Connie Shelton - Cozy Mysteries Featuring a Baker

For Connie Shelton, having fun with her writing, and connecting with readers is what being a mystery writer means to her.  She started writing her first novel in1985, without much clue how to go about it. Two years and 500 pages later, when she finally typed 'The End,' she felt a huge rush of excitement. That book took third place in the Southwest Writers competition and began making the rounds of publishers. Shelton has never stopped writing since and her books reached #1 on Amazon a few times and the Top 50 on the USA Today bestseller list. As our Author of the Day, Shelton tells us all about her book, Sweet Masterpiece.

Please give us a short introduction to what Sweet Masterpiece is about.

Samantha Sweet breaks into houses for a living. Although it's perfectly legal under her contract with the USDA as a cleaner and caretaker for abandoned properties, she sometimes encounters risky situations. In Sweet Masterpiece, the first book in the series, she discovers one house isn't abandoned after all--there's a very old woman in the bedroom who insists Sam take a certain old wooden box with her. Within minutes, the woman has died and Sam's life changes dramatically when she discovers the box gives her some unusual abilities and powers.

What inspired you to feature a baker in cozy mysteries?

In my high school days, I used to decorate cakes to earn extra spending money. It seemed like a fun sideline for Sam, a way for her to express her creative side. Little did I know, when I began this series in 2010 that there would eventually be so many bakers in the mystery world! But as my series has continued, Sam develops other skills as well and really becomes a multi-talented woman.

Tell us more about Samantha Sweet.  What makes her tick?

Samantha loves to create. Her housebreaking job is simply a way to pay the bills, but her real dream is to have her own pastry shop. I don't think I'll be giving away too much if I reveal that she does accomplish this. Sam is most resistant to the unusual powers she has when handling the wooden box. There are elements of light magical things in this series, and at first, Sam is a little freaked out by this.

In most books, heroines are young - yours is a more mature woman with a grown daughter.  Why did you create her this way?

Well, there are tons of books out there with young (nearly always beautiful) heroines. Sam is in her fifties, struggles with her weight, and is dealing with a grown daughter who shows up jobless and homeless in this first book. A lot of my readers can relate---their lives aren't picture-perfect, they deal with some of these same issues. I think the reason Sam is so popular is that readers can relate to her.

This is the first book in a series.  How do the other books in the series tie in with this one?

This is definitely a series with a continuing storyline. I've read too many mystery series in which the protagonist's situation doesn't fundamentally ever change, sometimes over the course of 20 or more books. Readers get bored with this. In addition to the mystery to be solved in each Samantha Sweet book, the thread of her personal life is constantly evolving. Book 13 is coming out this month, and Sam is in a very different place than she was at the beginning. Although readers can pick up the series anywhere along the line, I really do recommend starting at the beginning and reading them in order.

Besides writing, what other secret skills do you have?

Um, secret skills ... Well, I love to cook and bake--I make awesome breakfast burritos and a really good green chile sauce. At one point when my writing career was at a lull, I took up painting and drawing, and kind of surprised myself that some of my things weren't too bad. I've posted some of them on my Facebook page if anyone wants to take a look. Oh, and once upon a time I was a hot air balloon pilot.

How do you think you’ve evolved creatively since you published your very first book?

As with anything we strive for, the more we do it the better we get. I've published more than 30 books now (3 mystery series, 2 children's books, and some non-fiction), so my writing skills are definitely better than at the beginning. The creative process is interesting because just about the time I finish a book and think "it really is getting easier" then I'll begin another that's a real struggle. Lots of writer friends have made similar comments, so I don't think the creative process is ever a slam-dunk. But I'm definitely having more fun with it now.

Was there a single defining moment or event where you suddenly thought, 'Now I'm an Author,' as in—this is now my career?"

The moment when I finished my first manuscript--500 pages, absolutely unpublishable--that's when I knew I could do this. I needed to get better at the craft, but I knew I had the stick-with-it quality that it takes to write book-length fiction. That said, it was still 10 years and three manuscripts before I got a book published. Holding my first hardcover in my hands was magic, and the first time I cracked the Amazon bestseller charts was the high point when it all came together as "This really is my career!"

Where do your ideas come from?

Short answer: everywhere. I watch, observe.... Situations or people that catch my attention often end up somewhere in a story.

Among the wealth of characters in Sweet Masterpiece, who was the most difficult to create?

Jake Calendar, Sam's ex and Kelly's father. He doesn't appear in person until about Book 6 (I think it was) and up to that point he's basically just a name. But once he was actually there I had to fill in his backstory, making sure it all agreed with what readers already knew. He had to be engaging enough to get Kelly's interest, as he had Sam's all those years earlier, but bad-guy enough that we don't mind if something awful and rotten should happen to him.

Do you have any interesting writing habits? What is an average writing day like for you?

I was lucky to have the advice of many pro writers from the beginning, and the thing that stuck with me was "discipline." Books don't get written unless the author has her fingers on the keyboard (or pen on the paper ...) for hours at a time. So my writing day means parking myself at the desk until I've met my day's goal--I aim for ten manuscript pages a day. Sometimes that happens in two or three hours, sometimes it's six hours or longer. I generally don't have music or TV anywhere nearby (although dogs are allowed). My two canine assistants are there to remind me to stand up and move around, preferably to the cookie jar or for a short outdoor walk a few times a day.

What are you working on right now?

I mentioned earlier that Sweet Magic, #13 in the Samantha Sweet series, is coming out this month. Next up will probably be the 19th book in my Charlie Parker series. I also have plots in mind for two more in my Heist Ladies series, so a total of five in that series. Most likely, both Sam and Charlie will continue into infinity or until I become too ancient to put words on paper anymore.

Where can readers get a copy of Sweet Masterpiece and/or interact with you?

Sweet Masterpiece is free as an ebook at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, and the other major online retailers, and the entire series can be found in paperback, audio, and ebook. And your favorite local bookseller can get them as well. Connect with me on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. And I would love for everyone to stop by my website and explore. There you can find free recipes, links to all the books, and my mystery newsletter. Signing up gets you a free book, and I'll keep you posted monthly as to what's going on with all of my series and characters. Thanks for including me on Many Books, and I hope to see you again!