Edith Maxwell's Blog, page 251

Where Are the Wickeds, Fall edition?

It’s the start of the fall season, which is a busy one for the Wickeds. Here’s where we’ll be this month!

Edith:

13 September 1:15 pm. Mystery panel at KerryTown Bookfest, Ann Arbor, MI.
15 September 7 pm. “Murder in Shorts” panel, Gloucester Lyceum and Sawyer Free Library, Gloucester, MA.
30 September. Guest author at Fall Luncheon, Boxford Library, Boxford, MA.

Liz:

13 September. Selling and signing at Pet Rock Festival, Leicester, MA.
27 September. CrimeCONN, all-day mystery conference, panelist, Westport, CT.

Filed under: Group posts, Where Are the Wickeds? Tagged: Gloucester Lyceum and Sawyer Free Library, Kerrytown Book Festival

The Mainely Needlepoint Mystery Series Continues with Threads of Evidence

Hi. Barb here. You may have noticed that my fellow Maine author Lea Wait has joined us a few times in the last year. That’s because Lea is the prolific author of the Mainely Needlepoint cozy series, the Shadows Antique Print traditional mystery series, as well as historical novels for young people. On of those, Uncertain Glory was an Agatha nominee this year.

Today we’re celebrating the recent release of Threads of Evidence, the second book in the Mainely Needlepoint series. I loved the first book in this series, Twisted Threads, so when I had a chance get my hands on an Advance Reader Copy of Threads of Evidence, I jumped at it!

I wasn’t disappointed. The second book in the series moves protagonist Angie Curtis along from the original crisis that brought her back to Maine. Now she needs to figure out how to make a life for herself. The book broadened and deepened my appreciation for Angie, as well as for her grandmother and the other members of the Mainely Needlepoint collective AND provided a great mystery yarn. What more could you ask? These books are slightly grittier than the average cozy, but still well within the cozy definition.

Lea’s a neighbor and a friend, so I thought we’d have a chat about Threads of Evidence.

Barb: Since you and I both write about coastal towns in Maine that include both working people and summer people From Away, to some degree we are always writing about class, a topic that makes many Americans uncomfortable. It’s not so much the money (thought that matters) but also expectations, opportunities, and experiences. In Threads of Evidence, in particular, the worlds of summer people and working people intersect, both in the past and the present. How do you think about class as you write? How do you think it is expressed in your Mainely Needlepoint stories?

Lea: First of all – thank you for inviting me back to visit the Wicked Cozies, Barbara!

I’m excited about Threads of Evidence, the second in the Mainely Needlepoint series (after Twisted Threads).

In Threads of Evidence there are two sorts of wealthy visitors from away. The Gardeners have had money for generations, and built their large Victorian summer “cottage” as a retreat in the 19th century. When the last person in their family died, the estate was left, empty and discarded.

Now it has been bought by a newly wealthy Hollywood actress and her artist son. The Gardeners viewed themselves as, in many ways, patrons of Haven Harbor – they gave large parties for everyone in town, and donated generously to the local fire and police departments as well as the country club. Those who remember them best are those who worked for them – the caretaker of their estate; Mrs. Gardener’s hairdresser. Their daughter, Jasmine, took for granted opportunities (like education and travel) that those her age who lived in Haven Harbor either just dreamed about, or worked very hard to obtain. Some of those clashes in expectations may have resulted in her murder.

The new owners of the Gardener estate spend money freely, and not always, in the eyes of local residents, wisely. But the local people, including Angie Curtis, the protagonist of the Mainely Needlepoint series, accept payments they believe are too generous.

People like these are part of the fabric of Maine.

Barb: In Threads of Evidence one of your major characters is a celebrity. Often in fiction, celebrity is shorthand for rich and recognizable, but you’ve created a fully fleshed-out, three-dimensional character. How did you think about Skye West as you wrote her?

