Sue Ann Jaffarian holds down a full time job and writes more popular mysteries than many full time writers.  With a back list of 25 books ranging from cozy mysteries to paranormal and - more recently - adult romance, Sue Ann is the perfect example of a successful hybrid author.  She explains how she does it - and what she's learned - to her cost - about staying healthy as a top producer.

Six things you'll learn from this Joys of Binge Reading episode:

The "lemons into lemonade" moment that helped Sue Ann decide she didn't want to waste any more time NOT writing

The productivity tips which have seen her produce 25 novels while working fulltime

How she'd adjusted her work habits to protect her health

How she is like her reader's favourite character, Odelia Grey - and how they are different

Why it's "Reader Beware" with her Winnie Wilde, her adult romance heroine

And her exciting plans for writing from her RV

Sue Ann can be found at sueannjaffarian.com

On Facebook  https://www.facebook.com/groups/sueannjaffarian/

For more details, a full transcript follows:  Note - this is a "close as" rendering of our full conversation with links to key points.

Jenny: And now here's Sue Ann.  Welcome to the show Sue Ann, it's lovely to have you with us.

Sue Ann:  Thank you for having me it's nice to be asked!

Jenny: The Odelia Grey Mysteries were, I think your first series, and perhaps your most popular - - and you've produced one on those a year consistently since 2008 as well as working full time as a para-legal and doing other writing as well. I just have to think - WOW  - you must be extremely well organised.

Sue Ann: When it comes to my writing I am,  Anything else, no. It's like I tell budding writers, if you set a schedule and stick to it it's amazing what you can get done in a short amount of time.

Jenny: It looks like you just turned on a switch that said “Write” and you did.   Tell me, what was the "Once Upon a Time Moment” that got you started?

Sue Ann: I always wanted to be a writer. Even as a little kid I wanted to be a writer, but it wasn't something my parents encouraged.  They thought if I was a writer I would starve and they weren't far off there, if I didn't have my para-legal job I probably would starve.

But you know all of a sudden, even though over the years I'd thought 'I am going to be a writer, I want to write a novel', in my mid forties or early forties I was engaged to a man and I broke it off.

And all of a sudden I took stock of my life. Here I was, about 42 or 43, and I realised, you know I have never pursued any of my life's dreams.

So I made a list of them and at the top was to be a writer and from that point on I never looked back.

Jenny:  Wow, that's an amazing story - a real "turning lemons into lemonade story" isn't it? 

Sue Ann:  Yes - I mean it was a horrible  relationship, as it turned out,  and I was writing when we were together, but I really didn't get the kick in the butt until after we broke up.

Jenny: Odelia Grey sounds quite a lot like Sue - for a start she's middle aged, has got curvy dimensions, and works as a para-legal.  Where do the similarities begin and end?

Sue Ann: Well, I have a pat answer for that one, but it's a truthful one: Odelia dresses better and she swears less. She is a para legal, like I am, but I don't want to say she's more grounded, but she's a lot nicer than I am.

Like I said, she dresses better and swears less. And of course, she's married, she has a relationship with her family, whereas my Mum and Dad have passed away, but I guess we think a lot alike