The WMF Archives

WM Freelance Connection: Was there a specific time or event in your life when it occurred to you that you were finally a “real” writer?

Ellen Meister: In some sense, I always felt like a writer. At least, from the time I was a teenager and had an epiphany that I wanted to be a novelist when I grew up. And that didn't feel like a decision, but a discovery of something that was part of my DNA all along.


But if "real writer" means someone who's made it, that's a different story. It feels like a moving target. I appreciate the success I've had and try to let that in as much as I can, but publishing is such a crazy, stressful business that I'm often focused on achieving the next goal. Still, there are moments when it hits me in great emotional waves and I think, "Yes! I've done it! I'm living my dream ..."


WM: Can you tell us a little about your earliest experiences in the publishing industry?

EM: My earliest experiences with publishing date back to my summer jobs during college, when I worked as a receptionist for a medical book publisher in New York City. After I got my degree, I went back to the company and got a job in their sales promotion department. There, I learned how very unglamorous publishing can be. That company had such a small margin of profit they couldn't afford enough trashcans for every desk. Since I didn't have seniority, I didn't get one. So I taped a large envelope to the side of my workstation and threw my garbage in there.


Now that I'm a published author, life is glam. I have my own trashcan.


WM: What kind of advice would you offer a new writer who has yet to be published?

EM: Read, read, read. That sounds so simple but I can't emphasize it enough. And if you're paying attention, every book has something to teach you.


WM: Do you ever struggle with writer’s block? If so, how do you deal with it?

EM: At the risk of sounding persnickety, I think writer's block is an indulgence. If you're really going to do this thing, you have to put your butt in the chair and focus, and not expect the muse to fall from the sky and hit you in the head.


Or, as artist Chuck Close once said, "Inspiration is for amateurs. The rest of us show up and get to work."


But okay, I can appreciate that sometimes -- often, in fact -- your story hits a roadblock and it seems like there's no way around it. My way of dealing with this is to make stream-of-consciousness notes. I simply open up a blank document and start writing questions to myself about what could possibly happen next and what it might mean to the characters. After a while the answers start to emerge.


WM: Do you read a lot? Who are some of your favorite authors?

EM: I read every day, no matter how busy I am. Sometimes I can only spare a few minutes, but I always need my fix. My list of favorite writers is eclectic and constantly evolving. It usually includes Richard Russo, Richard Yates, Elinor Lipman, Jodi Picoult, Alice Hoffman, John Irving, Toni Morrison, J.D. Salinger, Jane Austen, Wally Lamb, Tom Perrotta, Dorothy Parker, Susan Isaacs ... etc. etc. etc.


WM: What are your favorite books on writing?

EM: Stephen King's ON WRITING, Betsy Lerner's THE FOREST FOR THE TREES and Anne Lamott's BIRD BY BIRD.


WM: Do you schedule your writing time around your family? Can you offer advice or ideas for writers who are struggling with this issue?

EM: I know how hard it can be to balance all this stuff, but remember that if something is important to you, you'll find the time to do it. (I wrote my first novel between the hours of 5 and 7 am, while the family slept.)


Also, to hell with housework! No one's dying words have ever been, "I should have vacuumed more."


WM: Do you draw from your real-life experiences to create your characters and storylines?

EM: I think all authors do, to some extent. We go through life collecting moments and ideas that feel meaningful to us. For me, a novel emerges when one of those ideas keeps bursting through, forcing me to think about it.


For instance, THE SMART ONE started with a thought about siblings, and how our roles within the family shape how we deal with the world as adults. That morphed into the concept of three sisters wrestling with the childhood labels that impact their relationships and the decisions they make. Of course, that's not a plot. And when I focused on trying to find a story to drive the character arcs I wanted for these three women, I remembered a local news story about the macabre discovery of a body inside an industrial drum. It hit so close to home that it captured my attention, and inspired the storyline of the book.


At first, I thought it was going to be such a dark book, but then the voice emerged ... and then a comedy writer love interest. Before I knew it, I had written another comic novel with serious themes.

Writers to Watch: Ellen Meister