 While
recovering from my hip replacement this past
January, I was lucky enough to have landed a
copy of Claire Cook's latest novel, Life's
a Beach. Wow! What a perfect
escape it was from the blistering snow we were
having here in Maryland, not to mention it kept
my mind occupied as my body was trying to heal.
For me, a novel must achieve two goals for it to be successful. The
first and probably the most important, it has to take me right into the middle
of the action as if I were the lead character's best friend and both of
us were in it together. Secondly, it must be a constant source of deliberation,
meaning that I have to continually debate if I should A. Do
my chores, errands, make dinner or B. Steal a few more minutes
and read another chapter hoping that my family won't notice when they have
nothing to wear the next day. Life's a Beach fit
my requirements and then some.
Without giving too much of the plot away, it's a lively story of two sisters
who come to terms with each other's idiosyncrasies while discovering their
true selves in the process. As did her previous novel, Must
Love Dogs, I predict that this one too
will make it to the big screen. It's really that good. Not only is
Claire a talented writer, but also she is a kind and caring person. It
has been such a pleasure getting to know her these last few months. No
doubt about it. She is a classy lady.
As part of the interview, five lucky readers will win a copy of Life's
a Beach, so don't forget to look
for the  trivia question at the end. So grab yourself
an iced tea and get to know my new friend, Claire Cook. ( Find
this book in our catalog. )
Jen: Have you always wanted to be a writer?
Who or what gave you that needed push to finally
sit down and write a novel? And please tell us
a little it about your educational and professional
background.
Claire: I've wanted to be a writer since
I was three. My mother entered me in a contest
to name the Fizzies whale, and I won in my age
group. It's quite possible that mine was the
only entry in my age group since "Cutie
Fizz" was enough to win my family a six-month
supply of Fizzies tablets (root beer was the
best flavor) and a half dozen turquoise plastic
mugs with removable handles. At six I had my
first story on the Little People's Page in the
Sunday paper (about Hot Dog, the family dachshund,
even though we had a beagle at the time -- the
first clue that I'd be a novelist and not a journalist)
and at sixteen I had my first front page feature
in the local weekly. I majored in film and creative
writing in college, and fully expected that the
day after graduation, I go into labor and a brilliant
novel would emerge fully formed, like giving
birth.
So what happened? In a word: nothing. I guess
I knew how to write, but not what to
write. Looking back, I can see that I had to
live my life so I'd have something to write about,
and if I could give my younger self some good
advice, it would be not to beat myself up for
the next couple of decades. Instead, I pretended
I wasn't feeling terrible about not writing a
novel, and did a lot of other creative things.
Hmm, let's see. I wrote shoe ads for an in house
advertising agency for five weeks, became continuity
director of a local radio station for a couple
of years, taught aerobics and did choreography,
helped a friend with landscape design, wrote
a few freelance magazine pieces, took some more
detours. Eventually, I had two children and followed
them to school as a teacher, where I taught everything
from open ocean rowing to creative writing.
Years later, when I was in my forties and sitting
in my minivan outside my daughter's swim practice
at 5 AM, it hit me that I might live my whole
life without ever once going after my dream of
writing a novel. So, for the next six months
I wrote a rough draft in the pool parking lot,
and it sold to the first publisher who asked
to read it.
So many women have written to say that my story
has been an inspiration to them, and I hope that's
true. It is pretty cool if I stop to think about
it. My first novel was published at 45, and at
50 I walked the red carpet at the Hollywood premiere
of the movie version of my second novel.
Jen: As far as your writing process, how do
you arrive at the premise? Plot first? Outline?
Characters?
Claire: For me it's all about the
characters. I'm always surprised when I
read, “Claire Cook writes about relationships” or “suburbia” or “transitions” or “family,” because
I thought I was writing about Ginger and Geri
and all the rest of them.
I never outline. It would make it feel too much
like a term paper to me. Robert Frost once said, “No
surprise for the writer, no surprise for the
reader.” If I knew what was going to happen,
I'm not sure I'd need to write the
book anymore. Half the fun of it for me is to
keep writing to find out what's going to
happen to the characters next.
Jen: From conception to completion, about how
long does it take for you to complete a manuscript?
What is the most challenging part of the writing
process for you?
Claire: I write two polished pages a day, seven
days a week, when I'm writing a novel,
which gives me a draft in about six months. Of
course, this is only the beginning, and I'll
spend at least the next six months revising.
The most challenging part is sticking with it,
day in and day out. I've found that every day
of my life presents me with dozens of perfectly
valid reasons not to write. My kids, my house,
my hair. And occasionally even more glamorous
things like interviews and movie deals. So, for
me, the only way to actually write a novel is
to get really disciplined. If I don't finish
my daily page quota, I'm not allowed to go to
sleep. It gets ugly sometimes, but it works.
