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column at: DearReader.com
AUTHORBUZZ: Discover new books, "meet" the authors and enter to win: Goto: http://authorbuzz.com/dearreader
Dear Reader,
Today we are fortunate to have the Number One New York Times bestselling author, Lisa Gardner, visiting the book clubs. No doubt you've read one of Lisa's fifteen previous novels, and Catch Me, Love You More, and The Neighbor (which won the International Thriller of the Year Award), are part of her bestselling Detective D. D. Warren series. Her book Touch & Go, has just been released.
Lisa's sharing three gifts with us today: a guest column, a sample read from her book Maggie's Man and she's giving away 25 copies of the book to readers. For a chance to win, send an email to: Suzanne@EmailBookclub.com
Be sure to include your mailing address--you just might be a winner.
To sample Maggie's Man go to: http://www.supportlibrary.com/bc/v.cfm?L=bryantestqqxqQ1AE5FE455E2&c=SUZ&nocache&future
Take it away Lisa Gardner...
What goes into the making of a novelist?
Growing up as a young girl in the wilds of Oregon, I certainly never dreamed of one day being a New York Times best-selling novelist. I'd never met a real author, let alone an agent or editor. The whole concept of New York publishing was too fantastical, like visiting Mars.
I came from a family of readers. My grandmother read to us nightly from the Bible, while my mother rejoiced in the latest Sidney Sheldon. I grew up believing books were both important and fun, devouring any and all written words.
But lots of people are avid readers; they still don't become novelists.
My brother and I had that kind of childhood people long for now. Our parents would boot us out into the wilds of our backyard, confident we'd somehow entertain ourselves until dinner. I would roam the misty woods, making up tales of evil men and daring adventurers. I would dream, and those dreams would become stories and those stories would follow me home where inevitably I would write them down.
And yet, not all dreamers become novelists.
I had a best friend. We met in kindergarten. By fourth grade, she was my very important audience of one, demanding the latest installment. I also had an older brother who loved me a lot and teased me regularly. I learned the joy of good reviews as well as the need to survive tough critics (or throw glasses of milk at them, something I'm just not allowed to do anymore).
When I was 17, I got this idea for a murder mystery involving a heroine who worked with street kids, and a sexy Portland detective who must catch a killer in time. So I wrote it down, all 400 pages. Others noticed, and next thing I knew, I had family and friends who viewed me as a novelist, even if I didn't see it yet myself. One of those friends found me a guide to getting published. And suddenly, New York wasn't somewhere on Mars, but only a query letter away.
Three years later, I sold that book, and I've never looked back since.
So what goes into the making of a novelist?
Reading, of course. Dreaming absolutely. But also support, nurturing and love. Something to think about if you have your own ideas kicking around in your head, or a child who is passionate about writing, or a spouse/sibling/loved one who labors over a keyboard. Maybe what goes into the making of the next best-selling novelist will be you.
--Lisa Gardner
http://lisagardner.com/
https://www.facebook.com/LisaGardnerBks
We have 25 copies of Lisa's book, Maggie's Man to give away. For a chance to win, send me an email at: Suzanne@EmailBookclub.com Be sure to include your mailing address.
My regular column will return on Tuesday.
Thanks for reading with me. It's so good to read with friends.
Suzanne Beecher
Suzanne@DearReader.com
* This month's Penguin Classics book is MEMOIRS OF A FOX-HUNTING MAN by Siegfried Sassoon. Start reading now and enter to win a Penguin book bag. Go to: http://tinyurl.com/Sept13Classics
AUTHORBUZZ: GHOST GONE WILD (Mystery) by Carolyn Hart
I love the Topper books and Blithe Spirit and thought it would be a hoot to write about a ghost. In search of my ghost, I popped to Heaven (in my imagination) and met Bailey Ruth Raeburn, late of Adelaide, OK, a bright, funny, impetuous redhead. Bailey Ruth arrives back on earth Oct. 1 in Ghost Gone Wild and this time she may never make it back to Heaven!
Go to: http://authorbuzz.com/dearreader click on GHOST GONE WILD to read more and to email author Carolyn Hart, you'll get a reply.
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