"I am born." "I had a farm in Africa" "I have never begun a novel with more misgiving."

Back in the day, novels written in the first person got some respect. When did that change?



I don't know if it's a mystery thing or a "literary" thing, but it seems that writing in third person (or some other variation or combination) gets all the reviews while first person novels are somehow written off as lightweight, anyone-can-bang-them-out yarns. When I started Pushing up…

Yikes, this is almost as hard as writing the book was. I'm a first time writer, my book Pushing Up Daisies (St Martins 2008) is a funny (as in Carl Hiassen funny, she says modestly) mystery set in the suburbs. It's the first in a series with garden themes.

Gardeners have to be patient so I was well prepared for the publishing process. The writing took about 18 months, the publishing - going on 3 years. Finding an agent was the biggest hurdle. Advice to fledgling writers - don't give…