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Ramblings by Hal Street Stories

Ramblings: True First Responders’ Heroes

Welcome to “Street Stories.” We’ll be adding stories from law enforcement veterans from time to time. Hal Collier’s Ramblings was the first guest I posted on this blog so it’s fitting that the re-launch is another story from him. Regular Mystery Readers Only and Writer’s Note will arrive every Friday along with guests Ed Meckle and Mikey. You can check out their previous post in The Call Box and Roll Call columns under “Street Stories.” If you subscribed to thoniehevron.com in the past year, you might re-add your email address (if you want to continue getting these posts). I’ve changed site servers–Thonie

LAPD Police car

By Hal Collier, Retired LAPD

You probably know about first responder heroes that make breaking news. These heroes sometimes get interviewed on TV or they have a ceremony where they give them a medal. Being a hero is something that usually happens in seconds or maybe minutes. When you think back, the actions were more of a reaction than a well-thought-out plan. I’m about to describe a true first responder hero.

My first responder hero is someone who was there not for minutes but for days, years and even decades. I’m talking about wives, spouses, partners. They are the real first responder heroes. I’m going to write mostly about my wife, but it applies to many. Even their children make sacrifices.

I was married to Terri for two years before I went to the police academy. I sometimes wonder if she knew what she was getting into with me becoming a cop. I guess love outweighs fear!

It started out preparing for the test to enter the profession. It usually involves a written exam and working out for the physical tests that are part of the application. It usually takes up some time on the first responders’ part.

While in the police academy your uniform needs to be dry cleaned and sweats need to be washed almost daily. It takes months of study just to get through the academy. My wife took care of all the laundry as long as I spent my free time studying and sleeping. After graduation from the Academy the real work started.

I’m sure all spouses of first responders can relate to what I’m about to describe.

The first is worry. The worry of a dangerous job—you never know if that kiss at the door will be your last. The worry when they break into your TV show and talk about a cop, fireman or other first responder being hurt or killed. They will sit glued to the TV for news hoping for information or dreading the thought of a knock on the door. Unlike their heroes, these worries aren’t gone in minutes but last for years. For some the worry ends with retirement. Others the worry never ends because they know what some other spouse is going through. Finally, the worry continues because a son or daughter has decided to follow in your footsteps.

The worry is the worst part but not the end. A first responder never has regular hours. He/she will miss family celebrations, children’s plays or games. How about the anniversary dinner where you fell asleep because you worked overtime? The holidays are almost always a workday. Friendships with non-first responders soon disappear, and the spouse will spend the day trying to keep the kids quiet because daddy or mommy is sleeping. Speaking of sleeping, cops who work nights spend a lot of time in court during the day. They often come home late afternoon grab a few hours sleep and go back to work. It’s the first responder’s spouse that has a meal fixed on short notice and wakes you in time to go to work.

My first responder hero kept my truck gassed, my uniforms picked up from the cleaners as I dashed out the door after a few hours of sleep.

After thirty plus years I retired. But the real hero had to deal with my job related injuries and worst of all the never ending dreams which come being a first responder. My hero was often woken up in the middle of the night as I ordered a suspect into a felony prone position. On a few occasions I punched the bedroom wall as I fought with a suspect. These first responders deserve a medal. I was once given a medal for two minutes of stupid panic on my park.

My wife should have been given a medal for fifty years of being a hero to me!

Hal

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Mystery Readers Only

Something new for thoniehevron.com

By Force or Fear, Intent to Hold, and With Malice Aforethought
By Force or Fear, Intent to Hold, and With Malice Aforethought

By Thonie Hevron

Thanks for stopping by ThonieHevron.com! There are a few changes coming up that should have a positive effect on your reading experience. My blog on WordPress will soon by my website/home as I say good by to the attractive but less than efficient site I’ve had for the past five years. The new address will be www.thoniehevron.com–the same as before. Information from the old site will transition over so you’ll see “Books By Thonie,” “News and Events,” “About Thonie” and a Contact page.

