A Bookworm's Tale

by Susan McBride

I’ve always been a bookworm. 

We moved around a lot when I was growing up so every few years we picked up stakes and went to a new place, wherever IBM sent my dad.  By the time I was thirteen, I’d lived in five different cities (four different states), and I’d been enrolled in four different schools.  It made it hard to keep friendships when we never stayed anywhere for very long.  The only thing I could count on in those days was books.

In fact, I loved books so much that I built my own library, putting pockets with cards inside the front cover.  I got a date stamp, and I made my brother and sister check books out.  To this day, they’re not big readers.  Hmm, wonder if I had anything to do with that?

When I was in fifth grade, I tried my hand at writing novels.  I have three saved in a box in the basement.  One is about two pals and a dog who solve crimes, another is an illustrated tale about a pair of nice monsters, and the third is a mystery called THE SECRET OF THE FORBIDDEN TEMPLE.  I even made a fancy cover for that one.  Inside the back flap, I listed “Other Books by Susan McBride” and made up a bunch of titles. 

I should have realized back then that I was destined to write.  But it took awhile longer for me to figure that out.  I didn’t seriously consider becoming a novelist until I was 19 and between transferring colleges.  My family was road-tripping to my grandparents’ house for Christmas, and I had an epiphany.  “I will write a book!” a little voice inside my head announced as I sat in the back seat, trying to keep a safe distance from my little brother.  I dug out a notepad and pen from my purse, and I started scribbling then and there.  What I ended up writing—a 600-page historical romance called THE THORN OF THE ROSE—was never published.  But I did send it out to various editors and agents who encouraged me to keep at it. So I did.

Every year after I graduated college, I penned a new manuscript.  I had at least ten done before I signed a book contract after winning a writing contest.  A small press published AND THEN SHE WAS GONE and OVERKILL, and I started doing the mystery circuit, meeting lots of other authors (many of whom became good friends).  I signed with a New York agent who got me a three-book deal with Avon for my Debutante Dropout Mysteries, starting with BLUE BLOOD in 2004 and ending with TOO PRETTY TO DIE in 2008.  That agent and I amicably parted ways about the time my second mystery came out in 2005, but I found the perfect match with another agency (I'm still with 'em, and I love them to pieces!).

In 2006, around the time my third mystery hit bookshelves, one of my agents lunched with a Random House editor who was looking for an author to write about debutantes in the South, kind of like GOSSIP GIRL with a drawl.  That’s when I devised THE DEBS, the debut of my young adult series that features four Houston prep school seniors during their debutante season.  (And, yes, debutantes still exist!  Even though I’ve gotten emails asking, “Didn’t debs go the way of the dinosaur?”)  The second of my Debs tales, LOVE, LIES, AND TEXAS DIPS, came out in 2009, and a third, GLOVES OFF, is (sadly) in publishing limbo!  Why didn't I make them vampire debutantes?  Yeesh.

My first stab at women's fiction, THE COUGAR CLUB (HarperCollins, February 2010), allowed me to write about a subject near and dear to my heart:  being a woman over 40 in a society that’s totally freaked out by aging (well, by aging women).  I married a younger man, and I didn’t chase him (and I don’t wear animal print), and I’ve met lots of other “accidental Cougars” since the book came out.  It’s been fun spreading the news that forty isn’t fatal.  Hopefully, I’ll get to revisit Carla, Elise, and Kat—my three Cougars—again!

But right now, I’m revising LITTLE BLACK DRESS, which is something entirely different.  It’s the story of two sisters and a daughter and a magical black dress that changes all their lives forever.  A pair of alternating viewpoints unravel the story, ultimately marrying the past and the present (and revealing a deep dark secret along the way).  One of my resolutions for 2011:  to find the perfect LBD to wear at book signings!

I’ve got two more books due this year: another women’s fiction title (yet to be determined) and a young adult thriller.  So even though my writing career took a good decade to get rolling, I’ve worked nonstop for the past 12 years, and it's been an amazing thing, getting to do what I love for a living.

My advice to aspiring authors:  read a lot, write a lot, and learn your craft.  Sometimes things don’t happen right off the bat for a reason.  Just keep putting words on paper and keep the faith!

Susan McBride is the author of The Cougar Club, named a Target Bookmarked Breakout Title and a Midwest Booksellers Association “Midwest Connections” Pick. She has also penned the award-winning Debutante Dropout Mysteries, including Blue Blood and Too Pretty to Die. She lives in St. Louis, Missouri, with her husband. Visit her web site at SusanMcBride.com.

**I’d love to give away a signed copy of THE COUGAR CLUB today!  If you’re interested, leave a comment, and I’ll draw the winner on Thursday morning.  Just part of the parade of GBC holiday giveaways!  Ah, I love this blog!