THE PLEASURES AND PITFALLS OF CO-AUTHORING

Nancy Mehl is a best-selling, award winning author who lives in Missouri, with her husband, Norman, and her Puggle, Watson. She’s authored over thirty books and is currently writing a new series for Bethany House Publishing. The Kaely Quinn Profiler series kicked off with book one, MIND GAMES, in December of 2018. In 2019 look for her books in The Mysteries of Lancaster County series – co-written with her daughter-in-law, Shaen Layle.

Readers can learn more about Nancy through her Web site: www.nancymehl.com. She is part of The Suspense Sisters: www.suspensesisters.blogspot.com, along with several other popular suspense authors. She is also very active on Facebook.  

Shane Layle writes inspirational contemporary romance and cozy mystery. Her work often features small towns with a vintage feel

and love interests who have history with one another. She enjoys focusing on the restoration for emotional brokenness that only the true Redeemer can bring.
​Writing has always been a constant in her life, from childhood puppet show scripts to college chapbooks and novellas. Aside from writing novels, she also currently dabbles in the world of the word with weekly blogging and monthly podcasting. Libraries are near and dear to her heart, as she worked for nearly ten years as Youth Librarian for a regional, rural library system. She's married to the love of her life and is a blessed mama to two adorable little boys. You can learn more about her by visiting her website.

The Pleasures and Pitfalls of Co-Authoring

Recently, it was my privilege to co-write a book with my wonderful, beautiful daughter-in-law, Shaen. I’d never co-authored a book before. Would it work or would it be a disaster? I have an incredible agent, but he’s very cautious. He warned of possible problems, and I listened. But sometimes you just know when something’s going to work. And in my heart, I knew this would.

And it did.

Were there differences between us? Yes. Shaen is a plotter and I’m more of a pantser. A pantser is a writer who goes “by the seat of their pants.” I do plot toward the end of a book, but at the beginning, and well into the middle, I like to let my characters go in a different direction if I think it will help the story. So, Shaen and I sat down and plotted. And then, as we were writing, I “pantsed.” As we took turn writing chapters. Shaen stuck to our plot, and then I’d send her a chapter that had nothing to do with it! I’d had a great idea! LOL!

Through it all, Shaen was a champion. We never got upset with each other. She went with my “pantser” ideas and I worked harder to stick to the plot…sometimes. We loved writing together, and we were surprised to find that at times, we couldn’t remember who wrote which chapter. The writing sounded the same!

Anyway, I hope readers will enjoy our first book together, WAVES OF DOUBT. Leave a comment about this post, along with your contact information, and on Friday, I’ll pick someone who will win a copy of our book! 

Nancy

WAVES OF DOUBT

Prickly Virginia Lawrence, a preeminent scholar of Vineyard history, is also a notorious recluse. Therefore, the island is abuzz when Priscilla manages to book a library lecture with the local eccentric. However, on the evening of the event, Virginia is a no-show and nowhere to be found, and the valuable museum artifacts in her possession are now missing as well. As Priscilla delves into the mystery of Virginia’s ill-timed disappearance, a seemingly unrelated puzzle emerges. Could a rash of random cemetery plunderings somehow be connected to the missing historian?

As pressure builds to find Virginia and the missing priceless artifacts, she begins to doubt her own instincts—especially when she spies Gerald having mysterious dinner meetings with a lovely blonde-haired woman.

Buy a copy of WAVES OF DOUBT!