A Triple Play

Last week I did something I never thought I would do in a million years. No, scratch that. Two things I never thought I’d do in a million years.

First, I signed contracts with Midnight Ink to write a third mystery series. Now, I know a lot of writers have written three series during their career, but I agreed to write this new series while still cranking out my other two, the Odelia Grey mystery series and the Ghost of Granny Apples mystery series. I agreed to write three books a year.

Three. Tres. Trois. Triplets. A virtual trifecta of murder and mayhem.

And, no, I am not quitting my day job.

I know. I know. I’m nuts. And it’s not like I haven’t been hearing that assessment of my mental state for the past several weeks.

The second oddity in all this is that the new series is a vampire series. Yes, with fangs and everything. While this is the current rage, it was never on my radar until the past year, and even then not fully in the front of my brain until the last couple of months. And while the publishing business is known for moving slower than a glacier, things moved quickly from idea to paper to my agent to submissions, and even faster through the deal and contract phase. It was enough to give a whirling dervish motion sickness.

And now it’s moving even faster. The first book in the series, currently entitled I Could Bite You Forever, is due to my publisher on February 1st. This February 1st – February 1, 2010 not February 1, 2011. I’ve never written a book that fast, but there’s always a first time. Every moment that I am not at my job as a paralegal, I am pounding the keys of the computer, cranking out the pages, trying to write as cleanly and concisely as possible. And you know what? It’s coming together. It definitely helped that I had my research completed before the deal was struck.

Now the burning question everyone is asking: Why? Why would you do that to yourself? Why would you commit to writing three books a year?

Because the books are in my brain and want to come out. Because vampires are hot right now and may not be in a few years. Because in publishing today, the smart writer has more than one iron in the fire.

Because I want to.

I will admit, writing a vampire mystery novel would never have interested me unless I could put a different spin on it. So, folks, meet the Dedhams – an active and attractive retired couple, who just happen to be vampires who solve mysteries. Coming September 2010 to a bookstore near you. And we’re having red velvet cake at the launch party.

A lot of fun things come in 3's - hope that applies to my books.

Gotta run, I see a block of fifteen minutes where I can squeeze in a paragraph or two.


Sue Ann Jaffarian
www.sueannjaffarian.com
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