Tag: best selling authors

Interview with Author, Susan Elia MacNeal

        interviews, author quotes   Do other writers find themselves  at 4 in the afternoon, still in their pajamas, lost in their writing ?   Hopefully it only happens at home and not at the corner coffee shop…

My readers are enjoying hearing about other authors‘ writing processes.  I created a Question & Answer-type Interview and then began contacting some of my favorite authors to ask them to participate.  It turns out that not only do these other writers want to share their writing life with us, but they are equally interested in the stories from other authors.

                              In this three-part post, my interview is with Susan Elia MacNeal.   I am especially honored as Susan and her publicist have asked me to review her next book, “His Majesty’s Hope”, to be released in May of His_Majesty's[1]this year.  Please sit back and enjoy a chat with Susan……..

 

Q. Where do you write? Do you have a special room, shed, barn, special space for your writing?

A. I work in my beautiful library, with floor-to-ceiling bookshelves, overstuffed velvet sofas, a fireplace, two cats, and a handsome young manservant to fetch me tea and coffee.  Okay, that’s not true. But I do have two cats.  I live in New York, and space is definitely at a premium. Before our son was born, my husband and I used our guest bedroom as an office. After it became a kid’s room, I started working at the kitchen table, or sometimes cross-legged on the living room sofa.

I joined the New York Writers Room in the West Village for a while and had many happy days there with a view of the Empire State building, but I’m not currently working there. (My son has asthma, and I like being closer to his school in case of emergencies.)  I also love a little café near us—best coffee in the world, plus big tables full of other writers. I also like to work at our local public library, which is one of the old Carnegie libraries.

I’ve also written at a lot of friends’ homes, while they’ve been on vacation – some of them famous. So, parts of my books have been written at actor/writer John Hodgman’s apartment (I also looked after their cat), composer Kristin Andersen Lopez and Robert Lopez’s apartment (yes, of course I picked up his Tony award for Avenue Q and pretended to make an acceptance speech), and Ron Lieber and Jodi Kantor’s apartment. (They’re both journalists for the New York Times, and Jodi’s the author of The Obamas.)

I’ve also written with Josh Axelrad, the author of Repeat Until Rich, which was fun, because we’d break for bourbon at six p.m. But he was always saying, “I’m afraid you’re listening to me not typing and thinking I’m lazy!” I tried to tell him I have too many of my own issues to even thinking about listening to his typing or not typing!

Susan_Elia_(c)_Lesley_Semmelhack              The most amazing place I’ve ever written was just recently at Arisaig House, which is a former manor house, now a bed and breakfast, on the west coast of Scotland. It was also used as an SOE spy training camp during World War II. I was talking to a lot of people alive and living in the area during that period of time, and doing research, but I also wrote in a beautiful room with oriental rugs, a crackling fire, a view of the grounds and shoreline, and three big napping golden labs. Heaven!

But I’ve also written on trains planes and waiting rooms. Basically, I’ve learned to write anywhere and everywhere.

http://www.susaneliamacneal.com/

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Join us to read part two of this wonderful interview (March 7th.) with best-seller author Susan Elia MacNeal .
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Start your month off right!! DON’T MISS UPCOMING BLOGS. A NEW SERIES, “The Writer’s Corner” INTERVIEWS with other  best-selling AUTHORS!

I have had a wonderful response from other authors and plan on featuring an interview once a month .  I have invited such luminaries as: Anne Purser, Dean Koontz, Sheryl Woods, Jo-Ann Mapson, Robert McCammon, Susan Elia MacNeal, Mark Childress, Sue Grafton, Jeffrey Deaver, Rhys Bowen, Elizabeth Gilbert, Amber Winckler, Walter Mosley, Nora Roberts, and many others.

So come along with me; we shall sneak into these writers’ special places, be a fly on the wall and watch them create!
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To receive my posts sign up for my blog, blogs, blogger, writer, author, playwright, books, plays,fiction Go to the home page; On the right side you’ll see a box where you can enter your email address. Click on “join my blog”.  You need to confirm in an email from ‘Writer at Play’ .  Thanks!

The Writer’s Corner..Interview with author Jo-Ann Mapson (part 3)

writers, authors, blogs, interviews, best selling authors    Part III ** Interview with Jo-Ann Mapson** This has been a terrific interview with Jo-Ann.  She has generously shared her writing world with us and she always inspires me to be a better writer.

