Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Amy Reade. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Amy, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. We’d love to hear about one of the craziest things you’ve experienced in your journey so far.
My doorbell rang. My dog went nuts.
I looked out the dining room window to see who was there and it was a man I didn’t recognize. I cracked the door open.
“Hi,” I said.
“Are you Amy Reade?”
“Yes.”
“I killed a woman and I need your help.”
Alarm bells shrieked and clanged in my head. My dog was behind me, half crazed. Finally she pushed right between my legs and hurtled out the door. The man stood stock-still, probably wondering if he was about to become lunch. But I was glad to have my dog by my side. Once she had stationed herself firmly between me and the stranger, she and I both felt more comfortable.
“My help with what?” I asked.
“Writing a book.”
Oh, geez. I knew where this was headed. “How did you find my address?” I asked.
“My wife works for your plumber. She got your address from the company records.”
I made a mental note to fire the plumber. I looked around, and seeing no car, I asked, “Do you live nearby? Did you walk here?”
He pointed to an ATV parked behind a tree in my front yard. “They took my license when I killed the lady, so I can’t drive a car.”
It seemed to me a license revocation might also cover operation of an ATV, but I didn’t say anything. Also, are ATVs even street-legal? The only way to get to my house is on a two-lane highway, so it wasn’t like he drove through fields or down dirt roads to find me.
“Here’s what happened—”
“Hold on,” I said. “I’m very busy with work right now.”
“You’re the writer, right?”
“Yes, but—”
“I need a writer to help tell my story and I think you’re the right person.”
“Unfortunately, I don’t write true crime. I would advise you to find a true crime writer. Or go to the newspaper.”
“But I’m going to help you write it.”
“Yes, but I still don’t write true crime. I also work alone.”
“Here’s the thing. This reaches into the highest echelons of county politics. It may go as high as the governor’s office. Someone is trying to silence me. I need help from a writer.”
“Well, I also don’t write political thrillers.”
“But I’m going to help you write it.”
“That doesn’t matter if I don’t write political thrillers. I’m sorry I’m not able to help. Have a nice day.”
“Wait! Let me at least tell you the details.”
He went on to relate an endless story of how he backed up his truck and struck an elderly woman, killing her. He was placed on leave and this was highly unjust.
Then he went on to tell me that the judge assigned to the case had broken the law and he was suing the judge.
Side note: the judge happens to be a friend of mine. I had not heard him speak of this man.
“So will you help me?”
“Again, I can’t. I’m sorry. I don’t write those kinds of stories. You’ll need a different kind of writer to help you.”
All I wanted was for this man to leave, but I had a hunch he would not take kindly to being thrown off my porch, so I was treading lightly.
“You’ll think about it, though, right?”
I repeated my previous statement. He nodded and took his leave. I watched him trundle off on his ATV and when I was sure he had turned onto the main road, I went inside, locked the door, and got back to work.
The next day I got a phone call. It was the same man.
“How did you get my number?”
I could hear the grin in his voice. “Same way I got your address. My wife. So have you had a chance to think about my offer?” Technically, there had been no offer. He had simply asked me to write his book. He launched into the same story he had told the previous day. I interrupted him.
“I’m sorry, but I do need to get back to work. My advice would be to find a true crime or political thriller writer and ask one of them to help you.” I said a prayer that I wouldn’t be struck down for throwing some other writer under the bus, but I had a feeling this man’s quest was going to end with me. “Besides that, the judge you sued is a friend of mine and I can’t engage in a conflict of interest like that.”
“I’ll call you back and we can talk more about this.” He hung up.
I dialed my judge friend. “Listen, are you familiar with [so-and-so]?”
“Oh, yes. He doesn’t like me.” He told me his version of some of the events the man had shared with me.
“Well, he’s called me and he’s visited my house. He wants me to write his story. Should I be worried?”
“Wow—I wouldn’t have thought he’d go that far. But I think he’s harmless. If you hear from him again, let me know.”
To date, I have not heard from the man again. But he taught me a lesson in privacy and the importance of having a big dog with a deep bark. I don’t answer the door to strangers anymore, and I’ve stopped letting the local paper know when I have a book coming out. It’s a small price to pay for keeping strangers away from my home and family. I know it’s easy to find someone’s address online, but why give people a reason to look for it?
Also, we have a new plumber.
Amy, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
I am a mystery writer. I started out writing Gothic mysteries (if you don’t know what Gothic mysteries are, think Daphne du Maurier) and after a few years branched out to cozy mysteries and historical mysteries.
I used to practice law, but I never loved it. Quite the opposite, in fact My practice involved a lot of writing, but it was typically dry and boring.
Purely out of curiosity, I attended a writing and publishing workshop at a local library. The workshop was three nights long and we had actual homework, which I hadn’t done in years. While I drove to the library for the second night of the class, I thought about the homework I had completed the night before. I was so deeply into my own thoughts that I ran a red light, nearly killing myself and someone else. That was the first time I had an inkling that fiction writing might be in my future.
