Celebrating Two Wicked Years!

6 May Announcement:  randomly selected winners from their comments on this post are: Ruth Nixon, Tiger Wiseman, Sandy Bartles, Jane Werthmann, Mary Feliz, and Nancy Roessner. Please contact Edith at edithmaxwellauthor at gmail dot com if you haven’t already heard from her. We need your mailing address. And congratulations!

It seems impossible that two years have passed since we started Wicked Cozy Authors. Our very first post was about how we met. For our first year anniversary we interviewed each other. We’d like to say how grateful we are for all our fabulous readers and our regular commenters. Thank you! We love you! And we are each going to give away a book (or perhaps a mug) to six commenters today. So this year Wickeds, tell us one thing that has changed for you this year and one thing you don’t think the other Wickeds know about you.

Sherry: My dream of getting published became a reality last December but it took awhile to sink in. I think because I know so many authors who are published it didn’t seem like a huge deal. About a month ago I was sitting on the couch with my husband one evening and I thought, “I’m published. I AM PUBLISHED.” What don’t the Wickeds know about me —-hmmm. When I was the Director of Marketing for a financial planning company I did weekly stock market reports on a local radio station. I have a good radio voice — which is very different from my regular voice.

Edith: What a fabulous path we’ve been on together! And Sherry, I want a demo of your announcer voice while we’re in Bethesda! For me, in the last year my Local Foods Mysteries contract was extended for two more books, and I landed both the Country Store Mysteries contract and the Quaker Midwife Mysteries contract. This change is both terribly exciting, and very stressful. So far, the books are still flowing out of my fingers. But I have some pretty tight deadlines next year. Gulp. Something you don’t know about me: I was the first human voice to be recognized by one of the first commercial speech recognition companies. Thirty-one years ago I was employee #16 for Kurzweil Speech Systems (the stars of which finally landed with Nuance, of Dragon Naturally Speaking), and I recorded 8000 words twice. I was the only person the system recognized, so I did all the demos and traveled to conventions. Not the best use of a PhD in linguistics, but it was fun. (Somewhere I have a picture of me that appeared in something like Newsweek!)

Jessie: My experience over the past year has been similar to Sherry’s. I’ve been published since 2010 but I work at home and five years ago I had children that were younger and needed more from me. I also had fewer work obligations like speaking engagements or teaching commitments. Over the past year I have come to realize this writing gig is an actual job and that I am a professional writer. I don’t know why it has taken so long for this to feel real but I am enjoying thinking about myself in a new way. As to what the Wickeds might not know about me? Perhaps it’s that before my youngest child was born I was a garden designer.

Liz: This past year has been amazing for me also. My Pawsitively Organic Mysteries have been extended for three more books, and I have a new series under contract also that will be out in 2016. Truly blessed, if not stressed! What the Wickeds don’t know about me: I did some radio during my journalism stint. I was the special guest the morning after every city council meeting to talk about what was going on in town. At the time I didn’t care for it, but now I appreciate what it taught me!

Julie: This past year I met my first deadline, and am plugging away on the details surrounding Just Killing Time getting published October 6. I was also co-chair of the New England Crime Bake, a job which I have again this year. It has been a wonderful year in my writing life, that’s for sure. What the other Wickeds don’t know about me? I love cotton candy. LOVE IT.

Barb: Is today really the day? Because two years ago today, something extra special happened, I became a grandmother for the first time to an absolutely amazing baby girl. It’s been a great year professionally. I handed in Musseled Out in July and the Maine Clambake series was renewed for three more books in August. At Level Best Books, we published Best New England Crime Stories 2015: Rogue Wave in November. As to what you don’t know about me, seriously after all these years of blogging, I don’t have any secrets left.

Readers: What’s something about yourself you think we don’t know? Remember, we are going to give away a book (or perhaps a mug) to six commenters today.