A Love Song to Encouragers

 

 I was having lunch last week when a woman stopped to tell me that CUTEST LITTLE KILLER is my best book yet.

I found a review on Amazon with this as its clincher "It's great. I loved it."

I'm not sure if those people know how much that helps an author out.

We work for months, even years, on a book. We ask for input. We hire editors. We polish and re-read. When it's finally out there, we wonder if it's good enough. Even the best writers of the day admit to asking themselves, "Is this the book that will sink my career?"

If you've had success with a former series, as I do with the Sleuth Sisters, it's tempting to stick with the "safe" choice, writing more of the same. But while I enjoy each book and series I've written, I always come to a point where I want to try something new. Cutest Little Killer is quite different from the Sleuth Sisters. That could cause some to look elsewhere for their next read, but readers must at some point want something new and different too. I mean, how many murders can there be in Cabot Cove, Mrs. F?