Lea: When I lived in New York City, some years ago, I knew people involved in show business. All of them, including those considered famous, had worked very hard to get to where they were. Skye West grew out of some of those friendships. She sees her world clearly, and appreciates both the work she’s done to get to where she is in her career (and that she continues to do) – and the people who, in different ways, helped her to get there. She sees her decision to buy and restore the Gardner estate – and find out what happened to Jasmine Gardner in 1970 – as something she owes to her past. A way of giving back.

Barb: I have to admit, I’m one of those people who can take epigraphs or leave them. I often don’t read them if I’m really in the flow of a story. But I found the quotes from needlepoint works of girls and young women in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries in Threads of Evidence particularly moving. How do you go about finding these quotes?

Lea: Ah! The epigraphs! I have them in my Shadows Antique Print mystery series, and some readers love them … write to me about them and ask more questions. So I decided to also use them in the Mainely Needlepoint series. Some of the epigraphs are quotations about needlecraft from 19th century and earlier literature and books or magazines written for women. But my favorites are the quotations from samplers stitched by young women in the sixteenth through 19th centuries. (As some readers have pointed out, some of these samplers are needlepoint … some are cross stitch or other embroidery. But I love them all.)

Some of those quotations I’ve seen on samplers in museums, antique shows, or homes. Some of them I’ve found in museum catalogs of sampler exhibits. Some are from books on the history of samplers. I keep a running file of possible quotations to use in future books.

Barb: What are you working on now?

I just finished Shadows on a Morning in Maine, the 8th in the Shadows Antique Print Mystery series, which will be published in about a year. Next on my list: Dangling by a Thread, the 4th in the Mainely Needlepoint series. (The third in the series, Thread and Gone, will be published in early January, 2016.) In my spare (?) time I’m also working on a couple of picture book biographies for young people. So – not bored!

Barb: Thank you, Lea! Anyone have questions for comments for Lea? Jump in!

Lea invites readers to friend her on Facebook and Goodreads, and to check out her website, http://www.leawait.com, where there’s a link to a prequel of THREADS OF EVIDENCE, and questions for book group discussions. She would love to visit (in person or via Skype) your library, book group, or school.

Filed under: Guest posts Tagged: Dangling by a Thread, lea wait, Mainely Needpoint Mysteries, Thread and Gone, threads of evidence, Twisted Threads

The Upside of Connection – Kendel Lynn

Liz here, and I have a wicked fun guest with me today! Kendel Lynn, managing editor of Henery Press, fabulous writer and a fellow Agatha nominee, is here to talk about the new Club Hen House blog. Henery Press published the Writes of Passage essay collection, in which four of us Wickeds have pieces, and Kendel was generous enough to invite us to participate on the new blog. So cool!

Kendel, take it away!

When we (Henery Press) invited the authors of WRITES OF PASSAGE to contribute to our sparkly new Club Hen House blog, the fabulous Liz Mugavero immediately emailed and asked if I’d like to talk about it on the Wicked Cozy Authors blog. That’s the kind of generosity WRITES is built upon. Helping, giving, inspiring others.

That same generosity of spirit is at the heart of connection. The general rule of social media marketing is 80/20: 80% of your contents helps the internet and 20% helps you. That means 80% of everything we post, comment, like, reply, tweet, shouldn’t link to our book or sales page, but should be something interesting, witty, insightful, educational, entertaining. Be generous, be kind, be honest.

If we regularly blog, then we should try to include something new ourselves in every post. When we trigger an emotion in another person, we reach them. It can be simple, a family recipe, as long as we share why that recipe matters. It can be complicated, a tragic incident, as long as we’re honest. Sometimes we need to put ourselves out there. Not our book, not our next project, not an award nom or fan-girl author endorsement. Readers want to know us, and if we’re brave enough, the rewards will be plentiful. We may not see an immediate connection in sales, but hopefully we’ll feel a direct connection with people.

