Getting to know you

I see this blog as a way to get to know readers out there who would like to have a conversation with me and with other readers about things that matter to us. I hope you will comment not only on anything I have to say in this blog and about my books but also on what other readers have to say.

For this first blog, I am asking: Have you ever done something very risky?

I have. In three weeks my first women's mainstream novel will come out. I decided a couple of years ago that after writing twenty mysteries in twenty years, it was time to write some books I've been carrying around inside me for almost that long.

HOLD UP THE SKY is set on a dairy farm in West Georgia and is about Billie Waits, the single mother of a disabled child who depends on checks from her estranged husband, and Margaret Baxter, Billie's older sister. When the story begins, Billie's monthly check has not come and Margaret--the woman who has everything and can do anything--is trying to help her find out what has happened to Porter Waits. A crisis in Margaret's life, however, forces her to move out to their father's farm during a summer of record heat and drought. The two sisters are joined in their dad's sweltering kitchen by two other women also facing crises in their lives. What they learn about one another and living while canning tomatoes is at the heart of the story.

One reason for writing this book was to illustrate what a scientific study demonstrated several years ago: the best thing women can do in times of stress is find a girlfriend. We need each other.

Taking the risk of writing novels instead of mysteries, however, is scary. The whole time I was writing, I was thinking, "What if I can't do this? What if I can't carry this story to completion without strewing a few bodies along the plot for excitement?" (Okay, I cheated. I did put in one.)

Now that the story is written in stone--or in published form, which is about as solid--I wonder, "What if nobody buys the book? What if you readers don't like the characters or their story? What if you march in my street to protest my leaving a genre you already like?"

But you know what? I'm glad I did it. I've learned this past year I could do something I wasn't sure I could.

Is there a risk you've been wanting to take and haven't? Do it! Whether the end product is a success or not, you will have expanded your horizons and learned new things about your own capabilities.

Let me know what you think about the new book, but be gentle. Writers have feelings, too!

In future blogs I will try to answer some of your most frequent questions, like "Will MacLaren ever solve another case? Will Sheila Travis? Did Katharine Murray eventually stick with Tom or bail?"

Until then, happy reading. You are the reason I write.