Julianna Deering Interview

Q: Let me start with asking you to tell us a little bit about yourself.

A:  I’m a lifelong resident of North Texas, and while I don’t enjoy our blistering summers, right now I’m very much enjoying our 70-degree winter. Besides being a writer, I work for an attorney who specializes in wills and estate planning. Most importantly, I have three very spoiled but loveable cats.

Q: When did you first realize you wanted to be a writer?

A:  I’ve always loved story, whether it’s reading or watching something acted or even listening to some types of music. I read from the time I was a very little girl, but I never thought I’d be a writer. Starting in college, I spent several years writing random scenes just for my own amusement. Later on, a friend of mine encouraged me to put them into a story and try to get it published.

Q: Could you give us the highlights of your professional writing career including how you got your first writing break?

A:  I think my first writing break was a total and miraculous God thing. As I mentioned, I never planned to be a writer. I never took classes or went to conferences or anything like that (though I have since my first series came out). To be honest, I love theater and I’m a director at heart. Sadly, to be a director (besides getting all the training I don’t have) one needs actors and scripts and stages and costumes and sets and all those expensive things I can’t afford. Writers get to create the most fabulous sets and costumes and actors out of nothing but pencil and paper. So, using pencil and paper and eventually a computer, I put my random scenes into a story and sent it out. The third place I sent it wanted to publish it. That was my very first book, In Honor Bound.

After In Honor Bound, I wrote two sequels, By Love Redeemed and To Grace Surrendered. Then life sort of happened and I didn’t write seriously for some time. But finally I realized that I had to write, so I got an agent who hooked me up with the people at Annie’s Fiction, and I wrote four books for their Annie’s Attic series (and have since written a book for their “Secrets of the Quilt” line and another, coming later this year, for their “Antique Shop Mysteries” line). During that time, though, because I’m such a fan of Agatha Christie and Dorothy L. Sayers and the other writers of Golden Age Mystery, I started writing a cozy mystery of my own. My agent, bless her, loved the book and was determined to sell it. In time, Bethany House decided to publish the series, beginning with Rules of Murder and followed by Death by the Book and Murder at the Mikado. The newest in the series is Dressed for Death and, coming Spring of 2017, Murder on the Moor. There will be a sixth book in the Fall of 2017, but the title hasn’t been decided on yet.

Q: Would you tell us about your current book release, Dressed for Death?

A: This is Book Four in my 1930s cozy mystery series. This time my British amateur detective, Drew Farthering and his bride Madeline go to a Regency house party where one of the guests dies from an overdose of cocaine. Drew is shocked when someone he’s trusted is arrested for smuggling the drugs into the country, and he is determined to find out if the death was accidental or deliberate. Things grow more complicated as the investigation progresses and he eventually finds himself – and Madeline – face to face with a killer.

Q: Where did you get your inspiration for Dressed for Death?

A: The inspiration for the series is the wonderful cozy mysteries of the Golden Age of Crime Fiction, written by Agatha Christie, Dorothy L. Sayers, Margery Allingham and others in the 1920s and 1930s. I also have a literary inspiration for each of the books in this series, and for this one I wanted to do Jane Austen. Of course, one of the things I love about the Regency is the gorgeous clothes, so it seemed the perfect fit for my hero to go to a house party where everyone spends time dressed in Regency finery. They manage to drop in an Austen quote now and then, too.

And, for the first time, I did a “murder by request.” A friend of mine really wanted to be killed in one of my books, so I kindly obliged. Of course, the victim eventually became an independent character and not exactly like my friend, but the basis is there. It ended up being a lot of fun.

Q: What is the main thing you hope readers remember from this story?

A: When, despite his best efforts to keep everyone safe, there is a second murder during the investigation, Drew begins to wonder if his desire to solve mysteries and bring the guilty to justice is really what God has called him to. Madeline says, “You’re wiling to do all you can to help. I think that’s ministry as much as standing in the pulpit or feeding the poor. Doing what you’re made to do the best you can do it, even if it’s not the usual thing, glorifies God more than pushing yourself into a role you’re not suited for.” I think that’s something that applies to all of us, whatever we’re called to do.

Q: What is your favorite scene/chapter from the book?

A: Ooooh, my very favorite scene is when Drew– No, wait. I can’t talk about that without spoiling the mystery. You’ll just have to read for yourself.

Q: What inspires you to write?

A:  These days, it’s usually a deadline. But, even without one, I would write. It’s just a part of who I am and what God designed me for. I still have lots to learn. I don’t know if writers ever really stop learning. It’s not like there’s a set definition of perfect writing or a list of accomplishments to check off. There’s always room to grow and change and try to make the next one better. That’s inspiring to me . . . and a little daunting.

Q: How has being a published novelist differed from your expectations of the profession?

A: I thought if I could just get my first book traditionally published, my writing career would head steadily, if not dramatically, upward. There have been a lot more ups and downs than I thought there would be.

Q: What advice or tips do you have for writers who are just getting started?

A: Read. Read a lot. Read more. Read in the genre you want to write. Read out of the genre you want to write. Read craft books. The best way to learn to write is to read.

Q: Would you share with us what you are working on now?

A:  I’m working on two books right now actually. I’m starting work on Book Six in the Drew Farthering series, which doesn’t have an official title yet. In this one, Drew and Madeline go up to Scotland for the British Open and end up in the middle of a murder plot with ties to Drew’s past.

And I’m doing the edits on Book Five, Murder on the Moor. As the title would suggest, Drew and Madeline go up to Yorkshire to help an old school friend of Drew’s figure out who’s behind the mysterious happenings on the moor and why the local vicar was murdered on the steps of the church. It’s got the gothic feel of Bronte and a little dash of The Hound of the Baskervilles just for good measure. And it doesn’t hurt that the rakish gamekeeper just happens to look like Aidan Turner.

Q: When you’re not writing what do you like to do?

A:  My favorite hobbies are quilting and cross stitch. There’s something very soothing to me about doing handwork. It’s very different from writing, but it’s no less creative. I think it helps me subconsciously work out any little story problems I run into during the course of writing a book and it helps me work out ideas for new stories. I also love NHL hockey and the Dallas Stars. There’s something about the Good Guys vs. the Bad Guys in sports that appeals to my inner writer. I am a longtime Anglophile, so I watch Masterpiece Theater and Masterpiece Mystery as often as possible and any reasonable production of Shakespeare available. And, of course, I have stacks and stacks of books in my to-be-read pile. It’s really a wonder that my foundation hasn’t cracked.

Q: Where can readers find you on the internet?

1. On the web:

www.juliannadeering.com

www.deannajuliedodson.com

On Facebook:

https://business.facebook.com/AuthorJuliannaDeering/

https://www.facebook.com/julie.dodson.9659

On Twitter:

@DeAnnaJulDodson

Q: Anything else you’d like to tell or share with us?

A:  I love to hear from my readers. They can reach me at P. O. Box 375, Aubrey, Texas 76227. And the best way to keep up with important information about my Drew Farthering Mysteries is to sign up for Drew’s News at www.juliannadeering.com/newsletter.php. All we need is your first name and your e-mail address (which are NEVER shared or sold), and you’ll be the first to hear about new releases, book cover reveals, giveaways and reader swag . . . like my new Dressed for Death bookmarks.

Thanks for letting me visit!