A Really Big Story

"Now that's a big book!"
Image captured from Bart King's blog

It's a thousand pages, give or take a few
I'll be writing more in a week or two
I can make it longer if you like the style
I can change it round and I want to be a paperback writer
~ From "Paperback Writer," Lennon-McCartney

I'm fresh off the first two weeks after the paperback of my novel Calling Me Home released. It's been fun and stressful—two bookstore signings that went really well (yay!), awesome sales in the first two weeks of the Target Club Pick feature, meetings with several book clubs, a wonderful weekend hanging out with readers and other authors at the Pulpwood Queens' 2014 Annual Girlfriend Weekend.

And now I have just a couple of days of relative peace to get back into my groove again before the pace picks up again with in-person book club meetings, Skype talks, and … just LIFE. Life goes on whether we are ready or not!

I'm really settling into my brand new shiny manuscript. I actually LOVE it! The idea, the characters, the settings, the conflicts. They feel like ME, which is more than I can say for many of the ideas I've been batting around and playing with for the last few years. I made the commitment to myself and my wonderful agent to not just write the next story for the sake of writing the next story. I was so passionate about Calling Me Home, we both knew I needed to feel that again. I think I might be there with this one. The longer I work on it, the more excited I get. I think that's a good sign. So I'm attempting to put together a book proposal to present to my publisher with what I've already done.

And I'm thinking things through again. Not to beat a dead horse, but each new book, each new story, is a learning process.

One thing I'm remembering, and thus, the reference to the good old Beatles song, is that I want to write a BIG story.

For me, "big story" has nothing to do with the number of pages, or honestly, with the format. For all I know, my next novel could be trade paperback original instead of hardcover—and I'm completely okay with that. I am not a hardcover diehard. (I've also seen what can happen with a trade paperback original book that could easily have been published in hardcover—think Kristina Baker Kline's Orphan Train—it's blazing an amazing trail!).

But what I'm thinking about is writing a book that could be published in hardcover first, mostly because it seems like it just OUGHT to be. Does that make sense?

I want to write a story that is big enough, no matter how it's published.

What makes a story big?

I have my own ideas. But instead of telling you what I think, I went to my handy dandy Facebook page to see what readers and other writers thought. Here are some of the responses. Things to ponder as we write our books or decide what to read.

One that has true enough characters with lives that engross and end up leaving the readers wanting more.
~ Brenda H.

An epic sized story that somehow catches fire with the buzz of what's going on at the moment in popular culture.
~ Book Promoter Pamela Mason

It has to stay with me, down in my gut. The characters and story have to leave me changed in some way.
~ Author Barbara Davis (The Secrets She Carried)

Unexpected ending. Good and bad. We read a book, then if we think it could be big, we make another read it. Locally loved translates to big for me. It grows and grows. But if you can imagine it as a great movie, then it's big to me.
~ Michelle B. C.

I think big tends to be a sweeping story, covering time, history perhaps.
~ Anita LeBeau (book blogger extraordinaire)

A book involving several generations of family/families.
~ Elizabeth B.

One that connects to all my emotions, laugh ,cry page turner, one you talk to, say don't open that door, with words that can visually bring you there.
~ Terry T.

I love feeling drawn in to the story with all senses and emotions.
~ Gayle M. C.

A big sweeping saga with a lot of characters and some kind of quest or "bigger than us" thing to conquer. An epic story. Or, alternatively, a story that changes you on some deep level. For me it was To Kill a Mockingbird.
~ Gail C.

High stakes. A wrong that must be righted. Winning against all odds. David and Goliath.
~ Author Lynne Gentry (Healer of Carthage)

A book is "big" when you read it and want more! Either on a new topic or you want more from the characters in that book. A book is also "big" when it has a positive social aspect, like The Help.
~ Katie W. S.

For me, the word "big" congers up a literal meaning … So literally, a "big" book would be a tome, an atlas or something of that sort. I would describe a considerably important book not as "big", but perhaps as meaningful, epic, momentous or significant.
~ Laura W.

It makes an impact on the readers. And, when they're finished reading they sit back and go, "Wow. What a ride!" and then they recommend it to their best friends.
~ Angie K.

To turn a personal experience into a universal experience.
~ Author Ann Brown (Free Me)

I don't think of "big" meaning "saga" or "sweeping" or even a complicated story. I think of it as a book that can be described in a sentence or two that makes someone go "oh. . . my. . . God."
~ Author Diane Chamberlain (Necessary Lies)

I think it's a book that you read & remember, that you recommend to friends, that you will "reread" again and that you look forward to the next book by that author as soon as you finish this one. And if you border on "stalking" the author by going to a book signing, you may just have a "big book"!
~ Cindy C. J. (Of course, I advised Cindy to stalk as many authors as possible in this way—by attending book signings!)

What about you? What do you think makes a "big" book/story? Please join the discussion in the comments!

The long and completely true story of how Julie found her dream agent!

By Julie

I mentioned a few weeks ago that I’d been offered representation, but decided to let it settle around me for a while before I talked about it here on the blog. I wanted to be sure my priorities were in order, and my last full post came from that place. It’s still true; so much in life is more important than landing the right agent.

But you know what? It’s still pretty darn cool. So now I’m talking about it. It's a long post—I hope you'll bear with me!

