We Will Sell No Wine Before Its Time from James W. Ziskin

We’ve all seen authors dropping cryptic hints on social media about big newsthey can’t share yet. Teasers that spark curiosity but also prompt questions like, Why the secrecy? and Who decides what to share and when? 

With apologies to Orson Welles and the Paul Masson wine brand, “We will sell no wine before its time.”

Vaguebooking

I really don’t have strong feelings either way about it, other than to say that I doubt it’s effective as a marketing strategy. Or I should say it’s ineffective unless the you’re a big name with really big news. To be honest, if I tried to vaguebook, my FB and Instagram friends would either ignore the post or at least not comment on it. I don’t post news before its time.

In order to (attempt) to stay relevant, I usually post something every week or so, even if there’s nothing major going on in my writing life. Sometimes I resort to something personal, like cooking or cats or drawings, just to make sure my friends don’t forget me. I try not to flood my feed with too many posts too close together. I see many writers who post several items in one day, and while that may work for them, I doubt I could pull it off. I’m not that interesting.

If ever I’m bursting to share great news prematurely, I resist the urge. It’s difficult, but better to get a bang out of one good post than to have people scratching their heads wondering what I’m hinting at in a vaguebook post. I would even say that, at times, a cryptic post about news that can’t be shared is frustrating for the reader. Don’t tease me. I want satisfaction!

I haven’t had a new book out since December 2022, so there hasn’t been a lot for me to crow about, cryptically or otherwise. Every two weeks I post on FB and IG about my 7 Criminal Minds pieces, but not much else besides occasionally giving a shoutout to a friend’s book. And, of course, cats. I recently posted on Black Cat Appreciation Day. And when Tom Lehrer passed away, I put up a link to my favorite song of his, “I Got It from Agnes.” Click here to give a listen. I won’t spoil it with cryptic hints. It’s a funny song that lets the listener’s own dirty mind decide what “it” is.

And here’s a black cat, Boko, eating his salad.

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Big Things Coming Soon — Stay Tuned!

by Dietrich

We’ve all seen authors dropping cryptic hints on social media about big news they can’t share yet. Teasers that spark curiosity but also prompt questions like, Why the secrecy? and Who decides what to share and when? 

Vague posts like Big things coming soon, stay tuned! build anticipation while respecting professional constraints. The publishing world is complex, with agents, publishers, editors, and marketing teams all shaping when and how news is shared. Contracts may still be in negotiation, cover art might not be finalized, or the publisher may want to align an announcement with a broader marketing campaign. Teasing news without revealing details allows writers to connect with their audience, maintain momentum, and signal that something “exciting” is in the works, all while keeping specifics under wraps.

The decision of what and when to share isn’t necessarily up to the writer. Publishers often set guidelines in order to maximize impact. A major book deal or movie adaptation might need coordination with press releases, trade announcements, or events like the Frankfurt Book Fair or the U.S. Book Show. Agents may also advise writers to keep mum to avoid jeopardizing a deal or breaching confidentiality. A contract might include a clause requiring silence until all parties have signed off.

Independent authors or those with established platforms may have more flexibility. They might tease a book’s release date or share snippets of a work-in-progress to gauge audience interest. Even then, timing is important—revealing too much too soon can dilute anticipation, while waiting too long risks a loss of momentum.

Personally, I don’t follow a lot of hard-and-fast rules, but I do stick to a few guiding principles like not revealing a book’s title too far in advance. I also tend not to share many details about what I’m currently working on—not out of paranoia or secrecy, but because a work-in-progress is fluid and many elements are subject to change.

Common sense means deferring to agents and publishers. If they say wait, I wait. When I share news, I aim to time it right, revealing just enough to build anticipation and spark curiosity. Readers appreciate getting a glimpse of what an author’s up to and feeling included in the process.

It’s all about striking the right balance. And when I do share, I want the news to feel genuine, not gimmicky. While I’m excited about any new release (and what author isn’t?), I want to share that energy in a way that invites readers to join the journey. It’s more than just a tease; I want it to be a promise of something worth waiting for.

Shhh, Don't Tell Anyone

 

Terry here, with the question of the week: 

I see a lot of writers post vague messages about news they “can’t talk about yet”. What are your rules about what and when to release info on upcoming releases, big contract news, exciting things on the horizon? Do you decide what and when to reveal, or is it coming from agents, publishers, etc? 

