L. M. Quinn welcomes you to her website The Writingame. Please stop by often to check out the ups and downs of her life as a writer living and working in L.A.

Yes, being a writer in L.A. has its own perks and quirks. We have the best year-round weather in the world and complain if the temperature goes below sixty degrees, designer shades a given. Within one-two hours from downtown L.A., you can swim in the Pacific, bask in the Palm Springs desert heat, and ski Big Bear's slopes. All this (Santa Ana winds that turn people into werewolves and shake them senseless with periodic earthquakes included) makes for stellar writers and writing.

Leave your feedback and thoughts on her Blog, and view her Media Kit.

 

 

 

"She was trouble. She was tall and rangy and strong-looking. Her hair was black and wiry and parted in the middle. She had a good mouth and a good chin. There was a sulky droop to her lips and the lower lip was full." ― Raymond Chandler   “Chandler wrote like a slumming angel and invested the sun-blinded streets of Los Angeles with a romantic presence.” — Ross Macdonald

L. M. Quinn works and lives in L.A. Fiction is her passion, but she's also delved into book reviews and travel writing.

In March 2009, her short story "A Not So Clear Case of Murder" was included in the anthology Hit List: The Best of Latino Mystery, and in 2011, her short story "The Red Lipstick" will be included in the YA anthology You Don't Have a Clue (both books from Arte Público Press). In 2011, she also had her personal essay ("A Grown-up") accepted in the anthology Our Spirit, Our Reality: Celebrating Our Stories. She is currently enrolled in UCLA's Writers' Program and working on mysteries set in L.A.

A member of Sisters in Crime, SCBWI, and WNBA, you'll also find her at Literary Orange, Left Coast Crime 2012, and the SCBWI SCWBI Writer's Days conference in 2012.

View L. M. Quinn's Media Kit.

BOOK REVIEWS: ELLE magazine. 

SHORT SHORT: Travel 50 & Beyond magazine.

SHORT STORY/PERSONAL ESSAY: "A Not So Clear Case of Murder" in Hit List: The Best of Latino Mystery (Arte Público Press, March 2009).

"The Red Lipstick," YA mystery anthology You Don't Have a Clue (Arte Público Press, May 2011).

"A Grown-up," Our Spirit, Our Reality: Celebrating Our Stories (November 2011).

View L. M. Quinn's Media Kit.

See you there:

March 4, 2012 WNBA Book Savvy 2012 Conference (Marina del Rey, CA). A small well-run one-day conference that covers all aspects of writing and ventures into future trends. Agent panel and pitches too (Dana Newman––independent literary agent; Wendy Kram––founder of L.A. For Hire; Cheryl Bloch––Northern Exposure; BJ Robbins--BJ Robbins Literary Agency; Paul S. Levine–Paul S. Levine Literary Agency; Jennifer Azantian--Sandra Dijkstra Literay Agency; Elise Capron--Sandra Dijkstra Literay Agency). Don't miss it next year!

March 29 - April 1, 2012 Left Coast Crime (Sacramento, CA). Great West Coast fan-based conference held every year in a different location. A chance for writers and their fans to meet. I have been selected to speak on one of the conference panels ("It Never Rains in So CA", Sunday, April 1, 9-9:45am). Join the fun, if you can.

April 14, 2012 Literary Orange Conference (Irvine, CA). A little jewel of a writers' conference in the OC. Very well-done panels on all genre's and top-notch key note speakers. I always come away with new ideas for my writing after attending. Don't miss the 2013 one.

April, 21-22, 2012 Writers Day YA Conference - SCBWI (San Gabriel, CA). A very well-done conference for those already publishing and those looking for the nuts and bolts of how to do so. Great panels by authors, agents, and editors. A good transition to the yearly LA/NY SCBWI conferences

May 6, 2012 Reading from YA mystery anthology You Don't Have a Clue (my short story "The Red Lipstick"). Sisters in Crime/LA May Chapter Meeting. Stop by and say hello.

September 7 -9, 2012 SCBWI-LA Working Writers Retreat. A working retreat to get my YA novel polished for publication.

 

View L. M. Quinn's Media Kit.

Agatha Christie: An Autobiography (HarperCollins 2011)

Who hasn’t heard of Miss Marple or Hercule Proirot? But how many of you know anything about author who created these characters and more?

This autobiography shares a life like no other. She was born in the Victorian era, divorced her first husband (Archie Christie), and married a second time to a man (Max Mallowan) years younger than she was.

During all of this, she wrote a detective story on a dare from her sister, and got it published. This was the start of an amazing career spanning years and including mystery novels, short stories, and plays (The Mouse Trap).

 
Christie was not university educated, but an avid reader and researcher who made her work authentic as well as entertaining. She was also a woman unafraid of taking risks, like traveling alone on the Orient Express to the Middle East when one didn’t do such things.

This remarkable woman’s autobiography should be on the bookshelf of all mystery readers or writers.  – L. M. Quinn