No Excuses

Posted on August 27, 2026 by Allison Keeton

In talking to fellow writers this summer, I’ve been hearing a pattern of reasons why people can’t write that sound similar to why people can’t do other things, like exercise.

  • It’s summer.
  • 
I have company.
  • It’s too hot.
  • I’m stuck.
  • I’m too busy.
  • It hasn’t been raining.
  • Work is crazy.
  • I’m taking a break.
  • 
I’ll pick it up again in the fall.

Let’s call these reasons for what they are: excuses.

I had them, too, once, and a wise woman finally said to me, “If you really wanted to write, you would. I don’t think you really want to do it.”

I was insulted. I was angry. How could she say that to me?

She was right. I wasn’t invested in writing. I didn’t want it enough.

We all know as writers that the writing, and the editing, only gets done if we sit in the seat. An excuse I didn’t list above that is very real is Imposter Syndrome. “Why am I carving out this time to write when I don’t have any proof that I am a good writer?”

I was there, too. Trust me, just keep going.

Richard Bach, of Jonathan Livingston Seagull fame, said it best: “A professional writer is an amateur who didn’t quit.”

Don’t quit. Don’t give up. No excuses. We do not find time. We make time. Even when no time seems to be available.

This spring arrived and my Book Three, Lobster Red, wasn’t completely finished. I had a mid-July deadline with my publisher, and in May I was marching toward it, knowing what I needed to do: finish up a few chapters and then rewrite them. I wouldn’t be able to let the manuscript breathe as long as I would have liked before the final rewrite, but if I followed my plan, I could make it work.

My routine has been to write in the morning before my full-time corporate position starts and after I take care of our dogs. Also on my plate are the demands of household duties and hitting the road for book events to promote Books One and Two of my mystery series. Additionally, we have a bounty of summer guests, with the first arriving in June and the bulk coming in July. Keeping on track with my writing was a necessity.

At the end of May, I was humming along toward Lobster Red’s deadline.

Then, on June 1, my husband saw a puppy in need of adoption.

“We should get her,” he said.

If that puppy could just wait until mid-July, I thought.

Of course, that couldn’t be an option. Puppies keep growing. They need to find homes. On June 6, Sally arrived, a young Labrador retriever puppy, to join our twelve-year-old Portuguese Water Dog, Kelton, and two-year-old Lab, Roger, still kind of a puppy himself. Now we had three dogs and another layer on my plate. Not that I had to go it alone with Sally, but all the mothers reading this know the sense of obligation I felt both to the puppy and to ensuring the other two dogs were happy.

Thankfully, I had that looming deadline. I’ll admit, it helps to hear a ticking clock. Perhaps if I hadn’t had a drop-dead date, I would have tabled finishing Lobster Red until Sally was older or the calendar had cleared of visitors.

Instead, I pivoted.

Sally’s first morning with us

I couldn’t write in my normal place because I needed to keep an eye on Sally without killing my concentration. I moved from writing at a table—I keep my desk for my day job—to writing on my laptop while sitting on our bed. All three dogs, after their breakfast and morning walk, sprawled out on the bed next to me for their nap.

Amazingly, it worked.

I had two solid hours of uninterrupted writing time every day.

The answer wasn’t finding more time. It was changing how I used the time I had.

Sally napping while I write

To finish on time and with the quality I wanted, while still meeting all my other obligations, I had to plan every moment of my day through mid-July.

It worked! Lobster Red was submitted, and I took a deep breath. But there was no rest for the weary. Everything else in my life still needed to go on, and I needed to start writing Book Four.

Sally, Roger, & Kelton

Today, I am still writing in the morning while sitting on the bed. Downeast Blue is appearing on the screen. Each day, the dogs follow me around, sleepy and wanting their naps, until I grab my laptop and lead them back to the bedroom.

Even this blog post is being written as the morning sun streams over my shoulder and their snores emanate around me.

I share this story to hopefully inspire you. If I could finish writing a novel while house-training a puppy, vacuuming up mounds of black hair, rotating company, solving problems in my day job, and pitching my novels at book fairs and library talks, maybe you’ll be surprised by what you can accomplish, too.

You may not be able to find more time. You may have to change how you use the time you have. Carve out a routine. Protect it. Adjust it when life gets in the way.

And keep writing.

No excuses.

Thank you, Dolly.

 

Don’t forget! Leave a comment on any August blog post to be entered into a drawing for free books! 

***

Allison Keeton writes the Midcoast Maine Mystery series. Lobster Red, Book Three, will launch in February 2027. She can be reached at http://www.akeetonbooks.com.

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Author Interview: Bruce Robert Coffin

Posted on August 26, 2026 by Gabriela Stiteler

I first met Bruce Robert Coffin at Crime Bake a few years back and I’ve been lucky enough to bump into him a number of times since. There are a few things that stand out to me about Bruce. First, he’s a really funny guy. Not only does he have a lot of great stories, he knows how to tell them. In person. To a crowd. On the spot. There’s a gift there. Second, he takes writing seriously. He is deeply reflective about his practice and the business of writing. He reads deeply and widely. He asks questions. He writes in both short and long form. As a result, he’s a great person to go to for advice or with a question. Third, he listens. I think this may be a superpower many writers have but it is a real gift when that listening is turned to you. Whenever I see Bruce, he asks about that last project, pays attention to recent successes, and is genuinely supportive part of this wonderful crime writing community.

