Books

Write What You Know – A BookPeople Recap

By Manning Wolfe
On July 14, 2016

Hi Ya’ll,
As many of you know, Dollar Signs is set in Austin, and the city is as much a character as Merit, Betty, or Ag. As an Austin dweller and someone who absolutely loves the city, I was excited to recently have a signing at BookPeople, the largest independent bookstore in Texas!

BookPeople’s Scott Montgomery hosted our panel consisting of Martin Limón, the author of Ping Pong Heart, Billy Kring, author of TonTon: A Hunter Kincaid Mystery, and me. We discussed how our careers are used in our writing and misconceptions about our occupations.

The evening had lots of laughs and we shared interesting back-stories on how Kring, Limón, and I all decided to begin our writing journeys. For me, I had a librarian who knew how to entice me into reading. Once I started, I just took off and read every book in the library. Books were a way for me to escape the small town and expand and travel in many ways, all while just sitting in my room. That experience along with my legal career led to a desire to write legal thrillers!

In response to the same question, Limón answered, “It just finally sorta hit me. I’m mature now! Why not do what I really wanted to do all along? I’m gonna give myself permission to write, and I don’t have to write as well as Jack London.”

We spent some time discussing our star characters. For those of you who know Kring’s Hunter Kincaid series, you’re aware that he has some extremely evil villains in his stories. He even remarked, “the worst things I haven’t even put in the books yet!” We laughed and all agreed that we’re excited to see what he comes up with next.

A big thank you to BookPeople for hosting such a fun and fabulous event!

As for me, I’m heading to Colorado this weekend for some hiking in the cool mountain air and more writing on the next book in the Texas Lady Lawyer series.

Happy Reading,
Manning