BEAUTIFUL LIES and SLIVER OF TRUTH, the story of writer Ridley Jones, came from a very personal and organic place. And her story parallels a lot of themes that were current to my life at the time. Both books are thrillers, of course, with lots of twists and turns and mayhem but Ridley’s story is also a coming of age tale; it’s the coming of age most of us experience in our thirties, where we realize that it’s not about where we came from, or what we did or didn’t get from our parents that makes our lives what they are. It’s about the choices we make – the little one, the big ones – that define the course of our lives. If you haven't met Ridley yet, you might take this opportunity to get to know her.

The brilliant design company (authorbytes.com) who created my amazing website created this killer video trailer (Click on "Watch Video About The Book") for BEAUTIFUL LIES! And there is also a podcast about the music that inspired me while writing the novel.

Enjoy, enjoy, enjoy!

Ocean's Favorite Book This Week: The Grouchy Ladybug by Eric Carle
What I'm listening to as I write this: The Four Seasons/ Vivaldi
Favorite website: wecansolveit.org

Conversely, being a mother has also opened a kind of fearless place within me. I have this awareness that there is literally nothing I wouldn’t bear or face to provide for or protect my daughter. I am motivated to change things both within and outside myself for my girl, which otherwise I might have just endured. Again, this is a theme that runs through the novel. Certainly, none of this is conscious or designed and it can only be observed after the book has been put to bed, so to speak. (Much like, these days, novels are better written after my daughter has been put to bed!)

There are other changes, too, of course. For example, today I was heading into my office to work – which involves my making a big show of leaving the house, then sneaking back into my office through another door. When I went to give her a kiss, Ocean said, “Mommy, sing a song.” She handed me a little book with the lyrics to “Working on the Railroad.” I have a terrible singing voice, though like most tone-deaf people I love to sing. These days I sing often and loudly – made up songs about the potty and animals, all manner of kid’s songs like Wheels On the Bus and Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. There’s actually someone in the world who, finally, wants to hear me sing. I never refuse her.

Other changes: I finally have a running partner who is exactly my speed. As much as I exercise, I am still a slow, clumsy runner. My daughter, on the other hand, is a lean fast little sprinter, but her legs are, like, twelve inches long. We make a great team, even if one of us is frequently distracted and veers off into the water, or stops to put shells in her mouth. Luckily, O is always very patient with me.

The biggest change of all: Ocean forces me to stay in the moment, something that is too rare these days. We are all so easily distracted with our little beeping, ringing, picture taking machines, rarely seeing what’s around us. We’re always checking email, surfing the web, filling any blank space with noise and sounds and images. A child requires that you spend a lot of time on the floor – reading, coloring, drawing, playing with blocks, singing, making up games and stories, spinning quarters, making funny noises through the cardboard paper towel roll. Whenever I find myself thinking of what else I should be doing, I remember that I have her like this for five minutes, that every day she is someone new. And so I breathe and stay present with her, remember to be grateful that what I do for a living allows me to be with her most of the time, and that the time with her makes me better at what I do.

Favorite book for Ocean:
PIGEON FINDS A HOT DOG by Mo Willems

What I’m reading:
WHITE NOISE by Don Delillo

What I’m listening to as I write this:
DEEP FOREST

When I finished my New York Times bestselling thriller Beautiful Lies, I didn’t think I’d hear from Ridley Jones again. I knew the ending wasn’t an easy one, but I figured: That’s life. Ridley lives to fight another day. Sometimes that’s the best we get.

But I soon realized she had a lot more to say. I simply couldn’t stop hearing her voice. Some of the unresolved issues at the end of Beautiful Lies didn’t rest as easily with me as I thought they would. So I continued Ridley’s story in SLIVER OF TRUTH. And even I didn’t expect there to be so much mayhem ahead. So, all I can say is: Buckle up. In SLIVER OF TRUTH Ridley realizes that life as she knows it has ended -- and the trouble is just beginning …

SLIVER OF TRUTH just released in a gorgeous trade paperback edition. Inside you’ll find a reader’s guide, as well as an excerpt from my upcoming release BLACK OUT. It’s nice, the paperback release. It’s like having a baby without any labor pains – the book’s been written forever, you already know what people are going to say about it; very little stress involved. Unlike a new hardcover release which is like giving birth to a baby, without an epidural, in a cave somewhere in the third world. Stressful doesn’t begin to cover it.

But SLIVER OF TRUTH is out there, a lovely blue, on front tables of happy bookstores (virtual and actual) across the country – and the world, for that matter. And I wish them all well, hope each and every one finds a loving home.

Hey, and by the way, come visit me on my discussion board at www.blackoutnovel.com. Let me know what you think of the books, my blogs, or just drop in to say hello! Don’t be shy!

Q) BLACK OUT is a stand-alone thriller and a departure from your character Ridley Jones. How was writing this novel different from your previous two, Beautiful Lies and Sliver of Truth?

I have to say it was a good deal more painful to write Annie’s story than it was to write Ridley’s. Ridley’s story was a dark one in many ways but she was a whole and healthy person, someone thrown into ugly circumstances. She had good memories of her past, which turned out not to be what she thought it was. In many respects she was an innocent. Annie’s story and her history are more complicated, her inner life is more tormented, her past is harder to reconcile.