Rules? Rules? I’ve got no rules. When the contract is signed, I shout about it. No hesitation. And no, I usually don’t post “teasers.” If I’m going to be showing up at a bookstore or some event, I let people know. No teasers. If I finish writing a book and send it off to my agent, I tell everyone. No teasers. 

I see all these things on social media that people “can’t talk about yet.” Vague-booking they call it on Facebook. I suppose it’s designed to titillate and to garner excitement. But mostly it just irritates me. Maybe it’s jealousy because I don’t have anything to keep secret. 

But here are some things I’d like “not be able to talk about yet.” 

A letter saying, “Hi, we finally tracked you down. Remember that funny little stock you bought fifty years ago? Well guess what…?” 

An email saying, “We have to swear you to secrecy, but this is to let you know that Tom Hanks has just read all your books and wants to play Samuel Craddock in a TV series.” 

A knock on the door and it’s somebody saying a long-lost relative has bequeathed me a zillion bucks. 

A phone call from someone who says “Molly Gordon read Deep Dive and is determined to play Jessie Madison in your series.” 

My former publisher writing to tell me he’s finally releasing my backlist to me. 

My agent telling me my current publisher is doubling my advance. (Not sure I'd ever mention this)

I can pretty much guarantee that none of those things is likely to happen, but you can be sure if they do, I’ll be all over social media, hinting like crazy! So much for not posting teasers. 

                                                         *** 

An addendum to this week’s post. I just got back from Bouchercon, and it was wonderful this year. Too many friends I would like to have seen didn’t make it, and I was sorry to miss them. But I had some good meals, some good laughs, excellent talks with friends both old and new, and went to interesting panels. The Debut Author Breakfast was even better than usual, with Michael Connelly lending his emcee skills, a beautiful brochure, and what sounded like some outstanding new authors. 

I didn’t get Covid or a cold, didn’t faint from the heat (yes it was hot, but there was usually a breeze, and it was not bad), didn’t eat or drink too much, and didn’t go crazy buying weird New Orleans tourist gifts. 

Added bonus: the hotel was close to the exceptional World War II museum, where the opening ceremonies were held after a celebratory march, New Orleans style with a brass band to accompany us. Next year, Calgary!

And here are some photos from Bouchercon:

                                    The Opening Ceremonies parade: 

With fellow 7 Criminal Minds author Poppy Gee

    

                                        With two rogues, Marjorie McCown and Smita Jain:

    

                                          With the incomparable Georgia Jeffries

                        

Penmanship Confessions by Matthew Greene

Handwritten or typed? Some writers, even today, will hand write a first draft. Some have 3rd grade penmanship from the atrophy our handwriting has suffered. Do you still hand write any part of your writing process or are you all type, all the time? 

My second grade teacher was very troubled by my penmanship. She would hover over my shoulder clucking her tongue at the misshapen loops of my Bs and the sad, sorry tails of my Rs. Things got even worse when we made the switch to cursive, and this teacher took to giving me extra assignments just to drill some proper technique into my malleable little head. My mom, an educator herself, thought these concerns with legibility were overblown. When I was sent home for holiday break with an extracurricular handwriting workbook and a fresh batch of insecurities, Mom promptly threw it away and sent me off to play.

Needless to say, I’ve always had a complicated relationship with my own handwriting. I don’t like letting people see the pure, unvarnished chicken scratches that fill the various notebooks on my shelves. When someone gives me a fancy journal—a favorite gift idea for the writer in your life, apparently—it usually goes unused, since I’m loath to sully its gold-edged pages with my subpar script. I prefer cheap, disposable composition books bought in bulk where I can scribble away without scrutiny. 

Maybe this is why I do all my “real” writing on the computer. Brainstorming, ideating, even outlining often lives in the aforementioned messy notebooks. But when the time comes to do the actual work of composition, to put down the words that someone else will actually see, typing takes over. 

Someone should do a neurological study about the different parts of the brain that are activated by different modes of writing. For me, the chaotic early work of creation flows naturally through a pen on paper. But the more organized, orderly task of writing scenes and chapters is triggered by fingers on keys and a glowing screen in front of me. The different modes of creation feel like different muscles groups, and I have a hunch there’s some science to it. (Maybe someone has done this research; I don’t really keep up with neurological research these days.)

