Michelle Cox – Chicago Cinderella

Michelle Cox’s genre bending series Henrietta and Inspector Howard blends mystery, romance and family saga into a Chicago Cinderella tale of Downton Abbey meets Upstairs Downstairs that her readers adore. Hi there, I’m your host Jenny Wheeler, and today Michelle talks about  her passion for period drama and 1930s Chicago, how working in a nursing home got her started writing, and what she’d do differently if she were starting over again. Six things you’ll learn from this Joys of Binge Reading episode: How a nursing home job led her to writingHer passion for the 30s and 40sTelling Chicago stories that resonateThe period drama website she adoresThe writers she admires mostThe shock of discovering writing as business Where to find Michelle Cox: Website: www.michellecoxauthor.com Facebook: @michellecoxauthor  Twitter: @michellecox33 What follows is a "near as" transcript of our conversation, not word for word but pretty close to it, with links to important mentions. Jenny: But now, here’s Michelle. .  Hello there Michelle and welcome to the show, it’s great to have you with us. Jenny:  Was there a “Once Upon A Time’ moment when you decided you must write fiction or you would have somehow let yourself down, or not completed something you were meant to do?  And if so, what was the catalyst for it? Michelle Cox mystery author Michelle: Well no, not really. I didn't actually see myself writing fiction. I never had the courage to be a writer. I loved reading as a kid - I was always reading, and I think one of the greatest Christmas presents I ever got was a set of the Louisa May Alcott series. I was always trying to do little copy cat or fan fiction stories based on her novels, but they never really went anywhere so I usually did illustrations on them instead. I was a pretty good essayist in high school, so I did still contemplate being a writer versus becoming a doctor. I actually chose to be a pre-med in college, because I thought it was the easier path than being a writer and it seemed less scarier to me. It turns out that was sort of true! At the time I thought, I would go into pre-med. From pre-med to Victorian lit Then I took this Victorian Lit class and I told myself, you can't keep hiding. This is really your passion. So I quickly switched, but still only majored in English Literature and not creative writing. Then I got married after college and had all these weird jobs, and started a family. Writing was on the way out until my oldest son, 16, was diagnosed with ADHD. I had been volunteering in all these committees and groups, and I just went cold turkey and quit everything. I just devoted all this time to this kid. It didn't take too long for him to get on a path, and then suddenly I had all this time. I could either get a job, go back to volunteering, or maybe I could write that novel that I really always wanted to write. Suddenly, I gave myself the permission and the courage after 20 years to really do this. But it wasn't really to be published; it was just to see if I could sit down and write a novel. It was a strange way that it all happened, but here we are! A serious-minded little girl Jenny: I noticed you said that you did Victorian Lit - were you always attracted to historical fiction? Michelle: Yes. You know, when I was a kid I was probably the weirdest kid because I had this thing in my head where I always wanted to read the Newbery...