Last winter, Bruce, Jule, Matt, Ryan, and I all met up at the Great Lost Bear in Portland to connect on our writing. It was great. He was telling me about the Detective Justice series and lately it’s been everywhere. Most recently, Bruce was honored with the Silver Falchion for Best Book by an Attending Author at Killer Nashville.

With his latest book, DARK HARBOR, hitting a bookstore near you, I asked if he could take a minute to share a little about his latest series. It’s getting a lot of buzz, for good reason.

Welcome back our old friend Maine Crime Writers contributor, Bruce Robert Coffin.

GS: Firstly, congrats on your recent success with your Detective Justice series. This follows the success of your Detective Byron series and the Turner and Mosley Files, co-written by Lyndee Walker. The series centers on Detective Brock Justice and his rookie partner Detective Chloe Wright. In the first book, CRIMSON THAW, Justice has been exiled to Major Crime Unit – North for crossing the thin blue line. How did this series come to be? I’d love to know a little about your journey to writing this series.

BRC: Thank you, Gabi. I am so grateful to see both existing and new readers embracing the Justice novels. And I certainly never imagined Crimson Thaw being a finalist for the Anthony Award and the Barry Award!

Brock Justice might never have happened were it not for my partnering with LynDee Walker. LynDee and I had already completed the first book in the Turner and Mosley Files series and were busy writing the second when Paula Munier, my literary agent, reached out to me about the possibility of creating a new police procedural series for Severn River Publishing. At first I was reluctant to commit to anything new as I was already working under a four book contract, but it didn’t take long before the ideas began coming fast and furious and I knew I wanted to get started on the Justice books. I spent a few days working out the series and the storyline for the first novel and then Paula forwarded everything to the publisher, a few weeks later we were under contract for four novels. Since that time the series has been expanded and there will be at least eight Justice books.

GS: I’d love for you to share a little with readers about your latest release, DARK HARBOR. What is the newest Detective Justice about? What surprised you when you were writing it? 

BRC: One of the wonderful things about writing a series featuring a Maine state police detective is that it allows me the creative freedom to set the murder investigations anywhere in the state. This is a big departure from my Byron novels, set in Portland, Maine, as John Byron was a municipal detective which meant the crime always had to originate in Portland.

DARK HARBOR involves a break-in to the seaside mansion of Granville Warren, a well-to-do businessman, on Sols Cliff in Bar Harbor. Granville and his very young third wife return home from a day sailing around Frenchman Bay and the surrounding area of Acadia, to discover the break-in still in progress. The resulting mayhem leaves Granville and one of the burglars dead, but as you might imagine nothing is ever what it seems.

GS: One of the things that stands out to me about this series is the setting. From Blue Hill to Moosehead Lake to Bar Harbor, Detective Justice finds himself in communities known for their beauty. But in typical Bruce Robert Coffin style, there is always something a little rotten below the surface. When writing, how do you decide where to set the stories? Does the setting come first or the idea for the plot? In what ways does this compare to your experiences with your other series?

BRC: Truthfully, this newly acquired autonomy makes me feel like a kid in a candy store. I’m reveling in the ability to place my stories anywhere I choose. And you’re right, Maine is such a beautiful and sparsely inhabited state that it lends itself perfectly to the juxtaposition of placing a fictional murder in an idyllic setting. And not only setting, the changing seasons come into play, too. I’m currently writing FREEZE POINT, the fourth book in the series, which takes place in Presque Isle during a nor’easter. To answer your question, I normally think of plot first then try to decide the best locale and time of year to set it.

GS: Last year I moderated a panel where Lori Rader-Day, Edwin Hill, and Carolyn Wilkins shared their reflections about themes. They all said that the themes of their stories emerge organically through the process of writing the story itself. Somebody mentioned this idea of a having a core story – or ideas they come back repeatedly. When you look at your body of work, are there any themes that repeat?

BRC: Sounds like a fascinating panel! I write most of my novels around a central theme. I find that having that theme in mind before writing the story allows me to stay on course and not stray off on some tangent, as writers are wont to do. LOL

As for repeating themes, yeah, I guess I tend to revisit those. I hadn’t really given it too much thought until you asked, but looking back I have explored themes more than once. I think most writers naturally gravitate toward those themes that we find the most interesting. And let’s face it, the human condition is ripe with stories that revolve around its best and worst attributes.

GS: In addition to being a writer, you are also a retired police detective sergeant with more than twenty-seven years in law enforcement. I’d love to hear about how skills and knowledge from your lived experience help you not only think about what to write, but inform your practice of writing and research.

BRC: Coming directly from a field in which finding answers and being able to document those answers was the sole focus has helped me immeasurably. Writing a cohesive and chronological story is something that every police investigator must learn. I had no idea that those very same traits would lend themselves so well to writing novels, but they have. Red herrings and unreliable characters came naturally during my real life investigations, so I have had a lot of experience from which to draw, allowing me to use them to the greatest effect in my fictional worlds. The other ingredient that adds so much is my knowledge of the emotional toll the job takes on real life investigators. I try and use emotion whenever possible to pull the reader into the story and get them to feel what my characters feel.