Annie is so different from Ridley, not older but certainly more mature. A life of psychic pain, emotional abuse, and trauma have colored her perspectives. Ridley comes from privilege and Annie from a troubled home. So they see the world and their respective places in totally opposing ways. It’s hard to compare them, except to say that they are both lost girls who must find a way to claim themselves or be crushed by the forces at work in their lives.

Q) How did the idea for this story come to you?

I can usually pinpoint the exact moment a story began for me, the first moment I heard a character’s voice, the first time I saw a particular scene in my head. But I can’t be as definite about BLACK OUT. I don’t know when or how I began seeing this woman fleeing on a boat from some unknown pursuer. I didn’t know who was chasing her or why, I just knew that it wasn’t who she thought it was. I knew she was deeply fractured. For BEAUTIFUL LIES it was a flier in the mail that sparked the story, the point at which I started hearing Ridley’s voice. The inspiration for BLACK OUT was something internal.

But just as BEAUTIFUL LIES and SLIVER OF TRUTH mirror in an extreme way my own internal struggles at the time of their writing, BLACK OUT is no different. I was a new mom while writing this book, struggling to be both of these big, wonderful things – a mother and writer. Battling all the anxiety and stress of new parenthood, while coming to terms with the hypnotic, passionate love I had for my baby that didn’t allow room for much else, my identity as writer seemed pretty distant. So all of that is mirrored in Annie’s struggle, though Annie’s fracture is a bit more harrowing.

Q) Much of the story takes place in Florida where you live. You highlight the shadowy side of the state. What’s the significance of this?

I’ve been living in Florida for nearly 8 years now, which is hard to believe. Most of that time, I’ve been writing about New York. But this place has been getting under my skin, into my blood. And one of the things I love about Florida is that it’s so different than people imagine it to be. People think of Florida and they think of Disney and pink flamingos, margaritas and Jimmy Buffet. And it is that, of course. But it’s also this wild, dark place with vast, untamed spaces. People who write about Florida seem to focus on the funny, weird aspects – the kooky politics and the criminal element and the black humor of it all. But I sense a feral heart here – I’ve trekked though the everglades and kayaked through the magroves, been diving in the Keys and I feel something truly spooky beneath all the kitsch and sunsets on the beach. It fascinates me and has been leaking into my work.

Q) Were any of the characters in your story–Annie, Ophelia, Gray, Marlowe–drawn from people in your real life, or where they strictly born from your imagination?

In a way, both. Of course every character a writer creates is some composite of self and other. Writers are observers, always watching and absorbing. So the characters that spring from our minds must come from everyone we have seen or heard or been or imagined. That said, none of the characters in BLACK OUT are modeled after any real person in my life or in my past. Probably Marlowe comes closest to be being based on a terrible person from my own past, but he’s totally fictionalized. And as for Annie and Ophelia, well I suppose the theme of the lost girl comes up again and again in my work. And maybe it wouldn’t if I hadn’t struggled in finding and claiming myself.

Q) You’re a recent new mom. Do you see any part of your own daughter in Victory? How do you think being a mom influenced the way you wrote this character?

Being a mother has definitely changed everything about me, down to the way I see the world. And this, in turn, has changed the way I write. It has to, since I live and write from a very immediate and authentic place. My daughter is much younger than Victory but already I see a strength and intelligence in her that I’m not sure she got from me. I think Victory is a very wise and strong little girl, with that kind of innocent horse sense that kids possess. I can already see those things in my little girl, though she’s not quite two.

Q) Does writing such a dark story affect your personal life? Do you find it hard to detach yourself from the characters at the end of the day?

It’s hard to shift back and forth between the real and created worlds at the best of times. I find myself often conflicted between those two places. When I’m working, there’s always part of me just wanting to get back to my daughter. When I’m in my life, there’s a part of my brain that’s always working, ideas germinating, plots weaving, characters evolving. But I think I’m better than most at keeping a foot in each world. I can be present for my daughter and be present for my work; it just takes more effort and concentration.

Q) After writing several literary thrillers, are you planning to tackle any other genres? What’s next for you?

I’d like to think that I might stray from the dark side one of these days. But for now, that’s what fascinates me. I’m at work on my next literary thriller. So for a while I guess I’ll be peering down the murky alleys, pushing open the door to the darkened room, fleeing the faceless predator and hoping my readers come along for the ride.

For more information on BLACK OUT, please visit http://www.blackoutnovel.com

In earlier novels, my protagonist true crime author Lydia Strong* has an obsession with lost girls, never realizing until much later in the series that it’s herself she’s trying to save. Ridley Jones, the protagonist of BEAUTIFUL LIES and SLIVER OF TRUTH is a lost girl in her own way. Though she’s the child of love and privilege, she’s also the victim of terrible lies told by strong and narcissistic people allegedly motivated by lofty goals. In her way, Ridley represents an evolution in the lost girl theme, because ultimately she claims herself, fights her own battles. Those of you who have read her story know she doesn’t win them all and some questions remain unanswered even at the end of SLIVER OF TRUTH. But that’s life, right? Live to fight another day.

