In Diana Lesire Brandmeyer’s newest novel, Mind of Her Own, an unfortunate kitchen accident transforms mid-western, mother of three Louisa Copeland into Jazz Sweet – a famous mystery novelist – much to the confusion and consternation of her family.
Q. What were your goals writing Mind of Her Own?
I wrote Mind of Her Own many times. Every time I took a writing class, I used what I learned on that manuscript. I wanted it to be the best writing I could do. The end result I hoped for was to have Mind of Her Own read by readers and that they would enjoy it.
Q. What can you tell us about the protagonist in your novel?
Poor thing, she doesn’t know who she is! Is she a wife and mom of three or a best-selling romance author? Jazz was fun to write because she could get away with everything that her real personality—Louisa could not.
Q. What do you want the reader to take away after reading Mind of Her Own?
Secrets aren’t good—keeping them bottled up inside of you will cause problems. You have to talk to someone who can help you and never give up until you find that person.
Q. What first made you take the leap from “reader” to “author”?
My friend writes devotions for children and I kept giving her ideas. She suggested I try writing for the same publishing house. I did and they bought them. I was hooked, but I knew devotions weren’t enough for me. I wanted to write books.
Q. Many authors have all kinds of ideas for stories jockeying for their attention — how do you choose which story to write?
I’d always heard that authors have so many ideas they don’t know what to write first. That didn’t happen to me and I felt like something was wrong or perhaps God was only going to let me have one idea. Looking back I think the later was true. When I began writing I only had time to pursue one idea at a time. Now, I have five proposals, four have been sent to publishing houses and I am working on another one now. It’s hard to balance and once this next proposal is finished I have to pick which of those five to write. I feel more of a pull to write one of the five so that’s probably what I will pick. Unless, of course, I get a call from my agent that she has sold one. It’s amazing how excited you get about writing a book when you get that call.