My blog of 6’18 referred to An Accidental Woman as a “companion” to Lake News. Does that mean sequel? In my mind, no. I think of a sequel as a book that picks up the same characters where they leave off in an earlier book and tells more of their story. An Accidental Woman does use the same little lake town and does revisit the same characters as in Lake News, but the main characters from the first book become secondary to allow focus on a different group of people.
OK. Maybe I’m arguing semantics here. But I truly don’t see An Accidental Woman as a sequel. Both books stand on their own.
I first conceived of the Lake Henry books as a foursome, each celebrating a different New England season. There would be apple cider making in the fall, maple sugaring in the winter, leafing out in late spring, and tourism in summer. Truthfully, it was a marketing move; readers love revisiting the same places. And hey, I’ve designed and built more towns than you’d ever believe. The idea of not having to create a town from scratch was appealing.
I wrote Lake News in 1998, wrote The Vineyard in 1999, The Woman Next Door in 2000, then, in 2001, wrote An Accidental Woman. I thought it would be easy. Wrong. Although An Accidental Woman focused on Poppy Blake, the handicapped sister of Lake News’s Lily Blake, many of the other characters carried over – and I had to get them right. By “right” I mean keep them consistent with the first book. Their appearance, their interests, even the streets of the town had to be consistent – because if there’s one thing I’ve learned as a writer, it’s that if I make a mistake, you readers pick it up.
Way back, in Coast Road, I referred to a Volkswagen having radiator trouble; an astute reader pointed out that Volkswagens don’t have radiators. More recently, in The Secret Between Us, I referred to Dylan Monroe playing in the ninth inning of his Little League game; a savvy reader reminded me (how could I have forgotten, after sitting through so many of my sons’ games?) that Little League games only have six innings!
By the time I was done writing An Accidental Woman, my copy of Lake News was riddled with so many Post-Its that I didn't know which ones marked what. More importantly, by that time, I was tired of Lake Henry. Creating a town from scratch, with the freedom from accountability that allowed, suddenly didn’t seem so bad!
Many readers have asked if there will be a third or fourth Lake Henry book. Right now, none is on the drawing board. Perhaps you can understand why?
Last night I made my first visit to a book group discussing The Secret Between Us, and I have to say I was a little nervous. For one thing, I had laryngitis and had been whispering for two days to “save” my voice, but even then, I wasn’t sure could make myself heard. If you’ve ever had a bad case of laryngitis, you know the sheer effort it takes to produce sound.
Secondly, I wasn’t sure what I’d be asked. I’ve made many dozens of visits to book groups discussing Family Tree, but The Secret Between Us? This was the first. Okay, now, I have loads of things I would ask if I were talking with the author of this book. But what would this group ask? I had no idea.
An hour before the meeting, drinking hot tea laced with lemon and honey, I pulled The Secret Between Us off my shelf and flipped through just to remind myself of the story. If that sounds awful, take pity, please. I am up to my ears in my next book, which means total immersion in the characters, the plot, the themes. Wrenching myself from that and reimmersing myself in a whole other book takes some doing. Funny, though, the act of flipping through the pages did the trick. That quickly, it all came back.
Dinner was a silent fifteen minute thing with my husband, who is getting tired of my not having a voice, but there was no help for it last night. Leaving him to clean up, I came up here to my office to read up on the group I would be visiting. In planning each of these visits, my assistant asks for as much information on the group as possible. It helps me envision them and makes the time more fun.
My phone rang at eight on the dot. I took a breath and answered, forcing out a hello as best I could. It wasn’t pretty. But at least the women on the other end could hear me. So the voice worked. And the questions they asked? Amazing. They started by observing that I have children (they’d done their homework, too), and asking whether I would have done the same thing as Deborah if what happened to her daughter and her had happened to one of my sons and me.
It was a really thoughtful question. The answer is “yes,” to which several of the women voiced their agreement – and that set the tone for the evening. We went back and forth discussing what mothers do, agreeing for the most part but raising thought-provoking points – like after reading the book would we still have done the same thing in that situation? These women made me think in the way friends around a table would do.
Thirty-five minutes passed in a wink, and though my voice was growing worse for the wear, I would have talked even longer if – would you believe? – I hadn’t had another group to visit at nine.
The Secret Between Us turned out to be a terrific discussion book. Let me tell you, that’s a relief. And my voice is better today. Still not great. But better. And I don’t have another book group visit until next Tuesday. Should be perfect by then!
Naturally, I’m thinking about this because my new book. The Secret Between Us is on sale, contests are running, and I’m booking phone visits with reading groups to discuss it. Secrets – why we keep them, when we tell them, whether they help or hurt – are bound to be part of the discussion.
