Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I’m the author of SCOT ON THE ROCKS and JACK WITH A TWIST. My third novel, RECIPE FOR A HAPPY LIFE, will be published by St. Martin’s in 2013. My work’s also appeared in the New York Post and Publisher’s Weekly. You can find me at brendajanowitz.com or on Twitter at @BrendaJanowitz.
What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
My third novel, RECIPE FOR A HAPPY LIFE, comes out July 2nd. It is about three generations of women with a culture all their own. When Hannah finds herself spending the summer with her glamorous grandmother, a widow six times over, at her sprawling beach-front Hamptons estate, she learns that there’s more than one recipe for happiness.
A story of mothers and daughters, grandmothers and grandchildren, RECIPE FOR A HAPPY LIFE is a quirky story about correcting the mistakes from your past and trying to create a future for yourself.
The novel that will be free on Amazon Kindle from June 12-16 is my second novel, JACK WITH A TWIST. It’s a fun romantic comedy about a woman planning the wedding of her dreams all while litigating the biggest case of her career…. against her fiance! (Hilarity ensues.) It was inspired by planning my own wedding! Although my own wedding planning wasn’t quite as eventful.
Do you have any unusual writing habits?
One of the things I’m most often asked about the writer’s life is my writing schedule.
I’ve heard all about this mystical “writing schedule.” In fact, I hear all the time about writers who have one– they wake up every day at 5 am and write until 7. Or they sit down and don’t get up until they’ve written 1,000 words. Or they go to writers colonies and hammer out entire books in the span of a month.
I envy those writers. I really do. I wish I could have such discipline. But I don’t. Because the thing is, the thing that no one ever wants to hear, is that I don’t have a writing schedule. What I do is write whenever I can and as much as I can. Simple as that.
My life is filled with little kids running underfoot, and carpools, and figuring out what to put on the table for dinner. (Wow, I sound really glamorous, don’t I!?) I try to make the most of those times in between. The few hours I have between dropping my son off and nursery school and pick up. Whatever precious time I get if and when the kids nap. A quiet evening here or there when the kids are in bed and my husband’s stuck at work.
I wrote my entire first novel in the space in between. When I got home from work early, when I had time on weekends, on lunch breaks. I’d edit while riding the subway downtown, on the bus crosstown, on the Long Island Rail Road on trips to see my family. And it worked. Sure, it took longer than if I’d been writing every day until I hit the 1,000 word mark, but that wasn’t my life. So I fit the writing into the life I had then. And I still do the same– I fit the writing into the life I’ve got now.
EB White said “A writer who waits for ideal conditions under which to work will die without putting a word on paper.”
Words to live by.
What authors, or books have influenced you?
So many books! So many authors!!
Some of my favorites are: Emily Giffin, Jennifer Weiner, Julie Buxbaum, Allison Winn Scotch and Elinor Lipman.
What are you working on now?
My third novel comes out July 2nd, so I’m working on promotion for that novel. I’m also working on my fourth novel, but I’m only 2/3 done. Don’t ask me what it’s about! I generally only figure out what a book is truly about after I finish a first draft.
What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I wish I had the answer to that! I just try to get out there as much as I can. Blog chats, Facebook, Twitter…. anything that I think will help get my name out there.
My favorite part of promotion is visiting book clubs. If you’d like to read one of my novels for your book club, contact me and I’ll visit or call in!
Do you have any advice for new authors?
Keep writing! It’s so easy to get discouraged or feel like you don’t have the time to write. But like anything else that is important in life, you have to work at it and make the time for it.
Edit! Editing your work is almost as important as the writing itself. Sure, you’re telling your story, but it’s also important to consider the way that you tell it. You want your writing to be tight, elegant and polished. It can only get to be that way through careful and thorough editing.
Develop a very thick skin. You’re putting yourself out there when you write and not everyone is going to love what you do. But that’s okay! You’re not writing to please everyone out there. You’re writing because you have a story that you want to tell. So start getting used to criticism and then see tip #1—keep writing!
What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Some of my favorite writing quotes:
“A writer who waits for ideal conditions under which to work will die without putting a word on paper.” EB White
“You fail only if you stop writing.” Ray Bradbury
“My ideas usually come not at my desk writing but in the midst of living.” Anais Nin
What are you reading now?
I’m reading (and loving) AND THEN I FOUND YOU by Patti Callahan Henry and THE YEAR OF THE GADFLY by Jennifer Miller.
What’s next for you as a writer?
I’ll be working on promotions for Book 3 and finishing up Book 4!
What is your favorite book of all time?
The Great Gatsby, hands down.
Author Websites and Profiles
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