As an unagented writer, I spent hours poring over search results, combing the blogosphere for stories about writers and their agents. On the one hand, it was a great way to research the process—to discover why authors queried certain agents, how long it took to find an agent, how many queries they sent before getting “the call,” what kinds of questions they asked before signing the contract, and so on. On the other hand, these posts were like little pep talks. When I read success stories—especially from authors I know—I got butterflies in my stomach. Realizing dreams, it seemed, wasn’t an impossibility.

I got that feeling when I read Therese Walsh’s post on the fabulous Writer Unboxed blog: “Home Run! Therese Finds her Perfect Agent!” back in the fall of 2008. I’d only just begun compiling a list of agents to query with my last manuscript. (Yes, there were others, may they rest in peace. It was my first to query.) I’d known Teri a while online. We’d both taken classes from the same amazing author (Barbara Samuel O’Neal), were in some of the same online forums, and eventually clicked to become Facebook friends. I admired Teri’s determination and attitude and absolute transparency when it came to her writing journey. Her character alone was a recommendation for her agent, but I also liked what I saw on Elisabeth’s website—who she’d chosen to represent and what kinds of books they were writing. So I added Elisabeth Weed’s name to my query list, dreaming of the day when I’d finally send my first letter out.

In May 2009, I sent my first query to the agent at the top of my list—Elisabeth Weed. I sent two more, just to be on the safe side. (Ha!) Imagine my excitement when I opened my inbox the next day to receive a request for the first fifty pages of my manuscript from Elisabeth. I was beside myself, and after the emails flew among my fellow What Women Write ladies, I jotted a quick note to Teri, telling her I’d received a request and if the time came, would she mind me picking her brain about Elisabeth. “Woot! Julie, that’s awesome! Of course, send any questions along as things progress. Elisabeth is terrific. Good luck!” (Facebook is so sweet to keep all these conversations for so long … and kind of creepy, too.)

Now imagine my dismay when my first rejection also came from Elisabeth Weed—and one of the nicest I received. I knew there would be many more before it was all over. I’d queried other agents in the interim, of course, and kept doing so for several more months while another story began tugging at my heart. I didn’t query a huge number of agents—maybe twenty five in all. I received a decent number of partial requests and one full, but each was followed by another rejection. I was already getting a sense that maybe it wasn’t “the one.” While I loved the story, and the characters lived on in my mind and heart (still do!), I suspected it wasn’t where I was supposed to be as a writer. It was trying too hard to be like another author I loved (waving at Jodi Picoult, as if she’ll ever read this!). It was time to move on. I’d been attempting to write a new story in the same niche while I queried, but after nearly fifty thousand words, I put it aside as well.

That other story, the one that started tugging at my heart early on, just wouldn’t let me go. I’d learned a surprising bit of family lore from my father. One line, basically, with no more hints of what happened: As a teen, my grandmother had fallen deeply in love with a young black man, and their families ripped them apart. It was all he knew, and none of the involved parties were living, so it’s all I’ll ever know. But it wouldn’t let me go. I began to imagine what might have been. I selected a setting and time period, slightly different from when and where my grandmother lived, but perfect for my story, did a lot of research on the area, laws, time periods, and anything else written on the subject. In April 2010, I wrote the first 30 thousand words or so during a Backspace writing marathon. Over the next several months, I added another 45 thousand, and in November, I did my own version of NaNoWriMo (NaNoFiMo: National Novel Finishing Month!), to write the final 30 thousand words.

I mostly ignored the file over the holidays, then pulled it out to begin revising in earnest after the New Year. I began setting my beta readers upon it (I picture them like a school of beta fish going after their dinner) in mid-February. After the critique of my marvelous group, some non-writers, and several more months of fiddling with the thing, I finally decided it was time to query. I ran my query letter by my critique group a few hundred times, and also by my trusty fellow Backspacers, who poked and prodded at it gently and graciously.

I sent a few queries at the end of June, but this time I didn’t query Elisabeth first. I wanted to be sure my query letter was effective. I didn’t want to waste an opportunity. Because she was still at the top of my list. I received a request for a partial from another agent immediately, and was thrilled, but by then, the last few members of What Women Write had read and critiqued CALLING ME HOME and I realized I had a little more work to do. I was relieved I hadn’t sent more queries or partials into the ether.

A couple of weeks and some hard revisions later, I was ready to query again. This time, late Thursday, July 14, I sent my first letter to Elisabeth. I sent a few more a few hours later, just to be on the safe side. (Is this sounding like the movie Groundhog Day? It kind of is. Keep reading!)

Imagine my excitement when I received a request Monday afternoon for a partial from Stephanie Sun, Elisabeth’s delightful assistant (who is now building her own list!), on Elisabeth’s behalf. I hadn’t said anything to my group, wanting to query under the radar for a bit, but of course I couldn’t contain my excitement and the emails started flying. I sent a note to Teri—shocked to find my old note floated back up in Facebook, reminding me exactly when I’d messaged about the last time I’d queried!—and I said something much the same, but perhaps not quite as confident as when I was a brand new querier the first time around. “AWESOME!!” Teri wrote. “I’ll put in a good word for you and cross my fingers!” She suggested a relaxing glass of wine, though within a day or two I said I probably needed to upgrade to Jack Daniels. (If you know me at all, this should make you laugh pretty hard—Julie doesn’t do alcohol very well at all. I stuck with wine and not much of it.)

