Today was a “Ready, Set, Go” day. You know the kind. You jump out of bed and you start to run. As the day progresses, you run faster and farther, until by day’s end, you’re too tired to do anything except fall back into that same bed you jumped out of hours before.

Tonight even the book I’m reading  about becoming invisible (and no, not the Harry Potter invisibility cloak kind of invisible) won’t keep me awake past ten. I’ll have to stay visible awhile longer for lack of information, or rather my character will, because, of course, the book is research.

A novelist’s day is never done until she closes her eyes. And then she dreams.

I did take a lunch break. Between appointments I wandered over to Panera Bread, chose the salad with the least number of calories, and sat in a corner to watch plainly visible people.

You can learn a lot at Panera. People are not shy about what they say in public. Writers love to eavesdrop, and we love to stare. We also love to spin stories from other people’s utterances, or odd things they do, or the sadness in their eyes. In fact if you’re trying to hide out, don’t sit near a writer, because we’ll be paying attention. My friend Diane Chamberlain frequently blogs or comments on Facebook about things she sees at Starbucks, where she writes portions of her novels.  In fact, a recent novel began with something she saw there and reimagined. (more…)

It’s not unusual to find me in the kitchen baking something or other. There I was again yesterday, preparing to make bread while I considered what to write about for my next blog.

Bread baking is a weekly ritual in my house, and I often use the time to think about my next writing project. As I was taking ingredients off the shelf and deciding which to use this week and which to save, I realized, as I did a few years ago, how many similarities there are in creating a delicious loaf of bread and a fabulous story.

I have a cushy job, right? I set my own hours, spend a huge percentage of them living in a fantasy world, stare unblinking into space for days without anyone calling the little men with the butterfly nets. I’m a writer.

So with so many pluses, what do writers  worry about?  In the interests of education, I thought today I’d list a few of mine.  Clearly I have forgotten some of them, but I won’t worry about that. Not with so much better material to occupy me.

1. A quick perusal of Amazon today shows that while Sunset Bridge received 27 reviews, so far One Mountain Away has received only 17. Does this mean fewer people are buying  it? Does it mean they have read it, but they are too kind to review it poorly so they haven’t reviewed it at all? Does it mean they bought it, but it’s still sitting on a shelf because they haven’t yet forced themselves (for a variety of possible reasons) to open and read it?
2. How can I gently request that my readers review it without sounding like a relentless self-promoter?
3. While going through the first round of edits on Somewhere Between Luck and Trust I’ve been forced (!) to make some changes. Will the changes somehow contradict something else in the story that I’ve forgotten about? Will my readers toss the book across the room because my character eats pickles in one chapter and renounces them in another. (Full disclosure: There aren’t any real pickles in this story. I don’t think so, anyway. Darn, maybe I’d better check . . .)
4. My colleagues are busily putting books up on line. I’ve been busy moving. Will the big e-book tidal wave pass right over me as I unpack boxes of sheets and towels? Will my readers forget who I am if I don’t put backlist online by tomorrow?
5. I haven’t tweeted in days. Furthermore I have nothing relevant to tweet. (Not that I should be stopped by something that minor.)
6. I would like to send a Christmas email to my readers. Do I have anything worth saying? Can I say anything  in 300 words or less? It’s not likely.
7. I would like to send my editor and agent citrus fruit for the holiday. How many of their other writers are doing exactly the same thing? Dare I ask and spoil the surprise? Better than boxes of spoiling fruit?
8. When, exactly, will I have time to tackle the new books I want to put online? Perhaps another Shenandoah Album novel. Perhaps another Ministry is Murder mystery. Can I squeeze more writing time into my schedule when I’m now living in the land of perpetual sunshine and opportunity?

Election Day! I hope you’ve already been out to vote. I did not, but only because I am between residences and have been disenfranchised accordingly.  Not voting in a presidential election feels very wrong, although giving a false address would have been worse, right?

I’m writing this a week in advance since I’m about to travel to Ohio on four separate missions. I’ll sign books at the Buckeye Book Fair on Saturday, November 2nd, on Sunday I’ll begin brainstorming with my new brainstorming group, and on Thursday I’ll make a quick drive north to see what’s happening with our cottage renovations in Western New York.