For a long time I fleshed out the ideas that bloomed in that first homework assignment, and eventually started writing a story—in pencil, long-hand on a legal pad. Before long I began to think I was doing too much work to make no money from it, and decided to go the publication route. That homework assignment became my first novel. The third publisher I contacted bought the book.
Six novels later, I took the plunge into self-publishing and I haven’t looked back.
My first self-published series (The Juniper Junction Cozy Holiday Mystery Series) consists of seven cozy mysteries. If you’re unfamiliar with the term “cozy mysteries,” here’s a quick primer. They typically follow some basic rules (though there are exceptions, as with anything else): a murder of a character everybody hates; a female protagonist; a setting in a small town; and a focus on the protagonist’s job, which is often something like bakery owner, dog walker, professional organizer, etc. You’ll almost never find a high-powered lawyer or a CIA agent or a biomedical engineer at the center of a cozy mystery (though, as I mentioned, there are exceptions). Readers also expect little to no swearing and little to no sex or gore on the page. There’s always a happy ending where good prevails and evil is vanquished.
My cozies are a little different from most in that they deal with real topics that many of us face on a daily basis. My main character, Lilly, is a member of the sandwich generation, meaning that she has kids at home and she’s also trying to care for an aging parent. Besides that, she’s a single mom and a small business owner (she has a jewelry shop).
Lilly’s kids are typical teenagers, and if you have teenagers (or if you know any, or if you ever were one…), you know that can be a rough road. Plus, at the beginning of the series, Lilly’s mom is experiencing the first symptoms of dementia. Dementia is a chronic disease, so it worsens as the series progresses. There are also issues like teen pregnancy and divorce.
My readers love Lilly’s humanity. She’s totally relatable. She faces issues with humor and frustration and sometimes makes the wrong choices, like all of us.
And on top of all that, she somehow finds herself at the center of every murder that takes place in her little town of Juniper Junction.
I write historical mysteries, too. Right now I’m working on a historical mystery collection of seven books that take place (or will take place) in and around Cape May, New Jersey, throughout Cape May’s history. The first book is set in 1711-1714, the second book is set in 1777, and the third book, which I’m working on now, is set in 1821. There are no characters or situations that carry from one book to another, so every book in the collection is a standalone novel.
I have another series, The Libraries of the World Mystery Series, in which mysteries from the past are intertwined with mysteries from the present. Each book in the series features (or will feature) a different library somewhere in the world, and a special collection from that library is used to commit or solve the crime. This is a challenging series to write, but I love it. I’m currently working on the second book in that series.
I’m proud that my books have made it to the USA Today and Wall Street Journal bestseller lists, and I’m thrilled to be able to say “I love my job.” I show up at my desk every morning, excited to get to work. When I’m not writing, I’m thinking about it. I don’t feel like I need a vacation from my job, so I write when I’m on vacation because I want to. I think that love shows in my books.
Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?
There are three goals driving my creative journey.
The first one, and my top priority, is to write stories readers love. The love can take any form: maybe a reader comes away from one of my books with a feeling of deep satisfaction and a desire to tell someone else about the book. Maybe they email me to tell me how much they enjoyed it. Maybe, in the case of my historical or library mysteries, they learn something about history. Or art, or books, or whatever happens to be the topic or setting of my story. Maybe they write a great review.
That’s my top priority because with the consistent and frequent release of a good novel, the second goal is much easier.
The second goal: to see a year-on-year increase in my income. I know there are going to be ups and downs from month to month, but at the end of every year, I want to be able to say I increased my income from writing and selling novels by at least ten percent.
My third goal is to learn something new every week about (1) self-publishing and (2) writing. Whether it’s a tip on how to increase ad effectiveness on a particular platform or how to structure a prize-winning short story, I want to end every week with new knowledge of both business and craft.
What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?
After my first-ever bad review, I called my editor in a panic. “I don’t know what to do,” I said (not realizing that there was, of course, absolutely nothing I could do).
After he talked me off the ledge, he told me something I’ll never forget:
“The best part of being a writer is putting your work out there for the world to see. And the worst part of being a writer is putting your work out there for the world to see.”
This has stuck with me because it’s a constant reminder that it takes guts to pour your sweat and tears (thankfully, the blood is fictional) into a novel that takes ages to write and then to share it with the whole world. Prior to beginning this journey, I would never have thought it possible that I had the guts I would need to make a career of writing.
But I’ve found out that I do have the guts. I’ve found out that I can stand in front of a room filled with a hundred strangers and tell them about myself, as I did just yesterday. I’ve found out that I can read a bad review without it ruining my day (it only ruins the first few minutes). And I’ve found out that this journey has helped me grow more than I ever would have thought possible.
Do I think I would have made these discoveries if I had continued practicing law? Maybe. But I can say this with certainty: I would not have enjoyed that journey. And I have loved every day of this one—even the bad days.
Contact Info:
- Website:www.amymreade.com
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/amymreade/
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/amreadeauthor
- Twitter: www.twitter.com/readeandwrite
- Other: My blog is called Reade and Write. Every two weeks, I review and recommend a mystery for my readers. www.amreade.wordpress.com. __________________________________ Readers can join my newsletter at www.amymreade.com/join-the-newsletter.