July 2007 Blogs

The July Photo of the Month comes from a vacation Susan, Sam, and I took with friends to Atlantic Beach, NC the first week of July '07. We've learned that Sam really loves riding around in the backpack.

Monday July 30, 2007
Susan took this photo today shortly after Sam ate his first cracker...

Saturday July 28, 2007
I've got a new interview online. This was shot yesterday at the RTN studio in downtown Raleigh. Our guest was Alexandra Sokoloff.

Friday July 27, 2007
Had a great photo arrive in my email inbox this evening from my good friend P.G. Holyfield, author of Murder at Avedon Hill. This is from my event at the Borders in Charlotte on Wednesday...

Thursday July 26, 2007; roughly 1:30 A.M.
Yesterday, I woke in Carmel, Indiana at 3:00 AM. It's nearly 24 hours later, and during that time, I have been to Indianapolis, Raleigh, Charlotte, and back to Raleigh again. I'm sleepy, but I feel an almost purging need to get in here and blog about it.

So I had an event at a Borders in Charlotte, and we had a strong crowd of nearly 30 folks who came out. Again, the big draw came from Meetup.com, and the presentation title "How to Get Published: Traditional Publishing and Literary Agents." This topic, hands down, has been the single most consistent crowd draw of any I've done the last seven months.

The trouble is that I haven't really had a product that fits cohesively with the topic. I always manage to sell a few copies of Amber Page or The Colorado Sequence, but it's barely enough to break even (and sometimes isn't enough). So I've begun work on a DVD project drawn from this seminar. My hope is that I'll be able to continue this popular presentation, and have a product that'll sell that fits better with people's expectations who come.

I still want to push the fiction at every event, but I've come to realize I have to have something that consistently keeps me in the black. I'm beginning to envision the DVD sales as a way of paying for gas and expenses, while the fiction (a novel per year) is the way to build a consistent readership who read my books and want to read the next one. The two can work together, I think.

At any rate, I'm home safe and sound, and I think I'm going to go upstairs and crash, now.

Later today (Thursday), I've got to be down at the TV studio to get prepared for the show for tomorrow (Friday).

If you've sent me email either directly or through my website in the last few days, I'm going to try my best to respond in the next day or so.

Stacey

Wednesday July 18, 2007
A new photo arrived in my email inbox this morning courtesy of New York Times bestselling author James Rollins and photographer David Sylvian....

That's ITW Grandmaster Clive Cussler and I. Dr. Cussler is the author of the Dirk Pitt Series of action-adventure novels, and is about as well-known and well-respected as anyone in the thriller community.

Monday July 16, 2007
Well, I'm back from New York's Thrillerfest Conference, and I'm here to give you a full report (with photos!)

The way I see it there are three main purposes for conventions like Thrillerfest (and Bouchercon and Murder in the Midlands, etc.), and those are: 1) Networking, 2) Writing Community Support, and 3) Self Promotion. Though, it's always difficult to know exactly how to feel after a conference, I do feel like I accomplished these three main purposes. The list of writers I met and gained insights from is too numerous. So, I'll start with a couple of photos...

This is one of my favorite photos of the conference; that's suspense writer Lee Child, author of the Jack Reacher series. I've met Lee on a number of previous occasions (Bouchercon Madison, Bouchercon Chicago, AZ Murder Goes Thriller), but for whatever reason, I've never managed to have a photo taken with him. Lee's books are all New York Times bestsellers, and you should definitely check them out if you love suspense novels.

This next photo just blows my mind...

That's James Patterson and me. Jim's novels are literally the bestselling novels on the planet, second only to J.K. Rowling, and I was lucky enough to get this photo because he and I were staying on the same floor. I actually saw him coming up the hallway with his wife, as I was walking to the elevator door. I said to him that it was a great to meet him and asked if I could have the honor of having a photograph taken with him. He said, "Sure. Let's do it on the elevator." And so once the door opened, I gave the camera to another passenger and she snapped this picture.

