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Welcome to fellow BWL Publishing author, Mikki Sadil! I'm so thrilled to have her on my blog to share her work with you all!
I started writing when I was a child, having my first poem at the age of 10 published in our largest newspaper, the Houston Chronicle. (Of course, it may have helped that my mother was the Children's Editor at the time...) Since that time, I have published more than 60 short stories, articles, and poetry for Young Adults. I have also published five books for YA and one new book, a Cozy Mystery, for adults. In my life other than an author, I have been a professor of law and a professional horse breeder, trainer, and rancher. I currently live on the Central Coast of California and am a widow.
FaceBook: https://www.facebook.com/mikki.sadil
Blog: https://authormikkisadil.blogspot.com/
Mikki’s books are published by Books We Love Publishing Inc:
https://www.bookswelove.com/sadil-mikki/
What would you say are your strengths as an author?
I think my main strength as a writer is that I
am very thorough and careful researcher. I research everything before
I write. For my two historical novels about the Civil War, I not only read many
historical accounts of that war, but my husband and I took a two week barge
trip ( a real barge) down the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers, visiting small towns
engaged in the war in one way or another, but never mentioned in the history
books. We visited the 'safe houses" still standing, that were for runaway
slaves; read the histories of these towns; visited the cemeteries in each one;
even rode in a couple of the wagons and hearses still available that concealed
the runaways as they were being transported to safety. When we came home, then
I wrote my two books. I do that with every book I write, either about the
subject itself...my paranormal novel, for example...or the towns or cities my
stories take place in. I don't want mistakes in my books, or fiction that just
is not realistic. My latest book, the Cozy Mystery, takes place in a small
historical town that was once a whaling center in Connecticut. I have done a
great deal of research for that book, on the town my story is based on, and on
the whaling industry itself during the years when it was at its peak. And,
because the fictional town is based on a real town, I've also done research on
what that particular town is like now. In my book, the town is named for a
well-known whaling ship back in its day, The Dauphin. My town is Dauphin's
Cove.
How often do you write, and do you write using a strict routine?
I am a pantser writer. I write almost every day,
but only when the mood hits me. I do not have a strict routine.
If you could offer once piece of advice to a novice writer, what
would it be?
My advice to a novice writer: most writers will
tell you to "write what you know." And to begin with, that is excellent
advice. BUT...do not let it hinder you, and keep you tied to "only what
you know." When you feel you are ready as a writer to branch out, do so.
Pick a subject, a place, a theme, whatever, that you are interested in but know
little or nothing about. Then, RESEARCH RESEARCH RESEARCH!. What you will
probably find out might very well be amazing, and just exactly something you
want to build a story around. DO NOT limit yourself to the same old thing, the
same subject matter, the same type of plot, the same kind of characters. Many
writers do that, and eventually, their stories become dull and repetitious, no
matter how many they publish. Spread your wings and fly! Explore and research.
Don't rely on what you see and hear on social media, but use respected people
on the Internet...historians, doctors, police personnel, professionals in every
category you may want to investigate. Read and research not only on the
Internet, but in your public library. If need be, tell your librarian what you
are interested in and let her or him show you the kinds of books that will
enlighten you. Then build the fictional novel you want, knowing that it is true
to life. Again, spread those writer wings, explore, research, and then fly with
your story!
What would you consider to be the best compliment a reader could
give your book?
The best compliment anyone could give me on any
book is that it was interesting, realistic, well-written, and a joy to read.
What are you working on now?
I am doing something I've never done before, because I never
thought I could do it, and do it well, and that is, I am writing on two
different books at one time. One is the second in my Cozy Mystery series, and
the other is a political murder mystery. They are very different, totally
different plots, characters, places. And both took...yes, research! Especially
the political one, as politics is not one of my better subject matters!
MURDERS AND MACCHIATOS
Peyton Ashford is a law professor, her husband Cooper is the city District Attorney, and they have just turned an ancient barn, inherited from Peyton's grandmother, into Dauphin's Cove only coffeehouse, the Books and Brews Bistro. It is a very inviting place to have a delicious coffee drink and browse the many books at the back of the Bistro. While converting the huge upstairs of the barn into a beautiful living space for Peyton and Cooper, workers uncover a body behind the barn.
The body belongs to Peyton's great-uncle, whom she has not seen since childhood. The Sheriff declines to investigate so Peyton enlists the help of her two best friends, Willow and Kylie, to help her solve the murder. Strangely, this murder happened in the exact same way as the murder of her great-great grandfather, over 100 years ago. Along the way, a teenage girl mysteriously disappears and her parents refuse police help in finding her, but Peyton is determined to do so. A mysterious explosion destroys the teen's home, and searchers find the body of her brother...not killed in the explosion but murdered.
A competitive law professor and a Federal Drug agent become involved, determined to prevent Peyton from solving these crimes, especially that of her great-uncle. Fake art reproductions, hundreds of thousands of dollars fraudulently acquired, a stolen antique scrimshaw, a deadly lab, and the interference of a strange woman all add to Peyton's problems in trying to solve the worst and most unusual crimes the small town of Dauphin's Cove had ever seen.
It is 1861, and the aspect of a Civil War between the North and South is quickly becoming a reality. When Ben McKenna returns home to his grandmother’s Kentucky plantation, after being gone for almost a year helping his best friend, a crippled slave, and his parents escape from slavery, he is met with anger, resentment, and even hatred from his parents and two older brothers. Only his grandmother, a not-so-secret Abolitionist, is happy to see him.
When the Civil War is declared, his brothers join the Confederate Army, and Ben decides to become a spy for the Union Army. His grandmother sends him to a lady friend in Lexington who runs an espionage ring, and his troubles begin. When his first mission is hampered by a young girl, Puck, who attaches herself to him, he is afraid his future spying activities will be compromised, but she becomes a loyal ally.
At first, Ben works as a newsboy, since they are welcomed into both Confederate and Union camps, and Puck follows along with him, pretending to be his sister. But when he becomes an agent with the espionage ring, his missions become so dangerous that he must leave Puck behind. He embarks upon a journey already deeply mired in danger, deceit, and deception.
Every mission, every move he makes, is a distinct threat to his life, and he often wonders if he will ever return home. Follow Ben as he secretly engages in the War between the North and the South, and as he realizes, perhaps too late, that his own survival is not guaranteed.
THE FREEDOM THIEF
Shortly before the Civil War exploded in the South, thirteen year-old Ben McKenna is fighting his own war against slavery, on the hemp plantation in Kentucky where he lives. His best friend, a crippled slave boy, Josiah, is about to be sold by Ben’s father, and Ben must stop that sale by planning an escape for Josiah and his slave parents. When the buyer for Josiah arrives early, the escape has to take place that very night. Without any kind of plan, or even a map, Ben and Josiah and his parents, Bess and Jesse, embark upon a journey to find the Ohio River and the freedom that lies beyond for the slaves. Instead, they find hostility, danger, and deception, in a quest that costs them more than Ben ever dreamed of. Fear. Hunger. Exhaustion. They are on the run from slave hunters and their dogs, dogs who can follow their scent no matter what they do to disguise it. Hidden barns, tiny attic rooms, cellars full of rotting fruit and vegetables are their only means of safety, and then only for a short time, as they must run again. Treachery seems to be the name of the game, and Ben is never sure if they are going to win, when winning means finding the safety and freedom of the Ohio River.
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