Happy (belated) St. David's Day by Cathy Ace

Hello folks! St. David's Day was yesterday, March 1st, so as you're reading this I am flopping about somewhere in a Welshcake-induced coma. It also means I'm going to (respectfully) ignore this week's question, and take the chance to tell you ALL about the fabulous crime writing festival that will be held "in Wales" this end April/beginning of May, online, and free of charge. I hope you'll forgive me this bit of flag-waving! 

(And keep reading to the end of this post for news of a FABULOUS offer on my Welsh cozy mysteries!)

There are some international headliners, and great deal of Welsh-grown talent at the events - all of which are detailed below. I'll be appearing, as will fellow blogger here Abir Mukherjee, along with people like...no, I can't list them all, so check out the FABULOUS names below! 

Some you'll know, some will be new to you - so, come on, let's try to find you your next favorite crime writer...in WALES! 

Over 4,000 viewers watched the panels at last year’s digital Gwyl Crime Cymru Festival.

Another 3,000 have watched them on our YouTube panel since.

(FYI: Gwyl is the Welsh word for Festival)

 

Now it’s your turn…

 

We're incredibly excited to present the full programme for the
2022 digital Gwyl Crime Cymru Festival.

Check out the panels for the 2022 digital Gwyl Crime Cymru Festival below and book your tickets now – you’ll find links by clicking on your chosen panel title.

 

And don’t forget…

 

All the panels are online. All the panels are free.

 

 

PROGRAMME & TICKETS

 

Wednesday 27 April Event 1 - 18:30 The Second Story in Crime Fiction: We all have Issues! Contemporary crime fiction has proven to be the perfect genre to explore many difficult issues that trouble society beyond law-breaking. Homelessness, dubious technology and deep-rooted traditions are just some of the subjects explored to great effect by the authors here. Chair: Jacky Collins Speakers: Trevor Wood, Awais Khan, Louise Mumford Event 2 - 20:00 Who killed Daniel Morgan? This panel discusses the infamous unsolved axe murder of Welsh private detective Daniel Morgan with journalist Peter Jukes and Alastair Morgan, Daniel’s brother. Chair: Matt Johnson Speakers: Alistair Morgan, Peter Jukes

Thursday 28 April Event 3 - 18:30 Women in Crime Fiction: Pursuers and Perpetrators Gone are the days of gender stereotypes in crime fiction. These authors demonstrate how the agency afforded women in crime fiction has diverged considerably to the extent that the characters these authors have created are found on both sides of the law and are always to be reckoned with. Chair: Jacky Collins Speakers: Mari Hannah, Elly Griffiths, Beverly Jones Event 4 - 20:00 How Much Fact, How Much Fiction: Using Historical Events in Crime Fiction Crime Writers’ Association Historical Dagger winner, Vaseem Khan (Midnight at Malabar House) and Historical Writers’ Association gold crown winner, Chris Lloyd (The Unwanted Dead) discuss how they balance writing compelling fiction and giving readers an authentic taste of the historical events their characters are dealing with. Chair: Alis Hawkins Speakers: Vaseem Khan, Chris Lloyd

Friday 29 April Event 5 - 18:30 Gwaed ar y Dudalen Mae’r Cymry yn hoff o drioedd felly yn y sesiwn yma bydd Jon Gower yn trafod tri o hanfodion sgrifennu trosedd gyda’r awduron profiadol a phoblogaidd Gwen Parrott ac Alun Davies – lleoliad, plot a chymeriadu. Chair: Jon Gower Speakers: Alun Davies, Gwen Parrott Event 6 - 20:00 It’s all in your head: writing psychological crime fiction Do authors need to get into their readers’ heads as well as those of their characters’ to write compelling, bestselling and prizewinning fiction? Clare Mackintosh and Belinda Bauer talk about playing with perception, plot and people in this fascinating discussion. Chair: Katherine Stansfield Speakers: Clare Mackintosh, Belinda Bauer

