January 27 – February 2: “What’s the best advice you can give to a beginner writer?”

We have a full house this week, with ITW Members Mark Pryor, Lissa Price, Jaye Wells, David O’Neil, Don Helin, Lisa Von Biela, J. M. LeDuc and Terry Shames answering the question: “What’s the best advice you can give to a beginner writer?” You won’t want to miss it!
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Mark Pryor is a former newspaper reporter from England, and now a prosecutor with the Travis County District Attorney’s Office, in Austin, Texas. He is the creator of the Hugo Marston mystery novels, which include THE BOOKSELLER (Oct 2012), THE CRYPT THIEF (May 2013), and the newly released THE BLOOD PROMISE. He is also the creator of the nationally-recognized true-crime blog D.A. Confidential, and has appeared on CBS News’s 48 Hours and Discovery Channel’s Discovery ID: Cold Blood.

Terry Shames is the best-selling author of A Killing at Cotton Hill and The Last Death of Jack Harbin, Seventh Street Books. Her books are set in small-town Texas and feature ex-chief of police Samuel Craddock. Terry lives in Berkeley, CA with her husband and two rowdy terriers. She is Vice President of Norcal Sisters in Crime and on the board of MWA Norcal.

Lissa Price is the award-winning international bestselling author of STARTERS, published in over thirty countries. She has lived in India and Japan but now resides in Los Angeles.

Jaye Wells is a USA Today-bestselling author of urban fantasy and speculative crime fiction. Raised by booksellers, she loved reading books from a very young ago. That gateway drug eventually led to a full-blown writing addiction. When she’s not chasing the word dragon, she loves to travel, drink good bourbon and do things that scare her so she can put them in her books. Jaye lives in Texas.

During Don Helin‘s time in the military, he spent seven years in the Pentagon. These assignments have provided him background for his thrillers. His first novel, THY KINGDOM COME was published in 2009. His second, DEVIL’S DEN has been selected as a finalist in the Indie Book Awards. Don lives in central Pennsylvania where he is working on “Secret Assault,” to be published in Spring 2014.

From David O’Neill: As an Artist and Photographer I started writing seriously with a series of Highland guide books. My boyhood ambitions were to fly an aeroplane, and sail a boat. As a boy my family were bombed out of our home in London. I learned to fly with the RAF 1950-52 during my National Service. I started sailing boats while serving in the Colonial Police, in Nyasaland (Malawi). I spent 8 years there, before returning to UK. Since then I lived in southern England where I became a management consultant, for over twenty years. I returned to live in Scotland in 1980, and became a tour guide in 1986. I started writing in 2006, the first guide book being published in 2007. A further two have been published since then. I started writing fiction in 2007 and have now written thirteen full length novels. I have a collection of short stories also.

Lisa von Biela worked in Information Technology for 25 years, then left the field to attend the University of Minnesota Law School, graduating magna cum laude in 2009. She now practices law in Seattle, Washington. Lisa’s first short story appeared in The Edge in 2002. Her short works have appeared in various small press venues, including Gothic.net, Twilight Times, Dark Animus, AfterburnSF, and more. Her debut novel, THE GENESIS CODE, was released in 2013. Her second novel, THE JANUS LEGACY, is due out in February 2014, and her first novella, ASH AND BONE, is set for release in May 2014.

Mark Adduci, writing as J. M. LeDuc is a native Bostonian, who transplanted to South Florida in 1985. He shares his love and life with his wife, Sherri and his daughter, Chelsea. Blessed to have had a mother who loved the written word, her passion was passed on to him. It is in her maiden name he writes. When he is not crafting the plot of his next thriller, his alter ego is busy working as a professor at The Academy of Nursing and Health Occupations, a nursing college in West Palm Beach, Florida.

J.M. LeDuc’s first novel, “Cursed Blessing,” won a Royal Palm Literary Award in 2008 as an unpublished manuscript in the thriller category. It was published in 2010. He has subsequently written “Cursed Presence” and “Cursed Days, books two and three of the Trilogy of The Chosen, as well as a novella, “Phantom Squad.”His latest novel, “Cornerstone,” a continuation of the Phantom Squad saga was released to critical acclaim in June 2013. He is a proud member of the prestigious International Thriller Writers (ITW).