You Have the Right to Six Words - Week 24

Last week we had three ladies with one gentleman memoirists. This week we flipped the roles and we have three gentleman joining one classy lady to have four outstanding six-word memoirs. So let's not waste time with small talk.

Josh Bazell wanted to be a writer from the age of nine. He even studied writing as an undergraduate in college, but graduate studies would find him working toward an M.D. His love of science and his love of writing continued to battle for the upper hand and neither won out. Instead, Josh is now a medical resident in San Francisco and a published author with his debut novel BEAT THE REAPER. Appropriately so, Josh is highly influenced by Arthur Conan Doyle who also published after medical school. He's presently hard at work practicing medicine and writing his second novel. All in all, Josh says,

Writing was the least of it.

Brad Parks has been employed as a writer since he was 14 and covering the high school girls basketball beat for his local paper. After high school, he founded a weekly sports newspaper at Dartmouth College and then went on to become an award-winning journalist, writing for The Washington Post and the Newark, NJ, Star Ledger. His work included covering a quadruple homicide that would be the catalyst for his debut novel, FACES OF THE GONE, which will release in December. I met Brad at Bouchercon this year and to put it bluntly, he impressed the hell out of me. I'm looking forward to his work. But you don't want to know about me, you want to know about his memoir:

Stiff white guy writes gritty crime.

And I've heard he prefers pleated pants as well! Keep your eyes peeled for FACES OF THE GONE. I think Brad Parks is a name you're going to hear a lot of in the near future!

Neil Plakcy is our third memoirist and another author I had the pleasure of meeting at Bouchercon. While he was born in Pennsylvania, warmer climates beckoned him. Neil now calls Hollywood, Florida, home. The tropics of Florida sparked an interest for Neil in Hawaii, and thus his Mahu series was born. In August this year, the fourth book in that series, MAHU VICE, was published. In addition to novel author, Neil can claim the titles of anthology editor and Assistant Professor of English at Broward College. And when he isn't wearing one of those hats, he's wearing the hat of Vice President of the Florida chapter of Mystery Writers of America. And of course I have to mention that Neil and his partner are the proud owners of a golden retriever. So what's the secret to all this success? Neil puts his math skills to work and says

Hard work plus luck equals
publication.

And it is my distinct honor to welcome our final memoirist today who is an international best-selling suspense writer, the #1 fiction best-selling author in France, and a Mystery Writers of America Grand Master. Mary Higgins Clark battled the odds to achieve her success, which includes well over 40 novels, non-fiction works, and short story collections. Left a widower at a young age, she raised five children and wrote radio scripts to pay the bills, all the while working on her fiction writing. Her first novel was a biographical novel about George Washington that was published in 1969 and would be reissued in 2002, but it would be her first suspense novel that turned Mary Higgins Clark's life upside down. WHERE ARE THE CHILDREN is now in its amazing 75th edition in paperback.

With the success of WHERE ARE THE CHILDREN, Mary was able to do some of the things she was previously unable to do, such as return to school and earn a degree in philosophy. There is no doubt that Mary has influenced the crime fiction genre we know today. The Mystery Writers of America even presents a suspense fiction writing award during the Edgars each year in Mary's name. But she's left a mark far beyond the reaches of her writing. She's also received numerous awards for her service to church, community, and family, including the Catholic Big Sisters Distinguished Service Award, the Outstanding Mother of the Year Award, the Bronx Legend Award, and the Christopher Life Achievement Award.

In April of this year, the Queen of Suspense released JUST TAKE MY HEART. And this week she is releasing a book with her daughter Carol Higgins Clark that packages together two of their previously released holiday thrillers: DECK THE HALLS and THE CHRISTMAS THIEF.

Four of Mary's novels, including WHERE ARE THE CHILDREN, were adapted for movies and a slew of others have been adapted for television.

From selling her first short story in 1956 for $100 to publishing over 40 works and achieving world-wide fame today, Mary Higgins Clark has become a household name in crime fiction and an influence to many who have followed in her footsteps. There's no telling what crime fiction would look like today if not for the fact that

Writing about crime makes me happy.

And aren't we glad it does!

Oh my goodness, I think I have chills from writing this post. What an amazing group of writers here. My deepest thanks to Josh, Brad, Neil and Mary for sharing their memoirs. I'm honored to have you all here today and I'm honored at the generosity you have extended toward me and my project.

And everyone reading, I'm honored that you come back and check this out and enjoy it with me. I'm honored to share this community with you all. Thank you so much. I hope you'll continue to stop by and share it with me. I'll see you next week with more memoirs!

Happy Reading!