Lorie Lewis Ham:
The Latest Chapter in My Writing Journal
It seems as though I have been writing forever. I started making up short stories about my stuffed animals when I was seven, first published when I was 13, and have never stopped since. I have published poems, short stories, articles, mystery novels, written for local newspapers, and now I publish my own online magazine. Every type of writing has its rewards and challenges, but the one thing is forever true I simply must write.
Kings River Life Magazine (http://kingsriverlife.com) just celebrated its two-year anniversary and it’s been an exciting journey so far. A few months before it took flight I was let go from a local newspaper and found myself wondering what my next writing journey would be. It suddenly dawned on me that I could finally write about all of those things that my editor had told me no one would read—hence was born KRL, and guess what? People are reading it!
At first KRL’s focus was primarily local—local entertainment, history, charities, local authors and book reviews. Added in were other things important to me—going green, food, travel, and pets.
I soon discovered there were readers for a mystery section and that section began to grow and expand, and with it, I saw KRL change and grow. We still have our local side but we have so much more for our readers that are now all over the world including New York, Texas, Australia, Canada and beyond. Our mystery section now includes short stories, reviews, author interviews, book giveaways, TV and movie reviews, and other mystery related articles (such as one on Poe’s Cottage, the Conan Doyle Estate, Poirot & others), and takes up a third to half of every issue. We have writers from all over the world as well. You will even find familiar names within the mystery community doing guest articles like Jan Burke, Kris Neri, Janet Rudolph, Linda O. Johnston, Sue Owens Wright, and others.
Recently, we added a fantasy/horror section (many of which still have a mystery twist to them), expanded our travel and food sections, added mental health, and greatly expanded our animal rescue/pet section. This past March we expanded to include video interviews and started a YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/user/KingsRiverLife/videos) channel—starting with a bunch of author interviews at Left Coast Crime in Sacramento. I can’t wait to see what the next two years will hold as we continue to grow and expand—we are even considering starting a spin off entertainment/literature magazine next year and may expand into mini mystery video dramas—who knows!
So if someone tells you that you can’t do something that you know is your passion and what you feel you are meant to do—prove them wrong. If I had listened to my old boss, Kings River Life would never have happened. Now I can add publisher to my credits, and I not only get the joy of publishing a magazine that others can enjoy and hopefully be challenged, moved and inspired by, but I get to write about things that I’m passionate about. I loved writing about Castle, interviewing Lee Goldberg (many times), reviewing movies and theatre, and nothing will ever beat being able to interview Amber Benson (from Buffy). I also get the chance to help support things I believe in—theatre, music, writers, animal rescue and more.
A new issue of Kings River Life goes up every Saturday morning at 10 Pacific time. We also have movie reviews every Monday evening—many of which are mystery related, and generally have some extra mystery short stories going up during the week during the holidays with a holiday theme.
I hope you check us out and follow us on our journey, either as a reader or maybe even consider being a contributor. We truly have something for everyone—especially if you love mysteries like I do!
Thanks so much Janet for having me here!
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