An Interview with Linda Urban

This week I welcome Linda Urban, author of the very charming novel, A Crooked Kind of Perfect. A forthcoming picture book, Mouse was Mad, will be published in 2009 by Harcourt. Linda was kind enough to take a moment from work on her second novel to talk about writing, reading and chocolate.

Lori: How has the process of writing your second novel been different from A Crooked Kind of Perfect? Do you write every day and on more than one thing at a time?

Linda: I have been so much more self-conscious while working on my second novel, and that has really gotten in the way of the work. I write best when I'm totally in the story and not thinking about structure or rules or audience. I had great good fortune to have a well-received first novel and I spent a lot of last year enjoying that, but also worrying that my second novel would not live up to expectations. I think I'm finally at the stage of clearing my head and focusing again on just the story. I sure hope I am, anyway. I work best when I write every day, but I did take large chunks of time off over the summer when we had family and friends around visiting. I have two small kids. They come first.

I work on whatever calls me. Most of the time that is a single project, but I do like when I have a short project and a long project going at the same time. It gives me the feeling that if one isn't working, I can turn to the other. Don't ask what happens when neither is working.

Lori: I won’t! And I certainly understand the challenge of trying to write while you have young children around. Everyone knows it takes time to get published. How much rejection did you collect before an acceptance?

Linda: Once I started writing seriously and submitting, I got very lucky and had many positive responses and an acceptance within a few months. That said, I've had plenty of rejection since then. I still have a lot to learn.

Lori: Now a process question: Do you listen to music as you write? If so, what inspires you?

Linda: I can't. I find it distracting.

Lori: How do you structure your writing day to be most productive?

Linda: Right now, I'm finding it helpful to get up early and write before the concerns of the day take over. If I can go from bed to teakettle to computer and just start typing, I often will have a much more productive day than if I read email first or scan the newspaper or think about packing school lunches or talk with my husband.A couple of mornings a week, my youngest is in preschool or with a sitter and I try to focus and write then, too, but I often find that I have a more critical mind then. It is usually a good time to look over and revise the early morning work. Once my boy is home for lunch, my writing day is over.

Lori: Please tell us about any upcoming appearances.

Linda: I have some school visits planned and I believe that Harcourt is working on scheduling some New England booksignings for MOUSE WAS MAD. I'll also be in Michigan in April to receive the Michigan Library Association's Mitten Award. I'm very excited about that.

Lori: Would you ever write a memoir?

Linda: My life is not so interesting as to warrant a memoir. There are little bits of memoir in every bit of fiction I write, but then I have to make a whole bunch of stuff up to make it worth reading.

Lori: What have you read lately that you'd recommend?

Linda: I love Richard Russo and just went on a fiction binge with his Mohawk, The Risk Pool, and Nobody's Fool. Reading him is to study characterization and dialogue. And humor. I'm always amazed at the way he is able to balance realism with humor. So many writers turn to surrealism or fantasy in order to be funny. Russo knows how to show us the everyday humor in regular people, and the ways so many of us turn to humor when things get tough.

I also adored The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. It is perfect historical fiction - I learned so much about the occupation of Guernsey during WWII, but every bit of that was filtered logically through the characters and plot. And characters! Oh, such characters!

As for writing for young people, I haven't read as much this year as I usually do, but I did love Ingrid Law's Savvy, Emily Jenkin's Toy Dance Party, and Dannette Haworth's Violet Raines Almost Got Hit by Lightning. I've also just finished reading a manuscript for a book which will be out next year, Kate Messner's The Brilliant Fall of Gianna Z. I think tweens will love it.

Lori: For you, what is the most challenging aspect of telling a story well?

Linda: I think it is plot. I like character. I like the way characters talk to one another. I like finding moments that resonate with that. Making those moments all add up into a compelling plot, though, is tough. I often tell people that my drafts get wider rather than longer. Sometimes I'm just setting moments beside other moments but not one of them is leading to the next.

Lori: And now for an important question: Do you prefer dessert or hors d'oeuvres? Milk chocolate or dark?

Linda: I'll say dessert because I have tried to type the other word three times now and I keep misspelling it. Dark Chocolate. Always.

Lori: Thanks so much for dropping by, Linda!