We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Michele Pariza Wacek. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Michele below.

Michele, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Do you wish you had started sooner?

I definitely wish I had started sooner. But more than that, by all rights, I SHOULD have started sooner.

You see, I taught myself to read when I was three years old because I wanted to write stories so badly.

You would think with a start like that, I would have had hundreds if not thousands of books and stories written by now.

Alas, I took a left-turn in my 20s and 30s, throwing nearly all of my energy and passion into becoming a copywriter and ultimately building a multiple 6-figure copywriting and marketing company.

While I’m not sorry I took that left-turn as nearly all the lessons I learned to build my successful business have helped me with my fiction business, there’s no question it derailed my book production. If I had better managed my time, energy and creativity so I could write novels while building my business, I would be much better off today as I would have a lot more backlist books to market.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I’m a USA Today Bestselling and award-winning mystery author. I write both psychological thrillers and cozy mysteries (think “Murder She Wrote” or Agatha Christie’s Miss Marple series) with a touch of romance and the supernatural. Nearly all of my books are what I call clean and twisty–no on-page s*x, swearing, gore and only a little violence. In addition, all of my books and series are connected/intertwined and take place in either Redemption, Wisconsin, or Riverview, Wisconsin (both are fictional towns). My main series are:

* A psychological suspense mystery series (that include romance and a touch of the supernatural) called Secrets of Redemption, which has won multiple awards. This series is complete at 9 books.

* A twisty, funny cozy mystery series called the Charlie Kingsley Mysteries, that is a spin-off from the Secrets of Redemption and takes place in the 1990s. This series is ongoing.

* The Redemption Detective Agency, which is a cozy mystery spin-off from the Charlie Kingsley Mysteries and also takes place in the 1990s. It also takes place in the 1990s and is part romcom, part cozy mystery that also includes pet detectives and senior detectives. This series is ongoing.

* A series of standalone psychological thrillers, that also include mystery, suspense, romance and a touch of supernatural, called The Riverview Mysteries. This series is ongoing.

In addition, on my online store at MPWNovels.com, I sell online mystery games, mugs and other fun items that tie into my fictional universe.

Have you ever had to pivot?

From 1998 to 2014, my number one focus was building my copywriting and marketing company. While I was doing that,
I kept telling myself “someday” I would get back to writing fiction. Once I finished this “next” project, or maybe in a few months or next year I would have more time and be able to get back to writing.

Of course, it didn’t happen. The time didn’t just magically appear. If I wanted to write, then I was going to have to make the time.

It wasn’t until 2014 when I spent a week in ICU at the bedside of my dying mother, when everything shifted for me.

You see, my mother wasn’t supposed to get cancer. She was barely seventy years old. Both of her parents, my grandparents, had lived long and healthy lives. (In my grandfather’s case, to nearly ninety-seven.)

I should have had at least twenty more years with my mother. Minimum.

Instead, my mother ended up getting a rare and aggressive cancer, which was how I found myself alone in the ICU with her.

My family and I were all taking shifts with her, in order to not leave her alone, and it was my turn. She was awake but intubated, so she couldn’t talk, so I read to her. A mystery, which was her favorite genre. Nowadays, we would have called it a cozy mystery, but cozies weren’t a thing back then.

The doctors thought she was nearing the end of her life. They told us there was nothing more they could do for her.

So I sat with her alone in that freezing cold ICU room (colder than normal because my mother was burning up and the temperature was set as low as it could go) with the only sound coming from all the machines.

I read to her.

I cried.

And I said over and over to myself two mantras.

Let go and let God.

And, I’m not going to die with my books inside me.

That was the moment when it truly hit home for me. I wasn’t going to live forever. I was going to die at some point, and maybe I would be like my mother and die twenty years too young. And if I didn’t make time to write my books now, it might never happen.

Miraculously my mother didn’t die that day. She made an amazing recovery that the doctors couldn’t believe and ended up living for nine months. It was a true miracle.

Alas, even with that precious nine more months, my mother didn’t live long enough to see me finally publish my first book. Nor did she live long enough to start writing cozy mysteries, a genre I know she would have loved. Especially the Christmas cozies as my mother was a huge fan of Christmas. She wasn’t nearly as fond of the psychological thrillers that I had written in the past.

It’s my biggest regret that I didn’t get my act together around my fiction while she was still alive, but I know she’s still with me and cheering me on. Especially whenever I release one of my cozy mysteries.

What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?

I think the biggest goal driving me is knowing that I’ve fulfilled what my three-year-old self wanted.

Before I taught myself to write, I would draw little pictures to “illustrate” the stories in my head, and I would use those pictures to prompt me so I could verbally tell my stories to my parents.

But, I would notice if every time I told the story, it would change, because I couldn’t remember my exact words. The pictures would only take me so far, they weren’t enough for me to be able to tell my story the same way over and over again.

That was why I was so desperate to read, and then write. So I could have consistency in my storytelling.

And now that I have published 22 full-length novels and 5 novellas, I feel like I’ve finally resolved what my three-year-old self wanted so desperately to happen.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://MPWNovels.com
• Instagram: @themichelepw
• Facebook: @michelepwauthor
• Youtube: @MichelePW