Opheila March, also known as Annie Powers, is the protagonist of BLACK OUT, my upcoming novel from Crown/ Shaye Areheart books, which will release in May 2008. In a sense, she’s the ultimate lost girl, abused or abandoned by most of the central figures in her life, including herself. And the consequences of the things she endures are horrific. Unlike my other characters, Ophelia is, in addition to being the lost girl is also a mother to a young daughter named Victory. I felt a kind of urgency in writing this book, as if the matter of the lost girl had to be resolved once and for all. Perhaps it’s no coincidence that I began BLACK OUT soon after becoming a mother myself. I don’t suppose we need a panel of shrinks to figure out how that all works.

I have been pressed through emails and comments on MySpace to say a word or two about BLACK OUT. What’s the new book about? It’s a question I dread – largely because I never know how to answer. Or in answering, I’m afraid you won’t get the full picture. And, of course, you won’t. Ask an author what her book is about and she’ll tell you – but she’ll need about 500 manuscript pages to do it. Furthermore, after dwelling in that fictional universe for so long, I can hardly see the forest for the tress. It’s almost the same as asking, So what’s your life all about? It’s no coincidence that those two answers are often nearly the same answer. And I do mean this from a philosophical, thematic standpoint – minus the murder and mayhem in my actual vs. fictional life.

Anyway, here’s the very long answer …

As I wrote BLACK OUT, I am not afraid to admit that I was struggling. After the birth of my daughter, I just felt blasted. I had no idea how much I would love my child. I knew I would love her, of course, on an intellectual level – but the recoil from the life-altering laser beam of my adoration knocked me off my feet. I never knew she would occupy such a gigantic space in my heart and creative spirit. Weird as it is to say, nothing else had ever really rivaled my desire to write. I was surprised to find that whenever I was away from her to work, I just wanted to get back to her. Of course, when I was with her, I often felt guilty that I wasn’t working. I’d never been so conflicted. My good friend New York Times bestselling author Margaret Coel said, “Honey, it doesn’t get any easier!” BLACK OUT had some serious competition for my time and energy.

So, as I wrote, I grappled with larger issues: Am I a writer? Or a mother? Can you be both? Naturally, my poor husband was thinking, “Um, hello! What about me?” Then, of course, there’s the gym, and some people who used to be my friends, two ten-city book tours, my extended family … the list does go on, as you well know. Oh, and sleep. One must also sleep.

Beyond all this writer-ly angst, I was shocked at how totally insane and paranoid motherhood had made me. Let’s face it; I was already pretty insane and paranoid – otherwise I wouldn’t be a writer, or a thriller writer to boot. Motherhood caused the twisted imaginings of my mind to go to a new Tarantino-esque level. (Example: I have a friend who’s very germ-phobic and she reacted with horror when I announced that I’d be taking my six-week old baby to the day care center at my gym for an hour while I worked out.
“But she doesn’t even have her vaccines!” she said. “Aren’t you afraid of germs?”
“Germs? Are you kidding? I don’t care about germs; I’m afraid she’s going to be abducted and sold on the black market.”
She didn’t have anything to say to that. Actually what I think she said was, “Wow, you’re really nuts. That’s sad.”)
I didn’t tell her that within weeks of having our baby, I insisted that a security system be installed in our home, complete with window sensors and motion detectors. Even the salesman said, “I don’t really think you need all of this.” What does he know?

So with all this internal conflict, a new level of fear and paranoia, just the stress of being a new mom – even if you’re normal, that first year is probably pretty intense, right? – it’s no wonder the BLACK OUT deals with a fractured identity, motherhood (and all the itinerant beauty, joy and pain), dysfunctional family relationships, and the question of the lost girl: Can she claim and save herself?

I dedicated BLACK OUT to my daughter and to the daughters of some of the important women in my life … my close friends and families. Because it seems as if a lot of us are having girls these days. And, even so, with as far as we’ve come, the world doesn’t seem like a very nice place for our daughters. As American girls, they’re probably the luckiest of the bunch in certain respects. My generation, the daughters of the superwomen of the 70s, have been raised to feel that not only can we have it all – but, in fact, we must. Brilliant careers, high-achieving children, egalitarian marriages, Brazilian bikini waxes, buns of steel, while washing the gray right out of our hair … And there’s a special kind of pressure in this level of expectation. I hope that our daughters will find a world where they can pick and choose between those things without looking around for approval and permission for those choices, where they’ve been taught not to define themselves by what they see in the media, where they’re safe on the streets and in their homes. But in the meantime, I worry about her spirit – my little girl. How do I protect her? How do I keep her from becoming a lost girl, in any sense?

Drum roll …

And I suppose, ultimately, that’s what BLACK OUT is about – mothers and daughters, that fraught and fierce relationship, that impossible bond. How we can damage or bolster our daughters, how critical are the things we teach them, how we are their models, as well as their teachers. In caring for them, protecting them and making them strong, we are also caring for ourselves, healing the broken spaces within us. In BLACK OUT, Annie’s daughter is the reason she finally decides to save herself from a horrific past that’s has come back to claim the lost girl she was. She must fight, not for herself, but for her daughter. Only in doing so, can she claim the girl no one else even tried to rescue. But can she do it? Can she find strength that she didn’t know was there? Only a mother knows the answer to that question. But don’t think I’ve given anything away. For Annie, the journey is never what it seems.

