This article and interview was written by Kristin Johnson
and originally appeared on the website My Shelf.
What do you do when you meet
an author with a license to carry a gun? You listen to everything she says!
Joyce Spizer has five books in print plus the autobiography of Howard Keel,
which she co-wrote, under consideration for publication, two more
autobiographies in the works, an "Unsolved Mysteries"-type TV series
called "I Spizer" in development, a two-act musical called "Valley
Confidential" to be produced in La Quinta, California in the fall of 2003,
and a script she co-wrote called "Off Your Rocker" under
consideration as a TV series. Joyce's advice for writers who want to be that
prolific and still have a life, from her own Web site: "Schedule yourself.
Sit yourself down and just throw up on paper. That's how you get things
accomplished. Now just do it!"
I first met Joyce at the 1999 Desert Writers' Workshop put
on by the Desert Woman and the National League of American Pen Women-Palm
Springs Branch, which are just two of the groups this dynamo from
I chose Joyce as September Author of the Month because of
her books, her success as a writer, her versatility, and her determination to
help others succeed. She goes out of her way to help other writers through the
classes she teaches all over the country and the way she takes the time to
counsel people who quit their day job thinking they're going to write a book
and land on the best-seller list. The truths she tells about the long haul of
publishing may be a reality shock, but they have helped many writers get out of
the slush pile and get on with their dreams. As if that weren't enough, PR
wizard Dan Poynter calls this 2000 Irwin Award winner for Power Marketing
Your Novel for advice, and FBI agents call this former PI of 37 years (she
and husband Harold were the "Hart to Hart" of Southern California),
whose top-selling Harbour Pointe Mystery Series (The Cop Was White as Snow,
I'm Okay, You're Dead, It's Just a Spleen, and A High School Ring) is based
on actual cases she worked, for profiles on complex cases such as the D.C.
Sniper.
Joyce freely admits that she,
like many of the expert criminal profilers, were thrown for a loop when John
Allen Muhammad and John Lee Malvo turned out to be black, since typical serial
killers are white males. Joyce knows more than she'd like about serial
killers---she regularly visits one on Death Row in
Joyce's passion to save our
children involves her in social service organizations such as Soroptimists as
well as entertainment industry organizations such as Women in Film, where she
campaigns for Hollywood to become more socially responsible in the messages it
sends our culture and our youth. And you better not disagree with her, because
she has a weapon: the gift of words and a heart to match.
Interview
Kristin: You certainly are prolific and diverse. How did
you come to write Howard Keel's and Colin Webster Watson's books?
Joyce: I belong to
several charity organizations and met Howard and his wife Judy because we were
on a board together that would provide scholarships in the performing arts for
our kids. One day Judy asked me if I'd be interested in helping Howard on his
book. Who could pass up that opportunity to record
I knew Colin, who is an internationally renowned sculptor,
artist, poet, playwright, actor, chef, etc., from social events in the desert.
One Sunday out of the blue, he called. He read me a poem he had written and
said very plainly, "You're going to write my life story." I replied,
"Of course, I am."
Kristin: I understand that the book with Howard
Keel has led to his becoming your leading man in "Valley
Confidential" and "Off Your Rocker." Tell us more about those
projects.
Joyce: Valley
Confidential is a history of the
Kristin: Interesting. You are a former
Joyce: It's better to
be a little fish in a little ocean than a little fish in a big ocean. In a
strong community such as ours we have discovered gold in our retired
entertainers, up and coming stars, and people with ideas, concepts, and dreams.
And we all converged into organizations like Women in Film who provide that
visibility. It doesn't hurt that between two dear friends, one who owns a CBS
TV affiliate and the other a movie studio, everyone in the valley can enjoy
successes too.
Kristin: That certainly speaks well for the opportunities
in the valley where you and I both reside. Talk about the importance of
networking, which you address in the Power Marketing Your Novel chapter,
"Let's Get Organized."
Joyce: Despite what
writers believe, successful writing can be done in solitude, but the selling is
a networking event. You cannot move those books sitting at your computer in your
home. Attending conferences, joining writing groups, networking in your
community extends the life of your book beyond your wildest expectations.
Kristin: That's certainly true. You wrote POWER MARKETING
YOUR NOVEL on advice from a colleague and outlined it on a plane coming back
from a conference in
Joyce: I wrote PMYN because a famous author I met at a writer's
conference suggested I do it. I have a Ph.D. in marketing and I write. So I
combined those two interests, floated some ideas and wrote the book. It won the
IRWIN award in 2000 and I was named Southern California Book Publicist of the
Year (I won, not my publicist). I was runner-up for the NWA David Raffelock
Award too. So it must be helping a lot of writers and I'm excited about that.
Kristin: Yes! You are nurturing and supportive of other
authors, such as Raul Melendez, who maintains your Web site, and Caren
Marsh-Doll, author of Hollywood's Child: Dancing Through OZ, published
by your publisher, Joshua Tree Publishing. You edited her book. Besides turning
off the Internet and writing every day on a schedule, what advice do you
typically give to authors?
Joyce: Cut games off
your computer too. I have "quiet time" every workday until noon. I
don't answer the phone, pay bills, or water the flowers. I write. Whether I do
one page or twenty pages, that's my work time.
