Tace Baker

Authorsday

Edith Maxwell, aka Tace Baker

Thanks so much for having me over, Chris!

1. When did you know you wanted to be a writer?

I started writing fiction as soon as I could write. I remember writing a little book in first grade, and by third grade my mother told me, “Edie, you’re a good writer.” That one little comment has stuck with me my entire life. (My sweet mother passed away in April and did not get to see this book in print, but I thanked her several times before that for encouraging me to keep writing.)

2. How did you pick the genre you write in?

I love reading mysteries. Many years ago, my now ex-husband said, “You like to read mysteries so much. Why don’t you write one?” Well, duh! So I did. Thanks, John.

3. What was the name of the first novel you wrote?

Did you try to publish it? SPEAKING OF MURDER is the first novel I finished! And it came out last week.

4. What was the best writing advice someone gave you?

The classic, “Butt in the chair, fingers on the keyboard.” It totally works. Sometimes I’ll sit there with no idea of what happens next in the story. I’ll start typing, I DON’T KNOW WHAT TO WRITE. And then, WELL, I DID WANT TO WRITE THAT SCENE WHERE… and off I go, only to surface hours later. Works every time.

5. Tell me one thing about yourself that very few people know?

I earned a black belt in karate at age 31.

6. What place that you haven’t visited would you like to go?

Although I have lived in far-flung places like Brazil, Japan, and West Africa, I still haven’t made it to Australia, China, India, Tahiti, or even Germany. With any luck I have a few decades left in my life to get there.

7. What do you do when you are not writing?

Oh, so much. I work full time writing software manuals. I tend an organic vegetable garden. I love cooking. I read. I go for a long brisk walk every day or hit the elliptical strider at the gym and then lift weights. Sometimes I even sleep.

8. What is the one thing your hero would do that you wouldn’t?

Sigh. She’s a runner. My knees just don’t run anymore, but they used to, and I loved the feeling of a long Sunday run when all body parts were working smoothly together.

9. Where do you write?

Mostly I write at my beautiful desk in my home office, but I have been productive on cross-country plane flights and in coffee shops.

What was your favorite scene to write?

The long suspense scene where Lauren puts herself in danger to rescue someone else. Can’t say more than that!

----------------
Author Bio

Edith Maxwell is the author of SPEAKING OF MURDER (Barking Rain Press, under pseudonym Tace Baker) featuring Quaker linguistics professor Lauren Rousseau. Edith holds a PhD in linguistics and is a member of Amesbury Monthly Meeting of Friends.

Edith also writes the Local Foods Mysteries. A TINE TO LIVE, A TINE TO DIE introduces organic farmer Cam Flaherty and a colorful Locavore Club (Kensington Publishing, June, 2013).

A mother and technical writer, Edith lives north of Boston with her beau and three cats.

Find her at http://www.facebook.com/EdithMaxwellAuthor, @edithmaxwell, and www.edithmaxwell.com. Tace Baker can be found at www.tacebaker.com, @tacebaker, and http://www.facebook.com/TaceBaker

---------------
Book Blurb:

The murder of a talented student at a Massachusetts college thrusts linguistics professor Lauren Rousseau into the search for the killer. Lauren is a Quaker with an ear for accents. Her investigation exposes small-town intrigues, academic blackmail, and a drug cartel that now has its sights set on her.

Convinced that the key to the crime lies hidden in her dead student’s thesis, Lauren races to solve the mystery. Her department chair behaves suspiciously. A century-old boat shop is torched. Lauren’s friend goes missing – and the unsettled relationship with her lover threatens to implode just when she needs him most.