Swapping smarts with author Ellen Meister

In her latest book, The Smart One, two-time author Ellen Meister takes us on a page turning journey into the lives of three sisters. A sister plot, with numerous twists and turns it was recently named one of the top ten beach reads by Woman’s Day. She dishes the dirt with me for www.WriteNowToday.com about her creative process.

1) What was the major catalyst that led to the creation of The Smart One? Was it a professional or personal?

It's always personal for me. It starts with some thought or question that pokes at me begging to be explored. With The Smart One, I was thinking about the family dynamic and how it influences us as adults. In particular, I was contemplating how children sometimes get labeled, and how hard it can be to break away from that.

Note: In The Smart One, the three adult sisters find their labels both a blessing a curse, and need to understand this before their relationship can move to a healthy place.

2) How long did it take to get published?

This one moved fairly quickly because it was my second book and was sold based on a proposal (seven chapters plus an outline, in this case). My first book, Secret Confessions of the Applewood PTA, was a much longer journey. It took about two years to write, nine months to find an agent, six months to rewrite and get an offer from a publisher, and then two more years before it found its way to bookstores.

3) The Smart One has so many twists and turns, how hard was it to layer the plot and keep track of everything that was going on?

Sometimes it can get tricky to stitch together a complicated plot and keep track of it all. I write notes to help myself figure out where I am and where I'm going. I hope no one ever sees these. They look fairly schizophrenic. The funny thing is, now that it's done I often can't remember what I left in and what I took out. So sometimes people ask me about the book and I give them the wrong answer!

4) What was your greatest challenge?

When I first starting writing The Smart One, I thought the humor was going to be a challenge. One of my characters is a comedy writer and I worried that it was a pretty ambitious thing for me to do. But once Kenny was fleshed out, the jokes just came. And I have to admit, it was kind of fun.

Writing, of course, has all sorts of challenges. I know authors who are natural storytellers and struggle when it comes to crafting sentences. For me, the story is the hardest part. Once I know what's going to happen in a scene, the writing is easy ... sometimes even joyous. But the hardest part of the whole process? Waiting. The publishing business is all about waiting, and I'm just terrible at it.

5) What motivates you?

Groupies! Kidding. It's the drugs. No, no. Kidding again. I'm motivated by deadlines, readers and the ideas themselves.

6) Any advice for budding authors?

Don't listen to all the horror stories about the state of publishing industry, and don't try to write for any specific market. Just focus on the idea you're in love with and write the best book you can. Also, read. If you're paying attention, every book has something to teach you.

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