My First Professional Writing Job
I was a senior at Lordstown High School in the Youngstown-Boardman area in northern-eastern Ohio when I got my first paid writing assignment. You could say this assignment was what put me on my current path of writing about chaos, deception, and mayhem.
As the author of three murder mysteries, I wish I could tell some grand story about investigating the suspicious death of the nasty science teacher who had been drowned in embalming fluid during a pep rally. But, alas, no, my story is not quite so thrilling, but still interesting none-the-less.
Back in the seventies, high school students aspiring to go on to college took what was then called college preparatory classes, while those planning to go straight into working at the GM plant that employed most of the town’s population and then some, didn’t. Since I had no intention of spending my life chained to an assembly line, but rather traveling the world writing murder mysteries like Agatha Christie, I took the college prep classes.
As a fiction writer, there was one problem with the college prep classes: We took advanced composition (how to write a proper research paper: Boring!) while those who weren’t going on to college took creative writing (Not Boring!)
My friend Suzanne was the class mouse. Through high school, she always hid behind me wearing her big coke bottle glasses and turtle neck sweaters that covered up all her flesh for fear of someone actually seeing her. Sometimes she chastised me for speaking out in class because when people turned to look at me, they might actually see her hiding behind me.
So, you can imagine Suzanne’s state when she was informed that the term project for her creative writing class was to write a short story and read it out loud in front of the class.
Suzanne fainted.
For weeks, Suzanne fretted and whined while I drooled with envy. They got to use their imaginations while I was learning the proper format of a footnote.
I tried to help her as best I could. I’d suggest, “Write about something interesting that happened to you.”
“Nothing interesting ever happens to me.”
She was right there. The girl went to school and then home to watch reruns of The Brady Bunch. She wasn’t allowed to watch The Partridge Family. That was too racy. She didn’t go to school games, date, or leave her yard. This teenage girl had never even been to a pajama party or kissed a boy. Having never experienced anything, Suzanne had no material for a story.
As the deadline approached, Suzanne got more desperate while I got more jealous. “Write about your dog’s flea problem.”
“How can I write a whole story about my dog’s fleas?” she asked.
My writer’s imagination took off.
The morning of the day her story was due, Suzanne had nothing except hives.
I made my proposal for my first professional writing assignment. “Do you want me to write your story for you?”
“It’s due after lunch,” End-Times-Suzanne whimpered.
“You go get my lunch and I’ll write it.”
The job was contracted. With one study hall and lunch period, I wrote out her story. Suzanne paid for the project with a cheeseburger, fries, and diet Coke.
Time was so short that Suzanne didn’t even have time to read it until she was up in front of the class reading it out loud.
To her horror, the class roared with laughter while she read her short story about a girl tasked with writing a short story for her creative writing class. It was a story within a story. Her first story idea had been one about her dog’s fleas, but she rejected that idea for yet another and then another idea until the deadline was upon her. Having rejected all other premises, she sat down to pen her short story entitled, “My Dog Has Fleas.”
My classmates talked about it for days. They declared it hilarious and clever. Stating that it was unique, imaginative and well written, Suzanne’s teacher gave my story an “A”.
Suzanne ran home to lock her door, watch a rerun of Bonanza, and never spoke to me again. (There’s always one critic.)
The raving reviews of the class and teacher spurred me on to write the Joshua Thornton mysteries (A Small Case of Murder and A Reunion to Die For) and my most recent release, It’s Murder, My Son (the first in the Mac Faraday mysteries).
You can learn more about my books at my website (laurencarr.webs.com) or visit my blog, Lauren’s World of Mystery Writing.
Interviews
As I get further along in the biography, I knew I would get the opportunity to interview more people, since it’s a better bet than some people Gardner knew from the 1960s are more likely to be around than people he knew in the 1920s! And so it is. I’ve been conducting a number of interviews for the book.
Interviews were needed for this. The last biography of Gardner had been almost all interviews with no verification of what was said. That’s important, as people’s memories fade and they get the details wrong. Even though it’s their story, you still want to make sure that the facts are right. I had an interview last night where the wrong episode was listed, and another where a name was wrong. My book has made significant use of written documentation through correspondence of all types that I wanted to add that human element that can only be found from interviews.
So at the moment, I’m working my way through the TV interviews. It’s slow going as you need a certain set-up to get started. You need an adapter that can tie your phone to a tape recorder of some type. It’s always best to tape the conversations as you miss opportunities if you’re taking notes and not listening carefully enough. Also in case there’s any question later as to what was said, you have a record of it.
