I’m about to hit publish on my first-ever cozy mystery. And while it’s not the first novel I’ve written (I have two romances and a YA fantasy series published under other names), it is the first time I gave myself free rein to simply write what I love.
Often writers are given the advice to write what you know, but this summer at RWA I heard a speaker, Jennifer Lynn Barnes, talking about writing for your Id. Basically, her arguments was that if you love something enough as a writer and include it in your books that you’ll find readers who love it just as much as you do.
I hope she was right. Because that’s exactly what I did in writing A Dead Man and Doggie Delights, the first in my Nosy Newfie Cozy Mystery Series. This series of books is going to be all about what I love.
Colorado mountains? Check
Crazy family that you still love despite everything? Check
A good friend that you can run a business with? Check
A Newfie that’s as much a part of your life as any person? Check
A tall, dark, and handsome man you don’t have time to fall for? Check
Coke and toasted PBJ sandwiches? Check and Check
And, of course, there’s the added bonus of being able to kill off in a book that person who barked at my dog who I wasn’t allowed to kill off in real life. I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it.
(If you don’t, that’s okay, too, because this was the most fun I’ve had writing a novel yet and I can’t wait to do it again.)
Aleksa Baxter 