From US Fish & Wildlife to ERIE ENDING with Christy J. Kendall

Drumroll 1: The winner of Leslie Karst's WATERS OF DESTRUCTION is Pat S. - Pat, email Leslie at ljkarst@gmail.com to arrange shipping...

Drumroll 2: Don't miss tomorrow's Reds & Readers Happy Hour at 7 PM ET! Hank will be posting the link in the Reds and Readers group.

 HALLIE EPHRON: It's always a thrill when we get to introduce you to debut writer, and today it's my honor to host Christy J. Kendall.

We all have "storied" pasts that we mine for our novels, and Christy has a particularly interesting one... she comes to the crime novel by way of the US Fish and Wildlife Service.

Today she's joining us to talk about her debut, ERIE ENDING: A Wildlife Refuge Mystery.

CHRISTY J. KENDALL: I believe the love of telling a good story is in a writer’s bones. But sometimes, learning how to tell that story takes a while.

I began my writing journey penning an epic James Michener-type tome, convinced it would be a best-seller someday. I wanted my stories to be about places and their development over time, particularly wildlife refuges.

My first story began with the formation of the landscape and glaciers. Yes. Glaciers. Sometime later, after bogging down in the pre-colonial era, I realized this was not the story I wanted to write.

What was I doing? Frustrated, I picked up a new book I was excited to read—a mystery. I’ve always loved mysteries. Why wasn’t I doing that? It was time to change course.

I thought it would be easy.

My US Fish and Wildlife Service career brought me to the San Francisco Bay area. There, I attended my first Book Passage Mystery Writer Conference. Wowzer. There was so much talent and expertise in a single place. My mystery writing journey began.

When I completed my first novel, I started another, querying each as I moved forward. By the time I’d written the third novel (and rewritten the other two a hundred times), I received a note from an agent that my writing was not where they’d want it to be to send to a publisher.

I knew then I couldn’t do this alone. Conferences, consultations, writing groups, and writing organizations could only take me so far. Was I a slow learner? There had to be a way to pinpoint what I was doing wrong. I needed one-on-one professional help. I hired a developmental editor.

What an eye-opener!

With that revised manuscript (and rewrites of the other two, again), I replied to open submissions from two publishers. One of them accepted the book and referred me to an agent, who then garnered a three-book deal. Twenty-plus years later, I am a debut author. Yes, it took a while.

Am I sorry I didn’t start earlier, or learn more quickly? Sure. But I’m not sure I’d enjoy it as much as I am today.

With retirement from the career that inspired my writing in the first place, I can now travel to new wildlife refuges to research the next book.

I still attend conferences and workshops and have fun meeting all the writers I’ve loved reading over the years and the new ones who bring such joy. I’m still learning from all of them.

What is the moral of the story? It’s never too late. Don’t stop learning. Don’t stop writing. Never give up. And grow a thick skin. Not everyone will love your words.

HALLIE: Great advice, earned the hard way (which is how we ALL have come by it!) I was 10 years from the time I decided I wanted to write to when I got an agent interested. 

Please share: What have you learned the hard way, after try-try-trying again?

About ERIE ENDING: When environmental activist Connie King is murdered on a wildlife refuge on the southwest shore of Lake Erie in Ohio, the Refuge Manager, Angela Martin, says goodbye to her nemesis with relief and a twinge of guilt. But the Sheriff accuses a beloved volunteer of the crime, and Angela and another volunteer, Lilly Weathers, investigate. Through shady real estate deals, Connie enhanced her bank account, not the environment.

To save herself, and others, Angela unwittingly puts herself in the path of a killer. Meanwhile, Angela's love life comes to a crossroads that could tear her apart. Will Angela make the right decision? Right or wrong, if she survives, she'll pay.