More GCC-Writers in Their Own Words

So, we're still stuck in February and all looking for an escape. Fear not, here's another one for you: Megan Crane's Everyone Else's Girl.





Meredith does things for other people. She irons clothes for her boyfriend, she attends her ex-best friend's horrendous hen party for her brother (who's about to marry the girl) and she moves back to her parents' house to look after her dad when his leg is broken. She's a good girl and that matters. But when she gets back home, all is not as Meredith remembered. Especially Scott, that geeky teenager from her old class at school. He's definitely different now. And so, it seems, is she. One by one, her family and old friends start to tell her some home truths and Meredith begins to realise she's not so perfect after all. Maybe it is time she stopped being everyone else's girl and started living for herself...

It's been called "Amusing, heartfelt and emotionally sophisticated chick-lit" by Kirkus and none other than Meg Cabot says, "Megan Crane rules! Cancel your evening plans: You won't want to stop reading until you've devoured every delicious word."

Now here's Megan in her own words:

1.) How did you come up with the idea for this book? Are you more driven by plot or by character?
This was the second book I wrote. I had finished the first, sold it, and was living in my parents' attic for a few months while I finished up my dissertation. So I could see that there were all kinds of people I grew up with who were still in my hometown, and I was intrigued as to why. Some were settling there. Some, like me, were passing through between other parts of their life. Others were lost. I wanted to write about that feeling--about not knowing who you are, and how coming back home to your parents as an adult can muddy the water but can also help you see the truth. It was an interesting process!

I am much more driven by character than plot. I try to dig inside characters and figure them out, because I'm fascinated by identity--by the things we all cling to as markers of who we are. I try to do this in social situations, too, with less success--at least in books I can force the characters to make sense!

2.) Who's your favorite character in this book and why?
I've always had a strange relationship with this book. I felt that the characters never really did what I wanted them to, and that I never really got a handle on Meredith the way I should have. But when I got my hands on this version of the book, about five years now since the book first came out, I re-read it and realized that I actually really like this book. I like how messy the characters are--especially Meredith. She's in a rough place here. She has to fall face-first into the muck, and she's really only just figured out how to climb out of it by the end... but I like her for it. I hope readers will, too.

3.) What's your writing process/writing environment like?
I'm pretty fierce about my daily word quotas, which are really the only way I can write as much as I do. (I wrote five books last year and will write at least four this year.) I usually write 2,000 words a day--although at a certain point last fall I had to write 3000 a day to hit a particular deadline, and I found that dizzyingly difficult. The internet is my greatest time-waster. I'm starting to use Mac Freedom to turn it off for stretches here and there, because I can't be trusted--and I will often look up to see that hours have passed and there I am reading Jezebel and hitting refresh on Twitter... Not good.

I have written all my books (I'm on number 15!) on the same desk, which I'm a little superstitious about these days. It's currently located in the office I share with my husband, overlooking a pretty sweep of trees and mountains and the Hollywood sign here in Los Angeles. It's filled with books and pictures, and somehow, helps the words come.

4.) What's your favorite part of writing?
When the story just flows from my head to the page, and it feels like magic.

5.) What's the best piece of advice you've ever gotten about writing?
Just do it. Just write. Everything else is smoke and mirrors.

GCC Tour and book giveaway!

Just what we need to get us through these cold dreary days of February . . . a fabulous new book--DRIVE TIME by my buddy Hank Phillipi Ryan . . . and free books to two lucky commenters.





In a starred review from Library Journal, they wrote: Buckle up and prepare for a wild ride as Charlie McNally and Boston’s Channel 3 News investigate a nefarious car theft/forgery operation and race to get their story on the air before their lives are endangered. In the meantime, Charlie becomes consumed with secret sleuthing as blackmail and suspicious deaths threaten the private, prestigious Bexter Academy where her fiancé teaches. Amid late-night stakeouts and dangerous car chases, Charlie finds time for romance, wedding planning, and bonding with her future stepdaughter. In her fourth series entry (after Prime Time, Face Time, and Air Time), Ryan once again channels her Emmy-winning investigative reporting expertise to craft a realistic and compelling mystery, full of hairpin turns and dangerous intersections at breakneck speed.