Maybe, like most writers, I’m still working out childhood issues through my work. But as far as childhood trauma goes, being browbeaten for bad handwriting isn’t so bad. It just might be one of many reasons my laptop is my preferred writing tool and my notebooks are kept safely out of sight.

PS: The aforementioned second grade teacher wasn’t all bad. She came to a signing of There’s No Murder Like Show Murder and we buried the hatchet once and for all.

Scary Stories by Poppy Gee

Writers should establish systems that create calm in the chaos that can come with creativity.

I recently lost 30K of a novel in progress and had to start again. What’s the biggest setback you’ve had in your writing, and how did you overcome it?

This is the one of worst things that can happen to a writer. It's a real life horror story that happened to my blogging colleague Eric, who wrote this question. Read his post here to see how he coped by writing his way through the despair.

I’ve lost sections of work, but never this amount. The paralysing fear of losing a substantial part of your novel looms over us, an ominous, inevitable spectre. 

Not long ago, on a rainy Friday morning, I was putting the finishing touches on a Powerpoint presentation that I would use to teach a crime fiction workshop. For no reason, my computer froze. Panic rising, I employed my repertoire of IT skills. This involved turning the computer off and on. Northing happened. I pressed escape. When that didn't work, I simultaneously held down control, shift, delete. Nothing I did made my laptop resume operation. I felt sick with fear. I only bought it last year, and I don’t have a back up computer. I needed the Powerpoint presentation, and the computer, for the weekend's class.

Using my phone, I googled laptop repair person near me. Fortunately, there was a guy up the road. I rang him, explained my crisis. He was available, and I drove straight there.

The man took my laptop out the back, disappearing behind a curtain. I sat in the waiting area for fifteen stressful minutes. He smiled when he emerged from behind the curtain and told me that my computer was fixed. Deeply relieved and grateful, I paid him $150. He reflected that it was not good that a new computer glitched like this. 

That night, my husband expressed doubt about the true nature of my computer’s glitch. He wondered what the man even did to my laptop. My husband claimed he could have fixed it himself and saved the money. (I don’t know if that’s true. He’s a builder, not an IT expert.)

Maybe the repair man had a secret and complex process to fix it, maybe the computer simply restarted by itself. I’ll never know. But what else do you do? We’re helpless in this scenario. 

My process of backup is to email the Word doc to myself once a week. If I’m making complex and tiny edits all over the manuscript, I email the m/s to myself several times a day. This is not a good process. Please refer to Gabriel Valjan’s excellent tips here on saving your work - there are better ways than emailing it yourself.

Losing your work is a horror story that no one wants to experience. It will happen at some point. Having a system of techniques to protect your work is the best way to minimise the damage and stress. 

No crying on the yacht, by Catriona

I recently lost 30K of a novel in progress and had to start again. What’s the biggest setback you’ve had in your writing, and how did you overcome it?

[Be there in a bit after I've driven down to give Eric a hug... Okay, I'm back.]

That has never happened to me, but it's like the idea of accidentally grating your knuckles off while zesting a lemon: you don't have to experience it to wince.

I have had some disappointments more than setbacks as such, but they still rankle. Mostly because I can't complain about them. Let me explain.

1. Away back in 2005 when my first novel was coming out, it was chosen to be crime novel of the month for September at Ottakar's (a chain of bookshops in the UK). Woooohoooooo! Then Ottakar's went bust in August.

Links here

Such a crushing disappointment for a baby debut author and the most irritating thing of all was that jobs and livelihoods had been lost and I was the least of the casualties. I couldn't really, in conscience, grumble.

2. Then I started shutting down publishers. First, I sold US rights for my first and second books to Carrol and Graf, a venerable New York publishing house that had been going for decades. They published one book of mine and . . . curtains. Disappointing but not actually painful. Unlike the demise of Midnight Ink. I'm still not over that. Terri Bischoff took on my off-brand psycho-thrillers and put out six of them with fantastic jackets and genius edits, then took on another off-off-brand trilogy of comedies. Except there were only two of them because Midnight Ink, rather suddenly, closed down. It was a huge loss to the mystery landscape and a massive blow to the people who worked there. Again, I was gutted but couldn't whine when so many around me had lost so much more.