Want to help me prepare? Here are some questions.
Yes or no. Do you have a secret you’ve never told another living soul?
Yes or no. Did you ever keep a secret from a parent?
Yes or no. Have you kept a secret from a spouse?
Yes or no. Are there any situations when keeping a secret is the best thing to do?
I thought about these issues often while I was writing The Secret Between Us. Using the word ‘secret’ is something of a set-up. From the get-go, the reader knows that a secret if the focal point of the book.
If you’ve read my earlier blogs on this book, you’ll remember that its original title was Driving at Night. I loved the ambiguity of it, the juxtaposition of the physical act of driving at night, as occurs in the opening scene of the book, with the figurative act of feeling one’s way through the murky times in life. My publisher came up with The Secret Between Us, and from a marketing standpoint, it is better. There’s something about a secret that makes people lean in, cup an ear, and listen close.
What is it about secrets that makes them so appealing? Is it their hidden nature? Their potential for dirt or intimacy or even betrayal?
When you think about it, secrets are a staple of fiction. I’ve dealt with them in many of my books. Jenny, in Flirting With Pete, kept a major secret. The secret held by Gretchen, the title character in The Woman Next Door, kept the tension up through three neighborhood marriages and much of the book. And no less than four characters grapple with secrets in Family Tree.
One of my favorites when it comes to secrets is For My Daughters. This is the book I wrote after reading The Bridges of Madison County and seriously doubting that a woman could meet the love of her life during a summer fling and afterward return to her life with no one ever the wiser. My Virginia wasn't so lucky. Now, at the age of seventy and in failing health, she has a secret to tell her daughters. The reader learns that at the outset, and doesn’t learn the secret until the end of the book. It keeps her reading.
So. How about you? Right now, right here. Want to share your thoughts about secrets?
In most major publishing houses today, an author has a publicist assigned to her book. In my case at Doubleday, that’s Todd Doughty, whom I admire and adore. Todd crafted my Family Tree tour last year, and though I haven’t done a formal, in-the-flesh tour for The Secret Between Us, he has still done plenty of work. It’s his job, for instance, to send review copies of the book to every possible media outlet, and while that sounds simple enough, consider this. I’ve been around for a while. Yes, my books consistently hit the NY Times list (did you see my NEWS clip about its debut at #12 on February 10?), but lots of other books hit those lists, and many are books by first-time authors and are, therefore, treated like the next new not-to-be-left-unreviewed thing.
Getting reviewers to read and review my books can be a challenge. Todd’s pitch letter (describing the book, telling why it's different) is crucial, as is a follow-up phone call or two. And even then, a newspaper or magazine may say they’ll be posting a review, only to preempt it if something better comes along.
Moreover, there’s the be-careful-what-you-wish-for phenomenon. A review may be hard-won … but scathing! Is all publicity good publicity? Is it better to have a bad review than no review at all?
I don’t know the answers to these questions. But I lucked out last Friday. My PEOPLE magazine arrived with a fabulous review of The Secret Between Us inside.
“What would you do? That’s the question implicitly posed in Delinsky’s provocative new novel when mother and daughter Deborah and Grace Monroe hit Grace’s history teacher with their car, mortally wounding him. Grace, 16, was driving, but Deborah hides that fact and takes the blame. Delinsky is interested in how the lies we tell for love can destroy us instead – and she lays out this particular deception so painstakingly that even the most honest reader will sympathize. Like a car wreck about to happen, this family’s near-undoing can be tough to watch, but it’s even tougher to look away.”
Can an author ask for a better recommendation? Well, I can’t. And I’m reprinting the PEOPLE review here in this blog, because (a) PEOPLE doesn’t seem to post its book reviews online, and (b) I am so proud of this one. Okay, I’m also hoping to impress you, so that when you read the inevitable bad review, you’ll know there are two sides to every story.
BTW, just to clarify, review copies are sent by the publisher to its own list, not mine. They decide how many to send out and to whom. So if you’re one of those writing to me asking for a review copy, I just can’t help you. I’m sorry. I bet you’d write me a good revew.
Actually, many of you have. Check it out!
I did the worst thing Monday night. Between a flurry of phone calls and emails with my web designer in anticipation of the launch of The Secret Between Us Tuesday morning – and a flurry of phone calls and emails with my agent and my editor about next year’s book – I was working at my computer for most of Monday evening. I went to bed late and woke early, checked my calendar for the day – and realized that I had completely missed a phone call that I was supposed to make to discuss Family Tree with a book group in Florida at 8 the evening before!
I’ve never missed a meeting before. Oh, I’ve worried that I would. I was raised to arrive places early and to pay bills as soon as they come, so I often call book groups a minute or two before the appointed hour. I love these groups. I’ve visited nearly 30 of them since last March, and while each one is different, they never fail to give me a boost.
