How do you write three series? That is one of the questions I'm often
asked, and, well... I don't think about it often.
Except when I'm panicked in the middle of the night because I have a due date,
and can't remember which series it's for. Or when, like yesterday, I'm working
on a book and slip in details from another book by mistake, and only catch it
later. Hopefully not so much later that it's made it to an editor. That has
never happened. Yet.
Or when I have two books out in three months as well as a due date for a book
and a couple of proposals due, and blog dates for a tour to promote the books
going on. Sometimes I get a little overwhelmed and mess things up, but that
doesn't happen very often.
How do you write three series?
I didn't start out with three series; it all kind of came on gradually. First, I
found the perfect agent, wrote a proposal, which was accepted by my dream
editor. I finally had my perfect job, writing the Vintage Kitchen Mystery
series for Berkley Prime Crime. Glorious. Wonderful! I was so excited. I've been
wanting this since I was twelve years old.
So I wrote and wrote and... I can do another series, I thought. I had
time. I began planning and had a kind of vision of a castle in the middle of
upstate New York, and a woman baking muffins. I knew right away who she was,
Merry Wynter, and I knew a lot of her backstory. I can handle this, I
thought, as my agent and I went back and forth over some of the details, then
presented it to my editor at Berkley.
She loved it, and I had another three book contract for a cozy series, the Merry
Muffin Series, with BRAN NEW
DEATH, now out, as the first book. I was ecstatic! Life is good.
Then the unthinkable happened. My editor had a wonderful idea for a cozy series
and was looking for a writer to write it. It had teapots, and teacups and a tea
house! I collect teacups and teapots, love tea, and my favorite days out include
lunch at a teahouse. Who could possibly be more perfect to write this than me?
But... three series? How could I manage?
I once promised myself that I would never ever let a great opportunity pass me
by. This was a great opportunity. I wrote a proposal and some chapters,
the editor loved it and... gulp... I had a third series, the Teapot Collector
Mysteries, writing as Amanda Cooper, which has its debut with TEMPEST IN A
TEAPOT next June.
I must be mad, but if this is madness it is that special kind of insanity where
you live someone else's life, because I swear that little twelve year old girl
who read Agatha Christie books and couldn't even imagine being lucky enough to
write mysteries for a living never even dreamed this wonderful.
How do I write three series? With a big grin on my face, that's how!
~::~
BRAN NEW DEATH, Book
1 of the Merry Muffin
Mystery series by Victoria Hamilton, (Berkley Prime Crime) is out September
3rd!
BRAN NEW DEATH: When
Merry Wynter discovered that she inherited a genuine American Castle in the
‘wilds' of upstate New York, her first reaction was to contact a real estate
agent to sell it, sight unseen. Things were a little complicated, what with a
lunatic employer making her life miserable. But after losing her job and with
the castle not sold, Merry decides to trek to Wynter Castle to see what the
problem is.
One barrier to selling is immediately evident; someone is digging giant holes on
the property! Merry accuses local Tom Turner of being her late night gopher and
warns him to stay off her property, or else, but it happens again. Merry
storms out to confront whomever is doing the damage, but doesn't count on
finding a dead man at the bottom of the hole.
What is going on at Wynter Castle and in Autumn Vale? How can Merry convince
hunky sheriff Virgil Grace that she is not the one who bashed the victim over
the head?
Check out BRAN NEW DEATH
and Victoria
Hamilton's other series, the Vintage Kitchen Mysteries.
Victoria
Hamilton Mysteries | Facebook | Merry
Muffin Facebook Page: | @MysteryVictoria
~::~
Victoria Hamilton,
nationally bestselling author of the Vintage Kitchen Mystery series, is the
pseudonym of Donna Lea Simpson, bestselling author of romance and historical
mystery novels.
Victoria starting reading mystery novels at the age of 12 and devoured Agatha
Christie mysteries, as well as those of Dorothy L. Sayers and Ngaio Marsh. She
still adores mysteries, especially the cozy mysteries of Janet Bolin, Krista
Davis, and others.
She loves to cook, and collects teapots and teacups, as well as vintage kitchen
utensils and bowls. She also enjoys crafts, especially cross-stitching and
crocheting, and spends summer days in the garden, drinking tea or wine. Besides
the Merry Muffin Mystery series (BRAN NEW DEATH - September
3rd) Victoria writes two other mystery series for Berkley Prime
Crime, the Vintage Kitchen Mystery series (Book 3, FREEZER I'LL SHOOT debuts
November 5th) and the Teapot Collector Mystery series which debuts
with TEMPEST IN A TEAPOT, out June 3rd, 2014.
9 comments posted.
I can't wait to read your books in all of your series!! I think the titles are very clever, and that's part of the reason that I'm drawn to your books to begin with. To show your witty side when coming up with titles for your books shows warmth, and invites the reader to see what you have to offer them. I'm sure that your books are just as clever as the titles, and I'm looking forward to reading them this Fall. Congratulations on your latest book, and on your upcoming series!!
(Peggy Roberson 10:59am September 19, 2013)
Thanks so much, Peggy!! I have so much fun with the titles... Book 2 is going to be Muffin but Murder!
(Victoria Hamilton 3:33pm September 19, 2013)
A reading a good cozy mystery is just the perfect end to a busy day for me---and your books just scream cozy. I can't wait to see what you do with teapots.
(Sue Farrell 5:08pm September 19, 2013)
I would find your juggling act very hard because I get completely immersed in my characters' lives and their surroundings and the forthcoming plot points. I have to finish one work and take a break, then start another.
(Clare O'Beara 10:24am September 27, 2013)
Cant wait to read the series. Im gonna put in on my wishlist. Thank u 4 a great giveaway
(Rina Darmayanti 5:35pm October 1, 2013)