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Chick Lit Author: Christina Skye
Chick Lit Authors

Chick Lit Author: Christina Skye

Christina Skye has published over 20 novels and appeared on both the USA Today and New York Times best-seller lists. She has written both contemporary women’s fiction and historicals, all featuring her signature strong, stubborn females and tough male characters. Her contemporary novels often feature romantic, suspenseful plots with military or police themes. Her CODE NAME: series all feature strong women paired up with a Navy SEAL, filled with suspense, humor, and passion.
Skye has also received her doctorate in classical Chinese literature, and has written five
internationally acclaimed art and cultural guides to China while also working
as a consultant to the National Geographic Society and the American Museum
of Natural History. She enjoys off-roading with her motorcycle, shooting firearms, and hiking mountains.
Christina Skye’s chick lit titles are: My Spy, Hot Pursuit, Going Overboard, 2000 Kisses, CODE NAME: Nanny, CODE NAME: Princess, CODE NAME: Baby, and CODE NAME: Blondie.

December 27, 2009
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Chick Lit Author Maggie Marr
Chick Lit Authors

Chick Lit Author Maggie Marr

Maggie Marr, author of the celebrity ridden, Hollywood gossip novels Hollywood Girls Club and Secrets of the Hollywood Girls Club didn’t start out in the depths of the plush L.A. lifestyle. She grew up in Illinois, practiced law for four years- first as a guardian-ad-litem for abused children in Chicago and then as a prosecutor in domestic violence in Denver. After that, Marr moved to Los Angeles with her husband, an actor, and began her first job in the entertainment industry- pushing a mail cart at ICM. The pushing paid off, as she later became a motion picture literacy agent.
Marr now splits her time between producing and writing. Her two published titles are Hollywood Girls Club and Secrets of the Hollywood Girls Club. She also finished her most recent television pilot My Mr. Universe. Maggie Marr is currently working on a contemporary romance and a new motion picture script.

December 7, 2009
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Interview with Charlotte Ward
Chick Lit Authors

