Chicklit Interview

I had the pleasure of talking with Rian Montgomery of Chicklitbooks.com in May, 2005.
Click here to read the interview.

My friend Madeleine runs a New York salon with energy, aplomb, and genuine warmth. She's a wizard with scissors and a fabulous cook, too. I'm trying to convince her to open a salon-café where we can get our hair styled while we grab a light bite from Madeleine's Cucina.

Till then, enjoy Mais Oui a virtual salon of hair, body, and mind. Pamper yourself while you get the gossip, girl! Relax under your cucumber facial, prop up your Pradas, and listen in on the shop scuttlebutt. If you close your eyes, soak in the good air, and pretend you're not listening, you're in for a few secrets for aspiring writers.

The Blueberry Effect

Eat blueberries. Eat as many as you can. Blueberries increase brain function, and when you're suffering from writer's block you can always rely on nature's miracle, the blueberry, to pop a brilliant idea in your head. Really! It works for me. Actually, I have no idea what sort of brain function these berries increase, and in fact they may just make you walk straighter or desire less sugar in your cappuccino. But the promise of any sort of brain function at all is something a writer cannot pass up.

Read in Bed

Before you go to sleep, read something in the genre that you're trying to write. It gets the mind on topic and lets your brain take care of some of that nasty creative work while you're sleeping. Don't worry about stealing someone else's ideas. Once I get my hands on something, the mutilation is so devastating the original concept is unrecognizable.

Write sludge.

Realize that the first draft will stink. Don't wait for inspiration. Accept that today you're laying down the sludge, which you will refine and rework and delete and rewrite at a later date. If you don't allow yourself to write crap, you'll have nothing to edit.

Ignore hygiene and mundane tasks.

When you're facing a deadline you must resist the urge to clean out your closets, give yourself a pedicure, rotate the tires on your car. Even the daily shower is questionable; it's up to you to fit it into the timetable. The lure to do ANYTHING ELSE when you're supposed to be writing is strong, but hang tough. The closet can wait. Besides, once your royalties come rolling in you can hire California Closets to come in and reorganize your junk for you.

Take lots of breaks.

While the long distraction is deadly, the quick little walk around your PC can help you work the kinks out of your plot. So do a "downward dog" on the way to the restroom. Stretch your neck. Catch up on your favorite soap. Read the headlines of the newspaper. A short zone-out can bring on an energy infusion.

Listen to the talkers.

The cell phone gives writers a unique window into other peoples' lives - and it's totally free. You just sit on the bus or at Starbucks and listen to strangers' unravel their lives. I have learned embarrassingly intimate details this way. The woman beside me who enjoyed her date but wasn't feeling the magic with this guy. The smooth brother on the train who's cheating on his high school sweetheart. The woman in line at the grocery store who asks about the color of the baby's poop. This only breaks down when the caller is speaking in a foreign language - one of the rare occasions when I long for subtitles.

Avoid Idle Friends

You know the ones - they ask you to breakfast then hold you at IHOP until lunch time so that they can tell you all about their problems and conquests, real and imagined. Meanwhile, your blueberry waffles are kicking in some good ideas, but your sleeve is stuck to the syrup on the table and your friend isn't even approaching summation. This rule is doubly true when you're under deadline. In fact, every time I hit a deadline I change my cell phone number. Friends? Who needs 'em.

Exploit friends, family and nemesis.

Ignore that last statement. As Bette sings: You gotta have friends. How else would you be able to do character studies? You didn't think writers made these things up, did you?