The rules for doing interview are different by state. I normally tell the person they are being taped, as I don’t keep all those laws in my head. Some states required the consent of both parties and other ones only require the consent of one party, which could be me.
I take a few notes based on the questions I want to ask. I write down those questions in advance to make sure they get answered. Most people who are talking about the TV show want to talk about Raymond Burr, so it’s a bit different for me to try to pin them down on their dealings with Gardner instead. The show, the author and the star are so intertwined that they forget sometimes what you’re really after.
I’ve done 3 interviews this week, and more to come next week. Who would you like to see interviewed for the book?
Conferences
I have mixed emotions about conferences. This month there is one in Sarasota (A Conference To Die For) and one in Nashville (Killer Nashville). There are probably dozens more, but these are the two I’m attending.
First of all, it’s an opportunity to meet old friends, writers who I’ve become friends with over the years. People like Jeff and Casey. And that’s a good thing. It’s a chance to catch up and talk about the state of our profession, about successes and failures.
Secondly it’s a chance to meet some of the people who actually read our books. I love that. When someone buys a book or comes up and comments on your book it is the highlight of the conference.
But I always feel this urgency to accomplish something new.
To meet one person who can help advance the career. To bring home one very important piece of information. To find one aspiring writer that I can give some hope to. It’s this desperate attempt to have something make a big difference.
I met Sue Grafton at a conference and she ended up helping me sell my first book. I think I still expect that kind of change. And believe me, that was a huge change.
But I’ll be there, shaking hands, sharing stories, and hoping something magical happens. It did once, why not again. I just don’t know what it will be.
Presents from the Past
I’m helping a cemetery group with an interesting project. Each year, they host what they call Meet the Neighbors day. It’s a chance for folks to come in, tour the city cemetery and interact with re-enactors who are dressed like cemetery “residents.” The actors talk about the person’s life and the times in which they lived. In past years, we’ve had a chance to meet a couple mayors of Cleveland, an undertaker’s wife who talked about Victorian mourning customs, and an abolitionist.
All interesting, and certainly a creative and lively way for visitors to learn not only about the city’s history, but about the people who lived it.
The latest event is going to focus on how the area was affected by the Civil War. Fortunately, I’ve had help with the scripts and all are done except for one. That’s the one I’m working on.
Truth be told, I’ve been lazy about it. In fact, I started only the other day. I’m working on a family named Scarr. There are a bunch of them buried in one plot, with one monument, and as far as anyone can tell, two of them (James and Frederick) were cousins. Both were killed in the war.
My goal is to learn enough interesting things about these two young men to fill a 10-minute time slot and I’ve got the research collected by the members of the cemetery foundation. But I’ve been looking online, too, and discovered a local site dedicated to the Ohio 103 regiment, the one in which James served. A couple emails and a phone call later, and I’ve found out that James (who was a musician in the army) didn’t die in battle, he died of disease. I’ve also been promised pages from a historic diary that talks about James’s death.
I have to say, I am in awe. I admire the people at the cemetery foundation who work so hard to make history relevant to the rest of us, and I am especially grateful for people like Bill (my contact at the 103st) who treasure historical documents and so generously offer to share them.
So on this Wednesday morning, here’s to all lovers of history! There is much in our past that should be treasured, and many stories to tell. Thanks for helping us out!
Mad Dash
10 days until we start a new school year. It’s always one of the hardest times of the year for me. After 9 weeks of not wearing shoes, not talking much and sitting more than standing, all of that is reversed.
So of course, as with all good writers, I’ve put everything off until the last minute. We’re having new hardwood floor put down in the kitchen and dining room today and tomorrow. I’ve for a car tune-up, doctor’s appointments and all to do next week. It seems like I do this a lot, and though I start every summer with good intentions, it always ends the same.
But, I can’t same that it’s the same with my book. I’ve done a significant amount of work on the biography this summer. I’ve added about 20,000 words to it so far, and I’m still on a pace to have several thousand more words in the next 10 days. The deeper I go into Erle Stanley Gardner’s life, the more interesting facts I undercover. I’m truly enjoying this project now and I’ll hate to see it end in some ways.
And the Livin’ is Easy
Summer on the north coast. ‘nough said.
RSVP
I understand that I’m a bit behind the times, but I’m now aware that the internet and email have brought back some long lost politeness and civility to at least one part of a social life.
I have always sent party invitations by snail mail. Or I’ve phoned the guests, or seen them in person. I’ve never had a party where I invited guests by email.
And, I’ve always complained about the fact that better than half the guests never RSVP. Repondez S’il Vous Plait.