Let's hear from Hank in her own words . . .

1. How did the character of Charlotte ‘Charlie’ McNally come about?

What a great question. I have NO idea. She was born when I got a weird spam in my email. It was what looked like lines from a play by Shakespeare. I thought--why would someone send a spam like that? And it crossed my mind--maybe it's a secret message.

I still get goose bumps telling you about it. And I knew, after all those years of wanting to write a mystery, that was my plot. And that turned out to be the Agatha-winning PRIME TIME. But Charlie? Well, I knew I had a good story, but who would tell it? A television reporter, of course. And she just instantly popped into my head. Named, fully formed. I knew her perfectly.

The other characters were more difficult to get to know. But now, Charlie surprises me a lot! And I love when that happens.

2. Any mistakes you’ve made along the way, have you learned anything from them?

Hah. That’s another long blog for another day. Mistakes? Ah, on a huge level, people always yell at me for working all the time. ALL the time. Is that a mistake? None of this would have happened without that. Would I change it? I have to say no. So is that a mistake? I'm not sure. On a tiny level, I should have put together a mailing list of bookstores. Still haven’t done that. Wish I had.

3. Advice to fledgling writers?

On my bulletin board there are two quotes. One is a Zen saying: “Leap and the net will appear.” To me, that means: Just do it. The other says “What would you attempt to do if you knew you could not fail?” And I think that’s so wonderful—just have the confidence to carry on. Writing is tough, arduous, not always rewarding in the moment—but no successful author has ever had an easy path. When you hit an obstacle, pat yourself on the back. You’re a writer!


So, leave a comment between now and Friday, Feb. 19 at 5 p.m. CST and be entered into a drawing to win one of two copies of DRIEV TIME!

Peace on Earth; Good Will toward Men

It feels so close, I can almost touch it.











By dinner time on Christmas Eve, my two sons will be home, and with the rest of the family we'll gather round the table and eat dinner as a family. I'll try to make a toast--to us, to life, to happiness--but I'm sure my voice will catch in my throat, my eyes will fill, my younger son will laugh, my older son will smile, and my husband will finish the toast for me.

We're incredibly lucky and I know it.

Not that it's been an easy year, but it's been another year in our lives and that counts the most.

I spent Monday baking cookies and chex mix, finalizing my grocery lists, wrapping the last few presents, and thinking back on Christmases past.











This afternoon, I'll bake several batches of Christmas cut-out cookies, wrap the stocking stuffers, and settle down by the fire and read for awhile. Tomorrow, I'll worry until one old jeep pulls into the driveway and one airplane arrives from Seattle.



Then, all I'll have to do is enjoy having all of us under the same roof for a few days.

And we'll make memories that will carry me through until the next time.

And that's what I wish for all of you--warmth, family, memories. Sweet times. Hold tight to all of them.

All the best for 2010.

Food, Glorious Food!

I'm guest posting at (Never) Too Many Cooks today. Check out my musings (and recipe) on Risotto.

Holiday Gift Ideas and Writers in Their Own words

I hope you all had wonderful Thanksgivings filled with family and food and laughter. I don't know if you're like me, but I don't even really think about holiday shopping until, well, until the pumpkin pie is gone. So, like, now. And then I start realizing, whoops, I better get cracking. And then I worry about what to get and when to find the time to shop.




Well, worry not because BOOKS are always the perfect gift (and the perfect fit. Plus, they are so so so easy to wrap!). And I have two to recommend, via the GCC. Without further ado, let me introduce Wendy Tokunaga and Melissa Senate.




Wendy's new book, LOVE IN TRANSLATION is for anyone who’s ever dreamt of finding love and family in an unexpected place... Michelle Redmond, New York Times bestselling author of The Year of Fog calls it “A delightful novel about love, identity, and what it means to be adrift in a strange land. This story of a search has an Alice in Wonderland vibe; when Celeste climbs down the rabbit hole, one can't help but follow along.”





