WHERE TO GO FROM HERE

I have been derelict from my blogging duties. I know. Not that I haven't been thinking about that duty. The issue, for me, has been what to say and the purpose of saying it. There's been a lot going on lately in my writing life, including joining a writers' group. And I have another blog which is more in line with my community political life.

But this is a writer's blog. And while it is also a chronicle, or sorts, of my journey from the personal and professional "me" to the writer, it's also important to share some perspective of the line I feel writers have to walk when writing crime-based fiction. That's what I write.

In the writing world, it's sometimes it's a police procedural (something like the "Law and Order" or "CSI" type of novel), sometimes it's more of a thriller or suspense (which definitely involved "bad guys and gals" but not necessarily one with a court-room resolution). From my real world experiences I have seen what the Hollywood or television education has done to jury pools. It isn't good. Nor is the excessive media coverage of local crime activities. Therefore, for time to time, this blog will be discussing those issues because it's the writer's responsibility to write credibly - to show how evidence is found and used in a manner the reader can believe. I will never forget the case where a single juror prevented a Guilty verdict because she believed the prosecution should have been able to present evidence showing the fingerprint of the accused on the bullet that had been extracted from the victim "because she had seen it on one of the CSI episodes." Unbelievable. In more ways than one.

So, even though my career was extensive and I worked in street law enforcement (county sheriff's department and welfare fraud and then with local law enforcement while employed with the state attorney general's office) and then at the state level in corrections (in maximum security men's prisons and as a parole agent) and had some responsibilities with certain federal agencies, I still use numerous resources to be sure my writing "situations" are valid and technically correct. The last place I look for information is Hollywood or a television crime series.