The next day, I received another email, this time from Elisabeth herself. “I just read the first three chapters of Calling Me Home and think they are terrific! Will you send me the rest? I can't wait to see how this love story unfolds.”

O.M.G. Let me think about that ... OF COURSE I WILL! I sent it off late that night after madly making sure all my i‘s were dotted and t’s were crossed. (I emailed Teri: “What did you tell her? That I can perform miracles?” Teri responded that she had her toes crossed, too, now.)

The next day, Wednesday, I received a note from another published friend who has been an incredible mentor to me over the years. She’d asked if she could read my manuscript a few weeks earlier. Her note said she loved it and wanted to recommend it on to her agent with my permission. WHAT?! I was overwhelmed. I wasn’t sleeping or eating much by then. Her agent agreed to read the full manuscript and I sent it off that day.

I wasn’t sure how to handle this with Elisabeth. I’d heard it was polite to send other agents a note when other agents had your full manuscript. Others said only to nudge if you’d received an offer of representation. I was conflicted. I asked Teri what she thought, and she said it couldn’t hurt to let Elisabeth know.

I think the new request was providence.

I contacted Elisabeth, and it turned out she hadn’t received my full manuscript for some reason. “I'm so glad you emailed. I requested the rest of your ms yesterday and hadn't heard back from you. Clearly you didn't get it. Please send so I can read the rest. I'm loving it!” Then, later: “I am so glad you emailed again as I was seriously refreshing my email, hoping I had this to read tonight!”

Needless to say, I was allowing myself to hope at this point. Just a little. But trying to keep my cool.

To make a short story long … I received another email from Elisabeth the next Tuesday: “Dear Julie, I literally just finished reading this at my desk! Thank you so much for sending Calling Me Home my way. I loved it!” and later, after she commented more on the story and some revisions she anticipated it needed, “I am having Stephanie, my trusted colleague read alongside me and was hoping you and I could find some time to talk. Are you around tomorrow or Thursday?”

Was I around the next two days? Of course I was. And was this … The Call?

I was dying from anticipation. It felt like it was going to be The Call. But I wasn’t going to count my chickens before they hatched.

I emailed Teri, “Note from Elisabeth today saying she loved my manuscript and wants to speak by phone call tomorrow or Thursday! Good sign, yes?!?!”

Teri: “Oh, this makes me soooo happy! Yes, a very good sign.”

Turns out that stinker already knew Elisabeth was going to offer representation, but she was gracious enough to let me hear the words from Elisabeth herself the next day: “In case it’s not clear, I’m calling to offer you representation.”

So on Wednesday, July 29, We spent more than an hour on the phone, discussing my manuscript, how she saw it positioned in the marketplace, how she typically worked with clients, and so on. By the time we finished talking, I’d ticked all the questions off my “things to ask potential agent” list without even having to ask most of them. And though the majority of articles you read about considering offers of representation say to thank the agent and tell her you’ll get back to her after you’d have a chance to consider, and to notify any other agents reading your manuscript, I had a gut feeling. I told her, “I’m just going to go ahead and say now that I feel good about this. You’ve been my top pick from the day I sent my first query two years ago, you’ve answered all my questions, and I can’t see any reason not to say yes today.”

After we disconnected, my daughter, my wonderful, wise girl who got the first post after this experience, said, “You just sounded like you were talking to one of your writer friends.”

It was more confirmation I’d made the right decision. I sent a note to the other agent who had my full, letting her know that while I appreciated her offer to read and admired her for doing such a truly fabulous job for my friend, I believed I was making the right decision in accepting Elisabeth’s offer. She was gracious and full of good wishes.

So here I am, a month or so later, an agented author. August is no-man’s land in the publishing world, so we’ve taken that time to fine tune my manuscript. I’ve completed two sets of revisions and it sounds like we’re on target for Elisabeth to start submitting to editors soon! I can’t wait to see what happens next.

I hope you’ll take this post as I did all those times I read about The Call—as a few words to the wise, and a reason to keep following your dreams.

Most of all, I want to take a moment to thank some dear friends who helped make this the exciting and relatively painless process it was this time around. Therese Walsh, author extraordinaire of The Last Will of Moira Leahy and creator of Writer Unboxed. And my other friend—the fabulous multi-published Diane Chamberlain. (Both of them have been our special guests on What Women Write, here and here.) And of course, my amazing group of women right here at What Women Write. (And my BFF Gail, who is not yet a writer, but is determined I’ll need a personal assistant ASAP.) This kind of feels like an academy awards speech, so I’m stopping there for now.

But this only reinforces what I’ve known for a few years now. The writing community isn’t a tank full of sharks, circling to devour one another (well, maybe there are a few sharks, but I haven’t run across any yet). It’s a community of friends who look out for each other and help each other along the way. I hope I’ll always remember to pay it forward.

P.S. That picture up there--it's my two girls. That picture was taken the evening of the afternoon I got The Call. They were NOT at our house, and I have no idea what they celebrating, but I like how they do it!

