Friends and Fate and a Little Black Dress

By Susan McBride

I can hardly believe Little Black Dress is out today (hooray!!!). I poured my heart and soul into this tale of two sisters, one daughter, and a magical black dress that changes all their lives forever, so I can't wait to hear what y'all think! It’s been a full year and a half since The Cougar Club was released. Long as that sounds, those months went by in a blink. So much happened in the interim, as you’ve heard me babble about before (cat nearly died, Mom diagnosed with breast cancer, pregnancy, miscarriage, skin cancer, you name it), that I can’t imagine having had any less time. I remember panicking last fall when my publisher wanted to push LBD out three months sooner with a pale pink cover that featured a headless woman in a very puffy black cocktail dress (ack!). Since the novel has nothing to do with puffy frocks and cocktail parties—and everything to do with love and fate and magic—I was less than thrilled. I also wasn’t sure I could get everything done (um, like, finish the book and do revisions) so quickly.

Thank goodness the pub date was pushed back and the cover was revamped. Strange how things work out sometimes. My mantra this year has been “I can only do what I can do;” and it seems like, the more I take a deep breath and let the things go that I can’t control, the more things turn out right. As I told my editor the other day, I have never been so happy with a book, inside and out. I even emailed Mumtaz Mustafa, the art director who designed Little Black Dress’s cover, sending him a love note saying how much I adored it. It was so important that a particular black dress not be depicted—part of the magic of Little Black Dress is having readers imagine for themselves what this special frock looks like—and Mumtaz got it just right.

My gratitude only grew along the road to LBD’s publication. One stop was Blurb Land, a destination that always makes me anxious (for which I'm always thankful that my agents and editor help out!). Still, I knew some of the authors on my wish list--fellow Girlfriends, as a matter of fact!—and so I gathered my courage, shot off emails (that I rewrote a dozen times), and hoped for the best. Turns out, I needn’t have worried myself silly. I was bowled over by the generosity of these wonderful women. Even if I said “thank you” a million times, it wouldn’t be enough. But I’ll say it again, “Thank you, ladies!" You are something special.

There were always friends along the way, giving me pep talks when I needed them and offering a hand. One crazy-busy pal made time in her schedule to plow through fifty pages at a time as I forged my way through revisions. She reassured me that I was on the right track and nudged me when I left a question unanswered. I normally don’t let anyone see revisions until I’m done, but I’m awfully glad I did this time around. So thanks to that good buddy as well!

When I had to turn my attention toward another manuscript this spring and summer, the marketing and publicity wizards were already at work, keeping in frequent touch, letting me know what was going on with LBD and what was to come, so that I feel downright calm (I know! It’s a strange sensation!). I'm more organized than in the past and less apt to expend energy on things that don’t need doing. What a nice change!

Perhaps there’s actually something to this whole “I can only do what I can do” idea. I’m going to hold onto that thought as Little Black Dress launches and try not to get stomach aches over what's going on and whether or not readers are enjoying it. I've got another manuscript to pen and some in-town and out-of-town gigs to do, which should keep me good and busy. And I'll remind myself to breathe and smile and be grateful for all the positive stuff. Like Bridget says in Little Black Dress, “Sometimes you just have to accept the magic that comes into your life and leave it be.” Amen to that, sister.

P.S. The pearl necklace giveaway continues through 5 p.m. Eastern Time today on http://www.facebook.com/SusanMcBrideBooks so don’t miss out! One grand prize winner receives a gorgeous strand of freshwater cultured pearls like the one on the cover of Little Black Dress. Five runners-up receive copies of the book. For more info and links to booksellers, please visit http://SusanMcBride.com.

Life Imitating Art Imitating Life

by Susan McBride

As of 2011, I've reached 12 years as a published author, and I must say my career has been anything but boring. I started out writing mystery series before trying my hand at a non-mystery young adult series. Then I was offered the chance to do a women’s fiction stand-alone, THE COUGAR CLUB, which came out last year. I loved the freedom of writing a novel that wasn’t meant to lead into a second book and then a third. It was great knowing I could leave my three forty-five-year-old “Cougars” and move on once I’d gotten them to a pretty happy place (or at least a better place than they were in when the book started). It’s funny, though, how many people thought it was the start of a series with more to come. I’m not sure if my history as a series writer caused them to assume that or if it was the ending, which leaves a few unanswered questions, mostly in the vein of, “Will she or won’t she?”