I think if we’re honest, as writers, whatever we’re dealing with in our lives finds it’s way into our work – if we’re living and writing authentically. BLACK OUT was my most intense writing experience, I suppose because motherhood has been my most intense emotional experience. As I said, it doesn’t take a battalion of shrinks to figure this out. Because my process is largely unconscious, things come up in my work which sometimes surprise me. Things don’t work out the way I intended, people I didn’t expect appear, events occur that I didn’t devise or control. It’s kind of like life that way. And like life, sometimes it’s magic and sometimes it’s hard. Sometimes, like motherhood, it’s both. I suppose if it hadn’t been for my daughter, I’d never have written this particular book.

People have higher expectations of the books they read than they do of their own lives. They know they can’t control everything about their lives and understand that not everything always works out the way they wanted it to. But they do expect things to move along a fairly predictable path in fiction, especially thrillers and crime fiction.
After 911, book sales sky-rocketed, particularly in this genre. I think most readers and most writers can understand why. It has long been held that readers turn to fiction to escape life. But I don’t think that’s true. I think they turn to fiction to understand life. Because a great story is a little slice of life, great characters become people with whom you are emotionally involved, and for them, you expect things to turn out okay. The bad guys get caught; justice is served. Life is mystery enough; people want to know what to expect from some small slice of their experience. Crime fiction is a place where the chaos and terror we perceive in the world is managed predictably on the page, with a beginning a middle and a happy ending. It helps us, when what we see around us is not very nice, to think that life might be contained, controlled and resolved in this way, at least somewhere.

I am known for not delivering the predictable ending. And some people don’t appreciate this about me for reasons stated above. And I’m afraid that will be doubly true in BLACK OUT. I struggled with the ending to this story and finally decided to be true to myself, to Annie. But what I do strive for, if not the pat and happy ending, the neat little bow on the package, is the right ending. My stories end the only way they can end. And as in life, my characters don’t always get what they want. But they always get what they need. And I sincerely hope that’s true for my readers, with BLACK OUT, and every little slice of life I serve them.

Stay tuned for more on BLACK OUT. I might even tell you about the actual plot one of these days, instead of waxing philosophical about theme and process …

* For more on the Lydia Strong novels, visit www.lisamiscione.com

The publishing business, though steeped in romance, is as competitive and harsh as any other. It’s very difficult to get a novel published, and once you have, it’s even more difficult to succeed. What differentiates the publishing business from say, the toothpaste business, is love. It’s not just about selling more toothpaste. (Not that there aren’t people out there who feel very passionately about toothpaste.) Most of us -- writers and editors, publishers, and agents -- are doing what we love, making our living with a passion, zeal, and drive. Most of us would be doing it for nothing.

That’s why when some of my fellow writers learned about Patry’s situation, they decided to blog about it, to help her support the book, the dream, that she wouldn’t be well enough to promote. Because it’s not just about writing and loving our own novels, it’s about loving the great work of our contemporaries and supporting each other in what otherwise is a very solitary profession. It’s about being readers and fans of each other.

I haven’t met Patry but I know what it takes to write a novel, to get it out there in the world. I know what a thrill it was to be signed on by an agent, accepted by a top publisher and to know that a dream was about to come true. I don’t, however, know what it is like then to be diagnosed with a life-threatening illness, or to be subjected to a treatment that, for a time, is debilitating. But I can imagine that she must have felt like she visited both ends of the spectrum of what this crazy life has to offer – the big thrills, the terrible blows – was a bit dizzy from the ride. She has been generous enough to blog about it. It’s a gift to travel with her, to hear her thoughts and insights, to share and understand her journey even in a small way. I hope you’ll visit her at www.patryfrancis.com and (here’s me NOT being subtle) buy a copy of her book for yourself, for someone you know who loves thrillers, or just because you want to remind a talented writer that it’s not just authors who want to support each other and make the business feel a little bit more like a family and a community; as the biggest, and arguably the most important element of the business, readers want that, too.

Cheers, Patsy! Wishing you health, bliss and every success ahead!

Well, you tell me. Starting sometime this month, with the revamping of my website that will take place to promote my upcoming thriller BLACK OUT (Coming May 2008), I'll be blogging more often. My goal is twice a week, at least. Right now, I'm working on honing my focus, so that there is some common theme through my posts. But at the moment, I suppose my theme is: Me. My life consists of these various identities – mother, wife, writer and the person who isn't any of those things (the one who likes to go kayaking ALONE, though of course she's shamefully neglected). I'm fairly sure this is true for most of us, so maybe you'll find something here to enrich, enlighten, or inspire you. I hope so. Check in for thoughts on life, motherhood, marriage, the craft of writing and the business of publishing, things I love (books, music, food, films), and the occasional rant. It will be embarrassingly personal; I'm sure I'll regret at least half of what I write. Meanwhile, I have also started a new supplement regimen. I'm determined to keep up with it.

What I'm reading:
BLUE BLOOD by Edward Conlon

My favorite book for Ocean Rae:
HAROLD AND THE PURPLE CRAYON by Crockett Johnson

Last movie I watched:
"Purple Violets"

Music of the moment:
Alberto Turco & Nova Schola Gregoriana
Gregorian Chants for Meditation

And PS – the discussion board on my website is DEAD. Mainly because I never went there and contributed to the discussions. Go figure. Right now going there is like showing up to a party and all the windows are dark, the porch light is out. You don't even want to ring the bell. I'd love to reinvigorate this but I can't do it without you. So if you post something on my board -- comments, questions, thoughts -- I'll answer. I promise!

