How Did You Know?

by Annette

Fewer things are as satisfying as a writer as when a reader comes to you and says something like, “How did you know what that’s like? You nailed it.”

I’ve had comments along those lines about a number of books. One reader, a woman who’d married a widower, asked how I’d known how it felt, because my main character in Lost Without You struggled with the very same things this reader had.

More than once, I had military wives email to say that surely I was a military wife too, because there was “no way” I could possibly know what it was like otherwise for Band of Sisters and the sequel, Band of Sisters: Coming Home.

No, I haven’t married a widower. I’m not a military wife. Nor do I have an eating disorder. I’ve never been divorced. I’ve also never dealt with racism personally. Or a dozen (more) things I’ve written about.

In most cases, it’s high praise to think you managed to create characters and events that ring true when they aren’t things you’ve personally gone through.

But I ran into a slightly different situation recently regarding my most recent contribution to the Newport Ladies Book Club, and it made me smile.

Someone I know beckoned me over and asked in a slightly worried tone, “I just finished reading Ilana’s Wish. And, um… How did you know so much about addiction?” Her tone clearly implied that maybe I had a problem, a dark past, to confess.

To ease her mind and lighten the moment, I said the first thing that came to mind: “I’ve watched a lot of Dr. Phil over the years.”

That’s actually true, in a sense. I really do watch the good doctor; his is one of the few shows I’ll bother recording and watching. One reason is that it’s educational, but another part is purely for characterization and research. Really.

So when I began writing Ilana’s Wish, I’d already seen a lot I could use. After all, Dr. Phil has had a ton of addicts on his show. After seeing enough of them, you start to see patterns.

I assured the concerned loved one that I didn’t personally have a drug addiction, but as the conversation moved elsewhere, I realized that I could have given her a fuller answer.

I do know what chronic pain is like. I drew a lot of Ilana’s experience with pain from reality in that way. I have had chronic migraines for over a decade (and no, please don’t give me your cure; I can guarantee I’ve tried it).

And I’ve seen people with various addictions in real life, some actively battling the addiction, others in denial, like Ilana.

I’ve come to see that most people in the world have something they cling to as a crutch that can easily become an addiction.

In the majority of the population, that addiction isn’t as menacing and scary as drugs or alcohol, but that doesn’t mean the addiction is any less real. I even heard a man say recently that his marriage had ended in divorce because of his addiction to fitness and to triathlons in particular.

Possibly the most common addiction, and one that’s publicly acceptable to a great degree, is food addiction. It’s what we celebrate with. Mourn with. De-stress with. Fight boredom with. And we can’t stop it cold turkey or even gradually. We have to eat. You can’t be “clean” of food. For that reason, I think food addictions may be some of the hardest to fight.

How many chocolate-themed memes are out there, with sayings like “Hand over the chocolate, and no one gets hurt”? And we just laugh. And we eat more chocolate. Sometimes it’s an innocent joke, but many women really are food addicts.

I’m guilty of laughing along, although the process of writing Ilana’s story helped me recognize the need to face own my emotions head on and to really feel them, even when doing so is uncomfortable and painful.

Numbing our emotions with chocolate (or potato chips or French fries or a shake or something else) isn’t the solution. It really isn’t, even when it feels good in the moment.

In that sense, I really do relate to Ilana, and that’s the part of myself I drew from when writing her story.

Having been on prescription painkillers for pain, I’ve faced thoughts of What if regarding addiction. What if I were to get addicted? What can I do to be sure I don’t? It’s a scary thing to consider.

In the same way, Ilana’s story came from that vulnerable part of me where emotions can be scary and hard to face.

I hope a lot of readers can see themselves in her story, as I did. Not in full-blown drug addiction (or I hope not, for everyone’s sake), but perhaps in an increased awareness that maybe, just maybe, there could be a healthier way of coping and managing our emotions.

But back to that reader, and to any other reader with the same worry:

How did I know so much about addiction? I researched it. I talked with a friend who is a recovering addict and picked her brain thoroughly. I really did think back on episodes of Dr. Phil. As I mentioned, I drew on my own experience with chronic pain. I observed other people who I believe are addicts with different types of addictions. I paid attention to their excuses and justifications and behaviors.

So no worries that I’m in Ilana’s situation; I promise I’m not. I just do my research and have a good imagination.

That’s what writers do.

Heather's Review of SHANNON'S HOPE

It might sound strange, but I hadn't read SHANNON'S HOPE by Josi S. Kilpack straight through until it was released last month. The character I was writing at the time (Ruby) has a lot of interaction with Shannon, so Josi and I were continually hammering out scenes together. But I didn't know "the end" of Shannon's journey, or some of the steps along the way.