This third photo is another one I'm particularly proud of...

That's New York Times bestselling author Heather Graham and me. Heather's books are all phenomenal bestsellers, and you can find them on just about any supermarket or pharmacy paperback rack.

Here's a great photo of Vince Flynn and me...

Vince's novels are extremely popular, and he told a wonderful story on Friday about riding with President Bush and his wife in the presidential limousine. He's also met President Clinton, who is a huge fan of Vince's novels. I chatted with Vince about hanging out in the Oval Office with President Bush, the Cuban situation, the problems with diplomacy in Iran and in the Middle East in general, and the problems of mass refugees to Jordan from Iraq. I asked him what he thought would happen in Cuba after Castro dies, and Vince made an interesting point that there will probably be a huge wave of Cuban-Americans back to Cuba, and that the country may not be prepared to handle the influx of millions.

Here's another really cool picture...

That's New York Times bestselling author Jeffrey Deaver and me. Jeff's novels have all been phenomenal bestsellers, and several of them have been adapted for film. Most notably, the Denzell Washington vehicle The Bone Collector.

Here's a great picture with the winner of the International Thriller Writers Best Novel category, Joseph Finder...

And here's a close-up of the trophy...

I asked Joe how it felt to win, and he used the word "Surreal." He was extremely gracious and humble in his acceptance speech, and extremely articulate, and it was really cool to chat with him afterwards about what it felt like.

Here's a photo of Alex Sokoloff, myself, Marcus Sakey, Tasha Alexander, and Robert Gregory Brown...

They're all exceptional writers, and they're very young. So if you're looking for a read from a great writer whom you might not have heard of before, I encourage you to give them a read.

Here's a photograph of New York Times bestselling author Lisa Gardner and me...

Lisa made some extraordinarily insightful comments on her panel about how to write compelling characters. She's very articulate, and struck me as extremely intelligent and compassionate.

Here's another photo I'm really very proud of...

That's Marcus Sakey and me. Marcus has got to be the hottest new author of the last year, with folks drawing comparisons of him to Dennis Lehane, George Pelecanos, and Elmore Leonard. Several people told me, "You have to read Marcus's The Blade Itself."

And finally, two photos I don't even know how to describe.

Yesterday afternoon, I had a few hours before my flight left, and so I took the subway from Grand Central down to Fulton Street. My goal was to make it to the sight of the World Trade Center...

The huge, open space is where the buildings once stood. In my mind, I could picture people leaping from the windows, and I found myself wondering what I would do if faced with a similar situation.

I don't think there's a good answer.

This one was taken from inside the pit where they've begun rebuilding, and I'll leave it with you as my final photograph from New York...

Thursday July 12, 2007
Check out the interview!

Wednesday July 11, 2007
I've got another whirl-wind day ahead of me today, but I thought I would get in here and write up a blog (with photos!) from yesterday's first episode shoot of "The Artist's Craft with Stacey Cochran."

Here's a picture of our set...

Here's one of our director Michael Graziano...

Camera operator Eileen Batson...

Technical director Marnie Cooper Priest...

Music coordinator Jon Batson...

Michael and Marnie working out the opening titles for the show and ending credits...

The whole crew in the studio control room...

And one slightly over-exposed producer and host, yours truly....

If you're an author and would like to be featured in a television interview for The Artist's Craft, just contact me via the comments box at the top of the page. At the end of the day, we have DVDs of our episodes, we broadcast to 90,000 Time/Warner subscribers, and we're able to stream video online.

Just get in touch with me.

Stacey

Saturday July 7, 2007
I had an excellent event tonight in Durham, North Carolina at The Regulator Bookstore, a panel discussion on traditional and self publishing with Alex Sokoloff, Alice Osborn, and Henry Hutton. I managed to capture some excellent video footage of the event, and I will turn this discussion into a DVD in the next few weeks.

Here's a photo from after the event with Alex, Alice, and Abbie...

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