Gayle Lynds: How does a multi award-winning Hollywood screenwriter become a multi-award winning novelist? Read on for the inside story of how Jule Selbo moved to Portland, Maine, and reinvigorated her creative heart.

By Jule Selbo

8 DAYS, the third book in my Dee Rommel Mystery Series, has been launched and it has deepened my appreciation of my new home state (Maine). I’d been working as a screenwriter in California for twenty years, working on assignment for studios and production companies (film, tv and animation) and accepting the paychecks that sweetened the months I spent writing what other people wanted. 

The good thing about ‘being on assignment’ is it can be ‘fun’ (if it’s the right people and I did get lucky, a lot). The mortgage gets paid, the kid gets to go to a great school, and you have a nice car to sit in while navigating the USA’s worst traffic. The bad thing about being on assignment in Hollywood is you’re exploring other people’s visions. 

Of course, it was a great job. I loved it. But, after many years, I realized I’d only written six “spec” scripts (on speculation, meaning I wasn’t getting paid, I owned them, they were mine – my characters, my themes, and points of view). One – Big Sky Romance was my calling card and this rom-com earned me lots of paying assignments. Another – a western – was optioned by a big star, and then studio heads changed, and it was shelved. Another – an action adventure – was bought but never made. Disney took on my fantasy spec script and it got to storyboard phase. Clearly, I could float well in various genres and assignments kept coming. But where was “my soul” as a writer? I knew I had to write the novel I’d always promised myself to write.

Moving to Maine gave me the opportunity. I closed the Hollywood door for a bit to concentrate on the story genre I’d loved as a kid – my go-to reading choice. 

Crime Mystery.

I knew I wanted to dig into a young woman’s life – one who was intent on helping people get justice. I wanted to explore her goals and test her physically, professionally, and emotionally. 

Dee Rommel grew while I was writing at my favorite Portland coffee shop (I’m there every morning at 5 AM). Dee doesn’t exist as an amalgam of different studio executives’ or producers’ whims. She’s mine. She is a policewoman who sustained a significant and permanent injury while on the job and now needs to rebuild her life and career. 

10 DAYS, the first book, came out two years after I moved to Maine – and I am grateful for the awards it received. 9 DAYS was a 2022 baby and got its share of hoopla. Now 8 DAYS ‘drops’ in December 2023. I’ve created a ten-book arc for Dee’s character, (I will get to 1 DAY), but each is a stand-alone mystery.

I know my Los Angeles experience prepared me to create and write Dee’s stories – in regards to pacing, conflict and ‘cinematically’ bringing Maine to life – but it was the actual distance from one former life to the “new” – without that, Dee would never have existed. 

Dear Rogue Readers, have you ever changed your creative life into a new one? Or thought about it? 

Read More by Extraordinary Guest Bloggers:

LEE GOLDBERG GOES ROGUE

https://roguewomenwriters.com/s-j-rozan-loves-new-york-and-will-tell-you-why/

JESSICA THOMPSON GOES ROGUE: MAKE YOUR SETTING DO THE WORK