As for my blogs, they’ll be a combination of weekly guest blogs from authors writing about their new books (Mystery Readers Only) or their craft (Writer’s Notes). I’ll be posting news about my mystery series, Nick and Meredith Mysteries as it becomes available.

Thonie Hevron 2002 Bishop, Ca.

In the “new” site, you’ll find all the previous years’ posts under Street Stories from LAPD alums Hal Collier (Ramblings), Ed Meckle (The Call Box), Mikey Diaz (Roll Call), and Ron Corbin (When Pigs Fly). There are additional stories from Gerry Goldshine (Petaluma, Ca. PD), John Schick from Calif. Department of Corrections, and several other law enforcement veterans who share their career exploits.

To kick things off, tomorrow’s post is from Ramblings’ Hal Collier, a 30-plus-year veteran of Los Angeles Police Department. Hal talks about First Responders’ Heroes in Street Stories.

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Writer's Notes

Just the Facts, Ma’am closes

This will be the last you hear from me on this site. As with all good things, Just the Facts, Ma’am (JtFM) will come to a close. It’s not for lack of stories, to be sure. A dearth of time is the culprit. I have a book to finish. And after almost losing the mister last year, family has become that much more precious. They only ask my time.

Thonie Hevron

I’d like to take this opportunity to thank LAPD alum Hal Collier—the guy who started it all. His stories emailed to other LAPD retirees became the bulwark of JtFM. Thank you to Gerry Goldshine, an early contributor. Mikey sent us his memories once a month. Sometimes we laughed; sometimes we cried. Thanks, Mikey for your moving words. Ed Meckle became the most prolific writer in the JtFM and has earned my gratitude. Ron Corbin came to the party late but gave us all a lot to laugh about. Thanks, Ron. There were other writers, to be sure. Take a moment to scan through the posts for some interesting stories from the guys who’ve been there, done that.

For two years, I hosted Writers Notes. Other authors posted themed stories with links to their work. I met some terrific folks who I’ll continue to call friends. There are some great writing tips in those posts–available for another year.

As for me, I’m still putting the finishing touches on what was Felon with a Firearm but is now Felony Murder Rule. It is off to beta readers already. My list of readers reads like a who’s who of local law enforcement: Mike Brown, retired captain and homicide detective and Will Wallman, retired sergeant (Coroner’s Office) both from Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office and Mike McBride, retired Marin County District Attorney’s Investigator. Also, Karen Lynch, retired Homicide Investigator from San Francisco Police Department and author of Good Cop, Bad Daughter. These fine folks promise an authentic reading experience.

Once I get their feedback, it’ll be more keyboard time to make corrections and such. It looks like I’m closing in on the final draft of the fourth Nick and Meredith Mystery. Boy, is it a good feeling! So you won’t see me on my blog Just the Facts, Ma’am anymore but I will be at work. I’ll continue to email quarterly notes about the progress of my books, appearances, and so on. If you’re interested, sign up at www.thoniehevron.com.

Thanks for your loyal readership. It’s been great.

Thonie Hevron

Categories
Writer's Notes

October: Suspension of Disbelief

By Thonie Hevron

Samuel_Taylor_Coleridge_by_Washington_Allston
Samuel Taylor Coleridge by Washington Allston circa 1843

 

Willing suspension of disbelief is a term coined in 1817 by the poet and aesthetic philosopher Samuel Taylor Coleridge, who suggested that if a writer could infuse a “human interest and a semblance of truth” into a fantastic tale, the reader would suspend judgement concerning the implausibility of the narrative.

Every fiction writer must wrestle with this at some time. The worlds we create are products of our imagination with a little fact thrown in.

The main facet of suspension of disbelief: Could this happen, really?

Something that I see in my genre (police procedural/thriller/mystery) so often is multiple officer involved shootings (OIS’s) several times a shift or day or week. Officers never seem to go on Administrative Leave ever. Administrative Leave is a temporary leave from a job or assignment, with pay and benefits intact. Officers are routinely placed on administrative leave after a shooting incident while an investigation is conducted (sometimes by an outside agency for impartiality), without implying fault on the part of the officer.

