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Quite possibly, one of my favorite author events. Definitely the best original artwork I’ve ever seen for one of my books. The Mineral County Library is a haven for good-hearted readers.
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The latest update from Susan Wiggs
Family Tree goes on sale August 9th. View this email on the web.
Enter for a chance to win a Family Tree Book Club Pancake Party Pack! Family Tree, the upcoming novel by #1 New York Times-bestselling author Susan Wiggs, is a perfect read for book clubs. The powerful, emotionally complex story of love and loss, heartbreak and healing, sets the stage perfectly for discussion–not to mention the irresistible recipes to inspire a menu for your club’s meeting! 25 lucky book clubs will each win a Family Tree Book Club Party Pack, including 2 copies of Family Tree, maple syrup and pancake mix, and a personalized note from Susan Wiggs. Winning book clubs will also be invited to a video chat with Susan. Enter here for a chance to win.
Eagerly anticipating the release of Family Tree on August 9th? Color while you wait! Click here to download a Family Tree coloring book page.
Pre-order your copy of Family Tree at the links below.
HC.COM AMAZON
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I am posting this as a public service. Part of my revision process involves printing out my manuscript in Microsoft Word.
I work in WordPerfect because it thinks the way I do. But there’s one feature of Word that’s really helpful when I do a marathon sit-down and read-through with my editing pen in hand. You can print the ms with your comments and edits in balloons in the margin…so you know what you were thinking as you worked.
But the "new" Word, which comes as a subscription for 10 bucks a month, doesn’t want you to do this. After monkey around for way too long, googling "print showing markup" and all possible variations, I requested a call from Microsoft help. The phone rang immediately (boggle)…and the helper monkeyed for another 40 minutes (remotely) with no success. She promised I’d get a call from a higher power in 4 hours. That’s a long time to wait for a higher power.
So I monkeyed some more, and lo and behold:
There you go. You have to go to the opening screen of Word, then click OPTIONS, and then click DISPLAY. Look under "printing options" and check the box that says "Print hidden text."
Then CTRL-P, and there are your comments.
Simple, huh?
You’re welcome.
The You I Never Knew was written, sold to a publisher, and edited…and then it was orphaned. In publishing, this means the editor who acquired it moved on while the book was in production. This is usually not the best news for a book, because that acquiring editor loved the book and was its in-house cheerleader. The project was handed off to a new editor. This is a bit like getting a foster child you didn’t ask for.
In my case, it turned out to be a mixed blessing. They were right in the middle of designing the cover, and it looked like this:
the art i never used on the you i never knew
literary collection of stories
Now, this is a fine piece of original art. The design and layout are reminiscent of both The Horse Whisperer and a Nicholas Sparks cover, so those are pluses. It also looks a bit like Annie Proulx’s Close Range.
Does this mean the cover is right for this book? Probably not. First of all, The You I Never Knew would be a paperback original, not a hardcover book, so the art needs to “pop” on the shelf in order to stand out. The colors of this cover are muted and the mood is chilly. It might work on a hardcover jacket, but it doesn’t look instantly warm and inviting, like a “feel-good” novel.
The new editor came into the middle of cover design, knowing nothing about me or the book. There was a bright spot, though. The new editor was the extremely smart Maggie Crawford, and she was the kind of foster mother the book needed–an experienced editor who understood the market for this book. She’d worked with many bestselling authors and had a fine eye for marketing women’s fiction. She took on the cover art issue with aplomb, and came up with this.
It’s one of the least-relevant yet most commercial covers I’ve ever had. Here’s my analysis: Splashing my name on the cover in huge letters gave the illusion that this was a big book by a big author. The lettering itself–big, graceful block lettering–was reminiscent of the font used for blockbuster author Sandra Brown. 
And of course, it capitalizes on the galloping popularity of the biggest novel of the ’90s, The Horse Whisperer. 
So I’m back on track, right? My new editor rescued the novel from obscurity and now all I’d need to do is kick back and let the sales roll in. Oh, and I’d be working with Maggie on the next book, brainstorming the plot and building on the success of The You I Never Knew. Right? Right?
NOT.
The lovely and talented foster-editor for this book was so lovely and talented that another publisher hired her away. By the time my novel was published for the first time, there was no one home. My calls were fielded by hapless assistant. With no in-house cheerleader, no marketing budget, and no PR, my book was destined to die of slow strangulation in that publishing twilight zone known as “the midlist.” If sales were poor, the publisher wouldn’t want anymore books from me, and my days as an author were numbered.
BUT.
I had a secret weapon, and that secret weapon was YOU. The You I Never Knew, aka READERS.
One of the great things about publishing is that readers don’t care what a book’s marketing budget is. They don’t care how it’s positioned on a publisher’s list or catalog. They care about the story. Not only that, when they like the story, they tell their friends. And their librarians. And their hairdresser. And the next thing you know, the book is a bestseller.
