Author Interviews
Eileen Flanagan
Question 1.
When did you know that you wanted to be a writer?
I wrote poems and stories when I was young, but I never thought
about writing full time until I was in my late twenties. I
was feeling burnt out in a non-profit job and had just started
attending a Quaker meeting.
I had a spiritual growth spurt that was accompanied by a
very strong urge to write. It was only then that I realized
I had always enjoyed writing and had gotten positive feedback
from teachers over the years. Getting a few articles published
gave me the courage to quit my non-profit job and begin my
first book.
Question 2.
What inspires you to write?
I’m interested in how spiritual principles apply to
real life situations, so I can get inspiration anywhere. Often
it’s things that bother me that compel me to start an
article or book, though I’m more likely to stick with
it if I have a sense of clarity and purpose about what I want
to say.
Question 3.
How do you plan your writing day?
I write while my children are in school. Usually I drop them
off and head to my favorite organic, fair-trade coffee shop
where I spend a ridiculous amount of money on decaf tea and
veggie egg rolls. I actually get more writing done there because
there’s no laundry or bills glaring at me over the laptop.
A wonderfully supportive and encouraging community of writers
has developed at the coffee shop. I usually stay until it’s
time to pick up my kids. Then I’m on mom duty.
Question 4.
Describe your publishing break in full.
I feel like I’ve had two breaks, and both centered around
finding the right agent. My first book was a spiritual approach
to romantic relationships, and I wrote the whole thing and
a proposal before I went to an International Women’s
Writing Guild conference http://www.iwwg.com/index.php?section=events
to attend their “Meet the Agents” session.
I met an agent who agreed to represent my book and sold it
pretty quickly. Then I had two kids, which seriously slowed
the momentum of my writing career. By the time I started writing
my current book, it was clear that my first agent wouldn’t
be such a good fit for it, so I started the process of agent
hunting again, this time before the manuscript was finished.
I remembered my good experience with the IWWG, so I looked
on their website and found Stephany Evans, my current agent.
She was the perfect fit and got the deal with Tarcher/Penguin,
my publisher. I believe finding an experienced agent who believes
in your project is really the key.
Question 5.
Tell me about your book
'The Wisdom to Know the Difference' is about how
the Serenity Prayer applies to everyday situations and decisions.
It is full of stories of people finding the courage to change
their lives (and sometimes the world), as well as stories
of letting go and finding peace. The thirty people interviewed
come from diverse religious and racial backgrounds, including
a Katrina evacuee, a mother who became an outspoken peace
activist after her son was killed in Iraq, and a cattle rancher
who went from bankruptcy to winning Paul Newman’s “most
generous business” award. Each chapter ends with questions
designed to help readers reflect on the lessons of their own
lives.
Question 6.
What projects are you planning for the future?
I have several ideas, but none has grabbed me by the shirt-collar
and said, “I’m the one!” yet. Please follow
my blog http://www.eileenflanagan.com/blog/if
you want to find out what comes next.
Question 7.
What advice would you give to aspiring writers?
Start by writing, if that is what you really want to do–even
if it’s just when your kids are napping or on the train
ride home from work. Don’t wait until you have a year
of uninterrupted time because that may never happen. Practice
and find your voice, then it will be much easier to find your
audience.
Eileen Flanagan is a Quaker who writes about how spirituality
can inform the way we live each day, from romantic relationships
and parenting, to race relations and politics. Her new book
The Wisdom to Know the Difference (Tarcher, Fall 2009) offers
spiritual tools to discern when to let go and when to stand
up for what matters. She is also the author of God Raising
Us: Parenting as a Spiritual Practice (Pendle Hill, June 2008),
Listen with Your Heart: Seeking the Sacred in Romantic Love
(Warner 1999), as well as numerous other articles and essays.
To learn more, visit http://www.eileenflanagan.com.
Toni L. P. Kelner
Author of the 'Where are they now? Novels
1. At what age did you start writing?
Very young. I have a version of "Thumbelina" I wrote in the
second grade. I also illustrated it--badly, I'm sorry to say.
I started writing seriously in high school.
2. When did you get your first publishing success?
I suppose it depends on what you count as success. I mean,
I sold a dozen limericks to DRAGON Magazine, but I don't think
those were all that important. Down Home Murder, my first
novel, came out in June of 1993.
3. Where do you get your ideas from?
Ideas are easy. The germ of Curse of the Kissing Cousins
came from watching too many reruns of The Brady Bunch, and
the idea for my Anthony-nominated short story "Skull and Cross-Examinations"
came from a book about pirates.
4. What novel did you struggle with most and why?
Probably the first, Down Home Murder. I made so many mistakes.
In the first full draft, I forgot to break it up into chapters,
and I had way too many characters. I had to rewrite that one
a number of times. More recently, Curse of the Kissing Cousins
was tough because I was establishing a very different protagonist
in a very different setting from my previous eight books.