I have trouble wrapping up a story so completely that there's no room to wonder. Isn’t that what makes real life so interesting: not knowing what each day will bring? For me, it’s the same with my novels. I know the characters will live and grow beyond the time I spend with them…unless I decide to blow them all up, which I’ve yet to do (but I have been tempted).

After COUGAR, I knew I wanted to write another women’s fic book, and I had an idea about a grown-up SISTERHOOD OF THE TRAVELING PANTS (well, sort of). It involved a black dress that was worn by three different women, and it fit them all, no matter that they were different sizes. And it had an indelible impact on all of their lives. Although when I presented my first one-page synopsis to my agents, they were hardly bowled over. “Um, this isn’t it,” I remember them saying. “So take that premise and try again.”

I’m not sure what happened—or how—but it was likely in the shower or on the treadmill (two of my best idea places) when I realized what LITTLE BLACK DRESS was really about: two sisters from a generation back and the magical black dress one of them buys at a vintage shop the day before her wedding. She wears it that night and has a vision of her future that doesn’t involve the man she’s about to marry. She disappears to avoid marrying the wrong guy and she doesn’t come back for years, leaving her sister behind to pick up the pieces…and to discover for herself the secret of the little black dress (which she does, in spades).

When I sent this revised synopsis back to my agents, they were excited. “Yes, this is it! More please!” they said, and so I keep thinking and dreaming and writing. Pretty soon, I had a three page summary and 50 sample pages with the POV alternating between Evie, the “responsible” sister who must deal with Anna—her younger sibling—running off and leaving her behind, and Toni, Evie’s daughter, who’s made a life for herself in St. Louis but must return to her small Missouri town when her mom has a stroke. In the process of being home again, Toni has to confront her own past and all the skeletons buried in the closets of the old Victorian. What Toni discovers about Evie and Anna--and herself--is beyond surprising.

I had no idea when I embarked upon this multigenerational tale that I would feel such an emotional pull. Normally, when I write, I’m in such a zone that I don’t feel anything but eager. I don’t cry when my characters cry. I don’t laugh when they laugh. Okay, most of the time I don’t. But with LITTLE BLACK DRESS, I found myself gut-wrenched by the emotional scenes; maybe because so much was going on in my life in 2010 as I wrote it, like putting on a breast cancer fundraiser (I’m a survivor) and having my mom show up on my doorstep a week before the event saying, “I have breast cancer.” My reaction, "You're kidding, right?" She’s doing GREAT, thank heavens, as it was caught very early but it freaked me out just the same.

As if that wasn't enough, one of our cats got deathly ill and nearly died. She spent two days in the emergency vet hospital and underwent tons of tests and a blood transfusion then required twice a day meds and weekly vet visits for two and a half months. Since our three cats are like our children, Ed and I lived on pins and needles until we knew Blue would be okay.

It’s no wonder I felt drained while working on LBD, and I recall feeling particular angst while writing a scene with Evie suffering a miscarriage. I had never been pregnant so I could only imagine the devastation at losing a baby and the toll it takes on someone mentally and physically. I was weeping as I got through it. It was only after I turned the manuscript in before Thanksgiving that I found out I was about four weeks pregnant. Oh, boy, that explained a lot! Ed and I were over the moon.

Unfortunately, I miscarried on New Year’s weekend (yeah, Happy New Year!). I had to revise the book—and tweak the miscarriage scene—barely three weeks after. It broke my heart a second time, but maybe in some way it helped me get through it. Writing is like that for me, it’s my personal therapy and maybe why my characters endure so much; because I can work through my own heartache through them.

It's strange when life imitates art when it's usually art imitating life. Although I tell myself that everything I do is purely made up, I realize pieces of me seep in, no matter how hard I try to keep myself out of it. Still, all of our experiences shape us in various ways, hopefully making us more empathetic people and better writers, too. Every hardship or devastation or brilliantly happy moment lends itself to stronger characters and a more believable story. It makes me feel good to think so anyway!

Susan McBride is the author of Little Black Dress coming out as a William Morrow trade paperback in September (yes, the date was just moved up from December!). She has also written The Cougar Club, a Target Bookmarked Breakout Title and a Midwest Connections Pick, as well as five Debutante Dropout Mysteries and several "Debs" young adult books. For more scoop, visit SusanMcBride.com.

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!