Romance and Crime, Oh My!

I had such fun yesterday. I wrote in the morning, then went to a nearby Borders cafe to meet Emilie Rose and Sally. . . yikes! I didn’t get Sally’s last name, but will find out. Even though I don’t write romance per se, I’ve always belonged to Romance Writers of America because the pubbed authors in that group are a savvy bunch of ladies (and a couple of men) when it comes to the business side of writing and publishing. So I finally got around to joining the local chapter, Heart of Carolina Romance Writers. Emilie invited me to join her and Sally for coffee and a chat. She didn’t need to twist my arm. Emilie is quite an inspiration. She writes about a gazillion category romances a year while raising four (4!) sons. I really liked Sally, too. She has a very calming presence and is in the enviable position of writing whatever she wants without thinking about the market.
A couple of hours later, I met up with the crime writers whose company I’ve come to enjoy. Okay, so I don’t write crime either. What DO I write? My books have always defied easy categorization. I usually say they’re focused on relationships of all sorts and have a mix of romance, suspense, intrigue and mystery. In the last few books, I do seem to have a hefty dose of criminal behavior, so the crime writers are a good fit. We went out to dinner to celebrate the launch of Sarah Shaber‘s latest Simon Shaw mystery, after which we tromped in the rain over to Quail Ridge Books to join the crowd waiting to hear Sarah speak. She did a fantastic job and I can’t wait to read her book. 
Here’s a pic of us at dinner, taken by Bren’s husband, Bob Witchger.
Top row: Bren Witchger aka Brynn Bonner, moi (with my hair looking far redder than it is!), Margaret Maron, Nancy Olsen, the owner of Quail Ridge Books and my favorite bookseller in the universe. Bottom row: Alex Sokoloff, Sarah Shaber and her proud husband Steve.
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1 Comment

  1. Brenda on March 25, 2007 at 7:57 pm

    Maron’s books are great!!!!

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