I used to give this talk with some regularity when I was just starting out as an author. I chose this topic because my journey is somewhat unique, because I have a great deal of experience in the publishing industry, and because initially people weren’t that interested in hearing from an unknown author who managed to get herself published. Sad but true!

I don’t give this talk as often any more; my appearances are generally more focused on the book I’m hawking at any given moment. But themes from this talk come up again and again. And I hear from enough aspiring writers here and www.myspace.com/authorlisaunger with the same thoughts and questions that I believe this might be of some help.

A word of warning: This is NOT a nuts and bolts guide to getting published, because, frankly, there is no such thing. Many books pretend to be that – and you might find some good ones out there that tell you how to seek an agent, write a good query letter, etc. But the truth is, there’s no one way toward this elusive goal. When asked, I always say: Getting published takes a little bit of ability, a little bit of luck, and just sheer, never-say-die tenacity.

However, the following piece does contain some practical advice, some philosophical advice, and a few of the things that I learned along the way. I hope my thoughts and experiences help you get closer to your dream.

Enjoy and good luck!

***

I guess what I want to talk about is dreams—dreams that become reality. I’m willing to bet that all of you reading this have pretty big dreams, otherwise maybe you’d be watching television rather than searching the internet about how to get published.

The author Julia Cameron, who wrote a tremendous book called The Artist’s Way, wrote in another tremendous book entitled The Right to Write that, “we treat unpublished writers as if they have an embarrassing case of unrequited love.” But I’ll ask you to consider for a moment that there is not a published author today who has not at one time been an aspiring writer. At one time or another every bestseller on the New York Times list, every critically acclaimed author you can name, had what you have right now, the dream of becoming a published author.

For me, the dream began when I was just a kid. I have always most naturally expressed myself through writing. I have always created stories to entertain myself and others. I’ve always dwelled in the land of my imagination more comfortably than in the real world. Being a published, full-time writer is the only dream I ever had for my life. And looking back, I can see clearly that every choice I made, whether I knew it or not at the time, has led me here.

It may be like that for you. Perhaps you’ve always been a writer. Or perhaps, you’ve decided just recently that you have a story to tell. Whatever your experience is, for whatever reason you’ve come to the craft, the first step in making your dream come true is very simple: Believe that it actually can come true.

For a long time, I didn’t really believe that it was possible to make a living as a writer. Mainly, because that’s what people always told me. So, I made it a hobby. All through high school, I won awards and, eventually, a partial scholarship for my writing. In college, I was advised by teachers to pursue my talent, to get an agent, to really go for it. But there was a little voice that told me quietly that it wasn’t really possible (Actually it was my father’s voice saying, “Kid, you’re off the payroll. Get a real job!). I didn’t see it as a viable career option as I graduated from Eugene Lang College—the undergraduate division of the New School for Social Research—and started my first job in publishing.

A real job delivers a regular paycheck, right? So I entered a profession that brought me as close to my dream as possible (without actually risking anything) … and paid, if not well, then at least every two weeks. But this is the second step toward making your dreams come true: Realize that it’s not about the money.

If you’ve come to the craft because you think it’s a way to get rich, put your pen away. Some people do get rich … there are a few celebrity authors that we all can name. And I’m not saying you can’t or won’t get there yourself. But I am saying that if that’s your motivation, then you are not a writer. A writer writes because he or she can’t be anything else. Not that we’re unable to do anything else, only that it’s a drive that exists whether there’s a paycheck behind it or not. I would be writing even I weren’t getting paid (and did for most of my life). I will still be writing if I never publish another word. If this is true for you, then you are a writer whether or not you’re published, whether or not you are getting paid. One must write for the sake of writing, for no other reason.

In my publishing career, I started as a publicity assistant and, eventually, over the next seven years, climbed up the ranks to an associate director of publicity at Penguin Putnam, one of the largest publishing companies in the world. I booked author tours, media interviews. I traveled the country with authors. I worked every day with some of the most successful writers in the industry, was intimately connected with every aspect of book publishing and had never been further away from my dream. I wasn’t writing a word; months would go by—nothing.

My job was very demanding and draining—fifty, sixty hours a week, late nights at book signings and events, traveling to conferences, author tours. And all the while, I was stealing time to write my first novel, Angel Fire. It took me nearly five years to get serious about it. That’s the next step toward making a dream come true, COMMITMENT.

You have a million other commitments, of course. There’s your family, your job, your life. But at some point, you have to make a commitment to pursue the dream. Maybe that means you get up an hour earlier, or stay up two hours later to write. Maybe that means you eat a sandwich at your desk and use your lunch hour to get some pages down or claim some time for yourself on the weekends.

There is no other way to be a published writer than to write, no matter what. Maybe it’s a paragraph, maybe it’s a page, maybe it’s ten pages when you can do it. But there is simply no other way to be a writer than to write. There are no short cuts, like anything worth doing. You have to dedicate at least part of your energy to accomplishing that goal.

Personally, I had an epiphany. I took a really long hard look at my life. It was pretty good. I was young, had a great job, a fabulous apartment, fantastic friends, and I was newly liberated from a terrible relationship. But I realized that I was devoting all my creative energy to a job that I didn’t love. And that if I took 10 percent of my energy and devoted it to my goal of being a published, working writer that I KNEW I could make it happen. And more than that, I realized that if I DIDN’T focus fully on my goal that ten years from now, I’d have to look back and say to myself, “You know what? You never even tried.” I couldn’t live with that.