Against all odds, the first edition of The You I Never Knew made the USA Today bestseller list. Thanks to readers, the book is still in print, in a fresh new edition this week.
The latest edition – in stores now!
the 2010 edition
There are very few reasons to go to Orlando in June…but a writer would go to the ends of the earth to meet up with the nation’s librarians. The annual conference of the American Library Association gives us a chance to tell the most avid readers about upcoming books. Here are a few highlights of my visit:
1. Looking super official with badge swag and easel.
…but it’s always a good idea to read the fine print:
2. Where else do you need crowd control for meeting writers? In the #HarperCollins booth…
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3. It’s not every day you get to tango with a #BerenstainBear.
4. #alaac16 had its serious moments. Check out this beautiful message wall. $5 was donated for every message that appeared on the wall. Really. Which is a big deal, when you consider how many writers were wandering around. I wrote SEVERAL messages in support of #Orlando.
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5. My vote for most beautiful booth goes to #LibraryOfCongress.
I was on a panel with some of my favorite writers–Shelley Shephard Grey, Heather Graham, Meg Rusoff, Brenda Novak and Mary Kay Andrews.
Sometimes a conference hotel is better than it has to be. The Hilton had awesome pools and a spa.
#books #libraries #newfiction
Really! I’m so happy to see my short story, The Key Ingredient, in that #1 Bestseller slot on Amazon. Being on the same list as Tim O’Brien and George R.R. Martin is no small thrill.
Thank you so much to all who downloaded this little tidbit. Just a heads up–it’s a short story. SHORT. It’s an introduction to the irrepressible Annie Rush, star of Family Tree…and there’s a bonus excerpt from the novel.
#bestsellers #newfiction #MondaySurprises #grateful #TheKeyIngredient #FamilyTree #Susanwiggs
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Mabel, Mabel, strong and able! Get in here and set the table!
Those of you who are old, like me, will remember that rhyme.
And here’s something new–a fresh edition of The Beekeeper’s Ball. Ta-da! A very nicely set table awaits. And–BONUS–there’s a sneak peek at my next book, the long-awaited Family Tree.
Dr. Mack Roark said, "Our past informs our present and our future reaches back into our present to define who we are." In terms of our heroine this is very much the case; she has dreams for her future but until she can forget and forgo what happened in her past she will never fulfill those dreams. Her journey to do this makes for a very nice “beach read”.
Shout-out to Maggie Boyd for this thoughtful review. Thank you for the buzz!
…in which we celebrate my remodeled web site with a Q&A, courtesy of Catherine Dugoni in Mrs. Fox’s 10th grade class.
What types of novels do you write? Why do you choose to write those types of novels?
I write what’s known as commercial fiction or women’s fiction. I’ve also published contemporary romance novels and historical romance novels. Like most writers I know, I write what I love to read. I picked up a paperback romance while studying some horrid advanced math topic in college, and it gave my mind a welcome break. Ever since that time, my goal has been to write the kind of books that uplift and entertain readers when they most need it.
When did you get your first novel published? What was that feeling like?
I sold my first novel in 1986, and it was published in 1987. At that time, I was in my 20s, a math teacher at the Kinkaid School in Houston. I was also a young mom and schoolteacher with a toddler and two dogs. When the editor called me to say she wanted to publish my book, one of the dogs had just yarked on the floor and the baby was making a beeline for it. This was before cordless phones, so I simply took the phone call. I guess you could say my feelings were mixed, but since I was achieving a huge goal, it was a great feeling of accomplishment. But it was not glamorous!
Were your novels rejected before you first got them published? How many times and how hard was that?
I stopped counting my rejections. Back in the ‘80s, there were a lot more publishers for the kind of books I was writing. Nowadays, there are just a few major traditional publishers left–HarperCollins, Random House, St. Martin’s, Simon & Schuster, Hachette. An emerging writer gets rejected by the literary agents she contacts to represent her work, and she gets rejected by editors who work for the publishers. I sent my work out dozens and dozens of times, and received both form and personal rejection letters. It was hard in the sense that I had to keep working at my craft and I had to keep sending out my work. It was NOT hard because I knew I had set an ambitious goal for myself, but it was something I wanted. And how hard is it to go for something you want? 
Do you make a living as an author? And what percentage makes a living as authors?
I’ve made a living as an author for the past twenty-five years, and I was the sole income for my family up until I remarried in 2012. This is an extremely rare situation for an author, but I’ve worked hard, made good choices and sought out the best people in the business. A writer is self-employed and works from contract to contract, so it definitely has ups and downs based on sales, the market, trends and the economy in general. The percentage of writers who make a living at their craft is incredibly tiny! If you want a number, you could contact authorsguild.org to find out the results of their regular survey. (The Authors Guild is a great resource.)
What’s the best part of your job? What’s the worst part of your job?
