Joyce Tremel's First Book is Off and Running

Joyce Tremel, today's guest writer, was a police secretary for ten years. Like most of us, she more than once envisioned the demise of certain co-workers, but settled on writing as a way to keep herself out of jail. She lives in a suburb of Pittsburgh with her husband and a spoiled cat. Her debut mystery, TO BREW OR NOT TO BREW, will be released by Berkley Prime Crime in Fall 2015.

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The last time I wrote a post for yinz guys (as we say here in Pittsburgh), was almost two years ago. I had a book on submission at the time that ultimately didn’t sell. While that manuscript made the rounds, I wrote a proposal for a cozy series that my agent sold to Berkley earlier this year. The first in the series, TO BREW OR NOT TO BREW, will be released in the Fall of 2015. Here’s a little bit about it:

Someone doesn’t want the Allegheny Brew House to open, and Maxine “Max” O’Hara is determined to find out why.

With her brand-new brewmaster certification in hand, Max has been working twelve hour days getting the abandoned Steel City Brewery up to code, perfecting beer recipes, and learning the business. A lot of work, but she’s sure she made the right decision—until things start to go wrong. She’s not too worried until the minor annoyances get progressively worse. And when she finds the body of her assistant brewmaster and chef in one of the beer tanks, she knows that batch wasn’t brewed according to Reinheitsgebot.

It’s been an interesting experience writing a book with a deadline. Since the series sold on proposal (a synopsis and three chapters), I had about nine months to finish it. I turned it in a couple of weeks ago. But there’s no time to relax—the next one is due in nine months.

Is my writing life any different now? Yes and no.

I still write every day, so that part hasn’t changed. The difference is now I HAVE to get the words on the page. I’m still busy with all the same things I had before, but now the writing comes before cleaning the house (as I stare at the clumps of cat fur on the floor). I’m learning to write a little more quickly. I no longer have the luxury of writing and deleting the same paragraph fifty times in a day. I’ve cut back to…oh…maybe ten times, lol.

I also had to increase my social media presence. I was already on Twitter (www.twitter.com/JoyceTremel). At the suggestion of my editor, I now have a page on Facebook (www.facebook.com/JoyceTremel). I really love Twitter. I’m not too sure about Facebook yet, probably because I’m still trying to figure it out. As far as networking goes, Twitter wins, hands down. It’s so much easier to meet people and interact with them. To me, FB seems more like talking AT people, instead of conversing with them. Maybe it’ll grow on me. We’ll see.

Well, that was a lot of rambling about nothing, wasn’t it? I do have a dentist appointment this morning, but I’ll be back to chat. I’ll be happy to answer any questions about the series, writing, social media, or beer. Especially beer.

Joyce Tremel

Not How I Imagined It

Today we welcome guest blogger Joyce Tremel! Joyce is a former employee of a suburban Pittsburgh police department with a second degree black belt in Taekwondo. A member of Pennwriter's and a former Vice-President of the Mary Roberts Rinehart chapter of Sisters in Crime, she has written short stories for Mysterical-E magazine and non-fiction articles for The Pennsylvania Chiefs of Police magazine, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, the Penn Writer, and the Sisters in Crime publication Breaking & Entering. She is about to find a home for her first full-length crime novel. Look for her at www.joycetremel.com and twitter.com/JoyceTremel.

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When Kate mentioned that yinz guys (as we say in Pittsburgh) were looking for guests to write on The Writing Life, I volunteered. But when I got to thinking about my writing life, I realized it’s nothing like I imagined it would be. There’s no writing garret, no maid, no cook, no multi-million dollar book deals… But I’ll take it anyway. I mean, really. In what other job can you wear pajamas all day if you feel like it?

I don’t think there is a typical writer’s life (other than working in PJs). For the last eight months or so, my days have consisted of wrangling contractors, making sure they’re getting the work done, reading up on septic systems, wells, and the best way to clean log walls. I’ve become an expert at installing and grouting bathroom tiles. Yeah. We’re building. And no, I’m not coming over to remodel your bathroom. In addition to the cabin stuff, I still have our “real” house to keep up with, although I’ll admit it’s not as clean as I’d like it to be. (I may be the only person in the world who polishes the outside of their washer and dryer.) This is where that maid in the previous paragraph would come in handy—except I’d probably want to clean before she came.

Then there’s Christmas shopping. And decorating. I don’t even want to think about baking this year. In the midst of all this, I still manage to get some writing done.

When I started this writing thing, I never realized how long it would take to even get close to having a published book. Although I’ve been writing off and on since I was a kid, I only got serious about it maybe twenty years ago. I wrote a really horrible story that read like Nancy Drew meets the Hardy Boys. I had no idea what I was doing. Point of view was all over the place, the characters were clichéd, you name it—I did it wrong. Fortunately, no copies of this travesty exist. I even destroyed the 3 ½ floppy discs on the off-chance that someone somewhere still had a computer that had a disc drive.

To make what could be a very long story short, I kept learning and writing. I’m on my third (and I hope, final!) agent and have a book on submission now. Fingers, toes, and whatever are crossed. I’m working on the next book in the series and also planning some other ideas just in case.

One thing all writers have in common: this writing life is unpredictable.

Joyce Tremel