My husband, the retired firefighter, cries foul when a vehicle is involved in a crash and subsequent explosion (this doesn’t include when the plot specifies an incendiary device was aboard). What typically happens is this: cars don’t explode on impact. If they catch fire, it often due to fuel leaking to an ignition source (such as an overheated catalytic converter).

Cops and fire fighters are readers and know when something just ain’t right. But when you include a feasible ignition source in that Impala that collides with a tree—then you have the “well, it could happen” moment.

ThonieHevron-ByForceorFear.jpgAnother part of suspension of disbelief involves the premise of my first novel. By Force or Fear’s protagonist is a female detective being stalked by a cunning judge. Her superiors don’t believe her when she reports him. In this day of #MeToo, I seriously doubt any responsible administrator would discount the report. But it could happen, right? That’s suspension of disbelief.

The key to making the preposterous believable is to sow seeds of reasonability into the story (foreshadowing) ahead of time or during the event. For instance, an observer of the car crash might see the fallen tiki torch next to the tree or the officer may be the last officer (think a department-wide epidemic with no mutual aid officers available within the day—hey, it’s a stretch but it could happen, right?). Sometimes a scientific explanation after the event can work but that can be dicey. Balance this with authenticity.

The trick to all of this is to make your devices (and plot twists) believable. Do your research, online and on the ground. Talk to police officers, fire fighters, professors, whoever you need to get the scoop. After talking to these folks, you may find that the truth is less believable than fiction!

October 12th will feature D.R. Ransdell’s take on this topic. On October 19th, an interview with Rita Lakin who dishes on the hard-to-believe-it-but-they’re-true stories with her Getting Older is Murder series. Niles Reddick winds up the month on October 26th with writing about differences.

