Interview with Lois Winston: Things I’ve Always Wanted to Know.
Welcome to Interview Alley, the place I post my blog interviews. Lois Winston has been around the publishing world for a while. She’s a USA Today Bestselling author as well as my critique partner. She’s given many an interview on her award-winning series. Today, I’d like to try something different and ask the questions I’ve always wanted to know. Please welcome Lois Winston. ~ Donnell
Donnell: Lois, congratulations on the 13th full-length book in your Anastasia Pollack Amateur Sleuth Mystery Series. What a huge accomplishment! Take us back to when this series was just a gleam in your writerly eye—when your agent presented the idea of intertwining your graphic artist/craft education into a cozy series. Talk about write what you know! Could you ever have planned a series more suited to your talents or interests?
Author Lois Winston
Lois: Thanks, Donnell! You get some of the credit for being such a great critique partner and friend. Truthfully, I’d never thought about writing a mystery. As you know, at the time, I was writing chick lit, romance, and romantic suspense. However, when my agent called to say an editor had requested a crafting-themed cozy mystery series, how could I say no? In my day job I designed crafts and needlework for kit manufacturers, craft book publishers, and crafts and women’s magazines. What could be a more perfect match?
Donnell: You began Anastasia’s journey in traditional publishing. Later, something occurred that convinced you to become an independent author. Weren’t you a literary agent during that time? You had in-depth knowledge of traditional publishing. But Indy was just coming into existence. Would you say going Indy was a no-brainer or a leap of faith?
Lois: Yes, after my first book sold, I was invited to join the agency. I started out searching for gems in the slush pile and eventually worked my way up to having clients of my own. I was juggling three careers—author, designer, and literary agent—for twelve years until my agent passed away and her husband, who had founded the agency in 1969, decided to close it.
I had had a 3-book contract for the Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mysteries. After I turned in the last book, I was offered a contract for more, as well one for a second series. However, the publisher wanted to renegotiate terms that had been agreed upon in the earlier contract. My agent saw red flags in some of the revised clauses. When the publisher refused to budge, my agent suggested I walk away. We had several offers from smaller presses to pick up the series, but none felt right. Indie publishing was beginning to take off. My agent suggested I consider going indie. If things didn’t work out, I could always go back to the world of traditional publishing. I took a huge leap of faith, but it’s one I don’t regret, and I’ve never looked back.
Donnell: In the series, Anastasia discovers that her husband of many years is a compulsive gambler. When he dies in a Las Vegas casino, he not only saddles her with, as you put it in your books, a small country-sized debt, he leaves her in trouble with the mob! You live(d) in New Jersey. Was this a plot point that occurred to you instantly or why choose this conflict for your protagonist?
Lois: It was a no-brainer. I grew up going to school with Mafia princes and princesses. In addition, my grandfather was captain of a major metropolitan police force and was responsible for apprehending many gangsters throughout his long career. As a kid, I often eavesdropped on adult conversations that I shouldn’t have been privy to and learned things I shouldn’t have known at such a young age. At least back then, it was hard to grow up in NJ and not have in-depth knowledge of the mob. Everyone knew a guy who knew a guy.
Donnell: Anastasia has two sons who grow up in the series. Lois Winston has two sons. How much are Alex and Nick like your two grown boys?
Lois: My sons think that they’re Nick and Alex, but Nick and Alex get along much better than my sons ever did at that age.
Donnell: Your protagonist’s name is Anastasia Pollack. Anastasia, I believe, is Russian. Anastasia’s mother-in-law is a card-carrying member of the Communist party. The name Pollack is German, Polish, Slovenian, Croatian . . .. (I looked it up). Why did you choose such an unusual name for your protagonist. (And I will say, it’s memorable.)
Lois: One of the interpersonal conflicts in my series is between Anastasia’s mother and her mother-in-law. Her mother claims descent from Russian nobility and is also the social secretary of the Daughters of the American Revolution. Her mother-in-law is the leader of the Daughters of the October Revolution. (If you’re not up on your Russian history, that’s when the Czar and his family were murdered by the communists.)
I wanted my protagonist to have a name that got under her mother-in-law’s skin. What better name than Anastasia, which was the name of the youngest daughter of the Czar and who was once thought to have survived the family’s execution? I also decided to add insult to injury by having Anastasia give her sons the names of two Russian Czars.
As for Pollack, it just popped into my head when I was mulling possible last names. It may have been because it was the last name of one of my son’s teachers, but I liked the way Anastasia and Pollack worked together.
Donnell: Anastasia meets a love interest in the series. I’m a huge fan of photojournalist Zachary Barnes. The two meet when Zack leases the apartment over Anastasia’s garage. Again, this thread ties in nicely to helping Anastasia get out of debt. Anastasia, however, suspects Zack is hiding something. Could you tell readers what she suspects? Did this plot point come instantly during his character creation or was this something that came to you when writing?
