Author Interview ~ Susan Meissner

Plug time. What book or project is coming out or has come out that you’d like to tell us about?

My newest book, In All Deep Places, published by Harvest House, is my first novel written from the male point of view. And even though it was written in third person, it was still a delicious challenge. I found myself studying my husband and my sons often as I wrote.

Obviously one of the main characters is a man, but this book is still laced with themes that women will easily relate to because this man’s story is really the story of the girl who lived in the house next door to him while he was growing up.

When people ask me what the story is about, I usually say it’s about our universal longing for heaven. The writer of Ecclesiastes tells us that God has set eternity in our hearts; we are wired to want it. The story takes this man back to his hometown following his father’s stroke. As he spends night after night in the where house he grew up, he begins to retrace his past and the part the girl played in it. It is part love story, part redemption story and part second chances story.

Tell us about your journey to publication. How long had you been writing before you got the call you had a contract, how you heard and what went through your head.

I quit my job as managing editor of a weekly newspaper in 2002 to write my first novel, Why the Sky is Blue (Harvest House, 2004). It was a tough decision because at the newspaper I was getting paid to write — a wonderful thing — but I wasn’t writing what I wanted to write. I wanted to write novels for more than a decade.

So I was very motivated to get at that first book since I had been dreaming of doing it for years and had actually quit a very busy fulltime job to see it done. I wrote it in 10 weeks. It kind of just flew out of me.

In retrospect, writing the book was easy compared to getting published. I didn’t know anyone in the industry and no one knew me. I pored over Sally Stuart’s market guide and marked it to death. Then I began sending queries, proposals — whatever a publishing house or agent would allow me to send. And I was picky. I only sent out queries and such to houses and agencies I knew and trusted, and unfortunately many of the larger, more respected houses don’t accept unsolicited manuscripts or even proposals. That was very frustrating.

If I had known better I would have attended writers conferences where the houses I liked best were in attendance. For the unpublished, that is simply the best way to get your foot in the door.

I placed my proposal on Writers Edge and First Edition, too, (two online resources for proposal posting) and got not a nibble for months. When my six months’ subscription to First Edition ended, I almost didn’t renew it. I will be forever grateful to God for nudging me to renew because two months after that, Harvest House contacted me. An assistant editor had seen my proposal on First Edition and asked to see the entire manuscript.

With shaking fingers, I emailed it and then waited as it went from one editor to the other at Harvest House. When the editorial team unanimously gave it a thumbs-up, my book was pitched to the publishing committee. To my joy and amazement they went for it, as well as a second book that I had begun to plot in my head but did not even have a title for yet. The contract came just about a year to the day I began writing.

In All Deep Places is my fourth book for Harvest House and number five will release in July 2006. It’s been the ride of my life. And I feel like it’s still only the beginning.

Do you still experience self-doubts regarding your work?

All the time. And I don’t think that is necessarily a bad thing. The last thing I want is to be is over-confident. Sometimes my doubts are debilitating, though, and that can squelch creativity like water on a flame. When I am feeling unsure of myself as a writer, I usually run to God — the Great Enabler — for assurance. I also keep every email or letter I get from readers so that I can remind myself that there are people in this world who’ve been moved or touched by what I have written.

When I get back on track mentally, I try to remember that it is good to know that there is always room to improve my craft. Knowing this keeps me striving for excellence and not being content with mediocrity.

What’s the best advice you’ve heard on writing/publication?

There are things you can control about your writing career and things you can’t. You can control how hard you work, how diligent you are and how much time you devote to honing your writing skills.

But you cannot control that elusive thing called Perfect Timing. And that’s what you have to have to get published:
1. A great story (you control that)
2. Perfect timing (you can’t control that).

Don’t stress over what you cannot control. Do your best; commit the rest to a sovereign God who loves you.

What’s the worst piece of writing advice you’ve heard?

Write to the market.
But I don’t agree. Don’t just write what will sell, which is what “writing to the market” means. Write what you love; write what you are passionate about. Make your words pierce the reader (and the editor) with its loveliness such that it begs to be sold.


What’s something you wish you’d known earlier that might have saved you some time/frustration in the publishing business?

I should have gone to a writers’ conference as soon as my first book was finished. Editors and agents go to those events looking for new writers. They want to find that next page-turner manuscript. And you get to meet them face-to-face. There is no other arena for that to happen. Go to conferences. Think of the money spent as an investment in your writing career.

Do you have a scripture or quote that has been speaking to you lately?

