Featured Writer on Wellness: Julie Weston

Most of the time, I enjoy writing, and I especially enjoy getting boxes of new books!

However, as with most writers, I do experience self-doubt, especially when I reach the middle of a manuscript. Is this working? Where is this plot going? Is my historical information interesting and accurate?

The stress of promotion always lurks in the background, especially as I near completing a new manuscript. Isolation also lies in the weeds of writing.

Just Being Outdoors Helps with Self-Doubt, Stress, and Isolation

I am fortunate to have a supportive husband and family. My husband is always my first reader, and he also reads as I am working on a story. If I lose focus, he helps guide me back. If I am frustrated with my plot or any aspect of my writing, he encourages me to keep going.

On my own, I take walks in our area—along river paths, up mountain trails, near lakes and ponds, and even my own driveway. We live in a canyon outside of a town and just being outdoors helps with self-doubt, stress, and isolation. The immensity of our mountains and fields, sky and wind, helps put my writing into perspective—writing problems can be overcome, and I am lucky to do what I do.

I do have former writing group friends who help read and comment and edit my books. Twice a week, my husband and I go to pilates, which makes my body feel strong. That helps, too.

Sitting Too Long is Tough on a Writer

Sitting too long (is my biggest physical challenge).

I change where I write from time to time—move from my office to the dining room table or a window seat. I change my method of writing from a keyboard to a pencil and notebook. Most of my books begin with drafts using pencil and paper.

I have a regular office chair, but I have added a pillow for my lower back. It does help me sit up straight. I tend to slump and try to avoid doing that.

The Three Things Important to a Mystery Novel

I do write mysteries, and my mysteries are in a series. I just finished #5 and it was just released on October 5, 2022:  MOON BONES.

In all my books, place is a character, and in my books, the place is in Idaho in the 1920s. The place almost dictates the plot and the actions of my characters.

The three things important to a mystery are

• (a) a murder,
• (b) believable and fascinating characters, and
• (c) a story that offers more than a simple plot and keeps a reader’s interest.

I don’t write outlines. I discover the story as I go along, hence the need for believable and fascinating characters. My main characters are photographer Nellie Burns, a transplant to Idaho from Chicago; Moonshine, Nellie’s black Labrador dog; Basque Sheriff Charlie Asteguigoiri (known as Charlie Azgo); retired miner Rosy Kipling; boardinghouse owner Goldie Bock.

Lots of other characters come into the stories, again, based on the places where Nellie finds herself.

My Most Successful Book Marketing Tactics

My most successful book marketing tactics include a launch party in my home town area and book tours in Idaho and Washington.

I do use social media, but it is hard to tell if this leads to book sales. Events, such as festivals and bazaars have yielded 100s of book sales.

I am trying a few ads in appropriate magazines: Roundup, High Country News, and soon, a local news source. I have yet to use a publicist, but am considering doing so.

Writing Begets Writing, So Spend More Time Writing!

I am a retired lawyer, so my time is pretty much my own. I am involved in various nonprofit activities. When I was more involved in a city life, I used Tuesdays and Thursdays for meetings, teaching literacy classes, and meeting friends. I wrote on the other days. Compartmentalizing helped.

For many years, I was a practicing lawyer and spent large portions of my day writing contracts, letters, memoranda. When I began writing stories, essays, and longer works, I had to learn to take legalese out of my writing. I did so by taking writing courses and going to workshops.

Writing begets writing, so I’ve learned to spend a lot of time writing. Getting published takes perseverance and more perseverance. Going to workshops helped me get inspired about writing and gave me contacts with other writers, which is important for at least two reasons—learning the craft and finding friends.

Being part of a critique group for many years was also important to my writing career for both reasons, too.

Advice for a Young Writer: Live First!

Live first so you have something to write about! And persevere. It takes talent, which you can develop and train, but perseverance will be the most important quality to get your work published.

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Julie Weston grew up in Idaho and practiced law in Seattle, Washington.

Her memoir of place, The Good Times Are all Gone Now: Life, Death and Rebirth in an Idaho Mining Town (University of Oklahoma Press, 2009), received honorable mention in the 2009 Idaho Book of the Year Award. Weston’s mysteries set in 1920’s Idaho, all published by Five Star Publishing, have won awards: Moonshadows (2015) was a finalist in the May Sarton Literary Award. Basque Moon (2016) won the 2017 WILLA Literary Award in Historical Fiction.

Moonscape (2019) placed third in the Foreword INDIES Awards. Miners’ Moon took bronze in the Will Rogers Medallion Award. Moon Bones, just published by Encircle Publications, came out in October.

Weston and her husband, Gerry Morrison, live in central Idaho where they ski, write, photograph, and enjoy the outdoors. For more information on her and her work, please see her website, and connect with her on Facebook and Instagram.

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Miners’ Moon:  Crime photographer Nellie Burns and Basque sheriff Charlie Asteguigoiri travel from central to northern Idaho to investigate bottlegging and possible complicit town officials. A suspicious mine explosion pulls them into a second investigation. Retired miner Rosy Kipling joins them, bringing Nell’s black Lab, Moonshine.

While Charlie roams the backcountry in search of illegal stills, Nell questions survivors of the explosion. Rosy descends into the principal mine to listen and pry. The two investigations lead all three to discover secrets and lies—from “soda-drink” parlors, local brothels, and worker hints of secrets hidden deep in the mine shafts—that have deadly consequences.  A town dance in Bitterroot lures Nell, Charlie, and Rosy to let their guards down, and offers shades of romance—until a fire blows up a nearby town.

Predictably, Nellie gets in over her head. A rock burst seals Charlie and Rosy in a mine collapse. Who will come to the rescue?

All of them long for their high desert home but cannot return until they expose the secrets and lay bare the criminals before their luck runs out.

Available on Amazon.

Moon Bones:  The death of a Chinese man leads photographer Nellie Burns and sheriff Asteguigoiri to Vienna, a ghost town in the Stanley Basin in 1920’s Idaho. Sammy Ah Kee, who taught Nellie to drive, found the man’s body and is accused of killing him.

With the help of Nellie’s dog Moonshine, Nell and the sheriff discover a conspiracy dedicated to enslaving Chinese immigrants. Days later, Sammy and Nellie explore the mine entrance and unearth a secret. Mayhem and murder follow all of their explorations. The conspirators capture and torture the sheriff, leaving him for dead. Moonie, Rosy Kipling, Sammy, and Alphonso, a sheepherder from Nellie’s time in the Stanley Basin, help Nellie follow the complex trails and motives in this western landscape lurking with greed and evil.

Available on Amazon.