GS: You first started writing on this blog when you were pretty early in your career. What are some of the lessons you’ve learned along the way?

BRC: I did, indeed. I think my first contributions to this blog were a year before my first novel was published. At that point I had no idea how little I knew about the publishing business, and probably still don’t. But I knew I loved writing and spending time with my “imaginary friends” and that hasn’t changed at all. Which may be the most important lesson. Never stop writing. Never stop creating. This business, like any other, can be daunting at the best of times, there are so many things to worry about, things that will require large blocks of your time and will wear you down if you let them. Never lose sight of the most important things, the writing, the creating. Tess Gerritsen told me when I first started to play the long game. “Being a novelist is a marathon not a sprint.” As I sit here writing the manuscript for my thirteenth novel, I’d say Tess was spot on.

GS: What are you reading, watching, listening to now? Any recommendations?

BRC: I’m currently doing some reading to prepare for my Bouchercon panels, one of which I will be moderating. My pile consists of THE RED SCARE MURDERS by Con Lehane, NO HIGHER GROUND by Nicole Brooks, STATES OF GRACE by Mandy Miller, and Karen Dionne’s THE MARSH KING’S DAUGHTER (which I’m reading for the second time around, it’s so good!). I’m also on the Anthony Award for Best Paperback Original finalists panel with James L’Etoile, Lina Chern, Tracy Clark, and Heather Levy, so I’m reading each of their nominated books too!

My current audiobook is FOX CREEK by William Kent Krueger.

GS: Thank you so much, Bruce! It’s always a pleasure to hear what you have going on and I can’t wait to see the next Detective Justice book.

You find find Bruce in person here in the great state of Maine at any of the following events:

  • 8/29 1-3pm signing at Sherman’s Bookstore in Windham
  • 9/12 11-1pm signing at Letterpress Books in Windham
  • 10/21 – 10/25 Bouchercon in Calgary
  • 11/17 6-7pm Kennebunk Free Library

DARK HARBOR – book #3 of Detective Justice series, published by Severn River Publishing

With intricate plotting reminiscent of Craig Johnson’s Longmire and the relentless, atmospheric tension of C.J. Box’s Joe Pickett, Bruce Robert Coffin delivers another gripping Detective Justice novel that cuts straight to the bone.

One dead millionaire, one dead intruder, and a detective whose only path forward means exposing the secrets of Bar Harbor’s wealthy elite.

HERE.

Bruce Robert Coffin is an award-winning and international bestselling novelist and short story writer. A retired police detective sergeant, Bruce is the author of the Detective Byron Mysteries, the Detective Justice Mysteries, and co-author of the Turner and Mosley Files (with LynDee Walker). His Anthony Award nominated short fiction has been published in more than a dozen anthologies including Best American Mystery Stories, 2016.

Winner of Killer Nashville’s Silver Falchion Awards for Best Procedural, and Best Investigator, and the Maine Literary Award for Best Crime Fiction, Bruce has also been a finalist for the Agatha, Barry, and Anthony Awards. His short fiction appears in more than sixteen anthologies including Best American Mystery Stories, 2016.

Bruce is represented by Paula Munier at Talcott Notch Literary Services. He lives and writes in Maine.

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Who is Matt Cost by Matt Cost

Posted on August 25, 2026 by matthewcost

What in life has driven me to want to be a writer? What were the influences that made me want to sit in a dark corner of my house and kill people? What terrible decisions did I make in my life to take me down this path? These are the questions posed to me by my therapist, sometimes known as Saint and other times just plain called Danger.

To answer these nefarious questions, we have to meander back to eight-year-old Matt and the story of the blind pony he rode into a swimming pool by mistake. No, that is probably a story about his stunted personal life and unrelated to writing mysteries and thrillers, where people walk razor-thin paths to stay alive, stop the villains, solve the mystery, and save the day. That attempt of eight-year-old Matt, due to a surprise ambush by a chicken, was far from saving the day, but it was a bit of an eye-opener and spurred many new swimming pool signs being put up in Ohio saying No Blind Ponies in the Deep End.

The love of mysteries began with either the Hardy Boys or Nancy Drew. I’m not sure which one came first, sort of like that chicken and egg thing.

The Hardy Boys is where I first realized the local police were bumblers and that private investigators, curious sleuths, or even a couple of high school boys were needed if any crimes were ever going to get solved. I also realized that boys are smarter than their fathers, aunts are always fussy, everybody has a friend with an endless appetite, and in fiction, even the oldest, most beat-up jalopy can outrace the fanciest sports car.

Which came first? The Hardy Boys or Nancy Drew? The Hardy Boys book series debuted in 1927, while Nancy Drew made her first appearance a few years later in 1930. Edward Stratemeyer of the Stratemeyer Syndicate created both characters. Needless to say, Nancy had a similar ‘oh shucks’ father, a blue roadster, and countless skills such as being fluent in multiple languages, the ability to pilot planes, paint like a pro, and being proficient in judo—all by the age of eighteen.

Other favorites included Encyclopedia Brown, a young whiz of a detective who proves bullies can be outsmarted, girls can be badass tough, adults are useless, and criminals can be bluffed. The Great Brain, aka Tom Dennis Fitzgerald, taught me that the protagonist can be flawed as he cons the neighborhood kids out of their money in between solving crimes. And, of course, adults are useless. I never realized then that I, too, was destined to grow up useless.

