By Thonie Hevron
I would still be wandering the authorial stratosphere if I hadn’t found Redwood Writers. I’d written a book—a thriller set in my very own backyard, Sonoma County. By Force or Fear was penned while I lived on the other side of California, missing Sonoma County so much that I set my story there. It was my way of coping with homesickness. When I moved, I lost the manuscript. Luckily, I found the outline on a thumb drive and re-wrote it. It was even better than before!
In 2004, my husband and I finally moved back to SoCo. While reading the newspaper one day, hubby found a writers group called JumpStart that met in our town. It’s leader, Pat Tyler, introduced me to reading my work in a group. She also fostered my scribblings, steering me to the local chapter of the California Writers Club—Redwood Writers. Finding a group of dedicated writers who encourage each other was a huge step forward. Under their superlative leadership, I attended club sponsored classes, workshops, and panels. Each monthly meeting has an hour-long teaching session as well—featuring different topics such as the business of writing, craft tips, promotion, marketing and social media. From all this input, I was able to formulate a plan. Roughly it looked like this: write, write, write, query, learn, write, speak, blog, learn some more. I mapped out my next novel in outline form. After all, I’m a retired law enforcement veteran and structure such as this helps me keep track of all the strands of my story. While I worked on my story, I found a critique group, Thrillerz. After joining Redwood Writers, this was the best thing I could’ve done.
More on critique groups in July.
Over the course of these meetings, I realized that I needed to build a platform. I knew I had to expand my audience, but the term marketing struck terror in my heart. After all, I was a writer—solitary, shy, withdrawn from the general population. But wait, NO, I wasn’t solitary. I had Redwood Writers, then the Public Safety Writers Association, then, Sisters in Crime. Redwood Writers (RW) hosted (still does) bi-monthly salons for authors to read their work to each other. The intent was to dip writers’ toes in the swamp of public speaking. There also were Open Mics held at several different venues (all of which I participated) and an annual member book launch for 10-12 RW authors to debut their books. Above you can see a few of the events RW sponsored. I volunteered to emcee a few of these gatherings and polished my public speaking as well as met some terrific people.
I did those but felt I needed more. So, I volunteered to co-chair a Redwood Writers’ Conference in 2014. The lead up to the event was where the rubber met the road: I attended every monthly club meeting to publicize the conference. Yes, I got up in front of a crowd of 75 or so people and made announcements. I’m by no means OVER my stage fright but I can certainly manage it. I’ve even tackled some other, unrelated fears such as driving over bridges.
Who knew what doors Redwood Writers would open?
How important is your writers club to you? What unique feature does it offer? Check in to Writer’s Notes on Fridays in June to see what other authors have to say. June 8th features Camille Minichino’s penchant for joining clubs. Natasha Yim talks about the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators on June 15th, on June 22, Leeann Betts gives 6 reasons to join a writers’ club, and on June 29th Paty Jager will offer her thoughts on the subject.
As the light changed, the van passed me and sure enough the number matched the one given to me by the unit. I communicated that I was following the van NORTH bound on La Brea, requested back-up and settled in for a possible pursuit. I heard an air unit was enroute, so I hung back. The van proceeded into a residential neighborhood, pulled to the curb and the driver exited. I set up a felony stop, shot gun and all, and told the heavy-set driver to prone out. He turned and ran up a drive way into a back yard. The air unit was now over head and the observer told me to start star walking north.
I had my weapon drawn, facing east when the frail wooden fence shattered into pieces as the suspect ran right through. Behind him were a pit bull and a mutt in hot pursuit!
rking morning watch at Wilshire as a patrol sergeant. Our end of watch was 0800 but I had a report to finish and didn’t leave the station until 1030. I was on my way home eastbound on the I-10, the Santa Monica portion and this time of the morning the traffic still stinks. My patience is boarding the edge of—well, I’m tired and when I get home I have a couple of “honey do’s” to complete before sleep. Drive time, 45 minutes. Crossing the Harbor freeway, the traffic lightened up, so we picked up the speed. I’m in the #2 lane and a yellow city dump truck is in the #1 lane. As we transition from the east bound I-10 to the north bound I-5, the truck—without signaling—cuts me off! Had I not slammed on the brakes, we’d have had a terrific collision. Now I’m going to catch up to the truck and let the guy know who he just cut off! I take my badge place it into my left hand. The badge pin is between my middle and index finger. I catch up to the truck who is back in the #1 lane and now I’m next to him, I roll down my window and as he looks over at me, I produce my badge out the window…….and my badge is yanked out of my hand by the rush of wind! It’s gone, rolling down the freeway. My almost new sergeant badge is GONE!
Who doesn’t love book fans? Those intrepid readers who snatch up every book you write on the day it’s released, the book clubs who analyze your characters from motives to what they wore in a particular scene, and the bloggers who sing your praises in online reviews. Sigh. Fantastic. The kudos are wonderful…like warm fudge cake with double chocolate frosting.
But book fans don’t always understand the power they can wield. Series live or die on sales, and those are often dependent on the number of positive reviews. The best book in the world will never be enjoyed if readers don’t know it’s there. Placements in search engines and on best seller lists, even acceptance for advertising, and ultimately sales are driven by reviews. And believe me, my publisher pays even more attention to them than I do. She can quote from them.
Are there “bad fans?” That almost seems like an oxymoron, but yes, there are those who carry fandom too far, who stalk authors online, or even worse, bully other readers who aren’t fans of their favorite author. Like others, I’ve been on the receiving end of someone’s misdirected fans, and it’s best just to ignore them. Most authors don’t want or appreciate this kind of support. Personally, I believe these “trolls” need to get a life. But enough said about that aberrant minority. 
BB Ballistics
Back in the day when we carried .38 revolvers, I held a firearms inspection. On command you drew your weapon, emptied the 6 rounds into your left hand which was held out for viewing. The pistol was held at “inspection arms” in the right hand.
I launched my newest book, FICTION CAN BE MURDER, the first in a light-hearted mystery series, on April 8th. My publisher made sure copies were available for the Left Coast Crime convention in March, though. As I write this, I’ve just returned from the Malice Domestic convention, and in October 2017, I attended Bouchercon.
Becky Clark —
In 1950, William H. “Bill” Parker was appointed chief of the Los Angeles Police Department. He inherited a scandal-ridden, dispirited, and vastly understaffed department.
By Joanell Serra
Joanell Serra MFT lives and writes in Northern California with her large family and the two dogs who rescued her (or vice versa?) Joanell combines her interest in psychology and family relationships with her love of wine, food and horses in her literary debut, The Vines We Planted (Wido, 2018). When she’s not writing or sipping a new Cabernet, she can be found at 
On this particular night, while following up on a citizen’s complaint of a dice game, we “took” a small crap game at the location. It was unusual, however, in that there were only three “shooters” and the operator. In addition, the lighting was supplied by several red light bulbs only. Also unusual, the table was covered in what appeared to be $20 bills. When I went to turn the regular lights on, the operator pleaded with me not to. The $20’s turned out to be bad photo copies not noticeable under the reds. The operator and two cohorts were flimflamming a high roller.
One of my passions during my law enforcement career was officer safety and I preached it at every opportunity. Officer safety is a philosophy not a program; programs fail, and you can’t fail at officer safety. It is all about situational awareness. In terms of cognitive psychology, situational awareness refers to a decision-maker’s dynamic mental model of his or her evolving task situation. In other words, what you perceive, and your response is all about experience vs. the situation. It all starts at the threshold of the event. What do I have? Do I understand what I have? Can I handle the situation/event with what I have at my immediate disposal?