That’s only three missions, you say? Did I mention two of my children and all three of my grandchildren live in Cleveland, where our brainstormers are meeting this week? Enough said? At least I’ll be there for the bedtime stories and for trick-or-treating since this year it will be post-Halloween and post-Sandy.

Here’s a quick rundown of my week:

1. Buckeye Book Fair:   Buckeye is a fabulous event. What’s not to love about a book fair where  readers line up half an hour before to get in the door and buy autographed books from their favorite authors? I love being asked to sign at Buckeye, and even though I no longer live in Ohio, I still have so many roots there. Of course being able to sign with good friends is an added plus. Casey Daniels, alias Kylie Logan, will be sitting at my table, along with our mutual friend Karen Harper.  Serena Miller will be joining us for the first time, and close to a hundred authors will be represented.
2. Brainstorming:  My former brainstorming group has disbanded. Several of our members aren’t writing at the moment, and so Casey and I have formed a new one.  I explained the ins and out of brainstorming here last year. We meet for as many days as we have authors. Each of us hastwo hour-and-a-half sessions to discuss works in progress or even ones we’re simply considering. Then we explain what we need help with and the floodgates open. We tape each session because it’s so easy to miss ideas, some of which suddenly leap off the tape and into our plans for the book. I’ll be working on the third book in the Goddesses Anonymous series and on. . .
3. Branding:  Branding is one of those promotion and social media buzz words that’s being tossed around a lot. Basically we, as authors, are told to figure out what we do best, then find a tag line that best expresses that to put on our websites and every piece of promotional material we produce. Quite frankly given a choice between working on this and walking on hot coals, I would be stumped. But hopefully my new brainstorming buddies will help. If they don’t, you’ll need to put on your thinking caps.

I will have internet, so join me on my Facebook Page while I’m gone. I’ll be checking in whenever I can. I promise renovation photos when I return. If there’s anything to see.  The last I heard they were still waiting for a permit. Don’t we love bureacracy? Which brings me back to . . .

VOTE!!!!

Surfing in Vero Beach a few days after Hurricane Sandy.

Sandy has come and gone, and while she visited Vero Beach she rearranged sand and assisted in a few home renovations.  Today’s prize as we walked on the beach was an intact set of steps. To where? Who knows? We were more or less hoping for some pieces of eight from one of the Spanish galleons that sank off this coast in 1715, but you can’t have everything.

Sandy’s real gift to the Treasure Coast, was the towering waves. On Friday night we ventured out to see what damage had been wrought and found about thirty surfers riding them, or at least trying to. The beach was crowded with onlookers, and we quickly learned why. One of the surfers was Kelly Slater, 11 times world champion, and both the youngest and oldest holder of that title. How often do you encounter a champion on a random walk?

I’ve never paid much attention to surfing.Although I grew up on Florida’s Gulf Coast, our waves were tame. I’ve visited Hawaii’s North Shore, home of the famous Pipeline, but never in the winter when surfers worldwide come to ride the waves. So this was my first real surfing demo, and what a great one. I was reminded as I watched of some of the similarities to writing.

• The first time you wade into the water or the manuscript, a safe outcome seems impossible.
• Practice is the difference between sinking and gliding happily to your destination.
• Once you’ve learned the basics you must be willing to take chances to get to the next level.
• It’s best to surf (and write) with friends to support you and catch you if you need help
• Sharks aren’t always visible, so you should be ever vigilant.
• You don’t have to be a pro or a champion to love the experience.

Have you ever wanted to write a novel or even your memoirs? Have you ever wanted to hop on a surfboard? Now’s the time to climb aboard. What’s stopping you?

***If you’re anywhere near Wooster, OH on November 2, come visit me at the Buckeye Book Fair from 9:30 to 4, for an autographed copy of Sunset Bridge or One Mountain Away.  My friends Casey Daniels, Kylie Logan, Serena Miller and Karen Harper will also be autographing.

This week Copyblogger featured an article guaranteed to catch my eye: 8 Strange Rituals of Very Productive Writers.  Seventy novels later I guess I think of myself as productive and possibly quite strange. So, of course, I had to find out what odd and amazing things my fellow writers do, just in case I want to add them to my repertoire.

