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MUGSHOT
Russ Heitz
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MUGSHOT
Russ Heitz
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Meet Russ Heitz
I’ve always believed, however, that writing is a craft not unlike carpentry. A good, professional carpenter can build just about anything from a napkin holder to a two-story house. Likewise, a good, professional writer should also be able to write in just about any genre. The writer may have more skills and success in one genre as opposed to another, but the tools are always the same: words, sentences, paragraphs, and punctuation. And ideas, of course. So even though I enjoy writing suspense stories, long and short, I have worked in, and continue to explore, whatever genre appeals to me.
The only full-time, paid writing job I ever had -- as a publications specialist for local government -- put that craft concept to the test. In that position my assignments ran the gamut and included newsletters, annual reports, newspaper and magazine articles, technical guidelines, audio/visual scripts, press releases, speeches, ceremonial documents, and procedure manuals. In that position I was also the county’s unofficial photographer and developed my own photos in my own county darkroom. That, of course, was before the advent of digital cameras.
Since I retired in 2003 I’ve explored several new-to-me writing genres including Young Adult biographies, children’s Picture Book texts, book reviews, and suspense novels.
My suspense novel, Crosshairs, was released in June 2007, and
has been getting some good reviews, I’m happy to say. The setting is north-central Pennsylvania where I lived for a number of years. It is a wild, beautiful, and sparsely-populated area that – as my book jacket says -- revolves around hunting, trout fishing, four-wheel-drive pickups, and the Grizzly Snowmobile factory. It is a place where scope-mounted hunting rifles are as plentiful as trees and shooting accidents are as common as rattlesnakes. But something new has been added: the county’s first serial killer.
The central questions in Crosshairs are these. Who is the killer? What underlying thread connects the victims? And how will Jesse cope with the expanding chaos that suddenly surrounds him?
A large part of my time right now is spent promoting Crosshairs in as many ways as I can. When I’m not doing that, I’m also doing book reviews, and Picture Books texts. And, naturally, I am also working on the next Jesse Eichenlaub story.
My original concept was to have a series of maybe three suspense novels, all with the same general cast of characters and the same setting. So my primary writing focus right now is putting together an outline for the next Jesse story. Many of my readers have been asking what’s going to happen next to Jesse, Clay, Franky and the rest of the Crosshairs cast. And frankly, I’ve been asking myself the same question. The only way to answer that question, even to myself, is to write number two.
My two favorite suspense/mystery writers are Bill Pronzini and the late Ed McBain, although my influences include many other writers.
At any rate, I am pleased to be accepted as a member of the ACWL and I look forward to developing supportive friendships with the other members. I also hope to learn from their experiences, and to share my own. … Russ Heitz
(Additional info about me and Crosshairs can be found on the websites listed below. If you have any questions, please feel free to shoot me an email at anytime. Thanks for your help!)
www.russheitz.com
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I was born in the Pennsylvania Dutch country of Lancaster County and have been writing since I was a teenager. The writing bug intensified when I was in the Air Force. That’s when I wrote lots of lonely, homesick letters to friends and relatives. That’s also when I first realized I could express my thoughts and feelings better on paper than I could verbally. After leaving the Air Force I took a short story writing course at Temple University in Philadelphia and from then on I was hooked on fiction.
The person who must stop this killer is newly-elected Sheriff Jesse Eichenlaub. In addition to the secret demons from his own past, however, Jesse already has three strikes against him. He doesn’t like guns. He has no law enforcement experience at all. And the man he defeated in the election is now his boss!