How gorgeous is that book?

I felt, for a while, as if I should go into editorial meetings ringing a bell and calling out "unclean, unclean".  I definitely want to reassure Hachette, Severn House and Thomas and Mercer that things go in twos. Right? Right.

3. Then there was the big one. In both senses. Actually, in all three senses: the disappointment was huge; the scale of the event was huger; the amount by which I was so lucky it would have been an outrage for me to moan was hugest. I was honoured beyond words when the local organising committee chairs of Bouchercon Sacramento asked me to be toastmaster. (It can't all have been because I was right there and they wouldn't have to pay an airfare.) My parents were coming; we were going to book a two bedroom suite at the conference hotel; I was going to the gym a lot; I was all set. It was 2020.

Aaaaaaaabsolutely no way was I going to say one single syllable about how it felt for me to be healthy and solvent, at home, doing my job, with everyone I cared for safe and well, even if thousands of miles away and no planes flying. Someone said we were all in the same boat. (I think it was Kate Middleton.) Then someone else said we were all in the same storm but some of us were in luxury liners and some of us were clinging to rafts. (I think that was Prince Harry.) 

Appropriately enough, my biggest disappointments are are all variants of one of my favourite sayings: no crying on the yacht.

Cx  

Just keep typing by Eric Beetner

 I recently lost 30K of a novel in progress and had to start again. What’s the biggest setback you’ve had in your writing, and how did you overcome it?

I wrote this month's questions, so that 30K that went missing? That was mine.

My hard drive had a meltdown and in an instant everything went dark. I have a backup drive, but I had been doing that most human of things and putting off for months the notices that the drive was full and could no long backup effectively. What I could recover from it were important things like photos, my music library, old writings of mine. But the book I had started back in February? Gone in an instant.

This third book in the Carter McCoy trilogy had been aborted once before. I had tossed out my original outline when I realized my bad guys weren't bad enough anymore, given the state of the world following last November's election. I decided to embrace current events in my work for the first time ever and to have my characters deal with the state of the world and the rise of fascist tactics. Now THOSE are some bad guys.

But throwing away that old outline was voluntary. It didn't get ripped away from me in a digital sinkhole.

Yes, I brooded and pouted a little. I tried data recovery at home with a friend who works in IT. When that failed I sent the hard drive away for evaluation. All this time I kept writing. I just picked up from where I'd left off and continued on toward the end of the book. I had a deadline in August, so I needed to keep moving.

When they got back to me they told me they could "likely" recover files, but it would cost nearly four thousand dollars. I told them no thank you and I embraced the prospect of starting over at the top.

When writing setbacks hit, I find the best way is to write through them. This provided a golden opportunity to do so. I recently went through another awards loss. I don't let it get me down. I write through it. If a short story gets rejected for an anthology, I pick up and write the next one. 

Many writers will tell you writing is re-writing. I'd certainly never done any re-writing on this scale, but I choose to think of my missing manuscript as a first draft. It was going to change some anyway, so why not change all of it. 

I can't obsess about the great lines I'll never get back, or some dialogue I can't remember. I have my story, I know my characters well at this point. I need to put my trust in them as well as myself. 

Compared to this, all my other setbacks seem small now. That's a positive, in the end. And there is something empowering about taking a hit this severe and making my way through it. Here we are only a week into September and I'm on the verge of finishing the full draft. I'll go back and revise (after I hit save several hundred times) but I will deliver this book only a few weeks past my deadline and my publisher has been very understanding.

I recently returned from Bouchercon in New Orleans where I told the tale to several writers who all winced and gasped as if I were telling a detailed recounting of a compound fracture. Losing work, I was told repeatedly, is maybe the number one fear writers have. 

Well, I've faced that fear and came out the other side. I may feel a little bitterness toward this book, or I may also see it as a special reminder of my tenacity in the face of tragedy. Either way, I don't think I'll repeat the process of throwing out 30,000 words any time soon.

Fly with the Birds, Swim with the Fishes

 

I recently lost 30K of a novel in progress and had to start again. What’s the biggest setback you’ve had in your writing, and how did you overcome it?

