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A WRITER IN OUR MIDST
27
A murder mystery... overtones of
witchcraft... a Seattle setting... all these
are elements of a new book called The
Death Beads. The author? Bette Hagman,
wife of Joe Hagman, partner in charge
of our Seattle office.
How did it all come about? Bette
explains: "I started writing at that time in
life when men begin dreaming about
chasing younger women and women are
chasing their dreams. I'd already
managed to dispose of the child into
college, golf which I discovered I didn't
like and bridge which didn't like me.
When I turned to art, a fellow student
probably saved the world from some
very bad painting by talking me into
enrolling with her in a writing class. It
was love at first write!
"For seven years I wrote. At first the
usual homey anecdotes most writers start
with...no research...no plot...no sale.
But an editor to whom I sent my first
book said he 'liked my style.' By that time
I was hooked. The catch was that he also
added that I needed to learn to plot. So I
picked the hardest-to-plot story I could
find, the murder mystery.
"The first mystery was masterfully
plotted (I have an editor's letter to that
effect), but it never sold. The second
completely missed the boat (it was a
boating mystery). By that time I was
mad, and I fired off the beginning and a
hasty synopsis of the next book to make
sure I hadn't missed on this. I hadn't! My
agent sold The Death Beads on the
strength of those six chapters and
synopsis!'
Published by Dell last summer, the
book is set in a mythical town in the
Cascade Mountains. It's a semi-Gothic
tale, with the plot revolving around a
string of carved beads.
"After I signed the contract for Death
Beads I got cold feet. But my teacher said
there's nothing like money in the bank
you haven't earned yet to keep you
writing. She was right. I had a year to
finish, but I sent the first draft off in four
months expecting the publishers to ask
for revisions. They didn't make a single
change.
"Since Death Beads I've done another
book with a Seattle setting, and I have
six chapters of a third book with my
agent.
"I usually write about six hours a day,
and I have to discipline myself or I
would never get the books finished.
I've discovered writing is a trade which
I've had to learn; being an English major
in college didn't help much. Since I
enrolled in that first adult education
class, I've worked up from Beginning
Writing to the Professional Workshop
class, a group of professional writers who
meet once a week to criticize and, what
is more important, give moral support.
It is also a social outlet, since writing is
a lonely business."
Bette says her family always accepted
the fact that she would find a market
some day. She adds, "Occasionally
friends wonder why I don't quit now and
move on to something else. They don't
realize that writing is not a job; it is a
disease—and I've got it bad.
"People ask 'What drives you so hard?'
Simple. I love writing. It's just the
rewriting, revisions, retyping ad
nauseam that I loathe. But it all proved
worthwhile with that first letter that said
the book had been sold, that someone
had enough faith in me to put his money
on a newcomer who had never been
published and hadn't even written the
book yet!"