You’ll be glad you checked them all out! Don’t forget to read Hal Collier (Ramblings), Ed Meckle (The Call Box), Mikey (Roll Call) and others on Just the Facts, Ma’am to find out how much stranger truth can be than fiction!

~~~

3 book covers
All three of my thriller novels are for sale on Amazon.com. I’ll also be signing and selling books at the Rohnert Park 2018 Holiday Craft Faire November 23 and 24. 

 

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The Call Box

The Call Box: Take Care of Your People

By Ed Meckle, Retired LAPD

The noted poet and playwright, Oscar Wilde, is credited with the phrase, “No good deed goes unpunished.” Nonsensical when first heard, it makes sense when you think about it. Described as a “sardonic commentary on the frequency with which acts of kindness backfire.” 

As a 19-year-old corporal, then 20-year-old sergeant in the Marines I learned many things. Number one was, “Take care of your people.” Now, a 34-year-old lieutenant with the LAPD, it is ingrained, something I did not think about; something I just did.

detectiveI had worked “upstairs” for some years as a robbery detective and really liked the division.  As day watch commander at Wilshire Division I considered myself lucky to have such a good job. It was a good place to work, an old station house but comfortable with a great boss, Captain Pierce Brooks, solid sergeants (over half on probation), tolerable crime stats, and a good group of mostly young officers. 

We were 25 years post-WWII and the veterans were starting to retire. My only concern was trying to put together my daily deployment (car plan) when over half the watch is composed of young officers on probation.

They were a good bunch and I remember losing only one who after the lengthy vetting, and unforgiving academy should suddenly discover he was not suited for and did not like the work. 

Suggested reading: some of Hal’s older blogs, “Recruits from Hell.”

As part of this mix I was blessed with *James Ballinger. He looked as though he stepped from a recruiting poster. Former Marine NCO (non-commissioned officer), former fire-fighter (smoke jumper with the Forest Service), sharp as a tack, mature beyond his years and was developing into a really good street copper. The kind of officer you wish you had a dozen of.

Then, as though done specifically to screw up my life, I got “the letter” from personnel division.

Ballinger had some sort of “heart condition” that had evaded the examining physicians when he took his entrance physical. Now discovered in hindsight, his probation was terminated, and he was fired.

I was to collect his badge and gun and have him report to personnel division to complete the paper work. 

Without a second thought, this was now “my problem.” Ballinger explained that it was an error on personnel division’s part. He had supplied paper work to the city to explain the situation. If the city cardiologist had even read the report this would not be a problem. 

cardiologistOne of the young women that worked the records section was the daughter of a cardiac surgical nurse. I told her, “Call mom ASAP and get me the names and numbers of the three best cardiologists in LA.”

Ten minutes later, number one’s receptionist is explaining that he is booked for 6 months. I heard myself saying things like, “exceptional young man, veteran, career-ending, injustice, terrible error, life and death,” and so on.

She replied, “Tell him to be here at 5 with his paper work. I can get him 10 minutes with the doctor.”

I tell Ballinger to buy a potted plant for the receptionist and ”go get it done.” He got an hour. The city doctor had been a student of “our consulting physician.” The cardiologist authored a report which the city accepted and reversed the termination. 

When I got the good news some time later I felt smug for having beaten city hall and saving one of “my people.”

To put me in my place and show me who was boss, they transferred Ballinger for no apparent reason.

Twelve years passed. I am retired, when in December 1981 a major scandal rocks Hollywood division. A dozen officers and one sergeant are arrested for being part of a burglary ring. All are fired or resign in disgrace. The sergeant is *James Ballinger.

I felt as though I had been punched in the stomach. 

In June of 2014 Hal wrote a four-part series detailing the activities of all the parties. A must read.

Lt. Dan Cooke the press relations officer was quoted “We will get over it, but we will never forget it.” 

* James Ballinger is not his true name, he went on to have a successful career in another field  so I will let it rest there.

As to heart trouble, he wasn’t the only one affected. He broke mine.

 

Categories
Ramblings by Hal The Call Box

Ramblings and The Call Box: Police Cars

By Hal Collier, Retired LAPD

Ed Meckle joined the LAPD in 1956 and I followed in his footsteps in 1970. Our careers over-lapped for about six years but we never met before attending a retired officers luncheon. We have become close friends even though some of our experiences were very similar as well as very different. This Ramblings is a collaboration of our experiences in patrol decades apart.