Diane Chamberlain and The Midwife's Confession

By Julie

How lucky am I? Already in 2011, I've had the privilege of interviewing two of the authors who have had a major influence on who I am as a writer today. One of them is Diane Chamberlain, our special guest today. (The other, you might remember, is Barbara O'Neal.)

Diane's fabulous latest, The Midwife's Confession, released Tuesday, April 26. Congratulations, Diane, on your TWENTIETH published novel! (Wow!)

About The Midwife's Confession, from the publisher:

Dear Anna,

What I have to tell you is difficult to write, but I know it will be far more difficult for you to hear, and I'm so sorry. . .


The unfinished letter is the only clue Tara and Emerson have to the reason behind their close friend Noelle's suicide. Everything they knew about Noelle-her calling as a midwife, her passion for causes, her love for her friends and family-described a woman who embraced life.

Yet there was so much they didn't know.

With the discovery of the letter and its heartbreaking secret, Noelle's friends begin to uncover the truth about this complex woman who touched each of their lives--and the life of a desperate stranger--with love and betrayal, compassion and deceit.

And about Diane:

Diane Chamberlain is the bestselling author of 20 novels. Her books, frequently set in the southeastern United States, are complex stories about love, compassion and forgiveness with a touch of mystery and suspense.

Prior to her writing career, she was a hospital social worker and a psychotherapist in private practice, working primarily with adolescents. Diane’s background in psychology and her work in hospitals have given her a keen interest in understanding the way people tick, as well as the background necessary to create real, living, breathing characters.

More than a decade ago, Diane was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis, which changed the way she works: She sometimes types using voice recognition software. She feels fortunate that her arthritis is not more severe and that she is able to enjoy everyday activities as well as keep up with a busy work and travel schedule.

Diane has three married stepdaughters, three grandchildren, and two shelties. She lives with photographer John Pagliuca in North Carolina where she's at work on her 21st novel.

I (Julie) started reading Diane's books almost by accident several years back when I rescued Keeper of the Light from a stack of books my mom had collected to give away. (Please don't take that personally, Diane--my mom doesn't save books!) I set it aside for a while, then read it and enjoyed it so much, I looked for more. And the rest, as they say, is history. I became involved with Diane's very active blog crowd long before Facebook became popular, and now I enjoy reading and posting comments on her status as much as the next fan. She is one of the most genuine, generous, down-to-earth writers I know, and I've learned so much not only from her blog posts on the craft of writing, but her character. She is truly a role model to me.

And guess what? I got my very first book acknowledgment from Diane. No, it wasn't for all the wisdom I shared with her on some topic. It wasn't for supporting and encouraging her through thick and thin. It wasn't for being her agent or her first reader or her amazing photographer.

Nope. I'd forgotten until I cracked open Diane's 2010 release (The Lies We Told--LOVE this book!) that one day a few years ago, she put out a call on Facebook for suggestions: What kind of small tattoo on a finger knuckle could be seen from across a room? So. That tiny black star on a bad guy's knuckle near the start of The Lies We Told? Uh-huh. That's my star. The one I came up with. And yes, I did get an acknowledgment for it. I was delighted to read it out loud to my daughters, whom I tracked down in my excitement.

That was a long intro. I hope you hung in long enough to get to the best part of this post--our fun conversation about writing and The Midwife's Confession!

www: Welcome, Diane! Thank so much for joining us on What Women Write! Let’s start with a less than unique question I usually refrain from asking for that very reason, but I know you have an unusual answer! How did you come up with the idea for The Midwife’s Confession?

DC: In a dream. If only that would happen more often! I took an afternoon nap and had a dream in which a couple of friends learned something that would have a devastating impact on a third friend if she knew about it. In my dream, the friends tried to decide if they should tell her or not. What was the moral and kindest thing to do? That became the seedling of the idea for The Midwife's Confession, although my imagination took me to places I never anticipated going once I began writing.

www: I think that's awesome. I'm going to be thinking a lot harder about my dreams now. :) We know that life experience influences writer voice and writer choice. How do your particular life experiences influence how you write or the subjects and characters you choose to explore? How about for The Midwife’s Confession?

DC: My background was as a medical social worker and psychotherapist--a great foundation for a fiction writer! I worked in a maternity unit, an ER and an adolescent unit, and my private practice was with teens, so teenagers are frequently an important part of my stories, as they are in The Midwife's Confession. Obviously the maternity unit gave me fodder for this book--oh, the stories I could tell! What happens in Midwife is completely made up, I hasten to add. I often have a medical element in my stories and I know that's from my background in hospital work. I've been lucky to have two careers that have been very rewarding.

www: You have a lot of teen readers, too, which just goes to show how well you capture the teen voice. And speaking of teens ... one of the characters in The Midwife’s Confession has childhood leukemia. I know researching this disease had a big emotional impact on you. Would you be willing to share about this?

DC: I am teary-eyed just reading your question. I followed many blogs about children with leukemia during the research portion of Midwife. I was moved by all of them, but one in particular drew me in. It was written by the English-speaking Dad of a ten-year-old European girl. I followed the blog as she battled leukemia, received her transplant, went home, came back, went home, came back, fought infections, lost her hair, grew it back, etc. Her father shared lots of pictures and I began corresponding with him both on and off the blog, something which continues to this day. The little girl was such a fighter, but she ultimately lost the battle and my heart still breaks for her family. I've dedicated the book to her.

www: It's amazing how writing takes you places you'd never have gone otherwise and introduces you to people you never would have met--even when it breaks your heart. Diane, I also know that even multi-published authors deal with disappointment sometimes. As a longtime reader of your blog, I remember how the timing of writing The Midwife’s Confession was tricky—it didn’t exactly follow your “preferred” schedule.