And Melissa's book, THE SECRET OF JOY, starts with the question: What would you do if you discovered you had a half-sister you never knew existed? "The Secret of Joy is a warm hug of a book. Insightful, wise, and romantic, it's as inviting as the small-town life it depicts." –Claire LaZebnik says, "The Secret of Joy is a warm hug of a book. Insightful, wise, and romantic, it's as inviting as the small-town life it depicts."

Let's hear from them in their own words:

1.) How did you come up with the idea for this book? Are you more driven by plot or by character?

Wendy: In this case I was driven by the character. I wanted to write about what it’s like to be a female gaijin (foreigner) in Japan, a place that despite its sophistication still can be construed as somewhat xenophobic, with many Japanese displaying a weird fascination mixed with disdain toward people who are different, especially Westerners. I also wanted to write about a cross-cultural relationship and how love can transcend culture, as well as the power of music. So with all this, I had to put a plot together, which came second. But this plot also spawned other themes: the meaning of family, identity, and what it means to discover your own voice.

Melissa: Several years ago, I received a startling email: I think you might be my half sister. Whoa. I was, indeed. I didn’t know how I felt about everything such an email had swirled up, so I ended up writing about a woman who discovers she has a half-sister she never knew existed and set her off to find her. Only the very nugget of the idea is based on my own life; I flipped everything else on its head. But the emotional force driving the story is very real.

I often steal from my own life when I start to write a new book, so in that sense I’m driven by plot, but because I never base the characters on myself or anyone I know, the characters take over completely and drive the plot themselves.

2.) Who's your favorite character in this book and why?

Melissa: I love Joy Jayhawk, the main character’s half sister. I share some of her trials and tribulations, and I understood her reserve and emotional journey in a way that made me feel so close to her.

Wendy: I have a special fondness for Mariko. She’s a native-born Japanese who grew up frustrated with the social restrictions placed on her in Japan as a Japanese woman. She married an American and ended up living in the United States. But a family issue has brought her back to Japan and her American-influenced personality makes her stick out like a sore thumb. She’s much too direct, laughs too loud, and has a penchant for using every English swear word possible. But she also doesn’t give a damn what people think about her.

3.) What's your writing process/writing environment like?

Wendy: I work in my own home office when I’m writing new material for a novel. Once I’ve written a significant amount of pages (or, more like when I just can’t come up with any more to write!) I print them out and go to a coffee house or somewhere, read the pages and make notes. Then I will go back to my office and input changes. Then hopefully I’ll write more new material, though that is what I find the most difficult.

Melissa: I fell madly in love with this beautiful mahogany secretary-desk that is completely useless for writing, so of course I bought it with a matching beautiful chair. The desk is tiny and barely holds my laptop and the glass of Coke Zero I can’t seem to write without. But the desk itself inspires me! My writing process hasn’t changed since my first book (and I’m now on my 10th, though I keep hoping it will): I write and revise as I go, so it takes me a verrrry long time to write a first draft. The good news is that when I’m done, I only have to do a second draft to edit, then a third to polish. I wish I could just write a draft all the way through, letting it be shitty, as my hero Anne Lamott advises, and just getting it all down. Maybe one day.

4.) What's your favorite part of writing?

Melissa: When my characters truly begin telling the story for me, when the words come that easily.

Wendy: Definitely the revision process. I like kneading and massaging the rough prose I’ve already written.

5.) What's the best piece of advice you've ever gotten about writing?

Melissa: Trust your gut. It knows.

Wendy: In the words of Anne Lamott, you are allowed to have a shitty first draft. And it’s nothing to be ashamed about.

Writers in Their Own Words-GCC

I'm thrilled to be "touring" my fellow GCC buddy, Jessica Brody whose newest novel, Love Under Cover, is in stores now! Booklist calls it an "an honest, witty portrayal of modern love."

In her job, she’s an expert on men…

In her own relationship, she doesn’t have a clue.

