You can climb any
mountain….
Unlike
Julie Andrews, I know I can’t climb mountains. If I put my mind to it, there’s
probably a whole list of things I can’t do—like sky-diving, parasailing,
triathlons, things like that. But it’s okay because I never wanted to do them.
On the other hand, ten years ago my list included something I desperately
wanted to do—write mysteries. I’m a lifelong fan of reading mysteries, and sometimes
as I read I wished I could write like that. Other times, I thought, “I can
write better than that!”
About
2002 my twenty-some year writing career appeared to have cratered. I’d been
writing fiction and nonfiction about women of the American West, including
longer fictional biographies of such women as Libbie Custer, Jessie Benton
Frémont, cowgirl Lucille Mulhall, and outlaw Etta Place. But my agent died, and
I had no success placing proposals or getting a new agent. I found myself
writing educational books for the middle-school library audience. Interesting,
paid a little money, and made me feel I was writing. But I wanted to write
fiction.
I
told myself if I could just see one mystery in print, I’d be content. I
combined a story I’d heard about doctor’s wives (I used to be one), a college
campus (I worked on a private university campus for nearly 30 years), and of
course the requisite murder and romantic interest. It all came together pretty
well, and I began the fruitless hunt for an agent. I didn’t let myself in for
the 200 rejections some have but got about 20 rejections before I submitted to
a fairly well-known mystery house as an exclusive—they kept the manuscript a
year before rejecting. Lesson learned about exclusives. Then I found an
agent—who also kept it for a useless year. Lesson learned about agents who
start out wildly enthusiastic and end up indifferent. I gave up, wrote a second
novel that was accepted almost immediately by a new small publisher. Skeleton in a Dead Space (2011) was the
first of my Kelly O’Connell Mysteries, and last year I self-published that
original academic novel, The Perfect
Coed.
Now,
just four years later, I have nine mysteries in print and four projects at
various stages on my desk; two of them are mysteries. Retirement has helped me
revitalize my writing career, but so has the confidence that I can do it. Who
wants to climb Mt. Everest anyway?
Meet Judy Alter
Award-winning
novelist Judy Alter is the author of six books in the Kelly O’Connell Mysteries
series: Skeleton in a Dead Space, No Neighborhood
for Old Women, Trouble in a Big Box,
Danger Comes Home, Deception in Strange Places, and Desperate for Death. She also writes the Blue Plate Café Mysteries—Murder at the Blue Plate Café and Murder at the Tremont House and The Oak
Grove Mysteries which debuted in 2014 with The
Perfect Coed.
Her
work has been recognized with awards from the Western Writers of America, the
Texas Institute of Letters, and the National Cowboy Museum. She has been
honored with the Owen Wister Award for Lifetime Achievement by WWA and inducted
into the Texas Literary Hall of Fame and the Western Writers of America Hall of
Fame.
Judy
is retired as director of TCU Press and the mother of four grown children and
the grandmother of seven. She and her dog, Sophie, live in Fort Worth, Texas.
Desperate for Death (May
2015) is her latest release. Watch for a new book in the fall.
Desperate
for Death
Just when
Kelly's life has calmed, she faces yet another puzzle. Except the pieces in
this one don't fit. First the apartment behind her house is torched, then a
string of bizzare "accidents" occur to set her off-balance. Who is
stalking her? Where does the disappearance of a young girl and her disreputable
boyfriend fit in? And why are two men using the same name? Is the surprise inheritance
another part of the puzzle? At a time when she is most vulnerable, Kelly can't
make the pieces fit. Before Kelly can get the whole picture, she helps the
family of a hostage, rescues a kidnap victim and attends a wild and wonderful
wedding.
Buy Links
Social Media Links
Twitter:
@judyalter
5 comments:
Hi, Paty. Thanks for having me as your guest this morning.
Yours is a wonderful story of perseverance! Learning what works for you is such an important lesson. Great post!
Writing mysteries is definitely addicting, Judy. I'm glad you're sticking with it.
I think the lesson here is perseverance. Good for you, Judy. Many great reads are overlooked by agents and editors alike. Your post is inspiring.
Thanks, all. Perseverance is a key word for Guppies--and I've been fortunate to have wonderful examples to follow. Yep, now that I that one mystery published (and a few more), I'm sticking with it.
Watch for Murder at the Peacock Mansion this fall.
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