The list began with this.  A number of famous authors, Mark Twain, Marcel Proust, and Edith Warton, among others, liked to write lying down. Note none of them were using computers? I could write propped up in bed, I suppose, with my computer on a stand but don’t quite see the point. By the time I moved all my equipment in place and snuggled in for the count, I would have to make a trip to the bathroom. It’s inevitable. Then the process would begin all over again. So scratch that one, as well as the one about writing standing up. It wouldn’t impede bathroom trips, but I’m tired just thinking about it.

Next I learned that taking a bike ride or walking without a destination might jump start my creativity. Have I ever mentioned that I didn’t learn to ride a bike until I was twelve, and only then because I was tricked? I am still the founding mother of the expression “hell on wheels.”  If trips to the emergency room are good for creativity, then bring on the bicycles.

As for walking without a destination? I have lived in enough places where wandering mindlessly is a death sentence, or at least a recipe for a good old-fashioned mugging, so I kind of like to know where I am and why. Let’s scratch that one, too.

As I already knew, lots of writers are best served by music blasting as they work. I began my college life as a music major, and after one entire year of sight-singing classes, I still have a bad habit of do-re-mi-ing every piece of music I hear. Since that’s easily translated into my piano-playing fingers, I can imagine that piece of dialogue:  ”Joe, I really can’t so, la, re, find a way to tell you that mi, ti, do.”  Not going to happen.

Here’s a fact I didn’t need to know. John Cheever wrote in his underwear. Mr. Cheever apparently didn’t begin his career with small children underfoot. And now that the small children have children of their own, I am not so enchanted with the body that bore them that I want to literally gaze at my navel as I write. Scratch that one, too. Please!

Invoking divine inspiration? Well, quite honestly, I save my conversations with the Almighty for things like world peace, ending hunger, asking forgiveness. So, no, that’s probably not going to work for me. As for using someone else’s meditation? I would have to memorize it, wouldn’t I? Me, who couldn’t recite my PO Box number on the telephone yesterday.

I’ve skipped a few rituals, but I’ll finish with the most perplexing. Have a drink or two. Really? This worked so well for F. Scott Fitzgerald and Zelda that I should give it a whirl? Try googling “alcoholic writers” for entire websites devoted to the subject, including this one, which lists 15 greats, including Edgar Allen Poe, Hunter Thompson, Faulkner, Joyce and Hemingway. Was alcohol key to their brilliance?  Don’t you wonder how many wondrous works they didn’t write because they couldn’t hold a pen after a night on the town?

Here’s the truth. Almost anything that helps you sit down and write your novel is good. In the long run, it’s not the ritual but the sitting and doing that wins the day.

So that’s where I’ll leave you today. The 9th Strange Ritual? Sitting down and writing. The good news is that nothing is stranger and more wonderful.

After years as the wife of a minister it still always amazed me when people asked what my husband did all day. I mean, the ministry is a cushy job, right? Write a sermon, preach it and shake hands after church. Do the occasional wedding and hospital visit and spend the rest of the week on the golf course.

Of course, real ministry is nothing like that. The average minister works at least 55 hours a week, often more. Ministerial spouses tire of feeling like widows, and consequently ministers have a surprisingly high divorce rate. Some of them are so busy they don’t notice.

Writers get the same question. Our versions go like this. “You mean it’s your job?” “Isn’t it nice to work if you feel like it.”

Of course there are writers, many of them, who only work when inspiration strikes. They turn out a book now and then (or never) and support themselves in other ways because the occasional book only reaps occasional royalties. Those of us who do at least partially support ourselves with our writing can be happily married to ministers because we, too, work all the time.

So what do writers do all day?

Today isn’t a normal day for me. I’m between books, one book waiting to be edited, another proposal sent in this week for acceptance. Normally there’s serious writing on every afternoon’s agenda. Right now, though, with nothing confirmed on the novella that’s due in March, writing might be premature.  I might start anyway and take my chances, or I might clear out other projects.

The morning began with an early email to my editor and agent asking for an update. Since we’re in the midst of a move, I need to schedule my response time for upcoming edits.  Emails have been flying ever since as we’ve agreeably worked out details.  Along the way my editor sent me final covers of two of the three reissues of my Shenandoah Album novels.  It’s clear the art department worked hard on these.  I’m delighted and told her so.