Before I met Josi, I was a fan of hers. And when she told me she read one of my books and enjoyed it, I was pretty excited since I thought she was a fabulous author. Over the years, I read everything she put out and became an avid Sadie Hoffmiller fan as well, often buying the book the first few days it hit the store, then neglecting other duties for a weekend while I read the latest Sadie adventure.

So, even though I'd read portions of SHANNON'S HOPE (heck, I even wrote a few scenes that Josi then transposed into Shannon's point of view), I went all "fan girl" when the book came out. And... I love it. Josi has a way of endearing the reader to her characters, and her characters are completely flawed, sometimes broken, but always relatable.

I hope you'll love the book as much as I did! Here's my official review:

"SHANNON'S HOPE kicks off the 2nd set in the Newport Ladies Book Club series. You can start with this one, or read the 1st set (Daisy, Olivia, Paige, Athena). Shannon is a pharmacist, married, with a 12 year old son. She's also Ruby Crenshaw's niece and gets roped into attending the book club by her aunt. Just before one of the meetings, her step-daughter comes back into her life after a failed stint in rehab. Determined to help Keisha in anyway she can, Shannon brings her step-daughter to book club.

What follows it a gripping, heart-wrenching story of a woman who only wants to help her step-daughter overcome her addictions and get her life back on track. In the author's introduction to the novel, she says, 'In my years of writing there are few books I've written that have explored things that are a part of my personal experience. SHANNON was one of those books for me . . . I have been a participant in the 'dance' of addiction and codependency and boundaries and letting go and forgiving . . . There is a fine line between hope and hopelessness sometimes; between love and self-preservation; between kindness and enabling . . . If you are a dancer, on any side of the issue, of which there are many sides, I wish you peace and perspective as you figure out your own steps.'

Thank you, Josi. I hope my journey will be stronger from learning about Shannon's hope..."



SHANNON'S HOPE is available on Amazon and Deseret Book and Barnes and Noble in both paperback and e-book!

Writing Round Robin

by Annette Lyon

If there's anything that writing something a extensive as the Newport Ladies Book Club has taught the four of  us, it's how to write differently. We've set aside our typical ways of writing and plotting and learned from each other as we've come up entirely new ways of writing as we've collaborated on the series.

The second set of books (about Shannon, Victoria, Ilana, and Ruby), are already written, and as Josi mentioned recently, some this set will have some changes, including titles that are more than the characters' names.

We're now in the stage of drafting the long-promised reunion book, which has been a total blast . . . in yet a totally different way.

Picture this: The reunion book (as yet untitled), will be written by all four series authors. And it will feature all eight book club members, showing  where they've traveled since we last saw them, and where they end up.

All in one book.

(Daunting, no? A little bit!)

I know that with Daisy and Paige not ending all tied up in pretty bows, readers are eager to learn where they end up. I have a feeling that when readers see the next set of books, they'll have similar questions about some of the other characters, too.

Because the reunion book is totally different than the series itself, we needed a new way of working on it.

We started out by meeting together one day and hammering out an outline that included the entire arc for each character and how the different characters interact and influence each other. The challenge: Finding a way to resolve all eight stories in a short space in a way that will feel organic and satisfying rather than overwhelming and chaotic to the reader.

By the end of that first day, we'd taken a ton of notes, and, I think, had a solid game plan for creating an awesome final volume.

Up next came actually writing the book, which is in progress but moving right along. The master file began with Heather as she began the book with a chapter about Athena. Then she passed it on to the next person, and the next, and the next, round-robin style. Each writer edits and comments on the chapters that came before to help polish them up and  maintain consistency in timeline and plot, and then they move forward with  drafting the next chapter of their character's story before passing the file on to the author in charge of the next chapter's main character.

Each chapter begins with the name of the character it focuses on, and those chapters are written by the same authors of the original books about those characters. (So I write the chapters about Paige and Ilana, and Josi writes about Daisy and Shannon, and so on.)

By the time we're done with the round-robin drafting phase, we should have a solid book that's already been revised on some level three or four times.

It's so much fun to be working on these stories, especially after looking back over the years and seeing what a long way this project has come, from a germ of an idea back in 2008 to a series that will have nine total volumes.

I am continually amazed at what we've accomplished working as a team, and with the reunion book, we're once again writing something unique in a way totally new to us.

I'm excited for the end product, and I'm positive readers will come away happy with where their favorite characters ended up!

