Author: Elizabeth Spann Craig

Well, school started back this past week here in North Carolina. I have to admit in many ways I was glad. Don’t get me wrong—I love my children and love spending time with them. But it’s the guilt. Oh good Lord—the guilt!

Moms and dads usually feel guilty no matter what. I think we all firmly believe that our kids will be in therapy years from now talking about us. And we can’t avoid guiltt—if we spend too much time with our kids, they’re not developing meaningful relationships with their peers. If we don’t spend enough time with them, then they look at us with their little doe eyes.

Usually, the children’s summer revolves completely around them. Actually, our whole lives usually revolve around the kids. But this summer was a different. Mama had a book to write and one to promote.

Some of you might be writing with preschoolers or babies at home, so this advice will apply to you all the time. I was right there with you a few years back.

Writing with children:

Go on an outing—the kids and your manuscript. If your kids are older, the park, skating rink, bowling alley, swimming pool, etc, work out well. If they’re younger, try one of those indoor playgrounds with inflatables.

Bring a friend for your child. Or more than one. They’re much happier if they are on outings with a friend or two. And they’re more inclined to let you get some work done.

Plan some dedicated time with your child to play one on one. This time can be either before or after the time that you need to get some work done. Here’s the deal with this time: you need to be completely focused on your child. No thinking about anything else. You play Monopoly, read a few books, whatever they want to do with you—and then you explain you are going to spend X amount of time writing.

Quiet time works for everyone. Even my older child (12) needs time to unwind in the afternoon. My kids unplugged for a while with a book or played quietly in their room while I worked on my laptop. When I had a toddler, I’d put her in her room and give her books. The rule was that even if they couldn’t sleep, they had to “read” (look at pictures.)

Host playdates. I know—this sounds like more trouble than help. But usually (this depends on your kid and the kids you invite over), my children disappear to hang out with their friends. It’s the perfect time to write.

I did end up feeling guilty still—of course. But I managed to balance family and writing pretty well over the summer. And I developed some survival skills that will serve me well next summer (when I’m working on my November 1 2010 deadline.)

As you know, I had a good-sized revision to make on my manuscript. But—ta-da! I finished it and now have resumed my favorite activity of picking my project to death before I email it off on Tuesday.

Yesterday I created little snippets of behavior, mannerisms, and dialogue that I thought would help a reader picture my characters more clearly.

I also went through and looked critically at my characters. Did they measure up? Were they unlikable? Can people identify with these folks?

When my daughter got home from school yesterday, she had Halloween on the brain. And, wouldn’t you know it, a costume catalog had arrived in the mail that very afternoon. Oddly enough, Miss Priss wants to be a black cat this year. Excellent, I thought. After doing cheerleaders, Hannah Montana, and princesses, a black cat will be a piece of cake.

I flipped through the massive catalog and voila. “Here you are!” I said, slapping the page in triumph. “A black cat.”

She looked at the picture critically. “No. That’s not it.”

“What do you mean? It’s a black cat—tail, ears, everything.”

“It’s not the black cat I’m thinking of. Mine doesn’t look like that.”

You wouldn’t think it would be difficult to find a black cat costume on the internet. But 45 minutes later, there was still no black cat to satisfy Miss Priss. They either had white tummies, looked like a boy costume, were for babies, or were cheetah costumes, not black cat costumes.

Now I do not sew, but I know some people I can pay to turn a black jumpsuit into a costume. And it got me to thinking.

My characters are who they are. I’m like my daughter—I have a picture in my head of these people. Sometimes they’re unlikable, sometimes they’re fun. Sometimes they have rotten days. They’re almost like real people in that respect. That’s what creating complex characters is all about.

The vision in my head is just as clear, but I worry about what other people might think of it. Maybe I should just let it be. If it’s too outlandish (the impossible to locate perfect black cat), then I’ll happily make some modifications. But for right now, I’m going to stop picking at these characters.

But not at the rest of the WIP. :)

As promised, I’m reporting in on my book club appearance from a couple of nights ago. I have to say I was really impressed with the group.

Favorite parts of the evening:

In honor of the book, members served a Southern-style supper, which I found really thoughtful. Everything was delicious—barbeque, shrimp and grits, cole slaw….yum. (Believe it or not, I was one of only two Southerners there. Lots of Northern transplants in Charlotte.)

They’d collectively sold out my book from the Barnes and Nobles and Borders stores in the Charlotte area, which I sincerely appreciated. Note: book clubs are more of a successful sales event than most booksignings and workshops.

Hearing my book being discussed in an intelligent manner. Sometimes I felt they had better insights than I did, and I’d written the darned thing. They discussed what they thought motivated the behavior of my sleuth’s police chief son (they decided it might be because he was an only child), and why a man might prove a good sidekick for an elderly woman.