My email also turned up the synopsis for another of the novellas in the upcoming Christmas anthology.  I noticed something in the synopsis that made something in mine incorrect.  I emailed my co-authors because we will have to coordinate carefully.  The three books are linked, and all details have to match.  While I’ve never met Janice Kay Johnson or Sarah Mayberry, I’m enjoying them immensely. They’re easy to work with, and we think alike.

I caught up on more email, answering reader questions, checking writers loops that I subscribe to, and posting an update on my Facebook page.  I realized I needed to set up this blog since I’ll be at a home inspection on Friday morning, so I began this post.  All before 10 o’clock.

It’s 11 now.  I’ve worked on our upcoming move, an upcoming brainstorming session with my brainstorming group, and re-read my novella outline.  The list goes on.

This is a great job.  It’s a busy job, too, with lots of juggling required.  Still, how lucky am I?   Because even though I’m busy, sometimes I have to ask myself what I do all day.  Because it rarely feels like work. Anybody who can say that has been uniquely blessed.

Diane Chamberlain and I have been chatting back and forth for the past two weeks, covering subjects like how to present “unsympathetic” characters sympathetically, character growth and change, whether characters become real to us, and more. If you missed the previous posts, you can scroll down here for my portions, and visit Diane’s blog, as well, to find the whole conversation. Today we’re concluding with some questions our blog readers have asked along the way.

As a special treat everyone who commented on either of our blogs is eligible for a book giveaway. Diane’s Summer’s Child, and my Sunset Bridge. We’ll let random.org choose our winners on Sunday, and you have until Saturday midnight to comment.

We hope you’ve enjoyed our back and forth. We thought it would be a fun way for you to get to know us and our books, and your comments have affirmed that. Diane and I always enjoy a good conversation, so we’re glad we could share this one with you.

Here’s our final portion of that conversation.

Diane: Meredith also asked a “non-character-specific” question I’ll turn over to you, Emilie: “How do you get started on a book?” Since you and I are nearly ready to start our next novels, that’s a good question!

Emilie: Story ideas come from the oddest places. A snippet of conversation. A glimpse of someone’s life. I’m particularly fond of creating books from titles–which is why I hate to have mine changed by my publishers. Once the glimmer of an idea presents itself, I let it simmer. Often two ideas collide at the same time and turn out to be meant for each other, even though it wasn’t love at first sight. Once I have enough to play with, I spend time considering possibilities, jotting them down into what I call my “Scenes and Revelations” file, in no particular order. Eventually that assumes the shape of an outline or a synopsis, and I’m in business.

Diane, do you work differently?

Diane: Emilie, I think I do work in a similar fashion, and what strikes home for me in what you said is “two ideas collide at the same time.” I love taking two diverse ideas and seeing what happens when I throw them together. My favorite example is The Escape Artist. I had two ideas: 1) a woman on the run with her little son, and 2) a woman buys a used computer and discovers information on it that must go to the police. When I turned those women into one woman–she’s on the run, so she can’t go to the police–I had a real story.

On my blog, Sheree asked us if we worry about a strong character from someone else’s story creeping into our own writing. What do you think?

Emilie: I do know writers who refuse to read fiction when they’re writing, for that very reason, but that means I wouldn’t be able to read at all. I do try to make sure I’m not reading similar material. For instance, I’ve never read any of Jennifer Chiavarini’s quilt series, simply because I don’t want to worry about inadvertently absorbing material or characters from her work to use in my own quilt series. 

I think we filter everything we write through our own experiences, so even if something about someone else’s character resonates for us and we find ourselves isolating that quality and playing with it, whatever we come up with is unique.

Same or different for you? And let’s finish with one more reader’s question, asked by Anne on your blog. When you’re writing one book, do you have your next book in mind, or do you wait until you have a finished project before thinking about your next?

Which you know, Diane.  Time’s always key, isn’t it?  But we can always make time for a chat like this one.

Diane and I both thank you for reading along with us.