From my First Book Group to Newport Ladie's Book Club

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By Josi S. Kilpack

I joined my first book group when I was about 23 years old. I lived in a ‘starter’ neighborhood in Draper where there were a lot of young moms like me who wanted things to do, were making some of our first adult friendships, and had energy I stand in awe of now that I’m pushing forty and try to be in bed by 9:30. There were twelve of us in the group and we met once a month, taking turns choosing the book we would read and discuss. There were always refreshments.

I had been a voracious reader for many years before I joined this group, but I tended to read rather narrowly; when I read Regency Romance I ONLY read Regency Romance. When I read biographies, I spent months just reading biographies. I didn’t follow Oprah’s book club or read reviews, instead I would read everything by a particular author, or other books in that specific genre. I had never been involved in book discussions until being a part of this group, and it was fascinating to hear what other people saw that I’d missed, or share a point I noted that no one else had seen. I read my first (and to date, only) Jane Austin novel because of that group. Most of the books we read were outside of my ‘sphere’ and it helped me realize just how much is out there.  

A year or so into our meetings, I had to take a break from the group when I was put on bed rest for a pregnancy. It was a difficult time and, honestly, missing book group was the least of my worries. I read a lot of books during this time and eventually started writing what would become my first published novel, Earning Eternity. I didn’t set out to write a novel; I though I had an idea for an interesting short story, but it grew and grew and grew and by the time my son was six weeks old, I had written a 300 page novel I had no idea what to do with. I told one friend about this book I’d written; she told someone else, who told someone else and at the March 1999 book group meeting someone asked me about it. Once I admitted what I had done (like it’s a bad thing, right?) they asked to read it for the next month’s book club. My sister helped me print up 12 copies of the book that I then handed out to these women. They became the first people to ever give me feedback. They also encouraged me to get this book published. They changed my life.

Fifteen years later, I get to be a part of a project that writes about members a book group. Funny how full those circles can be sometimes.

How the Collaboration Worked

by Annette Lyon

I cannot count the number of people who have learned about the Newport Ladies Book Club and then come to me asking how in the world I can collaborate on a project of this magnitude . . . and still love my cowriters. Some of these people have worked on collaborations that have caused them to want to pull their hair out, and, in some cases, they've lost friendships over collaborations.

The answer, for me, comes down to (1) how the project worked (2) who my cowriters are. Those two things have made the project not only not frustrating, but an absolute joy.

Today, I'm talking about how the writing the series worked in the first place.

How Writing the Newport Books Worked

If we'd tried to write one book by four people, I doubt it would have worked out too well. That's too many fingers in the pot, too many opinions and points of view.

But that's not what happened. We have four distinct books with four distinct voices. No one told me what I had to write or boxed me in, choosing my character and plot for me.

Instead, as we brainstormed together, we each came up with a character we were excited about fleshing out, a woman with a specific problem we each thought would be interesting to delve into and pick apart.

Once we had our main characters and their primary conflicts, we had to figure out how each character's story intersected with every other character's, because without that element, we wouldn't hit the target of what we were trying to accomplish.

One of the next things to choose was the books the club reads, and then each of us was assigned to do the primary writing for one of the book club scenes. Those scenes were then forwarded to the others, and we'd rewrite them completely from our character's point of view, often adding details another character wouldn't know, or cutting details that didn't matter as much to our character's story.

The same went for any shared scenes. No spoilers, but to give you an idea: there are scenes between just Daisy and Paige, ones between Paige and Athena, and Paige and Olivia. Sometimes I wrote the scene first and passed it on to the person writing the other character. Sometimes the other person did, and I rewrote it from Paige's point of view. It worked so seamlessly that I've pretty much forgotten which scenes I didn't draft first.

As we fleshed out the stories and wrote more, we found additional things to nail down, like where each character and minor character lived. Heather was particularly helpful with that, as she's lived in the general Newport area, so we as stared at maps, she could point out where Paige would be able to afford an apartment, and maybe where her in-laws lived, how far away Ruby (the founder of the club) lived from each character, and so on.

We tried to get together about once a month to coordinate stories and do marathon writing sessions. Part of this was because we were all working on other projects as well, and the Newport books were "play time." When we got together, we could set aside other projects and focus just on these books.

Josi near the end of a writing day, after our

late lunch/early dinner, writing Daisy at a hotel.

A typical marathon writing day/weekend looked like this:
-Meet at a Utah County library as soon as it opened (the most central location for us).

-If possible, get a study room, where we could talk and hash things out instead of having to be silent.

-Write like mad, with breaks to spitball and ask questions (if we were in a room), until about 3PM.

-Break for a late lunch/early dinner at a local restaurant. (Most commonly, Zupas or Olive Garden.)

