And wow, it hit like a burst of champagne and confetti. Highly acclaimed, highly beloved, superbly reviewed--and her Ellery Hathaway and Reed Markham books became instant must-reads!
You know Joanna has Winston at home, and we thinkβ¦maybeβ¦he might have inspired his fictional counterpart. Joanna has become a dear friend, and a treasured writing advisor and buddy, and has generously shared her time and talent with all of us through Sisters in Crime. Her newest bookβcoming soon! What was that moment? I wrote my first novel in high school.
It was a romantic suspense story about dueling lawyers in a murder case. HANK: Did that first book sell? But it was strong enough to attract a literary agent on my first try, which was endlessly encouraging. While I was spit-shining it, however, he determined that he did not want to be a literary agent anymore and quit the business.
I was too busy with college and then grad school to think much about professional publishing for a long while.
HANK: How many of your books have been published since then? What do you think about that? JOANNA: I have two released, three more written but not yet released, and two not written but under contract, for a total of seven. HANK: Gotta know, got to ask. Do you outline? Has your method changed over the years? Nothing to discover. But, I have to know who did it and why, and what the character arc for my protagonist will be. These two elements also cement the primary theme.