Lois: Anastasia suspects that the photojournalism is really cover for Zack’s work as a government operative for one of the alphabet agencies. Of course he denies this, but as Anastasia says, “Don’t all spies deny that they’re spies?”
The idea came to me shortly after Zack rents the apartment. Anastasia returns home from work one day to find Zack regaling her sons with a story of his harrowing escape while on an assignment to photograph indigenous tribes living in the jungles of Guatemala. Since Anastasia is basically an extension of her creator, and I’m suspicious by nature…well, you can see how she’d naturally jump to this conclusion.
Donnell: Anastasia works as a crafts editor for American Woman magazine. Just as Anastasia’s character has evolved, so has American Woman. In Sorry Knot Sorry the company goes through another transition which ties in perfectly to the crafts themes of your books. Could you tell readers about the company’s latest transition?
Lois: Prior to the series opening, the independent publishing company that owned the magazine was acquired by a conglomerate in a hostile takeover. Ever since, the former owner has been working to wrest back control of his company. At the beginning of Sorry, Knot Sorry, Anastasia and the other staff learn he’s finally succeeded and has partnered with an independent craft book publisher.
Donnell: You’ve created so many quirky, memorable characters and you are constantly adding more. I’m going to put you on the spot. Besides Anastasia and Zack, of course, do you have a favorite?
Lois: That would have to be Ralph, Anastasia’s Shakespeare-quoting African Grey parrot. She inherited him from her great-aunt Penelope Periwinkle, a Shakespearean scholar and professor. Ralph spent most of his life accompanying her to her lectures, resulting in his uncanny ability to squawk situational-appropriate quotes from the Bard of Avon.
Donnell: Thanks for being my guest, Lois. I have so much fun reading and brainstorming with you. After all these years you still surprise me with your ingenuity.
Lois: Thanks for inviting me, Donnell. You’re making me blush!
~*~
About the Book: Sorry, Knot Sorry: An Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mystery, Book 13
Magazine crafts editor Anastasia Pollack may finally be able to pay off the remaining debt she found herself saddled with when her duplicitous first husband dropped dead in a Las Vegas casino. But as Anastasia has discovered, nothing in her life is ever straightforward. Strings are always attached. Thanks to the success of an unauthorized true crime podcast, a television production company wants to option her life—warts and all—as a reluctant amateur sleuth.
Is such exposure worth a clean financial slate? Anastasia isn’t sure, but at the same time, rumors are flying about layoffs at the office. Whether she wants national exposure or not, Anastasia may be forced to sign on the dotted line to keep from standing in the unemployment line. But the dead bodies keep coming, and they’re not in the script.
Craft tips included.
About the Author: USA Today and Amazon bestselling and award-winning author Lois Winston writes mystery, romance, romantic suspense, chick lit, women’s fiction, children’s chapter books, and nonfiction. Kirkus Reviews dubbed her critically acclaimed Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mystery series, “North Jersey’s more mature answer to Stephanie Plum.” In addition, Lois is a former literary agent and an award-winning craft and needlework designer who often draws much of her source material for both her characters and plots from her experiences in the crafts industry. Learn more about Lois and her books at her website where can also sign up for her newsletter and find links to her other social media: www.loiswinston.com
Buy Link: (preorder now, available June 4th)
Amazon https://amzn.to/4a8JyVJ
Kobo https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/sorry-knot-sorry
Nook https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/sorry-knot-sorry-lois-winston/1145047275?ean=2940186076698
Apple Books https://books.apple.com/us/book/sorry-knot-sorry/id6479363569
Donnell, always a pleasure chatting with you! Thanks for hosting me today.
My pleasure, Lois, and I appreciate you filling in those blanks I’ve always wondered about (but we start talking about something else and I forget to ask!)
I love the hidden twist behind Anastasia’s name!
Me too, Brooke. I never realized Lois was that deep 🙂
Thanks, Brooke!
I loved eavesdropping in on this conversation between two of my favorite writer/colleagues. Lots of fun!
Thank you, Gay, back at you!
We love you, too, Gay! Thanks for stopping by.
Lois posted on a SinC board that this interview stands out because of the unique questions you ask, Donnell. I say she was absolutely right! Well done, you two. Well done.
Thank you, Pamela! Silly me, I started out with basic questions and then wadded up the proverbial paper and scored a three-pointer 😉
Thanks, Pam. She came up with some good ones, didn’t she?
Lois, I have been missing out. You were already on my to-be-read list. Now I’m even more anxious to jump into the series! Great interview, Donnell.
Thank you so much, Catherine! I hope you’ll enjoy getting to know Anastasia.