Q. Have you? Or do you want to write in another genre`?

A. I write some nonfiction, essays, and have been tinkering with a kind of memoir for decades. Occasionally I am moved to write a poem, such as one for my agent, when her beloved dog died, but I’m not very good at it because I don’t practice the habit.

Something that I find compelling these days is the issue of writing and aging. I’m not sure if anyone has written about this yet. John Updike died, Philip Roth retired, Rosamund Pilcher died, Evan Connell died, and it becomes a kind of reckoning; your name will be on that list sooner rather than later. Somehow it makes the act of writing seem authors, writing, writers, interviewsmore important, to get things right, to write something of substance rather than fluff, or “phoning it in,” as they say nowadays. At the same time, I sense myself detaching from it a tiny bit, but it isn’t frightening, it feels natural. Like a part of aging. You cannot beat Father Time.

Here’s another thing: Every writer I know started out as a reader, and still reads. That’s what drew us to the habit in the first place. So when a new writer shows up on the scene and is so uncommonly great, why should there be jealousy or disgruntlement? It’s all being deposited in the great body of literature. This year I reread several books that I recall making me want to write, just to see if they held up. I was so thrilled to discover that they did! Mary Stewart, Rumer Godden, Henry James, even Danielle Steel’s first romance. I was delighted to discover that sense of timelessness that came with the reading.

I also read some new writers I really like: Tana French, who wrote Faithful Place and Broken Harbor, just plain WOW, that woman is brilliant, and I hope I live a long time so I can read all her books because she is just getting started. Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn, The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry by Rachel Joyce, those are a few writers I am keeping my eye on.

I recently hired Carolyn Turgeon to teach in the MFA Program in Writing at the University of Alaska Anchorage where I am core fiction faculty. She is an unassuming genius who takes fairy tales and wrenches them into strange and wonderful parables of women’s issues. She reinvents the core stories, which is what writing is, taking the old and telling it new. I’m all for new writers succeeding, pushing the boundaries of the form, and pushing me eventually out of a job. I absolutely love to work with budding writers. It is so satisfying to watch them succeed. I am standing there teary on the sidelines saying, “You go, Girl!” What a joy to be even a sliver of a part of that.

interviews, authors, writers, bloggersI am so blessed. I have a wonderful writing life, but there was much gritty scrambling to arrive where I am, and I know there’s more ahead. And I think that is the way it ought to be, earned rather than given, never taken for granted, so that when success happens, you realize the importance of it and relish your hard work coming to fruition.new fiction, authors, writers, interviews

 

http://www.joannmapson.com/

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Start your month off right!! DON’T MISS UPCOMING BLOGS. the NEW SERIES, “The Writer’s Corner” INTERVIEWS with other  best-selling AUTHORS!

I have had a wonderful response from other authors and plan on featuring an interview once a month .  I have invited such luminaries as:  Ann Purser, Susan Elia MacNeal, Robert McCammon, Rhys Bowen, Dean Koontz, Sheryl Woods, Jo-Ann Mapson, Jeffrey Deaver, Elizabeth Gilbert, Maya Angelou, Walter Mosley, Nora Roberts, and many others.

So come along with me; we shall sneak into these writers’ special places, be a fly on the wall and watch them create!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
To receive my posts sign up for my blog, blogs, blogger, writer, author, playwright, books, plays,fiction Go to the home page; On the right side you’ll see a box where you can enter your email address. Click on “join my blog“.  You need to confirm in an email from ‘Writer at Play’ .  Thanks!

The Writer’s Corner… Interview with author Jo-Ann Mapson (part 2)

authors, writing, writers, interviews Part II ** Interview with Jo-Ann Mapson

writers, best sellers, Owen's Daughter, Finding Casey

  Q. ‘What does the process look like…?’(continued)

A. Editing on the computer screen is entirely different than one the page. I realize that maybe due to the relative newness of computers. I wrote my first (unpublished) novel on a typewriter. It can take me a year or two to finish a book, but strangely I am writing much faster now that I am older. No reason to count the hours and the earnings, it’s never going to be profitable in all ways.

In other ways it probably looks like an older woman who is sitting on her butt, typing at the desk, frowning at the writers, authors, best sellers, blogs, createscreen while the floor could really use some sweeping and dogs are racing through the house alerting the world that a bird has flown by or some such shattering news. I go what my husband calls “inward,” and everything else falls away. Once I came directly from the shower wrapped in a towel to write something important down, and hours later, there I was, starkers. Skype, you know? I am clothed these days.

