Read my interview by Long and Short Reviews on May 8!
Showing posts with label interview. Show all posts
Showing posts with label interview. Show all posts
Tuesday, April 9, 2013
Sunday, April 15, 2012
Worth Lying For
GOOD LIFE
Mary Minke knows she should be grateful: a mostly happy marriage, mostly grown kids and a mostly steady paycheck. But at forty, she finds herself fantasizing about sprawling Tuscan villas and fitting into ‘juniors department’ fashions. Instead, another twenty years in a two-bedroom ranch, sale-rack slacks and a receptionist job at Idid-a-Rod Auto Garage seem to be her destiny. Until…
GOOD GRIEF
Mary stumbles on a bag of cash in the car of two-bit drug dealer Jimmy Adler… and steals it. Confiding in best friend, Caryn, she vows to make good by playing Robin Hood in the sleepy town of Stillwater Village. Only she must keep the plan under wraps from devoted husband, Nick, who just happens to be the local sheriff.
GOOD INTENTIONS
As one unexpected event after another turns Mary’s once tapioca-bland life hotter than three-alarm chili, she is more than a little tempted to indulge in a few retail therapy sessions. Charity begins at home, after all, but where should it end? When the fate of her imperfect yet loving family is put on the line, Mary must decide what the good life really means, and if it is Worth Lying For.
When I got the chance to rub elbows with Lisa Cheney and Lisa Craig, authors of Worth Lying For, I asked if they'd be interested in doing an interview. They said "no." I bought them an expensive meal (and a few rounds), and I finally wore them down.
You just released Worth Lying For, about forty-year-old Mary Minke, who ramps up her midlife doldrums by pilfering a big bag of money. Have you ever done anything illegal or immoral?
Cheney: Never. Craig: Yes, but I used Cheney's name so my record is clear.
What was your greatest inspiration for this book?
Cheney: I have no idea, considering I've never done anything illegal or immoral. Craig: Wanting to write a book by, for and about 40-something Midwestern women. Particularly a book in which the protagonist is (mostly) happily married. How did the two of you meet?
Cheney: It wasn't match.com? Craig: Ninth grade English class. We had to create a collage and we thought that was childish. We invented snarky, only we called it lisarky. It never quite caught on.
Speaking of childish, you also write children's books -- what made you delve into the this genre?
Cheney: My grandmothers used to read me Grimm's Fairy Tales and buy me Tales from the Crypt comic books. All children deserve such idyllic memories.
Craig: I love writing children's books--the characters can be so silly and fun. And the books are usually shorter which is a boon for our fading middle-aged memory banks.
So what's next for The Lisas? Any new projects we should look out for?
Cheney: I'm taking up urban graffiti art. Craig: We are working on a novel about a fifty-year-old writer married to an NHL hockey coach. It's about 89% written and we should soon be in the grueling editing process.
Music is a huge part of my writing process. What do you listen to while you work?
Cheney: Does Hoda's playlist on the Today Show count?
Craig: I never play music when writing. The quieter, the better.
Writers are notorious for having multiple jobs in their lifetimes. What are some interesting things you've done?
Cheney: Tossed a few pizzas in my day. Customers were not amused. I've also been a fruit picker, book packer and newspaper reporter. I can't keep a day job.
Craig: Other than college jobs waitressing, I am the exception to the rule and have been a librarian and only a librarian.
... After that, things just got silly.
Friday, March 30, 2012
Looking Forward
The updates have been sparse because I've had quite a lot on my plate recently (as referenced in the last post). Slowly, I'm finding things that ease the tension. In no particular order:
Aromatherapy
Looking forward to something
Doesn't have to be anything big like, "One day I'll eat baguettes in a French cafe in France every day." Something smaller like looking for pictures of French cafes, or watching a movie I haven't seen in a while, painting my nails, reading a book, or going to a store I like. Makes it easier to leave my hubby and kitty in my cozy, former apartment when I can think, "well, at least I can watch this chick flick when I get home."
Watch some funny videos
Sometimes you can fight your way out of something, look for a better job, or replace XYZ thing. Sometimes you can't. You make the best of it and listen to your body to tell you if you can take on anything else. If not, watch 10 episodes of The Monkees in a row because it makes you laugh like a 5-year-old.
If all else fails...
In other news ...
I've been interviewed on Janiera Eldridge's blog: This is From My Heart. It's always great fun to talk to new people and share my love of writing with them. Sometimes it still seems weird that something so personal to me is even interesting to someone else.
Also just got my quarterly statement in from one of my works, and it will probably pay a (very small) grocery bill or one large pizza! But hey, I'm getting to do what I love, and isn't that worth more than all the money in the world? (... Maybe I should ask my husband what he thinks about that ...)
Help me order one more pizza or buy two bags of groceries next quarter by purchasing one of my books!
Finally ...
More Subway Art:
Friday, February 24, 2012
Q&A
I've been tagged. And I'm going to tag you too.
It's always fun (for me) to be part of an interview, so when M. Nicole Cunningham tagged me, I was flattered. Here are her questions:
1. What is the oldest book you've ever read?
In terms of publication, probably the Bible. In terms of the age of a physical book, I've read several classics from the early 1900's. I liked the brittle pages and that the cover might fall off if I wasn't careful (no, really!)
