Martha Powers--Biography

Biography

About Martha

Read an Interview with Martha Powers

Although currently a resident of Vero Beach, Florida, I was born and raised in Cleveland, Ohio. I graduated from Case Western Reserve University with a liberal arts major in history and geography. After graduation, I was lucky enough to travel through Europe with three friends. The most naive and trusting of girls, we managed to have a totally riotous time and get home safely to tell our adventures. On my return I moved to Chicago, Illinois and worked at various advertising agencies.

I found an outlet for my creative energies by writing musical comedy plays for local theater groups. The pay was two tickets down front and instant gratification when the audience laughed at the Jokes. On a dare from my husband, I wrote and submitted several articles to a local newspaper and began a short career as a humor columnist. Along the way, I did various freelance assignments. My favorite was creating a crossword puzzle for a television station's newspaper campaign. When I accepted the job I had never even worked a crossword puzzle. Two weeks later they had their crossword.

More than anything I wanted to write a novel. After spending many lonely nights trying to write a mystery, I discovered that history majors don't know a lot about putting a story together. I joined Chicago-North, a chapter of Romance Writers of America. With the help of the members, I learned how to get my story on paper.

It took me a year to write a manuscript for my first thriller. Once completed, I spent another year trying to find an agent. Increasingly frustrated, I sent a letter to my personal hero, Michael Korda, Editor-in-Chief of Simon & Schuster. Korda asked to see the manuscript. He rejected that book but sent me a ticket to New York and during dinner, bought a proposal for SUNFLOWER, a hardcover suspense thriller published by Simon & Schuster in September, 1998. My second thriller BLEEDING HEART was published in August, 2000.

When we moved to Florida in 2000, I put my writing on hold. Now that our children were grown, my husband and I had time to spend together and enjoy the beauty and attractions of our new home, Vero Beach. It's been a wonderful time in our lives and we've both grown with the opportunity. Eventually, I began to write again and have continued doing editing on a freelance basis.

I do a lot of public speaking. Professional organizations are particularly fascinated to learn about the world of publishing. I love speaking at libraries because so much of my research is done within those hallowed walls. Although I am fascinated by the internet, I belong to the old school that prefers to hold the research books in my hand.

Doing workshops at writer's conferences is my way of paying back the generosity of fellow writers who helped me along the way. I've done workshops for the National RWA and for many of the local and regional conferences. I'm a frequent workshop presenter at Sleuthfest, Chicago Mystery Writers conference and Bouchercon, the national Mystery Writers of America convention and Sisters in Crime.

All in all I've had a wonderfully checkered career as a writer and hope it will continue for many years.

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