My life, between the lines. . .

Photo by Walt Whitaker
What if you could read the usual author bio, and as you read along you could also hear the writer whisper in your ear some of what’s behind those boastful, calculated lines? (Wicked chuckle) Let me lean over your chair while you read. . .

Nancy Pickard is the author of sixteen popular and critically acclaimed novels, including the Jenny Cain and Marie Lightfoot mystery series.

(Psst. Then there was that first novel I wrote, the one that didn’t get published. Actually, it was a novel and a half, because I tried redoing it, but it still just sat there like a dead trout. One of the editors my agent sent it to, the legendary Hope Dillon of St. Martin’s Press, was kind enough to write a long critique of it in which she said something that really helped me improve my next effort. She said my book couldn’t make up its mind whether it was romantic suspense or a mystery. I saw she was right. When I then wrote Generous Death I made sure that although it had a lot of romance, the mystery took precedence. And this time, it sold, to the third publisher it went to.)

She is the author of dozens of short stories. . .

( I had another major learning curve with short stories. I sold the first one I ever wrote as an adult (there had been one in high school). Amazing luck, right? But then I couldn’t seem to give them away. I was so frustrated and disappointed, having no clue what I was doing wrong that I had apparently done right in the first one. Then one day I heard another short story writer remark that every short story needs an epiphany. Well, I had one right there. Light bulb going off in my head, the whole ah ha moment in a flash. I realized my stories lacked that crucial turning point where somebody changes, or the plot changes in some entertaining way. I went home and went back to work and sure enough, sold the very next one, and then kept selling them.)

. . . and of three novels in the Eugenia Potter series created by Virginia Rich..

(Those were hard. I bit off more than I could chew, though I’m pretty satisfied, on the whole, with how they turned out.)

She is the co-author, with psychologist Lynn Lott, of the beloved non-fiction book about writing, Seven Steps on the Writer’s Path, of which the best-selling writer Sue Grafton says, "I can give you seven reasons to buy this book for every writer you know. It's fresh, insightful, candid, funny, supportive, encouraging, and wise." A writer whose work covers an amazing span of the mystery world, from the classic cozy to private eye stories, and from humorous mysteries to psychological suspense. . .

(Partly I do that variety thing because I can’t help myself. I get bored doing the same thing over and over and have to try new things. But I also do it because each time I try something just beyond my present capabilities it’s as if I am taking advanced writing courses, and I always want to keep improving and learning, for as long as I can.)

Nancy has won the Agatha, Anthony, Macavity, and Shamus awards for her short stories and the Agatha, Anthony, and Macavity awards for her novels. The Los Angeles Times says, “Pickard pushes at the presumed limits of (crime fiction).” The San Diego Union says, “Nancy Pickard is acclaimed as one of today's best mystery writers. Mounting evidence suggests that this description is too limited. . .Pickard (is) one of today's best writers, period.” She is a 3-time Edgar Allen Poe award nominee, a Mary Higgins Clark award finalist, and a recipient of a Lifetime Achievement award for suspense fiction, from Romantic Times.

(Psst again. I don’t care what anybody says–awards are nice. It’s encouraging to get one; it’s a happy, satisfying moment after the long trudge of writing. Awards have helped my career, and lifted my spirits, and given me courage to go on-- and given me cool stuff to put in bios like this one. I’m really grateful.)

She is a founding member and former president of Sisters In Crime, the international organization dedicated to the advancement of women mystery writers, and she is a former national board member of the Mystery Writers of America.

(Boy, am I normally not an organization kind of gal, nor am I somebody who longs to get out at the front of the parade and lead it. But Sisters In Crime was an organization whose time needed to come and I felt that I couldn’t not take an active role in it. As for MWA, I thought I needed to pay my dues, in a working kind of way, to the organization that has supported mystery writers for so long.)

Her latest novel, The Virgin of Small Plains, will be published in April by Ballantine.

(I love this book. I feel as if it is really “me.” I am dying for you to read it and I really really hope you love it, too.)