Today the fun is definitely at Diane Chamberlain’s blog as Diane and I continue our conversation about “difficult” characters, choices we make as writers, and other writing topics.  Friday the conversation returns to my blog for (most likely) the final salvo.  So scoot over to Diane’s blog today for the newest scoop.

And don’t forget!  We’re giving away copies of Diane’s Summer’s Child and my Sunset Bridge.  So comment or ask a question to enter the random giveaway.

Enjoy.

Diane Chamberlain, one of my best friends as well as one of my favorite authors, is joining me for a chat on our blogs. To celebrate my new book, One Mountain Away, we decided to have a conversation about characters—specifically characters who might not be all that sympathetic, at least not at first blush. We started our chat  on Diane’s blog and today we’ve moved it to mine.  Look for more at Diane’s on Monday.  I hope you’ll enjoy our give and take. If you have questions on the subject that you’d like us to address, ask away. We’ll be giving away copies of Sunset Bridge (mine) and Summer’s Child (Diane’s) to randomly selected commenters on each of our blogs. Good luck!

Diane: Have you ever created a character who was simply irredeemable, from start to finish?

Emilie: Absolutely. Several come to mind, sociopaths, all of them, which are nearly, by definition, irredeemable, at least as we understand the
pathology. But sociopaths aren’t much fun–even though they predominate in the thriller genre–because many people think they’re born not made, and what “makes” a character act badly also makes him/her sympathetic.

In One Mountain Away we see a pivotal moment in Charlotte’s childhood played out in a flashback very early in the story–by the way I sat in “that” church a long time ago and watched “that” preacher swat flies and wasps with his Bible. Anyway. . . background does make a difference. But I also think in the examples of Annie (Keeper of the Light) and Noelle (The Midwife’s Confession), you found another interesting way to deal with unsympathetic characters. First, neither WAS unsympathetic until more of their story was revealed, and by then we cared about who they were and were willing to forgive them almost anything.  In addition the books were filled with more sympathetic people who had been affected by them. Those are great examples of yet another way to bring the reader along with us as we explore flawed characters.

Now, in your own experience as a social worker, did you ever work with anybody who you knew would never change, no matter how much therapy he/she received? And does whatever you concluded show up in your novels? Did it affect your basic belief about good and evil, because your characters are always multi-dimensional, never completely good or bad, and I wonder if that’s a writer thing or a Diane thing?

Diane: What an interesting question, Emilie. Back when I was a therapist, we were trained to always be on the lookout for ”personality disorders”, those afflictions that were so ingrained in a person they would be impossible to change. As a young therapist, I fought the limitations of that diagnosis. As a more seasoned therapist, I came to accept them. Some people cannot change who they innately are, but they can develop ways of coping with the personality traits that make it hard for them to get by in the world. So while I believe there are some personality traits that can’t be changed, I believe they can be creatively dealt with in the hands of a good therapist.

As for good and evil, you’re right. I think most people are a mix. That said, I have thrown a couple of sociopaths into my books: Ray in The Good Father and the scheming psychiatrist in Breaking the Silence. They serve a purpose, but I don’t think they’re nearly as interesting to read about as someone who grapples with the good and bad inside himself. That’s what makes Charlotte such a rich character. Examples from my own books are Tim in The Secret Life of CeeCee Wilkes and Savannah in The Good Father.

On another note, you have a character, Harmony Stoddard, in One Mountain Away who elicits instant sympathy. Do you have any tricks of the trade to share for making the reader care so quickly for someone?

Emilie: First, I think the author has to “believe” a character is sympathetic to make one read that way. And what’s sympathetic for me might not be for someone else. But if we don’t find a struggle important and understandable, the reader definitely won’t, either. Harmony is homeless and pregnant, homeless through a situation she couldn’t control and pregnant, despite her best intentions not to be. I think almost any woman can place herself in Harmony’s life and know what that must feel like. And maybe that’s the key? That all of us, author and readers, must be able to put ourselves in a character’s shoes to feel compassion. If the character’s battles are too distant from our own realities, they’re harder to understand and care about. The novelist must be able to illustrate the ways our own struggles are like that character’s, even if in other ways the character is very different from us.

*****

Thanks for reading. . . Diane and I will be continuing our conversation on her blog on Monday. Be sure to watch for it there, and please leave a comment or ask a question for a chance to win our books.