I blew it this time.
What to do? I sat here horrified, drinking tea to ease a nascent headache, watching the clock, waiting until 9 AM to call the leader of the group, the hostess of the evening’s debacle. When the time finally came (actually, a minute or two early, as is my way), I put through the call.
“Hi, this is Barbara Delinsky,” I said, rushing on, “and I am so, so sorry. I was here at my desk all evening, dealing with two crises, and … just … blew it when it came to your group. This was my bad all the way.”
She could not have been nicer or, amazingly, given what I’d done, more enthusiastic that I had called her. But she did tell me (a) that she had hired a black-tie caterer to serve dinner at the book group meeting, (b) that the dessert was a special sheet cake in the shape of a book, (c) that she had bought a new phone to optimize speakerphone capability, and (d) that the group had rehearsed the questions they were going to ask me. Needless to say, they were devastated when I didn’t call.
She and I had a great discussion, agreeing, among other things, to reschedule the meeting. I hung up the phone and promptly signed copies of The Secret Between Us for each of the 12 members, then drove to Kinko’s to instantly FedEx them out.
Did I tell you that this woman had also sent me pictures of the members of her group in advance of our meeting? She had to have been one of the most eager, most generous, most comprehensive meeting preparers I’ve ever dealt with. And I let her down.
Why am I telling you this? It isn’t something I’m proud of. But it is part of the HOW TO of being a writer. It relates to the business part. Ahhh, for the day when all I had to do with my life was to write books! I would estimate that I spend 40% of my work time on business. There are lots of things to keep straight, and I don't only mean the crises of my current characters. I’m talking about things that have to do with that most precious commodity, my readers.
If you’re a member of the group I stood up last Monday, please accept my sincere apology. I look forward to talking with you in the near future.
If you’re a member of another book group, please know that I’ve now instituted safeguards so that this never happens again. If you want to test me out, send me a note through CONTACT and we’ll slot your group in.
Not in a book group? Just my average, prized reader? The message here is that I’m human. I'm hoping you'll love me, warts and all.
Today’s the day. The Secret Between Us is on sale in your favorite store! But of course, you’d have to be on another planet not to have already heard it from me. I’ve been talking about January 22 for months.
If you’ve read my recent blogs, you’ve had an inside look at the writing of The Secret Between Us. So what do I do in the one or two days before publication? You’re reading it. At this stage, with this book, it’s all about making sure that my website is perfect. That means changing every “Coming January 22” to “On Sale Now.” It means making sure that the links to online booksellers are functional, so that the book is easy for you to buy. It means writing copy for the eblast that went out to my mailing list this morning.
It means working with my brilliant web designer, Steve Bennett, to introduce several new things to the site – namely a Media Room and a new podcast. The Media Room is for – you guessed it! – media and offers a formal press release and cover photo for The Secret Between Us, plus an author photo. The podcast is for YOU. Have you listened to any of my podcasts yet? None of them run much more than three minutes, and you can select from things like the straightforward “My Niche” and “What is UPLIFT?” to the interesting “Writing About Daughters (When I Have None)” to the whimsical “I Hate Cooking.” To celebrate the publication of The Secret Between Us, we’ve posted a new one. It’s called “What I Would Do If I Wasn’t A Writer.” For a listen, click here.
Another important thing I’ve done in the last day to prepare for the pub of The Secret Between Us is to post news of a new contest at various points in the site. I’m asking readers to help spread word that THE SECRET is out. The contest part? Tell a friend about this book and have him/her send me a note through CONTACT mentioning The Secret Between Us and giving your name as the blabbermouth. Whoever blabs the most wins. The prize for the winner? A personal phone call from me, a signed copy of the book, plus a signed blow-up of this gorgeous cover. In order to qualify as the winner, you have to be on my mailing list, so sign up now. What’s in it for your friends? If they’re new readers who join the mailing list, they receive a signed copy of the book.
I'm also offering signed bookplates to readers who buy The Secret Between Us within the first two weeks of sale. If you buy it by February 5, send me a note telling when and where you got it, where I should send the bookplate, and how you'd like it inscribed.
Anything else today? I don’t think so. Whew. I’m exhausted already. And here I am, trying to focus on next year’s book, While My Sister Sleeps. Yes, I’ll be writing as always today. Wellllll, maybe I’ll spend a little while talking with my publisher or my agent, certainly with my web designer. But then it’s back to the grindstone. Hey, you all want a new book next year, right?
