Regular meetings are in summer recess for the Arizona Mystery Writers, but you can still get together with your reading and writing colleagues for a fun lunch gathering. There’s no agenda, no speaker, just a chance to socialize, talk about what’s going on in your life with writing and books, successes, projects and classes.

The irrepressibly gregarious among us will be having have lunch in the meeting room at Fronimo’s Greek Café on Speedway, from 11 am to 1 pm on Saturday,  July 20^th.  Order your lunch at the counter and a server will bring it to you while we chatter.  Drop in for a few minutes or stay and have lunch!

Fronimos is at 3242 E Speedway Blvd., Tucson, on the south side of Speedway, just east of Country Club, across the street from the Loft Cinema. Enter at the adjacent Walgreen’s and wind around back to parking.  You can see the Fronimo’s menu at www.fronimos.com.   Sandwiches are $6 to $9 and  main entrees a little more.  No need to RSVP. Just show up and have lunch!

See how much fun we have at Arizona Mystery Writers? Membership is only $25 a year. Why not become a regular? See you there!

Arizona Mystery Writers Summer Social!

Regular meetings are in summer recess for the Arizona Mystery Writers, but you can still get together with your reading and writing colleagues for a fun lunch gathering. There’s no agenda, no speaker, just a chance to socialize, talk about what’s going on in your life with writing and books, successes, projects and classes.

The irrepressibly gregarious among us will be having have lunch in the meeting room at Fronimo’s Greek Café on Speedway, from 11 am to 1 pm on Saturday,  July 20^th.  Order your lunch at the counter and a server will bring it to you while we chatter.  Drop in for a few minutes or stay and have lunch!

Fronimos is at 3242 E Speedway Blvd., Tucson, on the south side, just east of Country Club, across the street from the Loft Cinema. Enter at the adjacent Walgreen’s and wind around back to parking.  You can see the Fronimo’s menu at www.fronimos.com.   Sandwiches are $6 to $9 and  main entrees a little more.  No need to RSVP. Just show up and have lunch!

See how much fun we have at Arizona Mystery Writers? Membership is only $25 a year. Why not become a regular? See you there!

Beyond the Poisoned Apple. Does your villain need to dispatch a cheating spouse, a crooked partner? Learn all about poisons from Dr. F. Mazda Shirazi, U of A College of Pharmacy and Medical Director of the Arizona Poison and Drug Information Center. His interests include venoms, drug-drug interactions, toxicology of implantable materials and public health implications of toxicology. He has helped develop rattlesnake and scorpion antivenoms. Bring your questions!

Afternoon Events:

Meet the winners of the 2013 AMW Story contest. Winners will be announced and awards presented. We will also elect new board members. Why not you? There will be a book raffle and a fabulous door prize. Don’t miss the fun!
 
April 2013 Meeting

Morning Speaker:

Tracking Drug Smugglers on Horseback. How do you stalk smugglers near the border, across some of the most rugged and lawless territory in the US? By learning traditional Apache trail-reading and the Apaches’ guerilla tactic of using horses and mules for speed, stealth, and surprise. Veteran U.S. Border Patrol agent René Noriega describes the Patrol’s strategic use of pack animals and Indian tracking techniques, a program he designed. Currently he offers leadership and therapy programs centered around horses.

Afternoon Writing Workshop:

The First Draft Is Just The Beginning. Well-known Tucson author, Elizabeth Gunn will talk about fixing spelling, punctuation and grammar; and story arc, character development, and the balance between description and dialogue. Recent books by Liz include “Eleven Little Piggies” and “Magic Line.”

February 9 2013 Meeting

Morning Speaker: Make Your Mentally Disordered Characters Real! Psychologist Dr. Bill Adams, AMW member, shows how to accurately portray mental illness in your fiction. Was Hannibal Lecter a good psychopath? Was John Nash in A Beautiful Mind a good schizophrenic? Movie clips are used to show how mental illness is portrayed in fictional characters, sometimes accurately, often not. Bill Adams has a Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin. He did postdoctoral work at Cornell University and taught psychology for 15 years, interrupted in the middle by a 15 year career as a computer programmer and technical manager.

Terry started his business career skip tracing and collecting money from deadbeats. During his first day on the job, he learned that liars come from all walks of life. He never actually stole a car, but sometimes hired big guys with tow trucks and a penchant for working in the dark to “help” when negotiations failed.

Much like his protagonist in Photo Finish, Terry is a baby boomer, has a quick wit, and likes to follow a hunch.  He and his wife live in Southern California where they run their own small business.  Terry enjoys walking,  swimming, and writing. In addition to The McKenna Chronicles, “a blog about life, Hawaiian style, with a twist of grumpy.” he is working on his next novel.

Arizona Mystery Writers is a great support group for beginning or experienced fiction writers. I joined because the mystery-suspense-thriller genres are well-defined, which is helpful for a new fiction writer, and because mystery writers are interesting people with good sense of humor. My writing has evolved toward suspense, not whodunit so much as whydunit. I enjoy exploring the minds of the bad guys and the good guys. Advice for ex-academic writers: There is zero transfer of skill, so be prepared to start over.

Here’s the information regarding the 2013 writing contest. Please click on links below to download the appropriate forms.

Contest Requirements 2013

Contest Entry form 2013