Wicked Wednesday: Favorite Writing Successes

Edith here, having trouble believing it’s almost June.

Okay, Wickeds, let’s bounce back to five Wednesdays ago. What’s your favorite success in the writing world? What’s one thing you succeeded in doing that made you feel all rosy inside? It’s time to toot your own horn!

Barb: The “success” that caused me to scream and cry was the mention of the Maine Clambake Mysteries in the New York Times Book Review in December. It wasn’t something I caused to happen, except by writing the books. The Book Review was a staple in my parents’ house, and in my own. For decades, until we gave up the print edition, I read it every Sunday. For my parents, it was their main source of information about what was going on in the literary world. They would have been so tickled to see it.

Edith: I could say it is figuring out how to write a first draft in under two months – which I just accomplished again last week, with novel #22. I wouldn’t be able to write three series if I couldn’t do that. But truly, it’s getting an email from a reader who says she took my book to the hospital to read while waiting for her husband to come through surgery and while sitting by his bedside for days on that. That makes it all worthwhile.

Liz: One of the moments that stands out to me was when the Wickeds were featured in the Boston Globe. As one of the newspapers I grew up on, one that had such a great reputation, to be featured so prominently in the arts section a few years ago was surreal to me – and I am still so grateful for it to this day. I thought of it recently when the daughter of a dear friend who passed away last year sent me a photo of the article. She’d found it when she was cleaning out her mother’s office. That made it all the more special, to know she had kept it.

Jessie: There have been a lot of milestones over the years that have made me feel successful but the one that stands out the very most was typing the words “The End” when I completed the first draft of my first novel. As soon as I wrote those words I burst into tears. I was committed to not being the sort of person who had always wanted to write a book but had never made the effort to do it. I was so proud of myself for not being someone who would allow a life-long dream to go unfulfilled I started to sob. If it hadn’t been for that first success, none of the other successes could have happened including the pleasure of sharing them with all of you here on the blog!

Sherry: I’m with Liz that one of the coolest things was being in the Boston Globe. The interview was fun, the photo shoot was so exciting — we felt like rock stars. Unfortunately, Edith was out of town that day, but she’s included in the interview and they put everybody’s head shots on the next page. Here’s a link to the article if you want to read it: https://www.bostonglobe.com/arts/books/2016/04/24/murder-they-wrote/asE9zXGm30LUk6vqnalOuM/story.html

Being nominated for the Agatha Award for best first novel was another thrill. I will never forget either of those events.

Readers: What’s your favorite personal success?