Sunday morning. Coffee in hand, I hope.
This is the first Letter from the Drawing Room. They'll arrive every Sunday from now until the doors of Stone Lyon Society open this fall. And for a long while after that. I'll keep them short enough to read in one sitting. I'll keep them honest about where we are. And I'll try to make them worth the inbox space they take up.
A little context, in case the Opening Moves emails have already faded from memory.
Stone Lyon Society is a writing school for cozy and traditional mystery. My wife and I are building it from the ground up. The curriculum, the website, the mentor bench, all of it. There's something a little absurd about announcing a school before it has a single enrolled student. But that's the part where you come in. Signing up is how you show us there’s a place for our school in this amazing community. The doors are open at stonelyonsociety.com if you know someone who should be here.
What you can expect from these Sunday Letters:
Some weeks they'll be about craft. The kind of thing I've been thinking about while reading another mystery in my rocking chair. Currently in hand: a Cheese Shop Mystery. If you know, you know. If you don’t know, look it up. I'm a little embarrassed to say is my first one. Almost.
Some weeks they'll be about what we're building inside the Society. New rooms in the curriculum. Mentor reveals when the time comes. The shape of the cohort experience as it takes form.
Some weeks they'll be more personal. Things I'm noticing about the genre. Conversations with mystery authors during the building phase. Genealogy updates from the Stone Lyon trail in northern New Hampshire. Yes, that's a thing. More on it eventually.
I'd love to hear from you, too. The single most useful thing for me right now is conversation with people who love this genre as much as I do. So feel free to reply to any Letter. I read everything. I won't always answer every message. I'm not Penny or Osman; I don't have a team triaging my inbox. But I read every one.
For this first Letter, one small ask.
Hit reply and tell me one thing. What's the cozy or traditional mystery series you'd hand to a stranger on a train if they asked what they should read next? Heck, what should I read next?
I'm taking notes. There's a real chance your answer becomes part of the curriculum someday.
The lamps are lit. Welcome to the drawing room.
— Patrick
Founder, Stone Lyon Society