Monday, March 30, 2015

Evelyn Cullet, Guest Author



My guest this week is Evelyn Cullet, who thoroughly entertains me with her books. We all have to start somewhere, and this week she’s telling us how one of the books came about. You never know how things will turn out. Welcome, Evelyn!




My first novel, Romancing a Mystery, came about through an odd set of circumstances.


I had always wanted to be a writer and wrote short stories in high school. I would write my thoughts, ideas and anything interesting I came across in spiral notebooks. In my first job at the Illinois Bell Telephone Company, I worked as secretary to the Inside Wire Chief. One January morning, when I was twenty-three, my best friend who worked in the same office, and another co-worker decided that we'd take our summer vacations together that year. Since I was into mysteries, I really wanted to go England, and they agreed. We made our plans and saved our money, got our shots (you had to have shots to go overseas in those days), and our passports.

At the time, I had been dating a young man. He surprised me with a proposal and an engagement ring. I didn't have enough money to do both, and so instead of going to England with my two friends, I used the money I'd saved for the trip to get married.

The years passed quickly and with a new family, money was always tight. By the time we did have enough, (much later in life), I suggested to my husband that we take that trip, but he informed me he was deathly afraid of flying so I might as well forget it. There went my dreams of going to England. I had wondered why he insisted on taking a driving trip for our honeymoon. At the time, I thought it was romantic--love struck, silly me.

All through the years, I continued writing notes in my spirals. It had become a habit I couldn't break. And by the time I was in my late thirties, I had nine or ten of them filled with thoughts, feelings and interesting information, most of which was about that trip to England I missed, and how I would've liked everything to have turned out if I had gone.

And then, affordable home computers came on the market. Our daughter, who was in high school, wanted a computer very badly, and so we bought one. I decided to transfer all the information from my spirals to the word processor program. After I'd finished, I found that I had almost enough for the first draft of a novel. Needless to say, that was the beginning of my writing career.

The ironic part of this story is that when my daughter got older, she married an Englishman. And they took me on a trip to England, while my husband, who was still afraid to fly, stayed at home with the dog. Funny how things turned out. If I had taken that trip with my friends, I might never have written this novel, or maybe I would have, only a lot sooner. 

Thanks for letting me post my story on your blog, Marja.

I enjoyed learning more about you, Evelyn.  I hope you’ll come back. (I hate to admit it, but I can definitely relate to your husband's feelings about flying.)

Romancing a Mystery short synopsis

All Charlotte Ross wanted was a get-away vacation. She hadn't counted on solving a centuries-old mystery or falling for a handsome aristocrat.

A young woman in her prime, Charlotte is bored living in the small town where she grew up -- and is tired of her controlling mother trying to marry her off to the oldest and wealthiest men in town. So when her mystery-loving friend Jane Marshall suggests a driving trip across England, Charlotte eagerly packs her bags. But Charlotte gets more than she bargained for. Just two days in, their car breaks down in a thunderstorm and the ladies take refuge in Blake Hall, an ancient aristocrat’s lair with a long and rumored past. As guests of the British aristocracy, these out-of-place Americans stumble their way through a fox hunt-- encounter imagined ghosts--and find a mysterious clue to a centuries-old murder that has remained unsolved--until now, at least.

This lighthearted mystery, influenced by the novels of Agatha Christie, Arthur Conan Doyle and Jane Austen, is smart, savvy and at times, warmly romantic.

 Evelyn Cullet has been an aspiring author since high school when she wrote short stories. She began her first novel while attending college later in life and while working in the offices of a major soft drink company. Now, with early retirement, she can finally write full time. As a life-long mystery buff, she was a former member of the Agatha Christie Society, and is a current member of the National Chapter of Sisters In Crime. She writes mysteries with warm romance and a little humor. When she's not writing mysteries, reading them or reviewing them, she hosts other authors and their work on her weekly writer's blog. Her novels are: Romancing a Mystery, Love, Lies and Murder, Masterpiece of Murder, and Once Upon a Crime.

Romancing a Mystery is available:
Amazon Print Book: http://tinyurl.com/ocqs9yz
And Kindle edition: http://tinyurl.com/q653ksu
Website and Blog: http://evelyncullet.com/


CLICK HERE to visit Marja McGraw’s website
CLICK HERE for a quick trip to Amazon.com

The idea of a book about purple cows and elderly spies might sound a little odd, but trust me, you’ll love them. How Now Purple Cow – A Bogey Man Mystery is available in both ebook and paperback format. Find out what cows and spies could possibly have to do with each other.
       




11 comments:

  1. Hi Evelyn, it was very interesting to learn about your journey to become an author ...and I am glad that you managed to achieve your dream of writing :-)

    I have already read the plot and the excerpt of Romancing A Mystery at your own blog (I even commented there...!) and both have motivated me to read your book very soon ...and I will definitely do so at the first opportunity :-)

    Thanks again, for sharing your story...!

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    1. Thank you for taking the time to read my story, Ramla. I hope you'll enjoy reading this lighthearted mystery romance.

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  2. Thanks for having me on your blog this week, Marja. And I'm glad you find my novels entertaining. I feel the same way about yours. I discovered a grammar mistake in this post. Sorry about that. As an author, I should have had an editor read it. LOL!

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    1. It's my pleasure, Evelyn. I missed the error. : )

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  3. Evelyn,
    I enjoyed learning more about you and how your writing career came about. I think it's fascinating that, although life often gets in the way of our writing, it also provides us with material to write about.
    Like you, it took me many years to have my first novel published but, in retrospect, I think everything happened exactly the way it was supposed to - for both of us.
    I love your Charlotte Ross mysteries!

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    1. Thanks Pat.

      You're right. I may not have had the maturity to write about my trip if I had taken it when I was young. And I don't think I would have enjoyed or appreciated it as much, either.

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  4. Evelyn, so enjoyed your post on several levels! Love England, wanted to go for many years, but hate flying like your husband. Then later in life worked for a company that part of my job involved flying--so "forced" to go off to England at last, several times. And on another level, so interesting how life works things out. So glad you got to go to Europe, write your book, and have love romance, a family--oh yeah, and a dog!! (smile)

    Continued success!

    Madeline

    (PS Don't think I'd be a writer now if it weren't for computers)

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    1. Thanks for stopping by Madeline. I probably wouldn't have been a writer either if computers hadn't come along. The word processing program made it a lot easier to enter all that information and move paragraphs around. I don't think I could have written it on my old electric typewriter. Or if I did, it would have taken me so much longer.

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  5. I've always enjoyed learning how an author's book first came about. The story behind the story. Anyways, Romancing A Mystery sounds right up my alley. Will be adding it to my TBR list.

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    1. Thanks Lidy, Sometimes things work out just when you've almost given up. I hope you enjoy reading my first novel..

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  6. Always enjoy learning about an author. Find your writing makes for an enjoyable read.

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