Today, January 7th, 2022, is my tenth anniversary of the release of The Hauntings of Cold Creek Hollow. Since then I have published thirty-five full-length novels in the Haunted Series, four novellas, six in the spin-off series Cid Garrett P.I., and one stand-alone book, Angelo, in the series. Also, I have written Knight of Pages, five mystery novels in the Cin Fin-Lathen series, and published my short story Evil. If you’re doing the math, that’s fifty-three manuscripts that I have published in ten years. I’m not patting myself on the back but reminding myself of my last ten years as an author.
I started off writing what I thought were cozies, Decomposing and Death by Saxophone. I was assured by a snotty agent in California that I wasn’t. I was tired of coming close in meetings. “We discussed you but decided to pass.” “You have a great imagination but not sellable.”
Frustrated by the amount of time wasted with querying agents and publishers, I took a walk with my son, Aaron. We normally would complain about the world in the beginning of our three-mile walks and, by the end, come home with a better attitude. It was on a sunny but cold February day in 2011 that he said, “Mom, have you thought about writing something else? Something different. Something fun.” Writing mysteries for me is fun, but after being rejected so many times, there is no bloom on the rose; there are no flowers at all, just the thorns.
The Hauntings of Cold Creek Hollow:
I was at the time amusing myself with watching ghost-hunting shows. I thought that I would do a parody of those shows. I started off with an idea, but something happened in the process of forming my characters... I fell in love with them: Mia the misfit; Whitney the tortured law enforcement professional; Stephen Murphy the post civil war-era ghost; and a group of amateur ghost hunters, Burt, Mike, Amber, Ted and Beth. (Little known fact: Ted and Beth were actually four technicians. The Red Pen convinced me that four was too many to keep track of. So I combined the traits of the four and came up with the genius beanpole Ted and the capable but ignored Beth.)
Paranormal Entity Exposure Partners, or PEEPs, was more than taking advantage of a great acronym. I wanted to write about more than ghosts. Ghosts are wonderful, and I love writing about Stephen Murphy, but ghosts are only a small part of the paranormal world that I wanted to explore. I wrote the book, the Red Pen edited it, and then it sat there. I didn’t want it abused by agent or publisher rejections.
Along comes our heroine, Janice Ivy, author of Taking out the Trailer Trash and more. Jan asked me why I didn’t put my book up on Amazon Kindle so others could get a chance to read them? So I did. I thought The Hauntings of Cold Creek Hollow wouldn’t be taken seriously, and I had high hopes for the three mystery books. I was wrong. The book took off. I wrote the sequel Ghostly Attachments, this time introducing the idea of OOBing. The readers didn’t complain. I wrote Sand Trap thinking that I may as well have a trilogy... Thirty-five books later, here I am, still adding to the series.
Where am I now?
I’m writing Haunted Series novel thirty-seven, A Ghost of a Chance, while waiting on the edits from book thirty-six The Family Business. I’m thankful that the Haunted Series is loved by so many readers. I made a promise early on, when someone asked how long I would be writing the series, that I would write it as long as I had a great story to tell, and like my character Mia, if I make a promise, I keep it. Will I write on the other series? Again, if there is a good story there, then yes. Otherwise, my priority is the Haunted Series.
Thank you to those who have been with me from the beginning. Ten years is longer than most marriages, but it’s also just the start of great friendships.
Love,
Alexie Aaron