I’m Not a Psychopath

Okay, I sent off my latest R&R. Now comes the waiting period. Probably four weeks, maybe longer. Ugh.


But after I have my self-congratulatory piece of chocolate, I’ll be printing up my newest manuscript to give it another edit. And it’s not YA. Nope. This one is a murder mystery for adults. Yeah, it’s completely different. But not too different. I like to read YA and MM. Both tend to be plot-oriented. Since I’m committed to do my part in being published, it seemed to me that the best way to do it is to cast a broad net. You never know what an agent/editor is going to be looking for (I’ve already had an agent ask me to send her a query and sample pages). Plus, I’ve always wanted to write an MM. So this was the perfect time to do it. Once you have a contract, you’re committed to that genre (with notable exceptions) and to build a following within that genre. I didn’t want to think in five or ten years, “Gee, I wish I’d written a MM.” And then, I got “The Idea,” which I’m pretty sure hasn’t been done before. And The Idea poked, prodded, and generally made itself a nuisance until I wrote it.

It’s been fun. A lot of work*, but fun. After all, to paraphrase Rick Castle, “There are two kinds of people who spend their time thinking about killing people, psychopaths and mystery writers.” My kids already think I’m crazy (who else talks about their characters lying to them) so it wasn’t much of a stretch.


*If there are any wannabe mystery writers out there, the best books I’ve found are How to Write a Damn Good Mystery by James N. Fry and Don’t Murder Your Mystery by Chris Roerden.