MM2: Sheila, what was the first book
you had published?
As Sheila or Sarah? My first series
was a work-for-hire for Berkley Prime Crime about a glassblower in Arizona, and
I wrote that series under the name Sarah Atwell. The first book was Through a Glass, Deadly. As Sheila, my first book was One Bad Apple, the first of the Orchard
Mysteries, in 2008,
MM2: What the moment when you
realized... "This is really happening. I am an author?"
I’m still not sure I believe it. Every
time I tell someone new, “I’m a mystery writer,” I have to squash a giggle. I
keep thinking someone is going to change their mind about it and take it all back.
MM2: How many books and series have
you written?
Do you know, I have to check my
cheat sheet to make sure. Four series: the Glassblowing Mysteries (three
books), followed by the Orchard Mysteries (seven so far), the Museum Mysteries
(four, with the fifth coming out in June), then the County Cork Mysteries (two,
and more to come). That’s, uh, sixteen in print. Then there are the ebooks,
which are not part of any series: Once
She Knew, Relatively Dead, and Reunion
with Death. Does that make 19? And there are more in the pipeline.
MM2: Do you have an author whose
books you reread?
Not recently, although years ago I
reread a lot of books, particularly Dorothy Sayers and a lot of the golden age
mysteries—Agatha Christie, Josephine Tey, Margery Allingham, Ngaio Marsh. But
back then it wasn’t all mystery for me—I used to reread Tolkein once a year,
and science fiction, what was then called women’s fiction, and a real grab bag
of other books.
MM2: Tell us about your writing
schedule?
I’m usually planted at my desk with
my second cup of coffee by eight o’clock in the morning. I take a short break
for lunch, then back to the desk again. Over time I’ve found that I can write
more freely in the morning, so before lunch it’s creative, and after lunch it’s
administrative (blog posts, promotion and so on). When my creative brain shuts
down altogether by late afternoon, I read. Yes, I watch television, although
I’m more analytical about plot and structure than I used to be. And I usually
read before I go to sleep.
But the writer brain is always busy,
no matter what I’m doing. When I start a new book, I figure out one pivotal
theme or image, which may be no more than a phrase or a picture, and then I let
my subconscious go to work on it. Sometimes a plot point will suddenly pop up
when I’m doing laundry or driving somewhere, and I file that away. As a result,
when I sit down to actually start writing, I have a lot of material accumulated
in my head, and most of it fits together. You never know when and where you’ll
find something interesting that you want to use somewhere.
MM2: What advice do you have for
aspiring mystery authors who want to write a series?
I’m speaking primarily about cozies.
First, choose characters you like, because you’re going to be spending a lot of
time with them. Make sure they have room to grow and learn as individuals. Then
surround them with interesting people, whether or not one (or two) of them is a
love interest. Then drop this crowd into a place that’s not too big but not too
small, so that many people know each other and may have histories with each
other. Then sit down in front of your keyboard and see who shows up and starts
talking. Sometimes they may surprise you.
Oh, and never give up. Rejections
are part of the process. When you get one, wallow in misery for a day or two,
then suck it up and keep moving forward. You get better at writing, even if you
can’t see it.
MM2: Where is your favorite place to
vacation or visit? Do you have a wish list of places you would like to
vacation?
These days, Ireland, where my
father’s parents were born, although I never visited the country before 1998.
That’s why I wanted to set a series there, so I’d have a reason to go back regularly.
But in general I love to travel—I’ve lived for short periods in France and
England, and I’ve visited Australia and Mexico, and a lot of different states
in the US. I went to Italy last year for the second time after many years, and
I’d like to get to know it better. In the past I would have said I wanted to
see Egypt and Greece, but things there are too politically unstable now to make
travel appealing. New Zealand? I may have relatives there.
But I want to see and do things, not
sit on a beach (my fair Irish complexion doesn’t handle sun well!).
MM2: Pretend this is Oscars and you
have won top honors. Who would you like to thank?
In kind of reverse order:
--My parents, mainly because they
always kept books around and set an example by reading a lot.
--My husband, because he provided
the salary that gave me the luxury of writing full time when I started out.
--My agent and editors, who trusted
that I could turn out not one but many books that people would want to read.
--But maybe I need to thank a series
of employers who “let me go” (and a few who outright fired me), because they
inspired me to say “I’ll show you, you jerks” when I started writing. And I
think I have.
MM2: As far as your books and
deadlines. What can we expect next and when will it be released?
Razing the Dead
(Museum Mystery #5), June 2014
Picked to Die
(Orchard Mystery #8), October 2014
Something we haven’t named yet
(County Cork Mystery #3), February 2015
And maybe a standalone ebook or two
MM2: When you are writing does it
have to be completely quiet? Do you write by music or television in the
background?
I used to listen to classical music,
but not lately. I can’t listen to anything with words because I sing along,
which is a little distracting, so I save that for the car. I can read with
television on, but not write.
MM2: What would your main characters
say is your best ability?
Persistence? Which could also be
called stubbornness. In the face of the multiple rejections that any writer
faces, I just kept trying. I think that’s a good quality in a protagonist—life
throws things at them (like dead bodies), and they keep muddling along.
MM2: Leave us with a writing quote
or maybe some words of wisdom by one of your characters?
Wow, that’s a hard one. What I finally
decided on is something from One Bad Apple, the first Orchard Mystery and the
first book published under my name. It’s from near the end of the book, where
the two main characters, Meg and Seth, have identified the murderer. I think it
sums up the heart of a cozy mystery: why people set out to solve the crime.
"Meg, I
know how hard the past couple of months have been for you, what with losing your job, and the house, even before...Chandler's
death. You put yourself in a difficult
position, moving here, with nobody to lean on."
Meg
nodded. "Maybe you're right. I didn't plan things very well, did I?"
"I've
got to say it took guts to stand up in front of a room full of strangers and do
what you did."
"Even
if I was wrong?"
"You
got some pieces right. Look, a lot of people would have said 'it's not my
business' and walked away. But that
would have been wrong."
"That's what I thought," Meg
answered.
