We recently connected with Christina Hamlett and have shared our conversation below.
Christina, so good to have you with us today. We’ve always been impressed with folks who have a very clear sense of purpose and so maybe we can jump right in and talk about how you found your purpose?
I knew from a very early age that I was a natural born storyteller. Whether it was writing plays for my puppets and marionettes (and supplying all of the voices!) or keeping idea books for future novels and short stories, I always derived satisfaction from hooking listeners and readers from the very first line, throwing in lots of twists and turns and keeping them guessing until the very end. My dream was always to be either an actress or a writer and I have been fortunate in a very long career to be able to do both. What fueled all of this was my love of reading and the power of imagination and story to transport us to other times, other worlds and countless possibilities. I was also blessed to have teachers and mentors who recognized my passion for the craft and always encouraged me.
Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?
While theatre and playwriting will always be at the forefront of my publishing passions, I recently launched a new cozy mystery series set in the UK and am having great fun with it. The first five books are already on the market and, even as we speak, I am working on the sixth. What I love about it is the blend of mystery, humor and romance and a cadre of characters I don’t want to let go of for the foreseeable future.
This, in turn, prompted me to start teaching an online cozy mystery writing class through Wow! Women on Writing. I have happily been teaching screenwriting and playwriting classes through them for a number of years and was surprised to discover no one as yet had put together a curriculum for aspiring authors who love the cozy genre. The best part of this endeavor for me is to discover so much fantastic talent out there and to show my students the ropes on how to launch their own standalones or cozy mystery series.
Meanwhile, I have no shortage of new projects for my British play publisher, Silver Birchington. Whether it’s monologues, duologues, one-acts or full-length works, they are tremendous to work with and I feel very proud to be part of the team. Apparently this relationship has so enhanced my skills in “Brit-Speak” that most people now assume I was born there.
There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?
I attribute all of my success as a playwright to the fact I spent 16 years onstage as an actress, director and manager of my own touring theatre company. This taught me the rudiments of character development, snappy dialogue, pacing and set design. If anyone has aspirations of writing works for the stage, I absolutely encourage them to get involved with a local theatre company as either a performer or a stage hand and soak up everything that is necessary to understand how live productions actually work.
A sense of humor is critical for any avenue you pursue professionally. Unfortunately, I think one is either born with it or not. Any artistic pursuit is going to garner boatloads of rejection and a positive mindset needs to be embraced that it is only a particular WORK which is being rejected and not YOU as a human being. Even during times when I felt I had hit the depths of despair, I was always able to find something amusing about the situation and bounce back rather quickly. In my personal life, I have also found writing to be a very cathartic endeavor. Whenever someone has disappointed me, broken my heart or turned out to be a certifiable twit, nothing has ever stopped me from mirthfully turning them into a chalk outline on the floor in one of my novels.
I excel at doing research and, alas, this is something too many newbie wordsmiths tend to gloss over. Readers who love a particular period of time, geography or culture will be quick to pounce if they discover a writer wasn’t a judicious fact checker. All it takes is for them to find one teensy mistake and they will immediately start to question everything else you have written.
All the wisdom you’ve shared today is sincerely appreciated. Before we go, can you tell us about the main challenge you are currently facing?
On Easter Sunday of this year, I endured the most devastating loss of my life–the death of my beloved husband. Not only was he my best friend and confidante for 25+ years but he was also my legal counsel, my IT guy, my brainstorming partner and an amazing editor and proofreader. With my plays, I would print out copies of the latest script and, over adult beverages at the dining room table, we would read the roles out loud. (On many a summer’s night with the windows opened, I’m sure the neighbors thought at least 17 other people were living with us!) Writing is already a solitary task and I was so starkly reminded of this the first week he was gone and I had chapters of the cozy series I wanted him to read and talk about. Several female friends of mine had become widows and one in particular I dreaded emulating on this new journey–the letting oneself go, the never leaving the house, the sitting on the kitchen floor getting drunk and eating cookies. I reminded myself that the person my husband fell in love with all those years ago was strong, dynamic, creative and had never let anything hold her back. And so that was who I resolved to be. Although I still leave new chapters and scripts by his place at the dining room table every night (along with a pen in case he is given the celestial powers to edit), I continue to take on new projects, to make new friends, to hone my skills and to be the person he always believed in. He would not have wanted me to quit, to fold, to stop being interesting for the rest of my own life. And I never will, It is a challenge for sure but it is, in my mind, the best way to honor his memory.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.authorhamlett.com
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/christina.hamlett.1/