2. What was the first story you ever wrote and what was it about?
My very first story was called The Bad Carwash. I probably wrote it when I was in kindergarten. It was about a woman who went to a car wash and got her dress caught in the door, thereby soaking her dress by the time the wash was finished. Started strong, but degraded into multiple car washes with various parts of the car falling off in the process. That's actually about how long the original was, too.
3. Who is your favorite author? If you have several, list them all out!
Always a tough question for me. Classically, I love Oscar Wilde and Charles Dickens. In the modern world, I'm pulled toward writers who take my mind off other things, like Kyra Davis and Jennifer Weiner.
4. Tell me a little story about the significance of your birth date. Feel free to embellish.
Well, I was born. That's pretty significant to me!
5. What tropes are beginning to annoy you in steampunk? I know you have a few; I certainly do. *coughairshippiratescough*
Uh, I'm not entirely engaged in steampunk, so I couldn't say.
6. Do you think a novel needs an idealized hero?
No. The hero should be someone who's flawed -- someone people can relate to. Any time you idealize something, you run the risk of it becoming a parody or a "Mary Sue".
7. What do you think of gender roles in novels? Should they reflect reality, an ideal, or something in between?
Most often, they should reflect reality. I write everything from "the present" so the roles are what I see around me.
8. What makes a delicious villain?
Someone who has 2 sides. Everyone has a little good and a little evil, so when the villain displays something good, something you can identify with and (possibly) agree with, it makes the character so much frightening (and believable).
9. Tell me about a lesser-known novel that made an indelible impression on you and why.
I could probably sit here all day thinking of the "perfect" choice here, but I'm gonna go with Help! A Bear is Eating Me! by Mykle Hansen. Hilarious! It impressed me because voice can make or break a story. This story is more than a little morbid (a man trapped under a car has his legs slowly eaten by a bear), but the way the author handles the narrative and characterization makes the novel funny.
10. Earlybird or night owl?
A little of both.
11. Favorite mythological being? Feel free to pick an obscure one.
Unicorns. They were a serious favorite when I was a kid, and they still make me a little happy. Although, if we could put some wings on a cat, that would be cool. My cat already hurls herself through the air, so I wouldn't have a hard time picturing that.
Now for the tagging!
Please answer the following questions:
THE RULES
1. You must post the rules.
2. Answer the questions the tagger set for you in their post and then create eleven new questions to ask the people you've tagged.3. Tag eleven people (or as many as you can) and link to them on your post.4. Let them know you've tagged them!
It's always fun (for me) to be part of an interview, so when M. Nicole Cunningham tagged me, I was flattered. Here are her questions:
1. What is the oldest book you've ever read?
In terms of publication, probably the Bible. In terms of the age of a physical book, I've read several classics from the early 1900's. I liked the brittle pages and that the cover might fall off if I wasn't careful (no, really!)
2. What was the first story you ever wrote and what was it about?
My very first story was called The Bad Carwash. I probably wrote it when I was in kindergarten. It was about a woman who went to a car wash and got her dress caught in the door, thereby soaking her dress by the time the wash was finished. Started strong, but degraded into multiple car washes with various parts of the car falling off in the process. That's actually about how long the original was, too.
3. Who is your favorite author? If you have several, list them all out!
Always a tough question for me. Classically, I love Oscar Wilde and Charles Dickens. In the modern world, I'm pulled toward writers who take my mind off other things, like Kyra Davis and Jennifer Weiner.
4. Tell me a little story about the significance of your birth date. Feel free to embellish.
Well, I was born. That's pretty significant to me!
5. What tropes are beginning to annoy you in steampunk? I know you have a few; I certainly do. *coughairshippiratescough*
Uh, I'm not entirely engaged in steampunk, so I couldn't say.
6. Do you think a novel needs an idealized hero?
No. The hero should be someone who's flawed -- someone people can relate to. Any time you idealize something, you run the risk of it becoming a parody or a "Mary Sue".
7. What do you think of gender roles in novels? Should they reflect reality, an ideal, or something in between?
Most often, they should reflect reality. I write everything from "the present" so the roles are what I see around me.
8. What makes a delicious villain?
Someone who has 2 sides. Everyone has a little good and a little evil, so when the villain displays something good, something you can identify with and (possibly) agree with, it makes the character so much frightening (and believable).
9. Tell me about a lesser-known novel that made an indelible impression on you and why.
I could probably sit here all day thinking of the "perfect" choice here, but I'm gonna go with Help! A Bear is Eating Me! by Mykle Hansen. Hilarious! It impressed me because voice can make or break a story. This story is more than a little morbid (a man trapped under a car has his legs slowly eaten by a bear), but the way the author handles the narrative and characterization makes the novel funny.
10. Earlybird or night owl?
A little of both.
11. Favorite mythological being? Feel free to pick an obscure one.
Unicorns. They were a serious favorite when I was a kid, and they still make me a little happy. Although, if we could put some wings on a cat, that would be cool. My cat already hurls herself through the air, so I wouldn't have a hard time picturing that.
Now for the tagging!
Please answer the following questions:
- What's the most annoying book you've ever read?
- You're in a bookstore: what's the first section you visit?
- What project are you working on now?
- Are you a "plotter" or "pantser" (i.e. do you use an outline or just "wing it")?
- What do you do when you're not writing?
- Why did you choose your specific genre?
- Who are your biggest influences?
- How much of your writing is based on your own experiences?
- Are you ever afraid you'll never have another book idea?
- We all like TV (even if we don't want to admit it). What's your favorite TV show?
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