I recently read that the best type of writing advice gives you guidance rather than specific actions to take. For instance, I was once advised to delete a particular character. This came from a beta reader (a non-professional reader who reads with an eye to helping improve the work; I didn’t know such readers existed before reaching authorhood).

I considered the advice…seriously. Took out the character and didn’t like it. Back in the character went. For those of you who’ve read my book, you know I like a lot of characters. I want everyone to be a suspect to make the challenge of solving the whodunit greater. But believe it or not, I got rid of and/or combined quite a few characters before the manuscript reached The End.

My best critic never tells me exactly what to do. She says a chapter doesn’t feel right, which makes me take a hard look at it again and again. Or she’ll bring up points I hadn’t considered like: have you thought about inserting a sub plot? Or she’ll tell me a character seems wrong somehow or not entirely likeable. My initial reaction is WHAT? My writing’s not perfect as it is? I have high expectations that what I write should work the first time around. If I was a boxer in a boxing ring, I’d expect to knock down the opponent in the first round. It doesn’t work that way.

This type of inexact advice allows the writer to dig deeper into the well of ideas and intuition to bring forth something better. More satisfying. When something works, well, if you’re a writer, you know what that feels like. Almost euphoric. No drug induced state can compete (not that I would know). But when it doesn’t work, there’s always that nagging feeling nipping at one’s heels. When I feel that nagging, my first reaction is to push it aside. But when I make the effort to revisit the scene or chapter and try, try again, well, let’s just say it equals eating a whole coconut cream cake by myself without feeling full…or sick.

All of this said, I want to thank my wonderful beta reader, who really is the superstar of all beta readers for me. She reads and re-reads without any prodding. And has just the right insight I need. I’m very grateful to have her in my life. She knows who she is.

I’m often asked the same question by writers yearning to be published: How did you get started? I began by writing small. The full timeline for my writing journey appears below, but here’s the fast forward version:

I wrote short pieces, 500-1500 words, for small, and gradually, larger publications. At first, I met with rejection, but I pressed on and soon, publication became the norm. Local publications did not pay, but the larger ones did. I almost felt like a real writer.

Next, I took notes for a book of historical fiction. I turned these notes into a few chapters, the first of which I submitted to the San Francisco Writers’ Conference for a scholarship contest. I won, and attended. This was the turning point that made me think I could actually write a whole novel.

I started to write the novel. Not the historical fiction story, but a mystery, which was a lot more fun. I couldn’t believe I wrote 9000 words, then 25,000 and finally 90,000. It was a miracle. I wrote the first draft in nine months. It wasn’t very good.

For the next nearly two years, I rewrote and polished ’til my knuckles were sore. There was a lot of blood. And sweat and tears. A few tantrums and days where I trashed everything I wrote. All while working full-time. I finally finished. I sent out the manuscript, got an offer of publication from a small press out of New York and signed. Yippee! All that hard work paid off – my publisher changed nary a word.

Here’s the timeline for my journey:

1999: Wrote a teleplay and pitched to several movie studios. One bite, lots of chewing, but ultimately the project was spit up. I realized I wanted to write a novel, but where the heck was I going to come up with 80,000 words? And what kind of novel? The prospect was daunting.

2005-2009: Wrote and submitted short articles/essays/opinion pieces to local and national publications featuring escapades with my children, my animals, and my shift from city girl to country bumpkin. About 70% of the submissions were published.

2007-2009: Wrote a blog under a pseudonym about a subject I didn’t want anyone to know I was writing. I spoke freely and experimented. In retrospect, to my astonishment, a few posts were actually well written.

2009-2010: I tried to turn my blog posts into a work of non-fiction and created a proposal which I submitted to a few agents. I realized I didn’t like the subject matter. I focused on writing fiction. I longed to write a mystery!

2010-2012: I collected notes for a work of historical fiction. I submitted a chapter based on my notes to a small contest where an agent would review said chapter. I received brief, but positive feedback.

January 2012: I happened upon a contest for a scholarship to the San Francisco Writers’ Conference. I rewrote the first chapter of my historical fiction and submitted. I won! More astonishment. I attended (it was spectacular because agents thought I could really write)!

February 2012: Started to write the mystery novel based on my real life working as a newly minted lawyer in a movie studio. I dozed off often on the nearly autobiographical account. I changed it to a mostly fictional account and started to have fun.

November 2012: I sent my first draft to a few NY agents. All ignored me except one. He said the only thing he liked about my book was the title. I swore off writing forever.

January 2013: The major rewriting began. I took classes (thru the wonderful Guppies’ chapter of Sisters in Crime – a huge help), got beta readers and revised, revised, revised!

May 2014: Another incredible surprise – I was one of two national winners of the Helen McCloy/Mystery Writers’ of America scholarship award! I’d forgotten I’d even entered the contest. How marvelous!

October 2014: Finally finished and sent out the manuscript. Had a few agents interested, but signed with The Wild Rose Press as they offered me a contract! Hooray!

I left out all the rejections in between (I periodically sent out the manuscript in its various forms), as I have no wish to relive that part of the process. Most important is to forge ahead wearing blinders and ear plugs. The journey is a rugged one, but the destination is well worth it!

When the time came to select a setting for my novel, there was only one place I had in mind: Southern California. I’ve lived there my whole life, seen the best of times and the not so great, and longed to re-visit, in the world of fiction, the places I knew…with my imaginary characters. Here was my chance to twist and turn and reshape reality in any way I wanted…to entertain myself, and hopefully my readers.

Since my heroine, Corrie Locke, works in the entertainment industry, Los Angeles was the obvious choice. But in reality, when I first started working in a movie studio, my division was located in Orange County. Guess where my heroine works? In sunny, sophisticated Newport Beach, host to the well-groomed, the cultured, and the fine automobile aficionado; where trouble is unwelcome and found in unexpected places. Corrie visits scenic shopping mall, Fashion Island, and ends up hiding behind a clump of banana trees to avoid discovery during a murder investigation. And she suffers a mishap on the quaint, neighborhood-friendly Balboa Island, while riding the ferry 800 feet across the small bay.

I know where Corrie lives: in breezy Hermosa Beach, in a cozy little bootleg unit, a stone or two throw away from the ocean. Hermosa is another sunny, popular hangout for the young ladder climber. The perfect scene for running into trouble. Which is what Corrie literally does in the first chapter when she takes to the wood chip trail for a late night jog. All she wants is to satisfy her craving for a sandwich… an ice cream sandwich, that is, but she bites off more than she could chew, figuratively speaking.

Setting is like a surrogate character. One that can mold the human characters in unpredictable ways. Corrie encounters danger everywhere, not just on-board a raft posing as a ferry, but also in a celebrity mansion in Malibu, on the streets of Bel Air…and even in her own home. Just my way of having a little fun.