Louis L’Amour. These are the preteen years. Every book I could get my hands on. This is the tough, smart, loner with nothing to lose who just wants to be left alone, but the baddies refuse, or want what he has, or are jealous that the women look his way. It is all about the underdog, unwavering principles, and the importance of kin. Lee Child took a page from L’Amour to create Reacher, a wandering hero who comes into town with no baggage, no permanent address, a strict moral code—and proceeds to kick ass on the baddies.

High school for me was all about sports, and I may have temporarily forgotten how to read. I believe I began my relationship with Robert Parker during that time, though, and thus discovered that men can cook, be faithful, wisecrack, and that it is good to have a friend who can kick some serious ass.

College was about getting my work done so I could party. I did play on an intramural basketball and softball team that was pretty good our freshman year but got progressively worse each year after. I did get pretty good at playing quarters, poker, and eating late-night hot dogs.

But then come the Carl Hiaasen years. Humor in mysteries. Colorful characters. Saving the environment, fighting against corporate greed, being wild and zany. Mysteries can have ferocious humor, eccentric kooky protagonists, and despicable villains. Game on.

Carl tag-teamed with Elmore Leonard in the 90s to cement this concept for me: mysteries can be sharp, funny, and cool, and characters can have snappy, realistic dialogue.

That, in a nutshell, is my formation as a writer. In two words. Bad Monkey. Write on!

 

 

About the Author

Matt Cost was a history major at Trinity College. He owned a mystery bookstore, a video store, and a gym before serving a ten-year sentence as a junior high school teacher. In 2014, he was released and began writing. And that’s what he does. He writes histories and mysteries.

Cost has published six books in the Mainely Mystery series, starting with Mainely Power. He has also published six books in the Clay Wolfe Trap series, starting with Wolfe Trap. There are two books in the Brooklyn 8 Ballo series, starting with Velma Gone Awry. For historical novels, Cost has published At Every Hazard and its sequel, Love in a Time of Hate, as well as I am Cuba. The Not So Merry Adventures of Max Creed began a new series this past April. The second book in the chronicles, EveryThing vs. Max Creed, is now out.

Cost now lives in Brunswick, Maine, with his wife, Harper. There are four grown children: Brittany, Pearson, Miranda, and Ryan. Cost now spends his days at the computer, writing.

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Just Showing Up

Posted on August 24, 2026 by Robert T. Kelley

One of the most, I don’t know, magical?, parts of writing for me is the characters who just show up to come and play. I was trained as an engineer. I don’t believe in magic. I’m not superstitious. But damned if characters don’t show up unbidden.

I’ll be writing, following my outline, knowing happens next, then a voice enters. A wholly new point of view, a new back story, a new angle.

Maybe this is the core of storytelling, putting a voice to an idea, bringing a narrator to an idea.

I’m halfway through drafting the second book in my new series and I had to put it down to finish final line edits in the first book. Always helps to put a story down and let things percolate, but this particular pause found a new character. I had this vague idea of a bad guy, but he materialized with a name, a back story, a hacker handle, and a voice.

Matt Cost and a few other Maine Crime merry pranksters and I did a Making a Mystery at the library in Bar Harbor a few weeks ago and Matt asked us where our characters come from and I sort of glitched, because my characters come from all different places. This new character came from circumstance. I had a bad situation, and someone showed up to own it.

I’ve come to realize that this happens in every story I write. The primary characters I have locked down. But the cool secondary characters? They just show up to the party.

I’m not quite enough of a nerd to know the brain science of this, but I know the basics. The brain distracted continues to work, and work hard. Give it a task, even implicitly, and it’s toiling away. As a writer, that’s plot problem-solving and character creating.

Shower time also helps for that. Drive time as well. Same with going to writer’s conferences. I’m on the plane right now on the way back from Killer Nashville, and I’ve already written two scenes for that next novel on my phone, sitting on the tarmac.

It isn’t magic. But it is really cool.

In edits for my next book, so I’m still reading Cool Machine, Colson Whitehead, 2026.

Next up in my TBR is Shadow Friends, Tess Gerristen, 2026. Just saw her speak in our local Tenants Harbor library last week. So good!

Posted in Rob's Posts | 6 Comments

Weekend Update: August 22-23, 2026

Posted on August 22, 2026 by kaitlynkathy

Next week at Maine Crime Writers there will be posts by Rob Kelley (Monday), Matt Cost (Tuesday), Allison Keeton (Thursday), and Kait Carson (Friday). There will also be an interview with MCW alum Bruce Robert Coffin on Wednesday.

In the news department, here’s what’s happening with some of us who blog regularly at Maine Crime Writers:

Kathy Lynn Emerson: From August 11 until September 30 all my middle grades and YA fiction will be on sale from Overdrive at 50% off. That includes two mysteries, The Mystery of Hilliard’s Castle and The Mystery of the Missing Bagpipes. The other titles are Shalla, Katie’s Way, Julia’s Mending and Someday. All except the last were written for ages 8-12. Someday is a YA for slightly older readers.

