Plan interrupted

Dear Agatha,

I wonder what you would think, if you were alive today, about the works of JK Rowling and her world of Harry Potter.  She is the dame of British writing today, at least I think so, and at this moment I can't recall another single contemporary British writer at all off the top of my head.  I know that the world of wizardry isn't your genre, but I suspect you were quite well read in all genres and I'm sure you would have at least read these.

Well, Christianne bought me a book written by Rowling under her pseudonym, Robert Galbraith.  It is very, very different from the Harry Potter series!  Although I didn't feel like I was reading children's literature per se when I read the Potter books, this book is definitely more grown up.  It has lots of F-words.  And - the genre is also far different from the others: a crime drama.

So naturally I can't help comparing her work to yours.  And naturally she falls short.  But there are similarities that I wonder if extend even beyond the two of you.  Will I always need a dictionary by my side when reading British writers? 

She crafted the novel well enough.  I certainly did not guess the ending.  I enjoyed her characters and her writing style and finished the book definitely wanting more, considering a reread of this one before moving on to the sequel. 

A few days ago a post from my old (not old, but you know what I mean) English professor showed up on my Facebook feed referencing an upcoming writer's conference.  I haven't written in so long.  I used to be part of that world, or at least part of the atmosphere of would-be published writers who desired to support their family with their art.  But life.  Life happens and there is a husband, a very supportive husband who still would love for me to write, but there's also babies to raise and bills to pay and obligations to meet and dreams to put on hold.  And so, except for an occasionally lengthy Facebook post and irregular submissions to my blog, I stopped writing.

But what's funny, to me at least, is that the day after I saw that post from Professor Haake, I picked up Galbraith's The Cuckoo's Calling to finish it, and I felt this desire rekindle inside of me to write.  I'm sure the message from Haake put something into my subconscious perhaps, but Galbraith's style of writing reminded me of mine - not that I could ever write that well, mind you - but, except for her perhaps-excessive descriptioning, I resonated with her tone and the flow of her words.

Every time I finish one of your works I think to myself: I could never write a detective novel.  There are just too many pieces to figure out.  Nor do I really have any desire to, honestly.  But the novel by Galbraith made a sort of bridge in my mind ~ that a detective novel at least *could* be written the way that I write... if I could fit all the pieces together anyway.

Are you following me?  It makes sense in *my* head. 

Next up is Poirot Investigates.  Here we go.

With admiration,
Beth