unsold. Perhaps next projects will cover one or both of those fields. ON THE GRILL Jackie grilled three writers at the Criminal Pursuits Thing and here we are with some of her questions and some of our answers. Paula Alfred, Bob Avey and I were the moderator's whipping boys. Jackie has never shown any remorse over killing people on paper. JK: What constitutes becoming a professional writer as compared to a hobbyist? PAULA: Writing every day and attempting to sell one's work separates the hobbyist from the professional. In order to participate in the writing business as a professional, one must study good writing and acquire expertise in the standards that apply in the publishing world. PEG: A professional writes everyday and submits his/her work to appropriate markets. A professional expects to receive pay for the work. A hobbyist writes for his/her heart and for personal satisfaction and rarely submits the work. BOB: The most popular connotation of the word according to dictionaries: One who engages in a particular study or science for gain or livelihood. JK: Was there a decisive event that cause you to morph into a professional or did you drift into this decision? PAULA: Selling the second book of anthologies, FOXY STATEHOOD HENS AND MURDER MOST FOWL, changed my internal perceptions. I began to think and act like a professional writer. Now, I realize that internal perception was not dependant on publishing. I could have changed my perceptions at any time. PEG: My husband found a nineteen-year-old he liked so I left him in the P.I. (Just as shown in the novella, "Giving Up Panty Hose," in CHIK~LIT FOR FOXY HENS) Since I was no longer tethered to the "Playboy of the Western World," I decided to be what I had wanted to be since childhood... a writer. BOB: There was an event in my late 30's which I'll call a midlife crisis. Stephen King said writers don't have more breakdowns than ordinary people: they just have more creative breakdowns. I guess I had a creative something which brought on my decision to begin writing. JK: Were there teachers, mentors or other people in your life who helped or encouraged you to become professionals? PAULA: My husband, Jim, is my biggest cheerleader. Next on that list is my friend and mentor, Peggy Fielding, a gifted teacher of many writers. She was/is the good fortune in my writing cookie. PEG: Eula Mae Camp, Oilton Oklahoma High School, was the best English teacher ever. She told me I had talent. I used her name, slightly changed, "Eula Mae Kent," in my novella, "Hats, Healing and Homicide in Tulsey Town." Then, of course, there was my promise to that old boy, Ray Fielding. "Yeah, Ray, I'm going to become a writer when I get back to Oklahoma." "You're crazy as hell, Peggy. With all your degrees and your experience teaching, are you going to throw all that away on the chance that you can become a writer?" "Yes, dear... and I'm going to write and publish in every field. That's a promise." I'm still fulfilling that stupid promise. Murder mysteries were my recent hoops and now I look forward to jumping through the fantasy/science fiction hoops with great anticipation. BOB: Since I demonstrated an aptitude for math, my teacher and parents pushed me in that direction. I can't help wondering how things might have been if I had been encouraged to write, instead. JK: When did you realize that you had become a professional writer with a career, instead of a would-be writer with a pastime? PAULA: The day I gave notice at the Public Defender Office after twenty-one years as Assistant Public Defender, to act on my dream of writing full time. PEG: Six weeks after I'd started writing from my good little Southern Baptist Mother's back bedroom, I received two checks. One from an astrology magazine (delineating Ray Fielding's sun sign) for $65 and one from a Sunday School paper for $9.60. I held the checks up and shouted, "Miss Hazel, I have one foot in the Devil's workshop and the other in God's, and Mama, I have to tell you, the devil pays better." BOB: This may seem odd but I came to realize I had a future in writing when I began to receive fan mail about my novel, TWISTED PERCEPTIONS. JK: How long have you been writing and how has writing changed your life? PAULA: I've been writing for about thirteen years. Writing has expanded my world by introducing me to new people, new words and new ideas. Life is more joyful because I write. PEG: I've been writing and selling for more than twenty-five years. I learned to live with the "vow of poverty," since I'd resolved to do no job that did not deal with writing in some manner. My income has now risen to about the equivalent of the pay given an elementary school janitor...in a small town. BOB: I began writing 19 years ago. I've become more in awe of our wonderful world, and this has brought me closer to God. JK: What's the gremlin that sabotages your writing career and/or your work schedule? And what are you doing to keep the problem under control? PAULA: Procrastination and perfectionism, are my demons. I do best when I call everything a rough draft. Then perfectionism doesn't whisper, "Oh, why don't you wait until tomorrow?" PEG: Computer ignorance is a huge hindrance for me. Also, I love to read. A good book is almost as good as sex. I try to control my appetite for both indulgences, that is, sex and reading. BOB: My biggest problem has always been a lack of discipline. I know I should write everyday, but I don't always do that. JK: Name two things you do daily, besides writing and submitting, things that promote your career as a writer. PAULA: I review my writing goals daily and I try to expose myself to new ideas. New ideas spark creativity, the life's blood of a writer's work. PEG: I read and speak to (hang around with) other writers. I hand out promotional materials indiscriminately. JK: What projects are you planning or working on now? PAULA: I'm working on a nonfiction book based on experiences in my legal career, as well as a romance novel, and another FOXY HEN novella. PEG: My latest project is a Young Adult Novel, CADET SUMMER, which I have submitted to a YA agent. See? I'm following my stupid promise to write and sell in every field. BOB: I'm working on the third book in the Kenny Elliot series, which has the working title of FOOTPRINTS OF A DANCER. JK: Did any special writer influence your writing style? PAULA: No. I've learned from all of them, the good, the bad and the ugly. PEG: I always wanted to be Collette. So far, our lives have only paralleled in the fact that we both married bastards. BOB: Definitely Dean Koontz. The man is a genius. JK: What's the best piece of advice another writer gave you, and who was that writer? PAULA: I believe it was Jackie King who told me I could not edit and create at the same time. Knowing that I could write and later go back and correct was very freeing. PEG: Charlotte Smith once told me (via an article in Writers Digest) that she could support herself and her family with her writing. I figured if Charlotte could do it, I could do it. And she was right. BOB: "Convince yourself that you are a writer first, and then don't let anything or anyone stop you from being what you know you are." That writer was my good friend, Charles Sasser. JK: Give readers a few words of advice to get them started on their own writing careers. PAULA: Dream big and be willing to take small steps. You were a baby once who learned how to crawl, than walk, and finally to run! Find out what motivates and inspires you. Then take responsibility for motivating and inspiring yourself. PEG: New writers, please... learn to write a query letter. I tell authors in my classes that the query letter is the "golden key" to the gates of a successful writing career. BOB: First if you're in it for the money, then you might want to reconsider, and perhaps take up selling real estate. WRITE BECAUSE YOU WANT TO AND FOR NO OTHER REASON. ANOTHER THING THAT WAS JACKIE'S FAULT Recently I went to Reasor's Grocery store on Yale. I had a criminal pursuit of my very own there and will tell you about it next month. Jackie's fault, of course. SHADES OF TULSA The Tulsa NightWriters are putting out an anthology of members' contributions: articles, poetry and short stories. You may order a copy from AWOCBooks.com. I contributed a short short story to the mix. The book will be available before Christmas. SEX? Yes, yes and yes. Dusty Richards sent me a Logan book last week and a newspaper story about the year he became an "extra" in the Marilyn Monroe movie, "Bus Stop." He also sent a picture of himself and two Tulsa NightWriter Babes. The one on the left is Gloria Shirley, the old one in the middle is you-know-who. The picture was taken at OWFI back in May. NEXT MONTH Lots of mayhem coming in November. Hugs to all of you subscribers. See you soon. Love, Peggy |
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