Interview with Charlotte Ward

What is your favorite part of the writing process?
Probably the moment when you begin to feel you’re getting somewhere. It’s always a relief when it starts to flow after a period of writer’s block or when you know you are at the point where the book is beginning to take shape. Seeing your work in a finished tangible form with a pretty, shiny cover is amazing too.
How did you decide on this career path?
I started off being really interested in broadcasting but when I went to college to study journalism and radio I found that I much preferred the print side. I had a great teacher called Barbara Jones who inspired me. She’d bundle us into the college minibus and drive to Hugh Grant and Liz Hurley’s house so we could ask them for interviews, she’d arrange trips to places like the Houses of Parliament or BBC HQ and once took us to Glastonbury so we could grill Michael Eavis about the festival. She gave us a real glimpse of what a job in journalism would be like.
Who has been your favourite celebrity so far to interview?
Honor Blackman was amazing – she’s such a cool lady. I also loved Julie Walters when I interviewed her. Claudia Winkleman is very, very funny as is Laurence Llewelyn Bowen who will answer anything you ask him with complete candidness. He’s brilliant.
And, who is the one celebrity you haven’t yet interviewed but would love the chance to?
Well Oprah Winfrey would be a good one at the moment seeing as she has just quit her chat show, or for my own guilty pleasure – Robert Pattinson. I used to love Orlando now I’m swooning over Rob. It’s a bit sad for a woman over 30 but there you go.
You’ve said that Why Am I Always The One Before ‘The One?’ is based on you and your friends searching for, well, ‘The One.’ How much fun did you have writing this book?
Lots! There were loads of funny moments down the pub as my friends told me their stories and I’d be frantically scribbling them down on a napkin. I think it made us all see that you don’t have to be ashamed of your dating disaster stories. Infatuated people do silly things and life would be very boring if we didn’t. It was lovely to have my friends contributing and there was a shared sense of excitement when that book came out.
On the other hand, how difficult was it to write about the ‘ridiculous and deranged’ situations that you have experienced firsthand?
It was hard at first because if I’m honest I did feel like a bit of a wally. I’d be cringing, thinking, “Oh Jeez, did I really do that? Do I actually want to tell people?” But after a while I decided, “Oh sod it, if I can laugh about it then it’s not that bad.” Now I feel fine about my deranged moments as putting them out there in print for other people to enjoy has been quite cathartic. I’m a fool for love and proud so I did it all over again for ‘It’s Not Me, It’s You.’
You are currently ghostwriting a book, how much do you enjoy this experience?
I really enjoy it. I’m fascinated by other people’s stories. It’s an odd process though. As the deadline looms it often gets to the point where you are speaking to the person you are writing for more than anyone else in your life and vice versa. It becomes this strange intense relationship. When I’m going through an extreme ghostwriting period I can hear their voice in my head as I type and my dreams are all messed up and confused. I haven’t called my boyfriend someone else’s name in my sleep yet but it’s a distinct possibility.
What would be your advice for aspiring authors and journalists?
There’s no point pursuing a writing career unless you really are going to give it 110 per cent. You have to really want it and be prepared to do lots of unpaid work experience (including strange ‘journalism’ duties like tea runs and cleaning out cupboards) take lots of knocks and keep on plodding away for a pathetic amount of money. At the moment it’s more competitive than ever. However if it really is your dream then motivation, drive and initiative will get you far. If you want to be a journalist then get as much on-the-job experience as you can and offer up stories to your local newspaper so they can see you are keen and have a good news sense. If you want to get a book deal, write a blog and make sure you have at least four chapters written and clear chapter outlines for the rest of the book. Get hold of a copy of The Writer’s Handbook and seek out a literary agent who can give you advice on structure or plot and will have the publishing contacts to get your manuscript seen by the right people. Also, don’t give up if you are rejected at first – even JK Rowling was turned down numerous times before she had her success with Harry Potter.
You seem very busy with all the different projects you take part in, how do you fit in time for yourself?
I’m a bit rubbish at that and often seem to work seven days a week. It’s the drawback of working from home – there’s no clear structure to when you start and finish work, but I do try to take a break. When exhaustion hits me I’ll go home to my parents and cuddle up in front of the fire with my dog and cats. After three days my dad will say, “That’s better Charlotte, you’ve got some colour back in your cheeks!”
When you get some free time, how do you spend it?
Reading other people’s books, watching X Factor, True Blood and Lost, going to the cinema, seeing my friends, indulging in determined periods of gluttony then crying in TopShop changing rooms, cooing over animals at the zoo, going for nice walks or giving my credit card a battering.
What would be or is your favorite place to travel?
In terms of future destinations I really want to go to New Zealand. I have family out there so a visit is definitely on my wish list. For the last three summers I’ve been island hopping in Greece. It’s great as all you need to do is book a flight to Athens, go straight to the port and jump on a boat to an island of your choice. There are always loads of people waiting at the island ports with holiday apartments to let so you can book on the day and pick and choose at leisure. The weather is roasting, the beaches are gorgeous and there are about a million feral kittens roaming about which I like to stop, look at and take photos of. My boyfriend is very patient.

December 3, 2009
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Chick Lit Author: Robyn Sisman
Chick Lit Authors

Chick Lit Author: Robyn Sisman

Robyn Sisman was born in Los Angeles, California, the hometown of her grandparents. But she wasn’t there for long- as a child Sisman moved around to Illinois, Geneva, Oxford, Munich, and back to England. In nine years, she attended schools featuring three different main languages- French, English, and German. At 15, her parents divorced and she returned back to America, but was always determined to attend a university in England.
And she did. After graduating from Oxford, Sisman taught English in Ethiopia and traveled to Africa before looking for “proper” jobs. It was when she was working as a secretary at Oxford Press University that she met Adam Sisman, a new junior editor for history. She agreed to marry him after the third date.
After moving to London with her husband, Sisman worked her way up to become Managing Director of Hutchinson (Random House) and shortly after became a mother. While Adam worked on his biography, she decided to begin drafting her own book- which later became Special Relationship.
Sisman then went on to publish Perfect Strangers and Just Friends, both which were Sunday Times Top Ten bestsellers. Her published titles are: Special Relationship, Perfect Strangers, Just Friends, Weekend in Paris, Summer in the City, A Hollywood Ending, and The Perfect Couple (to be released in 2011).

December 1, 2009
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Interview with Alisa Kwitney
Chick Lit Authors

Interview with Alisa Kwitney

Q: Where do you find inspiration for your novels?