The strangest part is that click of a computer key that sends it to my editor. It’s such a small thing compared to the year of work. This massive effort reduced to an electronic ping! When my editorial letter arrives, it begins to feel a little more real, on it’s way to becoming a book. I love rewriting. Just thank God for it every single day, because that is where good writing pokes its head up. Receiving cover art is another favorite stage for me. I love to see how professional people who cherish images the way I love words come up with the visual equivalent of my story.

It’s truly intoxicating seeing the transformation. I’ve been extremely lucky with my covers, haven’t I? When galley proofs arrive, I just am giddy with the thought that “that thing is done!” Yet I am generally in the middle of another book, so that moment is fleeting.

Q. Where/when do you first discover your characters ?writers, blogs, interviews, authors, writing

A. They come to me in brief images initially. I can’t quite see their faces, but I know their feelings. I see them in a place—say, in a Western bar, plain wrap rehab, sleeping under the stars, walking a greyhound, dying, arguing, crying, wherever—and I write toward that image because I absolutely, empirically have to know how they got there and what they are going to do next.

Q. What inspired your stories ?

A. I think I am most intrigued with the question: How do people go on after something tragic or life-changing occurs? I should confess, my husband is the one who actually told me this, quite recently. Had you asked me last year, I wouldn’t have been able to answer. He said, “Your life is that story, of how to go on, so it’s natural to me that you would write about that notion endlessly.” Stephen Dobyns has the most amazing poem called “How to Like It,” in the collection Cemetery Nights that for me is a perfect explanation for why anyone writes……..JoAnn.dog2

Join us to read the final part III of this riveting interview with best-seller author Jo-Ann Mapson.
 http://www.joannmapson.com/
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Start your month off right!! DON’T MISS UPCOMING BLOGS. A NEW SERIES, “The Writer’s Corner” INTERVIEWS with other  best-selling AUTHORS!

I have had a wonderful response from other authors and plan on featuring an interview once a month .  I have invited such luminaries as:  Anne Purser, Susan Elia MacNeal, Rhys Bowen, Robert McCammon, Dean Koontz, Sheryl Woods, Jo-Ann Mapson, Jeffrey Deaver, Elizabeth Gilbert, Walter Mosley, Nora Roberts, and many others.

So come along with me; we shall sneak into these writers’ special places, be a fly on the wall and watch them create!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
To receive my posts sign up for my blog, blogs, blogger, writer, author, playwright, books, plays,fiction Go to the home page; On the right side you’ll see a box where you can enter your email address. Click on “join my blog“.  You need to confirm in an email from ‘Writer at Play’ .  Thanks!

The Writer’s Corner… an Interview with author Jo-Ann Mapson (part 1)

authors, writers, writing, best sellers, Interview              Do other writers sometimes find themselves  at 4 in the afternoon still in their pajamas, writing furiously?  Do all of their #2 pencils have to be sharpened before they can begin?

I thought my readers might enjoy hearing about other authors‘ writing processes.  So I created a Question & Answer-type Interview.  The response has been wonderful and I can’t wait to share it with you.

  In this three-part post, my second interview is with best-selling author, Jo-Ann Mapson.  She is one of my favorites and I always wait with bated breath until her next book comes out.  Her characters, (men, women, dogs, horses), are vivid and believable and they often return in a new book.  Jo-Ann takes them down the same roads we have all traveled….love, loss, grief, death, friendship; stumbling along through life, gathering what wisdom we can.
I hope that you enjoy her insights, humor and thoughts…….writing, authors, interview, best seller,writers

Q. Where do you write? Do you have a special room, shed, barn, closet, a special space for your writing?

A. I have an office in the smallest bedroom of our house. My desk is small. Objects that inspire me surround me. A felted greyhound statue, my cowboy boots, a photo of my great aunt, this wonderful print “The Land of Make Believe” that is a kind of map of childhood stories hangs above my desk. A writer needs to be able to write anywhere, though. Those kinds of constraints such as special places, complete silences, bingo tchochkees, can cripple, so I find it best to force myself to write anywhere.

Q. Do you have a set time each day to write or do you write only when you are feeling creative?

A. Oh, my gosh, waiting for creativity to visit would never get a page, let alone a book written. I work everyday, mid-morning to dinnertime. This timetable is subject to change, but not the number of hours. I’m not sure why. Some books, like The Wilder Sisters, get written in special circumstances; that particular California summer was so hot that I wrote lying down in bed with my laptop, shades drawn, fan running.

