Betty Hechtman interview with David Alan Binder

Shortened bio from Amazon:    Although my degree is in Fine Arts, all I ever wanted to be was a writer and I've been doing it in one form or another for as long as I can remember. I wrote news stories and a weekly column in my college newspaper. My first job out of college was working on the newsletter of a finance company. I worked for a public relations firm and wrote press releases and biographies. Later I wrote proposals for video projects and television shows that went through various stages of development.
I tried writing screenplays and wrote three. I sold one and another was a winner in a Writers' Digest contest.
I wrote essays and small pieces that ran in the Los Angeles Times, the Daily News and Woman's Day among others. My short romantic and mystery fiction appeared in Woman's World, and Futures magazine.
It took a little longer than I'd expected, but BLUE SCHWARTZ AND NEFERTITI'S NECKLACE was published in 2006.

My husband worked in the music business for a lot of years. I met a lot of artists and found out what really went on behind the scenes.

Website:      www.BettyHechtman.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BettyHechtmanauthor

Author Blog:www.killerhobbies.blogspot.com (Fridays)

1. I think Betty is pretty easy to pronounce. As for Hechtman, it sounds more like Heckman

2. I live mostly in Southern California, but spend a lot of time in Chicago as well.

3. I think the most important lesson I have learned is to just keep going. Once you give up, it's over.

4. I'm not sure this is a quirk, but sometimes when I'm having trouble figuring the logistics of a scene, I will draw it.

5. My publisher is Berkley Prime Crime in New York.  The problem with self-publishing is that you have to figure out how to do promotion. It's easier if you already have readers from traditionally published books, but it still takes time and effort.

6. Personally I prefer to read paper books. I have read that retention of the material in the-books isn't the same as paper books and that has been my experience.

7. The only secret I know to getting published is persistence and not taking rejection personally. It helps to go to writers' conferences, too. They offer information on what's happening in the publishing world and in some cases like the Romance Writers of American National conference, a chance to pitch your project to an editor.

8. Writers' conferences also can offer an opportunity to meet an agent face to face.

9. My best suggestion for new writers is to develop a habit I started a long time ago thanks to the advice in An Artist's Way. I write "morning pages" every day. I think the book had some specific instructions of how you were supposed to do it, but whatever they were have been long forgotten. I just write in a notebook. it's sort of a journal, but a line of dialogue for my current project or even a whole scene might show up. I'll write down dreams, comments about stuff going on in the world or in my personal world. I find it is like oiling the joints in that it seems to make it easier for me to get what's in my head down on paper.  .

10. What always surprises me is the relationships between characters that is always there, but that I don't see at first. It is as if they have an independent existence going on somewhere and I just tune into it.

11. I have written 17 books and am in the process of writing the 18th.

12. A tip on writing I could offer is to be specific. There is a world of difference between saying one of your characters wore a pair of designer heels and saying they wore a pair of Jimmy Choo electric blue strapping sandals.

13. I know who did it when I start to write one of my mysteries, but sometimes as I'm writing, I decide it is really someone else, which creates a twist in the story.

14. I write cozy mysteries and I like to say that while there are dead bodies, everybody has a good time. They are light and I hope funny. I also have a strong romantic element in both series. I also include added content with easy crochet and knit patterns, along with recipes.

15. I don't think I would do anything differently. It's all about the journey.

16. It's not exactly a mantra, but the saying I live by is Do It! Even if my minds a blank, I write on anyway and eventually the words kick in. It's also how I live. I like to be out there living with both hands, still pushing the envelope and getting outside my comfort zone.

18. I have loved mysteries since my days of reading Nancy Drew and later Agatha Christie. I love being part of the genre and am thrilled to be a member of Mystery Writers of America and Sisters in Crime.