Monday 2 May Event 7 - 18:30 Ex-forces cops – hard men or soft centres? Craven’s Washington Poe and Johnson’s Robert Finlay both have pasts in the military, and the life-or-death situations they faced in uniform mean that they bring a particular ‘who gives a f***?’ attitude towards some aspects of policing. But does policing also require emotional intelligence? Barry Forshaw explores Craven and Johnson’s differing views. Chair: Barry Forshaw Speaker: MW Craven, Matt Johnson Event 8 - 20:00 Island Crime Do remote settings enhance the mystery and chill of the crime novel? Does location affect how the reader experiences the scene of the crime? These award-winning and critically acclaimed authors know how to transport us so that we feel the remoteness of bleak island landscapes and the bitter chill of northerly winds. Chair: Jacky Collins Speaker: Ann Cleaves, Lilja Sigurdardottir

Tuesday 3 May Event 9 - 18:30 35 Diwrnod a Bang – y ddrama drosedd rhyngwladol Yn y blynyddoedd diwethaf mae sioeau trosedd o Gymru wedi plesio cynulleidfaoedd yng Nghymru ac ar draws y byd. Bydd Jon Gower yn trafod y llwyddiant yma gyda dau sydd wedi disgleirio wrth lunio cyfresi treiddgar, cyflym a gwaedlyd, sef Fflur Dafydd a Roger Williams. Chair: Jon Gower Speakers: Fflur Dafydd, Roger Williams Event 10 - 20:00 Where, When or Who? Which is the most important question in crime fiction? Billingham, Jones and Ellis are all crime authors but they set their fiction in the past and the present, in Britain and Venice, featuring police officers and amateur sleuths. What unites their books under the crime banner? What common factors do they share? And why might their work appeal to different kinds of readers? Chair: Barry Forshaw Speakers: Mark Billingham, Mark Ellis, Philip Gwynne Jones

Wednesday 4 May Event 11 - 18:30 The Truth, The Whole Truth and The Historical Truth With dogged detectives who refuse to settle until the truth is revealed, the authors on this panel have successfully shown how constructing fiction around historical fact blends perfectly with crime and mystery and provides wonderful insight into times gone by and faraway places. Chair: Jacky Collins Speakers: Abir Mukherjee, Alis Hawkins Event 12 - 20:00 Strong Women, Strong Setting Cosy crime meets gritty as Cathy Ace pits her Cait Morgan and WISE Detective Agency series against GB Williams’ Branwen Jones (The Chair) and Ariadne Teddington (Locked series). How do the settings of these books influence their protagonists’ approach to the crimes they find themselves tangled up in? Chair: Alis Hawkins Speakers: Cathy Ace, GB Williams

To see all tickets, CLICK HERE

 

 

Book now and enjoy the buzz of a live panel with your favourite crime writers. That way, you can put questions to the authors, you interact with participants from all over the world, and you get to be part of an exciting online crime fiction festival as it happens. So put on your PJs, pour a cup of tea or a glass of wine and watch from the comfort of your own armchair… or bed, or mountain top… and buckle up for the

2022 digital Gwyl Crime Cymru Festival.

And, who knows, you might just find your next favourite crime writer in Wales sooner than you think…

And if you're in the mood to visit Wales NOW...look no further than this great deal: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09SZLBH5T

With thanks to everyone who has purchased (and rated!) - it's been a real thrill to achieve #1 Bestseller status in multiple categories in Australia, Canada, the UK, and the USA! 

http://www.cathyace.com/

Monty Don's got a lot to answer for... by Cathy Ace

Sitting typing isn’t what we evolved to do, no matter how rewarding it might be. At your desk and/or away from it, how do you counteract the physical toll a writing life takes on your body?

This question’s a bit like one of those cans of worms that explode when you open them...however carefully I try to answer it I’m not going to end up looking good...though I think this does...my garden!