Four Wicked Cozy Authors contributed to the Agatha Award-Winning (and Macavity and Anthony nominated) WRITES OF PASSAGE (Liz, Julie, Edith, and Barbara), and it’s really cool they’re blogging with us on Club Hen House, as part of our team. We’re all in this together: writers, readers, editors, publishers. We all need inspiration, to write the next book, to better our relationships, to get out of bed in the morning….

I hope Club Hen House and the Henery Press authors, including the generous contributors of WRITES OF PASSAGE, bring you inspiration, motivation, and a real connection.

A special thank you to Liz Mugavero for hosting me. A quick personal Liz story: I’ve known her for many years, but we rarely get to spend real time together. She’s adorable and lovely and so brave! Here we are, sitting next to each other at the signing table at Malice, when she pulls out her phone and says to me, Have you ever used Uber? My reply was something about strangers and serial killers and never ever would I consider it. Liz: I’ve never used it, but I just booked my ride and they’ll be here in an hour. A brave soul, that one…

About Kendel Lynn

Kendel Lynn is a Southern California native who now parks her flip-flops in Dallas, Texas. Her debut novel, Board Stiff, was an Agatha Award nominee for Best First Novel. It features Elliott Lisbon, a mostly amateur sleuth who is only 5000 hours away from getting her PI license. Kendel is the President of SinC North Dallas and the Managing Editor of Henery Press, where she spends her days editing, designing, and reading subs from the slush pile.

About Club Hen House

A place to chat with the authors of Henery Press, a publisher of mostly mysteries with a splash of chick lit. Fresh content (chats, giveaways, books) brought to you Monday – Thursday. We hope you’ll join us for a lively discussion, leave a comment, share an opinion, win a prize, buy a book – whatever makes you happy. Find us at www.clubhenhouse.com.

Kendel, you are a riot! And I have to admit – throughout the entire ride, visions of serial killers danced through my head….

Readers, any thoughts on Club Hen House? Have you bookmarked the site yet?  

Filed under: Guest posts Tagged: Club Hen House, Henery Press, Kendel Lynn, Writes of Passage

Wicked Wednesday: Pre-Release Promotion

It’s Wednesday. Let’s talk craft today. So your book is coming out in three months, or two weeks, or tomorrow. Wickeds, what your pre-release strategy do you find most successful in getting the word out about your book? Have you ever poured a lot of time/money/energy into a strategy that bombed? Do any of us hire independent publicists to help?

Edith: I know I’m old-fashioned, but I really like a paper calendar. Here’s the page for October with my next release marked on it. I also have a Word calendar with my scheduled guest blog posts entered. So far this is all I got for the weeks surrounding the release. I feel like I’m slipping!

Liz: Wow, Edith, if only I could be that organized…I try to remember to book an “official” launch party in advance. But I definitely do a lot of guest blogs. My last two books I did a book tour through Escape With Dollycas, which was a lot of fun and definitely exposure to different audiences.

Jessie: One of my favorite pre-release ways to spread the word is to host giveaways on Goodreads. It is a simple way to create awareness of a new release and people seem to enjoy participating.

Edith: Ah, yes. The first Goodreads giveaway for Flipped for Murder just ended, so I’ll be mailing out five Advance Review Copies (ARCs) this week. 1323 entered. Not sure if that’s high or not, but it’s better than my previous giveaways.

Sherry: I have tried several different things. Four days before the launch of The Longest Yard Sale I celebrated Sarah Wintson’s birthday by throwing a party on Facebook. The Wickeds all donated books and I gave away copies of my books. It was a lot of fun and not too much work. I send out advance copies to bloggers and reviewers and also do a very small blog tour. I’m very lucky to have a friend, Mary Titone, who acts as my publicist. She sends out press releases and contacts groups for appearances. She works really hard and gets paid in breakfasts and lunches.

Barb: My next launch is a bittersweet one, the last Level Best anthology to be produced by the current editorial team, of which I am a member. To celebrate, we got photos taken. What do you think?