Kristin: Good advice. There are some other wonderful gems
of wisdom from you and from other successful people in Rejections of the
Written Famous. Tell me how you came to write this book.
Joyce: My first book
was rejected 72 times. And every time I attended a writer's conference or
workshop or seminar I heard lots of other stories. I wrote them down to inspire
me to keep going. When I had collected some of them, I wrote some of my writer
friends like Carol Higgins Clark and Mickey Spillane and Larry Gelbart and
asked for their stories. An avalanche of responses came back. So rich and
wonderful and I knew I had to share those stories with other writers. You
cannot give up. On the back jacket of the book next to my photo are these
words: This is the face of a woman who didn't give up on her dreams and she
won't let you either.
Kristin: Which leads me to my next question. What
disappointments in your life and writing career have you overcome?
Joyce: People who are
hired to do professional work and let you down. I've fired several agents and
publicists who failed to meet minimal expectations.]
Kristin: On another tack, Rejections of the Written
Famous is quite a departure from your astonishing true-crime The
Cross-Country Killer. It's almost a way for you to escape from the negative
energy you must have felt living with such a horrifying story day in and day
out---not to mention being investigated by a grand jury and being arrested!
Talk more about the book and the experience, and what the book has taught you
about law enforcement.
Joyce: I wrote
REJECTIONS as comic relief for the horrific story about Glen Rogers. I wrote
that story to tell American families about the responsibility of having
children, of raising them, of nurturing them, and teaching them self respect
for others and themselves. It's been very disappointing to me how many people
don't do an adequate job in their respective fields -- and law enforcement is
one of them. It's almost as if when a guy's ID doesn't fall out of his pocket
at the crime scene, the police are stymied about investigative techniques.
Their methods leave a lot to be desired. Talk about ethics...
Kristin: I understand that Claude Rogers Jr. does speaking
engagements where he talks to at-risk children about his past. How does the
book get his message across?
Joyce: It's the
history of his horrific childhood and we name a lot of people who had a chance
to change history -- and did nothing. Claude stands as a living example of how
you can't use your past as an excuse not to perform successfully in a society.
He's charitable, kind, and generous.
Kristin: You make a pretty grim case for the future of our
children if certain trends in our society (take the Laci Peterson and Danielle
Van Dam cases) continue. Tell us what you are doing or plan to do with writing
and with your involvement in groups such as Soroptimists and with Women in Film
(to try to change the trash coming out of mainstream Hollywood).
Joyce: I've always
been involved in charity and volunteers groups in my community. Through
Soroptimist (a Greek word that means "Best for women" we reach young
girls in our community and teach them self esteem, basic home elements --
setting a table, cooking, washing and hygiene. We work through our programs to
keep them off drugs, alcohol, and smoking. If they falter we have a halfway
house to help them back on track. I do consider public speaking and often,
through WIF contacts, ask those in Hollywood to write from their heads, and
their heart, not from their breasts, dirty mouths, and dumbing down of our
children. We need more "Seabiscuit" films and less
"Porky's".
Kristin: True! It seems your collaboration with Claude
Rogers Jr. has done much good. You also have several other collaborations
going, as have
Joyce: To collaborate with someone you become the
"fact gatherer" and let them tell the story they want to tell you.
You tape it, as much without interruption as you can. Then you transcribe and
edit showing them the creative process. Then ask them questions that fill in
the blanks. It is their book. But it's your job to convince them how important
the sizzle is to the process.
Kristin: As a solo author, your first books, The Cop Was
White As Snow and I'm Okay, You're Dead received critical acclaim
and commercial success. They transformed actual cases you worked into the
thrilling adventures of Camellia "Mel" Walker and a cast of memorable
characters, including Johnnie Blake, based on your cousin John Blackburn. How
did you decide to turn your experiences into fiction?
Joyce: When my hubby
and I were retiring from our PI careers he asked me what I wanted to do. This
was around 1991. I told him I thought I would fictionalize some of my cases
into books. He bought me a computer and I started attending conferences and
learning the writing craft. It's much more than writing a Christmas letter that
everyone looks forward to each year. My first book came out in 1998. Spleen will
be #6.
Kristin: What's ahead for Mel, Johnnie, "X-Ray"
Ramirez and Mel's love interest Lucas Tanner in It's Just a Spleen and a
High School Ring? Do you have the entire series planned?
Joyce: SPLEEN is the
third book in the series and should be published by October 2003. Lucas plays a
small role during the book because Mel has to go to
Kristin: I'll review that one too! You've fictionalized
your cases, and I've read that you are writing your autobiography. There was
talk that someone wanted to make a movie of your life. What's the status of the
movie and autobiography?
Joyce: What with all
my active projects, I've put my autobiography on the back burner for now.
Several producers have spoken with me about doing a Lifetime or O or WE series
based on my life, like a Ruth Rendell or "Murder, She Wrote". But
nothing is cooking on the front burner right now. Heck, I'm still a work in
progress. I have no idea how this all turns out
Kristin: In reading your books, even about Glen's story
because Claude did survive, I detect this "can-do" attitude, a
hopeful determination to succeed. And certainly putting Glen's story out there
is an act of optimism because you are trying to change the future for children
and wounded souls out there. I think this looking-forward attitude permeates
everything that you've written and the projects in progress you describe. You
are a work in progress and it's a beautiful work of art.