|
Maggie Sefton
First, a little biographical information as introduction:
Born in Richmond, VA, I grew up in Northern Virginia in
Arlington, close to Washington, D.C. I attended university
and received a Bachelor's degree in English Literature &
Journalism, married, and started my family there. All four
of my daughters are grown and established in careers of
their own and are literally scattered around the globe. I
now reside in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado with two very
demanding dogs.
I suppose if I were being completely honest, I'd have to
admit that I always knew I was a born to be a writer. I
spent my childhood with my nose in a book and loved writing.
But as I grew older, my life got much busier. Like so many
of us, I never could find the time to write the stories and
characters that kept appearing in my mind. So, I talked
myself out of it. After all, raising a family and attending
Business School in Accounting was difficult to juggle,
particularly when I decided to become a CPA.
Still, the characters and their stories kept
coming—trying to get my attention when I'd take my
early evening workout run or while driving or planting
flowers. I'd shove them away, pleading no time to listen.
If they complained loudly enough (some characters are
feistier than others), I'd jot down short scenes on notepads
and toss them in a folder. Then, I'd insist they return to
the Queque—that place in my imagination where my
characters waited, some more patiently than others. They'd
sulk and complain, of course. Sometimes the surlier ones
would elbow their way up the Queque. Survival of the
fittest, I figured.
Finally, I decided I had to start writing these stories.
The Queque was getting pretty darn crowded—and noisy.
Since I'd come from a long line of Virginians and
absolutely adored history, I started writing historical
novels. This allowed me to indulge a secret passion:
library research. Yes, I'm one of those strange people who
loves disappearing into the stacks with books piled around
me. Since I had no shortage of historical characters
waiting their turn in the Queque, I indulged myself,
creating a Musketeer swashbuckler, a sweeping Medieval saga
set in 12th Century England, a turn-of-the-century American
family saga complete with Robber Barons, struggling Irish,
and corrupt politicians, a post-Civil War western
historical, as well as historicals set in Colonial Virginia
and early Frontier America.
It was during those years that our family moved to Colorado,
and I was able to network with vibrant writers' groups at
last. I began my apprenticeship in the
craft—networking with the other writers, attending
conferences and seminars, and joining critique groups,
studying, writing, critiquing, and submitting. The focused
effort paid off, and my Western historical, ABILENE
GAMBLE, was published by Berkley in August 1995.
My life took a sideways turn at that point (as did the
historical market), and I used that opportunity to take a
new look at my fiction. I discovered something interesting.
No matter what time period my historicals were set in or
the length of the novel, two things were always present.
First, there was a mystery at the heart of the story,
sometimes more than one. And secondly, I killed a lot of
people. Heck, I managed to kill off more people in one
historical romance than in most amateur sleuth murder mysteries.
I figured that was probably a clue, so I began to study the
mysteries that I'd grown up loving as well as the new
mystery writers who had come onto what was clearly a lively
and changing mystery scene. New characters appeared
immediately and elbowed their way to the front of the
Queque. I didn't need any further encouragement and jumped
feet first into writing mysteries. Since I was starting a
new career in real estate at the time, it was no surprise
that the first amateur sleuth who walked on stage was a real
estate agent. Again, time was in short supply, but I
finished that novel in 2002 and sent it off to my agent. It
sold and will be published in October 2005. For more
details, read about my Real Estate
Mysteries.
The story of how I came to write the Knitting
Mystery Series is completely different. Meanwhile,
I'm having a great time writing about Kelly and her friends.
Kelly has a knack for poking her nose where it doesn't
belong, so I figure she'll keep me busy following her around
while she unravels clues as well as her latest knitting project.
Books:
 Cast On, Kill Off, June 2013
Close Knit Killer, June 2013
Unraveled, June 2012
Cast On, Kill Off, June 2012
Skein of the Crime, June 2011
Unraveled, June 2011
Double Knit Murders, November 2010
Dropped Dead Stitch, June 2010
Skein of the Crime, June 2010
Fleece Navidad, November 2009
Dyer Consequences, June 2009
Dropped Dead Stitch, June 2009
Fleece Navidad, October 2008
A Killer Stitch, June 2008
Dyer Consequences, June 2008
A Killer Stitch, May 2007
A Deadly Yarn, August 2006
Needled To Death, December 2005
Knit One, Kill Two, June 2005
|
