Humor-tinted crime fiction has a new voice, and as Sophie Littlefield is rolling out her sophomore project, A BAD DAY FOR PRETTY, we’re hearing good things about this series.  So, it could behoove you to save a slot on your Summer reading list for the antics of tough-talking, middle-aged vigilante, Stella Hardesty.  And when you pick up the book, tell them AuthorScoop sent you.

We’d like to thank Ms. Hardesty for taking the time to be part of our “5 Minutes Alone” interview series.

AuthorScoop: What was your very first publication credit?

Sophie: Oh, I am so delighted you asked! My story “I Slept With My Husband’s Best Friend To Save My Marriage” appeared in True Story magazine back in 1996. It was one of two dozen confession stories I sold over a period of several years.  And let me tell you, it doesn’t matter if someday I receive a Pulitzer and a Nobel on the very same day, nothing will compare to the thrill of finding that magazine in my local Target…with MY WORDS inside. I didn’t even have a byline (the confession magazines’ stories are, urrrmmm, anonymous) but when I saw those words that I had written in actual print, I cried with joy. And I bought all the copies they had, which must have confused the clerk mightily.

AuthorScoop: Tell us about your latest release.

Sophie: A BAD DAY FOR PRETTY, the second in the Stella Hardesty mystery series, was released on June 8th. Stella’s efforts to get in the sheriff’s pants are flummoxed by the arrival of his not-quite-ex wife, and she has to clear an old friend’s name when he’s accused of murder. Um, I’m not great at summarizing my own books – my agent tells me I’m the second-worst pitch person she’s ever met. (The worst being the fantastically talented and fall-over-in-a-swoon handsome Graham Brown.)

OK… SOPHIE’S PUBLICIST UNCEREMONIOUSLY BUTTING IN HERE… (because I agree with the agent about Sophie’s pitching skills, and I love Sophie… hence my two cents)  A Bad Day for Pretty is a crime / mystery novel where the heroine is a tough-as-nails, middle-aged, Midwestern woman–not your usual mystery heroine–who’d gotten herself out of a violently abusive marriage (the hard way), and who now works out her demons by dishing out justice for other women who are being victimized by abusive partners.  Makes for a very unique page-turner!

Pretty follows Sophie’s first novel, A Bad Day for Sorry, which won the RT Book Award for Best First Mystery, and was an Edgar Award Finalist for Best First Novel.  I only mention that so you all will know Sophie’s writing is high quality… but what I (and many people) love about Sophie’s books is that yes, the writing is great, but it’s down-to-earth, blunt and even funny–like a real midwesterner should be–even when the subject matter is serious.  This makes for a really fast read.  (OK.. TONY, THE MEDDLING-YET-WELL-MEANING PUBLICIST, SIGNING OFF HERE…)

AuthorScoop: Aside from your own hard work, who (or what) else do you feel has contributed to your success?

Sophie: My husband’s support has been unflagging, ever since we met twenty-four years ago and I told him I was going to be a writer “someday.” He never stopped believing I could do it, even when I did. And my brother, the writer Mike Wiecek, has been there for me since the beginning. Shh, don’t tell, but all the smart parts of my books? – those are the ones Mike fixed. Also, I’ve got the best writing friends a person could hope for. I almost don’t want to share their names because I’m afraid you’ll want to steal them, and I could not do what I do without having them there to celebrate the good times and pick me up on the bad days.

AuthorScoop: At what time of day or night do you do your best writing?

Sophie: I write at all times of day: when I get up in the morning, after the kids go to school, and late at night when it’s just me and my night-owl son keeping each other company. I really probably shouldn’t admit this, but my favorite passages I recently wrote came about in an unorthodox way: I have trouble sleeping occasionally, and I had taken a sleep aid when I realized I had forgotten to write two short scenes that were due before the next morning. I cranked them out in under an hour and then my face hit the desk when I passed out. To my great astonishment, they were pitch-perfect.

AuthorScoop: Finally, what advice would you give to new or unpublished writers?

Sophie: I think the smartest thing I have said in the last year came about when I was addressing young writers. It was “don’t pay attention to anyone’s opinion about what you write” and I was careful to specify that included parents and teachers.

Many well-meaning folks will tell a writer what he or she ought to write. They’ve got their reasons, occasionally they have their assessments of trends or industry statistics, but what they don’t have is a view into the writer’s head and heart. Only the writer knows what issues stir and inspire her, what characters lurk in the shadows of her imagination, what journeys she needs to take them on.

For most of us, we need to be very, very cautious about protecting our voice. Looking back on my many years of writing, I can see that I allowed others’ opinions to push and pull and propel me in all kinds of directions before I got old and stubborn enough to hunker down and stick to what I know and what I love.

A BAD DAY FOR PRETTY is available in bookstores everywhere and of course for delivery from Amazon.com and BarnesandNoble.com, as well as for their eReaders.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 16th, 2010 at 9:39 am and is filed under *Jamie's Posts, 5 Minutes Alone. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.