Terrie Farley Moran and the Sophomore Scare

July 2015 is a great month. Lots to celebrate. My mumble, mumble birthday, the sixth anniversary of a surgery that left me cancer free and the release of Caught Read-Handed, the second book in the Read ’Em and Eat cozy mystery series.

All super great events, right?

I must confess that the one that makes me a tad uneasy is the book release. When the first novel in the series, Well Read, Then Dead, was released I was too exuberant to be nervous. I had written a book, signed with my dream agent, Kim Lionetti of Bookends, who sold the novel to Berkley Prime Crime. Berkley’s little mystery hand emblem could be found on dozens and dozens of books stacked on my personal book shelves so it was a good fit. And with any luck, a few folks would buy the book. Perhaps some readers would even like it.

As it turned out, I had a lot of fun with Well Read, Then Dead. I loved “traveling” on a 27-stop blog tour. In real life I visited book clubs, libraries and book stores. I heard from readers via Facebook, my website, and the Women of Mystery blog. Best of all, Well Read, Then Dead was nominated for the Agatha Award for Best First Novel. And it won.

I’d submitted the manuscript for Caught Read-Handed before Well Read, Then Dead even hit store shelves. At the moment I clicked “send” on the email to my beloved editor, I was convinced that it was the greatest piece of literature ever written. My writer’s neurosis clicked in five seconds AFTER I clicked “send” whispering that the entire book was claptrap. Such is the frail ego of a writer.

Still, I pushed the fears out of my mind and moved on with my writing life. I wrote a novel with another author. (Parchment and Old Lace by Laura Childs with Terrie Farley Moran, release date October 2015.) I participated in judging and mentoring for several organizations. I wrote a short story and I began writing the third Read ’Em and Eat book. Pages fell off the calendar and here it is July, time for the release of Caught Read-Handed. There are still moments when I hear the tiny voice in the back of my head saying, “Oh my, what if readers don’t like it?” Then that other voice, the one that comes out of my mouth booms, “Just finish book three.”

So if you’ll excuse me, I’ve pulled up the document that will someday be Read Sky in Mourning or whatever the title turns out to be. Time to work.

—Terrie Farley Moran

Agatha Award recipient Terrie Farley Moran is the author of the beachside Read ‘Em and Eat cozy mystery series including Well Read, Then Dead and Caught Read-Handed. Her short mystery fiction has been published in Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine, and has been short-listed twice for Best American Mysteries. She blogs at womenofmystery.net and can be found on Facebook.