DC: When I came up with the idea for The Midwife’s Confession, I wrote my proposal and submitted it to my editor who flipped over it and gave me the go-ahead to start working on the book. Writing a proposal takes me about a month, so I’d put a lot of work into the project already. I was thrilled with my editor’s response and got down to business.

About a week later, I heard from her again. She’d discussed my proposal at an editorial meeting and learned that another author at the publishing house was already in the middle of writing a book with a similar “hook” as Midwife. Therefore, I could not write this book at that time and would have to very quickly come up with a new idea.

To say I was upset is an understatement, but the publisher couldn’t be budged. I somehow managed to come up with a new proposal and wrote The Lies We Told, a book I ended up loving, but I can tell you, this was not a fun experience. Ultimately, The Midwife’s Confession turned out to be absolutely nothing like the other author’s book and the hook is completely different. Maybe this falls into the “all things happen for a reason” category? I hope so.

www: Well, as much as I adored The Lies We Told, I am thankful you wrote it. Maybe you wouldn't have without this bump in the road. But this wasn't the only tricky part about delivering The Midwife's Confession, right? (I'm feeling like a slightly cruel interrogator by now, but Diane is just this transparent. That's so much a part of why I love her!)

DC: I only had about nine months to write TMC. (Hmm ... I just realized the irony in that.) I wasn't completely happy with it when I turned it in. I knew there was something missing. It was my editor who helped me see what it was: the midwife herself. But the midwife, Noelle, is dead, which was why I hadn't initially thought of adding her point of view to the story. I realized my editor was right, though, so I added eleven chapters from Noelle's point of view. Wow, what a difference that made! It brought her to life and added many new dimensions to the story. Noelle told me things I had no idea had gone on in her life. This is the value of a wonderful editor!

www: And speaking of transparency, how have the Internet and social networking changed your writing life?

DC: In both good and bad ways. The bad is that Facebook and corresponding with readers is a terrible time sink. The fact that I'm a Facebook addict doesn't help. But I get so much joy out of my contact with readers, something that was limited in the past. This morning, for example, I was overwhelmed by all I had to do but when I checked in on Facebook and saw all my "friends" and what they were up to, it lifted my spirits. Kind of crazy. Maybe it has to do with how isolating writing is. I still have that need for social contact. There's also the fact that I can alert people to the publication of new books and where I'll be touring, but honestly, that's become secondary to the fun of getting to know so many wonderful readers. Please join me on Facebook here!

www: You’ve made extensive use of e-publishing with your backlist in recent years. How has this process worked for you? What kind of impact do you find this makes on sales, publicity, or marketing in general?

DC: I have seven books that are out of print, meaning I have the rights back to them and can do anything I like with them. So as an experiment, I put my personal favorite, Secret Lives, up as an e-book to see what would happen. It was a steep learning curve, preparing the book for the various e-book formats, and I said some bad words as I worked with the document and created a new cover for it. But wow, it was so worth it! Not only has e-publishing brought in extra income, it's helped me find new readers and satisfied the need of my long-time readers to be able to read older books they'd been unable to find. I now have five books available and hope to put the final two up in the next few months. Here's the page on my website where I describe these backlist books. Of course all my in-print books are available as e-books as well.

www: One of these, Reflection, was the very first ebook I purchased for my brand new Nook in January, and I'm so thrilled I got to read it! And another interesting note: I got to read my advance copy of The Midwife's Confession as an e-galley, also on my Nook!

Okay. I admit I know the answer to this next question, but I think our readers will enjoy it, so I have to ask: What is this Opium Den you so frequently speak of in blog posts and Facebook statuses?

DC: About ten years ago, I was doing the Match.com dating thing and the guys would often suggest meeting at Starbucks. I'd never been in a Starbucks before then, but I loved the cushy chairs and the sense of having a little "home away from home." (The men are a whole other story…) I began taking my work there in the mornings and became so addicted to the place that I started calling it the Opium Den. (This is the second time I've mentioned being an addict in this Q and A. Wonder what that's about?). So for ten years now, I've been taking my writing to Starbucks in the mornings. I've met other writers and many readers and it's nice to see the regulars there each day, but everyone knows I'm there to work and once I turn on my laptop, I'm in my own little caffeinated world.

www: And it's amazing how many of us writers actually met our significant others on Match.com ... errrr ... at the Opium Den. (Ahem, yep, including me!) And because we like to keep it unique here at What Women Write, I have one final question. What is one fun fact about Diane Chamberlain that nobody else has heard about on the worldwide web?

DC: I MUST play Scrabble on my iPad in bed at night. It's become something of a ritual. I tell myself I'm learning new words, but if I'm being honest with myself, I guess I have yet another addiction! :)

www: Readers, I suspect if you start reading Diane Chamberlain, you'll find yourself with a new addiction, too! Diane, thanks SO much for coming by What Women Write today. Big, huge congrats on your twentieth release, and best wishes for continued success!

