7 Minutes With... Jenny Milchman

I have such a treat for y'all today. If you haven't heard the name Jenny Milchman, prepare yourself. She's going to be the next Laura Lippman, and you heard it here first.  When I read COVER OF SNOW, I was blown away - how could this be a debut? I wasn't the only one, Jenny was nominated for a slew of awards, and has had an amazing amount of success for a new author. If you haven't read it, get a copy now, and while you're at it, snag yourself her new book, RUIN FALLS. Here's Jenny! 

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Set your music to shuffle and hit play. What’s the first song that comes up?

It’d be something country. Maybe Sugarland or Lady A. That’s because we’re on the road, 4 months and 20,000 miles on the world’s longest book tour now that my second novel has come out. My kids are in the backseat—we “car-school” them—and my husband works from the front. And there’s something about the road that calls for country.

Now that we’ve set the mood, what are you working on today?

Absolutely nothing! Well, I’m filling out this delightful set of questions, of course. And Tweeting, FB-ing, answering email. But I just turned in edits for my 2015 release, As Night Falls, and I’m in a lull period prior to starting my next novel, and finalizing this one.

What’s your latest book about?

Ruin Falls is about a woman whose children go missing at the start of a long awaited family vacation. But this is not a child-in-jeopardy novel, don’t worry. The kids are safe all along, and the mom and you as reader both know that. The suspense in the story comes from whether Liz Daniels can become the kind of person who can get her children back.

Where do you write, and what tools do you use?

I’m pretty much a word processing kind of girl. In fact, until recently when we rented out our house for the world’s longest book tour, I wrote on a machine that had no USB port, was running Windows 98…and backed up on floppy disks. (This led to all sorts of fun encounters at Staples or Office Max where the clerk looked at me like I was Encino Man). Now I use a real, internet-enabled netbook, but I still won’t go on the web or do email or social media while I am writing in the mornings. Instead, I stare out at a mountain, and a creek, and use the screen only as a portal into my story.

What was your favorite book as a child?

Anything by Stephen King.

What’s your favorite bit of writing advice?

Find the joy. I know the whole, Writing is easy; you just sit down and open up a vein school of thought. And maybe it’s true for some writers and some books. But I think that when we are just itching to get to that computer or pad of paper every day, travel into the world of our story, then our readers will be just as excited to keep turning the page.

What do you do if the words aren’t flowing?

Knock on wood because so far at least this hasn’t happened, at least not during a first draft. Revising is like boxing my way out of a concrete cell, though. I weep, I pull hair out. Not even necessarily my own hair. But a first draft is more like a river that pulls me along.

What would you like to be remembered for?

A bookseller in Olympia, WA told me that after reading one of my books, she feels a little stronger as a person herself. I would love to be remembered for giving people that.

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Jenny Milchman is a suspense writer from the Hudson Valley of New York State, who lived for seven months on the road with her family on what Shelf Awareness called "the world's longest book tour."

Jenny's debut novel, COVER OF SNOW, won the Mary Higgins Clark Award for best suspense novel of 2013, and has been nominated for the Macavity and Barry Awards.

RUIN FALLS, Jenny's second novel, was published in 2014 to starred reviews from Booklist and Library Journal, and chosen as an Indie Next Pick.

Jenny is Vice President of Author Programming for International Thriller Writers, and the founder of Take Your Child to a Bookstore Day, which was celebrated by over 700 bookstores in all 50 states and four foreign countries in 2013.

Tour

Jenny is currently on a second World's Longest Book Tour, from 4/22/2014 until 9/3/2014 (with some additional Fall and Winter dates), covering 40 states, 20,000 miles and almost 200 bookstores, libraries, book clubs, and other events. See http://jennymilchman.com/tour/over-the-falls-2014 for a full tour schedule and map. Jenny would love to meet you on the road!

About Ruin Falls, released 4/22/2014

Liz Daniels has just set off on vacation, but when the family stops for the night, she wakes to find a terrifying reality. Her children are missing, and the hours tick by without anyone finding a trace of them. But in a sudden, gut-wrenching instant, Liz realizes that no stranger invaded their hotel. Instead, someone she trusted completely has betrayed her. Now Liz will stop at nothing to get her children back. From her guarded in-laws’ farmhouse to the woods of her hometown, Liz follows the threads of a terrible secret to uncover a hidden world created from dreams and haunted by nightmares.

