Ask the Author: Meg Waite Clayton
Answered Questions (10)
Meg Waite Clayton
So many great new books out. I'll definitely be reading the other author essays in A PARIS ALL YOUR OWN. Also on my list:
1. Saints for All Occasions by J. Courtney Sullivan - reading now and loving!
2. The Marriage Pact by Michelle Richmond Author - just finished, wow!
3. Everybody's Son by Thrity Umrigar
4. Setting Free the Kites by Alex George
5. Pages for Her by Sylvia Brownrigg
6. Ernest Hemingway by Mary Dearborn
1. Saints for All Occasions by J. Courtney Sullivan - reading now and loving!
2. The Marriage Pact by Michelle Richmond Author - just finished, wow!
3. Everybody's Son by Thrity Umrigar
4. Setting Free the Kites by Alex George
5. Pages for Her by Sylvia Brownrigg
6. Ernest Hemingway by Mary Dearborn
Meg Waite Clayton
Now that would be telling, wouldn't it? :-)
One of the beauties of writing fiction is that you can explore without having to own or explain. I certainly do explore bits of my own life in my fiction, but those explorations often evolve into something different or more.
One of the beauties of writing fiction is that you can explore without having to own or explain. I certainly do explore bits of my own life in my fiction, but those explorations often evolve into something different or more.
Meg Waite Clayton
I only get one? Well then JAne Austen's Lizzy Bennett and Fitzwilliam Darcy of Pride and Prejudice, because I'm at heart a hopeless romantic who prefers smart women with strong spines and handsome gentlemen who blubber. :)
Meg Waite Clayton
It will! The audio typically releases the same day the physical book does, which would be Aug. 11. If I hear any differently, I'll post it here. And I love audio books, too.
Meg Waite Clayton
Gabriela, THANK YOU! I do also have such great affection for the whole Wednesday Gang, who sort of came to me on their own and feel like real people to me, rather than figments of my imagination. It is such a joy--always--to hear from readers who do as well.
And I wouldn't be surprised to find them asking for another book!
But at the moment, my writing efforts are being spent on THE RACE FOR PARIS. Like the Wednesday books, its about women friends, although this time the setting is WWII France, and the women are journalists:
THE RACE FOR PARIS. Two journalists, denied access to press camps and the front, join forces with a military photographer and race toward Paris, to record its liberation from the Nazis and thereby make history. Inspired by women who defied military regulations, gender barriers… (more at https://megwaiteclayton.com)
I actually started RACE before I started THE WEDNESDAY SISTERS--15 years ago! It's been a labor of passion, love, and sheer literary stubbornness. I'm so excited to have it finally making its way into readers' hands this summer (Aug 11!). I hope you'll watch for it!
And again, thank you. Please do tell friends. That is the way readers find books, and books find readers.
Warmly,
Meg
And I wouldn't be surprised to find them asking for another book!
But at the moment, my writing efforts are being spent on THE RACE FOR PARIS. Like the Wednesday books, its about women friends, although this time the setting is WWII France, and the women are journalists:
THE RACE FOR PARIS. Two journalists, denied access to press camps and the front, join forces with a military photographer and race toward Paris, to record its liberation from the Nazis and thereby make history. Inspired by women who defied military regulations, gender barriers… (more at https://megwaiteclayton.com)
I actually started RACE before I started THE WEDNESDAY SISTERS--15 years ago! It's been a labor of passion, love, and sheer literary stubbornness. I'm so excited to have it finally making its way into readers' hands this summer (Aug 11!). I hope you'll watch for it!
And again, thank you. Please do tell friends. That is the way readers find books, and books find readers.
Warmly,
Meg
Meg Waite Clayton
Write. Revise. Repeat. Repeat again and again and again. Submit. Toss the rejections aside. Revise again. Submit again. Repeat and repeat and repeat long beyond the point when any reasonable person would have given up. Your own mother will start to doubt you. Just ignore her and keep writing and revising and submitting.
Seriously, I host a blog where I have hosted literally hundreds of amazing writers and every single one -- even National Book Award winners and bestsellers, even the ones who look like overnight successes -- write about the rejection they had to endure. If you aren't being rejected you aren't reaching high enough.
If you want a post to start with on the blog, National Book Award winner Julia Glass's "The Not Quite Yes" is a terrific place to start. Or Brenda Rickman Vantrease's "The 136-Rejection Overnight Success." http://megwaiteclayton.com/1stbooks/j...
http://megwaiteclayton.com/1stbooks/b...
Seriously, I host a blog where I have hosted literally hundreds of amazing writers and every single one -- even National Book Award winners and bestsellers, even the ones who look like overnight successes -- write about the rejection they had to endure. If you aren't being rejected you aren't reaching high enough.
If you want a post to start with on the blog, National Book Award winner Julia Glass's "The Not Quite Yes" is a terrific place to start. Or Brenda Rickman Vantrease's "The 136-Rejection Overnight Success." http://megwaiteclayton.com/1stbooks/j...
http://megwaiteclayton.com/1stbooks/b...
Meg Waite Clayton
I make myself sit in the chair every day -- 2,000 words or 2:00. It's surprising what one can write if your alternative is to sit there and be absolutely bored to death!
Meg Waite Clayton
A new novel titled THE RACE FOR PARIS, to be published by HarperCollins next year! I've been working on this one off and on for over a decade, so I am so excited to share it with readers. It tells the story of a British military photographer and two American women - a journalist and a photojournalist - who hope to be among the first to cover the liberation of Paris from Nazi occupation, an accomplishment that could make their careers. More about it, including a photo of the real life women journalists who covered WWII who inspired the story, at http://megwaiteclayton.com/book_Racef... -- do please have a look!
Meg Waite Clayton
I don't like the word "inspired," to be honest. It suggests that if on any given morning I'm not feeling "inspired," I shouldn't write. I find that if I sit in the chair every day -- 8 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. or 2,000 words, at least -- the words come. It's easier to write than to think about writing. Sometimes I just write the word "The" and hope some other kind words will feel sorry for it and come join the party. Words on the whole seem to like to hang with other words, if my experience is any indication. :-)
Meg Waite Clayton
SPOILER ALERT FOR THE WEDNESDAY SISTERS (but not for The Wednesday Daughters)
I wrapped up The Wednesday Sisters with an epilogue, and thought I was done with their stories. I didn’t mean to write a sequel. But so many readers asked for one that it started me thinking. Then I was talking with someone about his children, who are biracial, and it dawned on me that Ally’s daughter, Hope, would likely have faced the kinds of identity issues many children of mixed race do. I thought those issues would be really interesting to explore, and a sequel that involved the daughters of the original five friends seemed somehow meant to be.
I wrapped up The Wednesday Sisters with an epilogue, and thought I was done with their stories. I didn’t mean to write a sequel. But so many readers asked for one that it started me thinking. Then I was talking with someone about his children, who are biracial, and it dawned on me that Ally’s daughter, Hope, would likely have faced the kinds of identity issues many children of mixed race do. I thought those issues would be really interesting to explore, and a sequel that involved the daughters of the original five friends seemed somehow meant to be.
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