It's all of the stuff surrounding the writing
that's hard. You have to push yourself past the
procrastination, the self-doubt, and the feelings
of utter despair. When you find your zone, your
place of flow, or whatever it is we're currently
calling it, and lose yourself in the writing,
it really is quite wonderful. I've heard writers
say it's better than sex, though I'm not sure
I'd go that far.
Jen: Must Love Dogs is
a delightful book that I highly recommend and
thoroughly enjoyed reading. Where were you when
you got the call that your book was going to
be made into a movie? What was your initial reaction?
Claire: Thanks, Jen! The way that it happened
was that I'd just come back from doing
a book event in Vermont, and the store made a
display with the extra copies of Must
Love Dogs I signed for them. Gary
David Goldberg wandered into the store, just
looking for a book to read. He wasn't even
planning to make a movie. But his five dogs were
waiting for him in the car, and his wife is from
a big Irish family. He bought the book, read
it that night, and called my literary agent in
New York the next morning. My initial reaction
was YIPPEE!!
Jen: Did you have a hand in the selection of
the actors for the movie and were you able to
visit the set? If so, were you able to
give your input?
Claire: Gary David Goldberg and I became fast
friends, and he invited my input every step of
the way. I hung out on the set, and they even
gave me my own director's chair. Diane
Lane, John Cusack, Christopher Plummer, Dermot
Mulroney, Elizabeth Perkins, Stockard Channing
and the all the rest of the actors autographed
it for me, and it now sits in my dining room.
I think of it as my throne.
I went on location and also hung out at the
set on the Warner Bros. lot. I also went to the
wrap party and to the Hollywood premiere. I even
got to go to the table read, which is the first
time the actors all read the script together.
They all clapped when I was introduced. It was
very cool.
Jen: What surprised you most about Hollywood
and the movie making business?
Claire: Everybody will have to read Life's
a Beach to find out!
I loved everything about hanging around during
the filming of the Must Love Dogs movie,
and really wanted to share some of that experience
with readers when I wrote Life's
a Beach. So I took lots of notes
on the movie set, and in the first draft of the
novel, the fictional movie took place in Hollywood.
But the Hollywood parts didn't seem as
fresh as they might be, so in the next draft
of the novel, I moved the movie to Cape Cod,
where it really came alive!
When you read the book, you'll be able
to see the exact place where the movie changes
location. One of the fun things about writing
fiction is that the things you don't plan
often turn out to be the best parts of the novel.
Jen: Just for a moment, please let us live vicariously
through you! What was it like walking the red
carpet at the movie's premiere? What did
you wear?
Claire: It was amazing. I did 35 interviews
on the red carpet, including Access Hollywood
and Extra, and I even made the Hollywood Variety
premiere photo spread. Everyone was so nice to
me -- the AP reporter said in 25 years he'd
never seen an author have so much fun at the
premiere of movie adaptation of her book.
A funky black dress. Shoes that hurt my feet.
And, most important, a black leather purse shaped
like a dog, with a pink feather boa collar, with
a copy of Must Love Dogs sticking
out of it – it made almost every photo!
For me it was all about what the book looked
like – not me!
If you scroll through my blog at www.clairecook.com ,
you'll find plenty of pictures…
Jen: Your latest release, Life's
a Beach, is what I like to
call a feel good novel that centers on the
relationship between two sisters. An obvious
question, are the main characters modeled
after your sisters? What role do your siblings
play in your life and in your career?
Claire: I'm always the last to know what
my novels are really about, so it wasn't
until readers started telling me they couldn't
wait to send a copy to their sisters, or reading
it made them want to call their sisters, or even
wish they had a sister, that I realized Life's
a Beach is about two sisters. Nobody
loves you like a sister, or drives you crazier.
I have four sisters, plus three brothers. We're
scattered all over the country now, but we're
still very much, in order of birth, DannyClaireCathyMarySusieJimmyTriciaandKevin.
I'm sure there are little bits of my sisters
in both Ginger and Geri. (And probably in Allison
Flagg, too, but don't tell them that.) Still,
my fiction never feels particularly autobiographical
to me. It's as if I take all the things that
are real, and all the stories I've heard, plus
everything I imagine, and put them into a paper
bag, shake them up, and then take them out in
a completely new configuration. I guess that's
my Shake 'n' Bake theory of writing a novel.
I relate to all the characters, both two and
four-legged, in my novels. I think you have to,
at least to some degree, in order to write the
characters. It's all about being a good eavesdropper,
and it's all grist for the mill. I've always
been that person at the restaurant listening
to the conversation at the next table, at your table.