From that point, it took me about another year to finish Angel Fire (my first novel published by St. Martin’s Minotaur under my maiden name Lisa Miscione). When it was done, I sent it to five agents and was fortunate enough to get signed on by one of the best in the industry (she’s still my agent today). Three months later she had brokered a two-book deal for me with St. Martin’s Press. This is the abridged version of my story, visit me at www.lisaunger.com for more details—it’s a pretty interesting story, if I do say so myself.

Here, I’m going to move past the more philosophical ideas about making this particular dream come true and move into the nuts and bolts aspects of getting published.

Unfortunately, there’s no formula. And, of course, my story is not typical. There are not many people who sell the first book they’ve ever written. Many successful authors wrote five books or more before they were ever published. So that brings me to the other element in making dreams come true. TENACITY. Believe in yourself and never give up. In my experience the following five steps are the best way to go … and they can be repeated over and over again if necessary.

1) Finish your novel.

You may hear about people selling their idea, or their outline for a book they want to write. And this happens sometimes in the case of non-fiction. An established author might sell by synopsis. But for a first-time novelist, you really need to submit a completed manuscript. There’s more to the writing of a novel than a good idea and the ability to string a few coherent sentences together. An agent (and we’ll talk about why you need an agent), needs to see that you can create and resolve a story arc, that you know about pacing, how to create a strong narrative voice, develop characters, etc. To know that, they’ll want to see your finished book.

2) Find an agent

Congratulations! You’ve finished your book. Now, your next step is to find yourself an agent. There are about a million agents out there (well, not really, but you get my point) all with varying degrees of credibility. The Literary Market Place (LMP) lists all agents and publishing houses, offering detailed accounts of what they represent or publish. Go to the library or visit www.literarymarketplace.com to peruse this industry bible. Some agents like military fiction or legal thrillers, some are more literary, some more commercial. The LMP will help you to compile a list of agents that might be right for you.

Another way to find an agent to query is to figure out which authors your work is most like. Is it a romance novel in the tradition of Nora Roberts? Then you might call that publisher and find out who represents Nora Roberts.

An agent is crucial for many reasons, and I suppose that could be a whole other blog. But the simple truth is that most large publishers don’t accept unsolicited manuscripts and there’s no other way in the door except to find reputable representation. So get yourself a good one. Easier said then done, of course. But the Literary Market Place is the best place I can think of to start.

3) Draft a compelling, professional agent query letter

Once you’ve decided which agents you’d like to approach, send your query letter (DO proofread carefully, correct typos, etc. … have someone else look at it, too) to one or two agents at a time. Some people will tell you that you can only query one agent at a time but this is not necessary. If more than one agent requests your full manuscript and leaps to sign you on, you can make a choice based on who else he or she represents, what they’ve sold recently, success track record, fee, etc. (BTW – Standard agent fee is 15 percent of earnings and no reputable agent will charge you anything until your book is sold.)

All you need is a simple business query letter. State briefly what your book is about, what your credentials are (education, publications, etc.), a personal statement about why you’ve chosen to query that particular agent, and a polite request for representation. (You might also include the first chapter of your novel, though some books will advise against this. To my mind, that’s what will sell your book or not. But like I said, this is not a nuts-and-bolts guide, so do what feels best.)

While poor grammar, bad spelling, and typos are all the hallmarks of carelessness and a lack of professionalism and need to be very carefully attended to, don’t get bogged down with anything else. Sending your work in colored envelopes to catch attention, fancy binding, and/ or stationery are all totally unnecessary steps. It may catch someone’s attention but probably not in a good way. Simple, professional, and focused, that’s the way to go. The writing is the thing. Your query letter is an introduction and must walk the line between professionalism and enthusiasm. It must be “selling” but also measured. Crazy lines like, “I’m so much better than John Grisham” or “You’re looking at your new bestseller” will really hurt you to the point that people might just throw your stuff in the trash. Seriously.

4) Prepare for rejection

Look, there’s simply no way around. It hurts, every time. You’ll feel that crush of disappointment on your heart, every time. But you’ll need to get over it and FAST if your dream is going to survive. It’s possible that the first agent who reads your book, loves it, that the first editor who sees it, loves it and buys it. But more than likely, you’ll query a couple agents at least before you get signed on. Even when you’ve found an agent, there may be rejection from publishers until you find one who thinks you’re brilliant. Even when you’ve found a publisher, there might be reviewers who reject your book, or readers who don’t like it for whatever reason. Get tough. Your dream has to be made out of cast iron because the publishing industry is one hot kitchen. Imagine where we’d be if great dreamers let their ideas get quashed by other people’s opinions. It would be a dark, cold world.

5) Keep writing

Just because your manuscript is out there, doesn’t mean you should stop writing. Keep at it. Come up with another idea, and get to work on it. Remember, it’s not about the selling. It’s about the craft. It’s about being the best writer you can be, every day, without fail. And you can’t do that without writing every day without fail.

It really is the question I get most often: How do I go about getting published? Everything above is the long answer. The short answer is: Write everyday. Get better every day. Keep getting your work out there in the most professional way possible. And never, ever give up.

