Writers, Ink: Your backstage pass to the world's most prolific authors The Best Little Motel in Texas with Author, Lyla Lane.
Mar 3, 2026
Lyla Lane (pen name of Sonia Hartl), a prolific rom-com, YA, and cozy mystery author. She recounts her long querying journey and hybrid indie/traditional publishing path. She explains how Dolly Parton inspired a cozy-mystery set in Texas. She discusses pen-name rebranding, balancing writing with a day job, slow-burn series plans, and creative struggles during hard times.
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Persist But Keep Writing New Projects
- Persist through multiple submissions but know when to pivot; Lyla queried repeatedly and revised across several books before selling her fourth on submission.
- She recommends continuing to write new projects instead of endlessly querying a single manuscript.
Indie Publishing Is A Second Full Time Job
- Indie publishing demands high output plus full-time marketing, which many authors underestimate and find unsustainable.
- Lyla self-published a six-book series, found the workload and marketing stamina overwhelming, and returned to hybrid publishing.
Dolly Movies Sparked A Bonkers Cozy Mystery
- Lyla Lane wrote The Best Little Motel in Texas after binge-watching Dolly Parton films and imagining a remake populated by older characters that becomes a cozy murder mystery.
- She drafted it mostly by pantsing with light planning for the mystery’s killer, suspects, and motives during a 2024 writing retreat in Canada.