It's nice to finally have found a career where
that becomes non-deviant behavior.
Jen: If you had to choose, who is your favorite
character in this book and why?
Claire: That would be like trying to pick a
favorite child – I just couldn't
do it! So far, everybody seems to have a different
favorite character in Life's
a Beach, usually the one that most
reminds them of themselves, or someone in their
lives.
Jen: In the book, you talk about sea glass and
glass blowing. What is your experience with this
or did you just do research for the book? Is
it a hobby of yours or has it become one since
completing this novel?
Claire: The beach is a minor character in all
my novels, and each one gives me the chance to
explore some interesting aspect of coastal living.
I spent a lot of time watching glass blowers
while I was writing Life's
a Beach. It's so fascinating – if
you've never seen it, you should! And I
love sea glass jewelry, and it's a lot
harder to make than you'd think!
Jen: What do you like best about Life's
a Beach and why?
Claire: I'm too close to it to tell. But
what I hear from readers are things like, "I
can't remember when I laughed out loud like that” and "I
couldn't put it down." And my very favorite
comment of all might be, "Ohmigod, you're
writing my life!" Also, a woman came to
one of my book events to tell me that, the week
before, she'd missed her subway stop because
she was reading Life's a Beach.
That might well be the litmus test for a good
read, don't you think?
Jen: Might we see Life's a
Beach on the big screen?
Claire: There's lots of interest already,
so keep your fingers crossed for me!
Jen: Of course, Life's a Beach just
came out this month, but are you already at work
on your next novel? What can you tell us about
it?
Claire: Voice, the new Hyperion imprint that
published Life's a Beach,
will be publishing my next one, too. As soon
as people start telling me what it's about,
I'll let you know! But look for it some
time in 2008.
Jen: How has your life changed now that you
are a famous author? What is the biggest perk
of being an author?
Claire: I soooooo don't think of myself
as a famous author! I just feel lucky readers
are telling their friends and family about my
novels, and more readers are discovering them
because of that. The nice thing about being an
author is that you get to live your same old
life, with the occasional book tour or movie
premiere thrown in. Also, when my husband goes
to pick up a pizza in our hometown, they never
make him wait in line anymore!
Jen: If you could change one thing about your
career, what would it be and why?
Claire: Not a thing! In one of the many gifts
of midlife, I don't look back – just
forward!
Jen: Whose opinion do you most respect concerning
your work and why?
Claire: I don't write for critics or other
authors or my former English teachers or any
of that. For me it's all about the readers.
I have the smartest, funniest, kindest readers
in the world, and their support means everything
to me!
Jen: Do you have author phone chats? If so,
how would my readers go about scheduling one?
Claire: Because I'm lucky enough to be
spending the summer doing a big, beachy book
tour, I'm inviting readers to take a field
trip to one of my book events. I'm happy
to give book groups an exclusive meeting before
or after an event. Just call the hosting bookstore
or library to see if it's possible to set
something up. As for phone chats, once I'm
back home and settled, your readers can email
me through my website, www.clairecook.com.
Jen: Do you have a web site? Blog? Any public
appearances scheduled? Book signings?
Claire: Oops, I jumped ahead on that one! Yes,
I have a very active website, www.clairecook.com.
I have a blog, and also a Life's
a Beach Walk of Fun, which is a
photo gallery of the most creative flip flops
readers wear to my Life's a
Beach book tour events. I'm
encouraging everyone to put on their fanciest
flip flops, call their friends, email their sisters,
and pile into the car to come see me this summer.
We'll have a blast, I promise! To see my
book tour schedule, just go to www.clairecook.com or www.everywomansvoice.com.
Jen: It has been such a pleasure being able
to interview you and I absolutely love your novels.
I wish you the best of luck in your future.
Claire: Thank you so much for all your great
questions, Jen, as well as your kind words about
my novels. I wish you the best of everything
in your future, too! And I hope you'll
come say hi to me this summer if I'm on
book tour anywhere near you!
I hope you have enjoyed my interview with Claire.
Don't forget to visit her website and get
the lowdown on her upcoming releases. Now
here comes the part where you get the chance
to pick up a copy of her book!! The first five
readers to e-mail me at jensjewels@gmail.com with
the correct answer to the following trivia question
will win. Good luck!
What did the Claire wear to the premier of Must
Love Dogs?
Next month, I will be bringing to you my interview
with Kristin Gore, author of Sammy's
House and daughter of former Vice-President,
Al Gore. You won't want to miss it!!
Until next month…..Jen |
Meet
the Author: featuring Jen's Jewels