It’s really that simple … and that hard.

Keep writing and good luck!

P.S. These are some of the best books I’ve read on the craft. You’ll understand more about the business and yourself if you take the time to read them.

The Forest For the Trees by Betsy Lerner
On Writing by Steven King
The Right to Write and The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron

Edited by the very talented Megan Abbott, (Edgar, Barry and Agatha award-nominated author of THE SONG IS YOU, DIE A LITTLE and the upcoming QUEENPIN), this anthology about the women of noir fiction features promises to be a gem. I was thrilled to write about my favorite noir author Patricia Highsmith. Here’s what I wrote:

The Talented Ms. Highsmith
By Lisa Unger

In some ways, I suppose I’ve always felt a bit alienated by noir fiction, although I have always adored that smoky, mysterious atmosphere—the hourglass-shaped dame half in the shadows, the cigarette dangling from pouting lips, the impossibly virile man with a gun and a low ball of whiskey.

My early exposure to the genre was mainly film, classics such as The Postman Always Rings Twice (1946), The Maltese Falcon (1941), and Strangers on a Train (1951). As for noir fiction, however, I often found the characterizations shallow, the prose too spare, the portrayal of women two-dimensional and flagrantly misogynistic. As a young female writer, being neither good girl, nor vixen, nor deranged man-eater, I wondered if the noir greats had much to offer me. Rather than being forged as a writer from this kind of fiction, I came to the party late.

My discovery of Patricia Highsmith (1921‑1995) changed the way I thought about noir. With her dense characterizations and her subtle, deliberate ratcheting of suspense sentence by sentence, Highsmith captivated me. Her characters—Thomas Ripley, David Kelsey, to name two—are truly haunting, utterly sick and twisted, and yet strangely sympathetic. They’re mentally ill, they’re killers; you really like them anyway.

Highsmith’s carefully evoked images and the desperately unhappy people who populate her novels linger long after the book is closed: In This Sweet Sickness (1960), David Kelsey is so in love with a woman who rejected him that he creates a home where he retreats and pretends they live there as a married couple. Meanwhile, he stalks her. Very, very creepy. In Deep Water (1957), Vic is so desperate to hold on to his loveless marriage to Melinda that he allows her to have affairs, all the while sick with jealousy. Driven to the edge of his sanity by their arrangement, he tries to win her love by inventing a tall tale of a murder he’s committed –one that soon comes true. Unbearable suspense.

Like most noir, Highsmith’s prose is lean but it packs a one-two punch; it’s both beautiful and deep. Highsmith had a strong interest in abnormal psychology and spent a great deal of time reading case studies, making her psychological portraits as realistic as they are disturbing. In her novels, we are on the inside looking out.

Highsmith peeled back the layers of the mundane and the familiar to explore a dark heart of obsessive behavior, dangerous appetites, and mental instability. She was a keen and non-judgmental observer of all the folly and cruelty of the human existence. Largely unrecognized prior to her death in 1995, Patricia Highsmith was a true master of noir fiction. Her work caused me to rediscover and fully appreciate the entire genre with fresh eyes, to finally see it in all its richness and originality. I strongly suggest This Sweet Sickness, Deep Water and The Talented Mr. Ripley (1955) just to start.

For more information on HELL OF A WOMAN: An Anthology of Female Noir (Busted Flush Press/ December 2007) visit: www.bustedflushpress.com

The most recent of these sales was to Arrow, an imprint of Random House UK. They will be publishing BEAUTIFUL LIES, SLIVER OF TRUTH and the next two books (more details to come). It’s a wonderful arrangement and I’m very excited (even more so because they’ll be coordinating with my pals at Random House Australia who have done a FANTASTIC job with BL and SLIVER).

From the Arrow press release:

BEAUTIFUL LIES will be published in hardback in spring 2008, with both the paperback of BEAUTIFUL LIES and the hardback of the second Ridley Jones novel, SLIVER OF TRUTH, following six months later.

In addition to her New York Times bestseller success, Lisa Unger is also already a major seller for Random House Australia.

Kate Elton, Arrow Publishing Director said: ‘I’m hugely excited to be adding Lisa Unger to Arrow’s list of bestselling crime and thriller authors. She’s a fantastically good writer, and Ridley Jones is a brilliant series character with huge potential.’

For more information about the Random House UK deal, please click here! And to see some of the gorgeous cover incarnations from my publishers around the world vist me at www.myspace.com/authorlisaunger !

I had O just five months before the publication of BEAUTIFUL LIES (Shaye Areheart Books). So, naturally, I took my infant daughter, my husband Jeffrey (and occasionally my mother) on a ten-city book tour. And then I did it again a year later for SLIVER OF TRUTH. (The TRUTH is I barely survived this but in retrospect it was pretty great, crazy, maddening, wonderful – like all intense experiences that don’t involve medical treatment or memorial services.) My daughter has been breastfed in over 100 Barnes & Noble parking lots across the country, in the back rooms of fabulous independent stores such as Mysteries To Die For in Los Angeles and Stacey's in San Francisco, in my editor’s office at Random House, and at a bratwurst stand at the Frankfurt Book Fair. She has been on thirty flights, has her own passport, and thinks groups of people regularly gather at bookstores to see her. Ah, the writer’s life.