LEE? That’s Let Editor Edit. And it’s what used to be done all the time in publishing, back in the days when editors dared to edit. There was a great article about this in Publishers Weekly last June. Apropos of that, I’ve been writing for several decades now, and for the very first time, I have an editor who loves editing. Her name is Phyllis Grann, and she has a vision for my work, in general, and for each book I write for her, in particular.
Let’s talk about those particulars. I’ve already told you that when I turned in Family Tree to Phyllis, the manuscript was nearly 450 pages. By the time she was done with her red pencil, we had shaved off nearly 100 pages.
Is this good? Some authors would say no. They’re the ones who don’t want an editor touching their work. They’re also the ones whose books you start to skim after a while, because there's so much flab. Personally, as a reader, I want to be gripped by a book from start to finish. If my mind wanders over excessively wordy or unnecessarily repetitious segments, I’m not gripped. As a writer, I want my reader to be gripped.
So I believe in belt-tightening. Mind you, it isn’t easy. It isn’t fun when your editor summarily Xes out a sentence or a paragraph that you spent hours writing. But it is a joint effort, which explains the “we shaved off” I said above. The final word is mine. It’s always my choice whether to put her edits onto my disk or not. Occasionally, I veto a suggestion and stick with my original. But Phyllis is good. After I worked her suggestions into my Family Tree file, I read the book through. It moved. It was stronger for the cutting. If anything was lost in the process, I didn’t miss it.
I have this thing about learning. I’ve written lots of books and could easily rest on my laurels. But where’s the excitement in that? I want to grow. I want each book to be better than the last.
So, after Family Tree, I tried to find a pattern in Phyllis’s edits. There were several. I kept them in mind as I wrote The Secret Between Us, and I thought my writing was greatly improved.
At least, that's what I thought. And I did do better with Phyllis. This time, rather than cut 100 pages, we only cut 50.
Let me give you two examples of the kind of cuts we made. If you haven’t read the first two chapters of The Secret Between Us and want to, click here. If you haven’t and don’t want to, I’ll set the scene. It’s the morning after the accident, and Deborah is just beginning to see how upset her daughter is.
My original sentence read as follows: “She had barely returned to the office after making two more home visits, phoning the hospital for an update on Calvin McKenna, and, in the wake of that, feeling several moments of what she wished was sympathetic morning sickness for her sister but knew to be raw panic, when the school nurse called to say that Grace had thrown up in the girls’ bathroom and needed to go home.”
After cuts, the sentence read, “Deborah had barely returned to the office when the school nurse called to say that Grace had thrown up in the girls’ bathroom and needed to be picked up.”
Much better. Clean and to the point. I had described Deborah’s work day for the reader in prior pages. There was no need for repetition.
A second example comes from a scene in which Deborah is sitting in a wingback chair at her dad’s house, thinking how lovely it is to be contained by the blinders of the chair, so that she can think of only one thing at a time.
My original paragraph read, “Pushing the last three from her mind, she focused on Cal McKenna, reliving the accident for the umpteenth time, trying desperately to see something she might have done differently. She relived her time in the woods with him, wondering whether she might have done more then. She relived her talks with the police and, later, with Grace, but here there was no second guessing. Grace was her daughter, suffereing from her parents’ divorce and at a challenging time in her life. She was a hard-working student, a dedicated runner, a caring sister, a good daughter. She was also a good driver. She didn’t deserve a punishment that could limit her choices in life. Neither, given the facts of the accident, did Deborah. But she would gladly take it to spare her daughter. Parents did that, particularly ones who had caused their kids grief.”
Phyllis’s margin note said, simply, “Repetitive.” And she was right. Sure, Deborah might have been thinking all those things. But the reader already knew them and didn’t need to hear them again.
So the after-cut version became, “She relived the accident for the umpteenth time, trying desperately to see something she might have done differently. She replayed her talk with the police and, later with Grace, but here there was no going back. Grace was her daughter and she deserved protection. That’s what parents did, particularly ones who had caused their kids grief.”
Some difference, huh? Again, we have something that is cleaner and more to the point – and this happened throughout the manuscript. Once I finished my part in the cutting, I read through the whole thing as I’d done with Family Tree, and found it to be much, much better.
So now I’m writing While My Sister Sleeps, which will be out in early 2009. And I’m trying to incorporate Phyllis’s lessons. But it’s a process. For every two sentences I write, I cut one. I’ve probably written 200+ pages for my current yield of 100+ pages. Still, the final product is good. I like what I read, and, if I like it, my readers will, too.
Polishing a novel is like polishing a gem. You have to chip away at the detritus (how’s that for a word?) of the raw piece. You have to whittle away at anything that can detract from the finished stone. You end up with something that shines. Something that glows. Something that, in book terms, readers think is the very best you’ve ever written.
Right? Let me know …
