Does the creative process get easier for you with each book?
NO! I actually made notes along the way this time, because I wanted to be able to look back and remember my fluctuating state of mind. There were days I opened up a blank document and decided not a word from my manuscript was saveable and I had to start all over again (I didn’t). And then I reminded myself (on one of the glass-half-full days) that this wasn’t like playing a game of tattslotto. I’d written one book, I could write two. It was about tenacity, patience and perseverance. This time around I had fairly new baby twins (they were five months old when I first started typing Joy Moody) and a host of family responsibilities going on. But I also had a book contract! This was an enviable position for any writer and I wasn’t going to waste a moment (who needs sleep anyway! Ha!). So the creative process didn’t necessarily feel much easier, but I trusted that I could do it, and I am also stubborn as hell. Give me a deadline and I’ll meet it.
What’s the easiest and most difficult parts of your job as a writer?
Easiest – the writing. Hardest – the writing. Without being melodramatic, it is the best and worst, but it is such a wonderful thing to do. Make words up, put them on a page and then other people read them and tell you lovely things about them. I had no idea the emotional impact Lenny Marks would have on people. I hope Joy Moody can connect with readers in a similar way. The hardest is finding time. We all have so many things that can distract us. It’s about using the time we have to the best of our ability. There will never be more time, or the perfect time, you have to take it and hoard that precious time close and make it happen.
Do you write about people you know? Or yourself?
Hell yes. Or no – what, legally, is the right answer to this?
I’ve heard it said that characters are one third yourself, one third someone you know and one third made up. That balance sounds about right. People who know me well enough have said they see me in my characters (especially Lenny Marks) and it’s probably lucky in that case that I don’t really include saucy, steamy scenes because that might make it a little weird. I’m also okay with making things weird, so maybe a wild sex scene is on the cards. Romance with a side of dragons is trending, so maybe romance and murder could be too.
How does it feel to hold your book in your hands?
I have four children and remember the feeling of their delightful, newborn little bodies being placed onto me so I could hold them for the first time ever. It was magic. But holding my books is better, and cleaner, and my goodness they smell good.
How did you think of the title of this book?
I am two strikes for two books in the title stakes and I thought I was pretty good at naming things. My Siamese fighting fish as a kid was Corbin Dallas (after Bruce Willis in The Fifth Element of course) and I’ve thought up pretty good names for my kids. Turns out, book titles may not be my thing. Originally, Lenny Marks was ‘The Almost Truths of Lenny Marks’ and Joy Moody was ‘Joyful Suds.’ I was guided towards the final titles by my brilliant publisher at Penguin Random House Australia, and am very happy with them both. Now, I am madly trying to think of something really brilliant and in a similar theme to submit book three as so I can win the game of name-your-own-book (that no one but me is playing).
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