A Twist of Fate By Karen Rose Smith

When I was in my thirties, I thought I knew what my life would be. I was married with a son. I thought I’d be teaching or act as a lay editor for a school district until I retired. But… Life’s journey is made up of twists and turns I’d only begun to realize.

I’d been religiously into exercise—swimming, aerobics and biking. After a vacation, my back began hurting. I was 35. Two years later I had surgery that changed my life. Now I often think about that decision. What if I’d never had surgery? But we never know about “the road not taken,” do we? I was flat on my back on a hospital bed in our family room for four years after surgery. That’s when I began writing. I needed a creative and emotional outlet to stay sane.

Even though I was an only child, I came from a large Italian family. On weekends I was surrounded by aunts, uncles and cousins.  Relationships always fascinated me—from my uncles arguing with my grandfather at holiday meals to my sisterlike connection with my cousin that has lasted to this day.

Since I’d earned a B.S in education—English and French, I liked to write. I’d written poetry and short stories in college and I’d always read vociferously. Especially romance. When my short stories became too long to submit for publication in magazines, I decided to write a book. During this time I went to a month long orthopedic rehab (that was like a prison camp), started taking credits for a Masters degree in counseling (I took a folding chair to class and used an ice pack for my back) and kept writing book after book.  I wrote long hand and often laid on the floor with manuscript pages clothespinned to a waste can so I could see them to type in. After six years of writing and thirteen finished manuscripts, I sold two romances in a week to two different publishers—Meteor Books and Harlequin Books.

For the next twenty years, I was fortunate to have published on an average of three books a year with Harlequin and Kensington. I also wrote romance and science fiction short stories for a tabloid. The science fiction was such a departure from what I usually wrote that it was a real hoot and kept me fresh. Over those years I became adept at not only romance, but elements of suspense, continuity series, and continuing characters. Through sales numbers I realized my voice was heard best in emotional stories that spoke to my readers’ hearts.

Everything I’d experienced with surgery, the aftermath, family relationships and my courses in counseling became background for the stories I wanted to write. I also learned how to adapt to my physical condition as I was diagnosed with fibromyalgia, osteoarthritis and RA. Fibromyalgia began affecting my eyes so I learned to use a tape recorder to write. I still do. I have a typist who transcribes my tapes and then I edit the hard copy. My husband who has taken this journey with me for 51 years steadily adds my editing changes on the computer to my manuscripts. One of these days I’ll have to move into the world of digital tape recorders. I use one to dub my originals. But my typist is old school too, so we’re sticking with this system for now.

I dabbled in indie publishing for a while after I asked for rights back to some of my romances and also published more original titles. But after a few years I decided I needed to choose either indie or traditional publishing. It was too time consuming to do promotion for both. I chose the traditional route. For twenty years I’d mainly written romance. But I needed a change and my agent submitted a cozy mystery idea to a Kensington editor. Since then I’ve had two cozy mystery series released with them. Now I’m working on a third that will be released in my first hardback series of novels. I’m thrilled with that idea.

Over the years I’ve tried to go with the flow. When there was an editor change or a line closed, I kept writing. When a door closed, I looked for that next open window. When I felt my spark for writing waning, I tried a new direction. But I did it cautiously…listening to my instincts as well as my agent of almost thirty years.

What does it take to have a writing career? Talent in telling a story, dedication to the craft, and most of all persistence to reach for what you want and then grab it.

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Karen Rose Smith’s 109th novel will be released in 2023. She is finishing editing her ten book Daisy’s Tea Garden cozy mystery series. Her new mystery series under contract will be released in hardcover. Her hobbies are cooking and gardening. One of her passions, her love for felines, has led to rescuing seven cats who are a major part of her family. They bring her smiles daily and remind her to keep chasing rainbows.

Follow her on Twitter @karenrosesmith

Find out more about Karen on her website

MURDER WITH EARL GREY TEA

At Daisy’s Tea Garden in Pennsylvania’s Amish country, the tea of the month is Earl Grey to warm those late February days—but cold-blooded murder casts a deadly chill . . .

Even though spring in Lancaster County is still a bit far off, Daisy Swanson has much to look forward to: setting a date with her fiancé Jonas, a whimsical Alice in Wonderland tea event, and an anniversary celebration for her parents at a farm-to-table restaurant in Willow Creek.

But a grim discovery turns her thoughts to the troubled present. Meeting up for a hike with her friend, Daisy and her fiancé’s dog Felix find the woman dead on a trail, a victim of an apparent hit and run. The tire tracks clearly indicate this was no accident, and now Daisy must follow a twisted trail of clues to uncover what drove someone to murder . . .

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