-Those who could stay overnight then checked into a local motel and brought along snacks to last us the night. We changed into pajamas and wrote, wrote, wrote, until we were bleary-eyed and brain dead, usually around midnight. Sometimes not all of us could stay the night, but often those who couldn't still came to the hotel to write in the room for a few hours.

-Wake up around 7AM and write like crazy until it's time to pack up and check out.


Heading off to write after the kids were in school on Friday and then coming home by noon the next day, proved to be a way of getting time to work on the project with my coauthors with relatively minimal impact on my family. (A must.)

During our writing days, we'd often lift our heads from our keyboards and ask things like, "What kind of car does Daisy drive again?" and, "Where does Paige's ex live?" We Googled constantly to learn about all kinds of things, like Greek Orthodox funerals. We found a website with the exact church to use. I used Google Earth to see, up close, the bookstore Paige finds the book club flier in. And so on.

Once, when Josi and I were in the room alone briefly, she said that the storyline for Daisy would work out better if Olivia's mom was dead, and if Olivia had stepchildren and was a grandmother. I agreed, and then we both hunkered down to write more.

That day, Julie was in the middle of finishing another writing project, so while she was with us, she wasn't working on Olivia quite yet. After the conversation Josi and I had, Julie came into the room, and we informed her that oh, by the way, Olivia's mom is dead. Hope that's okay. And she's got stepkids and grandkids.

Julie got a deer-in-the-headlights look for a second, but as she pondered the idea, it grew on her. Next thing we knew, she'd written a story that not only included those things but hinged on them. And, of course, Olivia turned out to be a totally awesome book.

Julie working on Olivia at the hotel.

I think one reason the process worked so well is that we uncovered a different way to write. We've all been doing this for a long time; it's easy to fall into a rut. But this was fresh and challenging in a new way. We genuinely enjoyed the process and were excited about the books, and I think that excitement and passion shows in the final products.

Personally, working in other people's characters and scenes into my own book was a different kind of challenge, and one that was a blast and which stretched me as a writer.

I can say without question that this project has been a highlight of my writing career, and one I'm so grateful to have been part of. It's been a blessing to me in many ways, not the least of which is discovering just how amazing my writing friends are.

Ruby?

by Heather Moore

"If" we write the next set of books in the series, which I believe we definitely will, I've been given the character of Ruby. She is the Book Club "mom." When I was reading through PAIGE and DAISY, I started taking some characterization notes. It was a lot of fun and Ruby is already worming her way into my writer psyche.

Her story will have to wait a little while, but I'll keep jotting down notes in the interim.

Paige--Drafted!

The final stretch of drafting PAIGE took much longer than anticipated. I had a lot little holes to fill, scenes I'd written notes for but hadn't written yet, and characters deciding to do different things at the last minute.

But it's DONE. At least, the drafting is. Now I get to send it out to my fellow Newport Ladies Book Club authors and let them do their editing magic.

I get to read ATHENA next, and then it's on to DAISY.

I haven't been this excited about a project in some time!

ATHENA--ready to send to co-authors

By Heather Moore

I just finished the 2nd draft stage of ATHENA. Yes, I cried at some parts (think the opening scene in Romancing the Stone, well, maybe not that dramatic).

I can't wait to get the feedback from Josi, Annette, and Julie. They are not only great writers, but incredible editors as well. So, it's really a privilege to work with them on this series. They all bring something great to the table.

It's strange when you finish a book, then read through it, and realize that you really know the character. You really care about that character. Even though the characters aren't "real" they represent all of us--our defeats and our hopes--and most importantly friendship between women. There is nothing like it.

ATHENA--first draft is done!

The first draft of ATHENA is done. She is one of the characters you'll come to know and love in our series.

Right now, I'm waiting for Josi, Annette, and Julie to "approve" some details, then I'll go through another revision. Then we'll all read each others' books, fine tuning along the way. Excited to officially submit.

My official pitch for ATHENA:

Athena is a self-proclaimed bachelorette—it’s better that way—no one gets hurt. But when tragedy strikes, Athena realizes friendship and love is the only way she can pull through, and she must, for the first time in her life, risk opening her heart.

Madly Writing

Well, obviously we didn't secure a Spring 2011 release date.

There was some delay with agreements between our publishers, so we put our writing on hold--at least for this series. Everyone continued working on other books and between the 4 of us, we've had several 2010 and 2011 releases.

In January 2011 we decided to press forward and now we are all close to finishing up each of our books. We've met over several weekends and it's been a blast to brainstorm together.

We hope to turn in our manuscripts sometime in June.

Just hit page 200 in ATHENA yesterday . . .