Lois Winston is a strong writer, best known for her Anastasia Pollock Crafting series of cozy mysteries. Early in her career, with Manuscript #2, she acquired an agent, but the roses of her writing journey still had thorns, a lesson to us writers that we control our success. Winston definitely controlled her success. She survived a bankrupt publishing house and the closure of a publisher’s entire cozy mystery line, but it was shenanigans with the contract that brought her into self-publishing. She talks about it all, along with writing tools that can be a distraction, in this episode of The Write Focus. Bestselling and award-winning author Lois Winston writes mystery, romance, romantic suspense, chick lit, middle-grade, and nonfiction. She sold her first book in 2005. Currently she writes the critically acclaimed Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mysteries, featuring magazine crafts editor and reluctant amateur sleuth Anastasia Pollack, along with a supporting cast of characters, including Ralph, the Shakespeare-quoting parrot. Learn more at www.loiswinston.com where you can sign up for her newsletter and receive a free Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mini-Mystery. TIMINGS 00:40 Welcome / Writing Bug Bites 4:15 First Cozy Mystery 6:40 Writing with Humor 12:00 Finding the Direction for the Anastasia Pollock series 15:00 Crime Scene Writer / Researching 17:33 Saving the Work 20:50 Story Collages, Images for Story, and on to Covers 25:00 Dealing with Distractions 29:25 Writing is a Marathon, not a Sprint 35:00 Winston’s Next Release and Audiobooks Releasing 37:25 Closing Total Run Time = 38:25 LINKS Killer Crafts & Crafty Killers blog: www.anastasiapollack.blogspot.com Booklover’s Bench: https://bookloversbench.com The Stiletto Gang: https://www.thestilettogang.com Twitter: https://twitter.com/Anasleuth Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/722763.Lois_Winston Bookbub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/lois-winston TWF Website https://thewritefocus.blogspot.com/2025/05/619-writers-on-writing-lois-winston.html