I remember it well.
Date: 17 October, 2009
Location: Indianapolis
Event: Bouchercon XL
I was on a panel chaired by the inimitable Leighton Gage. Other panellists were Cara Black, Yrsa Sigurdardottir, and Tamar Myers. There may have been one other. Dan Waddell? Maybe my memory isn't so good.
With panellists like that, the topic revolved around mysteries set in foreign lands – Brazil, Botswana, France, Iceland, and the Congo for the writers mentioned above. England too, if Dan was involved.
The panel went very well, as I remember it, with Leighton orchestrating the proceedings with a deft touch. Independent corroboration of the panel’s success is available from the totally unbiased Annamaria Alfieri, who was in the audience.
Afterwards Leighton proposed that several of us join him in starting a new blog written by writers who set their stories outside the United States. And thus the Murder is Everywhere blog was started with the inaugural blog being written by Cara Black on 11 November 2009.
I was part of that original group, and Murder is Everywhere has had 4,326 posts since then, with about 28,000 comments, and over 5 million page views. Bloggers have come and gone – Dan Waddell, Tim Hallinan, Yrsa Sigurdardottir, , Cara Black, Jørn Lier Horst, Lisa Brackmann to name a few, as well as many wonderful guest bloggers.
My contribution has been over 300 posts on a broad range of topics ranging from the West’s distorted view of Africa, to the Okavango Delta, to plastic surgery.
Recently, however, I have been struggling more and more to find topics to write about, let alone topics I’m excited to write about. I’ve become very unhappy with the quality of material I’m asking you, our readers, to read. You deserve better.
I’ve come to the conclusion that for now my well is dry. So I have decided to vacate my spot on every other Thursday. It will be good for all to have new blood, new ideas, new perspectives as Murder is Everywhere heads towards 10 million views.
It hasn’t been an easy decision. However, as I reflected on the past 13 years, I realised that whether I write a Murder is Everywhere blog or not, the Murder is Everywhere experience has become part of my life’s fabric, especially the remarkable bloggers I‘ve shared it with. Great writers they all are, but they are even better people. My deepest gratitude and thanks to all of you, present and past, for everything you’ve done for me.
A blog isn’t worth very much if it doesn’t have readers. The number of page views (nearly 34,000 last month alone) tells us that the blog is thriving. As I thank you, dear readers, for being an essential part of the MIE family, I have one HUGE request - actually a heartfelt invitation.
We writers often wallow in self-doubt, wondering whether anyone is paying attention to what we write and, if they are, whether they are enjoying it.
So my invitation is for you to become more actively involved in Murder is Everywhere, to step forward every now and again and leave a comment online or send an email to the blogger. Tell them what your reactions are to what they’ve written. Agree or disagree, it doesn’t matter. With your more frequent input, the MIE bloggers will be filled with even greater energy and enthusiasm than they already show. Then you will enjoy the blogs even more.
I wish you all a very healthy and happy 2023 and many more years of great blogs.
And thank you, thank you, thank you for the truly wonderful ride I've had with you.