In Ed’s own words, he will describe what it was like working patrol in the 50’s. Times were different, and no one had video cameras or cell phones. The police were expected to keep the peace, no matter how. We will take you through what being a LAPD officer was like in different generations.

My experiences were a generation of change. I was lucky to have a little of both worlds. Unlike the dinosaurs, most during my era survived by evolving. You changed your tactics, or you looked for new work.

 

Police Cars

Ed Meckle 1956

 

vintage LAPD patrol cars Hermosa Beach St Pats Day 2011 labeled
Vintage LAPD patrol cars at Hermosa Beach St. Patrick’s Day 2011

Squad car, scout, cruiser, prowl, panda—whatever the name, they are the patrol/radio cars. The first line of defense, they are to the LAPD what the infantry is to the army.

 

The cars were tired. They were two- and three-year old Chevy and Plymouth 4 doors, the cheapest they could buy. Manual transmissions, yes, clutch and shift lever on the steering column. The division had one automatic transmission car for test purposes (will it be ok for police work?).

Bench vinyl-covered seats, no, repeat no seat belts. Two solid roof reds (mickey mouse ears) with a large growler siren between. Cars were so under powered that the siren operated by horn ring actually slowed the car down as pitch went up. No air conditioners and heaters never worked.

Basic, basic radio with a hand-held mike—red/green light for transmit/listen.

 

Hal Collier 1970

68 Plymouth Belvedere labeledWe were still driving two and year-old Plymouths. They were all automatic transmissions and the heater worked sometimes. No air or power steering in the beginning. The brakes on the ‘69 Plymouths only worked after heating up. I almost had a few accidents just trying to drive out of the station parking lot.

We also had the tin cans red lights as Ed described and I remember the growler siren on a few of the older cars. We had seat belts, but they were neatly tied in knots and stuffed under the seats. I considered Plymouths the best police car in my career. Most had over 100,000 miles and sometimes the door rests came off the door when you tried to exit, but the engines were strong. If you were in a fight for your life and requested help, you could hear the carburetor of that Plymouth open and the roar of that engine. You knew help was soon to arrive.

Later in my career we drove Fords, Chevys and even a few Matadors. They had air and power steering but not as fast as the old Plymouths. Just when I retired they switched to Ford Explorers. Lots of room—they needed it with the computer stuffed in the dash. No more bench seats and they removed the cup holders. Where will I put my latte coffee?

 

LAPD West Vly Sta 2007 labeled
LAPD Cruiser at West Valley Station photo taken 2007

 

My son, who is still on the job, says all the black/whites have the latest technology: light bar instead of the tin cans, MDT’s (mobile digital terminals-computers), some have dash cameras and even a few have FLIR (Forward Looking Infrared cameras). They even have a camera that reads license plates automatically. We’ve come a long way since Ed’s days!

 

Next, we’ll describe Police Stations from 1956 to 2005. Ed & Hal

–From Thonie, my error—I posted Police Stations back on January 21, 2018. Here’s the link in case you missed it.

 

 

 

 

 

Categories
Ramblings by Hal The Call Box

Ramblings and the Call Box: Stations

 

By Hal Collier and Ed Meckle, both retired LAPD

Each police station has a character all its own. As they are occupied 24 hours a day, they endure a lot of wear and tear. They’re expensive to build, renovate and add-onto, so they often live on well past their pull-date. Here Hal and Ed share some memories from their past stations.

 

Ed worked in Police stations that were built before the depression and had long outlasted their use. Hal was a little luckier, he enjoyed the charm of the old stations and learned to dislike the new modern stations.

 

 

 

Subject: STATIONS

Ed Meckle 1956/1976

 

I don’t know that I spoke much about the station houses, all large stone monoliths, probably built turn of the century. According to rumor, the University was “sinking.”

 

I do know it was out of plumb. Most of the interior doors would not close and round objects rolled off desks. The stairway to the second floor was separated from the wall and gave the illusion of floating in air. 

 

staircase freeBuilding and safety department was quick to handle the problem, though—with a sign telling you to use the outer edge of the stairs. The sign was there the entire two and a half years that I was.

 

All houses were two story, patrol and jail down, detectives and juvie up. All houses were two story, patrol and jail down, detectives and juvie up. We naturally did not have A/C, but we did have one thing that I don’t believe the newer houses had—trustees and a lot of them. They had a shoeshine stand, ran the coffee room, assisted the property man, swept and mopped up, pumped gas and helped the mechanics with repairs. They were all misdemeanor sentenced prisoners and were selected sometimes due to experience, mechanics, etc. 

 

Working with a new partner one night, I saw him hug the trustee who pumped our gas. I asked, “What?”

 

 “That’s my dad–doing 30 days on a deuce,” he answered. “Mom asked me to keep an eye on him, so I arranged to have him sent here to University.”

 

