A Workshop Not to be Missed with Bestselling Author Jane K. Cleland
Lessons Learned:
Four Things I Wish I’d Known at the Start of My Writing Career
Jane K. Cleland
Learn from Jane’s experience! From mastering specific craft techniques to implementing efficient promotional strategies (and skipping the rest) and from building meaningful relationships to navigating the complexities of the publishing business, this workshop discusses four crucial lessons all authors need to know, and that most only learn the hard way. There’ll be time at the end for questions!
Jane K. Cleland writes both fiction and nonfiction, including the multiple award-winning Josie Prescott Antiques Mysteries [St. Martin’s & Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine] and the Agatha-award winning bestsellers, Mastering Suspense, Structure & Plot and Mastering Plot Twists [Writer’s Digest Books]. Jane Austen’s Lost Letters, the 14th in her series, was published in December 2022. She is a member of the fulltime faculty at Lehman College, part of the City University of New York, a contributing editor for Writer’s Digest Magazine, and the chair of the Wolfe Pack’s Black Orchid Novella Award (BONA) in partnership with Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine. She is a frequent workshop leader and guest author at writing conferences, association meetings, and MFA Residencies. Also, Jane offers free monthly virtual workshops on the craft and business of writing, and Mystery Masterminds, a series of small group virtual workshops. More details are available at www.janecleland.com
This meeting will take place on Zoom and in-person in the Boardroom at the Bethlehem Library, 451 Delaware Ave, Delmar, NY 12054
You are invited to a Zoom meeting.
When: Aug 20, 2022
10:30am members only business meeting
Speaker (everyone invited): 11:00 am Eastern Time (US and Canada)
Gerald Elias leads a double life as a critically acclaimed author and world-class musician.
His award-winning Daniel Jacobus mystery series, including Cloudy With a Chance of Murder, is set in dark corners of the classical music world. Elias has penned a chilling political thriller, a musical memoir, short stories, and essays. His first Western mystery, Roundtree Days, debuted in July 2022.
A former violinist with the Boston Symphony and associate concertmaster of the Utah Symphony, Elias has conducted Salt Lake City’s Vivaldi by Candlelight concerts since 2004 and recently recorded rarely heard sonatas by the Baroque violinist-composer, Pietro Castrucci.
Business meeting for members only at 10.30 am Eastern
Program speaker Nancy Allen at 11.00 am Eastern.
Nancy Allen practiced law for fifteen years as Assistant Missouri Attorney General and Assistant Prosecutor in her native Ozarks, trying over thirty jury cases. She served on the faculty of Missouri State University for fifteen years, teaching law classes. She is the author of the Ozarks Mystery series starring prosecutor Elsie Arnold. With James Patterson, Nancy is co-author of New YorkTimes Bestsellers Juror #3 (2018) and Jailhouse Lawyer (2021). Nancy is currently working with Patterson on their fourth novel. In 2022, Grand Central Publishing released the first book in her new Anonymous Justice series, entitled Renegade.
Mavens of Mayhem Upper Hudson Sisters in Crime is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.
Topic: April Meeting
Time: Apr 16, 2022 10:30 AM Eastern Time (US and Canada) for members only (business meeting)
Not all mysteries need 90,000 words to solve. The short mystery can leave a reader just as satisfied in a fraction of the time! From the under-1,000 flash fiction up to the top of the short story range (6,000) Libby will teach you how to get in all the twists, turns, clues and red herrings that your reader expects — without wasting a single word.
BIO: LIBBY CUDMORE’s debut novel, THE BIG REWIND (William Morrow 2018) received a Kirkus starred review and praise from Publisher’s Weekly, Romantic Times and Booklist. She is the author of the Martin Wade P.I. series at Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, and her short fiction has been published in Tough, The RS-500, Memoir Mixtape, The Big Click, the Stoneslide Corrective, PANK, the Barrelhouse blog, the anthologies HANZAI JAPAN, WELCOME HOME, MIXED UP and A BEAST WITHOUT A NAME, and is forthcoming from The Normal School. She is the associate editor at Rock & A Hard Place and the co-editor of the forthcoming anthology LAWYERS, GUNS & MONEY (with Art Taylor).
You are invited to a Zoom meeting.
When: Jun 18, 2022 11:00 am Eastern Time (US and Canada)
Chapter Members may join us at 10:30am for business meeting, all others at 11am
May 21, 2022 11am EDT
Informative talk on policing – the Revolutionary War to the Present Day. Register below to attend via Zoom.