7 Minutes With... L.R. Nicolello

I was at RWA this year, at the literacy signing, when this knockout girl approached me and started asking questions about publishing. Her debut novel was coming out in a month, and she was hoping to glean some tips. Turns out said girl writes for my publisher, writes wicked thrillers, and within minutes, I knew she was something special. I meet a lot of people, a lot of writers, and sometimes, you just click with people, and we clicked. Plus - Nicolello? Come on, how can you not love a girl from the Old Country. I read DEAD DON'T LIE, which totally freaked me out, and knew I wanted to share L.R. and her writing with you. Beauty, brains, talent - she's going to go far, very far, and you heard it here first! So here we go! 

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Set your music to shuffle and hit play. What’s the first song that comes up?

‘Empty Words’ by Christina Aguilera.

Okay, first, that’s hilarious. But, this song—oh, my heart—this song. I love how music releases just the right tsunami of emotions. I had this on repeat while writing a particular twist for my latest villain and walked away from the pages actually hurting for him and a little bit in love. (I blame Allison Brennan for that. : ) )

Now that we’ve set the mood, what are you working on today?

Today I’m on the beach but like every day, I’m multitasking, which I love. I’m prepping for the release of my debut book, DEAD DON’T LIE, while I finish up edits due back to my editor tomorrow for my second book in the series, DEAD NO MORE.

What’s your latest book about?

DEAD DON’T LIE is a romantic suspense featuring Detective Evelyn Davis, the best psychological profiler in the Seattle P.D., whose talent comes from heartbreaking experience. After two local families are wiped out, Evelyn believes a serial killer is at work. With each new discovery, the case becomes more personal and Evelyn starts to suspect the families aren’t the killer’s ultimate target—she is. 

I love writing kickass women who can hold their own, yet know how to let people into their hearts and lives, even if it takes them awhile to get there. Evelyn is one such woman, and I hope my readers love her as much as I do.

Where do you write, and what tools do you use?

My husband and I travel a lot for work, so I tend to write on my Macbook Pro wherever I can park myself in a chair and put in my earphones.  If I’m not near my laptop, I’ll pull out my iPhone or iPad and write in Evernote.

What was your favorite book as a child?

Funny story. I actually couldn’t read until well into first grade. Once I started, I never stopped, so the list is long and distinguished. Off the top of my head—probably Nancy Drew.

What’s your favorite bit of writing advice?

Two things come to mind: 1) Don’t edit until you’re done with the first draft. Sit down, and just write. 2) If you’re not disciplined enough to write every day, then hang it up now. 

Okay, I know the second bit of advice may sound a bit harsh, but when Catherine Coulter said those words to me, it was as if a pendulum swung in my mind. Total. Game. Changer.

What do you do if the words aren’t flowing?

Head to the gym, go to a movie, read, jump in the car and just drive—anything to give my mind some space to just be. Then I refer to the first bit of writing advice: Sit down, and just write.

What would you like to be remembered for?

Being a gracious, steadfast, and kind woman, wife, and friend who never gave up on her dreams or the dreams of others.

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L. R. Nicolello has been obsessed with all things suspense and justice related for as long she can remember. When other girls her age were watching the latest chick flick, she was watching Top Gun, dreaming of flying fast. She thinks a man in uniform is swoon-worthy and her husband likes to tease her about it, especially whenever they are near a military base. Growing up, her parents instilled in her and her sister that women can be strong without losing their femininity, and she takes that to heart with every character that comes to life.

She lives in blue-sky Texas with her husband and their ninety-pound “dog child”, but travels—a lot. When she’s not writing, she watches and re-watches her favorite television shows, exercises or reads anything she can get her hands on. www.LRNicolello.com Twitter: @LRNicolello

More about DEAD DON'T LIE

You can run from the past…but you can never truly hide...

Detective Evelyn Davis delves deep into the minds of monsters for a living. She’s the best psychological profiler in the Seattle P.D., with a talent that comes from heartbreaking experience. When Evelyn was just eighteen, she received word of her family’s murder in the form of a horrifying video. Fifteen years later, tracking down other psychopaths is the only thing that brings her some peace.