This question hit me hard. If you’ve lived this scenario, you know the panic, the adrenaline dump, the cortisol crash later—and the litany of profanities you didn’t know existed in the primordial lexicon of pain.

My next novel, Eyes to Deceit—a fictionalized take on the 1953 coup that returned the Shah of Iran to power, sowing seeds for the 1979 Hostage Crisis—is coming out this November from Level Best Books.

A few months back, I hit a Plot Block with Eyes. Not quite a dead end, but my brain cells refused to make a right turn at the proverbial red light.

And then—cue the ding-ding of the Good Humor truck—I was off. Coins in hand, ideas in my head. I pounded out 30,000 words in a single, unmedicated frenzy. I blew off plans to be social. I chose madness over mingling. I became Beethoven at the keyboard.

Here’s a word about my workflow: I create a “Build” folder under the novel’s title and each chapter is its own Word file. Editing this way gives me tighter control over plot and pacing. Eventually, I copy and paste the chapters into a single master document.

That day, my downfall was a perfect storm of muscle memory and one bad habit. The Build folder lived on my hard drive; the manuscript, on my Desktop. To quote Sophia from Golden Girls: “Picture it…”

Ctrl-A, Ctrl-C, Ctrl-V.

Repeat.

And just like that, I had overwritten my full manuscript with a single chapter. Don’t ask me how because I still don’t know.

I didn’t scream. I didn’t cry. I just stared, horrified, at the graveyard of my own stupidity.

All my brain-sweat was now swimming with the fishes.

But there was a fix.

Because my Desktop hadn’t synced with my iPad yet, my savior Deb was able to open the untouched version on my iPad and email it to herself. Crisis (barely) averted.

I was one sync away from disaster. One finish line away from a total wipeout.

Don’t be that guy.

 

Best Practices: How to Avoid Your Own Writing Waterloo

Preventative Measures

Save in multiple places: Local drive, cloud storage (OneDrive, Google Drive, Dropbox), and a USB key.

Use version control: Save dated versions of your draft (e.g., Chapter-5_2025-09-04.docx) so you can revert.

Avoid editing on the Desktop: Files here are more prone to accidental deletion or syncing errors.

AutoSave is your friend: Enable it, especially in Word or Google Docs.

Cloud backup settings matter: Make sure your cloud syncs regularly—but not instantly, so you can recover from accidental overwrites.

 

If Disaster Strikes

Check unsynced devices: Your tablet or phone might still have the older version.

Look in File History / Versions: On Windows or Mac, check for earlier versions of the file.

Search sent emails: Did you ever email the document to someone (or yourself)?

Check the Recycle Bin: Sometimes deleted files linger like guilt.

Use recovery software: If all else fails, tools like Recuva (Windows) or Disk Drill (Mac) can sometimes recover lost data.

 

This writing life is one-part vision, one-part madness, and a whole lot of Ctrl-Z.

Save often. Sync smart.

Don’t let your words swim with the fishes.

After the Fall

I recently lost 30K of a novel in progress and had to start again. What’s the biggest setback you’ve had in your writing and did you overcome it?

 

Just reading the first line of this question gives me the shivers. I would say that is my worst nightmare, except rats still roaming the earth freely, this would be a very close second. What to do after a situation like this? Well, after the crying and puking and cursing the universe, there’s nothing to it, but to do it, right?

 

So, while I have not experienced the horror of this particular moment, I, like every writer, have had many setbacks. But the answer is always the same. Pick yourself up off the floor, wipe away the tears, pour a glass/mug of your favorite comfort drink, and begin again.

Sometimes that’s with writing, beginning again from page one, word one. But for aspiring or new writers it’s the querying that can be the biggest setback. It’s impossible to overstate the devastating toll the constant rejection of finding an open door into traditional publishing takes. This was, for me, the biggest setback.

 

For a time, I continued to fling myself against those closed gates trying to get that one yes until my soul couldn’t take it anymore. It’s not the answer for everyone, but I chose to end the torture and self-published my first three books. It was an unexpected answer to a problem that almost stole my joy in writing. And for me it was the right answer.

