I have sometimes offended people with my work. Occasionally, I have received angry letters from readers who feel I did not paint a flattering portrait of their geographic area. (Characters have opinions that I do not share and make observations of their own.) I have even lost a longtime friend who did not care for my naming a character after her. (Actually, it was just an initial. But really? Toss a seventeen-year friendship for what I considered the ultimate act of love? ) I have had a woman approach me with glee, thinking I had lampooned her ex-husband who also happened to be my dentist. (No, certainly not. Though I did use his name. Why, oh why, did I do that? So not intentional.) My mother wonders (aloud and often) why so many of the mothers in my work are dead or evil. (Is that true? I’m sure I don’t know.)
Lisa Unger
Official Web Site of Lisa Unger, New York Times bestselling and award-winning fiction author
So You Want to be a Writer …
I spent this past weekend at Sleuthfest, one of Florida’s best writers conferences. It was a dynamic gathering of writers, professional and aspiring, as well as some of the most important agents and editors in the business. I was struck that it’s probably one of the best things you can do as an aspiring writer, spend a weekend with other writers and publishing professionals. You learn so much about craft, the industry and even yourself. I’ve been attending Sleuthfest for ten years, and many of the people I have met there have become my dear friends and valued colleagues. Publishing is a business of relationships – and lots of those relationships begin at conferences.
The Ones That Got Away
I take the business of endorsing other authors very seriously, because I feel so fortunate to have had support from some of the most important writers working today. Harlan Coben, Lee Child, Michael Connelly, Laura Lippman, Karin Slaughter, Tess Gerritsen, Lisa Gardner, Jeff Abbott, and other fantastic authors have all taken the time to read my novels and offer their kind words. And every single time I am humbled and washed over with gratitude. These are some of the writers who I most admire, and who have inspired me to be the best writer I can be. And to have their names on my book jackets, well, it never fails to blow me away.
Christmas Countdown!
I get stressed around the holidays. You probably do, too. It seems to be the nature of the season. Has it always been this way? I feel the tension start to mount just before Thanksgiving, my brain subconsciously creating checklists of what must be accomplished over the next six weeks – gifts for family, friends, neighbors and colleagues, tips for the various people responsible for holding my life together. A parade of questions to be answered, decisions to be made. Should I bake cookies or not? How bad are holiday cards for the environment? If I send them, do I hate the planet? If I don’t send them, will people think I’m a grinch? I imagine mantles full of happy season’s greetings from everybody except those earthier-than-thou Ungers who sent an e-card.
FRAGILE has been optioned for film by TNT!
TNT has optioned FRAGILE to be part of its new Mystery Movie Night! On November 29th, Scott Turow’s Innocent will launch a series of contemporary crime dramas that will include Lisa Gardner’s Hide, Sandra Brown’s Ricochet, Richard North Patterson’s Silent Witness, April Smith’s Good Morning, Killer, and Mary & Carol Higgins Clark Deck the Halls.
Mommy Writer
I was on my way to New York a couple of weeks ago on the 6 AM flight, looking ahead to a day of meetings. I left my five-year-old daughter back in Florida, which I rarely do. So she was very much on my mind — mainly because she put the screws to me for a full 24 hours before I got on the plane. Why do you have to go, Mommy? Just cancel your meetings. Why can’t you work from home like you always do? Why can’t I go, too? Don’t leave me! I needed to carry an extra suitcase to tote all my guilt with me.
The Truth about Fiction
My blogger pal Erin Faye recently asked me an interesting question on Twitter. When I sat down to answer her, I found I couldn’t do it in 140 characters. Having just read DARKNESS, MY OLD FRIEND, she wanted to know if a restaurant in the novel, called Grillmarks, was a real place in New York, or if I was referencing a local restaurant in Florida by the same name. The answer is oddly complicated.
My Secret Identity
In a little more than three weeks, my tenth novel DARKNESS, MY OLD FRIEND will go on sale. You didn’t know I had ten novels, did you? Well, once upon a time I was someone else. I was a nineteen year old writer, going to college in New York City. I was also someone who had just started her first novel. It would take ten more years to finish, but eventually that first book ANGEL FIRE would go on to be published under my maiden name Lisa Miscione.
My First Time
Once upon a time, I was a secret writer. Writing had been my passion for as long as I could remember. But when I graduated from college, I knew I had to get a “real” job, as my father called it. (A “real job” is defined as one that pays, if not well, then at least every two weeks). So I went into publishing. What else would a secret writer do? I wanted to be close to books, to the business of publishing. But, at the time, I lacked the confidence to follow my true dream. So, I wrote in the nooks and crannies of my life struggling to find time for pages on the train, in the morning before work, during particularly long and boring meetings.
