Guest: Author Tracy Weber

Today I would like to welcome author Tracy Weber.

Author and Yoga Instructor Tracy Weber

I met Tracy online through mutual friends and bought her first novel for my yoga instructor… Why? Because my instructor and I had a conversation about how she found herself solving mini mysteries around her, and Tracy writes a mystery series which features a yoga instructor! And on top of it all, the books are called The Downward Dog Mystery series, and judging by how many times we are put in that position by my instructor during class, the Downward-Facing Dog is my instructor’s favorite position!
Tracy herself is a yoga instructor, although that was not her first career choice. She grew up on a dairy farm in Montana but went to college in Seattle, where she received a BS and became a chemical engineer and later became an organizational consultant after receiving her MBA.
Congratulations on the upcoming FIFTH book of the series, Tracy!
Thank you so much for having me here today! I’m writing book 5 right now, but the next one to be released will be Book 4, A Fatal Twist. It will release in January of 2017. It’s so exciting!
You’ve made a couple of big life-changes! When did you get interested in yoga and when did you become an instructor?

I started practicing yoga around 1998 to help rehab a back injury that I had sustained in a car accident six years earlier. I didn’t really expect yoga to help (nothing else had) but it dramatically decreased my stress, so I kept at it. About a year after starting to practice, I was relatively pain-free for the first time in seven years. I knew I had to share these teachings with others. I started training to become a yoga instructor in 2000 and opened my studio, Whole Life Yoga, a year later.

What is the most rewarding part of your teaching yoga?

Seeing my students grow and transform, which is most evident in my yoga teacher training program, where we’re together as an intact group for almost a year. In the West, people think of yoga as a tool to transform the body, but it was originally designed as a practice to transform the mind. I love seeing my students find greater confidence, creativity, and peace.

Please tell our readers the charming story about the first man you met at college.

My college dorm was co-ed, which wasn’t nearly as common then as it is today. I lived on the 6th floor of Terry Hall at the University of Washington. The 7th floor was a male floor. The two floors shared a common community area and held lots of joint activities.
The day I moved in, I was both nervous and excited. As my parents and I stepped off the elevator, I saw a man I soon learned was named Marc. He took one look at me and said “Well, if it isn’t another social butterfly moving onto the 6th floor!” Twelve years later, I married him. So I can honestly say that I moved to Seattle and married the first man I met.

When did you first get interested in writing? When did you feel you could ‘really do this’ and write/publish a mystery novel?

The idea came to me on a rainy evening about five years ago, while in the middle of a brutal workout at my favorite health club. I was pedaling away, reading a Susan Conant novel to distract myself from the evil exercise bike, when a quote from Black Ribbon about crazy dog people made me burst out loud laughing. I knew I’d found my author soul mate. Someone who truly got me.

I went home, looked her up on the web, and stumbled across a site about cozy mysteries. As I read about hundreds of other wonderful cozy series, I began to wonder: What would happen if a yoga teacher with a crazy dog like mine got mixed up in murder? Kate Davidson and Bella popped into my head a few days later. The rest is history.

Will you tell us the process you went through to get published?

My process was pretty traditional. I wrote the book (no small feat!) then hired a private editor named Marta Tanrikulu to help me get the manuscript in the best shape it could be. (She’s fabulous, by the way. I highly recommend her.) I pitched agents both blind and live at the Pacific Northwest Writers Conference. My agent, Margaret Bails of Inklings Literary Agency signed me and pitched the book to publishers. Midnight Ink bought the series, and the rest is history![Anyone named “Marta” is going to have something going for her…that just happens to be my middle name! My birth certificate reads:Tonette Marta Joyce]

Do you think that you would be interested in writing in another genre?

Mysteries are my love, but I do have a few other novels rattling around in my brain. One is a romance and two are dystopian. I also have ideas for two other cozy mystery series. Now I just have to find the time to write them!

Can you tell us a little about your day-to-day life?

My typical day involves lots of chaos. My dog, Tasha, can’t walk up and down the stairs of my three-story house anymore, so my hubby and I live, watch television, work, and sleep in my first-floor office. The setup makes things a little crowded and a lot cluttered.
I’m also very easily distracted. Here are a few of the worst offenders:
• Facebook
• Email
• Tasha-dog. She’s even been known to push my hand off of the keyboard.
• The demands of my “real job,” which include teaching yoga, designing and teaching a yoga teacher training program, and managing my yoga studio, Whole Life Yoga.
Honestly, I’m my own worst enemy. When I’m focused, you can’t tear me away from the keyboard. The rest of the time? Not so much. Unfortunately, I focus best after ten at night, which makes for some crazy late writing nights.

Is there anything else you’d like to tell our readers?

Haven’t I already prattled on enough? I guess the only other thing I’d say is that my Downward Dog Mysteries are feel-good, crime-solving, human-animal love stories. How can it get better than that? I hope your readers give the series a try and love it!
Oh—and I love to get to know fans! Friend me at
https://www.facebook.com/tracywe

or join my mailing list at
http://http://tracyweberauthor.com/newsletter.html.

How can they learn more about you and your books?

Check out my website, http://http://tracyweberauthor.com/,
friend me at the Facebook link above or follow my author page at http://https://www.facebook.com/TracyWeberAuthor/.
My Twitter handle is @TracyWeberTypes, but I’m not as active on Twitter as I am on Facebook. And your readers can also always e-mail me at
http://Tracy@WholeLifeYoga.com.

Thank you for joining us, Tracy Weber!

Thank you so much for having me! Chatting with you was a blast!

Tracy Weber is the author of the Agatha Award nominated Downward Dog Mysteries series featuring yoga teacher Kate and her feisty German shepherd, Bella. Tracy loves sharing her passion for yoga and animals in any form possible.
Tracy and her husband live in Seattle with their challenging yet amazing German shepherd Tasha. When she’s not writing, Tracy spends her time teaching yoga, walking Tasha, and sipping Blackthorn cider at her favorite ale house.
You can find out more about Tracy and her series at her website http://tracyweberauthor.com/.