Dorothy Bodoin is in our Spotlight for May. Most of us know her only as the Ask-A-Pro coordinator. But there's more to Dorothy -- much more. This month we will get acquainted with one of our behind-the-scenes SinC-IC members.
Darkness at Foxglove Corners was recently published by Five Star Press and Dorothy is promoting the book. She's half way through her seventh book. You animal lovers out there will enjoy the debut of Halley, modeled on Dorothy's collie, Holly.
Please join me in meeting Dorothy Bodoin in the SinC-IC Spotlight.
IC
Welcome to Spotlight, Dorothy. Let's start by learning more about you.
Dorothy
I was born in Michigan and graduated from Oakland University with a Bachelor's Degree in English in 1964. After teaching secondary English in Madison Heights, Michigan, for seven years, I went back to Oakland for a Master's degree. For a while I considered working toward my doctorate and was even accepted into the University of Detroit's doctoral program, but instead I decided to devote my spare time to writing. I bought the first of my three black collies in this year. I suppose you'd say I traded a doctor's degree for a book and a dog.
I retired from Madison High School in 1996 and have been writing ever since, although I did manage to finish several short stories and one historical romance while I was teaching. At present I have my third collie. I still live in Michigan and have used it as the setting for all but one of my books.
IC
Darkness at Foxglove Corners is your first published book. What has been your greatest thrill in getting your novel published?
Dorothy
Getting my book accepted by a publisher was certainly a thrill. When I saw them, it was even better. When I unpacked the books sent to me by Five Star, I couldn't believe the gorgeous cover the marketing department had created. Five Star is a small press and their budget for art isn't very large.
The cover with deep pink foxgloves, shaded with cream and yellow, against a green leafy background, is lovely enough to be framed. Also the same picture that is on the jacket is duplicated on the cover.
IC
What are you doing to publicize Darkness at Foxglove Corners ?
Dorothy
The book seems to be selling well. I've been to four book signings now and sold nine at the last one. Waldenbook's stocked thirty and they are almost sold out.
I have two more signings scheduled, and this summer, if I'm able, I plan to travel up north (in Michigan) to gather material for new settings/material and to promote my book at a bookstore in Petoskey.
I have a vase of silk foxgloves in a white pitcher that I was going to take along, but that's heavy and bulky, so I took a small picture of my middle black collie, Ginger. I also took a muffin basket filled with miniature blueberry muffins, along with a card, saying: "Blueberry muffins from Camille's kitchen. Eat at your own risk."
The dog's picture and muffins are cumbersome to take along. Sometimes I take a dish of candy instead.
My two local papers (one a county paper) have been very helpful by writing nice articles about me and my book. The county paper wrote a feature story complete with pictures, one of which was of my dog, Holly, who is the model for the collie, Halley, in the book. This appeared a few days before my fourth signing. I took the article along with me, and several commented on it. One woman said she had a miniature collie with the same colored coat. This helped make that signing a success. Before I do another signing, I'll try to have a story in another paper to publicize it. Reviews to date have been favorable, as have readers' comments.
Some people won't pay $25.95 for a hardcover. So I'm pleased to sell as many as I did. I also met some wonderful people. One woman bought one for herself and one for her daughter. A man I taught with bought another.
This is under the heading of what a new writer can do.
I'm just trying to come up with ways to promote my book and do the best I can. One thing is especially nice--the libraries have copies. My library has all the mysteries together in one section. Easier for mystery lovers to notice my book -- and other writers they may not have read.
IC
What has been your greatest disappointment in writing and publishing your book?
Dorothy
Although I have read about how hard it is to obtain an agent and to get published, I was not prepared the real thing.
It is taking longer than I anticipated. Even though both the publisher and agent requested my book, it has been several months. In March, I called the publisher to find out its status. I reached him on the second call and he said they were so swamped with manuscripts, he hadn't gotten to it yet. They were just working on November submissions. He said he had 500 to read. The agent hasn't read it yet.
I am a very patient person, but it sure takes a long time to learn if the publisher or agent likes the work.
Well, I am very very grateful to have my work on both a publisher's desk and an agent's desk. The publisher of Darkness has two of my books. The agent contacted me in January, asking me to send him a book. I know as well as anybody how hard it is to get an agent or editor to actually ask for a whole manuscript, so I was pleased.
Another problem is that it seems to be very difficult to get a book carried in Michigan bookstores. I don't know if that's true throughout the states. To get Barnes and Noble to carry it you have to send them what amounts to a presentation, complete with marketing plans and why your book is unique. Then they take six weeks to review it.
At Borders, the PR person didn't respond to my two calls or e-mails. Later I learned from members of a writers' group in Detroit, that this is not unusual. At Waldenbooks, the story is different. They ordered my books for the signings; in fact, the fourth store contacted me to do a signing. Since they had 30 books at one time, they sent them from location to location. Very few are left. I don't have the energy to deal with Borders and Barnes and Noble when Waldenbooks is so helpful. However, any of the stores will order my book if a customer asks for it. A lot of my friends ordered it from the Internet.
I'm learning a lot about marketing, or maybe I should say self-promotion. But I have much more to learn.
IC
How did you get started writing mysteries?
Dorothy
Mysteries have always been my first love. I particularly like Gothics. I love to read a book in a period setting, especially a Western, if I could find one. I haven't sold that historical romance yet, but I still have hopes of finding a market for it.
I thought it would be easier to write about a place and time that I knew well. That way, I wouldn't have to keep asking questions like, "Did women wear makeup in 1876?" "Did they have crystal chandeliers in a Denver hotel?" "How do oil lamps work?"
