The Young Rascals
For fellow Inkster bloggers Joe Moore and Lynn Sholes, writing is collaborative. When I’m stuck, looking at a blank page and wondering what to do next, I think with envy of Joe or Lynn simply scrawling “Partner fill in here” on the page and going on to the next scene. Sigh. But no, for me, as for the vast majority of authors, writing is a solitary profession. Maybe that’s why when the chance to hang out with fellow scriveners comes along, we always say yes.
The human whirlwind that is Sue Ann Jaffarian has speaking engagements on the San Francisco Peninsula today and tomorrow. She drove up from LA yesterday, and we settled in for a few hours of tea and sympathy on a sunny Sunday afternoon. Being believers in California diversity, we were
joined by Tim Maleeny representing San Francisco and Sophie Littlefield, a denizen of the East Bay.Sue Ann thrives under pressure. She has recently agreed to furnish six more books in her Odelia Grey series to Midnight Ink. She’s also just submitted the first book in her new Granny Apple trilogy. Being under contract for all that would be daunting to the most prolific of us writers, some modern-day heir to Isaac Asimov (who wrote over 400 books). But Sue Ann manages to fulfill her commitments with flair while holding down a full-time job. It would be easy to be envious if she weren’t so charming, amiable, and enthusiastic.
Tim Maleeny’s recently moved his Macavity and Rocky-nominated Cape Weathers mysteries over to Poisoned Pen Press. He was showing off the cover for December’s Greasing the Piñata – with good reason. Recovering romance writer Sophie Littlefield’s A Bad Day for Sorry is out next summer and, if it’s half as engaging as she is, the book will go to the top of my must-read pile.
As writers do when they get together, we talked over when we write, whether we outline, triumphs and tragedies with publishers and agents, and juggling non-writing obligations to day jobs, children, and felines.
It was great to jaw and drink with Sue Ann, Sophie, and Tim, but that was a Sunday pleasure and now I’m looking out the window at the foggy gray of a Monday. Onward and upward!
9 comments:
I could never collaborate, I don't think. It seems like a very rare thing when two writers can be of one mind.
Keith, thanks for hosting a delightful afternoon. It was the best excuse to procrastinate I've had all month. As for writing in collaboration, if I'd known all you had to do was write "partner, fill in here", then I would have found a writing partner a long time ago...
Thanks for the mention, Keith. After writing four thrillers with Lynn Sholes (we just started #5) I can't imagine how anyone writes a novel alone. In the same breath, I would never recommend fiction collaboration to anyone. It's not for the faint of heart.
I'm too difficult to work with to collaborate on a project as large as a novel. I'd be a good editor if someone else wanted to write the work and have me polish it, but the back and forth bits takes a special pair - like Lynn and Joe. You two are amazing!
And of course, Sue Ann is Superwoman , in case she didn't introduce herself properly. :)
Collaboration sounds fun, if you can agree on your vision. It seems to be working for Lynn and Joe, the translated-into-many-languages duo.
I think it's important (and fun) to meet colleagues and draw from their energy. Are you energized, Keith?
This just in from Agatha Christie: "I've always believed in writing without a collaborator, because where two people are writing the same book, each believes he gets all the worry and only half the royalties."
But when it works, like it does with Lynne and Joe, it works!
Great cover, Tim. Amazing continuity from the previous covers, which were also brilliant.
I love the Agatha Christie quote, Jess. Julia, I am about to be energized. And in case anyone wondered, that's Tim, Sue Ann, and Sophie from left to right in the photo.
Keith, thanks so much for sharing your secret writing spot/watering hole with us! Now if I could just find as inspiring a spot to work in way out here in the East Bay....
- Sophie
Amazing group, indeed.
I have a confession to make...indeed I have collaborated with a co-author on an upcoming project which I'll share later on, but it's someone I know quite well. We are, in her own words, "Ying and Yang," in many things, but philosophically on the same page which made it easy to write with one voice. More to come on that...
Thanks, Keith, for a tribute to some of our own fantastic group.
Post a Comment