I have a secret. From the outside, most people would think that I must be quite an organised writer – in the same way I am on top of everything in both my professional and in personal lives. I love a good spreadsheet and project-management tools. And I have been coordinating everything in my life through a calendar system, ever since the Filofax was a thing. If something needs to be arranged, call me and my life literally lights up at the thought of being part of strategising and planning something. Even better if someone throws a good case of chaos in my lap – it will be cleaned up with organising tools in no time.
Being systematic is the only way I could have kept my life in order, with a household of six, a small importing business, political campaigns and, of course, a position in the Icelandic government.
Writing, however, gives me the freedom to be ‘in the flow’ – not sticking to rigid schedules, but giving characters room to grow. First the characters start to dance around in my head or in conversations with my husband. I start feeling their energy, if they were walking into a café, and I hear how their voices sound if they are angry or hurt, for example. From there, the story starts taking shape, as if a movie was coming to life in my head. Then the writing begins, and it is just one chapter after another – without the spreadsheets or project-management tools. Even bad habits are allowed in this part of my life, like pulling a few all-nighters writing, eating caramels, and drinking can after can of Coke Zero. No limits, no restraints, just letting loose on my own fairly strict rules for a bit.
That is what writing has brought to my life. It is a part where I am not a middle-aged PTA mum with a big job, a husband and four kids in the suburbs, and a pretty stressful job. Instead, I am a free spirit where all the rules I have created around my life take a back seat and my wilder side takes over when my family sleeps. That’s how I wrote both Dead Sweet and Stop Dead, in the silence of the night, in a hoodie, with my headphones on. Writing keeps me young in spirit and opens up spaces in my brain that need to be aired. And that eventually makes everything else in my life so much more fun.
Katrín Júlíusdóttir’s Stop Dead, translated from Icelandic by Larissa Kyzer, is the sequel to her award-winning Dead Sweet, and second in the Iceland Mysteries series published by Orenda Books on 21st May 2026.