5. Which novel have you felt most satisfied with?
I'm supposed to feel satisfied? Oops. Seriously, though,
I'm pretty happy with Who Killed the Pinup Queen?, the book
that will be coming out in January. At least until I see the
reviews...
6. You're renowned for your mystery stories, do you see yourself
continuing in this genre or do you have plans to tackle different
genres?
I feel very comfortable with mystery story structure, so
I'm not leaving that behind any time soon. But I am branching
out into urban fantasy, both in the anthologies I've co-edited
with Charlaine Harris and in other anthologies. At least I'm
trying to. Somehow, they end up being mysteries. Both my vampire
story from Many Bloody Returns and my werewolf story from
Wolfsbane and Mistletoe have been nominated for mystery awards.
7. When is your next book out?
January 5, 2010. Not that I'm counting the days or anything...
I've also got a couple of translations coming out this fall:
a German translation of Wolfsbane and Mistletoe and an Italian
translation of Curse of the Kissing Cousins.
8. What is a typical writing day for you?
I am the poster child for BAD writing habits. I don't have
a regular schedule, and I'm not sure I have a typical writing
day, either. I do my best writing at night, or rather, in
the wee hours of the morning. If I didn't have kids, I'd probably
stay up until 3 or so each night, and sleep late enough to
make up for it. I can edit during the day.
9. It is hard to achieve publication, do you have any advice
for those writers still trying to place their work?
It's hard, but not impossible. My advice for new writers
is two-fold. One, do not self-publish or subsidy publish fiction--you
should never sell yourself short. Two, DON'T GIVE UP!
Toni L.P. Kelner believes in multitasking, which is why
she's working on two series. On the mystery side, she writes
the "Where are they now?" novels for Berkley Prime
Crime. Curse of the Kissing Cousins, the first, came out in
May, and Who Killed the Pinup Queen? comes out in January
2010. Kelner also co-edits urban fantasy anthologies with
bestselling author Charlaine Harris. They've done vampire
birthdays in Many Bloody Returns and werewolf Christmases
in Wolfsbane and Mistletoe. They recently handed in their
third, Death's Excellent Vacation about supernatural creatures
on vacation. If that weren't enough Kelner is also a prolific
short story writer. Her pirate mystery "Skull and Cross-Examinations"
has been nominated for an Anthony Award and her werewolf story
"Keeping Watch Over His Flock" is up for a Macavity
Award. Kelner has won a Romantic times Career Achievement
Award and an Agatha. She lives near Boston with author/husband
Stephen Kelner, two daughters, and two guinea pigs.
Jeffrey Oronato
The SIN of Addison Hall
1. When did you start writing and what motivated you to do
so?
In a word "passion". The idea for my novel germinated when
I was going to be gym one Sunday morning. My gym was located
next to a church and I noticed that while my gym parking lot
was packed, the adjoining church parking lot was practically
empty. What if you could create a workout that builds the
body and edifies the soul? My idea for doing that became the
first chapter I wrote.
2. Have you ever encountered writers block and any tips for
over-coming it?
My novel, The SIN of Addison Hall, has taken 7 years to
write. Quite often I encountered slow creative times. The
way I overcame it was by ensuring I wrote for at least 30
minutes everyday. Some days I penned one sentence and other
days I got "in the zone" and wrote for hours. To me, writing
is all about discipline.
3. How do you create your storylines?
My method is perhaps a bit uncoventional. I know the qualities
I want my primary characters to have in the beginning of my
story and I know the qualities I want them to morph into at
the end. It becomes a process of filling in the gaps so this
change occurs in an interesting, realistic and entertaining
way. Suffice to say, I do a LOT of re-writes. I think I did
nine for The SIN of Addison Hall.
4. Did you ever feel like giving up on your writing dream?
I didn't write with the end in mind, I used writing as a
wonderful diversion. Initially my dream wasn't to get published
as much as it was to tell my story - even if it was only for
the consumption of friends and family. I must admit however
that after all the time and effort I put into The SIN of Addison
Hall, it would have been disappointing to not have it published.
5. How did it feel to complete your novel and then learn
that it was being published?
It was humbling. Writing is such a solitary act and you
are never sure if what you are writing is good, or even palatable.
For me, getting The SIN of Addison Hall published validated
the quality of my story. My writing can and will continue
to improve, but I know I can create compelling stories.
6. Any advice you can give to other writers?
I have had the good fortune on a few different occasions
to sit down and chat with Bobby Moresco, co-screenwriter for
the Academy Award winning movie, "Crash". His advice was simple.
"Writing is re-writing. Write about a topic you are passionate
about and be disciplined enough to do it everyday. And once
you finish your draft, the real work begins!"
The book will be available for purchase on my publisher's
website www.bryantparkpress.com
on 8/3/09 but it is available now for pre-purchase on Amazon.
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