WWR: Lisa, it's so wonderful to have you with us again! And as a writer no less!
Lisa: Thanks. I’m happy to be here!
WWR: The last time we did an interview with you, you used to work at a New York literary agency. Are you still with them as an acquiring agent, or are you now writing full-time?
Lisa: There was a lot that I loved about the agency, but a big part of me wanted to throw caution to the wind and make a go of it as a writer. So I went back to school to get my MFA, worked a whole bunch of other jobs in the meantime, and then—outside of my writing program—I wrote my first book Simple Wishes. I currently have a really cool gig, working part-time at an author’s submission service called Writer’s Relief. It’s a company that helps writers submit their work to the best-suited agents or editors. It’s pretty cool. It gets me out of the house a bit and allows me plenty of time to write.
WWR: Can you tell us a bit about your transition from trying to sell other authors' works into becoming a published author yourself? And why did you decide to pursue a publishing career or was that your original goal all along?
Lisa: What a great question. Well, to be honest, I was kinda shell-shocked after spending so much time at the agency. My writing suffered because I’d learned so much about technique and craft that it totally choked me up. Every time I sat down to write, I’d be like “This isn’t good enough.” Thoughts like that are so detrimental to creativity. I had to emotionally unlearn to write, if that makes any sense. Getting my MFA was a step in the right direction because it gave me a safe place to explore my voice and to improve my technique. As for the second part of your question, I can’t really say what my original goal was. I suppose in a broad sense I wanted to find my niche and soak up as much info as possible about books. That’s still my goal every day.
WWR: What inspiration did you pull from to write your first published novel, Simple Wishes? And why did you choose to write women's fiction over say mainstream romance or any other subgenre of romance?
Lisa: Well, as far as subgenres, I dabbled in erotica ages and ages ago, but what happens when I sit down to write a sex scene is that I end up staring out the window for fifteen minutes before it occurs to me that I’m not actually writing. And I tried historical and suspense at one point, but those unfinished projects didn’t feel authentic. They were experiments in finding my voice.
All genres allow for emotional drama, but for me, contemporary women’s fiction/romance makes me feel like I have a lot of room to maneuver, ways to explore complicated, modern ideas about life and love.
Simple Wishes was inspired in part by the little Pennsylvania cottage where I wrote much of it. The prose is deliberately lyrical (not always transparent), the characters are unruly and even a little frustrating, and the romance arc is very “real life.” Women’s fiction just makes sense because it lets me indulge my emotional side and the part of me the just loves a good-old HEA.
WWR: What's in store for you next? Will you continue to write the same types of books as Simple Wishes?
Lisa: Yep. I’m having fun. But I may venture into general fiction at some point as well.
WWR: In the same line of thinking as the previous question, I see from your site that It Happened One Night will be the next book out for you. Will it be linked to Simple Wishes in some way or be stand alone? And can you tell us a bit about it, the description, release date, etc.?
Lisa: I’m so crazy excited about this book. It’s about two sisters who own a wildflower farm in Vermont, and it comes out in November. It’s a stand-alone single title, and I had way too much fun doing the research for it. Here’s the working blurb:
Lana Biel longs to leave her family’s Vermont wildflower farm so she can travel and see the world. And her sister Karin wants nothing more than to put down roots and conceive the child she and her husband just can’t seem to have. Unfortunately, when a lighthearted fling with a mountain biker leaves Lana expecting, she finds herself tumbling headlong into unwanted motherhood while her sister Karin can only look on.
For help, Lana turns to her dependable, generous, and very attractive best friend. Professional meteorite hunter Eli Ward has never forgotten the one and only time he slept with his best friend Lana. Now that she’s pregnant, he sees that he must either win her heart ASAP or lose her to another man. But if he admits his true feelings after all these years, will he ruin everything?
WWR: Your website is just lovely, by the way. Can you tell us a bit about the "secret" pages and what people who sign up for your newsletter will find there?
Lisa: Thank you for the compliments! The secret page has a free audio download about a game called “Library Roulette.” The game was born out of my belief that, as serious writers, we need to read across many many genres. Like, we need to read stuff that bores us, makes us uncomfortable, makes us want to throw a book against a wall. There’s so many reasons I advocate this—too many to list here—but they’re in the download.
In order to make myself expand my comfort zone and keep my writing fresh, I make myself play “Library Roulette”—it’s sort of a way of forcing your writing to grow through random reading. The rules of how to play are in the download as well.
WWR: Your site notes that when time permits you offer mentorship and editorial advice? Do many authors take you up on your kind offer? And what exactly does mentorship from you entail?
Lisa: I’ve worked with a number of authors—everything from gay romance to literary fiction—behind the scenes of course. I now offer what I like to call “manuscript consultation.” The projects I really like to work with are usually those that are “on the cusp.” If you’ve been getting a lot of really positive feedback but still can’t quite get out of the slush pile, that’s where things get exciting to me because that’s where I feel I can offer the most help.
What I do is basically compose a professional and detailed editorial letter, evaluating not only content but marketing context as well. I use that method because it’s comprehensive, but also because it allows me to keep costs down. I like the idea of blending a client’s do-it-yourself passion with my years of training and real-life experience.
More info about manuscript consultation at http://bookanatomy101.com/manuscript-consultation.
WWR: Okay, so I have to ask...why is your blog titled Book Anatomy 101? And can you tell us a little about what authors will find there?
Lisa: Of course! It’s called www.bookanatomy101.com because every week, I dissect, scrutinize, or otherwise tinker with “how books work.” The idea behind the blog is this: At a certain point, it’s easy for a relatively well-trained writer to see what’s wrong with a book. But it’s really very hard to see what’s right with a book because a good author will essentially make her story look effortless by hiding her technique. So my blog looks at the hidden nuts and bolts that make a book work.
If you’re an intermediate or somewhat advanced writer, you might want to check it out, even though it’s in a nascent phase. There have been some stops and starts (broken feeds, no comment features, etc.), and I’m reorganizing right now in a way that will hopefully reward readers with free books. But in the meantime, the blog is still a lot of fun and helpful (I hope!). If you’re a hard-core narrative nerd like me, stop by. The re-launch will be in a few months.
WWR: What's in store for your readers down the road? Where do you see yourself and your writing in the next five (5) years? And if that's too far away, what about within the next year or so?
Lisa: It’s such a tricky time to make any predictions because of the economy and whatnot. But I can tell you where I hope to be. I plan to keep writing “Lisa Dale Books,” which is to say, the Lisa Dale brand. But I’d love to branch out into general fiction as well, to indulge my more literary side. Whatever I’m writing, I always want to be working with writers on some level, whether it’s at my day job helping pair writers with agents and editors, or whether it’s helping writers take their manuscripts to the next level.
WWR: Lisa, thanks again for taking time to visit with us! We're very much looking forward to seeing your next book! If you missed Lisa's industry interview you can still read it here.
