I’ve been posting blogs for seven years (my very first was September 2017) and it dawned on me recently: I’ve never written an essay about my agent. Which is weird, because Pam (Ahearn) has been in my life for 21 years. Hell, that’s longer than most marriages.

I found her the old-fashioned way: stalking the acknowledgments pages of books I admired. This was before electronic submissions were a thing, so I was licking envelopes, slapping stamps, and overthinking the quality of my printer paper. Back then, you’d mail out a one-page query letter (no manuscript, God forbid) and then wait months for someone to send you back a rejection slip in your own SASE. More often than not, you wouldn’t hear back at all.

After seventy-five rejections, Pam was the one who said yes. I remember she really liked my manuscript, but had a ton of changes. I was such a newbie I’d even given a POV to a bug in that book. But, like a good client, I did everything she said, because she was the smart one and I was eager to learn.

The road wasn’t smooth. My first three books didn’t sell. Each one spent about a year making the slow rounds before being declared dead on arrival. Every time that happened, I panicked and immediately wrote another book, like I was trying to outrun failure. So Pam always had something new to shop, and on the fourth try, we finally landed a deal. Since then, we’ve sold nine more books, with two more on the way. Moral of the story: it’s a long road. While you’re waiting for success, the key is not being a pain in the ass. Have a voice, but also—do what you’re told. Your agent knows what they’re doing.

What doesn’t show up in the highlight reel are the quieter things. Pam has talked me off ledges more than once (I once remember asking her why she stuck with me and she just sighed and said I was easy to deal with… most of the time). She gives sharp editorial feedback, which not all agents bother with. And she doles out life advice. Early on she told me, “Don’t get divorced. Writers languish in their own misery if they do, and their production stalls.” Naturally, I got divorced, and I was so fucking scared to tell her. Thankfully, my career is still intact.

I know writers who hop from agent to agent like they’re speed-dating, always convinced the problem isn’t the manuscript, it’s the representation. I’ve never had that itch. Pam has been steady, honest, occasionally blunt, and always pointing me in the right direction.

Here’s the funny part: for all these years, I didn’t have a single photo of us together. To be fair, over two decades we’ve probably been in the same room a grand total of ten times. But last week at Bouchercon in New Orleans, where she lives, she treated me to a fancy dinner and we finally remembered to snap a picture. Proof she exists. Proof I didn’t make her up.

So here’s to Pam. Twenty-one years of rejection slips, sales, edits, pep talks, and life coaching. My longest professional relationship, my fiercest advocate, and the person who can still look me in the eye and say, “Eh… I don’t love this.”

New episodes of my podcast Making It Up are out! Over the past month I chatted with:

Episode 196: Lori Roy – Edgar Award–winning author of Bent Road, Let Me Die in His Footsteps, and more. Lori and I talked about researching to capture place, why social media still matters, and the surprise of not always knowing what your novel is about until it’s done.

Episode 195: Robert Bailey – Wall Street Journal bestselling author of multiple thriller series, including Jason Rich and McMurtrie & Drake. Robert shared what it’s like balancing law and fiction, learning to trust your editor, and why publishing struggles don’t disappear just because you’ve had success.

Episode 194: Mailan Doquang – Architectural historian turned debut novelist with Blood Rubies. Mailan and I discussed her leap from academia to fiction, the discipline of cutting unnecessary words, and the imposter syndrome that sneaks up at writing conferences.

Episode 193: Kaira Rouda – USA Today, Amazon #1, and international bestselling author. Kaira and I talked about setting thrillers in the suburbs, writing teenagers that feel real, and the importance of celebrating your own wins instead of racing past them.

All episodes are available on my website, my YouTube channel, and wherever you get your favorite podcasts.

A fantastic conversation with Karin Slaughter last month in front of a crowd of 400 thriller fans.

REVIEWS

On the Page

The Feather Thief, Kirk Wallace Johnson (Viking, 2018)

Every once in a while I stumble across a book so strange I have to keep reminding myself it’s nonfiction. The Feather Thief is one of those.

