Adult Winter Reading Program 2007
Just Desserts – Celebrating 20 Years of Sisters in Crime
Continues through March 31
By the end of a mystery, the crime is solved and the perpetrator gets his (or her) just desserts.  This reading program celebrates 20 years of the Sisters in Crime mystery writers organization.  For more information, contact the Readers’ Advisory Desk at (847) 923-3339.

Love Scenes - ShawChicago
Tuesday, Feb 6        7 p.m.
Rasmussen South
Just in time for Valentine’s Day, actors from ShawChicago, the celebrated local theatre company, will perform scenes from some of George Bernard Shaw’s greatest works. 

Inside Writing & Publishing:
For the second year, the Schaumburg Township District Library is participating in the multi-library cooperative program, Inside Writing and Publishing.  These free seminars, presented in March and April in cooperation with the North Suburban Library System, offer people an opportunity to meet with authors to learn how to sharpen their writing skills and get their work published.  This year, STDL will offer four seminars covering different aspects of writing.  Brochures with all of the programs offered by the eight different libraries will be available at the Readers’ Advisory Desk around the beginning of February.

The Thirteen Not-Always-Easy, Overlapping, Never-Ending, Surefire Steps to Getting your Mystery Novel Published
Tuesday, March 6        7-8:30 p.m.
Rasmussen South
Multi-published and award-winning mystery author David J. Walker provides a motivational presentation on getting your mystery novel published.  David is the author of the Edgar-nominated P.I. Mal Foley series and the Wild Onion, Ltd. series featuring husband-and-wife team of Kirsten and Dugan.  Registration is required.  

You Should Write a Book! - Write a Book Proposal That Sells Itself
Wednesday, March 7    7-8:30 p.m.
Adult Classroom
Local area writer Leslie Levine shares insider tips on how to create a successful book proposal that will appeal to publishers.  Leslie is the author of three books and has appeared on numerous radio and TV programs, including The Today Show, CBS This Morning, and Fox News.  Registration is required. 

Screenwriting Fundamentals
Tuesday, March 13    7-8:30 p.m.
Rasmussen South
Members of Chicago’s Screenwriters Group will present a program on the fundamentals of screenwriting, the basics of the three-act structure and its incorporation into cinematic storytelling.  Registration is required.

Three Pillars of Popular Fiction
Thursday, March 22    7-9 p.m.
Adult Classroom
Science Fiction and fantasy author E. E. Knight provides an in-depth discussion of what makes a good story:  plot, character, and setting - how to generate them and how they all drive each other to keep the story moving forward.  This course is more for someone who is writing a novel and trying to improve it or fill in rough spots.   Knight is the creator of the Vampire Earth series and Dragon Champion, the first of a new high fantasy saga; he also teaches genre fiction writing at Harper College.  Registration is required. 

 Critics hail her writing using words such as “sharp,” “intelligent,” “funny,” and “hip.”  She “gives fans of thrillers a good, twisty plot, lively characters and an all-around fun read.”  Her stories featuring gutsy and resilient female characters have thrilled readers since her first book, Everywhere That Mary Went, was published in 1994.

Scottoline graduated magna cum laude from the University of Pennsylvania with a degree in English.  Among her professors at the university was National Book Award winner Philip Roth.  Armed with her law degree, also from the University of Pennsylvania, she clerked for the president of the Pennsylvania Superiour Court and later joined a Philadelphia law firm.  When her daughter was born, she left the firm and began writing legal fiction part-time. 

Always interested in writing and a fan of other legal thriller writers such as John Grisham and Scott Turow, Scottoline realized there were no women attorneys writing legal thrillers.  She decided to try her hand.  According to Scottoline, she allowed herself five years, or $50,000 in credit (whichever came first) to write and sell her first book.  She finished her first book in three years and maxed out five credit cards.  To supplement her income, she took a part-time clerking job with a federal appellate judge, but ended up selling her first book only one week later.

Her first novel, Everywhere That Mary Went, published in 1994, was an instant bestseller and was nominated for the Mystery Writers of America’s Edgar Award, one of the most prestigious awards for crime fiction.  Her second novel, Final Appeal (1995), was also nominated for and received the Edgar.  She has written eleven more legal suspense novels and each one has made numerous bestseller lists.  To date, Scottoline has over nine million copies of her titles in print in the United States and her books have been translated into over 20 languages.

Scottoline is a believer in the adage “write what you know” and, as a result, all of her books are set in Philadelphia and a number of her books feature women attorneys from the all-female law firm of Rosato & Associates.  Her 13th book (Dirty Blonde) released this year, however, introduces a new cast of characters including Cate Fante, a young federal judge with a secret sex life and a mixed up past.

A lifelong Philadelphian, Lisa still lives in the Philadelphia area (where she is a “die hard Eagles fan”) with her daughter, four dogs and a horse.

Her books, in chronological order  (the * denotes books with characters from Rosato & Associates):

Getting an agent

Although getting an agent isn’t the only route to getting published, finding an agent can be a daunting process.  There are literally thousands of agents out there and each one only takes on a limited number of clients.  So where do you even start?

Begin by checking out one of the library’s resources:  Guide to Book Publishers, Editors and Literary Agents written by Jeff Herman (available in the library’s reference collection, R 070.5 HERMAN).  This book will provide quite a bit of detail on each agent, including their likes/dislikes, names of clients they currently represent, information on their recent sales and, most importantly, how they prefer to be contacted. 

In general, here is some suggested general etiquette when contacting agents:

1.   Do not send attached files containing manuscripts to agents unless their guidelines explicitly state that those attachments are acceptable in your initial correspondence.

2.    Email messages should be kept to a length of one or two pages unless you have been explicitly invited to send a manuscript or sample chapters.

3.   You should let the agent know where you found the listing for them.  

Some agents are now blogging on the internet and it’s not a bad idea to check out what they’re saying about agents in general, how to query and other industry news.

A reputable agent will not charge you a fee up front to represent your book. An agent makes their living by selling your book to a publisher and earning a commission (a percentage of the proceeds your book earns).  One reason agents carefully scrutinize submissions is that they know what publishers are looking for and, therefore, they’re unlikely to accept any manuscript that isn’t ready for submission or, at least, close enough that a little editing will make the difference. 

The most important thing tdo keep in mind is – write the best story you possibly can.  And then do your research on agents.

--------------------

Writer’s quote on writing:  “I love deadlines. I like the whooshing sound they make as they fly by.”  (Douglas Adams, author of The Hitchhikers’ Guide to the Galaxy)