For the sixth Writers on the Rise interview, please welcome Emily Gruenke! You can visit her blog here. I have two more interviews scheduled after this one; if anyone is interested in being interviewed next, please leave a comment and let me know. I know lots of us love to hear the thoughts and tips of writers who are still hunting for an agent and/or editor.
Hello, Emily! Can you tell us a little about yourself?
I am married and have three children. I was born in Utah (yes, I’m Mormon), but I grew up in sunny Southern California. I have been living in Germany for about ten years now. I have loved reading ever since they taught me the sounds the letters make. I think that when I was in high school and I started to narrate my own life in my head, I knew I would end up writing. It was that or the funny farm, I guess.
What are you currently writing?
Right now, I am working on a YA novel I wrote for National Novel Writing Month 2008. At the moment, I am calling it Still Alive. It’s about a girl who likes to fantasize about jumping into the irrigation canal near her house until somebody she knows and likes actually does take his own life. It sounds depressing, but I think it is going to be hopeful in the end. I did manage to meet the 50,000 word count requirement by the end of the month and finish the first draft in time to qualify as a winner, which was very exciting.
I haven’t done NaNoWriMo myself, but I know quite a few writers who love it. What advice would you give to those thinking about trying it this November?
I set daily goals for my word count, and when I made that, I could stop writing to shower or grocery shop or feed my children without feeling guilty. I wrote a lot at the beginning, and that gave me a little room to be flexible in the middle when I started to get tired. None of us want to have to resort to having our characters spontaneously quote poetry or to giving our characters four names and using all of four every time we refer to them just to bulk up our word count, and achieving my daily goals helped keep me from feeling desperate enough to do any of that.
What else have you written?
I have also written a YA novel with a religious theme, which I am getting ready to send off to a publisher. It is called Getting to Church. It is about a young girl who was brought up Mormon, but, as is often the case, she begins to question her faith and what it is worth to her.
I also started a YA novel called Guinevere Jones. It is about Guinevere Jones, who is not beautiful, and she falls in love with the most beautiful boy in her high school. I am really at the beginning with this one, but I am pretty sure she is really smart and interesting, which she attributes to her lack of good looks. She is also very cynical about love. You can imagine how she will be dealing with her feelings for the high school hottie.
How do you draft your novels? Are you starting with an outline to guide your way, or letting the story grow more organically?
I’m not good with outlines. I have never written one down. I think I’m afraid that writing it would somehow force me to follow it. I usually start with a few key events and scenes in mind and then I write to see where it will go from there.
Where are you at on your path to publication?
I’m just trying to figure out how things work right now. I’m just learning about query letters and agents, but I feel like it’s time to get out of my own backyard and go see what’s happening at the playground as a writer.
What advice do you have for writers?
I’m just a beginner, but I think that my advice would be to keep doing it. I don’t know if one can ever really stop without losing a part of one’s self. At least that was my experience. I tried to get on with my life as a wife and mother, but I couldn’t stop the ideas and thoughts from swimming around in my head. Getting them out and onto paper was the only way to feel at peace.
What are your inspirations?
I am inspired by the people I know who are also out there writing. I feel like the little sister who can learn from watching those who are ahead of me in the game.
What has been the best part of writing?
I think the best part so far has been finishing a first draft. It just feels good to “finish” what you started.
It took me two years to finish a draft of my first novel. I remember how gleeful I was when I could finally write “The End.” What advice do you have for writers still trying to finish their first novel?
My first piece of advice is to keep writing. No matter how daunting the task may appear from where you are or how much energy you have already used up to get to that point, you can finish this. The only way you can fail to finish your novel is to stop writing.
My second piece of advice is to be generous with yourself. Let yourself write and enjoy the process of getting to the end. Don’t try to beat out all the kinks now. There will be plenty of opportunity to revise later.
And what has been the worst part of writing?
Wondering if it is all a joke and fearing that somebody is going to say that I am completely without talent and that it will be true.
I know all too well what you mean about those “Am I talentless?” moments, and I’m pretty sure all writers doubt themselves at least once a book. What helps you to keep believing in your writing?
At first, I told myself that the only way to find out was to write and then see what came out. That got me through the first novel. When I went back to read that first draft, I found myself enjoying it. I figure that is a good place to start as a writer. Even though I know that there is progress to be made as far as my skills and technique, I feel like there is something at the base of my writing that I enjoy reading.
Where do you hope do be in a year?
I hope to be way out in the writing world, and not just hiding in my comfort zone. I have only shown my work to one other writer friend, but I think I would benefit from the association with a larger number of writers.
Yes, I think it can be daunting to send your newborn novel out into the world and ask people if they like your baby or not, but the input can also be eye-opening. How do you plan on finding critiques? A critique group, a few critique buddies…?
I figured I would just start asking around. I have friends and friends of friends who write, and I thought I would start with those contacts, since several have offered their help already. I know there are places to go online to find critique groups, and I can always turn to those sources for critiques.
And here’s a teaser from Emily’s Still Alive:
I feel disappointed as I walk over the bridge connecting the school side of town to the side of town I live on and I still haven’t seen the red car. Steve must have the flu or something, I tell myself.
I walk through the school parking lot and notice a group of seniors leaning on their cars and looking off into space. Two of the girls are leaning on two of the guys and have their heads buried in the guy’s chests. It looks strange. I have never seen people with such lost expressions.
A chill crawls over my back and settles right in the middle of my chest. I pull my jacket tighter around me as I pass by as if I think it could help chase away the chill inside of me.
As I walk through the hallways, it slowly sinks in what is wrong with the school today. It is quiet. It seems that words are only spoken in whispers, and there are a pitiful few of them at all. I start to look around, and see few, possibly, no smiles on the faces of the students around me.
I can’t pull my jacket any tighter than it is, but I feel the need to try. I have to shake off this chill.
Finally, I breathe a sigh of relief when I see Amanda and the other girls standing near my locker.
I try to smile and wave, but the thickness of the air strains my movements, and the eerie feeling on the campus chokes all calm out of me.
“What is going on?” I ask. My hands are clenched into fists and my breath is caught in my chest.
“You know that guy Steve? The senior who gives you a ride to school sometimes?” Lisa says.
“Yes,” I say. My eyes are wide with fear, and I am blocking my thoughts from moving forward. I can feel what is coming, but I want to be unaware for as long as possible.
“He’s dead,” Lisa says.
