Guest blogger Gigi Morrissett Pandian’s work-in-progress ARTIFACT was awarded a Malice Domestic Grant for unpublished traditional mystery writers in May.

Diana asked me to write this guest post on the Cozy Chicks blog to share my experiences as an aspiring mystery author who is part of the way down the path to publication.

I wrote my first mystery novel during college. Boy was it awful. Part of me knew it even at the time, because the result was that I began taking writing classes. I wanted to write because I felt compelled to tell stories like the ones I love to read, but with my own take, and found it more and more satisfying the better at it I became.

I ditched that novel as a learning experience and moved on to another one that I worked on for a while (a ghost story this time). Something was nagging at me, though. Two of my characters from that first book from college wouldn’t let me go. I had to tell their stories. I did some outlining and played with some ideas, then wrote my first full draft of this new mystery novel a few years ago for National Novel Writing Month (www.nanowrimo.org).

There’s something very freeing about forcing yourself to let go of your inner editor and just WRITE. I drank way too much coffee but ended up with a whole novel on my hands after that marathon writing month. It was so satisfying that it was hard not to think of the manuscript as *done.* Realistically, though, I knew that although it was now a book-length work, it was time to start editing.

I’m fortunate to have thoughtful critique readers to share my drafts with. By “thoughtful” I don’t mean they say nice things to me when they think I want to hear it. They tell me tough things that I need to hear. And that’s what every writer needs.

I poured my soul into a revision. This time, I felt I had something. But I again forced myself to step back from my manuscript. Giving myself that distance let me see that it wasn’t there yet (can you tell the theme of this posting is *patience*?). The more revisions I make, the easier it gets, but I’ve learned not to rush the process while I’m learning how to do it. What I did feel ready for was sending it out into the world to an in-progress writing competition. I sent it off to one place, to the one organization that works to support the traditional mystery genre that I love: Malice Domestic (www.malicedomestic.org). It was the right thing to do.

I’ve gone on long enough for today, but I’ll be writing one more post here to talk about what has happened along my path towards publication since receiving the Malice Domestic Grant earlier this year. In the meantime, please feel free to say hello and/or share your own writing experiences. Anyone else participated in NaNoWriMo?

ARTIFACT is a lighthearted romantic-suspence caper. A Scottish Legend may hold the key to a lost Indian treasure… From San Francisco to London to the highlands of Scotland, Indian-American historian Jaya Jones is on a quest to find the truth behind the supposed “accident” that killed her ex-lover on the same day he sent her a mysterious package containing an apocryphal Indian artifact. With the dual mysteries of past an present to solve, Jaya has enough to keep her occupied even without the attentions of to men, one of whom may be the love of her life, the other of whom may be a killer.

Gigi is a graphic designer by day, and can be found at www.g2graphicdesign.com/about.