The Midwife's Confession is available now at all major booksellers! But hey, why not try your local independent bookseller first?


Photo credit: John Pagliuca http://www.johnpagliucaproductions.com/

WHEN Women Write

By Julie

Does when and how you write (or do your work in general) say anything about who you are?

Apparently, it's important enough, anthropologically speaking, that most of us label ourselves either "Night Owls" or "Early Birds." Interestingly, an online search mostly turned up quotations about night owls, or tongue-in-cheek statements about birds. And, unfortunately, most of them were by men. The quintessential Shel Silverstein sums everything up nicely with his double entendre from "Early Bird" in Where the Sidewalk Ends:

"Oh, if you're a bird, be an early bird
And catch the worm for your breakfast plate.
If you're a bird, be an early bird –
But if you're a worm, sleep late."

My highly scientific analysis of the quotes I found says night owls worry more about being owls than early birds worry about being birds. This makes sense. I've always felt slightly off kilter with most of the world, wondering if I am "okay" or "abnormal" because of an extreme night owl sleep cycle.Last night, I eased into the routine I've followed the last few months while drafting my new manuscript, ALL THE THINGS YOU ARE. The house had settled. My daughter was sound asleep. The dog was no longer restless. And my brain went right into writer mode.

I read over what I'd written a few nights earlier, thinking I might edit a sentence or two and go to bed like a good girl. But, of course, I ended up adding another 1,300 words to the story and certainly wasn't unhappy with myself – even when I had to catch up on my sleep this morning.

And that is how my evenings go when I'm drafting.

I find it easy to edit and revise during the day. I've even trained myself to draft daytime words when necessary, but I find they tend to come from a different mental place. They don't flow as naturally, and they expose my voice less than I'd like. In a pinch, daytime drafting works, but because my schedule allows me to write at night, I take advantage of it. I write most of my words between eleven p.m. and two a.m.I try not to beat myself up too violently over my night owl ways anymore. I used to feel horribly guilty that I stay up until the wee hours and then nap in the morning after sending my kids off to school. (Yes, I sleep a split shift.)

I still feel guilty when my husband and many good friends drive off to work at daybreak. I still cringe and want to hide some days when my stay-at-home mom friends post Facebook updates about the volunteer activities they're doing during the day with their school-age kids. I get the shakes just imagining trying to rise early and be dressed and pressed and excited to spend the day chaperoning large groups of children. But if I can sign up to send brownies? Dude, I'm there.

The topic of "writing time" is explored often in craft books or conference breakout sessions. Some experts insist you must rise at the crack of dawn or even earlier to put in your hours of writing before your household wakes. Some advise that setting a strict schedule of writing or revising from eight a.m. to noon and one p.m. to five every day is optimum, just as if you worked in an office environment. Others, like me, find night time is the right time for write time.

But you know, there is more than one way to skin a cat … errr … write a book! And it takes all kinds to produce the vast quantities of fiction and nonfiction we love to read.We like to celebrate our differences here on What Women Write, so I asked writers, published and unpublished, to share short bits about their writing routines.

NYT bestselling author Luanne Rice, whose recent novel, THE GEOMETRY OF SISTERS, is now out in paperback, says: "I write early, first thing, before my dreams have dissolved and before the day imposes its own reality. I love seeing the light come up, and I love being surrounded by still-sleepy cats."

Multi-published Diane Chamberlain's latest, THE LIES WE TOLD, released this month. She writes: "This completely depends on what point I'm at in the manuscript. Early on, I write now and then throughout the day. Starbucks in the morning. My porch in the afternoon. Sooo relaxed and at ease! As deadline approaches, I write in my office from early morning to late at night, sweat dripping from my forehead, panic mounting as I hunch over my keyboard, reminding myself that writing is my passion and I love it. The month before deadline, I tend to forget that little fact."

Deadlines seem to be a common factor among published authors when it comes to writing schedules. Kristy Kiernan, who we featured on the blog when BETWEEN FRIENDS released, says: "I am disturbingly unregimented when it comes to writing time. I will write in the morning when I wake, until lunch. Or I will write after lunch through the evening, until dinner. Or I will write from after dinner until two in the morning (when you would assume I'd go for a little snack ... but no). I write when the words are coming. Until I run out of time. And then I write as much as I need to, whenever I need to, to get it done. My muse starts showing up a lot more when she notes a deadline approaching."

Lauren Baratz-Logsted manages, along with her husband and daughter, to write and publish books at the speed of light for tweens, teens, and adults. (Check out the gorgeous covers for upcoming YA releases, THE TWIN'S DAUGHTER and THE EDUCATION OF BET.) Her answer explains it all: "Before being published I used to start my writing day between 2:30 and 4:30 in the morning so I could get a good chunk in before going off to do all the jobs I used to have to do to keep the mortgage paid. Now I start at 7 a.m., when my daughter leaves for school, and pretty much work straight through until she returns at 4 p.m. Sometimes I also write nights and weekends. I used to favor mornings – it's great to start early, just like with exercise, before laziness sets in – but I find now that I can pretty much start anytime. Just so long as I've set a goal for the day, I know it'll get done somehow before I call it a night."

