Book: Dire’s Club
Q1. Hello Ma’am, can you please introduce yourself? Readers would love to know more about you.
I’m a writer of women’s fiction, which I lovingly call the “trashcan punch” genre because it can have action and adventure stories, mysteries, love stories; all it has to have is a female character who undergoes an arc. I’m also a dog and cat mom, a travel addict and avid reader. Running and yoga keep me sane, and of course I love hanging out with my family and friends.
Q2. What were the key challenges you faced while writing ‘Dire’s Club’ book?
Probably the key challenges was getting inside of a character who is struggling with grief and depression. We learn early on that Charlotte is contemplating suicide, which was really difficult to spend much time in her point of view. The other strange twist was that I started writing Dire’s Club the very week that both Anthony Bourdain and Kate Spade took their lives. But once she joined the Dire’s Club and began healing I found it easier to spend time in her perspective.
Q3. What books or authors have most influenced your own writing?
I think it’s easy to say that everyone from Dr. Suess and Shel Silverstein, Beverly Cleary and Judy Blume all the way to David Mitchell and Jennifer Egan have had some influence on me and my writing. I think writers are all part of an ecosystem that influences each other, even if it’s difficult to discern how. I will tell you the one book that had a direct impact – Chaucer’s “Canterbury Tales” was a major inspiration for Dire’s Club.
Q4. What’s your favourite spot to visit in your own country? And what makes it so special to you?
My favorite place to visit is Big Bend National Park in far southwest Texas. It’s hours away from civilization and has this incredible rugged beauty. The population is sparse, but the people who live out there have the most fascinating stories.
Q5. Is there lots to do before you dive in and start writing a book?
There is. Usually story ideas find me. In the case of Dire’s Club I had a dream where I was having a conversation with Jimmy Dire. I woke up and immediately started journaling and the bones of the story flowed out. I was actually finishing a trilogy and had another book that I was outlining, so I had to put Dire’s Club on ice, but the story rumbled around in my head for a while. When it was time to finally write it, I sketched out the plot and got to work.
Q6. How long did it take you to write ‘Dire’s Club’ book?
The idea came to me in 2014, but I didn’t start writing it until a few years later. But once I started writing it, it took probably about a year, and then editing took another year or so.
Q7. On what all platforms readers can find ‘Dire’s Club’ book to buy?
You can get Dire’s Club wherever you buy ebooks or paperback books – Kobo, Apple, Barnes and Noble and Amazon and Indiebookshop.com.
Q8. Tell us about the process of coming up with the book cover and the title ‘Dire’s Club’?
I’ll start with the title first, and that was part of that dream I spoke about earlier with Jimmy. I just knew that the name of his business, and thus the book, was Dire’s Club. I also like that play on words with the purpose of his business, to take dying people on their bucket list trip. But, in a truer sense of the word, things are dire for some of the characters.
Q9. When writing a book how do you keep things fresh, for both your readers and also yourself?
Oh this is such a good question! As I mentioned, I outline or plot my books, but I don’t get too deep into the details. If I overdo it, I feel like the story feels less organic, and I truly believe that if something surprises me as I write it, it’ll surprise readers as they read it. So I approach my plotboard like a map. Let’s say that I want to drive from New York to LA. There’s a lot of different routes I could take – interstates, back roads, northern routes or southern routes. Now, let’s say I want to stop in Nashville, Kansas City and Las Vegas, but I leave it up to chance on how I get there it’ll leave me open to discover something cool along the way.
Q10. Are there any secrets from the book (that aren’t in the blurb), you can share with your readers?
One thing that’s not in the blurb is the fact that Dire’s Club is it’s a love story. It’s a story about loves that are lost, and loves that are found but fleeting. It’s about forgiveness – especially the hardest person to forgive: yourself. It’s a story about death, but most importantly, it’s a story about life.
Book Is Available On Amazon
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