I do not know the author of this quote but it has meant a lot to me these last two years as I have watched my dreams come true: “Do the thing you fear and the death of fear is certain.” For a long time I was afraid to write “the book.” I was afraid if I wrote it, I would finish it. And I was afraid that if I finished it I would have to try and get it published. And I was afraid that if I tried to get it published that no one would want it. I was stressing out over the part I couldn’t control. Not good. I think I can safely say that we are to cheerfully employ our gifts and abilities and leave the results to God.

Is there a particularly difficult set back that you’ve gone through in your writing career you are willing to share?

I’ve been blessedly un-set back so far, praise Jesus.

What are a few of your favorite books? (Not written by you.)

I read a lot of fiction by ABA authors and many of my favorite titles, though beautifully written, are not books I can endorse without a caveat: Some of these contain material that may offend, so be mindful of that. They are models to me because the prose is achingly beautiful, not because the content is without fault. I enjoyed Sue Monk Kidd’s, The Secret Life of Bees, Life of Pi by Yann Martel, The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini and Stones from the River by Ursula Hegy.

If your authorial self was a character from The Wizard of Oz, which one would you be and why?

Oh, probably Auntie Em. Awhile back I would say I was most like the Cowardly Lion but since I have worked hard to tame my fears, I prefer to think of myself as someone who is able to share her krullers and who places a cool rag on the forehead of a hurting soul when that is what is needed.

What piece of writing have you done that you’re particularly proud of and why?

In All Deep Places was probably the book in which I invested the most emotion. I imagine it is because the storyline is pretty painful at times. We live in a terribly broken world. Heaven awaits, hallelujah, but while we wait, we are here. And often times, life is simply very difficult.

Do you have a pet peeve having to do with this biz?

It ain’t fair. Wonderful writers often never get published. And writers whose material is nice but not stellar, sometimes do.

Can you give us a view into a typical day of your writing life?

When I am in writing mode; that is, when I am not on a break from having just completed a novel or researching the next one or plotting or outlining (yes, I outline), my workday starts at 9 a.m. and ends at 3 p.m. I try not to be at the computer when my kids come home from school. And really, six hours of intense writing is really all my brain can manage. It’s good to stop at that point and just let the ideas for what will happen next in my story percolate until the following day.

If you could choose to have one strength of another writer, what would it be and from whom?

I would like to have the power to create memorable characters like Lisa Samson does. She always casts her novels with wonderfully flawed people who are deeply layered and perfectly imperfect.

Do you have a dream for the future of your writing, something you would love to accomplish?

Well, if we are being honest here I would like to see my books gain the respect of ABA reviewers and sell like hotcakes at WalMart and Barnes & Noble. I’d like to see more Christian worldview fiction — not just my own — on the shelves at mainline bookstores and in the hands of the non-churched.

Was there ever a time in your writing career you thought of quitting?

Not yet. Not ever, I hope.

What is your favorite and least favorite part of being a writer?

I love putting words and sentences together in yummy ways that make for a memorable story. I don’t like having to worry about sales and numbers. Yuck.

How much marketing do you do? Any advice in this area?

I send free copies to local bookstores and speak whenever and wherever I am invited. Truth be told, I really do not like “marketing” my books; I love writing and talking about writing. I had dismal cookie sales when I was a Girl Scout. But I digress. I have a website — a must if you are published — and I send out newsletters 4 or 5 times a year. I am a member of the Christian Authors Network (CAN) — a cooperative of 40 authors who work together to support local retailers and cross-promote each other. The best thing you can do to market your book, especially if you are marketing-deficient like me, is to get it into the hands of readers who will talk it up. Word of mouth is as good or better than a 30-second TV spot, I am convinced of that.

Parting words?

Writing is an art, just like painting and sculpting. It is also a form of communication, but so are painting and sculpting. Writers are people who see the world and make sense of it with words arranged just so, like Beethoven arranged music. A published writer is no different than the writer who waits to be published in this respect; they are both artists of the written word. It is easy to think yourself not a writer if you don’t have a byline in print anywhere, but that is like saying you’re only alive if your eyes are open.

If you are waiting for your manuscript to be noticed, read, haggled over, considered or accepted, remember that you are a writer even while you wait. Don’t give up. Heed the advise of wise critics, politely ignore the counsel of the misinformed. Go to conferences. Write every day. Read good books that are akin to the kind you want to write. Break up your fallow ground, sow good seed, weed and water, then wait patiently for the fruit to show up.

I am right there in the garden beside you. . .