Check Out Christina Hamlett’s Story

Today we’d like to introduce you to Christina Hamlett.

Hi Christina, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
Can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.

Since the bulk of my writing credits are in theatre (284 published plays and 54 books to date), most people assume I not only started acting at a young age but that I also likely majored in Dramatic Arts at university. Far from the truth! Although creative writing has been a part of my life for as long as I can remember, it wasn’t until my first job as a movie and play critic for a weekly newspaper that the doors finally opened to perform onstage. Specifically, the heroine in the local melodrama company forgot there was a rehearsal on the very Sunday I went to do some publicity for the troupe’s upcoming production. I was casually handed a script just so the actors had someone to bounce their lines off of and, instead, seized the chance to show them a side of my personality which had never been tested. To my surprise, I was signed on the spot to join the company and, subsequently, spent the next 16 years honing my craft as an actress, director and manager of my own touring theatre group.

Playwriting and publishing evolved naturally from this experience, though I am the first to admit that my early years of the latter were a lot of trial-and-error in figuring out how to write roles actors would love playing and develop commercially viable and entertaining plots audiences would enjoy seeing. I discovered much of what I was learning in this process had application to other forms of writing such as novels (including cozy mysteries and romantic suspense), nonfiction, articles, distance learning curriculum, and guest blogs.

If I had majored in Drama, such diversification would probably not have happened. Instead, my degree is in Communications with an emphasis on Audience Analysis and Message Design. Translated: If you know who your target audience is and what you want them to do (i.e., open their hearts, minds, imaginations or wallets), you can tailor absolutely any message to achieve a successful outcome.

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
What influences have challenged or changed your writing style with the passage of years?

Rejection letters clearly left the strongest impression on what I needed to learn and change! To date, for instance, my first attempt at penning a novel has never been sold. If it had, I’d be forced to run around town and buy up every single copy for a bonfire. Like a lot of new authors, my first drekky tome was a passion project (drawn from personal experience) which I believed was really, really important (really!) and would wildly resonate with every single editor and reader who got their paws on it. Not! Crushed as I was that my query letters suggested I didn’t quite know what I was doing, I was determined to keep learning and break whatever secret code would open the doors I wanted to access. Happily, my wordsmithing today has gone leagues beyond what I was composing even as recently a decade ago.

In concert with this is the influence that life’s tragedies have exacted from my energy and mindset. On occasion, it might have been easy to wallow in dark, inconsolable despair and start composing the likes of melancholy poetry which teenage girls write in the throes of believing they will never, ever find true love. Ironically, I’ve written some of my best and most successful comedies following devastating break-ups and career setbacks, which I suppose makes me a bit of a quirky outlier in the grief department.

That said, my most shattering loss was the recent death of my husband. Though I’d be well entitled to embrace society’s every expectation of widowhood (i.e., wearing black like Queen Victoria, never leaving the house, letting myself go), I was blessed with a husband who told me the best way to honor what we had was to go forth, be prolific, and keep doing the very things which attracted him in the first place. Within the first year, I not only published the cookbook he had been unable to finish himself (THE OPEN DOOR GOURMET) but also a humorous book to help other widows navigate their new solo journey (EVERYTHING I KNOW ABOUT WIDOWHOOD I LEARNED FROM JESSICA FLETCHER).

From these endeavors was further born a new kind of “mature” heroine for my recent segue into women’s fiction. In both WINTER HEARTS and my upcoming release, SECOND BLOOM, Ellie Lipton and Lucy Fischer are, respectively, older women cautiously exploring how to manage a third act without a spouse as well as how to re-enter a dating pool very different from the one they last remembered. Is Art imitating Life or is Life imitating Art as my fictional characters’ lives quietly mirror my own current wishes and expectations in taking both a leap of faith and a chance on an unexpected new relationship?

Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
You always have so much going on! Dare we ask if there are even more projects in the works?

Along with my UK cozy mystery series (I am now up to Book #8) and some new dramas for my British publisher, Silver Birchington, I’m in the midst of exploring a lively collaboration with a new playwright who is bringing an intriguing male perspective to the mix. Although I’ve always prided myself on being able to authentically capture a broad range of “voices” in my projects, who better than a professional voice artist and seasoned composer/lyricist to bring a fresh viewpoint, cadence and sense of humor to the table (i.e., “Seriously, Christina? A manly man wouldn’t really say a line like this”). I expect my education and mental margins could expand significantly over the course of this partnership. Plus the fact he cracks me up.

Do you have recommendations for books, apps, blogs, etc?
Are there any apps, books, podcasts, blogs or other resources that help you do your best in life (at work or otherwise)?

Research is some of the most fun I have on any type of endeavor and I have several which I use regularly. Among them:

NameGenHub.com. Way, way back in the day, I’d go through a phonebook to suss out names for the characters who peopled my plots. Nowadays, I use this fun website to generate a plethora of original monikers for any need you can imagine including Wolf Pack Characters, Chinese Immortal Queens, French Canadian Kittens and 1970s Rock Stars like Raine Riot and Kit Kinetic.

HistoryOnAWhim.com. This site is like having a librarian available 24/7 to direct you to the best resources and articles for fleshing out life in the past lane. I do have to warn you, though, it is very addictive!

The HowdunitSeries. These books were published by Writer’s Digest some years ago but are the ones I always reach for when I’m orchestrating crimes in my cozy mystery series. These cover topics such as poisons, weapons, missing persons and crimes of deception. For fun, I used to leave them laying about on the living room coffee table until my husband pointed out that they were quite possibly frightening off our dinner guests.

NoSweatShakespeare.com/quotes/literature/oscar-wilde-quotes. In my daily life, I love finding inspiration in the words of great writers who have come before. My favorite is the timeless wit and wisdom of Oscar Wilde. This morning’s mantra: “Never love anyone who treats you like you’re ordinary.”

Bio: Former actress and theatre director Christina Hamlett is the published author of 54 books, 284 stage plays and squillons of articles. Learn more about her work at www.authorhamlett.com or drop her an email at authorhamlett@cs.com.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://authorhamlett.com
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/christina.hamlett.1/