A SHORT STORY OF MY LIFE
Pocket Books are to blame. These tiny books, with about six inch by four inch covers, less than a half inch thick, and originally meant to be carried in a pocket or purse, are the reading material I remember from my childhood. Stories of Perry Mason, an undefeatable attorney, written by Earl Stanley Gardner; stories of places beyond the galaxy by Ray Bradbury, and “The Maltese Falcon” by Dashiell Hammett. I devoured these books, much more interesting than the Bobbsey twins, and Cherry Ames, student nurse, that my mother considered appropriate reading. Then I decided that I wanted to write books.
But, like many other lives, my dream took a detour. I became an attorney and a mother. About half way through my legal career, I decided that, if I was going to do it, I needed to make a plan to become a writer. I took out the dozen or so Pocket Books I kept from my parents’ home; I still have then today. I attended dozens of conferences and workshops and wrote each day from 5 AM to 6 AM, before going off to my legal job. One of the first conferences I attended was the Cape Cod Writers Conference; at that time, it was a week-long conference at a retreat center in Centerville.
I started writing mysteries where the crime sets off a cascade of increasingly complicated reasons for normal people to act in bizarre fashions. The first attempts were rough, but I got better at it. I saved and set money aside and planned for the day I could write full time. In 2015, I quit my job as a prosecutor and become a full-time writer. That’s the only profession listed on my tax return; it doesn’t get any more real than that.
Since 2015, I have published three novels, many articles in local publications, and numerous press releases and marketing materials for corporations and non-profit organizations. In 2019, I realized I had taken my writing as far as I could go without help. I applied to Stonecoast and started my first semester in the winter of 2021. My first three semesters were virtual. I learned that my years of technical writing and writing to deadline put me ahead in the practical aspects of writing. Because I chose popular fiction as my area, the same years of experience were a drawback when I attempted to elaborate on settings and emotions.
I kept going and I learned from some of the best. My writing improved and my mindset transformed. I am now working on my fourth novel, a modern mystery with its roots in the Depression-era creation of the Quabbin Reservoir in Massachusetts. It has political intrigue, and taking of land from farmers to provide Boston with drinking water, and personal tragedy of people fighting to save their way of life. It will be published in the spring of 2024.