Cracking the Block

I'm sure this has happened to you. You're breezing along through your current WIP and all is right with your writing world. Then it happens. Your fingers hover over your keyboard and won't go back down. You've been blocked. You rack your brain, but the words just won't come fast enough (or even at all). Now what? Fortunately, today, we have award winning-author Ken Bruen to offer some advice as to what he does:

......................Blocked?
There's an old joke about if you are blocked, picture your bank manager and the words will flow. Then there is Chandler's advice, bring a man through the window with a gun
I'm a little more radical when I'm blocked
I kill someone
Usually a loved character, the impact of that will really get you moving
Or if not that, something to shock the hell out of yer own self, and if it shocks you, it will definitely shock the reader
take a real reckless chance, come out of left field, do something you never dreamed you'd do and watch the block dissipate

There you have it folks. Kill someone {on paper of course ;)} or shock your reader. So how about you all? What do you do to get past your block?

Everyone who comments in the next few days or so will be entered in a drawing to receive a copy of Ken Bruen's latest book Once Were Cops.

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Ken Bruen was a finalist for the Edgar, Barry, and Macavity Awards, and the Private Eye Writers of America presented him with the Shamus Award for the Best Novel of 2003 for The Guards, the book that introduced Jack Taylor. He lives in Galway, Ireland.

He is also a former regular at the grog Murderati. If you've never read his posts, you can do so here. They are well worth the read.

Bouchercon: A look back

I arrived home yesterday from my very first Bouchercon. My head is still doing a bit of spinning. It was a rather large conference of about 1400 people. I could go on about the panels, of which there were quite some good ones, including one on Edgar Allan Poe (this year's con was held in Baltimore), and one on TV and it's place in the crime fiction world. Instead, much like author Louise Ure did today over at Murderati, I would like to talk about the moments that meant more to me (as an unpublished writer among some of the published). Let me just say that, I really felt so welcome among the crowds of readers and writers. Many have told me that there is such a sense of family among the crime writing community. That is certainly true.

Here are just some of the things that made my first Bouchercon such a wonderful experience.

* Meeting Ken Bruen on Wednesday night as I showed up for registration. I also got to meet his lovely fiancee Lisa. You could really see the spark in Ken's eyes when he was with her. And if you haven't read any of Ken Bruen's books yet, you're REALLY missing out on superb writing.

* Getting to hang out with Kelli Stanley. Kelli is the author of the book Nox Dormienda a brilliantly written crime novel written in what she calls "roman noir." It's basically done in the hard boiled noir style but just happens to be set around the time of Rome's conquest of Britain. Better than that though, she is probably one of the sweetest people you'll ever meet.

* Being invited to the Murderati get-together at the bar on Saturday and meeting the authors of the blog as well as two of the other regulars Will Bereswill and B.G. Ritts. I felt very welcomed among this group. Sadly, there were members who were not there: J.T. Ellison, Toni McGee Causey, Allison Brennan and Tess Gerritsen.

* Having a couple of drinks with J.A. Konrath. He may be loud and obnoxious (hey, he's told me this himself), but he is very generous with advice. Just check out his blog and you'll see.

* Going along with editors Gary Phillips and Chris Chambers as well as some of the authors of The Darker Mask anthology (a great book from what I've heard) to their signing at Red Emma's coffee shop and bookstore.

* Chatting with author Zoe Sharp and getting some good advice about some of my writing techniques (thanks so much Zoe). I also had the pleasure of getting to know her husband Andy. I even got to have dinner with them along with other U.K. writers Stuart MacBride, Sophie Hannah and Meg Chittenden.

* Meeting Karen Syed, president and publisher of Echelon Press.

* Discussing things supernatural with Alexandra Sokoloff, whose book The Price is a great read. For those of you who have not had the pleasure of meeting Alex in person, you can feel a certain energy when you talk with her.

* Being mentioned in some other Bouchercon blog posts. It's truly an honor to named in some of the blogs that I read and comment on on a regular basis.

* Once again seeing writer and fellow TV nut Lee Lofland. For those of you who don't know, Lee is a great source of information on all things law enforcement. His book Police Procedure and Investigation should be a standard in every crime writer's reference library.

* Though not part of the actual conference, I got to see Edgar Allan Poe's grave. There was however a great panel about Poe as part of B'Con.

These are only some of the things that will really make me remember this Bouchercon. I also got to meet a whole host of other writers including Jason Pinter, Eric Stone, Bill Cameron. Marcus Sakey, Michelle Gagnon, Jason Starr, Christa Faust and Troy Cook as well as agent Janet Reid.

If I have not mentioned someone that I've met (and I know I'm missing plenty) please forgive me. Just know that I enjoyed meeting you.

And finally, there are two sets of very special thanks that need to go out. The first is to Ruth and Jon Jordan and Judy Bobalik for organizing this wonderful event.

The second goes out to the staff of The Sheraton that hosted Bouchercon. Despite your troubles with Labor dispute, you all provided such wonderful and friendly service and for that you deserve much thanks. Know that your efforts were appreciated

Well kids, that's it. I had a great time and I'm looking forward to next year's Bouchercon in Indianapolis.