Tish Cohen's THE TRUTH ABOUT DELILAH BLUE, just released and her previous title, TOWN HOUSE, is in film development. It seems she's an early bird!:"I love to just get up, not say a word, and go straight to the computer. I find I am more open before anything gets between my dream state and my keyboard. But more often than not I have kids to get out the door, a dog to take out, or a phone to answer. What also works well for me is walking in the woods with my dog before writing. The quiet time plus the exercise can set me up well for a long day of writing."

Our WWW Facebook friend and aspiring author Carolyn Serratos writes:"I am an early morning person. I enjoy writing early. I think better and my thoughts are fresher and more open to ideas. During the day, when I get busy, I journal thoughts and ideas. That gives me focus for the next morning."

Another WWW friend, Ida Centineo, says:"I tend to write late in the day. I've always been nocturnal -- worked nights for years as a nurse. My best material, interestingly, comes with PMS."

That is interesting, Ida! My longtime online buddy and frequent WWW commenter, Kathy Holmes (whose MYTHS OF THE FATHERLESS was featured on MSNBC this week!) shares this: "When I started writing my first manuscript I wasn't working, had the house all to myself – just me and the three cats, but, yet, I didn't write until 4 p.m. – it took all day long to find the courage to write. I wrote my third manuscript out on our screened Lanai in Florida and after that, I worried I'd never be able to write any place else. Now, after several manuscripts under my belt, and several interstate moves, I can write anywhere at any time. Often I wake up in the middle of the night to write. And, now, juggling a day job as a tech writing consultant from my home office, I work on my manuscripts whenever I get the chance throughout the day."

And Gabrielle Luthy, who's eagerly awaiting the results of RWA's 2010 Golden Heart Awards because she's a finalist for her manuscript, THE LAKE EFFECT, says: "If I had my druthers, I'd write from 10 p.m. to 3 a.m., but while I'm still in that pesky office job, I write in the morning – usually at Starbucks, though sometimes I get up at 4.30 and write at home. Getting words down before anyone intrudes on my day makes me feel I've done something of meaning, which makes it much easier for me to handle what the day throws at me – and makes me much nicer for other to deal with. ;)"

Here's a comment that made me chuckle from WWW fan, Gail Clark, who says she keeps intending to write, but life just never seems to slow down: "My best writing time is … tomorrow."

It could appear among our own What Women Write contributors that we have a preponderance of early birds, but I happen to know Susan is an owl like me. She writes: "I usually write at night. When I was still writing longhand, I would write on my lunch hour or any time that I had a free moment. Now that it is all in the computer, I usually wait until everyone in the house is asleep, and I wind down a bit before digging in. I've tried the morning but writing is such a luxury for me that my mind thinks of all the things that I am 'supposed' to be doing that I get sucked in to the day. Night works best for me!"

Pamela says: "This morning I got up at 6 a.m. and managed to write for an hour before anyone else was up and demanding to be fed or driven to some place. Tomorrow, I'm setting the alarm for 5:30. But I also find I'm most productive if I take my laptop in the car with me and write at my son's soccer practice or while he's in drivers' ed--no Internet to distract me."

Joan writes: "I generally start writing after my first cup of coffee (sometimes it's 6 a.m., sometimes 8 a.m.!) through around noon. I try to write (or edit) again for two hours in the afternoon. I get distracted, or work/work gets in the way, but I really try to stick with that schedule. If I can steal a few hours on the weekend, that's bonus time!"

And Elizabeth: "I write best when I do it early – get up, get life squared away, then head to a coffee shop with a pad and a buck and sit down and write. When I do this, I write fast, spitting out maybe twelve hundred words in forty-five minutes. I often have a secret timer, known as a 9:30 a.m. yoga class, to give me a tiny deadline. Days I manage this, it seems everything goes well. I've accomplished, and it seems so easy, it's crazy it isn't every day I do this. Come fall and school again, I hope to be better, and have words out each morning with the last sip of coffee."

Yoga class as a timer? Who knew?

So what about YOU? We'd love to hear from more of our readers about When women write! Let's stir it up in the comments.

Photo credit: Flowery L*u*z*a*'s Flickr photostream by Creative Commons license

Five Basic Food Groups for the Aspiring Author

By Julie

Remember when you were a kid and learned about the five basic food groups and how important a balanced diet was to growing into a healthy adult?

Or when you gave birth.

Remember how the first year or so, it was relatively easy to figure out what to feed the kid, but the next year, your toddler argued the point every single day that mac 'n cheese and chicken nuggets alone do, in fact, constitute a healthy diet? (And how many of us gave up on that? Ketchup is a vegetable, so said Erma Bombeck.)

So it goes for writers. I believe to be a healthy writer, there are certain basics I must include in my "writer's diet" on a fairly regular basis.

For me, in no particular order, these are:


Books

I know you've heard the saying, "Writers read."

I'm sure you've also engaged in conversations with others who claim to be writers. Were you as stunned as I was when you asked, "What do you like to read?" and their answer was, "Well, I don't really have time to read."

Phhhwwwhaaaaaaaat? (said in best Craig Ferguson voice.)

Perhaps there are exceptions, but I'd have to see the documented evidence to believe it.

Writers read. Period.

We don't all read the same things. Some of us are more versed in the classics than others. Some of us have reading lists from previous years 100 books long, and others of us have lists that struggled to reach ten. Some of us read the same old things month after month, and some, a broader selection of materials, which by the way, is easier said than done.

