E. E. Kennedy Interview

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

A: I’m a frustrated would-be star of Broadway musical comedy, a dream I abandoned after high school. (There’s just too much rejection in show business. And, incidentally, I had no dancing talent.) Instead, I opted to come as close as I dared to the bright lights by becoming a commercial copywriter, where I was able to write, produce and direct commercials.

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

A: I always loved reading, so much that my childhood ambition was to own a bookstore. I tried writing in college, but felt too self-conscious. The work I turned out seemed so immature.

Later, when I wrote commercials, I used to joke that I only had the attention span to write a thirty- or sixty-second spot.

Years later, I decided to try to write something that I wanted to read. It turned out, my attention span had expanded in the intervening years and my self-consciousness had disappeared. From then on, it was all I wanted to do.

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

A: The writing came first. A lot of clumsy, clunky writing. The first line I wrote for a proposed novel was “Never have I felt such menace.” Very melodramatic, but where do you I go from there? Eventually, after taking a course in mystery writing online, I developed  a group of characters who were eager to tell a story. They seemed to come to life for me, almost take over. (Cue Twilight Zone theme.) Most fiction writers say they have this experience once in a while.

It was fun, but it took a long time to write at first. I gave up a bunch of times, prayed about it, asked to have this desire taken away if it wasn’t God’s will for me, but He didn’t take it away. So I kept plugging at it slowly, erasing every other word, hating what I had written one day and saying, “This is brilliant!” the next.

Typing “The End” for Irregardless of Murder was a relief, but it was only half of the job.

At that time, I subscribed to an online thread called MurderMustAdvertise, which was for mystery writers to share publishing and promotional experience. One person mentioned a small publisher she’d dealt with that was looking for books with a “Christian world view.” I looked them up, submitted and they accepted.

Since they were pretty small, it was up to me to do a lot of promotion myself. I asked fellow writers on MurderMustAdvertise if they’d read and review the book, and a few did. Having advertising experience helped somewhat. I spoke at every retirement home, grammar school, library, book club and church group that would have me. I attended every writer’s conference I could afford and prevailed upon more writers to give me a blurb. Nobody told me about ARC’s until after I’d made up and distributed my book printed on typing paper and bound in 1 ½ inch spring notebook binders. Really amateur hour, but the other writers were gracious and I got some great reviews. It was a thrill to be on an author’s panel at mystery conferences such as Malice Domestic and Cape Fear Crime Festival. I signed books next to some of my idols: Dorothy Cannell, Meg Chittenden, Sarah Shaber, Margaret Maron. Wow.

Time passed, and eventually Irregardless went out of print. Life went on. I wrote another book, Another Think Coming, a stand-alone set in Texas, and found an agent who loved it. But the book never found a home, and the agent and I parted cordially. That was frustrating. After a while, though, I decided to return to the Miss Prentice mysteries and write a sequel to Irregardless, which became Death Dangles a Participle. I submitted the first and second books to my present publisher—whom I also found online–as the beginning of a series. I’m currently working on the third book, Murder in the Past Tense.

Q: Would you tell us about your current book release Irregardless of Murder?  

A: Amelia Prentice is a middle-aged high school English teacher who has never married and lives alone in the big old house that her parents left her. Very ordinary, so far. One night, she trips over the body of a former student, a murder victim, in the public library. After that, nothing is really the same. Weird things begin to happen: the victim’s mother disappears, Amelia’s carjacked, her friend falls off the Lake Champlain ferryboat, a mysterious millionaire insists he wants to buy her house and her old sweetheart, the local newspaper editor, suddenly becomes amorous. It’s very confusing, and as it turns out, very dangerous. Also woven through the story is the legend of the fabled Lake Champlain monster.

Q: Where did you get your inspiration for Irregardless of Murder?

A:  I grew up in New York State, just south of the Canadian border in a small town in the Adirondack region and love the history of the area. I’d been a substitute teacher in my daughters’ school and found to my surprise that I actually had a love for junior high students. (That had to be a God thing.)

Though I’d never heard of such a thing growing up, the Lake Champlain monster aspect seemed so much fun, I did some research and learned a lot about cryptozoology, the science of undiscovered animals. Some of the book is a tribute to the hard-working people of the region, which was (at least in the past) one of the most impoverished areas of the state. The characters of Marie LeBow and her family is based on a sweet little lady who used to babysit me. The central clue, the initials UDJ, I spotted on a license plate in traffic one day.

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

A: How a woman of faith should react when confronted with an outrageous, bewildering situation: with humor, grace, and courage.  

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

A: I have several ones I like, but they would be spoilers. One that I can share jumps to mind right away: Amelia is recuperating at home from the minor injuries sustained in her fall in the library. Her friend Dorothy O’Brien prevails upon her to babysit five-year old Meaghan for just a short time. Amelia agrees, and after her mother leaves, agrees to let Meaghan apply Lil’ Lady toy cosmetics to her face. Meaghan hasn’t yet learned to color between the lines, and Amelia is looking rather ridiculous when the doorbell rings, Meaghan runs to answer it, and in walks Amelia’s old fiancé, Gil Dickensen. To make matters worse, Amelia’s foot has fallen asleep. I love her desperate attempt to maintain her dignity:

I…limped over to the mirror above the fireplace. “Not really, Mr. Dickensen. We were just playing, as Meaghan told you.” I pulled a handkerchief from my pocket and scrubbed at my face.

“What can I do for you?” I asked, my back turned to him. All this scrubbing wasn’t doing much good, not even with a little surreptitious spit on the cloth. Apparently, Li’l Lady Cosmetics required soap and water, if not turpentine, for removal.

Q: What inspires you to write?

A: I’ve always loved to entertain people. I have a kind of corny slogan: to provide wholesome entertainment. That is, literature you can trust.

My mother was a truly gracious Southern lady and once she read an article about Jacqueline Susann, who wouldn’t let her mother read her novels because they were so racy. My mother said, “My daughters would never write something I couldn’t read.”

She died before I was ever published, but she’s my silent cheerleader as I write.

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

 A: Writing—though definitely hard work—is the fun part. Getting published is the hard part.

It’s not that easy getting people to notice your book. Millions of books are published each year, especially now, with the Internet.

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

A: Read lots of good books, by writers who use the language handily. There’s one in particular I think every writer should read ten times: Strunk and White’s The Elements of Style. It’s short and to the point and will help you avoid those terribly embarrassing boo-boos that keep you from getting published.

While you’re writing, send your inner critic—that little voice that keeps correcting you—out of the room. It will only slow you down. Bring him/her back in when it’s time to edit.

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

A: I just completed an inspirational suspense novella set in Texas, Red Flag Warning, which was a serial on my website. It’s complete now, and it’s free for anybody who goes there.

Also, I’m working on book #3 in the Miss Prentice series: Murder in the Past Tense. It contains a long flashback where Amelia, Gil and their friends are all teenagers, working in summer stock theatre. It’s primarily about how the repercussions from a murder extend down through the generations.

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

 A: We have five small grandchildren, each one a treasure (no prejudice here), whom we love to spend time with. We’re blessed to have them nearby. My husband and I also love to travel, especially on cruises, when we can afford it.

Q: Where can readers find you on the internet? 

A: My website, which is chock full of sample chapters and other goodies, is:  www.missprenticecozymystery.com

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

A: I think you’ve covered all the bases. Thank you!