(French for …”give me a heads up if you’re going to show up at my party”)
So we’re having a party tonight and we invited 50 people by email. I didn’t even ask for an RSVP. And almost everyone sent a response!
No postage, no envelope, no running to the post office or the mailbox. Just a quick reply and you’ve got an RSVP.
You know how much food to order, how much beer, wine, how many seats you’ll need.
From now on,we are always inviting people via email! Except for uncle Oscar. He doesn’t own a computer and probably won’t show up anyway. And Randy, who always says his messages go to spam. I think he’s too lazy to read them. And Betty Dirky, who is probably on a cruise somewhere looking for husband number 4 and won’t get around to answering until next month.
And Devita, who will always show up with her slimeball brother and cousin, even though we never invite them. But other than that, this email idea and RSVPs is a great thing!
Oh, there’s Steve Knight who will RSVP with some rude joke or dirty photo that my wife always sees, and Gibby who will say that he can make it with his wife and three kids then call at the last minute and cancel…and there’s…………
Don
Guten Morgen
A couple months ago, I wrote a blog about how the first book in the Pepper Martin mystery series, “Don of the Dead,” had been published in Germany with a name that translates roughly into “Dead Godfathers Kiss Better.”
Since then, the next two books in the series have made their appearance on bookstore shelves in Germany.
“The Chick and the Dead” has become “Schicker als der Tod.” Rough translation: “More Schicker Than Death.” Hmmm…
And if you happen to be in Berlin and you’re browsing a bookstore, check out Book #3, “Tombs of Endearment” which is now “Sex Tod & Rock’n Roll.” That title pretty much speaks for itself!
Happy Birthday Uncle Erle
Today is the 121st birthday of Erle Stanley Gardner, the author who created the Perry Mason series, the Bertha Cool and Donald Lam series, and the DA series, along with 600+ short stories and various articles and non-fiction works on nature, the desert and Baja. In his 80 years, Gardner did more, wrote more, and traveled more than most families will in a life time.
Despite his love for California, the west and Baja, Gardner was born in Malden, Mass on this date in 1889. Gardner was always a mixture of his Puritan background and western upbringing. The family moved west when Gardner was a child. By the time he was a teenager, Gardner was traveling with his father, who worked in the mining industry. He went to the Yukon at 17 and all of the trips and adventures made an impact on him. 
Gardner was forever that sense of modesty combined with a need for adventure. Over the course of his life, he did a number of daredevil stunts, like driving along roads in Mexico that dropped off 100s of feet along the side or hunting for lost gold mines. He walked the Great Wall of China (one of my dreams) and met headhunters in the South Seas. After many years of tooling around in camp wagons that he had developed, Gardner found a small town called Temecula, where he bought 3000 acres to be away from it all to write and enjoy nature.
Yet despite writing in the pulps, Gardner was hard pressed to show his mother a story that involved a nightie. He thought she wouldn’t approve.
Today we celebrate the birthday of a great man, and I hope you take the time re-read one of his books soon.
New York
Spent last week in New York and the energy level of that city is impossible to explain. You just have to go there!
We started out our trip with a wonderful reception for author Elmore Leonard who was being honored for a lifetime achievment award from Strand Magazine. He said it was his 7th lifetime acheivment award…in just this year. He was worried they were trying to tell him something.
Michael Connelly was also awarded for best mystery.
We saw Billy Elliot, a great play about the coalminer strike in England in the 90’s and a young man who wants to be a dancer. I know…strange combination for a musical, but it works. Also saw West Side Story.
Got last minute tickets to see Ben E King at the Blue Note in the Village. Ben was the lead singer for the Drifters and had hits like Stand By Me, Rose In Spanish Harlem, Save The Last Dance For Me, Up On The Roof and more.
We attended the banquet at Thriller Fest with author Ken Follet (Key To Rebecca)Riddley Pearson, Clive Cussler and dozens more.
We stumbled onto Christie’s Auction House and saw the entire collection from the Roy Rodgers museum which is being auctioned off today. Stuffed Trigger, Bullet, the Jeep Nellie Belly, his guitars and thousands of other items.
Watched Larry David filming his TV show at 2a.m. (Curb Your Enthusiasm), saw a great band in Central Park, stood outside a church where Michael Jordon, LaBron James and others were attending a wedding, met Tony Shalhoub (plays Monk on television) and found a great Italian restaurant called Bond 45 on 45th.
We are still decompressing. High energy, no sleep, but lots of fun. Go this summer. Just do it.