Boyfriend behaving badly? Suspect your husband of straying? Jennifer Hunter can supply the ultimate test. She runs a company which specializes in conducting fidelity inspections for those who suspect their loved ones are capable of infidelity.

An expert on men, Jennifer can usually tell if they're single, married or lying... Unfortunately, her new boyfriend, Jamie, is one of the few men that she's never been able to 'read.' Has she finally found the perfect man or is he too good to be true?

A captivating new novel from the bestselling author of The Fidelity Files.

Let's hear from Jessica in her own words:

1.) How did you come up with the idea for this book? Are you more driven by plot or by character?

As soon as I finished writing my first novel, The Fidelity Files¸ I knew that Jennifer’s journey wasn’t over yet. Although she had seemed to find her happy ending there was so much more fun stuff I had in mind for another book. Setting Jennifer up with an entire agency of fidelity inspectors was definitely the first and foremost on my mind for the next instalment.

Plus, I really wanted to explore what a fidelity inspector would be like in a committed relationship. After everything she’s seen—all the cheating, dishonesty, and betrayal—would she really be capable of settling down herself? So that’s what I set out to focus on in this book.

2.) Who's your favorite character in this book and why?

I love Jennifer’s three friends. They’re all fun to write in their own unique ways. Zoë has a terrible road rage problem and she has a habit of talking on the phone while driving so those conversations with Jen and Zoë on the phone are always really entertaining for me. I get to channel my inner turrets patient. Sophie is totally neurotic. I love going over the top with her.
And John is the flamboyant gay boy from West Hollywood who is always quick with his sarcasm and wit. Sometimes I don’t know where his remarks come from. I must be channelling my inner gay man because I’ll write something that he says and think, “That’s really funny. Where the hell did that come from?”

3.) What's your writing process/writing environment like?

I have a desktop and a laptop but I prefer to write on my laptop. I do all my “busy work” like emails, interviews, website stuff, on my desktop and I found that switching computers helped me switch focus.
I used to not be able to write in a public place. But then I discovered “white noise” mp3s. They basically play nothing but…well, white noise. Now I go to my favorite coffee shop, pop in my ear phones, crank up the white noise and the world around me dissolves away. Plus… coffee helps.

4.) What's your favorite part of writing?

My favorite part? Definitely the first 50 pages. They fly by. They’re brilliant and fresh and exciting and full of promise. I feel like I could do anything. I feel like I write an entire novel in two weeks.

My least favorite part? Everything that comes after that.

4.) What's the best piece of advice you've ever gotten about writing?

Jump and the net will appear. You can’t wait for the perfect opportunity to come along, you just have to go for it. When I decided I would be a published author, I made the decision and I leapt off the cliff…without a parachute. I quit my high-paying, corporate job at a move studio, started taking odd jobs off of Craigslist to make ends meet, downgraded my car, my apartment and my lifestyle to save money and just went for it. I never looked back. I turned down three job offers from other studios, all which paid even more than I was making when I left my previous one. I sold my first novel a year and a half after I quit. Now I write full time and this year, for the first time since I quit my corporate job in 2005, I’m making more as a writer than I was making as a “suit.” Do what you love and the money will eventually come. I’m a big believer in this. And I am living proof that it works!

Out of the Mouths of Babes

It's another "Tuesday's Child is Full of Grace" NICE HAPPENS Tuesday over on my JUST BE NICE blog. And it's also my younger son's birthday. (So please excuse the cross-post.)

It's fitting. He was born at 11:00 p.m. on Tuesday night 22 years ago today. I'd like to say he's been full of grace his whole life. I'm not sure that'd be totally accurate.

He's been full of boy. And trips to the emergency room. And sweetness.

He made us a family.

He makes me laugh and smile.

And here's one thing I've learned from him about niceness (among many other things. He really is a sweet kid.)--when you call someone, start with "First, I wanted to say 'hi.' And see how you are." That's the way to start the conversation, even if you're calling to complain or ask for money or explain you might not have done so great on that test you took last week.

Start with showing you care. Start with love. After that, everything else is easy.

Happy Birthday, Eric! Come home and visit soon. Your mom misses you.