 

It wasn’t the only answer, though. Leaning on my writing community, especially my writing group to remind me that my stories need to be told, helped. But that one thing that everyone who decides to chase, what can feel is an impossible dream, needs is the inability to quit. That perseverance is what makes it possible to withstand submitting the same manuscript dozens of times to dozens of different agencies. Or getting that thanks but no thanks from your favorite agent after getting a request for the full manuscript.

 

Whatever setback rears its ugly head, we writers really only have one of three choices. Begin again, make our own lane, or quit. I don’t know a lot of quitters, do you?

Memories of conferences past - by Harini Nagendra

It’s Bouchercon week where crime writers from all over will gather. We’ve talked a lot about the pros and cons of conferences, but I want to know your most memorable conference experience- good and bad. What’s the conference moment you’ll never forget?

I've never been to Bouchercon - indeed, I've never been to a mystery writer's conference in the US, though of course I've been to plenty of academic conferences in the country. I'd love to make it to Bouchercon or any of the big mystery writer events in the US some day, but it takes over 24 hours for me to travel one way, so this needs a bit of planning. 

I love the writer conferences and literature festivals I've attended across India, of course. No matter how many times one does this, it's always a fresh thrill to meet readers in person, listen to them tell you what exactly they felt when they read specific sections of your book, and hear about their own life experiences, or those of their parents and grandparents (since I write historical mysteries set in the 1920s) which gave them a personal connection to my characters and their fictional lives.

Thanks to an invite from the conference organizers, I did make it to Motive - the big Toronto crime and mystery writer festival - in 2023, and had an absolute blast. One of the biggest thrills - seeing my name on a massive billboard at the Toronto Harbourfront, alongside other authors whose work I love! 

And last year, I was invited to the Indo-American Arts Council Lit Fest in New York, speaking to a hall packed with readers, about 1920s India, women's education and empowerment, princely states and Maharajas, and much more. Such fun.

Meeting and chatting with other authors is one of the best perks of attending these conferences. Sadly, I've missed being at the big US meetings this far, but I'd love to, one day. Meanwhile, several of our Minds co-bloggers are gathering at Bouchercon soon, and I look forward to raising a virtual toast to them!  

    

Remembrance of Bouchercons Past

It's Bouchercon week where crime writers from all over will gather. We've talked a lot about the pros and cons of conferences, but what’s your most memorable conference experience, good and bad. What's the conference moment you'll never forget?

Alas, I am not able to attend Bouchercon this year, but I have so many wonderful memories of years past. My most memorable experience had to be in 2017 in Toronto, when HEART OF STONE won the Anthony Award for Best Paperback Original and the Macavity Award (Sue Feder Memorial) for Best Historical Mystery.

2021 might have been equally as memorable, but it was the pandemic and Bouchercon was held remotely. Still, TURN TO STONE won the Barry Award for Best Paperback Original and the Sue Feder Macavity Award for Best Historical Mystery. See far below.

I’ve tried to locate photos from each of the eight Bouchercon I’ve attended, but some were harder to find than others.

I hope you’ll enjoy my trip down Memory Lane, presented here in random order.

Toronto 2017

With Louise Penny and Art Taylor (Macavity winners)

With Terry Shames

Macavity and Anthony awards HEART OF STONE

With fellow Criminal Minds

With the Royal Mounties

Dallas 2019

Nominees for Best Paperback Original. Lori Rader-Day (winner) Kellye Garrett, Alison Gaylin, and me (losers)

With Lori Rader-Day

With Gabriel Valjan

With Katrina Niidas Holm and Chris Holm

2013 Albany

With Lynne Raimondo, Mark Pryor, and Terry Shames

2014 Long Beach

Sara Paretsky et al. (I’m off in the distance)

Terry Shames winning the Macavity Award

With Cathy Ace

2015 Raleigh

With Larry D. Sweazy and Lori Rader-Day

With Lynne Raimondo

2016 New Orleans

With Kathy Boone Reel

2018 St. Petersburg

Best Paperback Original panel with Erik Pruitt, Greg Herren,
Thomas Pluck, Nadine Nettman, Lori Rader-Day

With Shaun Harris, Stephanie Gayle, Terry Shames,
Jennifer Kincheloe, Steven Cooper

With 7 Criminal Minds

The Flask

2023 San Diego

With Camille Minichino (RIP)

2021 Virtual

George Easter announcing TURN TO STONE Barry Award

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