Maureen Milliken and Kate Flora will be at the Designing Women Artisan Market, 9:30 a.m.-4 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 29, at Longfellow’s Greenhouses, 81 Puddledock Road, Manchester, Maine (just west of Augusta, easy exit off of Interstate 95). Lots of great Maine artists and crafters, and us! A $2 suggested donation at the door goes to the Winthrop Sexual Assault Crisis and Support Center serving Kennebec and Somerset counties. If the weather is great (it usually is), it’s outside among the beautiful plantings of the extensive Longfellow’s property. If it’s raining, we’re inside. There’s always a lot to see and shop for, so stop by and say hello.

 

 

Matt Cost will be signing his latest, EveryThing vs Max Creed at BAM in Bangor today, Saturday, August 22nd, from 1-3 PM. He may also be willing to sign other books if you’d like while you’re there.

 

 

 

 

Cost will be interviewing Allison Keeton (our very own!) as part of the Topsham Public Library Author Interview Series on Thursday, August 27th, at 6 PM. The focus will be on Keeton’s writing style, particularly regarding her recent release, Arctic Green.

 

 

 

An invitation to readers of this blog: Do you have news relating to Maine, Crime, or Writing? We’d love to hear from you. Just comment below to share.

And a reminder: If your library, school, or organization is looking for a speaker, we are often available to talk about the writing process, research, where we get our ideas, and other mysteries of the business, along with the very popular “Making a Mystery” with audience participation, and “Casting Call: How We Staff Our Mysteries.” We also do programs on Zoom. Contact Kate Flora

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Lessons I Have Learned!

Posted on August 21, 2026 by Vaughn C. Hardacker

Vaughn

Vaughn C. Hardacker here: Sixty-three years ago, I was sixteen and confused (but then weren’t all teenage boys- having never been a girl, I can’t speak for you, ladies). One foot was still a kid (although I wouldn’t admit it), and the other was staring adulthood square in the eye. Truthfully, I stayed that way until I turned twenty-one while serving in Vietnam, which pulled me screaming and rebelling into the adult world. (One of the first lessons I learned was that it is easy to be a hero when you’ve read the script and know the outcome. I’ve come to believe that John Wayne and all my movie and TV heroes are truly wimps. It’s amazing how fast you become wise when there are thousands of people who don’t know you running around trying to kill you…) I confess that even now I look back on some of my behavior and actions in my late thirties and early forties and shudder at how immature I acted.

This year, two things happened that have made me stop, pause, and realize I’ve let myself become enmeshed in a state that I call stinkin’ thinkin’. Those of you who have read some of my posts over the years know my background. If you don’t, here’s my elevator speech. I grew up in an alcoholic home, my father’s second child, but my mother’s first. My father was a merchant seaman, and his first wife passed away with tuberculosis shortly after giving birth to my older brother, Norman. My grandmother raised Norman and eventually adopted him. My father married my mother two weeks after he met her in Cardiff, Wales, UK. At this point, all I can say is that until I was four, I didn’t know who he was. He’d come home about once every six months, usually after I was asleep, and leave early the next morning for another six months. We were living in beautiful Hoboken, NJ at that time, and my mother found solace in the corner bar (by now you have probably gotten the point). In fact, if you asked me to draw the floor plan of the basement apartment we lived in, I couldn’t. However, if you wanna see the floor plan of Bea & Steve’s Bar, I can still draw that.

When I was four, my father gave up the sea. We stayed in NJ until I was seven; I believe that by the time I was six, I was playing on the street while holding a long shoreman’s hook. I didn’t adjust well to life in my father’s hometown of Caribou. I was a city kid, stuck in the boonies of hicktown America. I was used to an environment where, if you wanted to survive, you learned two things: one, learn how to fight; and two, if you don’t want to fight, build a reputation that you’re no one to be messed with. In Caribou, I did both.

Now I’ll go back to what I was going to say.

My father quit drinking. Anyone who has lived in an alcoholic environment knows that drinking or drugging (the only difference between an alcoholic and a drug addict is their drug of choice) is the same illness. My father quit drinking; however, he never sought help for the underlying issues. Drinking and drug abuse are symptoms, not the problem. My mother drank until the day she lapsed into a coma and died of kidney failure, at the ripe old age of sixty.

I am what is called the Adult Child of an Alcoholic. The primary symptom of our disease is a burning internal rage. We are angry at the world, angry with our parents, and angry at ourselves most of all. Other symptoms include a hidden inferiority complex, a desire to succeed or be #1 (although we have no idea how to do either), and the most damning one — we are two different people. The external hero and the internal child who is lost in an eternal quest for acceptance and love- again, we were never given the tools to obtain either.

In 1989, my marriage was falling apart, and I didn’t care. We were living in the Chicago suburbs, and I worked as a service manager for a leading computer company (a job I hated, but as stated above, I had to be in charge so people would respect me … another misconception … ). My wife finally became fed up with my womanizing and excessive drinking and said she was taking my daughter and leaving. My reaction? I bought two one-way plane tickets and sent them back to Maine.

After several weeks, I drove straight through from Chicago to Caribou to bring them back. After a 23-hour drive, I got a door slammed in my face. A day later, I returned to Illinois alone. During that drive back, I hit bottom. The next day I found help. The local Adult Children of Alcoholics group. The first lesson I learned was to shed my grandiosity–I was not the only person dealing with this. After I spoke about my background, someone suggested, “Wow, you should write a book about this!”

