Q and A with Liz Michalski, author of Evenfall

In life, Frank could've had any woman he wanted. In death, he'll try to win back the one that mattered...

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Frank Wildermuth always regretted a mistake he made as a teenager: choosing Clara Murphy over her sister Gert. And like a true Murphy woman, Gert got on with her life, never admitting to heartbreak. Not even now, decades later, with Frank dead-dead, that is, but not quite gone. Now, Frank's niece, Andie Murphy, is back in town to settle his estate, and she sees that things have changed in Hartman, Connecticut. Aunt Gert still drives her crazy, but Cort, the wide-eyed farmboy she used to babysit, is all grown up-with a whole new definition for the word "sleepover." Even freakier are the whispers. Either Andie's losing her mind, or something she can't see is calling out to her-something that insists on putting right the past.

What was the seed of the idea that led you to write Evenfall?

Evenfall came from a person, a place, and a thing. I woke up one morning and had the first few lines of the book '' "Nina sees the man first. It's a hot summer day, the kind where, when I was alive, you'd have found me down the creek," bouncing around in my head. I wrote them down, but didn't know what to do with them. A few weeks later I was touring an old farm house, and I fell in love with the attic. It was a beautiful, peaceful space bisected by an enormous beam that looked just like a ship's mast. My ghost suddenly had a home. Finally, shortly after I started the first chapter, my husband and I began talking about moving away from the tiny rural town in which we lived. I knew I would miss the landscape and the people very much, and those feelings went into the book.

You're a debut novelist. Can you tell us about your road to publication?

My road was either very short or very long, depending on how you look at it. The one liner is that I landed the first agent I queried, and he sold my book in just a few days. The longer version is that it took me close to eight years to finish the book, and I revised it ceaselessly during that time.

What's the most surprising thing you learned about publishing since your debut? What's the most exciting thing?

I was a reader well before I became a writer, and I still am. The idea that publishing is a business still shocks me, a little. When you are writing -- at least when I am writing -- it's all about the characters and the story, then it's all about finishing the book, then it's about finding an agent. You think you should be done at that point. But the journey doesn't stop there -- there's always another hurdle to get over.

In terms of the most exciting thing, it's a geeky little moment, but it made me happy. I got a google alert that a library way off on the other side of the country had my book listed under new fiction. The idea that a library - one of my favorite places in the world - bought my book based on nothing other than the fact they thought their patrons might like it is thrilling to me.

What books are on your nightstand right now?

I have a stack that's always threatening to topple over! Right now, it's The Gargoyle by Andrew Davidson (for my book club), Sabriel by Garth Nix (I'm reading it in advance of my nine-year-old daughter) and As Always, Julia, The Letters of Julia Child and Avis DeVoto, by Joan Reardon. Reading it is like eavesdropping on the conversation of two best friends.

Writers never stop learning. What's the best writing trick or tip you've learned recently.

I wish I could attribute this to the right person, but I can't remember where I read it, so I guess I've just shamelessly stolen it. Someone advised imagining what your characters keep in their underwear drawer. That's where I've discovered some of the most intriguing secrets about the people in my books.

Liz Michalski graduated from a college in Connecticut with a BA in English. She lives in Massachusetts with her husband, two young children, and a large brown dog. Evenfall is her first novel.
http://www.lizmichalski.com

Win a copy of Evanfall! Leave a comment and you will get a chance to win. Winner will be announced in this spot on Sunday after five.

Winner is Tiffany Drew! Congrats. Email us at kgillespie@knology.net with snail mail and we'll send the book.