Q. Do you have any special rituals when you sit down to write?

A. No rituals other than a cool drink and fan blowing. I usually warm up to writing by answering a few emails. Pre-Internet, I liked to start my writing day by writing a letter to a friend. I miss that. I worry what will happen to history if letter writing goes away forever. It’s such a revealing art.

Q. What is your mode of writing?

A. I write on an iMac. Arthritis (and probably lack of use!) limits how much writing by hand I can do. I have strange handwriting, half-cursive, half-print, very hard even for me to read. Writing on the computer makes things so much easier for me. What works for you is the way to go.

Q. Do you ‘get lost’ in your writing and for how long?

A. The “zone,” that wonderful, addictive, “I am but a vessel” kind of feeling only comes when it wishes, doggone it, but I always write in pursuit of it. It’s writer cocaine.

Q. When did you begin to write seriously?

A. From the moment I could hold a pencil, I was reporting on things, writing to understand things that happened, and in my head, whole stories were forming. All writing is serious.

Q. How long after that were you published?writers, authors, interviews, best sellers

A. Thirty plus years, with the occasional poem, short story published here and there in a journal, or newspaper. Really, for most writers, you’ve got to live a little life in order to have anything worthwhile to write about. You can’t fake the kinds of issues it takes to write a book that compels a reader. Take for instance grief. Or the highest moment of happiness you can imagine. Or something as small as a minor injustice that doesn’t sit right with you gathers weight, momentum. If you want to say anything of worth about those topics, you either have to have experienced them, pursued them, or watched them happen to someone else.

Q. …..and the all important: What does the process of going from “no book” to “finished book” look like?

A. I suppose it looks like a messy, disorganized pile of research books, empty coffee cups, talismans, doodles, distractions at the start. Strangely, because writing is so ephemeral these days, it’s kind of invisible. It lives in “The Cloud,” or Carbonite, rarely in concrete pages until it’s fashioned into a book. I print out to edit by hand because I need to have that concrete format………

 Biography  Jo-Ann Mapson lives and writes in Santa Fe, New Mexico, with her husband and three Italian greyhounds. Her 11 novels can best be described as slightly Southwestern in setting, character-oriented in execution, and edgy with humor that sometimes goes awry. Among her favorite things are dogs, Old Gringo cowboy boots, reading, making jam, green chile, and laughter with friends and family. Her second novel, Blue Rodeo, was made into a CBS television movie starring Kris Kristofferson. Several of her books have been bestsellers. Many of her books have been Indie bound and Booksense picks. She won the American Library Association’s RUSA award for Solomon’s Oak, and has been honored with awards for research and creativity at the University of Alaska Anchorage, where she is core fiction faculty in the low residency MFA Program that she created with her colleagues. Forthcoming from Bloomsbury is Owen’s Daughter, which features some of her characters from Blue Rodeo as well as the family in Finding Casey (2012). She is currently at work on a new novel.

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Part II will be featured in the February  7th blog and Part III February 12th . Don’t miss this fascinating look into a best-selling author’s writing life.

http://www.joannmapson.com/

To go to other interviews: click here

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To receive my posts sign up for my blog, blogs, blogger, writer, author, playwright, books, plays,fictionGo to the home page; On the right side you’ll see a box where you can enter your email address. Click on “join my blog“. You need to confirm in an email from ‘Writer at Play’ . Thanks!

Don’t miss an Interview with Jo-Ann Mapson Tuesday

writing, authors, interview, best seller,writers                              Next Tuesday the second in my series of Interviews will be with Jo-Ann Mapson.     I thought my readers might enjoy hearing about other authors’ writing processes.  So I created a Question & Answer-type Interview and then began contacting some of my favorite authors to ask them to take part.

  In this three-part blog, we will chat with best-selling author, Jo-Ann Mapson.  She is one of my favorites and I always wait with bated breath until her next book comes out.  Her characters, (men, women, dogs, horses), are vivid and believable and they often return in one of her new books.

I hope that you enjoy her insights, humor and really great stories….  writers, interviews, best selling authors, blogs

In the coming months:  Authors, Susan Elia MacNeal,  Rhys Bowen, Walter Mosley, Tasha Alexander, and many more will share their writing life with us!