Lauren's Crammed Bookshelf: Lisa Bouchard

Today I'm happy to welcome Lisa Bouchard, author of the newly released The Shattered Door, to Lauren's Crammed Bookshelf! Today's she's here to talk about how the book came to be, and be sure to check out the awesome giveaway at the end of the post!

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What Was I Thinking? Or How I Wrote The Shattered Door

Deep back in the mists of time, I decided it would be fun to write a novel. I read a lot, how tough could it be, my naïve younger self thought.

I joined National Novel Writing Month and wrote a novel. By the end of November, I had a finished novel. How cool was that?

But then I re-read it in January and wow, was it terrible. Really terrible, like make your eyes bleed it’s so bad. So bad I didn’t even know where to start editing it, so I didn’t. I reveled in the fact that I wrote a novel, and made plans to write another one.

At this point, I had a 5-year-old, a 3-year-old and a 1-year-old so writing plans were on hold for a while. But when the next November came around, I was at it again. I wrote another triumphantly terrible novel.

But I didn’t mind, because the second novel was a little smoother, the ideas were a little more complicated and it wasn’t quite so tough to get them onto paper. Then again, this might have been the hormones talking, because I was pregnant with my fourth (and last) child.

This goes on for several more years, writing during November and trying to squeeze a little more writing in throughout the year. I really liked writing and wanted to write more, but if you’ve been paying attention, I had four children in seven years. I decided to be good to myself and just do what I could until my youngest turned six, and I would spend those years learning about writing and reading great books.

Fast forward six years (or this will be a very long post) and I start to get serious. I wrote a paranormal mystery – it was bad. I wrote a post-apocalyptic novel – good idea, but needs more work. I rewrote the mystery – getting better, but still not great. I wrote a steampunk novel. I rewrote the mystery a third time. At this point, I really like it, but it’s still not good, so I replot it one more time and that is the novel I’ve just published, The Shattered Door.

Phew! What a trip!

So what did I learn? Persistence. When a story sticks with you, don’t give up on it. You can set it aside, write other books, learn more, but always come back to the stories you love.

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Thanks so much for stopping by, Lisa!

Here's a little more about the book:

When publicist Kathleen Harrison is executed in her suburban home, the obvious suspect is her client and lover George Wynton, a known telepath. Boston attorney Dan Stevens is hired to defend George, but he has no use for telepaths, and so hands the investigative reins to Morrison Investigations.

Novice private investigators Darcy and Olivia Morrison reluctantly agree to help Dan with the case. They recognize how invaluable the experience of working the high-profile case will be, but know it increases the risk of their secret being revealed. Once they accept the challenge, there will be no turning back, no matter how great the stakes.

From Commonwealth Avenue to the Back Bay, The Shattered Door sweeps readers down into an underworld born from fear and bigotry, and up into the lives of Boston's elite class where the real darkness lies.

The Shattered Door is the first case in the Morrison Investigations series.