For the real results, see our ad for the New England Crime Bake program here. Another pre-release strategy.

Edith: You guys look great – all those tropical colors that match the pool!

Julie: I am taking notes! Release day is October 6, my first, so I am learning from all of you!

Readers: What do you do to prepare for the launch of something new and big? Writers, any tricks you can share?

Filed under: Wicked Wednesday Tagged: Book promotion, contests, goodreads, guest blog posts, publicist

Happy Allston Christmas, aka Don’t Come to Boston Today

By Julie, sweltering in Somerville (but holding fast to summer)

For the first time in 24 years, I will not be working at a college this fall. I took the semester off from teaching to focus on the launch of Just Killing Time, the editing of Clock and Dagger (working title for Book #2) and the plotting of Book #3. While my plate is full, it feels odd not to be editing a syllabus, planning a lecture, putting aside blocks of time twice a week for class, and not worrying about finding class coverage for Bouchercon or the New England Crime Bake.

That said, I live right outside Boston, so there is no avoiding the change that takes place here every September 1. Most colleges (and there are dozens in the city) have already had freshmen orientation, or are in the middle of it. Many are starting classes this week. Late Labor Day means classes start a little early, which throws everyone off. Add to that the real changing of the guard comes today, when a ridiculous number of apartments turn over. We’re talking thousands of apartments, one day, people moving in and moving out. I was on that schedule for years, and still have nightmares about the upteenth trip in a friend’s brother’s pickup truck during a rainstorm. Don’t ask.

There are two “this will happen for sure” things about September 1. First, a rental truck will get stuck under a bridge on Storrow Drive. This will tie up traffic for hours. It hasn’t happened yet (as of this writing), but it will, despite the warnings, and the signage. Hopefully only once.

Second, some people will score great finds during Allston Christmas. Allston is a neighborhood in Boston with a large student population. Every year, huge piles of stuff are left out on the curb by folks who couldn’t fit it into a van, car, cab, or grocery cart. Sure, some of it is garbage. But a lot of it can be recycled for another home. Hence the name–the days when folks go picking trash for presents. (There is a great article, and poem, at this link.) I know someone who got a piano on September 1–the renter couldn’t get it up the stairs of his new apartment.

[Note, Allston Christmas would make a great Sarah Winston novel–what do you think Sherry?]

Here’s the other thing about September 1. It is my new year’s day. Living here, you can;t help but be influenced by academic calendars, so I gave in a long time ago. My planner is an academic year. I set new goals and they kick in September 1. Much as I hate to see summer go, September 1 is a reboot. But the one thing I don’t do on September 1?

I don’t try to drive anywhere in Boston, Cambridge, or Somerville.

Happy New Year! Does anyone else consider September 1 their new year, or is it just me?

Filed under: Julie's posts Tagged: Allston Christmas, moving, September 1

Wicked New England – The Best Summer Events

Since we have to make the most of summer and extend it as long as we can, here in New England we tend to cram a lot of fun events into the summer months: seafood festivals, outdoor concerts, barbecues, sunflower mazes, lighthouse cruises. As we stare September in the face, let’s remember the very best of our summer days! So Wickeds, what’s your favorite New England-y thing to do in the summer?

Liz: I live in what’s referred to as Mystic Country, which has a whole host of things to do in the summer. One of the really cool offerings are the Sentinels on the Sound lighthouse boat tours. Guests jump on a boat and get a tour of area lighthouses. They have night tours, too, which are way cool – especially the full moon ones!

Jessie: In Ocean Park, ME they host something called Illumination Night. All over the tiny community they light up their houses and yards with fairy lights and candles. The effect is magical. People from all over wander down the narrow streets enjoying the way the shadows play and the lights twinkle.

