What would you title your autobiography?

HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: Someone in the audince at Love in Murder (YAY, LIM!) asked me a question I'd never been asked before. "What," she asked, "would you title your autobiography?"

Well, that stopped me for a moment. And then I said: "The Juggler."

And I don't even have to explain why,right?

Which is why it's so perfect that Avery Aames here today---say cheese!--to talk about the same kind of thing. Avery writes the incredibly successsful Cheese Shop Mysteries, and she was one of my first friends in mystery world. Remember that, Avery?

AVERY AAMES: At Crimebake, right? Before either of us had sold a book!

HANK: Exactly. And little did we know, right?

Anyway, I'm at the Mystery Writers of America University today, teaching "What I Wish Someone Had Told Me" about the world of writing and publishing....and so it's even more appropriate that Avery's visiting the Reds today, talking about:

“BALANCE”
by Avery Aames

I have to admit, before I write anything else today, that I adore your blog’s new logo: It’s the View. With bodies. Of course, being a mystery writer (and perhaps a lazy reader), I first read “without bodies” and wondered whodunit.

I’m not typically lazy. In fact, I’m anything but. Ask anyone who knows me. I try to fit double the amount of what I can do into one day. I make an extensive to-do list and try to accomplish it, but at the end of the day, if I haven’t, how do I feel? Dejected. My self-worth is shot. And I’m hyperventilating with worry. Since January first, I have been trying to “fix this” aspect of my personality. I’m not sure I can, but I am attacking the problem head-on, one day at a time.

Balance. It’s hard to find balance in this crazy world. Everything is moving so much faster. Where did the horse-drawn cart and the laidback Tara-style afternoons go?

Balance. As a writer, we have deadlines, whether self-imposed or dictated by a publisher. For a long time, that was all the writer had to do...write. But nowadays, writers have to do more. Not only do we have to interact with our family and friends—and interact nicely because family and friends do not like a cranky writer—but we have to interact with the rest of the world, too. In this crazy new paradigm, writers have to be the whole package. We have to do our own websites and public relations. We set up book signings. We go to conferences. We blog. [I even have to cook and take photographs of what I cook for my blog. Who knew I’d have to be a cook and research tasty cheeses when I became a writer? Lucy, I know you know what I mean!] And we maintain a Facebook, Twitter, Goodreads, and whatever else personae.

I’m a Gemini, but even for someone with two distinct personalities [oh, yes, ask my family and friends about that!], wearing multiple hats is hard. The businesswoman can do a lot, but while she’s busy, the writer wants to write. And if the businesswoman takes control, the writer wants to hide under the covers until it’s safe. Sometimes she throws a tantrum. [That’s the little girl writer, of course.]

Have I said yet that I hate the Internet? I hate the obligation of it. But I love it, too. That’s a conflict. [Conflict is good in writing, not in life.] I resent that for business purposes we need a presence in the virtual world. On the other hand, I love the Internet because it draws so many fabulous and interesting people into my virtual room. I want to converse and learn and share. It’s fun. But when I hunger to write, how do I slam the door without seeming antisocial?

Writing is such a personal time. I love spending time with my characters. I enjoy getting involved in their lives. I crave for the times when I become lost in an “alpha state” of concentration and my characters come alive and talk to me. I hate when I have to break from that trance and return to social networking. Don’t get me wrong. I love sharing recipes and promoting my friends’ excellent work, and I truly enjoy hearing my friends’ good news, but the balance…

It’s all about balance. As I said, starting January first, I’ve been trying to find more balance. Set rules of when I can be online and stick to them. I’m meditating more with the help of a good meditation tape.

And I’ve even posted a note beside my computer to remember to: breathe when necessary.

Balance. What do you do to maintain balance in your life?

HANK: Sigh. That assumes we can.

Or what would you title your autobiography?

And the Reds will give away a copy of the Cheese Shop Mystery of your choice to a lucky commenter!

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Avery Aames is the Agatha award wining, nationally bestselling author of The Cheese Shop Mystery series, which launched in 2010 with THE LONG QUICHE GOOBYE. The latest Cheese Shop Mystery is CLOBBERED BY CAMEMBERT (Cheese Shop Mystery book 3). The Cheese Shop Mystery series follows cheese shop owner Charlotte Bessette as she dishes up tasty morsels of goodness while solving the murders that threaten to the peace and charm of the quaint fictional town of Providence, Ohio.
BUY LINK:
http://www.averyaames.com/book_sellers.html

WEBSITE:
http://www.averyaames.com/

BLOGS:
http://www.mysteryloverskitchen.com/
http://killercharacters.com/

BLURB:
Charlotte Bessette—proprietor of Le Petit Fromagerie, affectionately known in Providence, Ohio, as the Cheese Shop—is busy setting up her tent for the town’s Winter Wonderland faire, where she’ll offer fine wines and scrumptious cheeses. In the midst of the preparations, Charlotte meets an old friend of her mother, Kaitlyn Clydesdale, who has come back to Providence with plans to start a new honeybee farm.When Kaitlyn is found dead in the cottage of Charlotte’s assistant Rebecca, suspicion falls on Rebecca’s boyfriend, a honeybee farmer himself. Charlotte knows this beekeeper wouldn’t hurt a fly, so she decides to find the real killer. While the town buzzes with gossip, can Charlotte catch the culprit without getting stung herself?

PRAISE FOR THE SERIES:
“[A] lovely Tour de Fromage. It’s not Gouda, it’s great!”
—Lorna Barrett, New York Times bestselling author

“Absolutely delicious! This is the triple crème of the crop: a charming heroine, a deceptively cozy little town, and a clever cast of characters. This is more than a fresh and original mystery—Aames’ compassion for family and friends shines through, bringing intelligence and depth to this warm and richly rewarding adventure.”
~ Hank Phillippi Ryan, Agatha-winning author of DRIVE TIME

AND IN THE EXAMINER.COM, Crime Fiction in National review, The Long Quiche Goodbye was included as one of the best books of 2011.
~ http://www.examiner.com/crime-fiction-in-national/year-review-best-books-of-2011-part-2