Writer to Farmer? by Amanda Flower

Jenn McKinlay: One of the super talents in the cozy mystery genre is Amanda Flower and I am so pleased to have her visit us today to share her journey from writer to farmer, which inspired her latest mystery, coming out on Feb 23rd! 

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Amanda Flower: I met my now husband, David, four years ago. I was smitten right away. He was hilarious, kind, and super cute. However even more than those things, he liked that I was a strong independent woman who thinks she can do just about anything, except sing or dance. I know I can’t do those things.

David put this theory to the test early on. We were only dating for a month, when he told me he bought a farm… like literally bought a farm. He gave me the general directions to the farm because at the time it had no address just GPS coordinates. He asked me to meet him there one Sunday afternoon. Now, I know what you’re thinking, I write mysteries for a living, what on earth am I doing meeting a guy out in the middle of nowhere? But by this point, I had thoroughly checked him out to make sure there wasn’t anything I needed worry about. I was a librarian for fifteen years, and I can find out information about people pretty easily. It’s been a great skill to have as a writer and a great skill to have as a single woman navigating this crazy world. 

That being said, he was clear of any red flags, so I met him at the farm. I think I have never been so overwhelmed in my life. At the time, the farm was five wild acres. Two of those acres were wooded, but the rest was open field. There was no electricity, no buildings, no bathrooms. It was just a big piece of overgrown land with endless and overwhelming potential.

David told me his vision. He is a recording engineer and taught music recording and music engineering at the college level. He planned to build a house on the property with a state of the art recording studio inside. The rest of the land he wanted to use as a native plant and habitat farm to help the birds, bees, and animals in the area and also help the local farmers who were growing crops and caring for livestock to make their livings. 

It was an amazing plan and completely mind-boggling to me. I remember sitting on the bumper of my car as he told me all this looking out at the weeds that had grown so tall they were above my waist and feeling like I had to make a choice. I either was all in or all out.

Let me put this in a frame of where I was at the time. I lived alone in a condo in a suburb of a small city and less than two minutes from Target. Since I was in a condo, I didn’t even own a lawn mower or a decent leaf rake. I loved to garden, but my garden space was limited to flowerpots and a small plot next to my home. Now I felt like I had to be an all-or-nothing farmer as he laid his vision out before me.

I felt that way because it was his big dream, the dream he had had since he was in middle school. I couldn’t take that away from him. I had a big dream at that age too, to be a mystery author, and I became that. In my mind, there was no reason his childhood dream couldn’t come true too. Just like creating a successful career as a writer, it would be a lot of work, frustration, networking, and dedication, but it would happen. 

We married last October and are in the process of building the house/studio, which should be completed by early summer. This is, of course, weather permitting; we do live in Ohio. And as writers tend to do, I’ve used the knowledge I’ve gained as a novice farmer in a book, Farm to Trouble.It’s the first book of the Farm to Table Mysteries and is inspired by our farm. The farm tips in the back of each book are actually things we do on the farm to improve the property.

The farm looks so different from the wild land I saw four year ago. Right now, most of the field has been cultivated with non-invasive species of flowers and cover crop, we have electricity, and the foundation of the house and a finished barn are both on the property. Still no bathroom, but we’re getting there.

What about you, Reds and Readers, do we have 

any farmers or wannabe farmers in the house?

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Amanda Flower, a USA Todaybestselling and Agatha Award-winning author of over thirty-five cozy mystery novels, started her writing career in elementary school when she read a story she wrote to her sixth grade class and had the class in stitches with her description of being stuck on the top of a Ferris wheel. She knew at that moment she’d found her calling of making people laugh with her words. In addition to being an author, Amanda is a former librarian with fifteen years of experience in Northeast Ohio. Connect with her online at her websiteor Facebook, or with her cats on Instagram.