Sometimes life throws me a plot. There was a year where I kept getting calls from men who thought they were dialing an escort service. That became the genesis for On the Couch. Last spring, I started thinking about the strange circumstances surrounding the death of an ex-lover, and how I wound up cleaning out his apartment with two other ex-girlfriends of his. That became the seed of a book I’m writing now.
But other books start out as daydreams, like The Dominant Blonde, and the YA steampunk I’m brewing.
Q: Your father is a writer and your mother is a journalist. Did you ever feel any pressure to be a writer?
None whatsoever. I started writing at age six, because I was an avid reader, and what Sue the cheerleading coach on Glee calls “a scab eating mouth breather.” Books were my glee club. And comics, too.
Q: You write in a variety of different genres, do you have one in particular that is your favorite?
I don’t really think my range is all that wide – I write in a variety of subgenres, which is kind of like making a lot of different kinds of pasta, as opposed to being a master of wildly different cuisines. But some things remain constant in my writing. I like the battle between the sexes a lot, and I like humor that reveals things, and I love how desire can unsettle people in profound and fascinating ways. I believe that people reveal themselves the most when they believe they are concealed by a lie.
Q: Who is your favorite author/or favorite book?
I can’t just name one, but I do have a particular love for Thorne Smith – he wrote sophisticated supernatural screwball comedies like Topper and the Passionate Witch, which eventually turned into Bewitched.
Q: You worked as an editor for many years with DC Comics. How did being an editor impact your writing skills?
Wow, there are so many, many ways. To begin with, I learned how to work up an idea into a proposal, and how to estimate whether the idea would require 20 pages or 100 pages or 300 pages to execute properly. I learned how to write action scenes. I learned to check to see if the ideas in my head had actually made it onto the page.

I also learned a lot from the fact that I was reading and editing comics – I think it made me a more visual writer. The books I write after writing comics or graphic novels are always more visual.
Q: Which part of the writing process do you find is the most difficult for you?
Getting a book to the point where I can start writing it is the hardest. By the time I actually begin my first page, I’ve usually spent months figuring out the whole book in my head. And the first five pages always take me a while to get right. Once I have those, the rest of the book usually flows pretty easily. I rewrite as I go along, so once the book is done, I don’t usually have a lot of editing to deal with.
Q: Does She or Doesn’t She has some hilarious fantasies dreamt by heroine Delilah. How were you able to come up with those scenarios?
Those were the easiest things in the world to write! Most of them were inspired by books and movies I have loved for years, like Shanna and The Secret Life of Walter Mitty. My favorite one to do was Bewitched – I’ve always been obsessed with the television series. I could have just gone on and on with the fantasies.
Q: You have been teaching a course on Graphic Novel Writing in New York City. How excited are you to be teaching this class?
It’s been a lot of fun teaching, and I’ve learned a lot in the process. Last week we talked about exposition, and the ways in which you want to leave your reader guessing, and the ways in which you don’t. Tomorrow I’ll be talking about world building.

Q: What advice do you have for aspiring writers?

Read a lot, so that you know what you like to read, and keep trying to write what you want to read. The path to the universal is through the specific. And for God’s sake, don’t start smoking while you write, because it’ll be hell to get back to work once you quit.
Q: What would be or is your favorite place to travel?

Ooh, this is like naming my favorite author or book – I can’t decide on just one place. I love walking, though, in the wilderness or through old cities. And I’m very, very fond of cheese. Any place that combines walking and cheese works for me.

November 24, 2009
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Interview with Cara Lockwood
Chick Lit Authors

Interview with Cara Lockwood

Q: When did you know you wanted to be a writer?

I knew from as far back as I can remember, probably since I first started reading. I loved books (then and now!). There’s nothing quite like getting lost in a good book.

Q: What are the greatest perks of being a full time writer?

No cubicles! No annoying coworkers sitting next to you. No nagging bosses staring over your shoulder (Instead you’ve got an editor that’s a few hundred miles away). It’s just you and your little blinking cursor on the screen.

Q: On the other hand, what can be the hardest part about being a full time writer?

Well, it’s just you and your little blinking cursor on the screen! Sometimes it gets a little lonely. Although, I have to admit, I still don’t miss those annoying coworkers or the cubicles.

Q: Where do you find inspiration for your books?

Everywhere! Friends, family, my (so-called) life, television, movies, other books.

Q: Are any of the characters you write about based off of you or people you know?

Absolutely – most of them are. I think the best characters are grounded in people you know.

Q: Do you find anything difficult about writing both adult and young adult novels?

Well, they’re very different in some ways, but in the big picture ways, they are the same. Both audiences want compelling characters and interesting plots. The bigger challenge about writing young adult fiction is that I have to dig deeper to remember what it was like to be an adolescent.

Q: Has there ever been an odd time or peculiar place that you have had a great idea for a book or character?

I nearly always come up with my very best ideas just when I’m lying down about to go to sleep. I think it’s because it’s the only moment of quiet I have in my day. I’ve got two kids under the age of three, so my house is very, very loud. I keep a pen and paper near my bed just for scribbling ideas down. Otherwise, I’ll go to sleep and forget them.