But now two local families have been wiped out. Though the chilling crime scenes suggest murder-suicides, Evelyn believes a serial killer is at work. So does Special Agent Marcus Moretti, whose easy charm and fiercely protective instincts are breaking down all her defenses. Evelyn needs to put aside her emotional attachment to find the madman stalking her city—but with each discovery, this case becomes more personal. She’s starting to suspect the killer wants her—and he is edging closer with every step, ready to make Evelyn pay a devastating price.

9.2.14 - On Living Out Loud, With Thanks

Writing used to be a solitary endeavor. I’ve only been in the game for ten years, and when I started, it was a solitary endeavor. I wrote in a vacuum, not knowing any other authors, unaware of writers' organizations, agents, editors, sales channels and marketing plans. I wrote for me, and when I finished my first book, my husband read it, and thought it was pretty good. A friend who knew I was writing a novel offered to read it. He too liked it. The next thing I knew, I was at the library checking out a copy of the Writer’s Guide to Literary Agents, and had an editor reading my pages for continuity and grammar.

Things took off quickly after that. A year later, I had a agent, and a year after that, a three-book deal. I’d joined a critique group, started blogging, first for my own blog, then on Murderati. I put up a Facebook page, began the race to accumulate “friends.” Shortly thereafter, Twitter joined the mix.

I was no longer alone.

Fast forward ten years. I’ve just turned in my 15th novel. Pinterest, Instagram and Goodreads have all become a daily ritual like Facebook and Twitter. I send monthly newsletters to a lot of people. I do chats, and blog, and create clever contests.

I am living out loud.

I’ve always been uncomfortable with sharing myself online. From the very beginning, I was incredibly careful what I put out there. I’m an introvert, and I like my privacy. I like sharing JT the author with people, but I also wanted to keep me separate from all of that. It was a learning curve. Whenever I let a piece of me into the mix, I felt raw and vulnerable, oddly exposed, like I’d walked into a cocktail party without my clothes, and everyone was staring.

Keeping the two parts separate was a nice ideal. It couldn’t sustain.

Years ago there was a successful writer whose blog I followed. She was a funny, quirky blogger, full of interesting tips about the writing process and publishing in general. And she talked about when writing was hard. 

-Gasp-

She talked a lot about it. So much so that some other nameless authors tried to run her off for being overly dramatic and whiny. So much so that even I read a few posts cringing. 

How could you put yourself out there like that? People will think you’re weak. People will think you’re lazy. People will think …

I was new. Bright, shiny. Brimming with ideas and exuberance. Unstoppable. The idea of writer’s block was a joke. That it would be anything but easy to sit down and write a book? Bosh. And that you might actually admit out loud to strangers reading your blog that you were struggling? Heresy. 

I know now I was running on a sort of extended adrenaline those first few years. Life does get in the way. Sometimes, writing is hard. Really freaking hard. It cuts you open just to watch you bleed, and laughs at you as you struggle on hands and knees to cross the room to your desk. And let’s not get into the parts that are out of your control: bad laydows, terrible art decisions, marketing plans that disappear, accounts dropped, promises broken.

This is a fucking heartbreaking industry, in so many ways, yet we soldier on in silence, for the most part, because there is an old adage that reads: Never let them see you sweat. 

I’ve always tried to stick to that advice, simply because of that open, honest blog I used to read. It seemed so voyeuristic, to see inside another writer’s heart. To watch her bleed to death, slowly, in public, while others cast aspersions from their ivory towers.

I’m not sure when I crossed the first line myself. But over the years, I’ve shared more and more. The lines between me and that JT girl blurred, becoming nonexistent. The day I too was stuck and thinking about giving up, I reminded myself of the blog I’d read with such disdain as a child author, realizing that what she was doing was her therapy, and wrote about it myself. It helped. God in heaven, it helped. 

I’ve never been good with weakness, from myself or from others. My BFFs know if you come to me with a problem, you first need to tell me if you simply need to blow off steam, because if not, I will find a path for you to fix whatever issue is nagging at you. It’s a character flaw, I think, but I’ve learned to live with it.

Sometimes, though, I need to be weak. I need to vent. I need to cry. I need.

