Author Interview: Britni Patterson

We've made it to another Friday, my dear Writing Desk Readers!

Has everyone gotten their Christmas trees decorated? Or, if you celebrate one of the many other holidays that takes place in December, what are you doing to get ready?

(Have you ever looked up the list of December holidays? There are so many days to celebrate!)

Do you decorate? Plan trips to visit family and friends? Prepare those special once-a-year dishes? I'd love to know! I enjoy seeing the different traditions people have for holidays.

And now, I'm very pleased to share my interview with mystery author Britni Patterson!

The Writing Desk: Hi Britni! Thank you so much for agreeing to this interview with me as part of The Writing Desk Blog's Christmas Countdown series! Have you ever done this type of interview before? 

Britni Patterson: Hi, Courtney! Nope, you're my first blog-a-view! I have this strange feeling one of us should have bought the other dinner first, but the tequila shots were nice.

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TWD: What genre(s) do you currently write? Are there any different genres you want to dabble in next?

BP: I primarily write mystery, but I've also got pieces of romantic urban fantasy, and romantic science fiction in the works, because I like to write the same things I like to read.

*** 
 

TWD: So far you've published two novels in the Justice & Mercy series. If you had to describe this series in one sentence, what would it be?  

BP: "Twin sisters who own a detective agency together solve crimes, avoid murderous shenanigans, and fight over who's cooking dinner."

*** 
 

TWD: Briefly, what led up to this series? Was this something you always had in mind, or did it catch you by surprise?

BP: Well, I'd always loved the mystery books where you had a pair of detectives, one Holmes and one Watson as it were, or one Nero Wolfe and one Archie Goodwin. The dynamic of frustrated exasperation with eccentric genius always resonated with me and when I was pondering writing my first book, I was trying to think of a concept along those lines, when I got hit with an inspiration Thunderbolt.  Justice and Mercy,  twin sisters who should have traded names. Justice is the more forgiving, tolerant "normal" person, and Mercy is the inflexible moralist genius. They resonated in my head as a fully formed idea, something that already existed and just needed to be written down "formally".  It took me a couple years,  but I never lost the conviction that they NEEDED to be written, because they were already real.

*** 

TWD: As a self-published author, what made you decide to go this route? Was there one particular aspect of the traditional publishing process that influenced your choice, or a combination?  (i.e. - Creative freedom, contracts, etc.)

BP: So, initially, I started with the traditional publishing route, querying agents and publishing houses. Thirty-five rejections, fifteen no response, one you-might-be-a-better-writer-someday response. While I was waiting for someone else to recognize my obvious talent, I started researching the options of self-publishing, out of a sad, "well, maybe I'll just do this and be one of the indie-losers.." bout of self-pity.

But, then I found Kristine Kathryn Rusch's blog (And I urge EVERY writer to read the kriswrites.com Business Musings blog posts. All of them. Kris is an author who's been traditionally published for years, and has recently gone to independent publishing. 

As I read her information (And others!) about the detriment of contracts that could make it difficult to maintain rights to your creative property, the lack of financial accountability in big publishing and agencies, I found myself realizing that Independent publishing was not an "also-ran" prize, but an intelligent business decision, and one with perks that appealed to me, like creative control of my cover style and images, full ownership of my characters and profits of my book sales, and transparent accounting. I can tell you every day how many books I've sold, and how much money I've made.  (Or I could if I wasn't months behind on my bookkeeping..) 

I did get an offer from a publishing company at one point to publish my books, but when I sent back notes on the contracts, I was told that negotiation wasn't possible, so I turned it down, and I finally committed to Indie publishing.  I haven't regretted this decision yet.

*** 

TWD: What were your 1-2 biggest learning experience(s) or surprise(s) throughout the self-publishing process?

BP: The biggest surprise about self-publishing was how many errors I found in my final, copy-edited version the first time I read it on a Kindle screen. After, what I would like to emphasize was six or seven rounds of copy-editing through three people's eyes. So now I read it on a Kindle screen as the final part of my editing process.

The second biggest was how easy everything was, except when dealing with Apple. I could upload my books for sale to every electronic storefront within minutes, except for Apple. Since I didn't have an apple computer, my book designer had to do the uploads for me.

***

TWD: These next questions are ones I like to ask in each Writing Desk Blog interview, it's so interesting to see the range of responses I get!

Where do you typically write from? (Home, office, coffee shop, etc.) Is there anywhere you find you're more productive than other places?  

BP: I write where ever I can get away from my children long enough to concentrate. Back porch, bedroom, Target. (No seriously, I sat in the Target Starbucks typing furiously for an hour one night, because I was going to do grocery shopping afterwards.)  Starbucks is my favorite for productivity and that turkey panini thing they have that I consider a minor addiction.

*** 

TWD: Can you tell us what you're working on now? If so, is it the next Justice & Mercy book, or something new?

BP: I've kind of got three projects in process - the third Justice and Mercy book, a sci-fi romance, and an urban fantasy romance. I'm debating whether to use a pen name or not for the different genres - Readers, if you have an opinion, tell me!

*** 

TWD: Best piece(s) of writing advice?

BP: I keep the words "Get back to work" in my mind, because they remind me of three important things.
1) I'm the boss. I'm the one responsible for keeping myself on task.
2) I am getting BACK to work. I am not doing something new or different, I'm not trying to achieve mind-blowing greatness, I'm just going to get back to work that I've been doing and know how to do.
3) This is work I want to do and enjoy doing, and I need to treat it with the same dedication and focus I gave all the jobs I didn't enjoy.

Kind of lowers my stress as I stare at that nice, blank, intimidating screen. Just getting back to work.

***

 

TWD: Something personal about you people may be surprised to know?

BP: I never know what to say to this question. I have no idea what people find surprising about me, because I know I'm a flamboyant weirdo masquerading as a mom who may be trying too hard to be interesting.  So, you can all vote on the most surprising, and then I'll know what to say the next time someone asks. Vote in the comments!

a) I'm a classically trained pianist, but my radio is permanently turned to pop/dance music.

b) My mother taught me to read when I was three, but my dad taught me how to "spin yarns", i.e.  Lie entertainingly.

c) I have a love of Canadiana that I was unaware of until I married my (Canadian) husband and learned that my favorite actors / wrestlers / musicians / etc. were Canadian. Also Canada has Nutella-filled donuts. 

d) Batman is my favorite superhero, but Harley Quinn is my favorite villain/antihero.

*****

I hope you've enjoyed the first week of Christmas Countdown posts! Keep an eye out for next week's featured author and her latest YA fiction novel!

PS - No tequila shots were harmed in the making of this interview. ;)