Here’s the setup: a young American flautist named Edwin Rist, studying music in London, breaks into the British Museum of Natural History in 2009 and makes off with hundreds of rare bird specimens (some of them collected by Alfred Russel Wallace in the 1800s). Why? Not for money. Not for science. For fly-tying. Yes, the kid was obsessed with the Victorian art of salmon flies, these absurdly ornate fishing lures that require exotic feathers. So he steals priceless specimens and plucks them bald so he can…craft fishing lures. And sell them to other enthusiasts.

This is where I had to keep putting the book down just to mutter, What the fuck?

But the real magic of Kirk Wallace Johnson’s reporting is that he takes you deep into this bizarre subculture. Fly-tiers so consumed by the beauty of a perfectly tied salmon fly that they’re willing to ignore (or excuse) the fact that feathers are being sourced from endangered or extinct species. It’s equal parts hilarious, horrifying, and hypnotic.

If you like stories that make you shake your head, laugh out loud, and maybe rethink the limits of human obsession, The Feather Thief is an absolute gem.

On the Screen

***COMMUNITY SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT ON  THE DEVIL’S HOUR , SEASON 2***

Last month I sang the praises of The Devil’s Hour Season 1. Creepy, clever, layered, unsettling. I loved it. Then I made the mistake of watching Season 2. Consider this my apology.

Because holy hell, it’s bad. Not just bad. IT SUCKS ASS.

Season 2 takes everything brilliant about the first season and flushes it straight down the toilet. Instead of dread, we get endless exposition. Instead of paranoia, we get bargain-bin sci-fi. Plot holes abound. Characters become insufferable. Illogic pairs with bad acting and worse writing. The dumb grandmother comes out of her fugue state and somehow becomes even more boring. (Her worst line of the series: “He sees the birds, and the birds see him.”) WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT? YOU HAVE NEVER MENTIONED BIRDS BEFORE.

So here’s your warning: The Devil’s Hour Season 1 is worth it. Season 2 is like staring at your phone battery dying and realizing you left your charger at home. A slow, inevitable disappointment. Spare yourself.

Photo of the Month

A fun night out with Jessica in Denver last month.

Update from my Kids
I love not knowing what text I’ll get next from my kids.

Update from my Pets

Scully is almost as excited for football season as I am.

My hero

Word of mouth is the lifeblood of book sales. More than ads, reviews, or social media, it’s that moment when one reader, or one bookseller, says, “You’ve got to read this.” That kind of passion is what gives a story its wings.

Which brings me to my hero: Michelle, a bookseller at the Barnes & Noble in Exton, PA. Michelle has just hand-sold her 200th copy of TELL ME WHAT YOU DID. Two hundred! That means two hundred conversations where she cared enough about my book to press it into someone’s hands and tell them it was worth their time.

As an author, there’s nothing more meaningful. To know that your work resonates enough for someone to champion it again and again. That’s the dream.

Michelle, I’m floored. I’m grateful. And I’m raising a glass to you. Thank you for believing in my book and for sharing that belief with so many others.

Humor of the Month sent to me by a friend

Latest offering from my company Unbound Writer

So many of my books take place in October. There’s just something about the fall — the shadows stretching longer, the air turning sharp, the sense that anything could be lurking in the dark. It’s the season when I feel most alive on the page. Which makes this the perfect time of year to teach a class on the craft (and psychology) of writing dark, breathless, suspenseful fiction.

This isn’t just about learning how to write thrillers (though we’ll cover that in detail). It’s about the psychology of writing: the discipline, the resilience, the way you train your brain to show up even when you don’t feel like it. Because the scariest thing about writing isn’t the blank page… it’s about that page remaining blank.

Here’s what we’ll cover:

• Why thrillers tap so deeply into human emotion and fear

• How to create characters under relentless pressure

• The secret to high-stakes premises, twists, and unforgettable endings

• How to write consistently (even when inspiration disappears)

• Editing strategies that sharpen suspense

• Career mindset: chasing improvement, not perfection

Whether you’ve written ten novels or none, this course will give you tools to make your stories more gripping, more intense, and more unforgettable.

When: Saturday, October 18 12PM – 2PM (Mountain Time)

Cost:  $75, live class with replay access

Register at: www.unboundwriter.com

That’s it for now!

Just a reminder to subscribe to my newsletter for more content and access to contests and giveaways. Oh, and if you follow me on social media you’ll see a lot more pictures of my goddamn pets. Until next month…