Special Guest: LT. JON ANDERSON, retired law enforcement officer with over 35 years of experience, author of numerous books and articles, expert on the history of policing, and collector of vintage police memorabilia. Jon will discuss the history of policing in America from the Revolutionary War era to the Present Day, including the evolution of women in the police. Attendees of this event will be able to see oil lamps police officers used while walking their beat prior to the invention of street lights, vintage handcuffs, and police badges.
You are invited to a Zoom meeting.
When: May 21, 2022 11:00 AM Eastern Time (US and Canada) —
Business meeting for members only at 10.30 am Eastern — Program speaker at 11.00 am
Business meeting for members only at 10.30 am Eastern
Program speaker Nancy Allen at 11.00 am Eastern.
Nancy Allen practiced law for fifteen years as Assistant Missouri Attorney General and Assistant Prosecutor in her native Ozarks, trying over thirty jury cases. She served on the faculty of Missouri State University for fifteen years, teaching law classes. She is the author of the Ozarks Mystery series starring prosecutor Elsie Arnold. With James Patterson, Nancy is co-author of New YorkTimes Bestsellers Juror #3 (2018) and Jailhouse Lawyer (2021). Nancy is currently working with Patterson on their fourth novel. In 2022, Grand Central Publishing released the first book in her new Anonymous Justice series, entitled Renegade.
Mavens of Mayhem Upper Hudson Sisters in Crime is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.
Topic: April Meeting Time: Apr 16, 2022 10:30 AM Eastern Time (US and Canada) for members only (business meeting)
(NOTE: This meeting is on the 4th Saturday rather than the usual 3rd Saturday of the month)
The Mavens welcome former White House correspondent and Senior Copy Editor on CNN’s “The Situation Room with Wolf Bltzer”, JOHN DEDAKIS.
From Journalist to Novelist (Or How I Learned to Start Making it Up).
Novelist and writing coach John DeDakis will discuss how personal experience is the grist of fiction. His sister’s suicide, a car-train collision he witnessed as a kid, hiking the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu in Peru, and his son’s fatal heroin overdose are all experiences that led to the publication of his five mystery-suspense novels. To show how real life influences fiction, he’ll also trace the arc of his nearly 45-year journalism career — from getting tear gassed covering an anti-Vietnam War riot in 1970 to his job as a Senior Copy Editor on CNN’s “The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer.”
Novelist and writing coach John DeDakis [pronounced: dee-DAY-kiss] is a former editor on CNN’s “The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer.” DeDakis is the author of five mystery-suspense novels. His fourth novel, Bullet in the Chamber, is the winner of Reviewers Choice, Foreword INDIES, and Feathered Quill book awards. In his most recent novel, Fake, protagonist Lark Chadwick is a White House correspondent trying to walk the line between personal feelings and dispassionate objectivity in the era of “fake news” and #MeToo. Fake earned Honorable Mention for the Reviewers Choice Award and was a Finalist for Killer Nashville’s Silver Falchion Award. DeDakis, a former White House correspondent, is a manuscript editor, and regularly teaches novel writing online and at literary centers, writers’ conferences, and bookstores around the country and abroad. He is also a jazz drummer. Website: www.johndedakis.com
Members-only Meeting 10:30
Followed by talk open to the public at 11am.
You are invited to a Zoom meeting. When: Jan 22, 2022 11:00 AM Eastern Time (US and Canada)
The Mavens of Mayhem would like to invite all members to join us for our Holiday party on December 18th from 11 AM to 2 PM at the Pump Station, 19 Quackenbush Sq, Albany, NY 12207 .
We will order off the menu and have individual checks.
For those who wish to participate in a grab bag, please bring a wrapped mystery related gift worth $15-$20.
Guests are also welcome. Please respond to June Kosier at june.bug9@hotmail.com by 12/13.
Nationally bestselling mystery author Terrie Farley Moran will visit the Mavens to talk about her writing journey, writing solo and with a partner, and her exciting new project of “writing with” Jessica Fletcher. Join us Saturday, October 16 at 11 am Eastern for a fascinating insight into the life of a writer. Register now to receive the Zoom link.
You are invited to a Zoom meeting:
10:30 am business meeting for members 11:00 AM Eastern Time (US and Canada) for the main event – open to anyone who registers
When: Oct 16, 2021 11AM Eastern Time (US and Canada)
“A Visit from Our Neighbors.” We’re looking forward to meeting the members of MURDER ON ICE, the Western NY chapter of SinC.
Join us Sept 18. Members may sign in at 10:30 for the business meeting. Everyone is welcomed at 11am for the speakers.
You are invited to a Zoom meeting.
When: Sep 18, 2021 10:30 AM Eastern Time (US and Canada) for business meeting (members only) and 11am for presentation (everyone welcomed)