You can see 6 of our hydrangeas here - we have a couple of hundred

I know we humans were not designed to sit typing all day, but I also know this particular human wasn’t designed to type at all competently. I should’ve taken lessons at some point – but I’m old enough that when I started work there was a typing pool in the bowels of London Transport’s splendid art deco HQ at St. James’s Park, to which I dutifully took my boss’s handwritten letters etc. each day so they could be typed, then I’d collect them around 3pm, and present them to him for signing before I took them to the post (mail) room so they could be posted (mailed). Yes, I know it sounds like the Dark Ages, but we’re talking about 1984…yes, the REAL 1984. If I’d learned to type properly back then maybe I wouldn’t have to spend quite so long at my desk retyping all the Scrabble-hands I seem to want to include in every sentence. Maybe.

I love this...see below for scale...

Since I didn’t, here I sit cursing the fact that I cannot (and this is a hue admission folks) type an apostrophe in a word – I always type a semi-colon instead. I have absolutely no idea why my finger goes to the wrong key every single time, but it does. It’s every time. Just did it then – typed It;s and had to go back and change it. Sometimes the spellcheck thing decides to change it for me, other times it doesn;t and if I keep typing this blog without changing every time I do it, you;ll soon see how many changes I;m likely to have to make on every page of every book I;ve ever written. You might think this is just an amusing aside – a way to get out of an even bigger admission that I;m holding back from making, and maybe it is. I don;t know. But it certainly contributes to the overall number of hours I sit here.

I am the tiny figure in orange - helps with scale. Far right - the ESSENTIAL hot tub

Okay, so here goes. How do I counteract the physical toll of writing when I;m actually sitting at my desk? Simple confession – I don;t. I;ve tried setting alarms to get me to leave my chair and move around, I ignore them. I even have one of those watches that counts my steps (LOL…I think it thinks I;m a bump on a log) and tells me when to get up and stretch…I ignore it.

Lovely rhodo behind a soon-to-be-lovely hibiscus. We have a couple of hundred rhodos

To counteract the damage I;m doubtless doing to myself I work the five acres we live on (with husband), and do my best to keep it looking half way decent. That’s a lot of work. Today I moved six logs. Doesn’t sound like much, but they weighed about 150 pounds each, and all needed to be moved about 30 feet. It took a while; I rolled them when I could…but, you know…it was a lot. Yesterday I did four hours of pruning – which meant I did about one third of our hundreds of hydrangea bushes (and still my watch told me to exercise – it can become very bossy!) and tomorrow I’ll be clearing a large bed of branches and detritus that husband will run through the chipper, then I;ll shovel that into a wheelbarrow, wheel it to one of the paths we;re building (which are edged with the aforementioned logs) and will tip, spread, flatten…and repeat. Probably for three or four hours. We call it gardening – others might think we’ve invented some new form of masochistic torture we impose upon ourselves…but it will look lovely eventually…when we’ve dug holes for the hundreds of plants in large, heavy pots we’ve got standing by, ready to go. Monty Don’s got a lot to answer for…it all looks so easy on Gardener’s World!

Standing beside one of the first rhodos I planted, about 18 years ago

So, simple answer: when I sit, I sit…I;m oblivious of time, and I know that;s a bad thing. I overcompensate with ridiculous amounts of work in the garden – then stretch my screaming muscles in the hot tub. And take painkillers.

I love playing with colour and texture...even if I have to wait years for it to work

I am not living healthily. I know this. But I am managing to write books people seem to enjoy reading, and the garden looks – to me, anyway – magnificent. Hope it was okay to show it off :-) 

And I saved at least 5 minutes at my desk by not altering all those blessed semi-colons! Ta-daaa!

