Okay, so after a year of hearing “I love your work, but …,” I have finally taken the bull by the horns and decided to publish Murderers and Nerdy Girls myself. I hope that this step will not be a lemming over the cliff move on my part, but the hesitation of the current publishing industry to take a chance on anyone who doesn’t have a proven record of sales gives me no other choice. So please look for the first Liz book on Amazon as soon as I can get through the process, and let’s hope the readers of this world are smarter than the editors I’ve been dealing with!

Undaunted by the inability of the big presses to realize the genius of the Nerdy Girls concept, I have decided to try something new on the off chance that my bitter sarcasm might just translate to another type of story. My level of frustration is probably evident in the choice of subject matter – the devil. So, please take a gander at the Trilogy From Hell page and let me know what you think.

And for those of you who have been supporters and fans of Liz Howe and all of her Nerdy Girls insanity, please have no fear that she will be consigned to the dustbin of history. I will get those books published if it kills me. Que Viva Liz Howe!

Lisa

If you do not write in my family, we begin to doubt your parentage.  My brother and I both had finished novels by the time we graduated from high school.  Even those of us, like my father, who do not write fiction are published authors in their own disciplines (two Science articles and numerous patents).  And the people who marry in are also expected to live up to the family standards.  My sister-in-law is a published poet and playwright.  My husband has numerous scientific papers to his name.

It goes without saying that when I started the Nerdy Girls series, my family had a lot of constructive criticism.  My brother and sister-in-law read Murderers and provided me line by line guidance.  My dad gave me valuable insight into firearms usage and a lot of general encouragement.

My mother, an accomplished writer herself (under the name Brecht Hibbard), asked to see the first chapter of Murderers.  I gave it to her thinking she would love it.  She’s my mother, right?  The original version was eight pages.  Her suggestions reduced it to four.  Although I had a momentary sense of panic at how my baby had been slashed and burned, I soon realized that she was absolutely positively right.  Her revisions made it so much better.  I took them (and all of the other great suggestions she made) to heart and revised the entire novel many times over.  I would not be where I am without her generous help and support.

My family continues to be the best resource a novelist could ask for with each and every novel I write, and revise and revise again.  Thanks for everything Hibbard-Brecht-Trouvere-Kenny-Boero Clan!  You do the Brontes one better.

I want to take a moment to thank my writing group, S.P.E.W., for all of their encouragement in this very long process.  Dara, Cindy and Kajal, you are the best!  I would also like to thank my book group the Weekly Readers, who, though they are not ‘weekly’ are some of the best readers of my work.  Thanks for being my own personal guinea pigs.  I would also like to thank Roseann, who has helped me immensely with typing and general encouragement. And no Oscar speech would be complete without a special thanks to my family … no wait, don’t cue the music just yet …