Q: I just finished reading I Did (But I Wouldn’t Now) and it is mostly set in London. Have you traveled to London, or how did you get the idea to set the novel there?

I have been to London twice. I love that city. I’m a bit of an anglophile (I’m addicted to BBC America) and the idea of setting it mostly in London was just a kind of fantasy for me. I would have loved to live there. Plus, it gave me the excuse to subscribe to Hello! Magazine (the British equivalent of People) for a whole year under the guise of “research.”

Q: You wrote an anthology, This Is Chick Lit. What made you want to write this?

There has been so much negativity about Chick Lit, which I just think is ridiculous. That particular anthology was edited by fellow author Lauren Baratz-Logsted as a reaction to a short-story collection called “This is NOT Chick Lit” by a group of writers who were very negative about the Chick Lit label, mainly because of what critics have said about it. I think people should be able to read what they want, whether that’s sci-fi, romance, mysteries, chick lit, literary fiction, without someone else trying to belittle them for it. I love literary fiction, but I also love young adult fiction and mysteries and chick lit – so does that make me shallow? I think when people get on a high horse about what should or shouldn’t be “literary” it ultimately just sounds snobbish.

Q: What is your favorite chick lit book and/or author?

My anglophile roots are going to show here. I am a huge fan of Jane Green (my favorite is one of her classics “Mr. Maybe”) and yes I still love her work even though I think she now lives in Connecticut. My other all-time favorite is Marian Keyes (another classic –“ Watermelon.” It was after reading this book that I was inspired to write “I Do (But I Don’t)”). I would talk about newer books, but now I have so many chick lit author friends who are all so equally fabulous, that if I started listing them, I think I might not be able to stop.

Q: What would be your advice to aspiring authors?

I say just read everything you can get your hands on. Even reading bad novels can teach you something about writing.

Q: What would be or is your favorite place to travel?

Since I’m an anglophile, I’d say England. But a close second is Hawaii. It’s truly one of the most beautiful places.

Q: And finally, when you are not writing, how do you enjoy your free time?

I wish I had free time! My toddlers keep me pretty busy. But, when I’m not writing or chasing after them, you can find me playing tennis, watching “Glee” or reading new books on my Kindle. I am completely addicted to that thing. Best invention ever!

Click Here to Visit Cara’s Website

November 24, 2009
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Chick Lit Author: Cara Lockwood
Chick Lit Authors

Chick Lit Author: Cara Lockwood

Cara Lockwood has had many successes as a writer, though it took the Mesquite, Texas native some time to get there. Lockwood attended Pennsylvania University, majoring in English. During her college career she worked on the school newspaper, and after graduating worked as a newspaper reporter for the next four years. According to Lockwood, her overly excitable editor combined with the insane hours and less than stellar pay had her searching for a new career move, and she chose marketing next. The marketing firm was more laid back than the newspaper, and during her free time Lockwood began writing fiction, which turned into her hit novel I Do (But I Don’t).
Cara Lockwood has the following chick lit novels published: I Do (But I Don’t), I Did (But I Wouldn’t Now), Pink Slip Party, and Dixieland Sushi. I Do (But I Don’t) was made into a Lifetime movie, starring Denise Richards and Dean Cain.

November 15, 2009
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Chick Lit Author: Alisa Kwitney
Chick Lit Authors

Chick Lit Author: Alisa Kwitney

Alisa Kwitney was destined to be a writer. She is the daughter of science fiction writer Robert Scheckley and journalist Ziva Kwitney. Kwitney attended Wesleyan University and found a mentor is sci-fi/fantasy author Kit Reed. After graduating, she left Manhattan for Miami, working as a newspaper reporter. She returned to New York later to attend Columbia’s MFA program in fiction. After the program ended, Kwitney applied for an assistant editor position at Silhouette and DC Comics, where she began working for Karen Berger. She went on to become a full editor at Vertigo, a mature/dark fantasy imprint of the DC Comics. Seven years later, she left to begin writing full time.

Alisa Kwitney writes many different genres, including chick lit, comics, young adult, science fiction and fantasy-paranormal. She publishes science fiction and fantasy-paranormal books under the name Alisa Sheckley. Other genres are published under Alisa Kwitney. Her published chick lit novels are: The Dominant Blonde, Does She or Doesn’t She, On the Couch,, and Sex as a Second Language.

Alisa Kwitney currently lives in the Hudson River Valley with her husband, son and daughter.

Official Website: http://www.alisakwitney.com/

November 13, 2009
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