Edith: In my town they have Amesbury Days at the end of June. There’s a big block party downtown, an annual farmers’ market where I typically sell lots of books at my table, an antique car show, and lots more. But the best part is the fireworks a couple of miles up the road at the town-owned Woodsom Farm (this year held on July 3). Everybody brings blankets and chairs and spreads out on a huge hillside. The fireworks go off from a field across the way, so the viewing is perfect. They close the road to cars afterwards so what feels like the entire town walks back together. It’s such a cool event I decided to place a murder during the fireworks — in 1888!

Julie: Well, I’m a sucker for the many events that happen outside in the Summer. Commonwealth Shakespeare’s King Lear was terrific. Landmarks Orchestra does a bunch of wonderful free concerts, Outside the Box was terrific, and there are festivals all the time in and around Boston/Somerville/Cambridge. There are tons of fun things to do in the summer, but I’ve got to confess, some of the best “summer” events happen in September, just under the summer wire.  I’m talking about the Scallop Festival in Bourne, the Fluff Fest, and (I’ve been told, looking forward to finding out) the Big E.

 

Sherry: There’s a Fluff Fest?! Sign me up! Summer must do’s in New England include a Red Sox game, a drive up the Maine coast for a lobstah roll, and a trip (okay, trips) to Bedford Farms Ice Cream. The picture to the right shows the kiddie size cup of ice cream — you should see the large! Now that we live in Virginia we cram all of those things into every summer trip.

Readers: What’s your favorite summer event, in New England or elsewhere?

Filed under: Group posts Tagged: Bedford Farms Ice Cream, Big E, fireworks, Fluff Fest, Illumination Night, lobster roll, Maine coast, New England, Ocean Park, Red Sox, Scallop Festival, summer events, summer fun, Woodsom Farm

Essentials

Jessie: Truly enjoying the second day of school!

In  few weeks time my husband and I will be heading to China for a vacation. He’s been practicing away on Rosetta Stone Mandarin and racking up inspiring documentaries on our Netflix queue.

I’ve been thinking about what to pack.Whenever we travel I feel compelled to take as little as possible. I don’t like feeling weighed down by extras. My height makes overhead compartments a trial even with the lightest of carryon cases. So I’ve been looking at my wardrobe and some online suggestions and am aiming at fitting everything I actually need into a single carryon bag. Experts say it can easily be done with proper planning.

Which brings me to writing. Crafting a novel is a lot like going on a journey to a new and unfamiliar place. It is tempting to overpack with too much description, too many navel-gazing moments by the protagonist. Do you need to give the main character an umbrella just because it’s raining? Do you need a mustache on that villain?  Does light need to glint off every surface? How much is too much and how much is just right?

When you are working with a traditional publisher you sign a contract for a book that has an expected range for the word count. It works a lot like a weight limit on suitcases. Just like the traveler who keeps pulling things back out of the bag every time the luggage scale reads over 50 pounds, writers trim words and look for verbs that work hardest. We crunch and roll and squeeze as much into the space as possible hoping our readers will enjoy their journey with us.

Writers, do you treat your work like a carryon bag? Readers, do you have any packing tips for me?

Filed under: Jessie's posts Tagged: China, craft, travel

A Christmas Novella

Hi. Barb here. It’s August and it’s hot and humid for Maine and I am sitting on the porch thinking about Christmas.

So, I haven’t exactly announced this anywhere yet, though I haven’t been quiet about it, either, so let this serve as the “official” announcement. I am writing a holiday novella about Julia Snowden and Busman’s Harbor for Kensington for fall of 2016. (I don’t have the exact release date, but it seems to me Kensington’s holiday books usually come out in October.)

Kensington has done a series of these books, packaging novellas by Joanne Fluke, Laura Levine and Leslie Meier. I had read them and really enjoyed them. The truth of the matter was, I desperately wanted to be in one. So when I sent my proposal for books four through six to Kensington, I set the fourth (Fogged Inn) the week after Thanksgiving and the fifth (Iced Under) in mid-February, neatly side-stepping the holidays. I confided my desire to some of the Wickeds during our retreat in 2014, but I never mentioned it to my editor at Kensington, John Scognamiglio, or my agent, John Talbot. In other words, I never said anything to anyone who could actually do anything about it.