The next day I started writing The War Within. One of the first things I was told about writing was to write what you know. I knew about dysfunctional people; I knew about being an angry teen staying one step ahead of jail time; I knew about fighting a war within me; I knew the USMC, and I’d been to war. I finished the book, entered it in the International Literary Awards, and won the $1,500 second prize. I also learned that I had some talent, but needed to learn the craft. Little did I know that the book would be a healing process. It helped me realize that I had been wrong about one thing–Vietnam did affect me one hell of a lot more than I thought. In time, my wife and I reunited and stayed together until cancer took her from me in 2006. A great deal of Vaughn Hardacker is in Connor Quinn. Quinn is possibly the most unlikeable protagonist I’ve ever written, but he’s also the nearest and dearest to my heart. He and I walked the same walk (although his journey was more about what I could have been than what I have been), and we shared the same convoluted thought processes. When people thank me for my service, I would ignore them, thinking: “Yeah … where were you fifty-eight years ago?” Now I can finally say, “You’re welcome,” without getting angry. BTW, that’s another ACOA trait: I can hold a grudge forever. Possibly because that’s easier than apologizing for my idiotic behavior.

In 1997, we left the Midwest and returned to New England, settling in southern New Hampshire. I got involved with MWA and met several Boston writers, two of whom were terrific influences on me: Kate Flora and Paula Munier. Their support and guidance made me the writer I am today. (However, if you were to ask both about our relationship and they answered truthfully, they would tell you that there have been times when the angry, rebellious, immature kid showed up.) Another lesson I’ve learned is that everyone is as sick as their secrets. This lesson has helped me reveal character defects that still plague me from time to time. I also think it’s why people often say I write great villains, but my heroes aren’t so good.

In 2006, my wife, Connie, was taken from me by cancer, and shortly thereafter, I was laid off from my current job. I told myself that all my life I’d let circumstances rule me; now I had a chance to do what I wanted. No longer responsible for a family, I returned to Maine (which has been a mixed blessing) and began writing full-time. I fully rewrote The War Within and self-published it via Digital2Draft.com. Thus far, the feedback has been good. Even more importantly, one of my beta readers was my PTSD counselor at the VA clinic in Caribou, who spent the better part of two years trying to get me to open up (sometimes I wonder now that I have opened up if she regrets the monster she has released). She finally convinced me that I’m not an ass; I suffer from PTSD. She has also made me realize that I suffered from a form of it before Vietnam.

Now I’m more than halfway through my eightieth trip around the sun (aka 79 years old). I’m once again lapsing into those old thought processes. Kate can tell you we’ve had a number of discussions where I tell her to remove me from the blog schedule. In fact, we had one of those discussions a couple of weeks ago. She asked if I was going to just ride off into the sunset (a lifetime behavior for me) or do a farewell post.

So, once again I’m eating crow: Kate, forget what I said…keep me on the schedule. Goes to show yuh, just because I’m now officially an old fart, doesn’t mean I know what I want to do. If you don’t believe it, contact my significant other, Jane Hartley. She’ll tell you: “He’s like New England weather. If you don’t like his attitude, wait a minute, and he’ll come around. Finally, I have a favorite T-shirt. It’s black, and in large white letters it says: You never fully appreciate what you have until it’s gone, Centered above an empty toilet paper holder.

What’s really scary is that I still have a lot to learn!!!

Posted in A Day In..., Uncategorized, Vaughn's Posts | 9 Comments

The Last Waltz, er, Potluck

Posted on August 20, 2026 by dickcass

By the time this appears, the word will be out, so I think it’s safe to write about in advance. Anne and I have sold our house in Cape Elizabeth and are moving on to the next (smaller) residence of our lives. We will miss our grand backyard and the sun porch, which has been the scene of many great get-together.

One of the great memories of this house that we will take with us is the more-or-less semi-annual crime writer potlucks it’s hosted. Can’t remember when we started doing them but they’ve always been a terrific way to get all our semi-introverted writer friends all in one place and celebrate, talk about the work, complain about publishers and editors, etc., etc.

The Crime Writer potluck rules are simple: bring enough of your dish for everyone and only bring something  you like. That lack of guidance has not made for any memorable lacuna in the ultimate meal. At worst, we’ve wound up with too much dessert. Too much dessert. Boo hoo.

We held the last potluck in this house a week ago Saturday night. I hope you can see from some of the pictures below what it looks like when people who kill people for fun and profit party. Kate Flora often says one of the reason crime writers are so nice is that we work out all our aggressions on the page. Poets, on the other hand. Whooo, can they be nasty.

Wide shot of the crew

Looks as if Gabi’s husband James is telling me something frightening

The irrepressible Julia Spencer-Fleming starts the party

Diane and Barbara and half of Brenda

Bill and all of Brenda taking a breather

Gayle and John (slyly smiling)

Chris and Katrina contemplating the universe

Gayle, Julia, and the fabulous Jule Selbo sharing secrets

Bill’s antique store find and our new mascot

Also in attendance but seen only in the group photos, Jule Selbo’s  podcast-slinging spouse, Mark Winkworth and the extremely talented Gabriela Stiteler.

