S. 9, Ep. 1: Interview with Crime Writer Clay Stafford

The Crime Cafe

This episode of the Crime Cafe podcast features my interview with crime writer and entrepreneur Clay Stafford. Check out what's on offer for crime writers of all stripes at Killer Nashville. Not to mention Clay's other pursuits, including film production, directing, acting, etc. Before I bring on my guest, I’ll just remind you that the Crime Cafe has two eBooks for sale: the nine book box set and the short story anthology. You can find the buy inks for both on my website, debbimack.com under the Crime Cafe link. You can also get a free copy of either book if you become a Patreon supporter. You’ll get that and much more if you support the podcast on Patreon, along with our eternal gratitude for doing so. Check us out on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/crimecafe Debbi (00:54): But first, let me put in a good word for Blubrry podcasting. I’m a Blubrry affiliate, but that’s not the only reason I’m telling you this. I’ve been using Blubrry Podcasting as my hosting service for my podcast for years and it’s one of the best decisions I ever made. They give great customer service, you’re in complete control of your own podcast, you can run it from your own website, and it just takes a lot of the work out of podcasting for me. I find for that reason that it’s a company that I can get behind 100% and say, “You should try this.” Try Blubrry. It doesn’t require a long-term contract, and it’s just a great company, period. It also has free technical support by email, video, and phone, so you can get a human being there. Isn’t that nice? If you want to podcast, try out Blubrry. No long-term contract, excellent distribution, and great technical support, too, by email, video, and on the phone. I’ve included an affiliate link on this blog. I’ve included an affiliate link on this blog. Download a copy of the PDF transcript of this episode here. Debbi: Our first guest for this season has achieved so much,I could spend hours picking his brain for advice, but we'll have to settle for about 20 to 25 minutes, more or less. We can hit the highlights anyway, and one of those is the big conference that he organizes—Killer Nashville. Killer Nashville has been going on for … this is the 16th iteration of Killer Nashville, as I understand it. It's just amazing that he has organized this conference starting with a very much smaller group. We can get into that later. He is also a screenwriter, poet, playwright, film and TV producer, director, showrunner, actor, educator, reviewer and public speaker. I think I've covered all of it. Gee, what a slacker, right? Clay: And Dad. And Dad. I'm a dad. A husband and a dad. Debbi: That's awesome. See, all of those things. That's great. So it is my great pleasure to introduce as my guest today, the amazing Clay Stafford. Clay: Oh, thank you. Debbi: Hi, Clay. Clay: Hi, Debbie. How are you? I think we're in our 18th year, if I'm not mistaken. Debbi: 18th? Clay: I don't know, let's do the math. 2006 was the first year, and then we were forced to take one year off because of Covid. So I think we're going into our 18th, but I'm not quite sure. It's either 17th or18th, maybe. I don't know. But it seems only yesterday in 2006 when I asked a couple of friends to come down, and it turned out to be about 70 friends came down for the first Killer Nashville and it seems like yesterday, but I've watched two children grow while the conference goes year to year so I know time is moving, but it doesn't seem like that to me, but I guess that's the way it is. You know, you don't start feeling older until you watch your kids start growing, and as they get bigger and bigger, you keep thinking, well, something must be happening with me because if they're aging so am I. Debbi: That's right. Yeah. Unfortunately. Clay: But thank you for having me back on the show. We got to talk last year, and I was delighted to come back and talk with you again. Debbi: Well, same here,