So imagine my surprise when I got a call from John Talbot in January of this year telling me I’d been offered the chance to write this novella. Even he was surprised. “Sort of out of the blue…” he said. Hey, universe. Thanks!

This novella will include stories by Leslie Meier, who writes the Lucy Stone Mysteries which are set in Tinker’s Cove, Maine and by Lee Hollis, who writes the Hayley Powell Food and Cocktails Mysteries set in Bar Harbor, Maine. I’ve known Leslie for a number of years through Sisters in Crime New England and she’s someone I really admire. I also like Lee Hollis’ books (actually, the brother-sister writing team of Rick Copp and Holly Copp Simason). So I am psyched!

The theme is Maine, obviously, but also eggnog. And I just happen to have been savoring, for years (you’ll excuse the pun) a killer eggnog anecdote. So, again, kismet.

How is writing a novella? The truth is, I am bursting with over-confidence. My short stories are always too long, and my novels are always to short, so I’m hoping the novella (defined by Kensington as 20,000 to 30,000 words) is my “natural length.” I have the whole story in my head (unusual for me). I also have the tone, which I’m hoping will be a little more lighthearted and funnier than the Clambake series as a whole, but still very much a part of it. I just have to, you know, write it. It’s due January 15, which would be highly doable, except that Iced Under, the next book in the Maine Clambake series, is due March 1. Ulp.

I’ll let you know how it goes. Meanwhile, I am thrilled to have the opportunity!

What about you, readers? Do you like these collections? Just the right length to sample a new author, or too short to satisfy?

Filed under: Barb's posts Tagged: eggnog, Hayley Powell Food and Cocktails mysteries, holiday novella, John Scognamiglio, John Talbot, Kensington, Lee Hollis, leslie meier, Lucy Stone Mysteries, maine clambake mysteries

Wicked Wednesday – Writers’ Bad Habits

It’s Wicked Wednesday, when we all weigh in on a topic.

Liz here. So earlier this month I was at Porter Square Books in Cambridge with Edith and Barb. We had jokingly promised to tell the audience some of our bad habits, but we never, ahem, got to answer that question! We’re making up for it here on the blog. So Wickeds – what’s your worst habit as a writer? Any other bad habits are fair game too, of course.

Jessie: I have a terrible habit of writing two books at the same time. I don’t mean I have started out to write two books. I mean I get them entangled thinking I am writing one and then later realize I’ve got two separate ones that need prying apart. It even happens when I have outlined the whole book. The bad news is that it’s a lot of work getting that all sorted. The great news is that I don’t usually start a new book with a blank page. Sometimes I start with a third of it written.

Edith: That sounds like a great habit, Jessie! One of my bad habits is bookmarking an article, book, or blog post I’m interested in reading but never getting around to actually looking at it. I guess it’s a good habit that I don’t want to interrupt the flow of my work to go read it now, but that often means I never end up reading about the poisons Agatha Christie used in her stories, the best way to promote a book, or another author’s tried-and-true revision process. So much information, so little time…

Liz: Aside from procrastination? Hmm….let me think about it and get back to you…

Barb: Oh, gosh. Too many to mention. One is going to the internet to look up the definition of a single word, or check a tiny fact, falling into the web, and emerging two hours later, bleary-eyed and wondering where the time went.

Julie: How bad is it that I have all of these? Add to them that I eat junk food while writing. I have tried, I promise, to eat carrots and drink unsweetened iced tea. But there’s something about Fritoes and depends-on-the-time-of-day-after-five-Malbec that get my juices flowing.

Sherry: Procrastination is at the top of my list. Letting my desk get messy which makes me feel crowded and distracted is probably number two.

Readers, any bad habits you’d like to share?

