CJ Lyons | Better than Sex!

Okay, well, almost….but honestly, that's the only way I can describe the rush you feel having your first book sold, published, and now, ta-da!, getting fanmail!

When I began to write LIFELINES I knew it would be a challenge to find our target audience. Afterall, we were breaking all the rules—combining thriller pacing with a women's fiction feeling, a medical suspense told solely from the point of view of the women of Angels of Mercy's ER, and finally, combining romantic elements in an on-going, multi-character series.

Before the release, I worried. Would the mystery/suspense reviewers like it or would they find it too much like women's fiction? Would the romance reviewers think there wasn't enough romance? Would the "big name" reviewers pay any attention at all?

Turns out the worry was for nothing. Publishers Weekly and the Baltimore Sun both loved LIFELINES, with Publishers Weekly calling it a "breathtakingly fast-paced medical thriller". Romantic Times Book Reviews made it a Top Pick and Romance Reviews Today gave LIFELINES a coveted Perfect 10!

But us writers aren't known for our neurotic tendencies for nothing, lol! Despite all this, I still worried about readers finding LIFELINES—and liking it. LIFELINES is shelved in general fiction/literature, not in either romance or mystery/suspense. And it's a paperback. Would anyone find it, much less pay money for it, and then like it?

My answer came sooner than I thought it would.

LIFELINES was released here in the US on March 4th, but must have hit the stores early in Canada because the first fan letters I received were from across the border. Words like "one of the best books I ever read" and "I couldn't put it down" were tossed about, making my heart soar as I walked around all day with a grin on my face.

People really connected to Lydia, who finds herself risking everything in LIFELINES. But they also loved the other women: Nora, Gina, and Amanda, asking when their stories would be told! (Amanda's story is the next book, CATALYST, due out early 2009)

Former nurses, EMT's, and even other doctors wrote to tell me I got the feel of an ER right and to thank me for sharing their world with readers. People from Pittsburgh praised me for how I portrayed their hometown. And, most surprising, a good portion of the fan mail is from men—they enjoyed LIFELINES as much as the women!

Now's my chance to officially say thanks to everyone who has read LIFELINES and taken the time to write me. I can't tell you how happy you all have made me!

A writer's life is often spent in isolation. We pour our hearts and souls into stories that we can never be certain will resonate with readers. And that's what it's all about, that's why we write—or at least why I write. Because we want to share our world with you, invite you in, spin you a good yarn, and hopefully entertain, empower, or inspire you along the way.

All I can say is…thanks for reading!

CJ

About CJ:

As a pediatric ER doc, CJ Lyons has lived the life she writes about. CJ loves sharing the secret life of an urban trauma center with readers. She also loves breaking the rules; her debut medical suspense novel, LIFELINES, is cross-genre to the extreme, combining women's fiction with medical suspense with thriller pacing with romantic elements and is told from the point of view of the women of Angels of Mercy's Medical Center. Publisher's Weekly proclaimed LIFELINES (Berkley, March 2008), "a spot-on debut….a breathtakingly fast-paced medical thriller" and Romantic Times made it a Top Pick. Contact her at http://www.cjlyons.net/

CJ Lyon | Help a starving writer!

No, I’m not going to ask you to buy my book—you couldn't even if you wanted since it doesn’t come out until March.

I need a different kind of help—the kind of help only readers can give.

First, let me introduce myself. I’m CJ Lyons and I’m a pediatric ER doc turned medical suspense author. My first novel, LIFELINES, will be published by Berkley on March 4, 2008.

I love my new job as a writer—not only can I go to work in my pj’s, I also get the chance to meet lots of interesting people and ask questions that no one else would dare.

I mean, how many 9-5er’s get to visit the FBI academy at Quantico or talk to crime scene experts about the “best” way to kill someone and get away with it?

And no beepers, trauma alerts, or 3am calls to deal with—for the first time in 17 years, I’m finally getting some sleep!

But there is one thing about being a writer that I’m not too happy about. It’s ruined me as a reader!

All my life I’ve been a voracious reader, following my favorite authors blissfully into the worlds they created for me. But now that I’m a writer and know the “tricks of the trade” I no longer travel blindly into these fictional realms.

Instead, I now proceed with eyes wide open, taking note of what works and what doesn’t. I dissect technique, scavenge evocative word choices, flag areas where the pace lags or the characters feel contrived.

I no longer can accept that a character does something “too stupid to live”—like going down into the basement when the lights are out and there’s a serial killer on the loose—unless they have a darn good reason to do so—something more than simply the author needing another action scene. Romances where the only reason the hero and heroine remain apart is because they don’t stop sniping long enough to actually talk about their problems smack of melodrama. And thrillers where the main goal is simply racking up a body count rather than changing or saving the hero’s world seem lackluster.

Yikes!!! Now instead of reading 3-5 books a week, I find myself starting 8-10, quickly casting most aside within a few pages, setting the rest down and never feeling compelled to pick them up again.

I long for the days when I would pick up any book in any genre and devour it like candy. Now I’m left with an often fruitless search for literary sustenance.

But then I’ll find that jewel—that precious gem of a story that draws me in, introduces me to characters I not only understand but care about, makes me feel that saving their world is as important as anything going on in my own.

You know what books I’m talking about—those keep me up all night books. Suddenly they seem harder to find than ever, but once I find one I savor the experience, reading much slower than my usual headlong rush, trying to prolong my enjoyment as much as possible.

So help a poor starving reader/writer out here! What books have you read lately that gave you more than entertainment, that were fresh and different, able to transport you to another world that you were reluctant to leave? Which characters have you fallen in love with lately and why?

I’d love to hear about the books that moved you—and what made them stand out from all the other ones out there.

Thanks for helping this hungry reader!
CJ