I would be remiss not to mention the fact that Sept 1 at 6 PM, I will be launching the second Ardmore Theberge novel, Hard as a Headstone, and the reissue (also by Islandport Press) of the revised version of The Last Altruist. Would be delighted to see you there. Gabi Stiteler will be holding my conversational feet to the fire and there will be cake. I’m also launching a series of library and bookstore events through the fall. It’s gonna be a hella busy Fall.

 

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A Wee Bit of Writing Advice

Posted on August 19, 2026 by mainecrimewriters

Set up for the Book and Print Fair

Kate Flora: I just spent two days in a park in Waterville, sitting in a hot tent, trying to sell books. The big plus of this endeavor was that I spent it with my friend Maureen Milliken, which meant we did some talking about writing. I told her that earlier this summer, I’d done an event at the Bailey Library in Saco, and one of the attendees was Chris Roerden’s son. Chris Roerden was a mentor of a sort, the author of a fabulous book about revision called Don’t Murder Your Mystery that I’ve used often over the years. When I mentioned that to Maureen, it turned out that she also uses the book as reference.

So today, as I’m recovering from a week of loading and unloading the car, and talking to readers, I’m thinking about Chris, and about some of the great advice I’ve gotten over the years, or learned on my own and shared with my students.

Mid-August feels like the right time for some writing advice. Something happens to a lot of

At Freya’s in Rockport for a book talk

us as September approaches. Conditioned by anywhere from 12 – 19 years of going back to class each fall, we start thinking about getting serious about our work. Knuckling down to postponed projects. Finally writing that story or novel or facing the challenge of revision. Below are some thoughts from a handout I gave my students at the end of a six-week writing class:

Write something you would like to read

Always remember that the enemy is not the badly written page—that can be fixed—but the empty page.

Think Anne Lamott, Bird by Bird, and the shitty first draft.

Those Pesky Editing Heads

 You know the ones, they keep giving advice, and criticism, and fuss and fidget about every sentence you write until your head spins and you can’t write a word? Think about turning off the editing heads long enough to let you get something down on the page that you can work with. Remind yourself that getting it down is more important than getting it right. You can use rewrite to make corrections and improvements.

Remember that perfection is not possible.

Show, don’t tell and other things we’re told that are true

Or, as one of my students once said to another: “I now know how I’m supposed to feel, what I want you to do is make me feel it.”

Specific is better than general. Details make a scene feel authentic. Remember that as long as you avoid the dreaded “data dump,” readers love lore.

Be true to your ideas and your characters, not your story. Don’t bend your characters to fit the story, bend the story to fit who your characters are. Let the actions and the conflicts arise from who they are.

Treat your reader honestly. Don’t hold back a lot of secrets. You can mislead, using the shell game of clues and action, or an unreliable narrator, but don’t lie.

Remember, when you’re in a snarling, sweaty lather, that this is supposed to be fun. It’s only a book.

The way may not be straight but you will get there

Where Do You Write?

Are you honoring your passion for writing by creating a good place to work? Remember that no one will make your writing time for you, and others won’t respect your desire to write if you don’t.

Dedicated place – remember that sometimes having a particular place where you write can become a part of the writing process.

Rituals: Going there, sitting down, opening a notebook or a file, all of these ordinary actions can become a form of ritual which may help you get back into what you are writing. Many writers also have the practice of rereading and editing what they wrote in the last session to start the writing flow and pick up the thread of the story.

What’s around you: Consider whether there are things you can do to make it more appealing or inspiring—a bulletin board with notes to yourself, or pictures which relate to what you are writing or something you want to write. A quote that raises a question. A quote that uses the language you would like to use. Something someone has written or said that inspires you or challenges you. Conversely, you might post a picture of Kanye West, who brags that he doesn’t read. Sometimes an “I’ll show you” attitude can also help to get going.

Dedicated time: My writing teacher used to say that any writing session should be at least two hours—the first hour to shed the world and focus the mind and the second hour to really get down to the writing. Only you will know what works best for you, but trying to build in a few sessions of dedicated time is important. Don’t have two hours? Don’t worry. A regular practice is what is most important. Check out Stephen P. Kelner’s book, Motivate Your Writing and Kenneth Atchity’s book, A Writer’s Time.

Work with a set of realistic goals. Do set deadlines but be sure that they fit with what you  know about yourself, your time, your writing style. Writing 500 words each session may not sound like much, but it adds up.

Save Everything – even when it feels like you’re writing gravel or the story takes an unplanned turn. Another time, you may want to recycle what you wrote there. Or you may reread the pages at a future date and decide, with a bit of editing, that they aren’t so bad. Or, once you get over your fear of your characters taking over, you may find yourself going in a great new direction.

Write You Are Meant to Write: Be sure that your material is something you care about. You need to:

Care about the personality of your characters;

Care about the themes of your story;

Care about what’s at stake

Because if it doesn’t matter to you, it won’t matter to your reader.

Some thoughts about breaking the log jam:

Sometimes we just get stuck and can’t figure out where the story goes next. Take a break. Make a calendar/spreadsheet/whatever and chart each scene: time of day, characters, what happens. Try to plot out the next five to ten scenes. Sometimes working scene by scene can be less overwhelming than chapter by chapter or than trying to envision the whole story.