Also, I had discovered modern mysteries about female sleuths and their dogs. I wanted to write one of my own, and my wonderful collie, Holly, for a model. Darkness at Foxglove Corners didn't turn out quite the way I had planned, but I was very happy with it and went on to write three more in that series.
IC
What are you working on now?
Dorothy
DB
My two latest books are novels of romantic suspense, both set in contemporary Michigan. That translates as Michigan, 2002. I have no excuse now for not knowing how modern machines work.
If my editor accepts the second in the series, I plan to write a fifth book about Jennet, Crane, and Halley, but I also want to write another book set in the nineteenth century, preferably in the West. Now, I have collected a
shelf of good reference books to help make my setting accurate.
IC
What other kind of research have you done for your books?
Dorothy
A few weeks ago, my niece and I visited a country police station and talked to the only officer in the place. I wanted to ask questions about the things I gave my sheriff and deputy sheriff characters to do. I had no trouble about questions to ask her then, but for each Ask a Pro subject, it sometimes is harder.
IC
You're the Ask-A-Pro coordinator for Sinc-IC. How do you select your Pros and interview questions?
Dorothy
I post notices on both the Sinc-IC and Guppies Digests asking members what pros they'd like to question. Then I try to find someone willing to do on line interview. Using a three-week period with a specific deadline, I ask members to submit their questions. After editing to.weed out duplications, I send the questions to the pro who answers them and sends them back to me. I then forward them to the websister in charge of designing the page.
Sometimes I don't get any responses or find a pro willing to do an interview. I'm open to suggestions. Sometimes I don't get questions and I need to write my own. I really appreciate questions people send to me.
As to what type of questions I ask--they're things I want to know as a mystery writer, maybe for one of my own books.
Belonging to the Internet Chapter means a lot to me. It's the first time I ever found myself in the company of fellow writers. In the cyber company, I should say. From my Guppies critique group and the IC workshop I've learned more about writing than I could have in any other way--including writing classes, which I never had, by the way. All my college English classes were in literature. So I want to do my part, because if nobody did, we wouldn't have the chapter.
IC
Tell us about your writing day.
Dorothy
After breakfast, I write for about an hour or two. This is the best time for me to work on the first draft of a chapter. Then I walk Holly and come home to write again until lunchtime (and another walk).
The rest of the day I write as much as I can, but often this is revision. I go over and over a scene (I usually have two or three scenes in a chapter) until I'm happy with it. Then I add it to the rest.
I try not to read the book through until I'm done with it. Two or three months later it's not so familiar to me. I make notes of additions and add them later. When I'm finished with the manuscript, then I revise it, but this isn't the last revision.
Before I go to bed, I like to have at least the beginning of a new scene to work on in the morning. Or I'll revise a chapter, and then print it and revise it again the first thing in the morning. I like to work on a work in progress a little bit each day so that I feel as if I'm living it.
I'm finally able to devote my entire day to writing, but sometimes real life intervenes, and I have to go shopping, run errands, keep appointments. I always do these things in the morning so I can work the rest of the day.
IC
Tell us more about the Workshop you mentioned.
Dorothy
It's part of the SinC Internet Chapter, monitored by Marthe and found by clicking on Message Boards. From there go to Workshop. It's a private forum, but anyone in Sinc-IC. can join. It's a good place to post and critique stories, chapters, synopses--whatever. Marthe has posted a roll call to see how many of us are interested in continuing, so I hope she doesn't cancel it. I posted several chapters of the third in my series there and received many, many helpful critiques.
I hope that my comments encourage people to join the Workshop because something like that really needs a lot of people to participate, and that's how it was when it started. We started with a dozen or so, but our participation has dropped. I think that a lot of new members are unaware of it, and it is really is a great way to get multiple feedback on your work.
[IC note: Dorothy and other Internet Chapter members need not fear the workshop's demise. It is an essential privilege of being a member of the chapter. Any members who have not discovered it should check out the intro page to the workshop at
http://www.sinc-ic.org/ICworkshop.shtml.]
IC
What are your future plans?
Dorothy
Last week I finished the book I started in November and am beginning to market it. I've sent it to two places, one of which is now accepting e-mail queries. That's my first experience with an e-mail query.
Also, the book I wrote in 2000 is currently in query form sent to the same publisher who has the sequel to Darkness at Foxglove Corners. In other words, he has two of my books, and that's why I am getting restless, as I mentioned.
I'm going to work on promoting Darkness at Foxglove Corners and marketing my current book, while waiting to hear from the publisher and agent. Sometime in May I'm going to start another book. This one will be Romantic Suspense also and I'll set in Michigan. I'm considering writing this in third person. I haven't made any notes yet, so I don't have any idea what it will be about.
IC
We are pleased to get to know you a little better. When you see someone as a column coordinator, we don't learn much about her. Thank you for the interview.
Dorothy
I feel honored that Jan chose me to be the Spotlight guest for May and hope that some of my experiences promoting my first book will be of help to other members. I checked out Spotlight before we started the interview. For some reason, I never investigated it before. Those other people are interesting! I've exchanged countless critiques with Virginia Lo Monoco on the Workshop and wondered why she was living in Italy. I'll have to go through all of the Spotlights.
This interview was conducted during the month of April 2002 for SinC-IC
by Jan Fudala.
Visit Janet B. Fudala
E-mail Dorothy Bodoin
E-mail Jan Fudala
Read an earlier Spotlight Profile
May 2002
