Absolutely. All the time, actually.

That self-doubt, “imposter syndrome,” is exactly why it took me two years to write Hammers and Homicide.

I took lengthy breaks, questioning myself. We are always are own worst critics.

Once I finally pushed through and finished the first draft, it became easier, but that self-doubt never goes away.

I don’t think I have any great advice, except to just keep going. There are people out there who want your stories.  

I definitely alternate between projects.

Working on them simultaneously would not work for me.

I have a large bulletin board on the wall in my office across from my desk.

I call it my “murder board” and have pictures up of what I think the characters in the book I’m currently writing look like.

I think it really helps in keeping me focused on the current project.

One of the things we used to say growing up, was that if one of us girls, (three girls in my family), did something we weren’t supposed to on the way home from school, Mom would know about it before we got home.

She may not have known for sure which one of us was the troublemaker, but she would sniff that out pretty soon, as well.

That’s the kind of thing I’ve tried to bring to my books—lives that are intertwined, where people are involved with each other, know each other’s business, and look out for one another.

There can be a lot of drama in tight-knit communities, which makes good fodder for murder mysteries

Several! The Emery Theater in my Hometown Hardware series is based on The Elgin Opera House.

Hungry Bear Drive-In is based off of C-Zer’s Drive-In, which my great-uncle built in the 1950s. It’s still there and has the most amazing BBQ fries!

There’s quite a few different places I’ve used as inspiration for settings.

Write what you know!

Yes, just last weekend, actually.

I was invited to present at a fundraiser for the local grange hall.

I’ve been back enough over the years, and honestly the town hasn’t changed a whole lot, that I wasn’t surprised by anything.

I loved taking my books on a little tour and taking pictures with them in front of some of the places that inspired various settings.

You might think I’m bonkers here, but there is a paranormal element in my Hometown Hardware books.

Dawna believes her late husband, Bob, is still hanging around the family home.

She reflects on her childhood friend, Karen, who she realizes now was probably a ghost.

Here’s the bonkers part—I grew up in a house with a young girl ghost named Karen.

We knew her name, because sometimes, only in the fall, you could hear someone calling for her.

It wasn’t only my crazy family who saw her, but sometimes family friends would mention seeing a girl with long blonde hair on our property at times when we weren’t home.

As I mentioned earlier, sometimes it’s exactly that close-knittedness, (yes, that’s a word, even if I just made it up!), that creates the drama.

Members of the community know too much about each other, and what they don’t know, they make up.

Also, with cozy mysteries, you have to suspend your disbelief a little bit.

We’ll bring in strangers to attend or spearhead events, only to kill them off so that our townspeople don’t die out at too fast of a rate.

We keep our core characters fairly safe, and add in all the charm of a small town.

It also helps that cozies keep the graphic violence, bad language, and sex off the page. That helps keep the charm intact.