Filed under: Group posts, Wicked Wednesday Tagged: A is for Arsenic, bad habits, Kathryn Harkup

The Chicken or the Egg – Laura Bradford

NEWS FLASH: Gail Hess is the winner of Nancy Herriman’s book! Gail, please contact Edith at edithmaxwellauthor at gmail dot com.

Liz here, and I’m excited to welcome Laura Bradford, the author of the Amish Mysteries, as well as the Southern Sewing Circle Mysteries written as Elizabeth Lynn Casey. I met Laura at Bouchercon in 2013. It was my first “official” panel at a real conference, and I was a nervous wreck. Sitting next to me as we waited to start, she confessed she was too – which made me feel a whole lot better! (And sorry to give that away, Laura!)

Laura’s upcoming book in the Amish series is A Churn for the Worse, publishing in March 2016. Today she’s joining us talk about why she writes. Take it away, Laura!

As my deadline for this post loomed closer, I found myself in need of a little spark. So I took to one of my author pages on Facebook to find out the kinds of things readers like to know about their favorite authors. The suggestions were great—where do my ideas come from, what jobs did I hold before delving into fiction, et cetera. But one question shoved its way past all the others to niggle at my thoughts off and on throughout the weekend.

Why do you write?

When I first read that question, my brain immediately shifted into standard answer mode.

“I fell in love with writing when I was ten.”

But that doesn’t really answer the question of why, does it?

So then I started thinking a little more…

Out of my grandparents’ eleven children, five of us are in a highly creative field. Maybe I write because it’s in my genes. That would certainly explain the very odd phenomenon that has me racing back through many a manuscript to add something “really cool” only to find out it was there all along.

Maybe I write because that’s the way my brain is wired.

Or maybe I write because I need to write…

When I was little and writing picture books for fun, I truly believed the world was this great big happy place where all you had to do was wish for something and it happened.  And even if on some level I knew that wasn’t true, I made it so in my stories.

My teen years brought with them the same things everyone else’s teen years bring—worry about how you fit and where you fit. Suddenly the gnomes and bears I’d written about as a kid were pushed to the side in favor of angst-y teenage girls worried about their clothes or the boy they’d passed in the hallway on the way to class.

Graduation from college brought journalism jobs and an up close and personal look at reality. Suddenly, the fictional worlds I’d created to reflect my needs paled against one where kids went missing, accidents claimed lives, and criminals got away. Those stories I couldn’t control. I couldn’t write the “characters” the way I wanted or deliver the desired ending to a heartbreaking tale.

As interesting as that work was at times, I was more than happy to cast it aside for the role I wanted most—mom. By the grace of God, I was blessed with two beautiful girls. I threw myself into their world and, by doing so, their happy place became my happy place. Sure, the desire for stories was still there, but I filled it by reading stories to them. You know, losing myself in tales of happy places where all you had to do was wish…

Eventually, my need to write resurfaced and I found myself dabbling in the kind of realities I’d written about as a reporter. Only this time, when a kid went missing, I could make a parents’ desperate wish come true.

Later, when I was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis and my first marriage crumbled, I found myself writing love stories. I guess I needed to make things work out right somewhere, even if it wasn’t in my own life.

Writing does that for me. It gives me a place to make sense of the world—to right wrongs, to work through the tough patches, to find happy endings.

The only question now, is which came first…

Laura Bradford is the national bestselling author of the Amish Mysteries. A CHURN FOR THE WORSE, the 5th book in the series, will release in March. As Elizabeth Lynn Casey, she also pens the Southern Sewing Circle Mysteries. NEEDLE AND DREAD, the 11th book in that series, will release in April. Both books are now available for pre-order. To learn more about Laura or her books, visit her website: www.laurabradford.com. 

Readers, thanks for stopping by! Leave a comment for Laura below.

Filed under: Guest posts Tagged: Elizabeth Lynn Casey, fiction, Laura Bradford, Southern Sewing Circle Mysteries, The Amish Mysteries, writing