Writing WHAT LIES BEHIND was one of those times. It was by far the hardest book I’ve ever written. Storylines wouldn’t work. Characters weren’t behaving. I was stuck, blocked, for weeks, trying machination after machination to get the story to work. Five months of head banging frustrations, slipping into despair more than once, thinking about shelving the whole thing and giving up.

And I blogged about it. I talked about it on Facebook. And on Twitter. I wined and complained and lived out loud.

And you came to my rescue.

You held me up. You encouraged me. You offered ideas, paths to cross over to different switchbacks. You sent prayers and namastes and care packages.  You saw that I was weak, and needed help, and you rose to the occasion without a moment’s hesitation.

Social media gets a bad rap sometimes. Yes, it’s a distraction. Yes, it takes time away from our creative endeavors. But when you build a community of incredible people who will lift you up when you’re falling? It is worth every second.

You got me through this book. Knowing I wasn't alone kept me going, day after day. And it is with tears in my eyes and a lump in my throat that I give you my most humble thanks. I couldn’t have done it without you. When I turned the book in Saturday, I breathed a sigh of relief so huge I think I started a tropical storm in the Gulf.

Walk a mile in another man’s shoes, right?   

8.28.14 - On New Releases, Get 'Em While They're Hot!

7 Minutes With... Brett Battles

Welcome my good friend Brett Battles to the blog today! Brett was one of the very first people I met in publishing. We were in the same debut class, talking online about how we were going to make a roar with our debut novels, and ended up co-founding (with Jason Pinter and Sandra Ruttan) a marketing group called Killer Year, which has now morphed into the ITW Debut Authors program. He was also long-time member of Murderati. He makes me feel like quite a slacker, as he's written 20 novels to my 15, and he's become one of the most successful indie published authors out there. His Jonathan Quinn series is one of my favorites, and I'm so excited to have him here today. Without further ado....

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Set your music to shuffle and hit play. What’s the first song that comes up?

 “La Soledad” performed by Pink Martini

 Now that we’ve set the mood, what are you working on today?

Relaxing! It’s Sunday…tomorrow I dive back into the next book in my Project Eden series.

 What’s your latest book about?

 REWINDER concerns the consequences of one’s actions, and the choices one makes in a reality where time travel is possible.

 Where do you write, and what tools do you use?

Believe it or not I write in my kitchen (which is not large), on my iMac which sits on a rolling, butcher block topped cabinet. I wheel it into the center, sit on a stool, and work. This way I have views out both the kitchen windows and those in the living room.

 What was your favorite book as a child?

 Hmmm….I had many. I remember loving A WRINKLE IN TIME. I also couldn’t get enough of the Alfred Hitchcock and the Three Investigator series. Wait, the Foundation series by Isaac Asimov was also a huge favorite, and…okay, I’ll stop.

 What’s your favorite bit of writing advice?

 If you wait for inspiration to strike before you write, you’ll never get anything done.

What do you do if the words aren’t flowing?

Keep trying until I can’t go on, then give myself the rest of the day off. Sometimes you just need a day away.

What would you like to be remembered for?

Being a good dad and friend.

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More About REWINDER (Available Now)

You will never read Denny Younger’s name in any history book, will never know what he's done.

But even if you did, you’d never believe it.

The world as you know it wouldn't be the same without him.

Denny was born into one of the lowest rungs of society, but his bleak fortunes abruptly change when the mysterious Upjohn Institute recruits him to be a Rewinder, a verifier of personal histories. The job at first sounds like it involves researching old books and records, but Denny soon learns it's far from it.

A Rewinder's job is to observe history.

In person.

Embracing his new life with enthusiasm, Denny witnesses things he could never even imagine before. But as exciting a life as this is, there are dangers, too. For even the smallest error can have consequences.

Life-altering consequences.

Time, after all, is merely a reference point.

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Brett Battles is a Barry Award-winning author of over twenty novels, including the Jonathan Quinn series, the Logan Harper series, and the Project Eden series. He’s also the coauthor, with Robert Gregory Browne, of the Alexandra Poe series. You can learn more at his website: brettbattles.com

Buy REWINDER:

Kindle: http://amzn.to/1sU1zfK / Trade Paperback: http://amzn.to/1q6ZEnO