Advice From Sue Grafton

by Kathleen Ernst

Sue Grafton, author of the Kinsey Millhone series, was the Lifetime Achievement honoree at Malice Domestic this year. You may know it as “the Alphabet Series.” Sue published A Is For Alibi in 1982; her latest is U Is For Undertow. All told, she’s officially sold a bazillion books.

I had never heard Ms. Grafton speak before, and she didn’t disappoint. She managed to convey both humility and pride in her accomplishments; she expressed opinions, but often with a touch of self-deprecating humor.

One of her comments struck me in particular. “You have to be willing to fail,” she said. “You have to work right on the edge of your talent.”

I’ve been thinking about that. Am I willing to fail? Yes, been there, done that. Many times, actually. I have sixteen books in print. I also wrote ten or twelve that were never published, prior to getting my first book contract. Those will never see the light of day, but I have several newer manuscripts I love that have not sold.

Am I working at the edge of my talent? A trickier question.

I am willing to try new things. Does that count? Old World Murder, the first book in my Chloe Ellefson series, is told entirely in alternating 3rd person point of view, in 1982. In the second book, The Heirloom Murders, I experimented with two timelines. Most action still takes place in 1982, but that’s interwoven with a thread from 1876. (The book won’t be published until September, but content reviewers have given it a thumbs-up.)

And I’m not complacent. I know that learning to write good books is a perpetual journey. I don’t take anything for granted, and look for opportunities to learn and grow.

So I’m not sure about the whole “working at the edge of my talent” thing. But I like the concept. I’m going to keep it in mind—an ongoing challenge to do everything I can to make each book stronger than the last.