How a Professor Got Mixed Up in Murder by Cheryl Miller Dellasega

I loved reading and writing from the time when I learned to do both, obviously a sign I was meant to be an author. In seventh grade, my English teacher submitted one of my poems to a contest and it won.  When he bowed, presented me with a printed copy of the magazine and announced, “Madam, your first publication,” it was all the validation I needed.

I began to churn out stories and “novels” that only my most faithful friends were allowed to read, which meant someone was always waiting at the front doors of our middle school with new chapters.  Looking back on that time, I question how accurately a scrawny kid with cat eyeglasses, an uneven pixie haircut and zero romantic experience could portray the relationships of governesses who work for and fall in love their employer, always a dashingly handsome lord or duke. Still, I was determined to be an author.

During my senior year of high school, my father announced he wasn’t willing to pay for a girl to get a college education, so I went to a nursing school because I was desperate for adventures away from home. For several years my writing went on hiatus because I was too busy gaining real life romantic experiences while working clinically and studying.  

Quite a bit later when I was a wife, mother, and professor just like my protagonist In my newest book, Murder at University Park (MUP), I began to use stolen bits of time when my kids were at sports practices or summer camp to crank out short stories, poetry, and the beginnings of a novel.

I labored on tenure track and decided to write a column for the Internet Writing Journal called Mothers Who Write. A different mom/author interview was featured each month, among them Dianne McKinney Whitstone, Alice McDermott, Jodi Picoult, Helen Rule. These talented women gave me hope. Their insights on blending motherhood and careers prompted me to return to fragments of fiction I had delegated to my hard drive. 

It was the nonfiction genre I cracked first after reading two books about mother-daughter relationships and being inspired to write a third contemporary publication on the subject. Surviving Ophelia was published in hardback. paperback and audiobook format and I believe it helped me get contracts with major publishers for six more books on female relationships.

I had a literary agent who sold my books and served as an advocate, someone from PR who got multiple prime time television spots, and always, a team of crack editors. I developed a great platform both professionally and personally, thanks to these experiences.

But I hadn’t touched MUP in years. Did I have it in me to take out the manuscript and try to break into the world of crime fiction?

What followed was beyond an Odessey, and yes, I mean more than ten years, like the movie. To start off, there were more rewrites to add to thirty versions of MUP I’d already worked on. A widely published author did me the kindness of  reading though new Version Thirty-One and suggesting I change the killer and switch to third person POV.  I did, but my first literary agent couldn’t sell it. After attending a mystery writers’ workshop, Version Thirty-Two was revised to contain a different murderer and return to first person POV but my second literary agent couldn’t find a buyer for that one, either. 

Version Thirty-Three, reviewed by a group of beta readers and a costly professional, felt more sellable, but agent number three wanted me to rework it more. Version Thirty-Four was completed after another expensive professional edit that suggested significant changes in characters and plot. The manuscript was redlined with suggested edits and for the first time, I was frustrated with it.  

That’s when I consulted a content expert, which turned things around for me, and, on a whim, I submitted Version Thirty-Five to a hybrid press, where it was quickly accepted.  Gentle reader, I thought it would be easy after that, but it wasn’t.

It seems that many or most hybrid presses expect authors to be co-publisher of sorts, which I didn’t realize. First, I was tasked with providing a detailed memo so the exact right image would be chosen for the cover, then I completed a required document about myself and set up a new website which required learning new technology. 

I responded to four more rounds of edits from the publisher to create an Advanced Readers Copy and then helped develop a market strategy. By the time the brown box of final copies arrived at my front door, I was too busy working on PR efforts to open and enjoy them.

One question readers have asked is whether MUP is based on a true story. Let’s just say it’s a mashup of real experiences from universities where I’ve worked, snippets of interactions with thousands of students, and memories of mundane meetings that are rife in academia. Thankfully, there weren’t any murders at any school I was connected to, at least as far as I know.

Being an author really is a dream come true for me.  Even the one- or two-star book reviews help me figure out what needs attention in my writing and every day, something new helps me improve my skills.    Now if only this wisdom will help me write Homicide at Halftime, without another Odessey, I’ll be thrilled

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MURDER AT UNIVERSITY PARK

For fans of My Dark Vanessa and The Secret History, a gripping campus thriller about a determined young professor who challenges a corrupt academic system, confronts a predator in power, and refuses to stay silent—even when her quest turns deadly.

A brilliant young professor. A powerful advisor with everything to lose. A university campus hiding deadly secrets.

It’s 1998, and Dr. Lacey Redd is on the verge of tenure—and under the thumb of her department chair, the arrogant and celebrated Dr. Geoffrey Hart. When Lacey begins to suspect Hart of falsifying his research, she quietly teams up with a tech-savvy colleague to uncover the truth. But before they can break the case, her partner turns up dead in the campus library.

As Lacey digs deeper, she uncovers something even darker: Hart has been preying on female graduate students for years. When he attacks her at a department party, Lacey fights back—leaving him injured and exposed. A new department head steps in, and with Hart out of the picture, it seems justice has finally been served.

But someone on campus is still watching. And they’ve decided Lacey knows too much.

BUY HERE

 

Tags: featured, women writers

Category: On Writing