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Laurie Fagen loves to talk about writing, and can provide an entertaining and informative session for any organization. She can also talk about making the transition from journalist to novelist among other topics. Email her at Laurie@ReadLaurieFagen.com for her availability.
Welcome
WFH, COVID-19 and other current acronyms
CDC. WHO. COVID-19. WFH. PPE.
Yes, it’s been a wild ride for everyone since COVID-19 hit the world, and the new acronyms are challenging for the layperson, let alone all of us writers.
We’re hearing the abbreviations thrown around hourly: Center for Disease Control. World Heath Organization. Coronavirus Disease, which was discovered in 2019. Work from home. Personal Protection Equipment.
No doubt these and other pandemic stories will be working their ways into new novels in the coming months. Already there are plenty of “Covid Diaries” and other non-fiction pieces being written daily.
Since my last post, five of us from Phoenix drove in the rain to San Diego for the “Left Coast Crime” (LCC) conference in San Diego, CA. It was in the early days of the virus, and while we weren’t sure whether or not we were crazy to be going, it was before any cancellations of big groups. As luck and viruses would have it, we went through the first day, and then San Diego County imposed the “no more than 250” limit, and the convention was cancelled. I was happy to get back home, as news was changing hourly by that time. So much for our “Author Cabaret,” in which I was going to sing “Going to San Diego” (to the tune of “Going to Kansas City”); we didn’t get to host our banquet table; and hopefully the audio book panel on which I was going to speak will be moved to 2021 LCC in Albuquerque.
Despite a few well-meaning friends and family members who were urging me to cancel my left hip replacement surgery, due to osteoarthritis, I trusted my doctors to make the right decision for me and the pain I was experiencing, and I had a very successful procedure done, thanks to surgeon Dr. David Ott with Ortho Arizona and his team. I was walking within six hours and with no pain, and was home the next day. Of course, all my carefully made advance plans for pickups, assistance, etc., went out the window with a friend and son not feeling well. So I hired a local home health company for transportation and first night assistance, which worked fine. I’m getting around well on both a walker and a cane already, and have already driven short distances twice, staying in the car and having others come to my car.
I was already planning to “hunker down” for a couple of weeks following surgery, so I had stocked up on plenty of food, and my DVR was full of recorded shows. I always have lots of art and writing projects to do, and now in light of the virus, I’m hoping to finish my third and most likely final novel in my “Behind the Mic Mysteries” series so I can continue on a new series, “Behind the Lens,” and my new character, TJ Banks, a freelance news reporter/videographer who is in great demand for major traumatic events and crime news.
Meanwhile, the writing conference in Tullamore, Ireland has been postponed, and my friend Jane from NC, who was going to meet me there to travel to Belfast, Scotland and Wales, will try the trip either later this fall or next year.
Obviously 2020 is going to be a challenging one for all of us.
Whether you are a writer, a reader or friend, would love to hear about you’re handling the current “shelter at home” world. Please post below. Check out my new blog with tips on how best to WFH, or work from home, whether it’s writing or paid work or art you want to accomplish.
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Bleeder, the third book in the “Behind the Mic Mysteries,” is the continuing saga of intrepid radio reporter, Lisa Powers, who covers the trial of the cop shooter from the Dead Air book. The story will be a fictionalized version of an actual case I covered during my television crime reporting days and will be “moved on a change of venue” to Prescott. I will include details about the lovely mountain town that was my second home for five years. Lisa will also cover a domestic violence case, and the podcast is tentatively entitled “Art of the Steal,” about a crime in an art gallery.
I have have two audio books for “Fade Out” and “Dead Air,” both available on Audible and Amazon. My son, audio production engineer Devon J. Hancock, handled all the editing and mastering duties, as well as adding sound effects and original music (www.DevonJHancock.com)
If you like crime fiction mysteries, check out the novella “Deadly Misfire,” by Short on Time Books (www.ShortOnTimeBooks.com), which is available on Amazon. It’s the story of a mysterious man who stalks reporter Lisa Powers at a radio convention, and every day ramps up threats against her. She and her co-worker/boyfriend Dean Jeffries fear for her life as tensions build on the final night with an awards presentation for which Lisa is in the running with another reporter from New York, who coincidentally looks similar to Lisa. Info: https://tinyurl.com/BuyDeadlyMisfire.
“Dead Air,“ book #2 in the “Behind the Mic Mysteries,” is now available in both e-book and print on Amazon at https://tinyurl.com/BuyDeadAir. In addition, the audio book for Fade Out is is also online at Amazon and Audible.
Dead Air cover by Tad Smith of The Design Idea
The cold case Lisa works on is a 15-year-old sexual assault of a 4-year-old girl, who is now 19. The young victim has not had any closure all this time, and Lisa is determined to help her find the rapist.
Lisa’s “podcast,” which she writes for fun at night after covering gritty crime stories during the day, is a “film noir” style story of a 1940s private eye and a dame. Only L. N. Pane, P.I. is the dame and the gentleman seeks help finding out why someone is out to kill him.
There are other stories Lisa covers in “Dead Air,” and as well as a new potential love interest for our heroine.
You can hear an interview with me on Golden State Media Concepts, about my books, my background and many other subjects, includin
g my latest novella called “Deadly Misfire,” one of seven stories in a multi-author series called “Tawnee Mountain Mysteries.” Check out the podcast and blog cast at https://t.co/9WfsjTFBYw
For more details about my other novels, check out the “Novels” page above.
Equalizer cover by Tad Smith of The Design Idea
Fade Out cover by Tad Smith of The Design Idea
There’s additional information about my writing on my Amazon Author Page at amazon.com/author/lauriefagen. I would greatly appreciate a short review there, as my publisher says “it’s all about the algorithms” on Amazon.
Make sure to sign up for my monthly newsletter so you stay informed about my speaking engagements, contests, and other details. Visit the “contact page” to sign up.
“Fade Out” and “Dead Air” are available at Chandler public libraries; Sibley’s West Gifts, Chandler; Dog-Eared Pages, Phoenix; Peregrine Book Company, Prescott Center for the Arts Gallery and Prescott Library, Prescott
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