What’s better than a writing career? Doing it with a group of besties, for sure. On the podcast this week, I have my OG writing friend – one of the first people I got connected with when my career started to take off – Edith Maxwell, also known as Maddie Day.
She is part of the Wicked Authors blog with me, there are six of us total, and we all got started roughly around the same time. We became blog mates, and most of all friends and 11 years later, here we are.
Edith and I started out with the same agent, same publisher, same dreams. I’ve lost count of how many books we have between the two of us all these years later. Maddie Day’s series have really taken off. She also writes historicals, and won an Agatha for one of her Edith Maxwell books. And she’s a prolific short story writer.
We cover:
- Writing multiple series at the same time
- Pantsing vs. plotting (because when DON’T we talk about that?
- Our favorite research trip and how we almost got (mock) killed
- Traditional vs. self-publishing
Quotables:
- “I would not be published if it weren’t for the people I’ve met and the things I’ve learned at workshops and conferences. I have never met a more supportive group of people in any job I’ve ever had, in any field I’ve ever worked in.
- “When people ask me, ‘I’m just starting out, I want to write a mystery. What should I do?’ I say write the best book you can write and then find your people and if you’re writing crime fiction sisters in crime are your people.”
- “It’s so different doing it with a group. It’s so wonderful and rich on the blog side to work with each other and throw around ideas for a theme for the month or the year. And behind the scenes we give each other support…You really need somebody who’s inside [publishing] to understand what’s going on.”
- “If a person suggests a change and you don’t really like it, you might not make it. But if three people point out the same thing it might be good to pay attention to that.”
It was so much fun to have a conversation with Edith/Maddie in this setting. If you’ve ever wondered what it’s like to have a tight-knit group of writers navigating life and publishing together, this episode is for you. Tune in wherever you get your podcasts.
You can find her at https://edithmaxwell.com/maddie-day/
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