FAQ

Hmm. I wouldn't call it research, exactly. I remember hearing Steve Martin talk about his first appearance on Johnny Carson. Apparently Johnny, who was clear taken with Martin'stalent, leaned over on a commercial break and told him, "You'll use everything you've ever learned." That's about what it's like, and I thank God for my humanities background. There's always a certain level of additional research, though, and most of it is totally fun, like researching crows, which I'm doing now.

> Was Tumbling Through Time your first novel?

It was my first published novel, but Blackmuir Fires was the first manuscript I completed. I hope to find a home for it someday.

> How did you become a writer?

Well, I always loved writing, and I'm a huge reader. But it took my sister's unexpected death at 31 for me to realize that one doesn't get forever to chase one's dreams and if there was something I wanted to do, I should do it. Within a month of her death, I'd begun Blackmuir Fires, booked a trip for my family to England and Scotland, and asked for a better job at work. It took six years for me to finish Blackmuir Fires, but it was good enough to net me my fabulous agent, Claudia Cross. She hasn't sold Blackmuir Fires yet, but she told me she was absolutely certain I'd be published, that it was just a matter of time, and that I should write a second book so she could sell that one and then go back and sell the first. So I did, and she sold it. And that was Tumbling Through Time .

> Was it hard getting an agent?

Oh, baby. First I had to finish Blackmuir Fires, and since I was essentially teaching myself to tell a story as I wrote it, it took a long time. I was blessed to have the help of Elaine Knighton, an excellent writer, who mentored me the entire way. We met online through Romance Writers of America. We corresponded for a couple years before we finally met in person at an RWA convention. She was unpublished when we first began to share work with each other, and over the years I got to watch her "get the call", get published and really create a fine body of work. So I knew how things were going to work if it ever happened for me. And she modeled great writer behavior for me. Anyway, when I finally finished Blackmuir Fires, I sent the first two chapters and a cover letter to every agent listed in the Romance Writers of America listings. Over the course of nine months, I heard back from all of them. Eight or nine wanted to read the whole thing. So I mailed the manuscript out and eventually heard from two who wanted to represent it. That's how I came to be working with Claudia.

> Did you get any rejection letters?

[Sound of raucous laughter] Dozens and dozens. I don't have thick skin but I'm relentless, so I tried hard to glean the learnings, ignore the patently incorrect, and move on.

> Does a writer need an agent?

I do. I need to spend my time writing, not pitching. Claudia and the fine folks at Sterling Lord do a fantastic job looking after me and helping guide my career. I can't imagine life without them.

> Where were you when you got the call that Tumbling Through Time had been sold?

Driving my daughter to school. And I didn't get the call. I got the voicemail. Claudia had called my cell the evening before, but I'd left it in my car to charge. All she said, though, was, "Give me a call. I've got some really good news." Of course, I knew that had to mean she's sold the book--it would have been too cruel for her to leave that particular message otherwise--but I was hearing this at 7:45 in the morning, which meant I couldn't reach her to get the low-down until at least 10:00, and I knew I wouldn't even be able to call her at 10:00 since I was teaching a class at work from 8:30 until noon! Aaaarrrrrgh. Oh, it was hard to wait. When I finished the class and got to a phone, she wasn't at her desk. We finally connected around 2:00 that afternoon. I shrieked with delight, of course. It was quite exciting to get the offer from Pocket Books. Sadly, I had to run from the call into another string of meetings, so on every break I'd run into the hall and text one of my friends with the news.

> Do you enjoy working with Pocket Books?

I do. My editor, Megan, has some pretty clear ideas about what will and won't work, which helps a lot. She's also a hoot to spend time with.

> Tom and Drum, the male leads in Tumbling Through Time, were your first heroes. Is your husband like Tom or Drum?

Yes.

Okay, okay. He's really he's like Tom--smart, attentive, loyal, funny. And he's from North Dakota, but he's tall and blonde with gorgeous hair--not really much like Colin Firth, at least as far as looks are concerned.

> Is it true you asked Colin Firth for a blurb?

Yes and no. It's true I wrote to Colin Firth's agent to request a blurb, though I suspect Colin himself never had the slightest inkling. Part of a good agent's job, after all, is to screen out the more questionable requests.

> I take it the agent declined?

Yes, but very politely. He even threw in something like, "Colin appreciates you thinking of him." In any case, it was fun opening up my email to find a message with the subject line "Colin Firth." If you're out there, Colin, drop me a line. We can still get you into the later editions.

> What's your advice for would-be writers?

Write. Write a lot. Write every day. Try to find a more advanced writer in your field to mentor you. And read. Not just in your field, but all areas. It informs your writing and teaches you to recognize structure and craft in different formats. Read like the book is teaching you a lesson about how to tell a story. It's a whole different way to read. And I highly recommend reading Goals, Motivation and Conflict by Debra Dixon (sometimes hard to find but you can get it at gryphonbooksforwriters.com) and On Writing by Stephen King. Both are excellent and entertaining guide books.

> What books do you like to read?

The books I love:

-- Outlander by Diana Gabaldon. This is the one, the book that made me want to become a writer. I have never enjoyed a guilty pleasure more. My friend Leslie Reed sent it to me as a Christmas gift in 1996. I nearly died from embarrassment when I discovered it was a romance (I'd never read one before.) But it didn't take me more than 20 pages to get over that worry. When Claire Beauchamp, who has been torn from her husband in 1945 and transported back in time to 1743 against her will, first begins to fall in love with the Scottish warrior Jamie Fraser, I thought to myself, my God, Gabaldon's done it! She's written the ideal women's fantasy. Claire is going to bop back and forth in time between two wonderful men, and neither man will ever know about the other! I was wrong, of course, but I tucked that thought away...