Consider learning about how to use a storyboard with yellow stickies you can move around to rearrange scenes and chapters

Some writers use Scrivener to organize their writing.

Print out and read the book or story straight through until the place you got stuck. Reading hard copy can give it a different feel.

To get a sense of the rhythm of your writing, read it into a recorder or your phone and then play it back. Read it to someone else. Have someone read it to you. Get your computer to read it to you.

Still stuck and thinking you’re unable to go forward? Write a scene you know you will use later on. Your story doesn’t have to be crafted in a linear fashion.

Teeing off the above, if you don’t know how to get from Chapter One or Page One to The End, write the scenes you do know and then think about what you’ll need to write to connect them. Then start writing those connections. There is no one “right” way to write your story. There is only your way.

Write the ending, then go back to where you got stuck and write toward it.

Apply butt to chair. Remain until 500 words are down. Repeat at your next writing session. Even if it’s crap, a synergistic “something” will often happen that will show you the path. Remember those first painful trips to the gym when you’ve been delinquent? Your writing muscles will get stronger.

Go back to the first chapter and read through what you’ve already written, editing as you go. It helps to find the momentum again, and to continue on. Pay attention to your character. Did you get off track? Is your character not acting like him or herself? Is anything happening that matters? Have you gotten stuck because your own story is boring you? Shake things up. Let your character do something unexpected.

Sometimes pulling something out and wrestling with it can make it start to work. Practice the type of “riff writing” Elizabeth Lyon describes in her excellent book on revision, Manuscript Makeover.

If your character is still misbehaving, take him or her for that ride in the car and ask why the character is behaving in that way. Seriously. The first time I heard writers say this, I thought it was crazy, but you need to be writing characters you want to spend time with. Characters, just like employees, can be fired if they’re not doing their job.

Still stuck?

Remind yourself that brain surgeons don’t often complain about surgeon’s block, and pilots have to keep flying the planes. Remember that just because it’s hard doesn’t mean you give up. Most things that are worth doing are hard. So if you’ve written your 500 words for days and are still getting gravel, take out your trusty copy of Anne Bernays and Pamela Painter’s What If? and do some exercises.

Take yourself on an artist’s date and see if refilling the well might help. The world is full of fascinating things that may get you writing again.

…An artist date is a block of time, perhaps two hours weekly, especially set aside and committed to nurturing your creative consciousness, your inner artist. In its most primary form, the artist date is an excursion, a play date that you preplan and defend against all interlopers. You do not take anyone on this artist date but you and your inner artist, a.k.a your creative child…

Excerpt from The Artist’s Way, page 18 Julia Cameron

When all else fails, try ironing. Smoothing things out and creating order may either inspire you or the repetitive tedium may send you gratefully back to the keyboard.

Posted in Kate's Posts | 5 Comments

It’s summer in Maine and the book will be out… when?

Posted on August 18, 2026 by Maureen Milliken

NEWS FROM AWAY, the fifth book in my Bernadette “Bernie” O’Dea mystery series was supposed to be out by now. I’m reminded about that quite often by readers anxious to get their hands on it.

It’s gratifying and flattering that people are excited about my books, and even that they’re disappointed they have to wait for the next one. But I’m not doing it on purpose just to feed my ego. Believe me, I’d like it to be out too. In fact, I can say with confidence that no one wants that book finished mor than I do.

But writing is a hard, long process and sometimes life and other stuff interrupts and slows it down. It can be hard to get back on track once you’re off, and there are many things that go into getting a book out of the laptop and into a reader’s hands that take time and effort.

That said, News From Away will be out… sometime. I wish I could be more definite. The one definite thing I can say is that it will be out. Sometime.

Is this a blog post about why books take longer than expected to be completed? No. It’s a blog post to simply answer the question. The book is coming. At some point. The fact that a cover for it exists is proof!

I won’t go into a whole “how the sausages are made” blah blah blah about the writing process and the mental and physical aspect of it and what happens when that gets interrupted, because even I am not in the mood for it today. I also won’t go into a long elaboration about the publishing process and why that can take longer than anticipated and what slows it down. I’m bore with that topic, too.

I read somewhere in the past couple of days that August feels like “the Sunday of summer.” In that spirit, let’s take a break from all the thinking and boring stuff and just enjoy the nice (ish) weather. Summer will be over soon enough and we’ll be into the figurative Monday of it all. The metphor kind of falls apart if you think about it too hard, since Monday is at the beginning and fall isn’t… never mind. I wasn’t going to do any brain stuff here.

In fact…

If you’re not feeling the spirit of summer, here’s a photo to help you out. My dog on the dock at my sister’s lake place in New Hampshire. The only thing missing is a book and nice beverage. Dog. Lake. Dock. Sun. Summer. Enjoy it while it lasts. Pick up a book that’s available now, settle in, relax, and enjoy August. There’ll always be time to finish writing books, or ask authors when the book will be finished, once summer is gone.

 

 

Posted in Maureen's Posts | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

The Road Warrior is Burned Out

Posted on August 17, 2026 by mainecrimewriters

Kate Flora: Totally fried today after a week on the road doing book promotion. I’ll be back on Wednesday to write a proper blog. For today, all I have are  views from my deck and my new favorite tee shirt.

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