Q & A with Juliet Waldron

 Thank you to the lovely Juliet Waldron, a fellow author with Books We Love, for linking up and asking the tough questions today. You can find her information at the bottom of my post. Be sure to check out her website and novels!

1) What am I working on?  Lately, I'm working on moving my oldest back from University and helping him find a job. Writing wise, I'm at work on the third book in the Wild Blue Mysteries series called The Bakery Lady. I am also gnawing on my fingernails while my agent queries another one of my mysteries Death of a Jaded Samurai.

2) How does my work differ from others of its genre?  One of the book series that prompted me to become more serious about writing was Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum novels. I loved the sense of humor and romance, but wanted something a little more. My Wild Blue Mysteries also has a sense of humor and romance and is a borderline cozy mystery, meaning I use two points of view in each book - a man and a woman.

Death of a Jaded Samurai is a true cozy based in a small down, one protagonist, but set in a martial arts school. Since my whole family has trained in karate for many years, this setting seemed natural, especially after I started working at the school.

3) Why do I write what I do?  Several years ago, I stumbled on a writing contest for a murder mystery sponsored by Wynterblue Publishing. Up until then, I'd only written general women's fiction. After I won the contest with Murder on Manitou, I realized how much I enjoyed working on a whodunnit and went back to one of my novels--The Bookstore Lady--to make it more of a mystery.

I love cozy mysteries for their humor, their small town settings, and their friendly tone. I try to make my main characters people my readers would like to sit and have tea with or even befriend. Having appealing characters is a great way to attract and keep readers!

4) How does my writing process work? My books always seem to start off with a scene that pops into my head or appears in a dream. I have favorite places I sit and write, working on bits and pieces that I will eventually string together into one whole manuscript. Sometimes I manage to follow an actual outline, sometimes my characters or story take over and things go awry from my original plan.

Once my first draft is complete, I'll put the novel away for a couple weeks to detach from the story so it's easier to edit. Even better, I'll send either the whole novel or a few chapters to a Beta reader for feedback. After a few rounds of edits, if I'm happy with the book, I'll submit it to my agent for her approval.

Thanks again to Juliet Waldron. You can find her at:

Musing and Rambling @ 

http://cronehenge.blogspot.com/

http://yesterrdayrevisitedhere.blogspot.com/

See All my historical novels @

http://bookswelove.net/julietwaldron.php

http://www.julietwaldron.com