Six months later, my younger sister (named Claire) died without warning. I was devastated, of course, but her death taught me one important lesson: There are no guaranteed tomorrows, and if there's something I wanted to do in life, I needed to just do it. Within a month, I'd changed jobs, booked our first family trip to Europe and begun my manuscript, a historical romance called Blackmuir Fires (the book Seph refers to throughout Tumbling Through Time ). This led to an agent, which led to a second manuscript, which led to a contract with Pocket Books, which led to where I am today. I make it sound like it was a snap. The whole process took ten years.

I met Diana Gabaldon at a reading in Columbus, Ohio not long after I began Blackmuir Fires. She was extraordinarily gracious, encouraging me to keep at it. She asked me what sort of a book I was working on. When I said historical romance, she raised a knowing brow. "What period?" she asked. "1705, on the borderlands of Scotland and England." I said. "Just before the Act of Union." "Ah," she said, eyes twinkling. "Good period."

If you haven't read Outlander yet, do it. I guarantee you won't be able to put it down.

-- Patrick O'Brian's 20-book series about British naval captain Jack Aubrey and his friend, the ship's surgeon Stephen Maturin, who is a spy for Britain, during the Napoleonic Wars.

The heart of the series is the amazing, twenty-year-long friendship between these two very different men, to which O'Brian masterfully adds magnificent seafaring adventures, thrilling battles, tales of espionage, lust, love, and encyclopedic information on natural history, military history, and naval practices.

Everything I know about the British navy (which isn't much, let me hasten to add) I learned from O'Brian's works. The New York Times called the series the "best historical fiction ever written." I couldn't agree more. Start with Master and Commander. I've read every book twice and some three times or more. It will come as no surprise that my Drum is very Jack Aubrey-like.

Dorothy L. Sayers's Lord Peter Wimsey detective series. Set in the 20s and 30s, Lord Peter is the son of a duke, one of the wealthiest men in England and a shell-shocked World War I hero. He happily diverts from his man-about-town life to solve crimes. Like Patrick O'Brian, Sayers can cram a lot of education into series that is eminently readable. Being a romantic at heart, I most enjoyed the last four books in the series--Strong Poison, Have His Carcase, Gaudy Night and Busman's Honeymoon in which Peter falls in love with crime novelist Harriet Vane while saving her from the hangman's noose. He assumes she will instantly accept his proposal of marriage. When she doesn't, Peter works hard to change her mind. A breathtaking story, where she resists and resists and resists, until poor Peter has to learn he cannot command love; it must happen in its own. When Harriet at last says "Placet" in New College Lane at the end of Gaudy Night and they kiss, I admit I had to wipe away a tear. That's me and my extremely accommodating husband there, doing the same thing in 2000.

-- Bridget Jones's Diary. Need I say more?

-- Michael Connelly's Harry Bosch detective series. Harry's about as troubled and true as heroes get. I hope some woman makes him happy someday. Start with The Black Echo.

-- Harlan Coben's Myron Bolitar novels. Laugh-out-loud funny and another hero with a dark side and dark secrets. Start with Deal Breaker.

-- Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum series. The books are hilarious, and Stephanie, modern woman that she is, bounces back and forth between two boyfriends. Even though she's not a very good bounty hunter and gets into some terrible scrapes, Stephanie never calls on her squeezes to help. Girl power!

I waited in line for several hours to meet Janet Evanovich when she came to Pittsburgh on a promotional tour. I told her I was writing Tumbling Through Time , a story I felt to be very inspired by her writing. I asked her if she'd be willing to give me a blurb if I ever sold it. She said she would, and she did! When I signed the deal with Pocket, I mailed Janet a nice note and reminded her of our meeting. In truth, I didn't expect her to respond, let alone give me a blurb. But two days after I mailed the note, I opened my email and there it was--a note from Janet herself with not only a blurb but many words of encouragement. Classy. Start with One for the Money.

-- Don Winslow's Neal Carey crime series. Very funny. Has to be the only popular fiction book that uses obscure 18th C novel The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle as a plot device. Please write another one, Don. We need to know what happens with Neal. Readers can start with Cool Breeze on the Underground.

-- John Wessel's dark detective series about Harding, the tough ex-con private eye who's a University of Chicago graduate, and his on-again, off-again goth girlfriend Alison. Harding has to be the coolest alum the University of Chicago has produced since Indiana Jones. If you're a Maroon like me, you know what I'm talking about.

I actually wrote John a fan letter--the first since David Cassidy in fifth grade--and he was kind enough to write back (unlike David I'm very sorry to report.)

You're another one, John. Write faster. The world needs more Harding.

Readers, start with This Far, No Further, but I love Kiss It Goodbye.

-- Elaine Knighton's medieval romances. Elaine is a lyrical writer and an amazing story teller. Her heroines are savvy and strong, and her heroes, complex. Start with Beauchamp Besieged.

-- If you want to find out what a fun, sexy time Lizzy and Darcy have after they marry, I urge to read Linda Berdoll's hugely entertaining Mr. Darcy Takes a Wife. Linda's got her finger on the pulse of what makes P&P fans happy.

> How does one get in contact with you?

At gwyn@cready.com