You might be surprised, though, when you color outside your self-imposed lines. Like ordering that Thai Peanut Salad you always thought you'd hate only to discover it's really quite delicious.

Last week, for instance, I picked up Tana French's In the Woods on Margie Lawson's recommendation. I'd seen the book, even handled it in a bookstore, but always put it down. I don't usually read murder mystery or suspense. Thus, I was surprised to find myself glued to this story for the week it took me to read it, even if I was a little baffled and frustrated by its conclusion. The Likeness, which is supposed to be even better than In the Woods, is on my nightstand now.

Reading is kind of like protein. We can manage without certain other groups for a longish period of time, but protein?

It's kind of a life or death thing.


Music

Music would have to be the fruits and vegetables of my writer's diet. Pretty much neck-and-neck with protein, music makes me a richer, healthier writer in the long run.

I can't tell you how many times I've bounced off the lyrics or mood of a particular song when stumped for a writing topic or stumped by a problem in a work in progress. Nearly everything I write starts out with a working title I "borrowed" from a song or lyrics.

Some writers go so far as to create a formal soundtrack for manuscripts to inspire them as they write. I've kept informal lists, but find they evolve along with my story. What works for my story one month is often not the same the next.

Attending concerts I enjoy is an integral part of my creative life, and I take this pretty seriously. Our What Women Write bloggers are going on a retreat in a month or so, and when I discovered the event we'd scheduled fell on the same weekend as a concert I'd planned to attend for months, the decision was hard and the decision was easy.

I was disappointed to realize I'd have to leave the retreat early, but I also knew if I didn't go to the concert, I'd regret it. I'll be sad to leave my writing sisters a day early, but the nourishment I'll receive from hearing Glenn Hansard and Marketa Irglova perfom (as The Swell Season – you might have seen them in the movie Once) will balance that out. Both will inspire me for a long time.


Movies

Movies may be like starches to you. They're kind of like starches to me. And like starches, I sure do love them.

I prefer to think of them as GRAINS.

I'm frequently amazed how much I learn from watching films. (As is Pamela. See this post.) My husband and I probably watch at least thirty movies a year in theaters. We watch them at home, too, but there's something about the big screen.

Last weekend, we saw Whip It, the latest Ellen Page movie – Juno meets Roller Derby. I came away not only inspired by great lines, great costume and setting details, and great characterization, but also refreshed. I got my head out of my own story and fully into another for two hours.

I got fed.


Publishing news

Most like dairy.

We need it, especially as youngsters, to grow strong and tall with good, weight-bearing bone structure.

Too much dairy may be more than is strictly necessary.

Publishing news is freely available online – perhaps in a greater quantity than is strictly advisable.

After subscribing to every publishing or author's blog that came along in the last few years, I find myself overwhelmed these days. Much of the information is duplicated or it's market news or craft lessons drilled into my head so often I could probably recite them in my sleep, and possibly have.

I'm trimming my subscriptions to a few "must reads." Maybe ten. If I'm really bored or in need of another blog to read after that, there's always Google or the blog rolls many bloggers keep on their blogs to guide me.

Here are a few I think will survive the pruning:

1) Writer Unboxed, a group blog of mostly published authors headed up by Kathleen Bolton and Therese Walsh. They give away a lot of valuable information for free about the journey that took them there. (Therese will be a guest here on What Women Write next week, by the way.)

2) Pub Rants, the very first agent blog I ever read. Kristin Nelson is always to the point and shares something aspiring writers can use. Bookends, LLC is another agent blog I probably won't do without.

3) Blogs of a few authors who have mentored me in one form or another over the years: Diane Chamberlain and Barbara Samuel/O'Neal are the first two that come to mind, but there are certain others.

4) A few editors' blogs that teach me something new nearly every time I read them. EditTorrent, for instance.


Community

Community is to me what oil was to the Tin Man.

Call it oil, call it fat, call it what you will. I may be an introvert at heart, but a little community goes a long way toward making Julie a happy, healthy writer.

I can do without it for a while, but pretty soon I find myself creaky and cranky and stuck in the mud.

I had a recent conversation with a family member about Facebook. She's considering cutting back her Facebook contacts to only family, close friends, and maybe a few online friends she's met in person. Her purpose for having a Facebook account is mainly to keep up with those folks, and she no longer finds it prudent to share the mundane details of her life with random acquaintances.

I don't blame her. But I explained that, as a writer, social networking sites like Facebook are my water cooler.

Most of my writer friends live at least tens of miles away, if not hundreds or thousands. They are my colleagues – my coworkers, if you will. If I need a boost to my writing morale, or to find a good laugh that makes sense only to me as a writer, I can usually count on the community of other writers I've shored up online through Facebook or organizations like Backspace.

And one day, these fellow writers might just be the go-to folks when it comes time to get the word out about my first published novel ... and second and third and so on.

What about you?

Those are my basic food groups as a writer. Without one or more, you might find me a little droopy, not as healthy as when I partake from each on a regular basis.

But here's what's nifty – your basic food groups might not be the same as mine.

I knowwwww! (I love you, Craig Ferguson, for those two phrases alone if nothing else.)

So, tell me, what are some of your basic food groups as a writer or other creative person?