By the way - don't forget I'll be taking part in the opening panel of Wales's FIRST international crime writers' festival - online, and FREE - on April 26th. I kick off the whole thing with Martin Edwards, and Gail Williams. Other authors include Lee and Andrew Child, Peter James, Yrsa Sigurdardottir, Ragnar Jonasson, 7 Criminal Mind's very own Abir Mukherjee, and lots more... Full details and FREE tickets here: Gwyl Crime Cymru Festival | Wales' First International Crime Festival  

If you'd like to get a copy of the TENTH Cait Morgan Mystery, The Corpse with the Iron Will, when it’s released on June 3^rd, check out the pre-order link on my website: http://www.cathyace.com/cait-morgan-mysteries

Out and about...but not in a boat! by Cathy Ace

Business: How have you changed the way you promote and support your work, and generally go about the business of being an author, since “Lockdown Life” began a year ago? Anything you’ve learned that will remain in place as we move forward?

This month we’re talking about THE ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM…indeed, we’re examining it in detail. March 13^th will mark my personal one-year anniversary of being at home. I cannot recall a time in the last thirty years of my life when I’ve gone two months without someone handing me a boarding pass, so – yes – my life and way of working has changed significantly over the last twelve months. Just like millions of others.

At least a part of my office is tidy now - because the world gets to see it quite often! (NOTE: the paintings on the far right of this photo were all done by my late father - he's with me as I go out and about around the world!)

However, I’m luckier than most: I have an office in my home, and we live on acreage…so I can continue my writing quite easily. And I’ve been doing that (as well as decorating the house!). But this week’s question is specifically about the BUSINESS of being an author which – to me – is all the bits that aren’t writing/editing.

And I’d say that this has been a year of downs, and ups.

Promoting my work has never been more difficult – nor “easier” at the same time. No face-to-face events in bookstores or libraries, no conventions or festivals, which is a great shame…but access to so many more online opportunities to reach readers/potential readers around the world that just never existed before. (As an aside – as a reader I am LOVING the access I am getting online to authors I admire!)

A fabulous example of NEW channels to reach readers: it's free to join the Facebook group, and you get to hear Hannah and Hank read the first chapter of a possibly-new-to-you book twice a week!

I’ve participated in free-to-view events like panels and more social “noir at the bar” type events, as well as some that have required a payment. Oddly, the not-free ones have been better attended than the free ones – not sure what that says, except that, maybe, if a person commits even a small payment to attend an event they actually attend. I know I’ve intended to watch panels, but something’s come up at the last minute (as things do when we’re all at home all the time!) and I’ve had to watch later. That element – the being able to watch at my own convenience – has been the biggest thing for me. So maybe the “watch later” attendance for the free events is where the numbers have crept up.

I’ve been invited to contribute to more podcasts and radio interviews than in the past, which is great, and I have some wonderful events lined up throughout April and May (check my website for details!) where I can at least “mix” with some old friends. To be honest, it’s been bittersweet watching Zoom sessions with people I wish I could be hugging at conventions, but I also know I’ve seen people more often online than I could have done in real life, so that’s wonderful.

Fellow Criminal Mind Catriona McPherson interviews me at Left Coast Crime 2019
(photo thanks to Dru Ann Love)

I think the inaugural Gwyl Crime Cymru Festival – taking place online from April 26^th to May 3rd – is an excellent example of me grabbing an opportunity that might not have been possible otherwise: I am pinching myself to know I’ll be taking part in the first ever panel for Wales’ first ever international crime writers’ festival. Not something I could have imagined – and you’re invited! Check out the fabulous authors who’ll be taking part here: CLICK TO CONNECT

At Malice Domestic: I interviewed Martin Edwards when he was the recipient of the prestigious Poirot Award in 2017. Here we're being served afternoon tea by our maid - the wonderful Verena Main Rose. Martin and I will be on the inaugural panel of Gwyl Crime Cymru Festival in April this year, with GB Williams

I, personally, would like to see all future conventions and festivals retain the digital access they’ve had to create for their 2020 and 2021 iterations – every author wants to reach their WORLD of potential readers, and these online opportunities are great at doing that.

If you're not familiar with my work, you can check it out BY CLICKING HERE.

Also - please consider signing up for my newsletter - then you'll be the first to see my new cover...Cait Morgan #10 is coming in June 2021! Sign up is on the opening page of my website: CLICK HERE