Flexibility by Diane Burton

“To succeed you constantly have to reinvent yourself. Try different things.” Bob Mayer, last week on Elizabeth Meyette’s blog.

My 7-months pregnant daughter-in-law, who with her friends, remember their gymnastics coach by doing handstands on the anniversary of his passing. Is that flexibility or what?

 

One thing you learn early on in married life—especially with children—is being flexible. Life throws us curves, or as Brenda Whiteside wrote here last Thursday, “Make a Plan and Hear God Laugh.”

Another thing we learn as we get older is that our bodies become less flexible. I was never as flexible as my daughter-in-law, even in my younger days. My physical therapist tells me that for relief from chronic back pain and to gain the ability to walk longer, straighter, etc., my hips have to be more flexible. That they're too tight, too rigid. Thank God, he wasn’t talking about my mind.

When I first started writing, I wrote romances, like the Harlequins I’d devoured ages ago. That didn’t work. Rejections abounded. Then I tried romantic suspense. Suspense always came up in my romance stories anyway. I wrote this great story, but nobody wanted it. For fun, I wrote a story about a woman who was kidnapped by aliens, by mistake. I was surprised when Switched was picked up by a small niche publisher back in 2000. Alas, my publisher didn’t like the second book. She thought my heroine should be pushed out an airlock into space. I disagreed.

Time went by, life threw some curve balls, I dropped out of the writing game for a while. That’s when everything changed. Social media? What’s that? Facebook was what my brother-in-law used to show off the fish he caught. Blogs, Twitter, Triberr, LinkedIn, Pinterest. My head spun. The multitude of publishers became the Big Five. Or is it now the Big Four? If I wanted back in the writing game, I had to readjust my thinking. I had to learn new things, new ways of doing things.

A friend suggested since I had the rights back for Switched, I should self-publish it. After all, it wasn't doing anything anyway. Talk about being surprised. Wow. I wrote more science fiction romances and people bought them. Double wow! Then I took a chance with that romantic suspense and The Wild Rose Press wanted One Red Shoe. Our own Alicia Dean was my editor. I couldn’t have asked for a more enthusiastic editor for my book. While I haven’t published any more romantic suspense, I have some hiding in my computer that need to be hauled out and looked at.

I love writing sci-fi romances. But I wanted to try something else. A mystery series with a female detective. A PI who takes over her father’s business in a small resort town. The Alex O’Hara series was born.

Without being flexible, I wouldn’t have tried the different genres. If that’s reinventing myself, I’m having a blast doing it. 

Diane Burton writes sci-fi romances, romantic suspense, and cozy mysteries. She blogs here on the 30th of the month and on her own blog every Monday.

A Reading Smorgasbord by Diane Burton

Do you read in various genres? Or just one or two?

I’m an eclectic reader. First and foremost, I read science fiction romance. I didn’t used to. I was afraid I’d inadvertently use someone else’s ideas in my own work. Then an author I admire told me to read more in the sub-genre I write so I would know the tropes, the language, the abbreviations that writers use and readers expect. I can’t tell you how many new (to me) authors I’ve discovered and enjoyed.

I read sweet romances and gritty suspense. I find Young Adult books intriguing. Where were those books when I was a teen? When I was in my twenties, my girlfriend suggested I read Georgette Heyer’s Regency romances. Loved them. Recently a friend, Alyssa Alexander, began writing Regency suspense. Way cool. A perfect combination.

I’ve always read mysteries, starting with Nancy Drew when I was a kid. My mom had a whole set of them and I read everyone. I love mysteries and romantic suspense that include humor. Slapstick comedy like Stephanie Plum or situation comedies like M.C. Beaton’s Agatha Raisin. I like Bob Mayer’s military suspense novels and Nancy Gideon’s vampire and shifter stories.

So many books to choose from . . . so little time.

Since I love mysteries, I decided to write one. A story about a private investigator who sometimes takes chances she shouldn’t. I set it in a fictitious resort town on Lake Michigan, a place similar to where I live.

Small town . . . big case.

After taking over O’Hara & Palzetti, Confidential Investigations from her dad and his partner, Alex O’Hara’s bottom line has taken a plunge. So when a femme fatale offers her the case of a lifetime along with a huge advance, Alex sees her finances on a definite upswing. She might even be able to change her diet from ramen noodles to prime rib.

But someone doesn’t want her to find the long-lost brother. Complicating matters is the return of Alex’s old heartthrob, Nick Palzetti. Is he really there just to see her or does he have an ulterior motive? The Lake Michigan resort town of Fair Haven is abuzz with the news that O’Hara & Palzetti are together again.

Diane Burton writes romantic adventure . . . stories that take place on Earth and beyond. She blogs here on the 8th and 30th of each month and on Mondays on her own site: http://dianeburton.blogspot.com/