The Divining Wand

‘Tis the week of the season when one might wonder what day it is. Well relax, settle back, and enjoy what these authors share. ‘Tis the season…

Trish’s Favorite Christmas Gift

My favorite Christmas gift came from my sister Meg. It was nine or ten years ago. We were both adults, entering those transitional years when husbands and children were being added to holiday celebrations. Part of me (as the sister not bringing new members into our family) longed to cling to the old days, when our family was more simple to outline and understand.

Meg handed me her gift with a certain look in her eye that I knew meant “pay attention.” It was a big rectangle, a frame of some sort. I ripped the paper off with great enthusiasm (as is our family tradition) to reveal a collage: pictures of she and I together at every age: toddlers having a picnic on our front steps, me giving her a piggy back ride, the two of us smiling and grown-up before her high school prom. And in the middle square, toward the bottom, Meg had copied this quote: “Chance made us sisters; Love made us friends.”

I still have that collage. It’s traveled with me through at least six different cities, reminding me of a moment of real transition in our family: when Meg and I knew for sure we’d be friends. Not just because we’re related, but because we like each other.
Trish Ryan (He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not: A Memoir of Finding Faith, Love, and Happily Ever After, A Maze of Grace: A Memoir of Second Chances coming in June 2010)

Katie’s Favorite Music and Movie

I love all Christmas music! The ones I find myself singing all the time are “The Christmas Waltz” and “Baby, It’s Cold Outside.” And my favorite Christmas movie is “Elf.” I have to watch it every year…and I always tear up at the end.
Katie Alender (Bad Girls Don’t Die YA)

Allison Loves This Movie

My favorite holiday movie, and I don’t know if this is considered a classic or not, but it’s still my favorite, is Love, Actually. I love every single thing about this movie and watch it at least once per holiday season. It’s so uplifting yet realistic in a melancholy sort of way – these regular people going about their lives and trying to find a way to infuse those lives with more joy – that is just so touching. And that end scene with Hugh Grant and his assistant? Perfect in every way.
Allison Winn Scotch (The Department of Lost and Found, Time of My Life and The One That I Want coming June 1, 2010)

Ah, the Muse returns or does s/he? Having asked the following authors to describe their inspiration — either in physical appearance or otherwise — you’ll discover their muses are known by many names.

Alicia Bessette (All Come Home coming in August 2010):

“Music is my most influential muse. And absolutely everything inspires me to write. Sunshine, flavors, funerals. Live performances of any kind, overheard conversations. Apple-picking, sitting in a darkened movie theater, running my hand along silk scarves that hang in a clothing store. My next-door neighbor, who sings along to Sonny & Cher at the top of his lungs and leaves carrots and cups of water for the orphaned rabbit living under his back steps … I could go on and on.”

Therese Fowler (Souvenir, Reunion):

“I love this question, because it reminds me that writers are so diverse in what motivates and inspires them. There is a romantic ideal that presumes we all have muses, but as you know, that’s not always the case–and may not even be the case often. Of all the writers I know, only a few have ever mentioned a personified muse.

“Inspiration, though: we all have that! Mine is based in nature: human nature primarily, and then the natural world. It’s the concert of those two forces that compels me to observe, select, and then set down my stories onto paper.

“When I’m feeling unmotivated, I know I simply need to get outdoors and let my mind relax and become receptive again.”

Jenny Gardiner (Sleeping with Ward Cleaver, Winging It: Twenty Years of Caring for a Vengeful Bird Determined to Kill Me coming March 16, 2010):

“My muse…hmmm. I actually joked to a friend a few weeks ago that my Muse was lying in a gutter, bloodied and battered. And then about ten minutes later I came up with a really fun book idea, so so much for badmouthing my Muse! I suppose I’m not very poetic but I’ve never really tried to sense my muse, though I will say that I get inspired and have to stop everything to brainstorm. So I guess my muse sweeps in unannounced, a sort of grande dame who trails perfume and wears gaudy jewelry and dresses in elegant evening gowns even for casual occasions.

“I suppose I am driven to write just as a mathematician is driven to calculate. It’s what I do, what I love and what feels most comfortable. Just as I feel most at-home curled up in sweats with no make-up, I feel right where I belong curled up with my laptop taking what’s been swirling in my head and making it come to life on the page.”

Trish Ryan (He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not: A Memoir of Finding Faith, Love, and Happily Ever After, A Maze of Grace: A Memoir of Second Chances coming in June):

“At first, inspiration comes to me in the form of a thought that doesn’t seem like something I’d come up with on my own. An Idea will flash across my brain, connecting things–bits from an article I’ve read, something I see on TV, a funny quirk my dog develops–in a way I hadn’t thought of before. I’m like a magpie sometimes, collecting shiny new ideas. If I’m on my game when they arrive–which isn’t always; I’ve lost quite a few–I grab my lap top or a pen & paper. When I follow these trails, I’m always amazed by what I have when I’m done.

“After that, the inspiration comes from stubbornness: I want to finish what I’ve started. No one wants to publish my strange assortment of unrelated paragraphs, so I have to connect the dots.

“I’m pretty spiritual, so I pray a lot when I write. But it’s not one of those things where God tells me what to type. It’s more that I ask Him for more ideas, and to keep me from writing something I’ll regret later. So far, my books have been non-fiction, which means I’m writing about other people who probably don’t have a public venue to tell their side of the story. So I pray for help being fair, and to add humor when my first tendency is to be sarcastic. I wrote my first book before Facebook and Twitter were so popular–now that I’m reconnecting with people I knew in high school, college, law school, etc. (and even one ex-boyfriend I wrote about in the book) I’m REALLY glad I didn’t publish my first draft!”

