Bryon Quertermous's Blog

I’ve been on a run lately of memoirs and biographies of writers, actors, and performers I admire including Kelly Bishop, Carole King, Marvin Hamlisch, and Elmore Leonard. As much as I love reading stuff like this, it can also be an exercise in frustration for me as well.

I lament that I wasn’t born to showbiz parents or that I wasn’t born in the vicinity of New York City or Los Angeles and generally just find a hundred different ways to blame my situatio...

Other than two rejections from Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, I haven’t had a short story rejected in more than fifteen years. I’ve had two this year already. That obviously hurts my confidence, but what’s worse is that I should have never written them in the first place. One of the reasons I haven’t had a rejection in so long is because for the last decade or so I haven’t been writing and submitting much short fiction because I was concentrating on novels.

I’d gotten to the point in the ...

Note: Various versions of pieces of this appeared recently across my social media profiles and a few group texts, but I wanted to gather it all together in one place and smooth it out a bit, so I hope if you’ve already read some, or all, of this you don’t feel cheated.

All I’ve ever really wanted to write is a classic PI novel. From the time I discovered my first Spenser novel, I’ve been hooked on the form. I even named my first child Spenser because that se...

I’ve been watching a lot of MURDER, SHE WROTE and COLUMBO lately partially as a comfort to the horrors of the real world and partially as research in trying to find the right tone and style for my typewriter mystery. Finding my current style – both creatively and in day-to-day life – has been one of the primary journeys I’ve been on lately.

My early books were gonzo noir that was fun to write but something that I feel like I’ve grown out of. I initially ...

I’ve been thinking a lot about confidence lately. Unlike the marvelous Julie Andrews who sings the song from Sound of Music that this entry draws its title from, I do not have confidence. Or, rather, I’ve had trouble maintaining confidence personally and professionally for the last few years. 

Personally, it started at the end of 2022 when I began my journey of medication and therapy. That process knocked down the walls and other barriers I put up to prote...

Today is Halloween and we added that new Chucky balloon to our menagerie at the kids’ request. The weather has been unseasonably warm and I’ve complained about it a lot, but today for trick or treating it will be nice. Then it’s supposed to drop down into proper fall temperatures this weekend. I’m hoping to finally get to the apple orchard. It just hasn’t felt enough like fall to go lately.

Spenser and I will be spending Halloween at the movies. We’re attending a screening of Halloween Ki...

Today is my 48th birthday, and this year I’ve been very aware of how fast time passes and how much of my time has already passed. My kids are getting older and the two oldest will be out of high school soon and the youngest will be starting middle school. It’s exciting and sad all at once. My personal life has been shifting underneath me for the last couple of years as well so I’m facing down a life where I know I have more years behind me than I have left. And I’m okay with that. Finally.

I’m writing this from my basement office where I finished moving my stuff back in here after trying for the last month or so to work from a desk in my bedroom or at the kitchen table. Those places are a nice break when I need a change of scenery, but for the day-to-day work sessions I need a dedicated space far away from rest of the house and the rest of the people in the house with a door I can close when I really need to. I say this as we enter a new month, which is always a nice chance to...

In my last newsletter I mentioned two things that were going well, and I’m happy to say they are still going well. First, I think I’ve finally found a medicine mix that’s working for me and know I just have my fingers crossed that it stays this way and doesn’t turn on my body like the last good mix did. Second, I finished the outlining of the first half of my current book and put together an editorial To Do list of things I need to rework to make the first ha...

I know a post about fresh starts during the first week of spring is a cliche, but sometimes we need to embrace the cliche if it fits. And honestly, I’m doing a little wishful thinking and hoping I can manifest some spring beauty in my life by writing about it. February was another lost month to meds that didn’t work and a personal life that continues to be a reigniting Dumpster fire.

Not only were my current meds still making me sick, I found myself i...