Guest Blog: Who is F.M. Meredith aka Marilyn Meredith?

ABOUT MARILYN AND HER WRITING — IN HER OWN WORDS:

Since I’m brand new to this blog, let me tell you something about myself. I’ve been writing all my life, but wasn’t published until 1982. My first two books were historical family sagas based on both side of my family’s genealogy. The first one was rejected nearly 30 times, rewritten about half as many times, before it finally found a publisher.

After that, I wrote a mystery because that’s what I liked to read. I also wrote a romance with a touch of the supernatural, a psychological horror novel, three Christian horror stories, and many more mysteries. I’ve had several agents, learned from some, but none ever found a publisher for me. I found them on my own. I’ve had plenty of rejections but never gave up, which is probably the best advice I can give to any new writer—never ever give up. Write, write write, edit, edit, edit, and keep on submitting and do it following the publisher’s submission instructions.

My Rocky Bluff P.D. series began years ago with Final Respects. It’s now only available as an e-book. When I wrote it, I had no idea that it would be the first in a series. My intention was to show how what happens to a police officer on the job affects his family and what’s going on with the family affects the job. I also wanted to show that a police officer doesn’t just follow one case, but has lots of things going on at once. When I was through, I wanted to know what was going to happen to my characters next.

My publishers of the series didn’t always work out. One publisher quit after publishing Fringe Benefits and Smell of Death. And fortunately, I found Oak Tree Press who published the next one in the series in trade paper back and as e-books: No Sanctuary, An Axe to Grind, Angel Lost, and the latest, No Bells. Each one is written as a stand-alone, so it isn’t necessary to go back and read the earlier ones, though you might want to in order to learn more about the series.

As far as me personally, I once lived in a small beach community in California, much like the fictional town of Rocky Bluff. When my husband and I lived there, many of our neighbors were in law enforcement and we partied with them and I had coffee with their wives. Our son-in-law was a police officer, our grandson is now an officer and a grandson-in-law is a deputy sheriff.

Hubby and I now live in a mountain community much like the fictional Bear Creek in my Deputy Tempe Crabtree series. We raised five children, now have 18 grandkids and 12 great grands. My husband and I met on a blind date and when we married, no one figured we’d make it, we fooled them all. Though I’ve written for a long, long time, I’ve had many jobs: telephone operator, pre-school teacher for developmentally disabled kids, day care center teacher for disadvantaged children, and with my husband owned and lived in a 6-bed facility for developmentally disabled women. And I wrote all the time I was doing these other jobs.

~~~~~~~~~~Guest Blogger F.M. Meredith, also known as Marilyn Meredith, is the author of over thirty published novels—and a few that will never see print. Her latest in the Rocky Bluff P.D. crime series, from Oak Tree Press, is No Bells. Rocky Bluff P.D. is a fictional beach community between Ventura and Santa Barbara and F. M. once lived in a similar beach area. In No Bells, Officer Gordon Butler has finally found the love he’s been seeking for a long time, but there’s one big problem, she’s the major suspect in a murder case. Marilyn is on a whirlwind blog tour for No Bells . As part of that tour, she is sponsoring a CONTEST: The person who comments on the most blogs on her tour will win three books in the Rocky Bluff P.D. series: No Sanctuary, An Axe to Grind, and Angel Lost. Be sure and leave your email so she can contact you!

FYI:  F. M. (Marilyn) is a member of EPIC, Four chapters of Sisters in Crime, Mystery Writers of America, and serves as the program chair for the Public Safety Writers of America’s writing conference. She also has been an instructor at many writing conferences.
Website: http://fictionforyou.com/
Blog: http://marilynmeredith.blogspot.com/