Therese Walsh (The Last Will of Moira Leahy):

“I abide by Barbara Samuel’s girls-in-the-basement philosophy: There are many muses, and each has a different personality and inspires in a different way; some are wise, some crafty or poetic or bitchy. I love them all.”

With a slight lull in book releases, The Divining Wand decided to take this time to go beyond its authors pages and discover what favorite books they reread.

Are any of the following on your own list?

Katie Alender (Bad Girls Don’t Die):

“I find “‘Pride and Prejudice’” rereadable in the extreme. That’s my old standby (and I love the audiobook and all the movie versions, too). Of books I’ve read over the past year or so, I can see myself going back to “‘Story’” by Robert McKee. It’s so densely packed with information that another pass would definitely be useful and no less interesting than the first one!”

Judy Merrill Larsen (All the Numbers):

“I used to reread To Kill a Mockingbird every year or so. Now, there are so many books on my TBR pile that it’s hard to justify re-reading anything, but a few that I’d reread include The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien, any Faulkner, and East of Eden and Grapes of Wrath. I like to revisit the masters from time to time.”

Holly LeCraw (The Swimming Pool coming April 6, 2010):

“I reread any book that inspires me. Some of my all-time favorites are: The Great Gatsby: So Long, See You Tomorrow; All the King’s Men; To the Lighthouse and Mrs. Dalloway; Evening; Gilead; Atonement; The Unvanquished; the Last Gentleman; and many, many more. I tend to read books like this over and over. You always learn something new, or, if necessary, can use the best books to bring you back to your own center.”

Trish Ryan (He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not: A Memoir of Finding Faith, Love, and Happily Ever After, A Maze of Grace: A Memoir of Second Chances coming in June 2010):

“Right now, I’m working on a novel, so I’m immersed in fiction. I just finished THE PROMISED WORLD by Lisa Tucker, and I’m going back to read all her others–she’s a master at moving the story along without giving away secrets. And Laura Dave’s LONDON IS THE BEST CITY IN AMERICA and THE DIVORCE PARTY show me what it looks like to create an entire world with words. Her books make me forget where I am.

“For memoir/essay, an unsung genius is Heather King. Her most recent book, about her transitions (from barroom drunk to married lawyer to divorced Catholic seeker) is called REDEEMED. Her words and her honesty raise the bar pretty high for those of us who want to write our own stories.”

Kristina Riggle (Real Life & Liars):

“I re-read books all the time. Some of my favorites: BREATHING LESSONS, Anne Tyler, NOTES ON A SCANDAL, Zoe Heller, THE GREAT GATSBY, F. Scott Fitzgerald, anything by David Sedaris. Also, I haven’t read them a second time yet but I know I will: THE EMBERS by Hyatt Bass and CONFESSIONS OF A PREP SCHOOL MOMMY HANDLER by Wade Rouse.”

Earlier this month The Divining Wand provided hindsight on what some of our authors might have done differently IF they knew then what they know now about writing as an art and a business.

Did your favorite authors answer? Perhaps you’ll discover more insight from the following:

Katie Alender (Bad Girls Don’t Die):

“I think I learn too much from every experience to wish I had done things differently. I’ve met and worked with amazing people. I’ve found my own place in the YA world, and I’ve been lucky enough to achieve success that I can be proud of. The whole journey has been fascinating and I don’t think I’d take anything back.”

Alicia Bessette (All Come Home coming in August 2010):

“Ask me again in ten years. My publishing career is pretty nascent, so I don’t have the gift of hindsight yet. But so far, I wouldn’t change a thing. The formula of gratitude, never quitting, supporting other writers, and reading a lot, seems to be working for me.”

Tish Cohen (Town House, Commonwealth Regional Finalist, Inside Out Girl, Little Black Lies):

“As an art: spent every spare second reading, dropped out of business school, done more people watching. As a business: I don’t think I’d change much. Maybe I’d have been more aware that female readers like a female protagonist.”

Jenny Gardiner (Sleeping with Ward Cleaver, Winging It: Twenty Years of Caring for a Vengeful Bird Determined to Kill Me coming March 16, 2010):

“I’d probably not have made such a fool of myself with some of the submissions I sent early on to agents and editors. But we all have to start somewhere and I grew more savvy as I learned more about the business. I don’t regret that I started out so naive because it there’s a certain optimism that comes with that ignorance that ultimately gets suppressed with the reality of the industry and that blind sense of great potential is very motivating.”

Trish Ryan (He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not: A Memoir of Finding Faith, Love, and Happily Ever After, A Maze of Grace: A Memoir of Second Chances coming in June):

“I just finished my second book, A MAZE OF GRACE: A MEMOIR OF SECOND CHANCES, which will be out in June. This book was much harder to write than my first, largely because I was so terrified of losing the ideas I mentioned above that I spent the first few weeks of work frantically jotting every thought that crossed my mind down onto post-its, napkins, and any other loose paper I could find. But because I didn’t write out the whole ideas, most of those fragments were indecipherable by the time I got back to them. So on the art side of writing, my new motto is “Take the time to write the WHOLE thing down…or don’t bother.”

On the business side, I’ve learned that you just never know what’s going to happen next. Publishing changes so rapidly: people, business goals, timelines. You just can’t get attached to any one person or plan to make a book succeed.”