Introducing mysteries to some non-mystery readers. I like to say there’s a mystery genre for everyone: police procedural, cozy, thriller, etc.

Having an attentive audience of avid readers. They were very interested in hearing about the genesis of my characters and the plot. They also wanted to hear about the publishing process and what it entails.

Challenges …

My book was a departure from their usual book choices. I knew going in that the group usually read literary fiction. There was a particular member who found the departure from literary fiction toward genre fiction a rough ride. I completely understood that—I’m definitely not aspiring to serious literary merit with my books (not at this point, anyway.) I’m writing solely to entertain, not to educate or to provoke a particular response.

Things I learned:

The members wanted to know more about why the small Southern town on the North Carolina lake was a beacon for a real estate developer. I just blinked. “Well, because it’s a small Southern town on a North Carolina lake.” They looked at me. “Because of half-backs.” More stares. “You know….the Northerners who retire, are tired of the cold North, move to Florida, find Florida too hot, and move half-way back.” This was completely obvious to me (personal knowledge of these towns), but not, clearly, to others. I’ll definitely want to explain the appeal of this type of location in upcoming books.

I thought the members of the book club had very interesting ideas about my characters and the type of direction they like to see them go in. I love reading character growth over series, so their ideas were appealing to me.

And now, because it’s Thursday, I’d love it if you’d also pop by the Mystery Lovers’ Kitchen. It’s my day to post and I’ve got a great barbeque and BBQ sauce recipe to share.

I’m not the most flexible person in the world. I like sticking to a plan whether or not it turns out to be a good one in the end.

I can abruptly shift to plan B (although then I adhere to that plan with the same steadfastness.)

The worst problems happen when I’m not in charge of the plan at all…when some outside force makes me change course.

Yesterday was the first day back at school for the kids. I did a bunch of work at home, then realized I needed to run a couple of errands before they got back. I also needed to spend more time on revisions before the elementary bus arrived at 2:00 (yes, my daughter is home early—she’s at school at 7 a.m. though.) I promised myself I’d be back by 12:30.

Naturally, things didn’t go according to plan, which really rattled me. I couldn’t remember what ink cartridge my printer took when I was at the office supply store. Then I realized I needed to run an additional errand that wasn’t on my list. When I finally reached my last stop at the grocery store, it was already 12:10.

I flew through the store, ripping things off the shelves and careening dangerously through the aisles with my cart. I was determined to make my arbitrary deadline. I swiped my debit card, rushed to the car, and flung things into the back of the minivan. And then…I dropped two pounds of green grapes in the parking lot and watched as they scattered everywhere.

I’ve been just as determined to make my Berkley deadline. So when my agent got back to me on Sunday, I was at first delighted to see that my corrections looked really minimal…until I noticed she’d added one content suggestion that was a doozy.

A fix quickly occurred to me, but I groaned anyway. This would mean changing my game plan. And only days before deadline!

Fortunately, I put this in perspective. I want this book to be as perfect as I can make it before it goes to my editor. I won’t miss my deadline. It just means putting in some extra time on a section of the book I hadn’t planned on. I’ve no desire to fling grapes everywhere in another mad rush.

So I’m making the content changes. And Emily, if you’re reading this—no worries. I’m back on target for my deadline.

This evening I’m speaking to a local book club. I know writers who do quite a few book club appearances, but I’ve only spoken to a few.

Galen Kindley wrote a great blog post with some really useful book club tips which I’m linking to. The link is a cached page since Galen’s original post was accidentally erased.

His tips included having a prize drawing for the members (bookstore gift card, e.g.), bringing prepared topics and questions as conversation-starters, and watching for signs the book club members’ attention might be drifting.

I’m going to use Galen’s suggestions tonight, and I’ve also made a list of observations from my last book club appearance and how I’ve tweaked my preparation, in response, for this one:

The members had read the book more recently than I had. I’ve read my book again. Otherwise, it’s too easy to get confused with the two books I’m writing now.

The members were interested in the books that I’ve read and who inspires me. I have a handout that lists my favorite books and authors.

Book club meetings can become really lively. We might not always be in on the members’ jokes. It’s okay to just smile. I won’t be in any hurry to break into their conversations.

The questions I get from book clubs are different from the questions I get from writers. (I receive more questions about the book’s characters—are they based on real people? What do those people think of my books? etc). I’m prepared to talk more in depth about my characters and their motivations. I’m also prepared to talk about small plot points in the book.

Some of the book club questions are not different from questions I get from writers. (How many hours a day do you write? How long did it take for you to get published? How long does it take you to write a book?) Luckily, I’m very accustomed to getting writing process questions. I’m ready for them!

Book clubs are fun for me. I enjoy being around other readers and love the fact they’ve selected my book for their club. In fact, Pretty is as Pretty Dies even features a book club in the novel. I’m looking forward to my appearance this evening…and feel that this time I’m better prepared than my previous appearance.