The best part of my job is writing and talking about writing (like this interview) and hearing from readers. At the moment, it’s pouring rain outside, but I can look out my window and see the ferry chugging past my beach. Mount Rainier is visible in the distance, despite the rain. There’s a roaring fire in my living room, a chihuahua sleeping on my legs and a doberman lying on the floor next to me. I’m drinking a mug of PG Tips tea and making stuff up that will ultimately be published in 2017. 
The worst part of my job is taking care of business. As I mentioned above, a writer is self-employed, so she has to be on top of bookkeeping and accounting, promotion and marketing, social networking, tech support–everything a large business does, only she’s just one person and it can be awful. For example, I just spent about an hour on the phone trying to get help installing WordPerfect X7 on a new computer. (That is my writing software of choice.) That’s an hour I don’t get to spend writing, and it’s frustrating. But then I tell myself, people go to jobs they hate, every day, so I can get through this hour and get this done.
Where do you get your ideas?
Another Dr. Seuss quote: “I get all my ideas in Switzerland near the Forka Pass. There is a little town called Gletch, and two thousand feet up above Gletch there is a smaller hamlet called Über Gletch. I go there on the fourth of August every summer to get my cuckoo clock fixed. While the cuckoo is in the hospital, I wander around and talk to the people in the streets. They are very strange people, and I get my ideas from them.”
Editor and style maven Margaret Marbury.
What he’s saying in his own inimitable way is that ideas come from everywhere–a photograph of a stranger. A childhood memory. A chance remark by a friend. A brainstorming session with other writers. Inspiration is everywhere. I usually know I’ve hit on something when I feel it in my gut. The idea intrigues me–What happens when a woman wakes up from a coma to discover her husband has divorced her and left her penniless? (Family Tree) What if a squabbling couple drives of a cliff and dies, and their wills leave the kids to two different people? (Table For Five). What if a woman drives her daughter across the country to college, and all along the way, they sort out their issues? (The Goodbye Quilt) What if a high school girl interviews an author and learns a huge secret, eh?
How much research do you have to do?
Probably more than you would suspect when reading one of my novels. Research is constant. Every geographical location and every time period has to be researched until it feels authentic to the reader. Every career a major character has–same thing. You have to sound like an expert, whether you’re writing about an EA-6B Prowler pilot (The Ocean Between Us), a photographer who is losing her vision (Home Before Dark) or a maple syrup producer (Family Tree).
The trick is to do enough research to sound authentic without boring the reader. The other trick is to keep from spending all your time on research.
Do you outline your books or do you just freely write?
Note the snow on the ground…
Both. I start with a general idea and a sketchy outline, a few pages talking about the character, situation and setting. I write a more detailed synopsis (I’m using this term interchangeably with outline) to make sure the pieces of the story all fit together, and then I write. I compose the book in longhand, in a Clairefontaine grid-ruled notebook, using a fountain pen with peacock blue ink. There are a couple of reasons for this. 1) I’m left-handed so I need quick drying ink that doesn’t smear as I drag my hand over the page. 2) I wrote lots of journals when I was young and so I associate these tools with creativity and fun. 3) With paper and pen, I’m not tempted to be distracted by the digital world. To some, writing in longhand seems like extra work, but it helps me think and limits distractions. It’s also a shout-out to the early me–the emerging writer dragging her notebook wherever she goes.
Do you write about your interests?
Absolutely. All the topics of my books are topics that are relevant and interesting to me, such as recovering from trauma (Family Tree), caregiving (Starlight on Willow Lake), Nazi plunder (The Apple Orchard), running a cooking school (The Beekeeper’s Ball) or being a librarian in charge of a Christmas Pageant (Lakeshore Christmas) are all examples of things that intrigue me that turned into books.
Was it hard for you to get started as an author?
No. It was hard to make my way to a self-sustaining career as an author. Getting started, meh. I had that mom (see above). It takes incredible focus and a willingness to work hard, hone the craft, fail and pick up the pieces, succeed and follow that success to the next level. There are a lot of people with stories who want to be an author, but are they willing to do what it takes to make it happen? It’s no coincidence that the most successful writers I know (and greatly admire) are also the hardest working–Debbie Macomber. Nora Roberts. Erik Larson. Robert Dugoni. Jodi Picoult. Terry Brooks.
Have you ever gotten writers block? If so, how did you overcome it?
I don’t get writers block, but I do get stuck. I question myself about what should happen next, where it’s going, is it going to work for the story, is it going to lead to a dead end…a writer’s insecurities are legendary. We never know for sure we’re on the right track. So I get stuck. It usually unravels when I’m doing something completely unrelated to the book, such as a long, vigorous dog walk, digging in the garden, riding my bike, sitting in the hot tub…It’s a bit scary to be stuck, because you worry about getting behind on your writing schedule and missing a deadline, but as I’ve said before–If this career was easy, there would probably be more writers in the world.
The View From Here 