The Reinvention Intention

HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: Happy Wednesday, Reds and Readers! Here's a quiz for you.

One of these books is a romance. One is an adorable cozy. And one is a taut, tense thriller. Can you guess which is which? Just from the cover?

 

 

 

Well, Reds and Readers, I know you can! You know your book world stuff.

 

But think about this. The same person--the wonderful Daryl Wood Gerber-- wrote all of these.

 

Can you imagine what her brain must be like? She had to reinvent her storytelling procedure -- the vocabulary, the dialogue, the rhythm, the goal, the pacing, and well,everything! The thought process is different depending on what you're writing.

 

Funny, too, that today's guest is a TV actor! Who has taken on many roles in this spoken world. Still, Daryl Wood Gerber is always reinventing herself. And here's how she does it.

 

And see below for our giveaway on at Reds and Readers on Facebook today!

 

 

WE ALL NEED TO REINVENT OURSELVES

ALONG THE WAY

 

By Daryl Wood Gerber

 

 

We all need to reinvent ourselves occasionally, don’t we?  I learned this in my twenties, when I graduated college thinking I’d become an English teacher and wound up moving to Los Angeles to pursue a career as an actress.

 

Reinvention #1:  While starting out, I also managed a restaurant, worked as a legal secretary, and sold real estate.  When I started making a good living as an actress doing commercials, television, and stage work, I quit all my side jobs. It was delicious. But along the way, I grew tired of small roles. I wanted to be a “star.”  I was told to write a screenplay and produce it for myself. Easier said than done.

 

Reinvention #2: Because of that suggestion, I enrolled in a screenwriting workshop and learned how to write a tight and effective screenplay. In the process, I found I loved writing. I was even able to sell an idea for a sit-com, Out of this World, which ran for four years in first-run syndication.  But, alas, a career as a screenwriter was not meant to be because my husband got a huge promotion at ESPN and asked if I would mind moving across the country to support this career change. With only small parts open to me and the daunting task of breaking into the screenwriting market illusive, I said yes, and off we went.

 

Reinvention #3:  I landed in Orlando, Florida  (the supposed future location for ESPN offices) and after discovering that it was hard to “take a meeting” from 3,000 miles away—oh, if only Zoom had been invented by then—I gave up any hope of becoming a screenwriter and decided to try my hand at writing a thriller. I read books on writing. I wrote drafts. I was close to finishing a first one when we learned, not even a year after the move, that the southern location for ESPN was actually going to be in Charlotte, NC.

 

Reinvention #4:  We moved to Charlotte and settled in.  A new Sisters in Crime (SinC)group was opening up, and I jumped in. Unfortunately, none of us wrote the same kind of fiction, so the critique group we put together fizzled. But luckily I found the Guppies SinC online group, and that changed my life. I found a reliable critique group—we’re still friends, and all published—and due to feedback, I changed my genre to cozy mysteries. A reinvention of sorts, right? I still loved writing thrillers but found I had a very strong voice for cozies. In addition, living in Charlotte offered me the opportunity to work on stage. I sang, acted, and danced my way through our stay in the southeast.  A few years later, we made yet another move to Connecticut, home of the primary ESPN offices. I didn’t reinvent myself at that time. I continued writing mystery and continued to polish a few thrillers. Three years later, my husband retired, and we moved back to Los Angeles, where I continue to write mysteries as well as thrillers.

 

Reinvention #5:  It’s not really a reinvention, but I had a passion project that I’d come up with when I’d previously lived in Los Angeles. It was a gentle holiday-themed romance. Dare I write it? Yes, I dare. Because the market was hard to break into, I decided to self-publish it, and I’m glad I did. Will it ever be a blockbuster? No. But my heart was in it, and I’ve made quite a few readers happy. That’s enough for me.

 

As for reinvention . . . I think I’m done. I’m remaining a writer forever. My life has changed. My address has changed. My face has a lot more wrinkles. But my perseverance and desire to write the best book I can are as youthful as ever.  Perhaps that’s what reinvention does for one’s soul. It keeps us youthful and flexible.

 

Have you ever needed to reinvent yourself?

 

Hank:  Oh, many many times! Sometimes... daily. And reinventions don't have to be major, do they? Some days I just think: I'm not going to worry so much anymore.

Or I will try to be a person who organizes my freezer.

Or even... As I was talking  about with author Ashley Elston the other day... Just “give myself some grace, and try something new. Without fear of failure.”

And maybe it's not so much "re-invention" as it is discovering a part of you that was just waiting for you to find it.

 

How about you, Reds and Readers?

And don't forget to go to our Reds and Readers private Facebook group for today's question and giveaway!

 

 And oh, this just in! Join us at 7:00 PM ET tonight for the first LIVE  Jungle Red happy hour on our new Facebook page! But you have to join us to join the fun... so click here to apply–and  (after we make sure you are not a bot) I will let you right in.

 

Daryl Wood Gerber is the Agatha Award-winning, nationally bestselling author of of The Fairy Garden Mysteries, featuring a fairy garden shop owner in charming Carmel, California, The French Bistro Mysteries, featuring a former chef who is now an up-and-coming bistro owner in Napa Valley, and The Cookbook Nook Mysteries, featuring an admitted foodie and owner of a cookbook store in picturesque coastal California. Under the pen name Avery Aames, Daryl writes the Agatha Award-winning, nationally bestselling The Cheese Shop Mysteries set in fictional Providence, Ohio. Daryl also writes suspense novels, including the Aspen Adams books and standalones, which have garnered terrific reviews.

Prior to her career as a novelist, Daryl wrote screenplays and created the format for the popular TV sitcom Out of this World. A fun tidbit for mystery buffs, Daryl was also an actress and co-starred on Murder, She Wrote, as well as other TV shows. Daryl is originally from the Bay Area and graduated from Stanford University. She loves to cook, read, golf, swim, and garden. She also likes adventure and has been known to jump out of a perfectly good airplane.