~~~ 

 

Hal Collier 1970/2005

 

I was lucky. My first station was the old Hollywood station, also built around the depression. The men’s locker room was in the basement. The locker room had drains in the floor and red painted curbs. It used to be where the 3-wheel motorcycles were parked. You walked down a ramp to get to your locker. The lockers were, I suspect, WW-II surplus. They weren’t secured to the floor and we often would slide a partner’s locker, moving it so the officer couldn’t find it.

 

I arrived at Hollywood just after the 1971 earthquake. During aftershocks, it was common for the watch commander to run out into the street in case the building collapsed. There was no air conditioning and during hot summer nights all the windows were open. The front desk had a PBX radio with the cords you plugged into the lite light. It was connected to the call boxes in the street. Antique to say the least! The jail was a classic old-time jail, which provided hours of entertainment—for the officers—not those incarcerated.

 

Next door across the patio was another building which housed Hollywood Receiving Hospital. Just one doctor and a nurse. The receiving hospital was good for sewing a few stiches and not much else. It was a blessing for the cops because, if you got in a scuffle with an arrestee and he needed medical treatment, you didn’t have to go downtown.

 

Around 1977 they tore down the old station and built a new state of the art police station.

 

North Hwd Police Station newPardon me while I try to keep that statement down. It was all cement, not a window to look out of. If you wanted to see what kind of a day it was you had to step outside. Once a month the city would come out and test the backup generator. The computers all had to be shut off during the power interruption. They’d run the generator for five minutes then shut it off.

 

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAOne day—it was bound to happen—the power went out and the station went into darkness. The generator switched on and worked fine for five minutes then shut down. This modern, state-of-the-art police station was pitch dark inside. The only lights were the phone lights and they just told you that citizens were calling for assistance. The Watch Commander sent a rookie officer to Sav-on to buy all the candles they had. It seems that every month they tested the generator but forgot to refill the gasoline tank. Yep, it ran out of gas during a real emergency.

 

The first few years, the men’s locker room was huge. But the designers of the modern police station forgot one small detail. Women in police work. Soon the women’s locker room was too small. The city put a few lockers in an interview room in Detectives. The ladies needed a larger locker room which included a bathroom and showers. The city put Hollywood station on the bottom of the list and predicted we’d get an expanded locker room in 2 to 3 years. A few of the multi-talented officers sectioned off an area of the men’s locker room for the women.

 

Funny, the city then found the money and time to build the women’s locker room with a bathroom and showers.

 

There are newer stations as the LAPD expands but I’m not familiar with any of them.

 

 

 

Categories
Writer's Notes

Writers’ Notes: Hitting That Brick Wall

By Thonie Hevron

Everybody's a critic
Everybody’s a critic.

Everyone has time when they come across a barrier to their progress. It happened often when I first learned how to ride horses. All the videos, books, advice and trainers’ lessons barraged my consciousness while I was trying to effectively steer a 1300-pound animal with a brain the size of a walnut. [To be painfully accurate: The problem is the cerebrum, the thinking part, is only slightly larger than a walnut. The rest–all 1.5 to 2 lbs. of it–is  cerebellum, the part of the brain that controls gross muscle coordination, balance and body functions.]

The one thing that got me on track was a trainer saying, “If it’s not working, go back to basics.” Start from the beginning and work up until you work though the barrier. Usually by the time I did all that, the barrier had dropped. To borrow from Horse Listening, a wonderful training site, I’ve para-phrased the popular equine rider training blog (dated originally 2/24/2013) and applied them to the writing craft: 10 Tips for the Average Rider.

1. Find a good teacher-whether it’s a night class, an MFA, a mentor or a critique group, find someone who will urge you on, teach you new things, and maybe find another way to look at the same old issue.

2. Be patient-no way around this.

3. Practice-write every day, even if it’s journaling, blogging, marketing text. Just practice.

4. Accept your limitations-okay, I know I’ll never write the great American Literary Novel. But I can put out a pretty darn good mystery/thriller!

5. Find your comfort/un-comfort-whether it’s writing a love or action scene/making a speech or putting your work out there (in all probability to be dismissed by agents, publishers, etc.), learn to do it. Baby steps, practice all come into play here.

6. Enjoy the moment-this refers to when a horse does all the things your fingers, hands, back, butt and legs are telling him to do—at the same time. There’s no better feeling than the gliding on air of sinewy suspension, unless it’s getting an ovation after a talk or class you’ve given. Maybe your first fan mail. Enjoy it, savor the feeling. This is what can keep you going.

7. Set goal-short term (500 words today), long term (a completed manuscript by May 2018) and/or marketing plan. My publisher required me to do one for each book and they are invaluable.

8. Persevere-if you quit, it’s a sure thing you will fail. So, don’t.

9. Read, watch, imitate-Read craft books, watch your favorite author’s marketing technique/website and imitate!

10. Keep practicing-develop a routine so there’s no wiggle room to say, “Ooh, I don’t feel like writing today.”
monitorSee how this applies to writing? There are some days when I sit and stare at my blank page. The characters are revolting, the story arc fell flat, dialog is stilted. Okay, start at the beginning. Write one sentence. Don’t like it? Tough. Delete it tomorrow. Write another sentence, put some dialog in it. Throw in a twist that you didn’t plan. Write another sentence.

