Blog Talk Radio is new to me. I listen to the radio during my workday commute, and sometimes tune in at home, to the classical music station, oldies (the older the better) or talk radio. On rare occasion, I have tried radio via my computer.

Several authors I know have recently made radio appearances. Many appeared on Robert Batista's The Funky Writer program. When I was invited to be interviewed, I hesitated. First, I am new to public speaking. Being live on internet radio is a whole new ballgame. Second, I had not heard of blog talk radio.

After researching this phenomenon, I understood it to be a popular means of conversation on topics ranging from religion and politics to art and hobbies. Robert Batista's The Funky Writer focuses on all aspects of writing, as he interviews fiction and non-fiction authors.

My interview was on Saturday, but like all things related to the Internet, my appearance will be available indefinitely. Check out this link: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/thefunkywriter/2015/11/21/episode-178-catherine-dilts

People who "knew me when" can recall my humble career beginnings in a manufacturing facility. I worked my way up through the ranks to my current desk job, where I track down and report the environmental regulatory information that enables the company to sell products peripheral to the global semiconductor industry.

But it wasn't always so. My first job was on the factory floor. With my freshly minted college degree, I was certain this was a temporary position, and yet the months dragged on. My time on the factory floor was relatively short. All told, I spent less than two years babysitting the plastic mold injection machines.

Oh, but every minute rankled. The time crawled by. Working twelve hour night shifts, at times it seemed the hands on the clock moved backward. The work was exacting, tedious, and exhausting. Stupid people cannot do factory work. It requires focus, math skills, and the ability to adapt to constant change.

Put a couple dozen people into a room with a lot of machinery and nothing to occupy their minds but the repetitive work, and things happen. Several years later, the first story I sold was inspired by my time on the factory floor.

My short story Industrial Gray marks my fourth appearance in the pages of Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine. Marlin is a frustrated actor who takes a job in a factory to pay the bills. His artistic soul longs for greater things. Sound familiar? Of all the characters I have created, Marlin best represents my experiences and emotions working on the factory floor.

You might find copies at Barnes & Noble, or other places where magazines are sold. Or you can go directly to the website: https://www.themysteryplace.com/ahmm/

How realistic are television CSI programs? Author Merit Clark is my guest today, giving us the scoop on what it's really like inside a homicide department.

Thank you so much Catherine for inviting me to your blog!
 
Recently, thanks to a friend of mine, I had the opportunity for an unofficial visit to Denver Homicide. I think you have to be a complete mystery author geek to find this exciting, but I might as well have been going backstage at the Oscars and meeting George Clooney.
 
First of all, to use a TV comparison, their office is more like ‘Murder in the First’ than ‘Major Crimes.’ And of course not glitzy like any of the CSIs at all. It’s pretty much a basic office—dark blue carpet (maybe blue for police?), cubicles, desks with overhead storage, fluorescent lights. In another difference from TV, the interview rooms were pretty nice. No two way mirrors but they do have cameras and there’s a viewing room with multiple monitors where interviews in progress can be watched by other detectives.
 
There were NO photos of victims, bodies, or crime scenes. There were no holographic images they could stretch with their bare hands into thin air. There were jokes, a Calvin and Hobbes cartoon re-written with detective names and dialogue, and a really funny photo of a skinny guy being cuffed by a hugely overweight officer with the caption “Dude! Should I make him chase me?” Every desk was loaded with piles of paper, binders, folders, reporter’s notebooks, reports, documents, etc., etc.

I can also attest to the fact that Denver has some very nice looking detectives. Hey, a girl’s got to notice what’s important! They joked around with each other and they all just seemed really . . . nice. I don’t know what I was expecting but there wasn’t that cop ‘stiffness’ for lack of a better word.
 
When I started doing research for my books I was really intimidated by approaching members of law enforcement. Maybe because in my head police officers and detectives are behind this impenetrable barrier, in a figurative fortress. Their procedures are mysterious and they have power I don’t understand. I met some “real life” detectives and was surprised by their personalities and demeanor. I could have been in any office, other than the fact that they were armed and more clean cut than the general population, which I personally like. I didn’t see piercings, visible tattoos, stretched out ears, or ‘fauxhawks!’
 
Bio:
Merit Clark is the author of the Jack Fariel detective mysteries set in Denver. The first book in the series, KILLING STREAK, took first place Gold Medal at the 2015 Colorado Independent Publishers Association (CIPA) EVVY Book Awards and was a quarter-finalist in the Amazon Breakthrough Novel contest. KILLING INNOCENCE, book two in the series, is scheduled for a 2016 release.
 
She’d be thrilled if you’d like to follow her:
Facebook:       https://www.facebook.com/MeritClark/
Twitter:           @meritclark
Website:          www.meritclark.com
 
Link to buy KILLING STREAK:
http://amzn.to/10VP5rR
​