I had hoped to blog about some of these experiences while I was on the road -- but any mom out there knows how naive I was to imagine a spare five minutes to accomplish this. Then last year I was asked to contribute to an anthology called BLINDSIDED BY A DIAPER: Over 30 Men and Women Reveal How Parenthood Changes a Relationship, (Three Rivers Press; Coming June 19, 2007) edited by the wonderful and talented Dana Bradford Hilmer. I am thrilled and honored be included in what has turned out to be just a beautiful, poignant, funny, moving collection of essays by wonderful writers including Susan Cheever, Leah Stewart, Nicholas Weinstock and so many more. I loved sharing a slice of my experience in the fray of trying to be a mother, a wife and a writer. My essay, entitled Enemy at the Baby Gate, focusing mainly on my relationship with my husband, was a joy and a pleasure to write.

Click HERE for more information on BLINDSIDED BY A DIAPER … whether you’re a writer, reader, or parent, you won’t want to miss it. You can pre-order now or find it at your local or online bookseller on June 19th!

I also felt a little bit of pressure, as though my choices had to be especially highbrow because that’s what one might expect from an author. But I’m an omnivore. And my tastes have always been eclectic … I have loved mysteries, thrillers, science fiction, horror and the classics. I don’t discriminate. Great fiction is great fiction … it moves and transports, opens doors to the imagination, illuminates. Reading, like life, is an emotional experience. When we start attaching labels and then judging based on those labels, we rob ourselves of experience, beauty and enjoyment.

In the end I wound up choosing some of the books that influenced the course of my life in some way, either as a writer, a reader, or just a person trying to make sense of the world around her. It is a terribly incomplete list. And though I have loved all of these books, there are so many more that I have loved equal passion.

Here’s what I wrote …

Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier

I read Rebecca when I was a teenager and was swept away by the powerful voice, the gut wrenching suspense and the dark, twisted love story at its center. I was hooked, transported into the narrator’s gothic world, could visualize each room of the house, and see the awful Mrs. Danvers lurking in dim hallways of Manderley. There was something gripping about a very ordinary girl being drawn into a nightmare (a theme I find again and again in my own work.) I’ve been addicted to thrillers ever since.

The World According to Garp by John Irving

The people that populate Irving’s literary universe live and breathe. They are deeply flawed; they are silly and strange. They make terrible mistakes, atone, and move forward. In other words, they’re human. T.S. Garp is as real to me as anyone I’ve known. This book changed the way I think about character -- I never again saw them as people a writer imagines but as people a writer meets on her literary journey.

Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand

A friend of mine said that after she read Atlas Shrugged, she never wrote another word. She felt if she couldn’t write anything as grand, she might as well not write at all. I, on the other hand, have been inspired by this book again and again. I am awed by its scope, its depth, its characters who are not mere mortals but titans. This brilliant, sweeping masterpiece is a blend of mystery and philosophy, magnificent prose and perfect plotting. Whenever I open this book, I’m moved to write.

Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser

I read a lot of non-fiction lately… for research and just to learn as much as I can about the world. Fast Food Nation is muckraking at its finest. I’ve never been a huge fan of fast food, but Fast Food Nation convinced me never to spend another dollar of my money on an industry that is guilty of crimes against its workers, the environment, agriculture, and the health of billions … and it opened my eyes to the way some businesses are using and abusing the world for profit.

The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz

I never saw anything the same way after I read The Four Agreements. It changed my attitudes, many of my relationships – including the one I have with myself -- and the way I move about the world. It’s amazing how four simple ideas can transform a life; that’s the power of the word. I still open this book whenever I struggle in my life, in my work or just in my own mind. A tiny book … gigantic wisdom.

***

I did neglect one book in the piece I wrote for The Sun-Herald – I don’t even know why; it must be like a kind of amnesia because this is by far one of the most important books in my life:

In Cold Blood by Truman Capote

An Australian reporter asked me to pick my favorite author and I couldn’t do it. He put me on the spot and I must admit I choked. I couldn’t imagine choosing between the brilliant people who have moved and inspired me. I declined to answer. Later, I realized that the answer was clear. I love every word written by Truman Capote. I am moved again and again by the beauty of his prose, the poignancy of his sad characters, the gauzy magical quality of his stories.

In Cold Blood is the first work of its kind -- a true crime book that reads like fiction. It is a searing and disturbing account of a terrible murder and the twisted men who carried it out. It’s an absolutely engrossing, gorgeously written book, combining the unflinching account of the brutal murder of a Kansas family with a psychological profile of their killers.

I have always been attracted to the darkness, the shadow (listen to my podcasts for more on this) – not in a voyeuristic way, but with an ardent desire to understand what lives there and why. In Cold Blood explores the ugliness and horror of human nature with an odd lack of judgment, without any sensational quality at all. Writers write for the same reason that readers read -- to explore, to understand, to know something they didn’t know before. Truman Capote examined his subject with a ruthless curiosity; I could almost feel his fever. In the strangest way, this book gave me permission to follow my ache to understand, to explore the things that fascinate me. It gave me permission to write about the kind of things I wanted to write about. I’ve toyed with other types of writing now and again, but I always come back to dark side.

For more information on the Australian editions of BEAUTIFUL LIES and SLIVER OF TRUTH visit the Random House Australia website.