Pretty soon a whole scene will lay before you. If you don’t like it, wait until tomorrow to delete it. Give it some time to percolate in your imagination. Maybe losing it is what needs to happen; maybe this little side-trip is what you needed to jump-start your creativity.
I cannot buy into writer’s block—for me. I can only speak for myself. When I decided to make writing a professional enterprise, my husband and I decided it needed to treat it like a job. And it is. During my law enforcement career, I went to work every day. The boss wouldn’t have kept paying me if I’d said, “I’m not coming in today. My muse is on vacation.”

When I write, I apply the same principle. My writing routine varies with the seasons, family needs and activities. And, I may not work on my current novel. I have an active blog with two posts a week, a website, marketing and appearances to prepare. There is always something to do to further my writing.

Other ideas to move me through a rough patch:
• Go back to my initial inspiration for the story and review. See if I can capture the spirit of it.
• I go for a walk or hike; a trip to the beach. Sometimes, getting away from that blank page can refresh my creativity.
• I’m an inveterate note-taker. Often reviewing these scribbles can nudge me back to where I need to go.

 

Marni K Graff Hdshot
Marni Graff

The upcoming Fridays in November, you will find three other authors’ perspective on how they re-start their muse. If you’re like me, you’ll find something to help you over that hurdle. Marni Graff will appear on November 10th, Nancy Raven Smith on November 17th, and Pamela Beason is the final post on November 24th.

 

~~~

Don’t forget to check out the Sunday posts from the law enforcement veterans, Hal Collier, Mikey, and Ed Meckle (all retired LAPD), and retired California Corrections Officer John Schick. Their stories will make you laugh, cry, cringe or all the above!

 

Categories
Writer's Notes

What’s Up?

By Thonie Hevron

I haven’t posted a progress report since November 12, 2016. I’m overdue and hope to make up for it with this. Last winter, I wrote that I had re-gained my book rights from Oak Tree Publishing due to the publisher’s ill health. In the intervening months, I’ve taken two major vacations, struggled with some worrisome health problems (all good now) and polished my third manuscript, With Malice Aforethought. I’ve been submitting queries to agents (for representation) and publishers (for a contract).

authorThis week alone, I sent three queries out to two agents and a publisher. The deal is, I must wait for a response. But here’s the kicker: the timeframe for an answer (if I even get one) is anywhere from three weeks to six months—yikes! Who has that kind of time? Normally I wait a few weeks, then move on to another agency. All these queries must be researched. Agents receive from 20 to 100 queries a day. Given that workload, it wouldn’t be wise to submit a mystery query to an agent who only handles children’s book, would it? And even more checking is needed to make sure my mystery agent handles thrillers/police procedurals as my genre is defined. Again, a cozy (think Agatha Christie) mystery literary agent wouldn’t look twice at my sub-genre.

So. A lot of work. Which takes away from writing.

Book report:

I have a fourth book in the wings. I wrote it in the mid-90’s so it needs updating and re-structuring. I hope to have it ready for a publisher/agent later this year.

open bookAs if I don’t have enough to do, my blog seems to be growing. A third retired LAPD officer is now sending me stories in addition to Hal Collier and Ed Meckle. Their posts are entertaining and serve my mission to de-mystify police officers to the public but particularly writers.

However, lately, I’ve been feeling like I’d like to butt in, too. Not stories but commentaries on the writer’s life, hence Writers Notes. So, I plan to write one post per month and publish it on Fridays. On May 12th, I’ll begin with, “It Takes a Village,” my take on the myth of the solitary writer.

My friend and colleague, Marilyn Meredith, will offer her ideas on the same subject on May 19th.  Amy Bennett, author of the Black Horse Campground Mysteries, will chime in on May 26th. I’ll provide links so you’ll be able to click right onto their websites.

June will bring another challenge. What topic and who will weigh in?

Categories
Ramblings by Hal

Ramblings, Locker Room Story

By Hal Collier, Retired LAPD

Remember to go to www.thoniehevron.com for the latest hilarity from Hal Collier!

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